“Are you done?” I asked, giving the mare a deadpan stare. “I’d like to ask you something,”
Pinkie Pie finally stopped bouncing around me and now looked at me, still amused.
“Sure, fire away, ghostie,” she giggled.
Calling me a ghost sounded weird so I just rolled my eyes annoyed before opening my mouth.
“Listen, I woke up like this a couple days ago and I can’t remember anything, not even my own name. Do you know who I am? How can you see me?”
Pinkie Pie looked at me for a moment before tilting her head.
“I don’t know, I have never seen a ghost before. At least I don’t think I have. I mean, I had a cranberry juice this morning, maybe that gave me some kind of superpowers, or maybe...” Pinkie rambled on while tapping her chin.
This conversation was getting nowhere fast, so I tried a different approach.
“Well that’s all fine and dandy, but I could really use your help here,” I interrupted the mare. “I want to recover my memory. I want to… No, I need to know who I am.”
The latter sentence made Pinkie Pie grin in a way I wasn’t sure if I should be happy or scared about.
“You came to the right pony, mister. Don’t tell anypony, but I’m quite good at solving mysteries,” she announced and pumped her hoof confidently. “So, what do you know about yourself?”
After giving the question a moment of thought, I gave her a blank stare.
“Nothing,” I stated shortly.
“Nothing at all?” she inquired further.
"Nope, only what has happened so far, which is not much,” I admitted.
“Ooh, so what did happen after you woke up? Tell me!” Pinkie demanded excitedly, jumping up and down on her spot.
“Well, the very first thing I can remember is like somepony was talking to me, but when I woke up, there was nopony there. So I went to ask around where I was and noticed that nopony could see or hear me,” I recalled.
“That’s because you are a ghost, silly. So, where did you wake up?” she asked.
I still denied the possibility of being a ghost, but I let it go this time.
“In some back alley, I guess. Not much of a lead there, huh,”
“Not necessarily. I’d like to see that place if you could take me there,” Pinkie suggested.
To be honest, I had no objections. I was simply glad that at least somepony was able to see and hear me. Maybe she could figure things for me. I just hope I didn’t make her look crazy when talking to me as others couldn’t see or hear me.
“Alright, let’s go then.” I nodded happily.
“Oh, now? Like, right now-now?” Pinkie shot back questioningly.
My spirit dropped slightly along the realization that it was almost night and that she probably had something else to do.
“Uh, I guess it’s quite late and you probably had your own plans,” I pondered.
The pink mare looked at me for a moment before shaking her head
“No no, it’s okay, I was just going to get some fresh air anyway, so it’s all fine,” Pinkie stated. “It has been a busy couple days, so I haven’t got out that much. Mr. and Mrs. Cake have been sick so I had to cover for them,” she revealed further.
That probably explained why I hadn’t bumped into her earlier. Regardless, I was happy she was willing to help me despite her workload.
“Alright, I will show you the place,” I said and lead the way.
---
After a short walk, we had arrived at the alley. It looked even creepier at night, but my companion seemed to be a carefree type, to put it mildly.
“So, this is where I woke up,” I mumbled, trying to remember at least something.
Pinkie Pie looked around, eyes narrowed as if trying to remember something herself. She then received a questioning look from me in return.
“Does this place mean anything to you?” I asked.
“Hmm, I’m not sure, but it feels quite familiar for some reason. I think I have seen this place before somewhere,” she whispered and tapped her chin.
“You have … seen this place before? You mean like a picture or something?” I inquired.
Why would anypony take a picture of a place like this, I wondered. It didn’t seem like there was anything important here anyway, but it was also quite dark to look for anything at night.
“Yeah, I think I have seen this place in some newspapers earlier. I didn’t have the time to read the article, but it might have been this place,” Pinkie said and turned to me. “I think we should find that article and come here again tomorrow.”
“Sounds like a plan to--” I tried to say, but was scared to death by the sudden voice inside my head.
“Be… careful… You are… close…”
I spun around in a panic, but couldn’t see anypony else around but Pinkie Pie. The voice echoed a while longer before disappearing.
“Did you hear that?” I screamed and shifted in my place.
“Nope,” she stated happily.
Unfortunately, her carefree attitude wasn’t sticking with me as I spun around a couple more times. Regardless of me being unable to feel physical pain or even be seen by almost anypony, I started to lose my nerves.
“I, I think we should better be going now. Let’s see if we can learn anything tomorrow,” I suggested and backed away from the alley
Pinkie came after me, being seemingly calm if not little confused by my behavior.
“Is everything okay? Did you hear something bad?” she inquired in a whispery voice.
“Uh… Yeah, I think so,” I whispered back.
I haven’t visited the alley since I woke up there. But apparently, it was the source of the creepy voice inside my head. Why didn’t I think of that earlier? This place clearly had some level of importance to me and it was almost like somepony was trying to help me.
“I think it was the same voice I heard when I woke up,” I pondered aloud to my new pink friend.
Pinkie just looked at me for a moment before nodding. “ Alright, what did the voice tell you?”
“It… It told me to be careful and that I was close to something,” I revealed, still baffled.
“Alright, so we have some leads now,” Pinkie smiled.
“So, what do you suggest we do next?” I asked, confused.
“Well, first we need to find that article about this place and see what we can learn.”
I gave the alley one last glance and then looked at Pinkie Pie. The friendly mare who was the first and probably only pony able to see and hear me. It was almost scary in a way, but I was glad I was able to interact with somepony. However, she seemed to have one more idea to help me.
“And second?” I inquired.
Pinkie Pie just looked at me for a moment and grinned happily. “We need to come up with a name for you, silly ghostie.”
I gave her an annoyed look and wanted to make it stick that I wasn’t a ghost.
“Listen, Pinkie, I want to be crystal clear--”
However, Pinkie interrupted me before I managed to continue any further.
“Okay, Crystal Clear it is! But I’m just going to call you CC for short.” Pinkie laughed and bounced around me.
“T-that’s not what I meant.” I sighed and pressed my head down in defeat.