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// Chapter 3 - Peek-a-boo! 
// Story: Project Ghost: The Mystery Of The Dead Stallion 
// by Shimmering Thunder 
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The day had turned into an evening and ponies started making their ways back to their homes as the shadows were growing longer and longer by the minute. It truly had been a beautiful day.

My hopes to hear more funny gossips had somewhat dried out as Roseluck was actually concentrating more on her work than talking.

They closed the flower shop and I decided to go on a small walk around the town to see if there was anything interesting happening. Who knows, maybe somepony was reading goodnight stories. Creepy or not, I wouldn’t mind listening to some.

I walked around the houses and stopped every now and then to listen if anypony was home. The muffled sounds of ponies talking and laughing made me smile, but the smile turned sour soon after. I wished I could have talked to somepony, but I was all alone in this bustling community.

A couple more houses later and I still heard nothing interesting. However, I got one more idea in my mind. One that I wanted to test.

There was this one house with a smoking chimney. I wanted to see if fire or smoke would actually do anything to me. This time, though, I didn’t get my hopes up. Technically, I wasn’t even breathing so I doubted I was going to do anything to the smoke. But fire? Maybe.

I peeked through the front door to see if anypony was actually home, not that it would have mattered either way. To my great joy, there was somepony home. I gazed around the cozy looking home in awe. Such a nice place, peaceful, even.

There were soft rugs on the floor as well as fancy furniture all around the house. Walls had candle holders and paintings and some bookshelves with various knick-knacks. I hadn’t been in that many houses yet, but this was my favorite so far.

Suddenly, a sound of a rustling paper snapped me out of my thoughts.

A white mare with pink mane and tail was sitting in a chair in front of the fireplace, reading a newspaper. I sneaked closer to read the headlines, but there was nothing interesting there. Just some boring announcement and articles.

The white mare herself seemed to enjoy reading the paper, however, and I decided to leave her alone--after all, she didn’t know she had company in the first place.

I sat in front of the fireplace as close as I dared. I suddenly found myself worrying if it would actually hurt. Slowly, I extended my transparent hoof and hovered it over the flames. Sadly, nothing happened. The flames went through me like there was nothing there. I waved my hoof faster but still wasn’t able to cause any reaction.

The mare behind me just flipped another page and continued reading. I also heard a small sigh this time and decided to see what she was reading now.

I got up and walked practically inside of her and the sofa. There still wasn’t anything interesting. Just some adds about holiday spots and restaurant reviews. Maybe she wanted to go to one of those places but couldn’t afford it. Though, having such a beautiful house and furniture, I doubt money was the issue.

Suddenly, the mare closed the newspaper and put it aside, jumping off of the sofa and walking to some room. The curiosity got the better of me again and I decided to follow her, just to see her going to bed.

“Bah…” I grunted, disappointed. “Isn’t anypony doing anything interesting tonight?”

The mare wasn’t able to hear me of course, but I still wanted to give it a try. Without further ado, I made my way out of the house, taking a shortcut through the wall this time. As if what I did mattered.

I stepped outside and looked around to see where I was exactly. I lost my sense of direction so easily.

There was a big house in front of me that I had not yet investigated inside. It looked like some kind of bakery if I had to guess. I only managed to take a couple steps toward the place before I noticed somepony coming out.

A pink mare with a fluffy pink mane and tail bounced outside, before stopping for whatever reason. Her lips formed a perfect circle as she looked at the direction I was in. She tilted her head as if confused about something.

I quickly spun around to see what was behind me, but couldn’t see anything. I turned back to the pink mare, taking a couple steps to the left. To my ultimate horror, the mare actually followed me with her eyes. As if she could see me.

Before I even realized it, I tilted my head as well, looking at the mare in disbelief.

“Hi!” the pink mare suddenly greeted.

I didn’t see anypony else around and she was constantly staring at me. Her big happy grin indicated that whatever she was seeing, she wasn’t afraid of at least. I wasn’t sure how to approach the situation.

Carefully, I inched my way closer to her, until our muzzles were mere inches apart.

“My name is Pinkie Pie, who are you?” the mare asked, gleefully.

She smiled and waited for my reply, which actually came out more like a whisper.

“I… I don’t know,” I mumbled to myself while trying to bring back some memories.

“You don’t know who you are?” Pinkie Pie inquired, confused.

The question got me off guard as I certainly wasn’t waiting for an answer.

“Wait, you can actually hear me!?” I asked, baffled.

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be able to hear you, silly?” she said, giggling.

Whatever was happening, I was glad it did. If I had just found a person who could hear and see me on a daily basis, I’d be the happiest pony in Equestria.

“Well, you are the only one so far…” I admitted with a little bit of sadness in my voice, but I was also relieved.

“Oh, I guess that makes sense, usually ponies are not able to see ghosts, but if they ever see one, they are usually scared,” she giggled nonchalantly.

What was that right now? She just called me a ghost? I wasn’t a ghost, I wasn’t even dead… at least I hope I wasn’t.

“Hey, I’m not a ghost,” I defended myself, but the pink one just giggled.

“Sure you are. Oh! Can you go through walls and all that stuff?” she suddenly asked, even more excited.

“I can, but--” I tried to reply but she interrupted me faster than I ever thought possible.

“Ha! See? A classic ghost stuff right there,” Pinkie Pie stated, beaming.

Before I even knew it, she was waving her hoof inside of me and giggling like a little filly. She jumped around me and tried to grab me numerous times, but failed every single time, causing her to laugh even more...