//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 - In The Shadows // Story: Project Ghost: The Mystery Of The Dead Stallion // by Shimmering Thunder //------------------------------// “So, did you find anything interesting?” I inquired. Pinkie Pie eased her grin and shook her head. “Nope, but I bet the mayor just left us a valuable lead here,” Pinkie said and navigated to the trash can that Mayor Mare had thrown some papers in. Pinkie took the trash can and flipped it upside down on the floor. I rolled my eyes, annoyed. I wasn’t going to clean that up. Heck, I couldn’t have done that even if I wanted. However, after Pinkie lifted the trash can, there were only a few pieces on the floor. “Those are the papers Mayor Mare wanted to get rid of,” I informed her. “Do you think you can still read them?” Pinkie looked at the pieces for a moment and tapped her chin. “It’s going to take a while, but I can try.” I nodded and looked at the door. “So, do you want to take them with you or try to fix them here? I can go guard the door again,” I suggested. “Done!” Pinkie shouted cheerfully. I looked at Pinkie, confused. I wasn’t really sure what she meant, but there was now a sheet of paper in front of Pinkie. It was torn in multiple places, but she had somehow managed to put everything together in no time. “W-what? H-how did you…?” I mumbled, completely baffled. Pinkie simply giggled before looking at her pet sitting on her back. “It wasn’t that bad, besides, Gummy also helped.” I first looked at Gummy, then at Pinkie Pie. I couldn’t tell if she was kidding or not. But I bet the alligator didn’t do a thing to help her. I simply shook my head and looked at the paper she had put together. “If you value the peace and harmony of your little town, I suggest you forget everything you saw.” That's all there was on the paper. No signature or initials. “What is this?” I asked. “Not really sure, but it looks like somepony is trying to blackmail the mayor. This could explain her weird behavior earlier,” Pinkie pondered. It sure could have explained a thing or two. Her drinking, for example. My curiosity about her activities increased by the minute. I wasn’t sure if this had anything to do with me directly, but I wanted to find out what was going on with her. It simply felt like the right thing to do. “You are probably right. So, what do you suggest we do next?” Pinkie looked at me for a moment, considering her options. She probably wanted to ask the mayor about all of this, but we both knew that it could only make things worse. The letter had been quite straightforward with the threat. The mayor was simply doing her best, trying to forget whatever she saw, but it wasn’t working. Especially with Pinkie Pie now snooping around the subject. “Well, maybe we should go back to the alley,” Pinkie suggested. “To the alley? Why?” I asked, confused. “To find more clues, silly ghostie. Besides, we still don’t know anything about that voice you heard,” Pinkie explained and put the paper back to the trash can and arranged it just like it was before. I wasn’t exactly thrilled to go back to the alley, but I guess we had little choice. “Okay. Though, I don’t think the voice is going to help us,” I replied quietly. I was still kind of afraid of it. “It’ll be fine. Now, let’s get out of here before anypony else comes,” Pinkie said and headed to the door. --- Once I had guided Pinkie Pie safely out of the town hall, we headed straight to the alley. The day was busy as usual, but I had an uneasy feeling that we were being watched. I looked around every now and then, but couldn’t see anything suspicious. Pinkie Pie on the other hoof bounced forward without a care in the world. Gummy held on at her mane so he wouldn’t fall off. That was probably the first time I saw Gummy doing something else than licking his eye. We stopped a few hoofsteps away from the alley and Pinkie Pie took her pet and set him on her back. “Now, Gummy, I want you to be brave. There’s nothing scary in this alley, just follow me and you’ll be safe,” she instructed. For a moment, I really thought she was talking to her pet, but then I remembered my new codename. She really thought that I was a total scaredy cat. I might have been just some silly ghost to her, but in my own mind, I was a perfectly normal pony--a perfectly normal pony who just happened to suffer from some kind of a spell that made me invisible and so on. I quickly ditched my current train of thoughts and concentrated on our mission. Pinkie walked to the alley and I followed close behind. We couldn’t see any other ponies around, but I still got the feeling we weren’t alone. The main streets were busy as always, but nopony seemed to use these alleys all that much. Looking around, I realized that this really was the place from the newspaper. So, somepony had actually died here? The Royal Guard had probably already taken everything from the alley as evidence so there wasn’t really much to look at. My fearless pink friend didn’t seem to find anything interesting either. She still had her detective gear up as she examined the walls with her magnifying glass. It actually looked pretty adorable. “Anything, Gummy?” Pinkie asked me. “Nope, not even the voice. I think the Royal Guard has already taken everything there is to take,” I replied. That said, I took a peek at the end of the alley, catching a glimpse of a shadow disappearing behind the corner. Without pondering it any longer, I shot after it. “Wait here, Pinkie!” I shouted over my shoulder. Pinkie simply watched after me as I pursued what I thought was the weird stalker shadowing us ever since we left the town hall. I ran to the end of the alley, taking a left turn, but there was nopony there. I could have sworn I saw somepony, but there was nowhere else to run. The alley simply continued to one of the main streets. I decided to go check it out, but couldn’t see anypony suspicious running away. So I went back to Pinkie Pie. Pinkie awaited me with Gummy, a baffled look on her face. “Did you see something?” she asked. “Well, I thought I saw a shadow at the end of the alley, but couldn’t find anypony. I have this strange feeling of a stalker being after us ever since we left the town hall,” I explained. Pinkie looked at me for a moment before simply giggling. “You were probably imagining it, I could have sensed if somepony was following us.” “You could have… sensed it?” I repeated after her. “Yeah, my Pinkie sense will never fail,” she announced proudly. “Twilight once tried to study me and…” I decided to neglect her nonsense and focused on the alley again. But before I could do so much as turn around, the mysterious voice suddenly spoke to me. “Be careful… He knows… You are not safe...” Despite scaring the crap out of me again, I quickly collected myself and replied to the voice, “Just who are you? What do you want? Who knows and what?” I waited and waited, but the voice didn’t answer. Pinkie stopped her rambling and just stared at me, knowing that I had just heard the voice again. “What did the voice tell you?” Pinkie whispered quietly. “The same thing as last time, to be careful and that somebody knows and that I’m not safe,” I recalled, frustrated. I wasn’t frustrated because I was scared, but because the voice never answered me and that I couldn’t understand what it meant. “Well, was the voice male or female?” Pinkie inquired. I wasn’t actually sure about that. The very first time I heard it, it sounded almost like a female. “Probably a female, can’t say for certain.” “Okay, we should probably get going now. I still have some chores left at Sugarcube Corner,” Pinkie said. “You go ahead, I’ll catch you up later,” I replied. I wanted to have some alone time thinking about everything that had happened today. I wanted to sort my own thoughts and see if that voice was going to come back... --- An hour passed rather quickly, but the mysterious voice had yet to return. To be honest, I was kind of disappointed. The voice was the only thing beside Pinkie Pie who could actually talk to me. I had been scared of it at first, but I still wanted to hear it one more time. However, it was starting to get late and I didn’t want Pinkie Pie to worry about me, so I decided to get up and go back to Sugarcube Corner. My thoughts were still a mess, but I wasn’t that frustrated anymore. I thought about the article and the fact that there had been a body. Could it really have been me? Why did I woke up there and not the place I was buried? Where was I buried in the first place? I almost wanted to go look for a cemetery, but before I could process the thought any further, I stopped. I stopped because I noticed a hooded pony standing in front of the Sugarcube Corner. It looked like the pony was peering at the menu at the stand outside, but there was certainly something suspicious about him. I decided to go take a closer look at the pony, but just then, one of the bakery’s windows opened and the pony took off like a startled bird. I sprinted after the mysterious pony who had quite a distance advantage, but I wasn’t going to let him go. He disappeared behind the corner, and by the time I got there, he was nowhere to be found. Was this actually the same pony I saw in the alley? I let out a frustrated yell and marched back to Sugarcube Corner, where a delicious looking cake had appeared on the window board. Walking to the window, I also took a peek inside and saw Pinkie Pie cooking in the kitchen. She quickly spotted me eyeing her delicious creation and then came to the window as well. “Hey, Pinkie. Are you free to talk? I have something to tell you…”