Party Time!
Trees. Lots of them. Like, all the trees, right in front of me. The Everfree Forest, to be exact. I had seen it before, but I had never really gone in. I suppose when I think about it, I hadn’t really left Ponyville at all since I had arrived. The idea never seemed to have occurred to me, there was no need to. Not like anywhere else in this pony-land could be any better after all.
Also, the only other place I’d heard mentioned was called Canterlot. No, thank you, I am actively trying to avoid the horse puns.
However, I found myself in a bit of a bind. My choices came down to fleeing into this giant forest and never see these ponies again, or going to the pink one’s party to try and socialize.
“Socializing,” I shuddered, “I thought I was rid of that.” I never enjoyed having to spend time around too many people at once. It was simply too much hassle, trying to keep all these people in mind and not offend anyone.
I know, lord forbid that I ever do anything offensive. I used to care about social norms and practices too, you know!
I took a deeper look at the forest, what was likely to be my new home. I didn’t see much from where I was. Lots of trees, mostly. Some other various plants, a squirrel once or twice. “Yup,” I said to myself, “That sure is a forest alright.”
Shrugging, I took a step towards the Everfree. Away from Ponyville and it’s special brand of insanity. Away from the only familiar place I had in all of Equestria. Away from all my little games and rituals. Away from the horror of having to attend a party thrown by a pony.
Away from the only living thing that I had spoken to in months.
I shook my head vigorously. “No,” I scolded myself, looking down. “It would just turn out to be a shit-storm anyways. You don’t want to deal with that girl.”
I looked back up and took my first steps into the Everfree Forest. As soon as my ghostly foot fell past the first tree, I heard a great, booming roar. It echoed throughout the trees and plants, and washed over me like a loudspeaker at a concert. In fact, if I weren’t a ghost I am pretty sure my hair would have been blown back.
“On second thought, maybe I will go to that party. If it does go bad I can still run away afterwards.” I spun on my heel and calmly walked away at a brisk pace.
I did not run. No sir, not me. Besides, it’s not like anything could hurt a ghost like me. Nope, I wasn’t scared in the least.
“Well, looks like I can’t escape the pink after all.” I sighed, kicking one foot at a stone. It didn’t budge. Grumbling, I stuffed my hands into my pockets as I walked back into Ponyville proper. Looking to the clear sky with exasperation, I added “Why did she have to be pink though? Why the pink one?”
I swear I heard laughing in the distance. The sky cared not for my petty troubles, it seemed.
Rubbing my eyes, as pointless as it was, I shook my head and kept moving. I had some time to kill and moping around in the middle of the town wasn’t on my list of things to do today. That was a few days ago, just after yet another failed suicide attempt. I’m glad everyone reading this knows I’m a ghost, otherwise that sentence would likely come off as rather… alarming, to say the least.
As I ambled along, I found myself in a park. It didn’t seem all that special, but at the least I could have a seat and enjoy my new favorite pastime. Everyone can enjoy a little people watching from time to time. Or, well, pony watching as the case may be. I flopped down onto a wooden bench, stretching my arms upwards and out, settling them on the back on the bench and crossing my legs. Turning my head, I saw a pony sitting on the bench next to me.
I sniffed and jerked my head upwards a little. “‘Sup?”
The pony, a rather plain brown stallion, didn’t respond.
“Well that’s just rude is what that is.”
And so my day passed, sitting on a park bench, waiting for what I assumed to be my inevitable doom by partying.
The sun had nearly set, lighting the sky in orange and the dark blue of the night. Standing quickly, I placed my hands on my back and stretched out.
“Time to go then, my friends,” I said to a pair of ponies trotting by. They didn’t respond.
“Yeah, well, at least I don’t have a chair tattooed on my ass!” I shouted as they remained oblivious. With a sigh, I dropped the pretense that anyone could actually hear me. As much fun as it was getting to insult ponies at my leisure, it did get old after a while. Only so many ways you can make fun of a horse until you start repeating yourself, after all.
I stuffed my hands in my pockets and began walking towards the bakery, and the party within. I had to wonder to myself how she managed to set up a party for a ghost like me. I had of course seen a few of her parties in the past, they were rather hard to miss. I assumed this party would be at least somewhat similar to those, lots of childish decorations, with cake and punch and all that.
I shuddered, “Dear god, no.”
Or maybe the only pony there would be herself. She was throwing a party for a ghost after all, so maybe she only invited other ghosts. Of which I could only assume there were none. That wouldn’t be so bad actually, I’d only have to put up with a single pony. Even if that pony was Pinkie Pie.
“I really must be at the end of my rope to actually be going to this thing.” I looked up at the evening sky, and shook my head slightly. I picked up the pace a bit, knowing that I should at least try to play nice with the one and only pony I could talk to.
Before I knew it, I was there. Standing outside of the ridiculous not-gingerbread house, I saw lights on, and I could hear the jumbled sounds of a party. It was time alright, time to face my inevitable end. Or, well, a mildly unpleasant experience at the least.
I stepped up to the door and grabbed the handle, holding still for just a second. I took a deep breath, and turned the knob. Or so I thought. When I moved my arm and the door didn’t move, I remembered an important part of my condition.
“Doors,” I grumbled, “My mortal enemy.” I was honestly disgruntled for a moment before I realized that if I couldn’t get inside, I had a valid excuse not to attend the party.
I made a quick about face and started walking away, whistling a little tune and doing my best to act nonchalant. I didn’t get to deal with the pink pone tonight after all, lucky me. Even if I did have to reassure myself that I was sincerely happy to get away.
I was not far from the bakery when I heard the door open and light from inside flooded over me. I froze in place, and turned around slowly.
“There you are!” she said in her high pitched voice. “I almost thought you weren’t coming until I saw you at the window! Then I saw you start to walk away and I got really sad for a bit until I remembered that ghosts can’t open doors and I was all like ‘Silly Pinkie! You almost kept out the guy you threw the party for!’ so I came and opened the door real quick so you could come in!”
I stared at her and blinked, slowly catching up to the breakneck pace at which she spoke. I stammed out a few incomplete words and gestured behind me, before realizing it was hopeless. I hunched forward a bit before stiffening my back and marching inside to take my licks like a real man.
Once I was inside, Pinkie closed the door and held out a hoof towards me. “Here he is, everypony!” she shouted to the whole room, “Charlie, the ghost!”
The ponies all stared at me, confused and in some casing smiling a little bit as if they’d heard a joke. None of their gazes met my eyes though, since to them I wasn’t there after all.
I stared back, and feeling an old social reflex I slowly rose one hand and waved. “Um, hello there.” None of them responded, they only stared my way for a few seconds more before shaking their heads and going back to the party.
“Huh,” Pinkie scratched her chin, “I honestly thought you’d make a bigger splash than that. Oh well! I’m gonna go make sure everyone is having fun, you just go make friends, okay Charlie?”
“Um, sure, you do that Pinkie.” I replied, uncertain of what to really do. It seemed that she had forgotten that no one else could see me. The pony was off in a pink blur before I could say anything else, and I found myself surrounded by ponies who couldn’t see or hear me.
“What else is new?” I muttered, walking over to a table laden with drinks and desserts. At least I could always appreciate a good cake, even if I couldn’t actually eat it. I noticed then that all of the treats on the table were in the shape of cartoonish ghosts. Exactly like one might see on earth, floating sheets with two black circles for eyes. The only difference was they had muzzles just like a pony would.
“I don’t know whether or not to be insulted by this,” I muttered, watching as a couple of earth pony mares came up and grabbed a slice of the ghost-cake.
“You know,” one mare said to the other, taking a small bite of her cake, “If Pinkie wanted to throw a party, she didn’t need to make up an excuse. And the way she introduced the ghost like it was actually here, I think she may have finally lost it.”
“I think you’re right,” the other replied, “What kind of name is Charlie anyways? That mare needs to stop being such a weirdo.”
“Well, at least her angel food cake is still good.” The two mares walked off laughing to each other, and I felt somewhat ill at ease.
I may not have liked the bubbly pony, but Pinkie Pie seemed nice. I narrowed my eyes at the two, and grumbled darkly. It seemed girls were just as back stabbing on this world as they were on Earth.
“Hey!” I jumped at the now familiar voice of Pinkie Pie, “What’s with the grumpy face? Don’t you like the party?”
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Pinkie Pie,” I said, still not looking up, “You do remember that I am a ghost right? And that none of these people can see or hear me?”
With a massive gasp that literally lifted her off of her feet, Pinkie Pie exclaimed “Oh my gosh! I am so sorry! I totally forgot, I’ve never thrown a party for a ghost before!” She looked around in a hurry before dashing off into the mass of ponies again. I didn’t get even a second to breathe before she returned, this time with a passenger in tow.
“Pinkie Pie,” the white unicorn she was pushing along said, “I must insist you stop this! Where are you taking me anyways?”
“I’m sorry Rarity, it’s just you really need to meet my new friend here! You’re really good at meeting new people, almost as good as me, and I really need the best for this one!” Pinkie responded, pushing Rarity along with her head.
“Yes, well, darling, if you wanted me to meet somepony new you only had to ask! All of this pushing and shoving was entirely unnecessary.” The two stopped next to me, and the unicorn gently brushed her coat with a hoof, “Now, where is this pony?”
“He’s right here, Rarity, and he’s not a pony,” Pinkie Pie gestured to me, “He’s a, uh… what are you again?” She turned to look at me.
“I’m a human,” I slowly replied, doing my best not to seem too displeased. It was weird trying to fit back into the old social norms, and my brows were likely still furrowed at the sight of the fashion horse.
“The most girly one of them all,” I thought to myself, “Figures she’d pick this one.”
“He’s a human, and a ghost,” Pinkie explained to her friend, “This is Charlie, the po-er person I threw the party for.”
“Oh, er,” Rarity stammered, looking at the blank space that was me, “Charmed?”
“Pinkie, what exactly do you expect me to do here?” I raised an eyebrow at her, “It’s not like we can talk to each other.”
“I know, silly, that’s why I’m here! I’ll be your translator, from ghosty-ese to Equestrian! I’ll just repeat anything you say and that way you can talk to ponies. Easy as pie! Pinkie Pie, to be exact!” Pinkie giggled a little at her own joke, and I rolled my eyes. A thought struck my though as Rarity began to give her friend a somewhat alarmed look.
“So, Pinkie, you’ll repeat everything I say?” I asked her.
“Yup! Just leave it to me, you’ll make new friends in no time!” Pinkie puffed her chest out in pride.
“Right,” I smirked, “Okay then. Repeat this.”
What came next is not something I should repeat again. It was likely the longest string of expletives I had ever uttered, lacking any real structure, simply going for the most massive offensiveness I could achieve. In the back of my mind I knew I shouldn’t antagonize the closest thing I had to a friend, but I couldn’t help myself. The opportunity was simply too good.
As the crass and despicable words came out of my mouth, Pinkie’s expression slowly morphed from excitement to horror as I continued. By the end, her mouth had almost literally hit the floor, her ears had fully flattened against her head, and the blush on her cheeks was threatening to envelop her whole face.
I stood back and smirked, while Rarity slowly reached a hoof over and touched Pinkie Pie’s shoulder. “Darling, is everything alright?” she asked.
With a loud snap Pinkie’s mouth shut entirely, and she began vigorously shaking her head up and down. “Yup, everything is fine! Nothing at all wrong here! My ghost friend didn’t just say the nastiest thing I ever heard! No sirree! Nope! But I do need a short word with him, we’ll be right back!”
With that, Pinkie Pie once again managed to shake my world as she put a hoof on my back and shoved me away, chuckling uneasily and doing her best to pretend everything was fine for Rarity.
Away in a corner, Pinkie turned to me as I stood frozen in shock. “Now listen here, mister!” she said, standing on her hind legs and putting a hoof on my chest threateningly, “You may have been alone for a long time, but that was really mean! I don’t care if your mom let you talk like that, but when you’re around Pinkie Pie you talk nice, got it?”
My eyes looked at the angry ball of pink in front of me, and I nodded shakily. She was touching me, actually touching me. No other pony had managed to do so, nor had I touched anything other living thing.
“Good! Now, we’re gonna go back and you’re gonna play nice, got it?” she looked me directly in the eye and narrowed her own, doing her best to be menacing.
“Yes ma’am,” I squeaked, my mind still overloaded.
Pinkie Pie once again shoved me, this time back to the quite confused unicorn waiting for us.
“Pinkie Pie dear, are you alright?” Rarity asked as we returned, “At first I thought you were just being silly when you called this a ‘ghost party,’ but now I’m starting you think you actually believe there is a ghost here.”
“There is a ghost here Rarity, watch. I’ll tell you what he says!” Pinkie then looked to me and made a circle with her hoof, telling me to get on with it.
“I, uh…” I stammered, still coming to terms with the fact that Pinkie could also touch me, “I really like her mane?”
“He says he really likes your mane, Rarity,” Pinkie gave an assured nod and said to me “That wasn’t so hard, now was it Charlie?”
I shook my head, slowly coming back to my senses.
“Darling, I know you believe this ‘Charlie’ is really there, but honestly you sound just like my sister when she doesn’t know what to say.” Rarity gave Pinkie a concerned look and placed a hoof across her forehead, “Are you quite certain you’re not sick?”
The earth pony swatted her friends hoof away and said, “Of course Rarity! I’m fine! I just want to introduce you to my new friend who is also a ghost and not a pony!”
I took a few small steps away as she spoke, her voice rising just a little too close to shouting. Rarity, for her credit, only reared back for a second before giving her friend a concerned look.
“Darling, I think perhaps we should cancel the party and get you to bed. I think perhaps you have been working too hard lately, Celestia knows I become a bit off when I work too much without proper rest.” Rarity began nudging her friend away from me, presumably towards Pinkie’s bedroom.
“What, no! Rarity, I’m fine, really!” Pinkie Pie insisted, “Charlie, help me out here!”
I felt rather conflicted. On the one hand, I could get out of this ridiculous party and go… somewhere. On the other, I could help the only “friend” I had in this world and prove that I exist. Which would probably ruin a lot of the fun I have around town.
Rarity became more forceful in her attempts to move Pinkie, “Pinkie, I must insist that you go to bed! This can not be healthy for you, working so hard that you start seeing things!”
I looked at the door, and saw it still ajar. Pinkie Pie must have left it open when she let me in. I could leave if I wanted, no one would stop me, not with the pink one incapacitated as she was.
Pinkie must have seen me looking at the door, because when I looked back at her and saw what may have been the most pitifully sad face I had seen in a long time. Her eyes were huge, and I swear I saw tears building up. Her lip began to tremble ever so slightly as she saw me contemplate ditching her, and more than that making her look like a fool in front of the whole party.
“Charlie,” she said in a pleading tone, “Please.”
I placed a hand on my forehead and shook my head. “I can’t believe I’m about to do this,” I muttered, “I hardly even know this horse.”
I took a few purposeful steps towards Rarity and Pinkie Pie, and said, “Pinkie, tell her that I know the book she reads when she thinks no one is looking. I got stuck in her boutique one night and I saw her reading it after she closed.” Pinkie had managed to stop Rarity at that point, so I leaned down and whispered the title in her ear.
Pinkie’s eyes widened, and a devious grin crossed her face. She clearly knew what book I was talking about. I had seen the cover while the prissy white pony was reading it. There was a broad pegasus stallion aboard a ship, a tri-corner hat on his head and a rather fancy coat open deeply down his chest. On his right was a unicorn mare in a fine dress, clinging to him like he was a life preserver.
Yeah, I knew a trashy romance novel when I saw one.
Pinkie Pie whispered in Rarity’s ear, and the unicorn suddenly flinched back as if struck. “Pinkie Pie,” she hissed, “How could you possibly know about that? I never take that book out of my bedroom!”
“Charlie told me! He said he got stuck in your boutique one night and he saw you reading it!” Pinkie was back to her normal, bubbly self at this point. I actually let out a breath I barely realized I had been holding, actually feeling relieved that I had gotten Pinkie out of the jam she was in.
“Yes, well,” Rarity dusted herself off and looked around suspiciously, “While I still find it hard to believe that this ghost is real, I think you should at least tell your friend he should learn to respect other’s privacy.”
“Silly, you just told him yourself, he’s right over there!” Pinkie pointed at me over Rarity’s shoulder.
“Right,” Rarity composed herself, “I think perhaps it would be best if we discussed this further tomorrow. For now, I shall go and enjoy this lovely party.” With that, the unicorn walked off, still looking somewhat shaken.
“Well,” I said, “That could have gone better.”
“Yeah, I guess, but hey, now Rarity knows you’re real! That’s two friends including me!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, somehow holding up both front hooves, “And at this rate you’ll have a ton of friends in no time! I still have to introduce you to the others, too! Like Rainbow Dash, and Applejack, and oh! Twilight is gonna love you! Flutter-” I silenced Pinkie with a hand around her muzzle, although she still continued out of the corner of her mouth.
“Pinkie,” I gave her a hard look as she continued to mumble incoherently, “I think perhaps it would be best if they waited to meet me. We would want to go through all that we just did with your unicorn friend again, now would we?”
A light lit above Pinkie’s head and her eyes widened.
“Sorry!” I heard someone’s voice say, “I bumped the light, but it’s back on now!”
Convenient.
“You’re right! Normally a party is the best way to make new friends, but I can see now that you are a special case! Nopony’s gonna believe me right away if I just tell them there’s a ghost in the room, I gotta prove it!” Pinkie sprung into action all of a sudden, becoming a pink blur across the room.
“Sorry folks, party’s over! It was a great time, I’m glad you all made it! Here, have some cake!” Somehow the hyperactive pony managed to put the remainders of the cake in small takeaway boxes for the guests while also running around the room at breakneck speeds.
I stood there and watched in amazement as she somehow cleared the room, ushered all of the ponies out, and returned the whole establishment to normal in a matter of minutes. I blinked, and opened my mouth to question just what I had seen.
“No, Charlie,” I told myself, “I think perhaps you should let this one go.”
Once everything was all said and done, Pinkie turned to look at me and said “Hey Charlie, where do you live anyways? I know you don’t have your own house because you’re a ghost and there aren't any haunted houses in Ponyville. Unless it’s Nightmare Night, but that’s not for a few more months.”
“I uh,” I actually felt a bit embarrassed to admit it, even though reasonably I shouldn’t, “I don’t have a home. I usually just sleep on a park bench.”
Pinkie gasped and placed a hoof over her mouth, before a resolute expression overtook her features. “Right then,” she said, “You’re staying with me tonight! Come on!”
As she began pushing me towards the stairs with that freaky strength of hers, I tried to talk my way out of a night with Pinkie Pie.
“It’s okay, really Pinkie. I don’t get cold or anything, I’m just a ghost! The benches are really quite lovely, I’ll be fine, you just gotta open the door and let me out!”
“Nope, you’re staying with me and that’s final! I’ll get out my sleeping bag and you can have the bed, it’ll be just like a sleepover!” Pinkie sounded a little too excited for this, “I’ve never had a sleepover with a ghost before! We can play board games and tell each other funny stories, it’ll be great! Do ghosts like board games and funny stories?”
“I, uh, yes, of course we do we’re normal except for being dead but that’s not important right now! Really, I’ll be fine out there!” I did my best to convince the mare, but from the way she kept shoving me it wasn’t working.
“Nonsense! What kind of friend would I be if I let a friend sleep outside in the cold! Come on, you’ll love it. Please?”
I looked at her, and immediately wished I hadn’t. The puppy dog eyes, of course. How did I not see it coming. One of the most dangerous weapons in a pony’s arsenal and I walked right into it! What an idiot I was.
“I, buh, I, um,” I spluttered.
The cuteness did not stop, in fact her eyes only got wider. The scientist in me wondered how that was even possible, as her pupils had nearly overtaken her eyes completely.
I hunched forward with a sigh, giving in. “Fine,” I said, looking away, “Let’s go play some board games.”
“Yay!” Pinkie shouted, jumping up and wrapping her hooves around me in a hug, “It’ll be so much fun!”
“Yeah…” I replied with much less enthusiasm as I held the crazy pony, “Fun.”
Later that night, after a few rounds of what I dubbed “Poneopoly,” Pinkie tucked me into her bed and crawled into her sleeping bag on the floor next to me. I suppose I should clarify though, by tucked in I actually meant I was lying on top of the blankets and she simply went through the motions of tucking me in since I didn't want to know what would happen if she put me under a blanket. I'd prefer not to be trapped, thank you very much.
Once she settled in, she turned her head and said goodnight.
Staring at the ceiling and doing my best to ignore my feet dangling off of the edge of the bed, I replied “Goodnight Pinkie, sleep tight, all that.”
Rolling over, Pinkie muttered “Tomorrow’s gonna be lot’s of fun, I bet. Once all of my friends know you’re real, they can be your friends too. It’ll be great.”
My lips drawn tight and my eyes wide, it hit me that I was going to have to reveal my existence to all those crazy horses that were her friends.
“Yeah,” I said in an empty tone, “Great.”
My last thought before sleep that night was a simple “I’m going to go insane like all these weird-ass ponies, aren’t I?”
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New chapter?!
I like the premise, but Charlie is kind of an idiot. He might not be able to consistently manipulate objects, but clearly he can interact with them. Though I'm unclear why he's able to knock apples off of trees, but unable to open doors. The handling seems inconsistent. Either way, since ponies apparently can't or won't walk through him even something as trivially simple as standing in a doorway should enable him to make it clear that he exists.
At the same time, he seems to have chronic case of "let's be unhappy about having this thing I wanted!" He was unhappily isolatedfor a year, he made a wish to be able to talk to someone, the wish was granted and he has somebody to talk to...why is he sulking and trying to hard to avoid her? "Oh, no she's pink!" just isn't very convincing. It comes across as if you, the author, are trying to write a wish-fulfillment story without it sounding like a wish-fulfillment story by having him acting unhappy about it. As if to say, "Oh, woe is me...these fun adventures being thrust upon me, how terrible! Oh no, my favorite pony....umm, no I mean that horrible Pinkie Pie, how awful that I get to have a fun sleepover party at her house." The delivery is not very convincing.
Speaking of which, you've got some kind of weird characterization going on here.
"I realize that it is odd that someone like me would willing be near a pony so, well, pink."
...uhh, no, actually. Nothing about this guy makes me think he's such a "manly man" that feminine things are somehow beneath him. You have him whining about losing his girlfriend, you have him terrified of the pink pony talking to him, you have him hyperventilating and freaking out, you have him brooding like an emo, you have him being pushed around and not standing up for himself, you have him using the door as an excuse to leave rather than deciding for himself what he wants to do...just kind of everything about the guy makes him seem like a fairly weak, effeminate guy who wants other people to make decisions for him so he can simultaneously enjoy having what he wants handed to him while denying responsibility for the outcome and complaining about it.
Go re-read that sequence leading up to the party. If he were really "The Man" he's claiming to be, he would have decided whether he wanted to go to party, and whatever he decided, that's what he would have done. Instead you have him brooding about it all day long, terrified of the "oohhh, scary prospect of having to talk to people." You know, the thing that he just wished to have?
So you've just given him what he asked for, and now he's acting all mopey about it. So he tries to run a way, but is too scared to. So he goes to the party anyway...why, exactly? If he didn't want to go, all he had to do was not go. It's not like "leaving town or attend party" were the only choices. But he goes to the party anyway, On the way you have him talking to some random pony he knows can't hear him solely so he can have an excuse to feel offended.
Eventually he arrives at the party, and the moment he sees the door, "oh, well there's my excuse to not be here, I guess i can leave now." Seriously? And the moment he tries to leave he ends up being roped in and lets Pinkie Pie decide for him so he can be unhappy about it.
Everything about his guy comes across as the worst gender stereotype of dumb girl behavior. Imagine Pinkie asking him where he wants to eat, and him telling her that he doesn't know, even though he knows full well exactly where he definitely wants to go...but he doesn't say it because he doesn't want to be responsible for the decision. He wants somebody to make the decision for him. So she somehow magically guesses right, and takes him to exactly the place he most wanted to go but refused to say...and then imagine he complains about it anyway.
That's absolutely something this guy would do.
Charlie reads like a deliberate gender-reversal stereotype of the worst female personality traits.
Don't get me wrong: it's a valid characterization, and you're being very consistent and doing an excellent job of portraying him this way.
But are you doing it on purpose?
Updates speeds like this make me feel less guilty about taking breaks from my own writing once in a while.
8144171
The way you described him reminds me of these wives:
Its alive!
8144171
You do make some valid points about Charlie. Honestly, yes, he's kind of refusing to let himself be happy. As such, there are a few things I keep in mind when writing him.
One: He's been alone for over year. Even though he tries to interact with ponies and pranks them and such, he has no real interaction before the story. As such, he's both A: gone a bit loopy, and B: gotten used to a status quo. It's not unlike being stranded on an island and finding it hard to settle back into your normal life. Not exactly like that, but similar.
Two: He's a ghost. I know it seems like he's just supposed to be a normal guy, but he's not. He's a ghost for a reason, not just because that was the contrived premise I came up with when writing this story. Because he is a ghost, he is subject to ghost lore, in particular that he is not entirely himself anymore, merely a spirit stuck on the world instead of moving on to the afterlife.
Three: Tying into the ghost thing, he died. He remembers his death, and all the circumstances leading up to it. This had a profound effect on his character, and that will be revealed as the story goes and his backstory is explored more.
Four: He honestly kinda has trouble liking ponies. He's trapped in their world and has been alone for a long time. He knows they didn't do anything wrong, he just is predisposed to not like them because of his situation. That's why he enjoys insulting them, it's kind of a way of working out aggression.
Five, and last: Yeah, he's indecisive and doesn't know what to do. Pinkie Pie is the only living thing he has spoken to while trapped on a foreign world after his death, but at the same time he can't stand the idea of her for reasons not yet explained (see number three). He wants nothing to do with his surroundings, but is forced into them anyways. Most of the time he winds up doing what others (That is, Pinkie) choose for him because he just doesn't know what to do on his own.
I know that technically if I have to explain why something is the way it is in a story I haven't written it well enough, I just think that in the format of it being incomplete, sometimes things can seem bad when the explanation just hasn't come yet. I can see how I failed to fully lay the base for the ideas I have in store for him, but I can only hope that what is to come can help resolve some of the outstanding issues surrounding him. To be honest, describing him as
was not fully intentional but actually quite fitting. I'd explain more but that would be spoilers. I hope you continue to read, even if it seems a bit off-putting at the moment.
The doorway thing though, you got me on that. Did not think of that. I may have to come up with an edit for that one.
Honk honk!
The Pink shipping Co full sail ahead!!
Wait, did Rarity just say that Pinkie is acting the same way that Sweetie Belle does sometimes? Does this mean that Sweetie Belle has been pretending not to be able to see dead people?
That would be an awesome plot twist!
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As much fun as that could be, I'm gonna have to shoot you down. It was a rather subtle reference to an episode from season two, actually. Just pay attention to what Charlie and therefore Pinkie said.
This needs to be finished. It's too good.
Twilight needs to make a ghost seeing spell for her and the other three(or four). Though, I think it would be considered dark magic and she won't use it. I can just feel the inner pain of not being noticed...by Pone-senpai~.
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That picture...
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Lol, it seemed like a nice picture since it is about the Ponk and her noticing in alien ghost senpai.
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Thanks for reading, yo! To be clear though, yes, some ghosts can morph. Charlie is more the "Spirit stuck on the mortal plane due to lingering issues" kind of ghost, though. So, for the most part he just kinda has to deal with not being able to touch most things or be affected by physical properties. I do intend to address some of the inconsistencies in his ghostly abilities, but as of now he's like a platypus, he doesn't do much.
Thank you, this is a very amusing story, and I can't wait till the next chapter.
No romance tag? there goes my hopes of a human x pinkie fic.
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I mean, I'm with ya, but the whole ghost thing kinda puts a hamper on the kissy-times. Sorry.
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pfft Death is nothing magic can't fix!
Makes me wonder how that works. Does he have a silhouette? I mean she put a blanket on him right? And does this trap him considering he can't open doors?
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Aayyyyyyyyyy you spotted a plot hole! Thanks!
I uh... I have a little trouble with consistency sometimes. If you see inconsistencies like that feel free to point them out, I probably didn't intend them!
Have a cookie!
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P.S. All fixed now!
So he's material in that he can't phase through things, but at the same time can't move things or be felt by ponies... but he can also walk on the ground, which means his feet at least are exerting force upon the matter of the pony world... weird. And the ponies somehow know to move to avoid bumping into him, which is a very strange phenomenon. Maybe he's like antimatter and has a containment field around him?
He should try to hug a pony and see if he and the pony explode. FOR SCIENCE!!