Without a Trace

by Kelvin Shadewing

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Pipsqueak sat at the corner table with two cupcakes set out before him, one for him, and one for his invisible friend, Trace. He nudged the latter forward with his hoof. "You're supposed to eat it, Trace."

"I can't," Trace said, "The ponies here may see me. Besides, organic food does nothing for me. It would be a waste if I were to eat this."

"It's not a waste if you like it," Pip pleaded, "Please try it."

"My apologies," Trace said flatly, "but I cannot. If one of the other ponies saw, it would cause a scene. I cannot risk alerting them." He felt somepony looking in his direction and looked at Mrs. Cake standing at the counter, staring at the corner booth. "Hold on. I will be back."

"OK," Pip sighed, and rested his chin on the table.

Trace stood up and stalked over to the pudgy mare.

"Carrot, do you see that poor colt there?" Mrs. Cake said.

"I noticed him, Cup," Mr. Cake replied, "I have no idea why he's acting like that, though."

"Isn't it obvious," said Cup, "The poor dear is lonely. He might have been waiting for somepony who never showed up."

"Poor kid," said Carrot, "Maybe we shouldn't charge him for his snack. Might help perk him up a bit."

Cup Cake nodded.

Trace glanced at Pipsqueak. The colt didn't even need to lift a hoof to get what he ordered for free. Endearment may have been useless in the wild, but it was something very powerful in civilized society.

"You don't think he doesn't have any friends at all, do you?" Cup asked.

Carrot shook his head. "I wouldn't know. I'll bet Pinkie would want to fix that real quick though."

At that moment, a pink earth mare with a cotton candy-like mane burst in through the door. "Where is he?!"

The Cakes stared wide-eyed at the new arrival. "Speak of the nightmare," Mr. Cake said.

Pinkie Pie began sniffing around like a dog, then sat bolt upright and grabbed her tail. "My Pinkie Sense is telling me he's in this room!"

"Who's in the room, dear?" Cup asked.

"The new pony!" Pinkie squeaked, "I've been looking for him all day long! There's a new pony in town, but I can't find him." She turned around and addressed the crowd. "Alright, everypony, listen up! One of you is new in town, so you better step forward and give me your name so I can throw you a proper welcome to Ponyville party!"

Everypony in the bakery stared at Pinkie, most of them looking afraid of her.

She squinted at them and scanned over each one. Everypony looked familiar, so that meant nopony was new. Pinkie tilted her head in confusion. "But I... I was sure he'd be in here."

Trace, meanwhile, was hiding on the ceiling, staring intensely at Pinkie. No way she can sense me. She's an earth pony. They don't have magic spells. But who else could she possibly mean?

Cup Cake stepped forward and put a hoof on Pinkie's shoulder. "Pinkie, dear, maybe the new pony could wait. There's another problem we need your help with."

"Really?" Pinkie asked Cup, "Okie dokie Loki! What's the problem?"

Mrs. Cake pointed at Pipsqueak, who was still sulking in the corner. "That poor colt over there. He bought two cupcakes, one for himself, and one for a friend. But as you can see, he has no friend with him."

"Aw, that poor guy," Pinkie said sadly, "Don't worry! I'll see to it he gets his friend! Maybe Twilight was right, and my Pinkie Sense was telling me about this colt instead of somepony new in town."

"Uh, yeah, sure." Cup Cake grinned.

Trace continued to watch Pinkie intently, trying to make out any signs of her detecting him. She trotted up to Pipsqueak and sat where the assassin was sitting just minutes ago.

"Hiya, Pip! What's got ya down?"

Pip looked up at Pinkie. "Oh, nothing much."

"Is the cupcake not good enough?" Pinkie asked, "I can get you a new one. Or maybe you'd like something else?"

Pipsqueak shook his head. "No, it's just... never mind. I don't wanna talk about it."

"But if you don't talk about it, it'll never get better," Pinkie said sagely, "No problem ever got solved by ignoring it. And believe me, I've tried ignoring tons of problems! But all that happened was I ended up burning a lot of cakes."

"Well," said the paint colt, "I made a new friend, but nopony can see him. And Diamond Tiara kept teasing me that he was imaginary."

"Aw, there's nothing wrong with having an imaginary friend, Pip," said Pinkie, "I say an imaginary friend is better than no friend at all, but that shouldn't stop you from making real friends either."

"But he..." Pip stopped himself. He didn't want to risk getting Trace mad and losing him as a friend. "He's... more than imaginary to me."

"I understand," Pinkie said, "Sometimes I still have parties with Madame Le Flour when I'm all alone."

"Madame Le Flour?" Pip asked.

"Yep," said Pinkie, "Hey! We should totally have an imaginary friend party! I'll bring Madame Le Flour, and you bring Trace! They can meet each other and we'll have a super big fun party and show everypony that imaginary friends are cool too!"

Pipsqueak smiled. "Thanks, Pinkie. I'll ask Trace if he wants to come."

---

"Absolutely not," said Trace, "There's something wrong with that pony."

"But she won't tell anypony," said Pip, "If you make her make a promise, she keeps it no matter what. Everypony in town trusts her with their secrets. If she finds out you're real, we can just make her promise not to--"

"You don't understand," said Trace, "Grown up ponies don't understand me. They'll... make me leave."

"But why?"

Trace stood silent; he couldn't think of an excuse. What would a foal believe anyway? He sighed and gave in. "Pipsqueak, I... I have a good reason for staying invisible. I look... scary. Other ponies would be afraid of me. Even you would if you knew what I looked like."

"But you're my friend," said Pip, "You saved my life in the woods. I don't care what you look like, because you're so nice and good and you're my best friend."

Trace sighed. The foal was too attached to listen to reason. He lowered his head and decided to give in. "Alright," he said, "I'll come to the party just for you. But I'm not talking to Pinkie Pie. Do you understand?"

Pipsqueak nodded. "I understand. You're not ready for ponies to see you, right? Will you ever show yourself?"

Trace looked out the window. "That is... something I can't really control. But if I ever get the chance, I'll show myself to them."

"Promise?"

The assassin cringed at the sight of his ward. The colt was using his endearment on him again. "I promise."

Pip smiled and held out his foreleg.

Trace moved closer so the pony could feel him and give him a tight hug.

"Thank you," said Pip, "I hope I get to see you one day soon."

"Yeah." When I feel like committing a slow and miserable suicide. "When is the party?"

"This weekend," Pip said.

"Alright." Trace let go of him. "Better get your homework finished. I'll be back in the morning."

Author's Note:

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Comments

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Holy crap. I've been wondering when this would update!