The cursed resident.

by Sylif Daring Doo

History lessons with the supernatural.

______*the next day, Ponyville, 3:00 PM*______

Rarity once again found herself walking through town, this time however she was going to the Library to visit Twilight.

The mare had practically holed herself up in the library for a while, only occasionally leaving to get some air, she had stated that she was working on a project when asked what she was up to, but she refused to say any more.

Rarity had also done everything she could to break the news about Nightmare Moon being in the house gently, Sweetie Belle's response was simple and expected, she immediately evacuated the house and ate her breakfast outside, it took fifteen minutes to just get her to calm down, and another ten to get her back inside.

Sweetie Belle had simply cleaned up and then left the house, saying she would be back later.

Rarity was now walking to the Golden Oaks Library, hoping that talking to Twilight would help raise her spirits, or even to help her with the curse on her home.

A cool breeze blew through town and a low hanging white cloud zoomed by, Rarity blinked and watched as the cloud flew off into the distance, she simply shrugged and continued walking, saying hello to the ponies who greeted her.

After a few more minutes of walking, Rarity arrived at the tree, she walked up to the door and knocked on the door, she heard some talking on the other side but she couldn't make out what was said.

Soon though, the door opened to reveal Twilight standing on the other side. "Rarity! just who I was going to look for!" She said, moving to allow her friend inside.

Rarity noticed that Twilight looked tired, she had dark circles under her eyes and they seemed to be a little bloodshot. "Twilight dear, are you alright?" She asked out of concern as she walked inside.

Twilight nodded before yawning. "Yea.......just a little tired, regardless! I figured it out!" She stated with a large smile.

Rarity looked around and saw numerous books lying around seemingly haphazardly, there was a large blackboard with chalk lines making what appeared to be formulas and theories. "Figured what out?" She asked.

Twilight floated over a familiar book. "The Spectral Sight spell! it works but it has a terrible flaw, one that I have successfully fixed!" She stated happily.

Rarity blinked and raised an eyebrow. "What exactly does that mean?" She asked out of genuine curiosity.

At this, Twilight happily went into 'lecture mode' to explain. "Normally, Spectral Sight requires that the caster relive their most tragic memory and risk their most precious one to act as a mental safeguard, but with the version I created, you can give the Sight to anypony without such risk.......and all it takes is a little magic!" She explained.

At Rarity's confused expression, Twilight cleared her throat. "Well......basically, by using some magic, I can give anypony the ability to see ghosts or spirits, sadly, I can't undo the old version......I'm afraid your stuck with it." She explained, she seemed to be upset that she couldn't help.

Rarity smiled. "Think nothing of it Twilight dear, I'm used to how my eye changes, as for the memories? I can't do anything about it......so why worry about it right now?" She asked.

Twilight lit her horn and the books started to go back onto the shelves, after they were all away, Twilight took a deep breath and looked at Rarity. "Can I ask you something?" She asked curiously.

"Of course, what is it?" Rarity replied, walking over and picking up a letter, it had the details of the new spell. "Who is the ghost in your house?" Twilight asked.

At this, Rarity sighed, she set the letter on Twilight's desk. "Unfortunately, there is another ghost in my home, making it two.......the first ghost is Alecia, a human who was cursed to be bound to the home forever, you......aren't going to like who the second ghost is." She stated.

After Twilight got over the initial shock of what Alecia was, she spoke. "Who is it?" She asked, genuinely curious.

Rarity looked right at Twilight, she waited a little before speaking. "Nightmare Moon." She stated.

At the mere mention of that name, Twilight's eyes widened, her jaw dropped, and her hairs stood on end. "B-b-but that's impossible! we freed Luna!" She stated.

Rarity nodded. "We did, but nevertheless, she is there, and not exactly in a forgiving mood, personally I'm still shaken up about it, the air in my house is tense lately." She replied.

Twilight seemed to ponder this for a while before speaking. "Well......we can't just leave her there unattended, what do you think about us all going and seeing this for ourselves?" She asked.

"I have no problem with this, but I must warn you.....Alecia is a bit odd." Rarity replied.

_______*later, 5:00 PM*_______

Rarity stood outside her house with Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, at first, Rainbow Dash was by far the most skeptical out of them all, but they were all a little concerned about Nightmare Moon being there.

"I did forget to mention one thing however." Twilight said before they could go the front door. "I also have another spell, it's an old one, but it's supposed to reveal a ghost or spirits true self, of course, this was back when superstition ran wild, so it may or may not work." She explained.

"Assuming there is a ghost!" Rainbow interrupted as they headed to the door.

Rarity walked up to the front door. "Welcome to my home everypony." She said as she opened the door and let them inside.

After everypony was inside, Twilight lit her horn and began to cast her spell on them all, all they could feel was a slight tingle but that was it.

Once she was done, Rarity looked at her friends, they were looking around curiously. "Do you want me to call them?" She asked.

Rainbow crossed her hooves. "Sure, why not call Nightmare Moon here? nothing could go wrong." She said dismissively, she was sarcastic, but in truth, she seemed a little curious.

Rarity rolled her eyes, she then opened her mouth. "Alecia I'm back!" She called out.

Almost immediately a familiar female voice spoke up from the living room. "I'm dead Rarity, not blind or deaf."

The six mares looked and five of them were startled, Rarity was actually surprised as Alecia was no longer blurred out, she could actually make out the details of the ghost.

Alecia was laying on the couch looking up at the ceiling, her skin was a pinkish white. (basically she looks like a white female, I'm just describing it like this because I am too lazy to learn the actual color of skin.)

Her eyes were dark blue with a strange purple glow in them, her hair was a slightly faded dark red with purple streaks, she wore a pair of thick black pants of some kind, she also had a white shirt on, as well as a dark green shoulderless vest, her face was slightly rounded, her nose was small. "Thanks for the spell by the way, it's annoying not being able to see your fingers accurately." The ghost wiggled her fingers for emphasis.

Rarity looked around a little before Alecia spoke. "She's upstairs brooding, don't bother her right now." Alecia said.

Rainbow Dash was the first to speak up. "Your a ghost?" She asked curiously.

Alecia nodded and promptly stared at the ceiling again. "You don't look like a ghost." The Pegasus stated.

Rarity sighed as the others gasped, Alecia had immediately disappeared from sight, and then they all jumped when they heard her behind them. "And you look like a child's art project, I wasn't going to say it, but it's true." Alecia countered as she walked through the Pegasus, sending an unnatural chill through her. "I have admit it though, the rainbow hair does look cool, even if you do look like a doodle." The ghost said as she turned to face the mares, crossing her arms, strangely enough, a spark of black electricity arced across her arms for a brief second.

"Alecia, leave the poor mare alone, she doesn't need you haunting her." Rarity said.

Alecia raised an eyebrow and looked at Rarity. "I've been stuck in this house for six centuries, and an opportunity to have some fun shows up, of course I'm going to take it!" She countered easily.

Twilight spoke up as she approached. "Excuse me, not to be rude......but could you tell me why your here? or what it's like to be a ghost?" She asked out of curiosity.

Alecia shrugged and began floating, she held her arms behind her head and closed her eyes. "Being a ghost is mostly boring, maddening at first, but I got used to it.......its different for everyone though, so I can't give you a general idea." She then looked up at the ceiling. "As for why I'm here? I was sealed away in a room for six centuries and unable to do anything execpt count the time." She looked at unicorn. "I heard about you Twilight Sparkle." She said, surprising the mare. "You love to learn new things like a scientist, but you also like to document your discoveries more like an archeologist."

Alecia then vanished and a second later was in front of Twilight's face, almost giving the mare a heart attack, while also sending a chill down her spine. "Let me ask you something, are humans considered common knowledge?" She asked.

Still recovering from the immediate shock, Twilight answered. "Um.....could you be more specific?" She asked.

Alecia sighed and walked through Twilight and spoke. "What I mean is this, is knowledge about humans restricted, or do people just see no need to learn about them?" She asked, slightly annoyed.

The other four mares talked amongst themselves while Twilight thought on her answer, and after a minute, she spoke. "As far as I know, it isn't illegal to learn about humans." She said.

Alecia shook her head and lifted herself off the ground so that she was floating a couple of feet in the air. "Disappointing, anyway, I can tell you have questions, so go ahead and ask, and all I want in return, is for one simple thing.......but that can wait." She said, she then held up her hand. "Two questions each, just to make sure you don't ask stupid ones." She added with a grin.

Before Twilight could speak, Rarity spoke up. "Do humans need to wear clothing? or is it just a choice?" She asked curiously.

"Of course the fashion pony asks that." Alecia muttered quietly. "It's both a survival and modesty thing, the human body can survive some strange eviroments on its own, clothing helps with the colder and wetter ones, modesty? that should be obvious as to why and I am done answering that question." She stated firmly as she closed her eyes, slowly floating around the group.

"How many humans were there back where you used to live?" Rarity asked.

Alecia shrugged. "I don't know the exact number, but they had three kingdoms, and they did take up vast amounts land.....so maybe?.......a few million give or take?" She estimated.

Twilight had been taking notes on a piece of paper with a quill she got from somewhere. "You misspelled kingdoms." Alecia pointed out from behind the mare.

Twilight once again jumped in surprise, she took a few deep breaths and examined her notes. "Ooh ooh! me next! me next!" Came Pinkie Pie's voice.

Alecia looked at the pink earth pony with a raised eyebrow, she then went back to floating around. "Alright then, what are your questions?" She asked.

The pink mare bounced over as she spoke. "Do humans have any interesting party games?" She asked eagerly.

Alecia smirked. "Unless you count ale pong, then no." She replied.

Pinkie paused for a moment before speaking again. "What's ale pong?" She asked curiously.

"It's a game played between two people, there are ten cups placed in a pyramid shape, every time you get a ball in, you have to drink, it gets harder as you go on." Alecia explained simply. [1]

"Why would it get harder?" Pinkie asked.

Alecia wiggled her finger back and forth. "Ah ah ah, that was your last question." She chided.

Applejack pulled Pinkie aside and started to talk to her while Rainbow Dash flew up to the ghost and looked her in the eye, the ghost just stared back, unmoving. "So.......who managed your weather? or did humans have magic for that?" She asked.

Alecia grinned and planted a finger on the pagasus' forehead. "No one managed it, they survived without it being controlled, and humans don't have magic." She then pushed lightly on Rainbow Dash's forehead. "By the way, that was two questions." She teased.

Twilight was about to talk when Applejack stepped up. "What was the currency for humans? Ah'm curious." She asked.

Aleica looked at the earth pony. "Similar to ponies, they used silver or pyrite coins, pyrite might not have been real gold, but it was incredibly common so they used it as the basic currency, silver was far more valuable." She stated calmly.

Applejack thought on her next question for a moment before speaking. "Why were humans split into three kingdoms?" She asked.

This question definitely made Twilight ready to write. "Cultural differences." Alecia said simply. "They each had their own cultures and the people often clashed with one another about it, so they divided the human lands into three, made three kingdoms and declared themselves independent of one another." She shrugged. "Not that it matters much now though." She muttered.

"Okay, my turn." Twilight said.

Alecia turned her attention to Twilight. "What is this, a game?......nevermind." She muttered.

"Do all humans look similar to you?" Twilight asked.

"No." Came Alecia's immediate reply.

The speed of the reply stunned Twilight for a moment, but she continued. "I see, then would I be correct in assuming that you had somepony enchant your eyes to look like that?" She asked.

"Next question." Alecia said, she no longer looked neutral and she actually seemed to be......upset? she wasn't even floating now. "I.....was just-" Twilight didn't get to finish her sentence before the ghost held a hand up, silencing her. "It actually doesn't bother me, but I would prefer not to answer that question right now, I'll give you your question back." She replied.

Taking the hint to change the subject, Twilight spoke. "What do most humans look like then?" She asked.

Alecia soon perked up a little at that, as she was now floating around just like before. "Black, brown, red or blonde, hair, as well as varying shades of them......age or too much stress can cause hair to go gray or white." She then stretched her limbs. "Skin color is similar to mine for most, but there are those who have pale or dark skin, but I personally haven't seen many of them." Alecia paused as Twilight wrote this down.

"The human male averages around five foot to six foot three or some crap, never cared to learn the specifics." Alecia continued. "The human female averages around five foot to five foot seven or eight." She stated.

Twilight wrote down her findings and much to the surprise of the five mares, Fluttershy spoke up. "I-if you don't mind me asking.......what kind of animals were in the human lands?" She asked.

"Boars, pigs, cows, deer, chickens, foxes, bears, wargs." Alecia replied.

Fluttershy seemed curious as the last species. "I've never heard of wargs, what are they? don't you mean wolves?" She asked curiously.

Alecia shook her head. "Wargs are cousins of wolves, giant creatures that are twice your size, wild ones are very hostile and protective of their territory, but if you befriend one? you have a lifelong companion." She stated before setting her feet on the floor.

Once Twilight finished writing down her notes, she looked up at Alecia. "I have one last question, this is completely serious and i would appreciate it if you answered it." She said.

Alecia thought on it for a moment before shrugging. "Nightmare Moon isn't a threat, she doesn't know how to interact with the physical world like I do, but with my help she'll be good to go in about.......a week?" She replied, apparently knowing the question.

"Why would you help her to be able to attack us without us being able to fight back?" Rainbow Dash demanded to know.

Alecia gave the Pegasus a cold glare, she appeared right in front of her face. "Every ghost has the right to know how to interact with the physical world, whatever she did when she was alive is irrelevant to me, am I clear?" She asked in a flat voice.

Rainbow nodded quickly and Alecia appeared in the living room, a smile on her face. "Good!" She said with a cheerful tone, apparently back to her more carefree self. "Now, if you don't mind, let me tell you what I want." She said.

Alecia was instantly over by a window and looked outside. "I want you to find the source of this curse, not unreasonable, considering I'm giving you firsthand knowledge of my old species." She stated calmly.

Twilight blinked in confusion for a moment, before she answered. "There is no such thing as a curse, maybe a spell with negative properties, but no curses." She stated.

Alecia looked over at Twilight. "Bullshit, a negative spell requires a constant source of magic from the one who cast it, so unless an immortal cast it, which they didn't, it's a curse bound to something, feeding itself to last until broken.....believe me, I know." She went silent again as her expression darkened, she then stared out the window.

Twilight lit her horn. "Fine, I'll scan for any magic, I should be able to detect anything keeping you here." She stated.

However, as soon as Twilight cast her spell, a powerful surge shot through her horn, she cried out in pain and cut the spell, everyone looked at her in concern, Alecia was indifferent as she looked over.

Twilight panted and took several deep breaths to calm down, after a minute or two, she spoke up again. "That......was weird." She muttered.

Applejack walked over and checked for any obvious injuries. "What was weird?" She asked.

"The exact second I cast my spell, there was magical feedback right away." She shook her head.

Alecia sighed. "So you found nothing? wonderful." She muttered quietly.

"Not necessarily." Twilight replied as she finally finished recovering. "I sensed something powerful, it was really strong but I wasn't able to pinpoint it." She explained.

Alecia nodded and returned to looking outside. "I see.....thanks for trying I guess." She said.

______*the next day, 1:00 AM*______

Alecia stood in the downstairs bathroom staring into her reflection in the mirror. "That spell did more than I thought." She whispered to herself.

The rest of the day had been alright, they talked for a while, mostly about what to do about Nightmare Moon, but it shifted to more lighthearted banter later on, they all left, and Rarity stayed to read one of her books.

Alecia stared into her own eyes and felt sadness as she did so, she reached for them and felt the skin under her eyes, she closed her eyes and sighed. "What do you want Nightmare? I'm not in the mood." She stated.

Nightmare Moon became visible, she was standing next to the door. "I am curious as to why your staring into your own eyes." She replied.

Alecia looked at the Alicorn. "That's my concern, now leave me alone." She stated before vanishing.

'I need some quiet.' Alecia thought.

Almost immediately she appeared on the roof of the house, she looked up at the sky and smiled. "At least the stars don't judge people." She whispered.

And for hours, Alecia simply stared at the sky, content to just sit and admire the stars.

Author's Note:

[1]I have no idea if this is how the game is actually played, and I changed the name because......well, why not?

Here you go, another one! and this time you get a little information about this worlds humans, nothing special mind you, just some basics.

Comments

[Mallory S Nocturne]

Question, is Alicia (and by extension you') born and/or living in Korea?

[Sylif Daring Doo]

9845300
Uh....no?