Project Ghost: The Mystery Of The Dead Stallion

by Shimmering Thunder

Chapter 2 - An empty feeling

The sun was shining brightly above me as I “rested” in the middle of the street, watching ponies come and go past and through me. For some reason, I couldn’t sleep. I simply wasn’t tired and considering my current condition, I wasn’t so sure if I’d ever sleep again.

Some of my senses were completely gone, such as smell and taste. I wasn’t able to touch other ponies either. At least I could still see and hear things. Otherwise, I would have become crazy. My mind seemed to be another semi-working concept. I had no memories of my past, but I was able to create new ones. I couldn’t tell if I was actually able to recall anything from my past in the long run. If I even had a past.

It was almost scary how quickly I started to adapt to… whatever I was. Eavesdropping wasn’t polite, but some ponies actually cracked me up sometimes. What were they going to do about it anyway? I had to get my fun from somewhere, let it be the ponies gossipping about each other. Their secrets were safe with me unless I discovered a way to express myself in a sensible manner. And then again if that ever happened, I wouldn’t tell anypony.

I had even learned someponies’ names already. There was Lyra for one to walk right through my hoof the other day. Roseluck was the source of some juicy gossips and Applejack was sometimes selling apples at the marketplace. Then there was Mayor Mare who apparently was the one in charge in here. I had even learned the name of this little town by now. Ponyville.

For some reason, the name felt extremely familiar, but I didn’t think I was from here myself. Nothing or nopony else here felt familiar to me, just the name.

I thought back to the very first thing I remembered. The weird voice in my head as I had woke up. It had been a couple days now and I hadn’t heard the voice since then.

Suddenly, I noticed something dropping in front of me. I turned my head slightly and inspected the item that revealed itself to be a muffin. I would have enjoyed the little treat a while longer, had it not been snatched right in front of me.

A gray pegasus with pale yellow mane and tail snagged it and hummed something as she continued her way. I would have deflated had such thing been possible.

I have to say, it hurt. I was surrounded by ponies, but they couldn’t see or hear me. On top of that, I wasn’t able to eat. I wasn’t hungry to begin with, but the muffin had looked amazing. I wasn’t even able to smell it.

I decided to change the scenery and spend time elsewhere in the town. I didn’t really see any reasons for leaving anyway.

Walking through the streets I suddenly found myself in front of a huge round building. It piqued my interest, but I didn’t want to go in. Eavesdropping was one thing, but walking right through the wall into somepony’s house just felt like a wrong thing to do. I might eventually get bored enough to do that but now wasn’t the time.

However just as I was standing outside the building, I saw somepony coming out.

“Yes, it’s quite unfortunate. We haven’t had an incident like that here for a long time,” said the pony I recognized to be the mayor, much thanks to Roseluck.

“I know, it’s just so weird. And nopony saw a thing,” the other pony said to the mayor.

The other pony seemed to be a gray stallion, but I couldn’t get a good look at his face due to his press hat blocking my view.

“Well, I hope you got enough material for your article,” the mayor said as the gray stallion was making his leave.

“Yes, thank you, Mayor Mare. This will be plenty.” And with that, the reporter was on his way.

For a moment, I wondered if I should go inside and hear if Mayor Mare would tell anybody what they were talking about. It’s not like I had anything better to do and this sure sounded like a juicy story to miss out.

As the curiosity got the better of me, I decided to follow her close behind. I momentarily jumped as the mayor suddenly closed the door after her. She couldn’t have known she had an invisible guest in her wake. I smirked at the thought and simply stepped through the door.

The lobby opened before me and I could see Mayor Mare heading down one of the halls, and I lazily trotted after her as she entered one of the rooms. The room looked like an office combined with a bedroom. The left side of the room had a desk and a couple filing cabinets, while the other half sported a bed and a nightstand.

She went to her desk, opened the top drawer and took out a small bottle and poured herself a drink it seemed. I joined her, sitting on the floor next to her, looking at her as she enjoyed herself. Right, Roseluck had said earlier that Mayor Mare had a secret drinking habit--according to her breath at least. Apparently, Roseluck had been correct. However, the reason for her secret habit wasn’t all that clear to me. The town was peaceful and I doubt she was stressed or anything. Or maybe it was the opposite? Maybe she was bored and spent her time with a bottle.

However, I wasn’t going to wait for her to do something interesting as this was clearly not going to reveal me the secret of the scoop the reporter had. Maybe I should have followed him instead. There weren’t even any papers open on the desk that I could read. Of course, I could always put my head inside of the filing cabinet, but it would be way too dark to read anything.

And it didn’t help that whenever I actually went through an object with my head, my vision blurred. So I decided to take my leave and go to Roseluck for more juicy stories…

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Who made the cover art?

[Shimmering Thunder]

9116951
I made it with Inkscape, although, I used this picture as a base for the pony. https://www.deviantart.com/cherryblossoms-bases/art/Base-27-Epic-Pose-390405681 Thanks for reminding me. I'll have to credit and notify the artist for using it.

[Manr]

Is he going to have Supernatural ghost powers like per body possession, Poltergeist and the power of convince.

[Shimmering Thunder]

9121292
No special powers besides walking through certain things and hearing that mysterious voice. First I wanted to give him the ability to blow some air but found it useless in the end.