Silver Spirit, Ghost of Equestria.

by Powerdrainer

Prologue. Better Safe Than Sorry, Right?

It was a day like any other. Sunshine, a gentle breeze, and birds singing from every branch of every tree. It was a perfect day for any pony to relax, have fun, and enjoy the day. Unfortunately for the room full of fillies and colts, school had only just begun, and they still had many hours of long, boring learning ahead of them.

Of course, their teacher, the joyful pony named Cheerilee, took it upon herself to make each and every class as enjoyable as possible. But, as was, and would always be the case. The young ponies under her care all sat slumped behind their desks, bored out of their minds. 

One pony in particular, a filly named Sweetie Belle, sat with her hoof underneath her head, staring absentmindedly out of the window to her side, only listening with half an ear to what her teacher was telling them. She, as well as her two best friends and fellow crusaders, were still thinking about the events of last night. After all, it wasn't everyday that you were almost eaten by a manticore, only to be saved by your older sister and friends. No, that only happened once or twice every two weeks, not every day.

She thought and thought, but couldn't figure out what had gone wrong. She and her friends, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, were only trying to earn their Cutie Marks in manticore catching. She was sure that they would have succeeded too, if the manticore hadn't woken up and started to hunt them down. It was fortunate that Rainbow Dash had managed to find them, and put up a fight with the enraged animal. It was less fortunate that the manticore managed to land a blow on her, and knock her out.

What had confused her, though, was what happened to the manticore after that. Glowing green eyes, stumbling around on his paws as if he didn't know how to walk on four legs, and a few more things that didn't seem right. She didn't pay it any mind at the time, as she was just relieved that she hadn't become a late night snack. Now though, thinking back to it, she couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to all of this.

"Sweetie Belle!" Cheerilee called out.

Her hoof slipped out from underneath her head, and a loud thud sounded throughout the class as her head had an unexpected meet and greet with her school desk, much to the amusement of the rest of the foals in the class. Especially to the two school bullies, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

"Sweetie Belle, would you please repeat what I just said."

"...Ehhh..." came the sheepish reply as she tried to remember what it was that her teacher had just told her.

"Sweetie Belle. You have to pay more attention," Cheerilee said calm, but sternly, "or you will fail this class."

"Yes Miss Cheerilee. I'm sorry Miss Cheerilee." Sweetie replied. 

"Not that it will do her any good," Diamond Tiara said mockingly. "A blank flank like her won't be able to do anything good." which made Silver Spoon snicker behind a hoof.

"Hey, don't call her a blank flank!" Apple Bloom said as she pushed herself up on her desk.

"Yeah, she has ten times more talent than the two of you combined." Scootaloo added, standing up for her friend.

"Really, then why doesn't she have her cutie mark, huh? Unless her talent is in being useless, just like you. Blank flanks." Diamond snarled at the two other fillies that dared to speak back to her.

"GIRLS!" Cheerilee shouted as she stomped her hoof on the floor, making every foal in the room look at her.

"That is no way to talk to each other. Diamond Tiara, I want you to apologize to them for calling them a blank flank."

"But Mi—"

"No buts young lady," she cut her off, giving her a stern look. "Apologize, now!"

Grumbling under her breath, Diamond Tiara muttered an apology to her classmates.

"What was that!?" Cheerilee said, not liking the mumbling.

"I'm sorry," Diamond repeated through gritted teeth, forelegs crossed over her chest.

Sighing out while shaking her head, Cheerilee looked at the troublesome filly. 

"I suppose that's the best we can expect," she said, the disappointment noticeable in her voice, which didn't seem to faze Diamond Tiara in the slightest.

"And you three," she resumed as she looked at Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, "I don't want you to disturb the lesson either, understood?"

"Yes Miss Cheerilee," sounded the trio of voices. 

Giving an acknowledging nod, Cheerilee turned her back to the class as she resumed her lesson, pointing at the information on the board.

"Stupid blank flanks," Diamond grumbled under her breath, just loud enough for Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo to hear it. The three shot her a glare, but were unable to call her out on it, as Cheerilee hadn't heard her. A fact Diamond was well aware of, if her mocking smirk was any indication.

"One day," Sweetie thought, "One day we'll get back at you."

The bell rung, and a dozen hyperactive ponies ran out of the classroom, yelling and laughing as they were finally free from their boring obligations. Sweetie Belle, too, was elated to finally be out of that cramped classroom, but for entirely different reasons than most of her other classmates. No, she was just glad to finally be able to put some distance between herself and Diamond Tiara, and her ever present shadow called Silver Spoon. 

She, along with her two friends, were quick to leave their school for another afternoon filled with crusading, always trying the next new thing to earn their Cutie Marks. This time, however, things were a bit different. Or, they were more of the same. After last night's stunt, they weren't allowed to do anything that could be placed in their trademark yell: Cutie Mark Crusader, we’re grounded, YAY!

So, with the entire afternoon free to them, but nothing to do, they faced a problem that they normally only faced during their classes, or if Miss Twilight held one of her lectures. They were bored. Sure, they could do all those games all the other kids around were doing. Play a game of hoofball, or some hide and seek, or even those video games that colt Button Mash liked so much, and who Sweetie Belle might have a crush on, although she wouldn't admit to such a thing in front of her friends. But all those things were normal things to do, and the word normal does not exist in the crusaders dictionary. If there was anything that would give them their Cutie Marks, it would be so over the top awesome, so super ultra amazingly wonderifically incredible that they would talk about it for years to come. And not something normal.

So, with a sigh, the three sat down under the shadow of a lone tree found at the path leading to their home town, Ponyville.

"So what do we do now?" Applebloom asked, sighing, her ribbon hanging limply in her hair.

"I don't know? We aren't allowed to do anything to earn our Cutie Marks," Scootaloo said, falling on her back, and kicking her legs in the air.

"We can't really blame them, can we?" Sweetie Belle said with a downtrodden tone, remembering last night’s events again.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at her, trying to come up with some reply, but were unable to, as they knew she was right.

"But then what do we do? We can't go crusading, or my big sis will make me buck all the apple trees in the orchard by myself."

"You think that's bad? My sister would make me model for her all day long," Sweetie Belle said with a shudder.

"And Rainbow Dash will probably say she is disappointed in me," Scootaloo said with fear in her voice, which made the other two look at her with flat expressions.

"Riiigghhhtt," Apple Bloom deadpanned. "Which brings us back to what I said to begin with. What do we do now?"

She only got a shrug in response from Scootaloo. Sweetie Belle, however, seemed lost in thought. 

"HELLOOO! Ponyville to Sweetie Belle," Apple Bloom said as she waved a hoof before her face, snapping her friend out of whatever thought she was having.

"Huh, what?" Sweetie said confused as she looked at her friend.

"Are you alright? You've been kinda out there all day," Apple Bloom asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about what happened last night, that's all," she replied.

"What's there to think about?" Scootaloo said grumbling, "We were almost eaten by a manticore, and it ran away after Rainbow Dash showed it who's boss."

"Riight," Apple Bloom said with an eyeroll, "and Rainbow being knocked out, and unable to fight the manticore has nothing to do with you being Miss Sunshine."

"Hey, it wasn't Rainbow's fault that he managed to knock her down. The manticore must have cheated somehow," Scootaloo said, raising her voice in defense of her idol.

"The manticore cheated… How?" Apple Bloom asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"Ow, come on. You saw it too. The glowing green eyes and such. I know he did something to give himself an edge."

"He?" Apple Bloom said, cocking her head to the side. "I didn't know the manticore was a he."

"He, she. Whatever. The thing is that he cheated." 

"That's just ridiculous. How would he even do that? " Apple Bloom asked.

"I don't know," Scootaloo admitted as she deflated a bit, "but I am sure something was going on with him. Right, Sweetie Belle?" 

Both of them turned to look at their unicorn friend, and saw she was once more lost in thought. Giving her a light tap on the head, Scootaloo was able to bring Sweetie Belle back to the fair land of Equestria.

"Right?" she repeated.

"Eh, sure," Sweetie answered unsure, not having payed any attention to what her friends were talking about.

"There you have it, I win," Scootaloo said triumphantly.

"Sure you did, Scootaloo," came the unimpressed reply.

Shaking her head, Apple Bloom turned to look at Sweetie Belle, who was drifting away into her own thoughts again.

"Sheesh, Sweetie. What is it with you?" she asked, giving her friend a scrutinizing glance.

"Nothing, nothing. It's just that… Well, you know those green glowing eyes the manticore had last night?" she asked her two friends. Earning an eyeroll from Apple Bloom, as she was talking about the same thing Scootaloo was, and an eager nod from said pegasus for the same reason.

"Yeah, what about it?" Apple Bloom asked.

"It's just that, I think I've heard about something like that before."

"Wait! What?" both her friends shouted.

"But I'm not sure. I just have this nagging suspicion, nothing more," Sweetie Belle quickly countered, almost being pushed backwards from the two ponies leaning towards her.

"How do you mean? Where did you hear something like that?" Scootaloo asked eagerly, almost obsessive.

"I- I'm not sure."

"Well, what else comes to mind? Maybe that will help you remember," offered Apple Bloom who, although more restricted than Scootaloo, was also becoming eager to find out what her friend knew.

"Hmmm..." Sweetie Belle hummed while rubbing her chin with a hoof, "I think… I think I heard my sister say something about it shortly after the royal wedding."

"Yeah, go on," Scootaloo said, urging her friend on.

"Hmmm. I think it was something like this."

"Eugh, those nasty changelings, and their almost glowing eyes. Especially that queen of theirs, with her glowing green eyes. It almost looked like she was a ghost."

Silence. 

"A ghost?!" Scootaloo and Apple Bloom said in unison, staring at their friend with a blank look.

Sweetie Belle looked back at her friends, who slowly turned to look at each other. The gears in their heads starting to turn as they slowly began to realize what it was that Sweetie Belle had said, and what it might mean.

"Glowing green eyes," Scootaloo said slowly, staring into the distance.

"Stumbling on four legs," Apple Bloom continued, eyes equally unfocused.

"And those green flashes in the dark," Sweetie Belle finished.

Their eyes met, and their pupils grew in size with their shared realization.

"It was a ghost!"

The three of them said loudly, drawing some attention to themselves from the passing ponies, but they were too excited to notice. 

"We have to find it," Scootaloo said excitedly. "We could earn our ghost hunting Cutie Marks!"

"No wait!" Apple Bloom yelled, and she grabbed her friend by the tail before she could run off. "We're not allowed to do any crusading, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," Scootaloo sighed, deflating a bit.

"But that doesn't mean we can't work with it some other way," Sweetie said, rubbing her chin in thought.

"What do you mean? How would we do that?" Scootaloo asked, suddenly full of energy again with the prospect of bending the rules, and allowing them to go crusading again.

"Okay, just hear me out here," she said, and took a deep breath, for what she was about to suggest was something neither one of them would do on a voluntary basis, unless there was something to gain from it. "We know next to nothing about ghosts, and if this really is one, then we need to know as much we can, or we will probably just end up hanging from some tree branch covered in tree sap."

"I guess that makes sense," Apple Bloom said thoughtful, "but how does that help us?"

"It doesn't, what I'm trying to say is that we need to..." she took a deep breath and, swallowing the lump in her throat, said, "study."

"WHAT!" Scootaloo shouted, looking at Sweetie Belle as if she had gone crazy.

"Just listen to me, please?" Sweetie pleaded as she held out her hoof towards Scootaloo, urging her to calm down. "I don't like it any more than you do, but I really, really don't want to take any chances on this one. Or I might end up doing modeling work for Rarity for a month. No, I'm sure that Twilight has a book or something about ghosts in her library, maybe we can find something in there. Maybe even how to catch a ghost, that would be useful, wouldn't it?"

"I guess," Scootaloo said, hesitantly. Not liking the idea all that much, but being unable to come up with a counter argument.

"Just let me get this straight," Apple Bloom said, shooting an inquiring glance at her friend. "You want to spend the free time we have inside some stuffy old library learning?"

"No I don- Ehh, I guess so. But only this one time, just to be sure what we are dealing with," Sweetie Belle was forced to admit. "Just think of it like this. Maybe we come up with even more ways to earn our Cutie Marks," she quickly added, hoping to win her friends over.

"I guess it makes sense," Apple Bloom muttered as she kicked the ground, "but only this time, right?"

"Right," Sweetie Belle confirmed with a nod.

Looking at her two friends, Scootaloo already knew where this was going, and that she didn't have much of a say in it, seeing as her friends had already made up their minds.

"Fine," she grumbled in forced agreement, not looking forward to a day with her muzzle stuffed in some boring old book, "but only this time!"

"Of course, only this time," Sweetie confirmed with a happy smile to her friend as they began their quest for knowledge, and started walking to the library. "After all, it's better to be safe than sorry, right?"

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo shared an uneasy glance between each other, hoping those words wouldn't come back to bite them in the flank.

And, together, the three of them made their way to Ponyville. Hoping to find their destiny, and their Cutie Marks.