2nd Candle
It started when Filthy Rich heard somepony running upstairs as he sat in his chair by the fireplace, reading the newspaper.
He cocked his head up, frowned.
Silence.
Then, again…
thump thump Thump Thump THUMP THUMP Thump Thump thump thump
From one end to the other.
“Diamond Tiara?” He called, his voice carrying, echoing back at him. “Is that you?”
Silence.
Filthy Rich waited. He waited some more.
Then, with a huff, he returned to his newspaper.
The fireplace crackled warmly.
thump thump Thump Thump
Filthy Rich snorted and put his paper aside. “Ahh, what is that girl up t-”
THUMP THUMP
CRASH
The sound seemed to jolt his heart like it had a direct connection. Filthy Rich blinked, no longer irate, and got out of his chair and jogged to the stairway.
“Diamond Tiara?” His hooves pounded against the steps. His head felt heavy. “Answer me, young lady!”
He arrived at the landing and turned a corner.
There, a vase lay in pieces.
“Diamond Tiara!”
Filthy Rich heard a soft noise behind him and turned to see his daughter emerge from her bedroom. He was momentarily relieved before becoming enraged.
“What is this?”
Diamond Tiara rubbed her eyes. “Hm? What’s what?”
“This!” Filthy Rich turned and gestured to the shards of porcelain on the red carpet. “What were you doing up here?”
“Taking a nap,” Diamond Tiara said, her gaze going from the vase to Filthy Rich, then back again. “I wasn’t doing anything.”
“Then how did the vase break?”
“I… I don’t know.”
Filthy Rich examined her for falsity; she was, unfortunately, a filly to tell fibs, but one who had a lot of tells. Yet he found none of these tells. In fact, it did appear as if she had just woken.
Filthy Rich took a deep breath. “I heard somepony running up here. If it wasn’t you, then…” He winced and trailed off as a sharp pain flashed behind his eyes. “… Never mind. I’m sorry for yelling at you. It, um… it must have been the wind.”
Diamond Tiara still looked confused about the situation, but eventually nodded. “Oh. Okay.”
Lethargically, she headed downstairs. He heard her start coughing a little halfway.
Filthy Rich remained where he was, listening to her hoofsteps. Then, he turned back to the shattered vase. He should probably clean that immediately, but his headache and mood made him want nothing more than to return to his chair.
“Feh. One of the servants will clean it later.”
He went back downstairs.
The next morning, Filthy Rich woke to find the vase’s remains had been swept clean. Strange that he had not seen any of the servants doing it, but he had gone to bed early.
Trotting into the kitchen, he was surprised to see Diamond Tiara already at the table, blinking blearily at an empty bowl of cereal – flakes and droplets of milk still clung to the inside.
That was also strange – he had to normally wake her up for school every time.
“Morning,” Filthy Rich opened the pantry and surveyed the selection of food. “You’re up early.”
Diamond Tiara gave a loud yawn. “I didn’t get much sleep.” Instantly, she began to dry cough.
“Oh?” That was often a prelude to ‘can I stay home?’ “Why is that?”
“Dunno.” Another cough.
Filthy Rich’s stomach grumbled in dissatisfaction at everything on display. Huffing in irritation, he grabbed a banana – better something than nothing. Closing the pantry, he turned around to see Diamond Tiara frowning at her bowl.
He was concerned to see the bags around her eyes, and even though he knew better, he said, “Do you want to stay home for today?”
Diamond Tiara shook her head. “No. I’m tired, but I feel restless. I’ll go crazy if I stay home.”
Filthy Rich’s concern only grew. This wasn’t usual behaviour for-
thump thump thump
Filthy Rich jerked his head up to the ceiling.
“Besides…” Diamond Tiara continued. “Today’s dodgeball, and I have a reputation to keep! I… Daddy, what are you looking at?”
Filthy Rich put his head down. “Did you hear that?”
Diamond Tiara’s ears flicked. “I think those are just birds.”
“… Ah, yes, of course. That’s what it was.”
It wasn’t, but he didn’t want to worry Diamond Tiara over a trivial and perfectly explainable occurrence – one of the servants must have gotten up and was moving about doing their chores. Yes, that was it.
Filthy Rich peeled his banana and wandered off to his study, trying not to show stress under Diamond Tiara’s curious gaze
‘Perhaps I’m coming down with something?’
It was approaching two in the afternoon and Filthy Rich had spent most of the day staring at documents and reading letters inside his study. A pathetic attempt at drawing a chart to analyse business expenses stared at him from his desk.
He knew for a fact that he could have done thrice this work any other day, but his limbs felt heavy and his eyes itchy. He didn’t have a temperature, nor was his throat dry or his lips chapped – the usual tells that came with a cold.
‘Maybe I’m overworked?’
He shoved that thought aside with a scoff.
‘Preposterous. My workload has remained the same for the past decade, barring a few occasions.’
Biting his tongue, Filthy Rich fished out a folder from his drawer and went through it, grumbling as he forced his languid mind to behave.
‘Let’s see here… Costs… Balance… Losses… Hmph. Business is booming – I have nothing to stress over in that regard.’
Sighing, Filthy Rich put the folder away and leaned back in his chair. He closed his eyes and basked in the quiet.
‘I’m just overthinking this, most likely. Maybe I’ll take Diamond on a vacation. Somewhere tropical maybe.’
He swivelled his chair around.
Books were scattered across the floor.
Filthy Rich blinked a few times and looked to the half-empty bookshelf. “What on earth?”
The chair creaked as he got up and trotted over.
It did not take long to pick them all up and once he was done, he left his study and searched the hallway outside it.
“Hello?”
His voice carried all the way to the high ceiling; it bounced off the barren walls. No one replied and nothing stirred. All that was down the end of the hallway was the front door.
Filthy Rich stood there for a bit, then hurried to the front door. For some reason, he felt a niggling sense of dread and standing there made his skin crawl. He had to force himself to keep a calm pace as he went past the stairs and his imagination teased him into thinking someone was watching him from the landing.
Filthy Rich touched the door’s handle-
“What?!” He spun around on instinct. “Who said that?”
His eyes went to the empty landing.
Fear making his fur stand, Filthy Rich fled his home and ran into the safety of Ponyville’s sun-bathed streets.
When he had calmed somewhat, Filthy Rich realized just how foolish he was being.
Running from his home because of the shadows that his own mind breathed life into? How truly foolish. A grown stallion should know better.
Still, he didn’t regret his decision to leave – the outside air and the sun’s rays seemed to energize him, so he at least felt livelier. He decided to go for a stroll until it was time to pick up Diamond Tiara from school.
There were not a lot of ponies around. He saw some new faces among those he passed, some familiar but… off somehow.
Filthy Rich looked over his shoulder as a mint-green unicorn – Lyra, was it? – went by; she was a decade younger than him, but he swore she had new lines near her eyes compared to the last time he saw her.
Walking some more, he noticed Princess Twilight standing outside her castle talking to two other ponies. He stayed a fair distance away, not wanting to intrude, but he could not help but notice their body language appeared tense.
“Strange.”
The marketplace was unusually quiet, too. Filthy Rich walked through without hearing a single raised voice. Eventually, he arrived at the Apple family’s stall. Or, rather where their stall should have been.
“Are both of them sick? That hasn’t happened in almost ten years.”
Filthy Rich had a mind to check in to the farm to see if everything was okay, but then he remembered that he was due to visit on the weekend for his usual supply of freshly-made apples, and decided to leave it until then.
Filthy Rich hummed – it was probably around time to pick up Diamond Tiara.
The final bell had long since rung when Diamond Tiara finally emerged from the schoolhouse, already cracking a huge yawn and half-dragging her feet through the dirt. Filthy Rich waved to get her attention, and she shambled over after blinking in surprise.
“Daddy? Why are you here?”
He most certainly wasn’t going to admit he had been chased out of their home by imaginary ghosts.
“It’s a nice day, isn’t it? I thought I’d go for a walk.”
Diamond Tiara seemed too tired to question it. “Oh, okay,” She coughed. “Mm, do I have to do anything when I get home? I wanna sleep.”
“No, you can sleep as much as you’d like.”
Some of the foals were still hanging around. It took him a moment to realize just how many new faces there were. He hadn’t heard of too many births lately, so that was-
“Can we go now?” Diamond Tiara tugged on his coat. “I don’t want to talk to anypony right now.”
“Oh, of course. Let’s go.”
His own house felt eerie and unfamiliar; he felt like a stranger in here – his own study was like a prison.
Diamond Tiara seemed to regain some life once she was back home. After a ten-minute nap, she was trotting up and down the corridors, humming a gentle tune to herself and playing with her toys.
Faust, he couldn’t remember the last time she’d done that.
But he couldn’t relax: every dark corner seemed to house a shadowy figure, every time he went past the stairs he could feel the eyes of an invisible watcher on him – it got to the point where he would actively seek Diamond Tiara’s company just to calm his frayed nerves.
A grown stallion relying on his daughter for support – he was ashamed.
As night rolled in, the shadows seemed to grow longer and darker. Filthy Rich sat himself in his favourite chair in front of the fireplace and stared into empty space while Diamond Tiara coloured in a musty book.
“Where did you get that?”
“Hm? This? It was in my room,” Diamond Tiara frowned as she picked up a green crayon. “I don’t remember buying it, but a lot of these pictures are really good. Especially when I colour them.”
Filthy Rich’s lips twitched. “I see.”
The front door opened.
Filthy Rich stiffened. There was no way he had imagined that.
Diamond Tiara didn’t even turn her head.
He took a deep breath and got out of his chair. “I’ll be back, sweetie.”
“Hm? Oh, okay.”
Filthy Rich walked to the doorway and cautiously poked his head out-
Three.
He pulled back with a soft gasp, chills running throughout his body.
Three figures by the front door. They were pony-shaped, that much he was able to glean from a brief glance.
Faust, why was some part of him hoping they were burglars?
Filthy Rich reached for the closest weapon – a hard wood coat rack – and carefully peeked around the door’s frame again.
Three figures.
Standing there.
… Talking?
They were moving their heads and limbs like they were having a conversation, but he couldn’t hear any words – just a low, eerie whistle of wind flowing through the corridors.
“Excuse me.”
His call went unnoticed.
“Daddy?” Diamond Tiara appeared from behind the chair. “What’s wrong?”
“Just… stay there, sweetie,” He failed to give a reassuring smile before stepping out in full view of the intruders. He made sure they could see he was holding the coat rack. “Excuse me – what business do you have here?”
One of the shadowy figures moved away from the group, and Filthy Rich saw the long spike of a horn and two bulbous shapes stretching out from their back.
“Prin… cess?”
Twilight(?) gave no answer and walked to the stairs and ascended to the upper floor, closely followed by the other two.
Filthy Rich waited, listening as they moved above him.
thump thump thump thump
They went into his bedroom.
Then, fell silent.
Against his instincts, Filthy Rich followed – he had an inexplicable feeling that there was something he needed to see.
Up the stairs. His head felt heavy.
To his bedroom. He felt sick.
Inside.
“Has he noticed anything else strange?” Princess Twilight asked the mare and stallion standing closely together. “Anything you can recall?”
The stallion shook his head. “No, he just keeps mentioning the little filly.”
Filthy Rich blinked in confusion and put down the coat rack. “Princess, what…? What is the meaning of this?”
Twilight turned away and walked to the side of his bed, turning her head this way and that.
Filthy Rich went closer and examined the stallion and mare; they didn’t seem to acknowledge his presence.
“Didn’t I see you talking to the princess earlier?”
The stallion nuzzled the mare’s mane supportively – it looked like neither had gotten much sleep.
“Excuse me.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Topaz…” Twilight turned back around. “I’m sure this is frightening for you, but do you think you may have done something to cause all of this to happen so suddenly?”
Mrs. Topaz sighed. “I’ve been doing some cleaning since Itsy is getting his growth spurt. Finally. I’ve moved a few things around…” Her eyes couldn’t focus on one thing; she looked ready to bolt. “But nothing important. I think.”
Twilight hummed. “I see.”
“Princess, I apologize, but I would appreciate an explanation as to why you are inside my house.” Filthy Rich did not want to disrespect royalty, but there were things a stallion simply should not tolerate.
Mr. Topaz looked at him.
Filthy Rich flinched and took a step back.
“… Sometimes I hear somepony moving around in the study room,” He said, looking through Filthy Rich. “Nopony’s there when I check, of course.”
“That was where he spent the most time according to the Apple family,” Twilight said. “It’s not a stretch to assume he would be drawn there.”
“Who are you talking about?” Filthy Rich felt a gnawing dread encroaching on his heart and turned that fear into anger. “Listen to me, for the love of Faust!”
“And Itsy’s bedroom used to be the filly’s right?” Mrs. Topaz shook her head. “Poor girl.”
Twilight closed her eyes and sighed. “It sounds terrible but thank goodness it was the smoke that killed her, not the fire.”
Filthy Rich’s world started to spin. His body was submerged in ice-cold water, head to hoof.
“Wh-what did you just say?”
“Itsy says he hears her coughing at times.” Mr. Topaz added.
“Coughing…”
“Sometimes we find kitchenware put out on the table. This morning, I found a banana on the counter – it was peeled but untouched.”
Twilight started to pace the room, but Filthy Rich didn’t pay her mind – he reeled back, his legs shaking.
His head felt heavy.
He felt sick.
He felt… hot.
“Maybe we shouldn’t have bought this house,” Mrs. Topaz sounded as if she were down a well. “It looks nice after the repairs, but maybe it was disrespectful.”
“I didn’t believe in ghosts,” Mr. Topaz defended. “Who wouldn’t want a house like this?”
Hot, hot, hot – Faust, it was so hot. Filthy Rich swiped his sweat-slickened brow and stumbled over to the bed, squeezing his eyes shut as the floor lurched beneath his feet.
What were they talking about? Smoke inhalation? Diamond Tiara… dead? No, it couldn’t have been true.
“Pl… please speak to me…” Filthy Rich whimpered. “I’m right here.”
“This isn’t really my forte,” Twilight’s voice echoed ominously. “I’m scanning for pockets of ambient magic, but nothing’s out of the ordinary. Then again, I’m only going off the information I learned from books by supposed mediums, so who knows if I’m-”
“DAMN IT, TALK TO ME!!”
Filthy Rich’s bed shook and slid several inches forward.
Twilight and the Topazes did not look at him; their wide, startled eyes were focused on the bed.
Twilight sucked in a shallow breath. “So… what do you want to do?”
“We’re moving,” Mrs. Topaz nodded vigorously and grabbed her husband’s foreleg. “We’re moving, aren’t we?”
“Dear…”
“I mean, we can’t honestly stay here when-”
“Dear, let’s just… sleep on it for one more night. Princess Twilight, do you mind?”
Twilight nodded. “Take as long as you need. I’ll send a letter to Luna; maybe she’ll be better help than me.”
Their hushed tones followed them out of the room. Filthy Rich was left alone.
“I’m…? Diamond Tiara is…? Oh Faust…”
Slowly, he sank to the floor. Warmth streamed through the fur on his cheeks and fell to the carpet in drops and to his despair, they did not soak into the material.
“But the servants were…”
No, they were never there. Thinking back, he had not seen a single soul in this house, but his mind did not focus on that abnormality. And he didn’t pay heed to the way everypony he passed on his walk did not even glance in his direction.
He remembered thinking how odd it was to see so many new faces and how the ones he knew seemed to look weathered.
“How long have we been…?”
“Daddy?”
Filthy Rich jolted and looked over his shoulder as his daughter – his beautiful daughter – trotted in with a concerned grimace.
“What’s wrong?”
“Diamond Tiara… do you remember anything bad happening lately?”
“Bad?” Diamond Tiara’s lips pursed. “Not really. Everyone at school’s been really quiet and not talking to me, but considering the way I treated them and the CMC…” She trailed off. “Huh, I haven’t seen much of them, come to think of it.”
“I-I see,” Filthy Rich wiped his face and stood, barely keeping his fragile composure together. “… Let’s go back downstairs.”
What was the appropriate reaction to learning you were dead?
Denial, at first, but Filthy Rich was a smart and logical stallion, so that went away after the hundredth time he was ignored on the street despite shouting at the top of his lungs.
Diamond Tiara could not, or perhaps would not, acknowledge what had happened to her. She carried out the same routine with minor deviations – wake up, go to school, come back home, play, sleep, do it over again. Her cough stayed with her throughout, a chilling remnant of the last she had done while alive.
Filthy Rich’s mind was not so fractured, but even he had moments where he would be missing hours of his day, and he would sometimes forget he was dead and got a nasty shock when he walked through another pony.
Ponies that he knew. Ponies that were getting older with each passing day.
The Topazes moved out long ago, and Filthy Rich had no idea how much time had passed since then.
Princess Twilight came by now and again, sometimes with Luna or Celestia; they had used many spells and rituals – some which caused him intense pain – but still he and his daughter’s souls remained anchored to the dilapidated house.
Would they stay like this forever? Filthy Rich wondered that often as he laid in his musty bed and listened to the almost organic creak of the floorboards and his daughter’s persistent cough.
Such a miserable fate – he was thankful Diamond Tiara did not understand their situation.
But whatever future they had – if any – he could take solace and keep his sanity intact with the knowledge that at least he wasn’t alone.
He would stay by Diamond Tiara’s side for however long they had in the mortal plane.
“Okay, that one was definitely more sad than scary,” Rainbow Dash held her hooves up defensively as Rarity glared. “Hey, I’m not saying it was bad; it was decent, right, AJ?”
Applejack nodded. “Fer some reason, ah imagined Filthy Rich an’ his filly in those character’s places. Made it hit all th’ more harder.”
“What about Filthy Rich’s wife?”
Applejack shrugged. “Meh.”
Rarity rolled her eyes. “Such flattery. I simply need more time to ‘get with it,’ as the children say.”
As Rarity went to blow out another candle, Twilight realized something was off.
“The proportions of the snacks aren’t what they should be,” She pointed to the bowls of assorted goodies they had encircled with their sleeping bags. “Trixie…”
A muffled ‘mwuh?’ came from between Fluttershy and Starlight.
“Don’t just eat all the red liquorice; you should have some of the black type, too.”
Trixie’s eyes widened and she almost choked. “Y-you expect the Great and Powerful Trixie to eat such poison? The real horror is that you had the audacity to mix them together!”
Starlight shrugged. “She’s got a point there.”
“But if one pony eats more of a snack type than everypony won’t get an equal share!” Twilight protested as she produced a list from within her sleeping bag. “I have it all recorded here.”
“Are you going to read us your lists when it’s your turn?” Rainbow Dash quipped.
A chorus of poorly stifled giggles made Twilight blush.
“Okay then, why don’t you tell a story next?”
Rainbow Dash grinned devilishly. “Hope nopony wore socks ‘cause I’m about to scare them off.”
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Very good! Looking forward to more.
Well, I like black licorice.
This one is the most chilling story so far.
Very sad 😥
I've seen that movie. It was very sad to me. Had some good thrills though!
Ghosts make me sad. Still, good chapter!
Amen. Black licorice is a bane on all existence.