//------------------------------//
// (CH2) The Following Day... 
// Story: The Diary of a Ghost 
// by TCValley 
//------------------------------//

	Entry: #2
Date: July 9th 

...Dear Diary,

Yesterday flew by after I returned home, like the breeze that cool, happ- ah, screw it. Writing descriptively is irritating. Besides I couldn’t even feel the breeze.

Actually, I don’t think there was one.

...I'll just leave weather to the pegasi.

See, when you’re a ghost, days feel like they move much faster. Even so, I didn’t do all that much after yesterday’s entry. I did manage to ask Twilight about her ghost-touch spell (which she gave some impossibly long name, like spiritual materialization or something, and I pretended I cared so she'd cast it), and found out that it does work on cameras. Only problem is, cameras can’t move through walls.

…Stupid physical rules…

Guess the only way to show you their faces would have to be along the lines of scaring Fluttershy. She’s the only one I can think of who would look scared for long enough that I could enter her home through a window or front doorway to take a picture.

...That sentence was really long.

But I’d never scare her. Intentionally. I’m not heartless.

Well, technica- EVERYTHING HAS TO BE DIFFERENT JUST BECAUSE I’M A GHOST.

Still, that’s yesterday. Today seems to be taking a turn in a different direction.

Like down. Straight down.

The six still wanted to go to wherever these “Shivering Mountains” are. Yesterday Twilight, in between helping me out with my camera, was zoning out on a map of Equestria, apparently looking for them.

She talks to herself too. Like, more than seems healthy. It wasn’t hard to pick up on her findings and plans through. Especially since she explicitly stated:

“Aha! I found them! Oh, is the camera still falling through you? Huh…”

And then;

“I’ll call the others to meet outside SugarCube again tomorrow evening! They’ll be so excited! Oh, it’s working now? Great! Anyw- aa-aah! Oww! Beyond! That flash is really bright!”

…What? I wanted to test it!

Anyway, right now, I’m standing behind this burningly neon pink bakery, waiting for the six little adventurers to show up. I’ve been here a good 20 minutes. Still no sign of ‘em. I’m gonna stop writing here, and continue when, or if, they decide to show up.

See you in a minute (hopefully),
Beyond





Entry: #3
Date: July 9th

Dear Diary,

Well.

I closed this book after finishing the above entry, and they all decided to show up just as paper met paper.

To quote myself two entries ago; just my luck.

…I’ll ask Discord to invert a four leaf clover for me later.

Anyway, Twilight showed up first. The other five came pretty quickly afterward. They were all huddled together, shuffling in excitement, saddlebags equipped, and Twilight started telling them about her findings. Well, I’m assuming she was. She was just out of my eavesdropping range.

I did a quick recount, and noticed that only five of them were in the little group. I specifically remembered counting six. 

Lets see…

There was Twilight, Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy…

Oh Lord. Pinkie Pie was missing.

I felt something behind me, breathing on the back of my transparent neck.

I spun around, and my eyes were assaulted by pink.

She was so freaking close to me that it wasn’t even funny.

“HI BEYOND!” she yelled in her ear-killing voice as soon as she saw me turn.

…Who’d have thought that a neon pink pony could be so dang terrifying?

I jumped backwards, and felt my eyes go black for a second. Lightning cracked, touching down a few feet away from her, splintering and charring the dirt path. I blinked, and found her clinging to the roof of the bakery for dear life, eyes larger than possible.

“What the heck was that?!” a not-that-far-away blue pegasus exclaimed.

Dang it, the thunder is always so loud! I need to learn some self-control…

I heard the group of them charging over to where I was standing, so I tried to look as innocent as possible.

And when you’re a ghost, innocence is next to impossible on the achievable appearances list.

“…Beyond? Oh. I guess that makes sense. Who are you throwing lightning at now?” a purple mare inquired, much less enraged than I thought she’d be.

Well, I guess that’s because she didn’t see Pinkie hanging onto the roof for dear life yet.

I just turned my head in the pink mare’s direction, and they looked over at her.

And they immediately turned their attention back to me after seeing her trembling.

“You tried to strike PINKIE with LIGHTNING?! What the HECK is WRONG with you?!” Applejack… didn’t sound happy.

...But I didn't hit her...

“You guys know best,” I tried to stress "guys", to lighten the mood, but I’m pretty sure it didn’t work because of the rolling eyes and glares it got as a response, “that when something scares me, it gets hit with lightning. You can’t blame me for her creeping!”

“We could blame you for Nightmare Moon if we wanted to!” Rainbow shouted, looking like she wanted to hit me. Being a ghost sure does have its perks! “You can’t stop us!”

I felt my eyes get a bit grayer.

“Sorry,” that comment was enough to get her on my nerves, “but what did you say? I can’t stop you? I think you underestimate me,” I glared at her with thundercloud eyes.

You have no idea how weird it feels to have your eyes change colors.

…And in all honesty, when my eyes go black, it feels awesome. Probably because I’m manipulating weather by mood.

Ah, the perks of having the King of Chaos as a friend.

“Rainbow, quit it!” Twilight kicked her again. I chucked. “Pinkie Pie, you ok?” she called up to the baker.

“…That…was…terrifying…Beyond…” she hyperventilated.

...I also think that was the slowest she had spoken in her entire life.

“Look, Pinkie, I’m sorry. You know that you’ll get hit with lightning if you sneak up on me!” I apologized with an iconic twist.

…I’m a ghost. What little pride I have left is retained through indirect apologies, and striking people with lightning.

And sarcasm. Sarcasm is amazing.

You still haven’t tried it? Listen to me.

Stand up. Walk away. Find the nearest person to you, and engage in conversation until an opportunity presents itself. And watch your relationship with sarcasm soar.

But I’m getting off track. Heheh.

She leapt off the top of the bakery, forgave me on her way down, tried to land on me, failed miserably.

…They really need to try to remember that I’m a ghost. The white eyes should give it away. Honestly.

I would have helped her up, but that actually wouldn’t have helped at all either, so Fluttershy launched herself over and helped the pink pony up.

“So, what are you doing here anyway, darling? You said no so many times I thought you might never leave your house again,” Rarity dramatized.

Again. 

Darling.

...Really.

“I figured I’d drop by and see you all off, good luck and all that wonderful... stuff...” I tried. 

Ok, ok, I get it!

I’m not that good at improvisation. 

Cut me some slack.

Geez.

“O…k…” It sounded like they bought it.

“So, I’m gonna be going. I wanted to talk to Discord about some stuff…” I half lied, slowly moving away from them. “Oh, and sorry again, Pinkie.”

“Oh, it’s ok! You didn’t actually hit me!” she somehow smiled.

“Oh he didn’t? I thought he did by how scared y…” their voices faded as I trotted away.

I needed to tail them without them seeing, and without their alarm, Pinkie Pie, noticing me. Difficult... She seemed to notice when I was on the ground. I could fly… No. No flying. If I ran into Polaris, I would lose them. He wouldn’t leave me alone.

…Not the ground, not the sky…

Rooftops?

Rooftop running? What kind of idiot was I? Why would I think jumping from the top of one person’s house to another would be smart?


Dunno. I did it anyway.

…I may have cheated by flight to get to the top of the first building, but trust me, I didn’t fly again after that.

I was crouching on top of… whatever building that was…

No… wait… I remember that building… barely…

Oh. Wait. It was my house.

Good Lord, I need to get Twilight’s help for my memory.

…Now what was I saying?

Oh yeah. They had moved far enough away from the bakery that I could keep an eye on them without being seen. I hoped. I counted heads, up to six, and breathed a sigh of relief. Pinkie was present.

They were chatting idly, I think, as they walked past me. I could barely hear ‘em.

…Well, they were walking on the wrong side of the road. Or the left side. My house was on the right.

…I never said that, did I?

But again, I’m straying. They trotted past my home, leaving me unnoticed. As they continued, I slowly followed them from roof to roof. I actually had to jump through a few trees too.

I'm glad leaves just phase through me.

I find it odd that all six of them just decided to leave everything in one day, just to see if some little golden cloud bearing some screwed up inscription is telling the truth.

I think the thing is made of chocolate, and everyone is just overreacting.

I bet it’s tasty…

*Ahem* Anyway, when they finally left Ponyville, I followed them at a massive distance on the ground, praying that the pink sentry wouldn’t find me.

I swear, she has x-ray vision for spirits or something.

They were moving along, talking, Rainbow hovering, Twilight reading a map, Applejack asking why they were moving so slowly, Pinkie SCANNING EVERYTHING, Rarity digging through her saddlebag (probably for sunglasses or a scarf), and Fluttershy at the back, head down in… tiredness. I guess.

…Her house is kind of infested with animals. That’d keep me up.

But then and again, I don’t sleep. I just go out and invade dreams, and watch, or manipulate if I feel like I should.

Princess Luna actually caught me once, and tried to punish me, but I’m a ghost. I just phased through everything, so nothing she tried worked.

Apparently she didn’t know about Twilight’s spiritual materialization spell.

Conveniently.

I’m straying again... (Well, excuuuuuse me.)

Rainbow tried to ease the boredom, or show off (one of the two, I'm assuming the latter) by swooping upward (does that phrase make sense?) and doing a sort of corkscrew barrel-roll type maneuver, before attempting to come back down gracefully, instead crashing into Applejack.

There was a bit of arguing, which Twilight interrupted.

She’s done that twice today…

Oops.

Heheh.

She spoke for a little while, and I’m assuming she was telling everyone that they ought to settle down where they were, since immediately after she was done speaking, Fluttershy more or less collapsed, and none of the others looked concerned. They stopped travelling on a rather abandoned, dusty, desert-looking pathway, surrounded by what looked like sand. Or just really dry dirt.

Hang on. I’ll check.

Ugh! That’s sand.

Euch.

...They all eventually settled down, and I found a nice rock to relax on, which I’m actually on right now.

And I’m really tired of writing. I’ve been doing this for a good 40 minutes.

Wouldn’t you be tired? *coughsayyescough*.

Good.

So, I’m gonna go. Don’t worry; I’ll write another entry for tomorrow.

Ok, signing off,
Beyond

P.S.: Don’t eat sand, you idiot!