[Six POV]
“What’s happening?” I ask no one in particular. Everything is dark, and I can’t feel anything.
“It ain’t fair! Why can’t ah help?!” I hear AJ yell.
“Applejack? Can you hear me? What’s happening?”
“AJ, you’re too close to this. I need someone to watch him while the Princesses and I figure out who did this to him and who that woman was.”
Oh, right...That girl….Cinder, right? Am I dead? No, I can’t be dead. I can still hear them. I must be in a coma….
“Which means I can make myself known….APPLEJACK!!” I shout.
I gasp, nearly blinded as my vision suddenly returns. Once my eyes adjust, I notice I’m looking down at my own body, wrapped in bandages. My left arm was missing, and my heart monitor was beating slowly.
“Git some of the guards to watch him! Ah need ta find who did this!” AJ storms out, and I feel myself get dragged out with her.
“Woah!” I see my body, and I’m colorless and transparent. Not much of a change, other than the floating and transparent bit…
AJ stops just inside the front doors of the hospital and looks back. “Ah’ll save ya, Six….ah love ya….Even if ya can’t hear me say it.” She leaves.
“I...Love you, too….Guess I’m stuck here in the w-aagh!” I get dragged along with her. I notice my necklace in her hand.
“I have to be in a vegetative state….And I’m tied to my necklace!” I force my new form to move closer to her.
“Hey! AJ! Over here!” I wave in her face, but she keeps walking.
“Damn it….She can’t see me….Of course she wouldn’t….” I follow her back to her farm, where she kneels next to Granny smith’s grave.
“Ah...ah’m so sorry, Granny….Ah couldn’t help him…..And he could die cuz of me….Ah wish ya’ll were here….ah need help….” She cries softly, clutching my necklace tightly.
I feel my body warm up all over. “Wooah….That’s a new one…”
She gasps and looks right at me. “S-Six? How….whut in the….”
“Wait….you...can see me?” I look at my body, and it hasn’t changed.
“Yer...b-back at the hospital….in a coma! How….are ya here?” She wipes her eyes.
“I think my soul bonded to my necklace. And you’ve got it.”
She looks at the necklace and stands. She tries to hug me, but her arms go right through me.
“Ya...yer really a g-ghost…”
“Yeah...This is new for me, too…” She sniffles and cries, clutching the necklace tightly.
“It’s mah fault….If ah hadn’t kicked ya out of the bathroom, you’d be okay…”
“Hey, don’t blame yourself. That crazy girl was in the castle either way. Who knows what would’ve happened if she kept around. She would have hurt you and Twilight.”
“Y-yer right….What’re we gunna do? We can’t just let her get away with this!”
“Easy, easy...I want to find her, too. But we need to think rationally. And judging by the lack of screams from people on the way here, no one else can see me.”
“Alright….We can ask Twilight fer help. Maybe she’d listen!” She runs back to the hospital, and I’m dragged along behind. I manage to get myself to float alongside her.
“Slow down, AJ. You’re dragging me around, you know. And please don’t lose that necklace. It means a lot to me…”
She puts it in her hat and nods. When she gets to the hospital, there was a royal carriage outside. Twilight was talking to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.
“Twilight! Twilight! Six is a ghost and he’s talkin ta me!”
Oh, boy…
“Applejack...I know you’re having a hard time with this, but he’s still in the hospital.”
“Listen ta me! He’s possessin his necklace, and ah got it right here!” She pulls it out of her hat and hands it to Twilight.
She holds it, her hand shaking. “Applejack….Why do you have this?”
“He...Ah….”
“Don’t take this from him. Just...go home. Get some sleep….” She pockets the necklace.
“Gimme that back!” AJ yells.
“It’s not yours, Applejack! It’s his, and it’ll go right back on him and it’ll stay there.”
“No, ah need it ta keep him with me!”
Twilight goes back inside the hospital, while the Princesses talk amongst themselves. I expected to be dragged back inside the hospital, but I stay right there at AJ’s side.
She looks at me, a soft blush on her face and tears in her eyes.
“What’re you making that face for?” I ask, confused as to why I wasn’t trapped in the hospital.
“Yer not attached to the necklace. Yer attached ta me...Ya...ya really do love me….”
If I could blush, I would be. Very hard. “I-I, uh...h-heheeh.....I think it's because you're my best friend! That must be it!"
She smiles with tears in her eyes. "Six....ya big dummy....Yer so sweet...."
I don't deserve love...
Princess Celestia puts her hand on AJ’s shoulder, sighing.
“Applejack, you should go home. You’re starting to get delusional….”
“No, ah ain’t….He’s right here, and none of ya’ll can see him cuz his soul’s attached ta me!”
Celestia shakes her head and sighs. “It’s alright, Applejack. Get some rest…”
“No! Damn it, Princess, I’m right here!” I shout, swinging my arm at her tiara. All three of them gasp as it’s knocked off her head and clatters to the floor.
“Sister, did you do that?” Luna asks.
“No, I didn’t…” Celestia answers.
AJ beams. “See? He’s the one who did that! Six, do somethin else!” She asks.
“How? I….I didn’t think it would do anything…”
“Come on, try! Please!” She pleads.
I clench my fists tightly, digging into my heart to find something that makes me angry.
“APPLEJACK IS NPT A LIAR!!” I grab AJ’s hat, and I feel it. I lift it off her head and drop it to the floor.
They all look stunned. “Ah ha! I did it! That’s how I do it!”
“S-sister….How is...this possible?!” Luna asks.
“It’s not….I don’t understand….”
“APPLEJACK IS MY FRIEND!! HOW DARE YOU CALL HER A LIAR!!” I scream, grabbing Celestia’s arm. She shrieks and jumps.
“I-I felt a hand on my arm! Applejack, what sorcery is this?!” Celestia asks, terrified.
“That’s just Six…” She says, chuckling.
She looks around, her hand glowing softly. Her hand glows brighter as it waves in front of me, and her eyes widen.
“Six...it is you….How...is he here?! He’s alive, isn’t he?” Celestia asks.
“Yeah, I’m alive. But I’m apparently dead enough to be a ghost.”
“He says he’s dead enough ta be a ghost.”
They both look at her, shocked.
“This is...impossible…” Luna says plainly. Twilight walks out, and looks at the shocked Princesses.
“Applejack, what’d I miss?”
Celestia grabs Twilight’s shoulder. “Twilight, Applejack wasn’t lying to you. Six is a ghost, and she can see him. And hear him…”
Twilight looks floored. “Wh-whaat?! That’s impossible! I mean, I know his powers are impossible, but him being a ghost is impossible!”
“AJ, tell her that her soup needed salt.”
AJ chuckles. “He says yer soup needs salt.” Her eyes widen.
“H-how do...you know about that….? Only Six and I were….H-He’s really there?”
AJ nods. “Finally, she gets it…” I sigh.
“Ah know, right?” AJ laughs.
Twilight grabs her shoulders and shakes her. “What’re you laughing at?! What’d he say!? Why can only you see him!?”
I grab Twilight’s hair and tug, and she yelps. “Ow! Hey! No hair pulling, AJ!”
“Ah didn’t pull yer hair! It was Six.”
AJ holds up her hands. I smirk.
Twilight huffs and blows her hair out of her eyes.
“You know, her butt did feel kinda nice...but she could stand to put on a little more weight…” I say to myself, chuckling.
“Whut did ya say!?” AJ yells.
“N-nothing! Hehehe….” I chuckle.
“What’d he say?” Twilight asks.
“He said yer butt felt kinda nice, but you could put on some weight.”
Twilight swings her arms in the air, yelling swears at me.
“Yer missin him, Twi. He can’t even feel ya.” Twilight huffs and feels her hips.
“Not thin….” She pouts.
I feel an odd warmth in my chest. I look over at AJ, and she’s blushing madly.
“Whut...do ya think about mah butt?” She asks out of nowhere.
“I...I, uh….Oh, gosh, uh….Is that a ghost leaf?” I look over at a pile of leaves. She huffs.
Twilight pouts. "It's no fair that he's bound just to you.... I-I wanna see him, too..."
I laugh, holding my midsection. “Oh, Twilight’s jealous of you, AJ.”
“Course she is. She loves ya as much as ah do.”
“.....beg your pardon?”
Twilight’s blush spreads all over. “D-don’t just tell him that!”
“Yeah, she’s got a crush on ya, too! Ain’t that right, Twilight?”
Twilight curls up and blushes. “M-meep….”
My eyes widen. “She….you….both….WHAT?!”
“Ya mean ya never even noticed that we was fightin over ya? Ya must be real oblivious…”
“I am not! I just...didn’t think it was possible….I figured I’d be alone all my life, and I never thought I’d get a girl who likes me, let alone two!”
AJ chuckles. “Alright, enough teasin Twilight. We need ta git back to the castle and figure out who that girl was…”
“Oh, that’s easy. She said her name was Cinder Belle.”
“Wait, she jus told ya her name? Just like that?” Twilight jumps up.
“He has her name?! What is it?” That got the Princess’ attention too. Forgot they were even there….
“He said her name’s Cinder Belle….”
“Oh, dear….That’s not good. Luna, get Shining Armor and a dozen elite guards down here immediately. Twilight, get back to the castle and make sure there’s no one there. Then seal yourselves inside. If she’s after him, he, and the two of you, are in grave danger.”
Twilight looks at her worriedly. “Who...is she?”
“She’s a prisoner from Manehattan Penitentiary. She was locked up a few years ago for trying to burn down a school. She has an obsession with broken people. She...well, she’s a pyromaniac...and, last time she was seen, a cannibal….”
“Oh, mah gosh….So...y-ya mean she...she….ate his arm!?”
“It’s very likely…”
AJ ducks into a nearby bush, unloading her stomach contents.
“Why...does she have such an affiliation with Six, then!?”
“They were raised in the same orphanage….”
All the memories came flooding back. I remember a little girl when I was there that used to follow me around all the time. She had burns on her, and she always clung to me. Then she disappeared when I was eleven.
A scroll appears in Luna’s hand, and she unravels it. “Oh...Oh, this isn’t good….Sister, the Petitentary says she escaped six months ago, and hasn’t been seen since. And the police in both Manehattan and Canterlot say that several people have gone missing since she’s escaped…”
“Y-you don’t think she...ate all them people….right?!”
I tense up, clenching my fists tightly. “We have to stop her….”
“It gets worse. She’s set on getting to Six, no matter what.” Celestia says.
“How...do you know?” Twilight asks, almost seeming afraid.
Celestia holds up a photograph of a 9x9 concrete prison cell. The number 6 was etched into the walls, floor, and ceiling of the cell.
Twilight grabs AJ’s arm and teleports her away, yanking me clear across town back to the castle. I shudder as I reappear in the library. Twilight’s hand glows brightly, and a wave of magic flows over the entire castle. Once it passes, a bubble forms around it.
“There. We’ll be safe here. And my brother’ll watch over him. But, if what Princess Celestia says is true, that means she’ll come after us too…”