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// Is being dead really all that bad? 
// Story: Afterlife 
// by tut895 
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(RainbowDash)

I angle myself so that I can slow down, and give my wings a powerful flap to stop myself. Apparently I still have to obey the laws of motion. I descend onto a cloud that's positioned below me so I can rest on it.

My mother would always tell me to look for the good things about something bad when it concerns me, and it usually helps, so I decide to  list out the bright sides of being a ghost a shot.

First: I don't feel any physical pain, allowing me to crash an infinite amount of times and just shrug it off.

Second: I can possess others, which could potentially make some good pranks.

Third: I could phase through objects, so I don't have to be bothered with doors and the like.I roll over, forgetting that I'm on a cloud and scream. Instead of plummeting to the ground like usual, I just float there without flapping my wings, still at the same elevation as I was on top of the cloud.

"Fourth: I'm not affected by gravity," I say to myself while rolling my eyes, feeling stupid that I could forget the obvious,"So I could just descend or ascend whenever I want? Being dead does have its perks" Unfortunately, it has much more downsides. I fly off, starting towards Ponyville, and crack a smile as I realize something.

"Five: My energy is limitless." I say, realizing that after one flap I had created a Sonic Rainboom; looks like I can find some reprieve in death.

I land on the ground in front of Twilight's house and stumble. I guess I'm still not used to being unaffected by friction and other forces.

I phase through the door, as is my constant way of entering a building, and start looking through the section of the fiction books. I'm not too sure why I am doing so, but for some reason I feel like I can still pick up small objects like the new Daring Do book that came out yesterday. I really just need something to take my mind off of all the insanity my life has gone through in the past few hours.

Realizing what I just thought, I look out Twilight's window, and notice that it's dusk, and I don't know if I should sleep at my house, where without a doubt Scootaloo would be worrying about me, or just stay here where nopony knows I'm dead yet.

I find the new Daring Do book and grab it; what I probably should've mentioned earlier, is that in order to go through something, I have to put enough power into my stride that I end up grunting the whole way through; so with the book I just end up grabbing it.
I turn the book in my hooves to look at the cover: Daring Do and the Missing Crescent. This seems like a good read, so I put it in my mouth and, with a powerful flap, lift myself off the ground and put it on top of the shelf, knowing that Twilight won't be able to notice that it's missing easily.

Speaking of Twilight, the winged unicorn in question came through the door, her head was hanging low and her body was slumped as she walked upstairs; she had bags under her eyes and was yawning a few times as she made her way up the stairs.

"Man, looking for those keys really took the energy out of me," she says to a sleeping Spike, who I can tell is trying hard to go back to a dream he had probably been enjoying, "None of the books in any library even mentioned anything about the Tree of Harmony."

Spike grumpily opens and squints his eyes at Twilight."Can't I just get a full night's sleep?" Spike complained to Twilight, who had drifted off mumbling about the chest she's always been obsessing over as of late.

"You know that these days, nopony can. Most of them just sit around and think about 'the meaning of life' or something."

Spike merely rolled his eyes and goes back to trying to return to his dreamland, while Twilight busied herself by double checking her books. Her eyes lock on to the empty slot where the new Daring Do book was supposed to be, and she immediately started looking for it, her eyes darting everywhere for any sign of the aforementioned book.

"Spike did you take the new Daring Do book?" Twilight asks.

"No, Twilight," Spike asks in a slightly malicious tone, "I don't even like to read those books."

Twilight just sighs and says, "I guess Rainbow couldn't wait for me to come back from Applejack's to get the book and had just taken off with it."

I look back to where the book is and decide to leave it for now. I fly out the open window next to Twilight and into the night sky. It's a shame I can't feel the cool breeze or the wind whipping in my ear anymore, those were some of my favorite sensations when I was still alive.

I land in front of Fluttershy's cottage, and for a change, I phase through the wall into the dining room. The table has been set up nicely with candles and a salad towards one side closest to the doorway. The walls are white except for an accent wall which is green, and filled with pictures of her animals, which was almost creepy to look at.

Fluttershy walks through the doorway on to the orange carpet, and sits down in front of the salad bowl. Without hesitation, she starts eating the salad like a her bear does with fish. I decide to not watch her eat like an animal and opted instead to just float to the front hallway. From there I go up the stairs and into her bedroom.

Angel is sleeping on a pillow, and for once the little demon looks peaceful. It's almost as if he hasn't been harming Fluttershy all these years. Almost. Feeling in the mood for a little prank, I decide to possess Angel's body. I jump into him, but this time his soul doesn't put up much of a fight.

Note: it's easier to posses others when they're sleeping. Seems reasonable.
Another note: while possessing something alive, I get all of it's feelings. As I fully possess angel, I get a sociopathic feeling to hurt something, or somepony. So this is why Angel hurts Fluttershy.
Anyways, I start climbing my way up Fluttershy's dresser until I'm at a good enough angle to leap out of the window next to Fluttershy's bed. Remembering the time during cider season when I came crashing through it, I know it opens outward. So if I just put enough force into it I should be able to crash through it in one leap.

I jump, and as expected, the window crashes open. I feel the cool breeze run through my fur, and it feels great to finally be able to experience these sensations again, until I realized that I didn’t have any wings, and the fact that I'm now falling.

I hit the ground with a thump, and a small amount of pain nips at my paws. I guess pain is still present when I'm possessing another. I shake my little paws to stave off the pain, then hop my way to the Everfree, running through the well kept grass, which is surprisingly less itchy than usual.

I reach the Everfree, and begin looking at the treeline, thinking about if I should dump angel's body high in a tree or deep into the treeline. I leap deeper into the treeline, hoping to find a good spot that would make Angel panic.

I dive into the treeline, and find a nice thorny bush that looks perfect. I jump into the bush, but escape Angel's body just in time for him to make contact with it.

I hear tiny bunny screams as Angel kicks thorns away and walks out of the bush, picking brambles out of his fur. I can't help but chuckle as I watch Angel trip and fall back into the bush.
I go out of the treeline and back through the path, but as I exit the forest I see something rather strange. An orange figure sitting in the middle of the road; definitely something new. With nothing else better to do, I decide to investigate.

I approach the orange figure, and notice that there's purple hair protruding from the front and back of it. I get a bit closer to the lump and realize it's Scootaloo.

Scootaloo is just sitting there, in the middle of the road, sleeping. Does she already know that I'm dead, and is sleeping outside so she could get used to being homeless again?
Scootaloo's eyes are closed tight and her fur is matted under her eyes. Had she been crying? She's breathing through her mouth heavily; she probably had just got done sobbing. Now that I know Scootaloo is sitting here and not at home, I decide to make her life easier.

I possess her, and am immediately filled with a deep sadness. The kind of sadness from the loss of a loved one, like your grandmother's death.

I make use of her wings and fly her toward our house. Once there, I lay down on Scootaloo's bed and exit her body. Once I left, she wakes up with a start. She looks surprised to be in her bed, and it seems that she might be contemplating if it was all just a dream, or if she had just mindlessly flew home. She knows that she wouldn't be able to do that though. Hopefully she'll think that it was a dream for now.

I fly away, phasing through her wall that was leading to the outside. I look down to the ground, and immediately regretted it.

On a bench just south of my house, I see a mare lying there. Curious, I float toward her. She seems sick, and her ghost is starting to pull away from her body. I don't want to deal with another death just yet. Instinctively, I put my hoof on her forehead, and I feel that she definitely has a fever. Somehow, after touching her for a few seconds her ghost recedes back into her body, and she immediately seems to look better. Oh right, icy touch of the dead.

Getting a better look at her, I find out that she's a pegasus. Her left wing is broken, but unlike mine, it's been bandaged. She must be homeless since she isn't in the hospital. She has green fur, and an orange mane, in a sort of Wonderbolts crew cut fashion.

realizing who the mare that's deathly ill before me is.

"Lightning Dust?" I gasped. She just shivers, and falls asleep. Is this really what I did when I got her expelled from the Wonderbolts academy? What happened to her?

I fly away, hoping I never have to know the pain I must have caused her. Why does everything have to go wrong in just one day?


I find a nice cloud and rest on it, not that I can feel it anymore. I look up to admire Luna's night sky. She had definitely outdone herself tonight. The stars are cast in a beautiful array, forming one of the many constellations my mother had once told me about: Equueleus.

The moon is full tonight, I'm sure to Luna's sentiment. I lay on my back and gaze at the moon until I fall asleep, wondering if ghosts could dream.

Special thanks to beatbox9988 for editing this chapter along with my usual editor. I owe you a huge thanks mate.