//------------------------------// // Chapter Five // Story: A Corpse in Equestria // by LucidTech //------------------------------// Jack slumped gratefully against the off-yellow wall that told him he’d at last reached his destination. It had turned out that the well of seemingly unending rage was a horrible source of energy as it had, in fact, ended. This had left him infinitely worse off than he had been before he’d used it at all, though he was lucky to be within a few feet of his destination when it hit him. The comparatively comfortable banality of exhaustion quickly became all but a distant memory in the face of the painful stabbing chill that had clamped onto his limbs like a vice in the instant after his ethereal indignation had vanished. He had, through some small miracle, managed to close the remaining distance running on what felt like a bitter cocktail of fumes and borrowed time. Now he only had one remaining obstacle, phasing through the wall. This wall, though it was not so different from the ones that Jack had become adept at passing through back at the hospital, seemed like it was now an unconquerable task. He tried to bend his thoughts like he’d done so often before, but in the face of the constant, icy pain they became almost impossible to focus. Jack attempted to simply power through it and, after an hour of achieving nothing but a severe headache, he managed to convince himself of the wall’s solidity, or lack thereof. Unfortunately his success was short-lived as the combination of his excitement at finally having managed it and the shock of suddenly falling tore his line of thoughts asunder, resolidifying the wall in relation to himself as he was mid-fall, getting him stuck halfway through. Jack’s exhausted mind stalled out as it tried to process what had just happened. His upper half, starting from about his belly button, was stuck inside the building. While his lower half, legs and all, had remained outside. As Jack began to comprehend the scene, panic started to flood his head. He saw himself, felt himself, cut in half. He could ‘feel’ both halves of his body, he could move his legs and arms with equal ease, but between them was a strange cold immovable weight that felt like he’d eaten a barbell made of antimatter. It was barely a moment longer before he began to scream, directionless and void of any meaning, just like when he’d fallen from the sky. Now, just like then, it did little to help him out of his predicament. Frantically, Jack placed both hands on the wall and tried with all his might to simply brute force his way through, to no avail. Then, he blacked out.  Briefly in the failing of his consciousness he caught sight of a filly far in the corner of the room who was looking around the room with wide, scared, eyes. Jack would later reflect that it seemed odd how he kept so many holdovers from when he was alive, things like exhaustion and being able to pass out, things which stemmed from having a physical body. He did not think about that now though, all he knew now was empty black space. Which, given how exhausted he was, he found some comfort in. Jack came to consciousness some hours later. He was still stuck in a wall, still lost in an alien world, still an eternity from Sam, still unable to truly comprehend the extent of what his life had become, but at least he wasn’t tired anymore. When you can’t control anything about your life, you tend to be happy for what you get. Jack looked back to aforementioned wall and, even as panic began to spark it’s fervor within him, Jack fought to keep his head. He did this the way he always did, by overlooking the bad parts and focusing on what was good about the situation. He’d gotten a lot of practice with it recently. It had allowed him to rest, that was a good thing. Rest that had, actually, revitalized him in some way. The wall had caught him mid-fall, meaning his entire body was suspended above the ground which, while initially difficult to acclimate to, was a rather restful position all in all. No part of him had really had to support his weight either since the section of his torso that would have had to had been replaced by a wall. As that thought once again threatened to send him into a spiral of panic, Jack sought for some other positive to focus on to distract himself. Instead of having to think up something, however, he was graciously provided with a distraction from an external source. “I just worry about how this will affect Colada is all.” Came the worried sound of a mare’s voice from a couple feet away. As Jack moved his attention to the source of the words he realized for the first time that he had wound up in the kitchen of the building. Well… half way in the kitchen at least. Jack allowed himself a brief moment to appreciate the well-designed kitchen before he turned his full attention to the mare. With minimal surprise, Jack realized that this mare also fit the description of Colada. Her coat was closer to Magenta, granted, but her mane was two tone pink  just as had been described, this time clearly so. Once again, however, the mare in question had a cutie mark. It was… three smiling flowers? Did they always have three of something? Jack made a note to pay closer attention to the markings in the future. He couldn’t even remember what Ms. Punch’s was, though he vaguely remembered some kind of fruit or berry. Perhaps this was the town’s teacher? This was supposed to be her house so it would make sense. Then again she was talking to some other pony that was, unfortunately, just out of Jack’s field of view. As Jack watched, taking in as much detail as he could, the mare who may or may not be Cheerilee continued to speak. “I appreciate all that Berry did for Colada, of course, certainly she suffered a lot for her. I just worry about how Colada will react when she finds out that her strong older sister tried to, you know,” here Maybe-Cheerilee’s volume dropped to a whisper for a moment, though not before she looked around conspiratorially, “kill herself.” Cheerilee, coughed and continued normally. “She looks up to her so much, I just don’t know what the effect would be.” Jack blinked in surprise. Berry had tried to commit suicide? Jack was first struck by the idea that that was extremely unlikely, but the more he thought about it the more he had to admit to himself that it was, at least, a possibility. He hadn’t exactly asked her how she’d ended up in the hospital to begin with, it hadn’t seemed particularly important. And then the nurses had always seemed rather anxious when they spoke with her and then there was the fact that whenever those nurses, or come to think of it the doctors even, explained how she’d wound up there they would always do it in a hushed tone, not too unlike the one that Maybe-Cheerilee had just used. “I don’t want Colada to… get any ideas... Is all. That’s why I haven’t taken her to see her sister yet. I’m bad at that sort of thing, I mean just look how often I ‘inspired’ Apple Bloom and her friends to go off and do something dangerous. I know Colada and Berry both deserve to see each other but I’m worried about what adverse consequences I might cause, I couldn’t-” Jack watched as a grey hoof rested on Cheerilee’s lips and silenced her abruptly. “I could take Colada to see Berry.” Came a soft voice as a blonde, wall-eyed mare leaned in to grab a muffin from the center of the table. “I’ll make sure that nothing harmful sticks in her head.” Despite the extremely soft tone there was, within it, a kind of immovable iron. A kind of determined framework which the words were supported by. Even Jack, who had never so much as heard of this mare before, felt inclined to trust her. It seemed it had the same affect on Maybe-Cheerilee. “Could you?” Maybe-Cheerilee asked, hopeful. “I’m busy for the next couple of days with the curriculum, so you’d have to go without me. Then again, you could just wait a week or two and I’d be able to tag along. Whichever works best for you.” “We’ll be fine by ourselves. I can take Dinky, she’s been thinking about trying her hoof at medicine and she’d love to talk to some of the doctors if they have time.” Said the mare, her tone upbeat and optimistic. “Oh thank you Derpy. I owe you big time for this.” Probably-Cheerilee-Now-That-Jack-Knew-The-Other-Mare-Was-Named-Derpy paused for a moment in thought before she continued. “I know! I’ll go down to Sugarcube corner and…” Jack’s attention was pulled from the conversation as he realized he was not the only set of ears eavesdropping on the conversation. Twin shadows shuffled beyond the door nearest him, visible through the gap between the bottom of the door and the floor itself. Curiosity piqued and his attention with the conversation growing distant, Jack turned his attention once more on the wall that held him aloft. This time he easily accomplished the work that had stumped him before and it wasn’t long before he managed to convince himself that it was immaterial again. Jack caught himself as he finished the fall he’d started more than a few hours ago and raised himself onto his feet. After a quick pat down to make sure he’d gotten the whole of his torso back, Jack moved on to the door itself, passing through it with ease as well. There, at last, he found Colada. No cutie mark, two tone messy mane, light-pink coat. It matched the description he’d been given to a T. This, Jack knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, was Colada. As for the identity of the second foal who was also present right next to Colada? Jack assumed it was the previously mentioned Dinky, though he had no way to confirm this. Luckily when you’re a ghost you can get away with assuming a lot of things. Not that it was a baseless guess of course. Derpy had spoken of Dinky as if she were her daughter and the two did share a rather remarkable likeness. Of course, Jack wasn’t 100% sure how much a daughter and a mother would look alike in this world, apparently a third of the population was some shade of pink so what did he know, but it seemed as good a place to start as any. “Did they find the monster that was howling?” Asked Dinky as she looked nervously to Colada who had her ear pressed flat against the threshold. “I don’t think they’re looking.” Colada said idly, lightly biting her tongue in concentration. “I think they just wanted to have a conversation without either of us around. I don’t think they think there’s a monster at all!” “What?! But we heard it! It was all “aaAAAaaaAAAAAAOOOAOAOAOOOOOOAAAA” Dinky said in disbelief, doing a rather good impression of Jack’s screaming, though more quietly as to avoid giving away their game. The impression was so good, in fact, that Jack backed away in worry, waiting to see if either of the filly’s would be able to spot him before interacting in any way. “Why would they think we made that up?” “Adults.” Said Colada in explanation as she focused once more on the door. “Adults.” Agreed Dinky. Dinky, who was eagerly awaiting more news from Colada by the door, took the opportunity to look once more around the room she was stood in. But, despite her raised perception while she waited to be caught eavesdropping, she looked at, through, and past Jack in the span of moment, quelling the ghost’s fears. “I think your mom’s talking about taking us to the hospital tomorrow.” Colada said eventually, her face twisted in thought. “Oh no!” Dinky said worriedly. “Are we sick?” “No. Well…” Colada pulled her head away from the door for a minute while she gave the question her honest attention. “I don’t think I’m sick. Are you sick?” “I don’t think so.” “So then it’s probably to go see my sister.” Colada said, a bittersweet tinge to her words. “Oh! Do you think she’ll have some juice for us like she always does?” Dinky asked, suddenly sounding very excited about going to the hospital if it meant some homemade berry punch. “I don’t think they’ll let her make her drinks at the hospital.” Said Colada, her tone worldly and matter-of-fact. “But maybe?” “Oh I hope so. She always makes the best.” Jack tapped his fingers against the nearby wall as he thought. He could leave tomorrow with the entourage, maybe resting for the night in the kitchen. But if he did that there was every chance he would run out of energy mid trip again and he wouldn’t get to the hospital until long after Colada arrived. Yet, if he left now he risked running out of energy in the middle of the road since he’d had barely any time to recuperate except for his brief stint with being stuck in a wall and he might end up being even worse off. It was this latter point that eventually won him over and, after the rest of the household eventually found its way to sleep, the older mares none the wiser to their three listeners-in, Jack laid himself out on the linoleum of the kitchen. With eyes glazing over, he began to count the dots.