//------------------------------// // Ghosts // Story: Do you believe in ghosts? // by The Infinity Doctor //------------------------------// Dreamcast appeared with a flash, white smoke rising as she dusted herself off. "Did you find her?" Sapphire asked, getting up from her seat next to the unconscious kirin. "Most definitely" she responded "it was quite an interesting trip" "Is she alright?" "Oh yes, perfectly healthy in terms of her mind." Midnight's chest heaved up and down with every breath, her wings folded to the side as she slept. "Yeah...the nurse said her injuries might take her a while to heal...she took a lot of damage from that hydra..." "Indeed, the love of a mother is a force to be reckoned with, her wrath even moreso" Sapphire nodded as she sat back down, adjusting herself as she did. "So...she's alright?" she asked. "Still kicking" she confirmed "Where might the little one be?" "She's in the next room, asleep" "Ah, I wouldn't be surprised, it has been quite a long day for her as well" "Yeah..." "Well then...this is a family matter, I wish the three of you good luck" And with that, Dreamcast disappeared from the waking world, her form disappearing in a puff of smoke once more. "I don't think I'll ever understand how she does that..." Sapphire sighed to herself. "Oh...it's you..." Calypso grunted, seated at a small table with Midnight, a deck of cards between them. My gaze shifted to the kirin, who was doing all she could to avoid my eyes. "Do you mind? We're kind of in the middle of something" the draconequus said, motioning to the table. "...leave her alone Cal..." "Pfff, what does it matter? I'm never getting out of here anyway" she said, setting down her hand "Full house" "Doesn't count if you use you're own cards" the kirin said, rolling her eyes. "You're no fun, you know that?" "I'm in a coma, I don't have time for fun" "Yet here you are, playing cards with me" The kirin rolled her eyes once more, collecting the cards. "So...nothing better to do...you wanna play?" the draconequus asked, pointing to Dreamcast. "Who, me?" "Unless there's somepony behind you" The dream-mare sat down at the table, somewhat hesitantly, as Calypso took the deck of cards from Midnight's hooves. "Alright, anypony up for poker?" she asked, literally cutting the deck with a butcher knife she summoned. "How about something simple?" Dreamcast suggested. "Aw, does it have to be?" The draconequus shrugged. "Fair enough, how about 'Go Fish' for our little beginner?" "..." Calypso divided the cards, and set the remaining cards in a pile in the center of the table. "Any reason for the fascination with card games?" Midnight asked, a look of suspicion across her face. "Eh, dice are more my speed, unpredictable outcomes, you understand" "All too well..." Midnight grumbled. "Anyway, what's up with you?" she asked, looking to Dreamcast "Not too often we get visitors" "Just on an errand" she replied "Do either of you have any threes?" "Go fish" "I wonder if my counterpart'll ever find me..." Calypso mused. "Oh Faust...not this again..." Midnight sighed, burying her head in her hooves. "I'm serious! It's a real possibility!" she cried, slamming her cards onto the table. "Am I missing something?" Dreamcast asked. "I have a firm belief that one day- the multiverse will collapse, and one of the other me's will find me" "Uh...hum..." The dream-mare watched as the two continued to bicker, the card game and herself long since forgotten. She stood, and vanished from the landscape, now watching it from the Dreamscape. 'By far...the oddest case of dissociative disorder I have ever seen...' she thought, watching the two.