Short Dead Ponies

by Toyloli

Banshee on the Tracks - Part 2

Question from the Author:
Dear Readers
I have stumbled upon a bemusing question and your comments on it would help me a lot.

When my sister read this story she asked me in a rather confused voice "How can they (the ghosts in the story) have magical abilities when they're dead?".... To which I replied, "They're ghosts!" This only made her more confused.

Turns out everything she has read or understood led her to believe that because ghosts don't have bodies they cannot have magic. Where I had learned that any magical ability is an ability of the spirit and since a ghost is just a persons spirit their magic should be okay.

Readers, please respond to this. I'd like to know which my readers think is more correct and also, if there is a cannon opinion on the presence of Ghosts within the Pony-verse and what kind of power they have?

Thankyou for your time, here is the chapter.

Banshee on the Tracks - Part 2
>> Listening to: Song of the Earth (Better ver)

Fluttershy growled as she stared at twilight, putting the purple mare in mind of a wild dog. Instinctively Twilight took a step back.
"Dead?" Fluttershy replied quietly.
"Yes, I. That's what I was told." Carefully Twilight backed a little closer to Rockwell, she could clearly tell by the confused expression on his face that the earth pony was unable to see Fluttershy. She could also tell that the glow around Fluttershy was unnatural and the sound of her voice did not readily come from her body. With all this she extrapolated a hypothesis.
"Fluttershy, are you a Ghost?"

Fluttershy seemed to think about this for a moment while she proceeded to walk through a moderately large stone. The answer when it came was at the very least sarcastic.
"A Ghost? Why of course not. That would be silly. Just because Rarity killed my friend, then killed me, then confessed she was in love with me -"
"Uh oh." Twilight thought outloud.
"And had her daughter and her filly friends find my body. Just because of all of that you think I might be a Ghost?"
Fluttershy was standing stock still, her voice quiet like a whispering wind and her expression blank. "No dear. I'm not a ghost! I'm just dead!" She turned her head to one side and stared at Twilight.

"Oh... Okay." Twilight was not feeling relieved, there was no way she could tell Fluttershy that she had seen Rarity just a moment before.
"Thank you for warning us!" The unicorn spun around and began pushing the rather confused Rockwell away from the enraged spirit.

"When you see Rarity!" Fluttershy continued, "Tell her I am SO going to Make Her Hurt!"

Despite Fluttershy's tone of voice indicating a scream, Twilight was relieved to see some things hadn't changed. The threat carried through the air quietly on the wind, creating an eerie sound but didn't result in an ear shattering scream as Fluttershy had likely intended. Pushing Buddy towards the other train cars she noticed some of the other ponies huddling in the shelter.

"Oh dear." Twilight decided. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear."
Sitting down hard, Twilight tried to think. Part of her could tell Fluttershy was watching her, so she couldn't simply go back and talk to Rarity. Rarity may have been responsible for Fluttershy's death, but nobody deserved to be tortured by an angry ghost.
"What's going on?" Buddy asked eventually. "It's obvious you were having a conversation with somebody, and I could sort of hear bits of the conversation but you looked like you were talking to thin air?"

Looking up at Buddy, Twilight frowned. "I suppose I was!" she responded, then glumly put her head on her hooves. "It would appear- " she explained, "I can see dead people."
Buddy frowned, the small moustache above his mouth twitching.
"Is this a Pegasus thing?"
"I Dunno." Twilight responded.
"And have you always been able to do this?"
Twilight shrugged, her tail flicking back and forth in irritation.

"I see." Buddy responded, then looked around at the derailed train. "I feel like I'm missing something. I feel like I missed a punchline or something."
Twilight looked up, "Nobody was being funny." she commented, then stood.
"I suspect, all this -" she gestured at the derailed train, "is the result of a mare I used to know. She's dead now. and apparently angry."
"AAhh.." Buddy responded, trying to sound knowledgeable. "Will she try to stop us leaving? I mean it looks like we have a couple of carriages ready so we might have to leave soon."

Twilight nodded. "I have a unircorn making a forge up near the main engine. I hope." She lied, Rarity had never actually said she would. "Get the Pegasus and Unicorns to turn the engine upright. And get the Earth ponies to hammer the kinks out of the wheels so they can at least roll straight. The hard part will be getting everything back on the tracks."

Buddy's face fell. "Oh yeah... We would either have to drive them back - which won't work, or somehow lift over a million pounds over a distance of a quarter a mile..."
"Actually, it would be 310 tonnes and 42 pounds." Twilight corrected automatically.
"Oh! Great!" Buddy stamped the ground then smacked his face, "That's better, now that we know the exact figure we know how impossible it is!"
Twiglight looked back at the section of forest where she had seen Fluttershy, then at the train Engine where she hoped Rarity still stood.

"Not impossible. I think I have a plan forming!"
Buddy stared at Twilight for a full minute while she stared into space.
"Yes, it's definitely a plan! Go get the wheels fixed! I'm going to take a pass at hailing a mare!"

Fluttershy was circle the train-wreck in a lazy fashion, gently fluttering her wings as she passed through the trees unperturbed. Rarity was somewhere nearby, and while Fluttershy had originally being willing to forgive her it wasn't going to be until After Rarity had suffered a little bit.
"Fancy that, killing me cause she Loves me." She grumbled. several expressions ran through her at once, "I mean, it is sweet and I love her back but - no!" She chided herself, "She was stupid and arrogant and I need to stay angry at her!"
Settling back on anger Fluttershy beat her wings against the air, causing small dust devils and blowing over a nearby tree.

Twilight grinned as she heard the creaking cracking of a tree falling over in the woods and was glad she had been there to hear it! Grabbing the net of curtains and rope she had made from the traincars she made a bee-line for the sound and what she hoped would turn out to be an unsuspecting Fluttershy.

Rockwell found the Forge naturally. This he was surprised at - it had been expertly dug into the ground with a large open cavern in which to throw wood from the damaged traincars. nobody present though knew which of the unicorns had built it but everypony agreed it was a professional job.
"You could almost cook gems in this!" one pony commented, "Who-ever built it knows their stuff"
"Well, we can't afford to muck about! Twilight said we have to be ready to roll soon, so lets bang some rocks together!"

Trotting through the woods, Twilight followed the path of blown over plants, trees and othe disturbances hot on the hooves of Fluttershy. The spectral pony seemed unaware of the destruction she was causing, and so Twilight hoped the yellow mare wouldn't notice her until too late!
Spying Fluttershy in a clearing near the engine, she got down low and watched fluttershy from the corner.
"Please let my magic work." She said, "Please let it work!" Twilight cast, small sparks of magic gathering at her horn. She knew she had magic, but why it didn't come when she called it Twilight could not tell.

Twilight pictured Rarity's face, Rarity's body. The rough drawing on the sheets and netting marked out the corresponding places and with luck.... "I need a fake Rarity now!"
"Oh like that's going to work!" Twilight's concentration broke in an instant, the magic draining away and feeling further from her than they had before the attempted spell.
"Oh For!" Twilight spun on her hooves, glaring at the intruding voice. It was the engineer.
"I almost had it!"
"No you didn't!" The engineer observed.
Twilight blinked, "Okay, but I would have had it soon!"
The engineer smiled, "Didn't that pony used to be your friend? Why are you trying to deceive her? You could just Ask her for help!"

Gaping at the engineer, twilight flicked her head causing her mane to whip around aggressively. Her ears went up, then down, a hoof to her face with an expression of exasperation, then back on the ground to accompany a look of confusion. finally in a thought way she flicked her tail before looking back at the engineer pony.
"I don't know why. I just didn't think of that. I guess."

The engineer simply smiled at Twilight, and after a moment she blushed.
"Well, come on then!" She decided, leeding the way to where her dead friend stood.
The Engineer grinned, calling out as the two picked their way towards Fluttershy.
"What's a fine spirit like yourself doing on a night like this!"
Staring at the engineer Twilight hid a shocked expression.
"I guess any unicorn can see her." She decided, then spoke up as well.

"Fluttershy!" Twilight hesitated, "I - I'm sorry I couldn't help you before. But I have to ask for your help!"
Fluttershy floated in the air above them, seeing the ponies approaching her she frowned.
"Who's that." She asked quietly, looking at the smiling engineer.
"He's the drive of that train!" Twilight pointed her head towards the overturned engine. "He'll be the pony driving us out of here!" Twilights neck was starting to ache from looking up.
"Can you please come down? We're friends right, you don't need to be so... um, High." She finished her sentence lamely. Fluttershy was always a little stand-offish so that wasn't exactly new.

Thinking about it, Fluttershy landed and walked up to Twilight. The Unicorn assumed Fluttershy had meant to rub her head against her own in greeting, but instead Fluttershy passed through Twilight like water through a sieve.
Twilight tried to ignore the intense feeling of cold, clenched her teeth and smiled.
After a moment, Fluttershy nervously returned that smile.

"So what can I do." She offered. Twilight's teeth were still clenched to prevent them from clattering. The Engineer Pony spoke up in her place.
"Fluttershy, dear. I don't know if you noticed but now that you're dead you seam to be pretty powerful!" He indicated the path they had walked, with overturned trees and boulders. "It seems any natural powers you had as a Pegasus have been increased with your passing."
The Engineer was being too direct, Twilight eventually found her tongue and interrupted.
"We're trapped out here, Fluttershy." she told her friend simply. "I don't know if it was you flying past us earlier that caused our accident, or something unrelated, but -"
Fluttershy's eyes flashed. "Wait, what? I didn't blow past the train earlier!"
Twilight hesitated. "Myself and Rarity were out here already! It's close enough to my house that I can return there for my friends, and close enough to ponyville that I can look in on ponies I know!"

Twilight's mind blinked. If Fluttershy hadn't been the cause of the crash than who had?
Twilights mind chased it's own tail for a moment, her own tail whipping back and forth. After a moment she pushed the thoughts into the back of her mind and shook out her mane.

"Okay, that's a mystery I'll have to solve later! But for now I Really need your help! You seem to have poltergeist abilities and we have a 310 tonnes, 42 pounds of train engine and two traincars that we need to get back on the track!"
Fluttershy frowned at this, trying to look small. "And you're asking me?"
Twilight nodded.

"It would appear that being dead turns an average pony like you into a powerhouse!" The Engineer suggested. "You're probably the only pony who can do this now!"
Fluttershy's face was a picture of surprised innocence. Enough to make Twilight smile. Everybody knew that Fluttershy was capable of far more than she ever believed herself capable of and the sun coloured pony was giving her classic reaction.
Inwardly, Twilight was breathing a sigh of relief. Since finding Fluttershy the pegasus had been giving off a really uncomfortable angry aura but now, in the face of such confidence and flattery the air was beginning to calm down
"So?" Twilight enquired.

Fluttershy simply nodded, and together they broke from the woods and headed to the engine.
Rockwell greeted Twilight as they approached.
"Did you find your divine intervention?" The earth pony asked.
"Sure did! "Twilight called back, "Get everypony together! Not too sure how this is going to work - but I have a supercharged Pegasus who is apparently now a poltergeist and I think she's going to move the engine for us! Are our wheels fixed?"
"Yep! Found the forge you said about, hewn out of rock. Must have taken a bit of magic! For the life of us though -"He looked around at the few unicorns who were present, "None of us knows who built it. Nobody came forwards either!"

Twilight smirked, "Odd. I find it hard to believe that..." She kept her voice quiet, looking at Fluttershy and the Engineer. "The plan is to use a small twister to lift it, then the unicorns use magic to stabilize it while the Earth ponies use ropes to walk it back to the tracks. Where we'll lower it in place!"
Rockwell nodded to this, "I hope you realize if you have a ghost pony you're the only pony who can see her here!"
"I expected as much!" Twilight tilted her head. "Don't worry, just prepare the ropes and don't get caught in the twister!"

The other ponies rushed to start work, throwing ropes over the engine of the train, Buddy kept them working with a smile and a laugh. He certainly had a way of charming people into work, Twilight sighed.
"I guess I have to expect them to look to him in a situation like this!"

Twilight reviewed the work, while Fluttershy played with the fire.
"It's not even hot..." she was complaining, as she stuck her hoof through the Earth walls of the forge and into the furnace.
"It's so strange." She looked back across to where her winds had been knocking down trees then back to her hoof.
"Am I really powerful?"
Since Twilight and the Engineer were the only ponies who could hear her, Fluttershy's question was left unanswered.

"Psst."
Fluttershy shook her mane, trying to scare away the mosquito.
"No, I said Pssst!" Fluttershy blinked.
"Um Hello?"
"Down here!" Fluttershy stooped low to look under the bit of the train that was sideways. There wasn't much of a gap, but she thought she could see a pair of hooves.
"What? Rarity is that you!" Twilight scooted her legs around trying to see how Rarity had squeezed in under the train.
"How'd you get under there?" She demanded to know.

"Nevermind how I got under here you fool, I'm Hiding! Why did you bring her here?" Rarity's voice was hushed but hoity and is got Twilight's back up.
"She's a ghost. She has powers! She's going to help us move the train!"
"Oh She is, is she?" Rarity frowned. "You realize if Fluttershy finds me after what I did - no there won't be a piece of me left to find!"

Twilight wrinkled her nose. "Rarity, you..." She hesitated. "What you did was bad but Fluttershy..." She stopped, the thoughts in her head were different shapes to what she tried to say.
"Rarity, did you REALLY tell Fluttershy after you killed her that you were in LOVE with her?" Twilight asked incredulously.

The silence from underneath the engine was deafening.
"You DID!" Twilight's eyes popped open, her chin dropped to the ground and her tail went in the air. "Oh my, Rarity! No Wonder she's pissed! I mean seriously, you don't tell a filly something like that by Killing her! Buy her flowers, or a book or something!"
"It..." Rarity's voice was small. "It's not like that. I...."
"Rarity?" Twilight stood up straight again.

"I Don't Know What It's Like!" Rarity yelled, forgetting that she was hiding.
"I just.. I just. I couldn't imagine my life without her... I didn't want things to go like they did, when I thought of living without her. And then afterwards the grief! Of course I told her!"... Rarity was almost sobbing. "I love her... How could I not tell her that!"
Twilight smacked her forehead with her hoof. "Oh Rarity!" She complained, "Timing girl, Timing! You should have -"
"- I See You!" Twilight looked up at the sudden voice and her blood ran cold. Fluttershy was flying directly above the engine.

"No, Fluttershy!"
"UpDraft!" Fluttershy commanded, flapping her small wings in as large a motion as she could. The Air around her responded, rushing upwards faster and faster till Twilight could almost feel herself being lifted off the ground. The Metal of the engine groaned from the sudden pull of the wind demanding to be let rest, then with a sudden CREEEAAAOOOOPT the metal gave way to the winds and snapped into the air as though thrown from a sling shot, Twilight alongside it.

Floating through the air, her head spinning from the rapid acceleration, part of her vaguely wondered if this was how RainbowDash felt. Rarity, now unveiled stood and looked up at Fluttershy. They stared at each other, long and hard. Fluttershy was crying. Quietly.

Falling through the Air - Twilight looked at the ground with a lot of disdain and a little bit of fear. She had been told repeatedly that falling was nothing to be afraid of, only hitting the ground.
The fact that she was also heading in the direction of one of the damaged carriages was also a bit upsetting.

"There is no way I am going to hit that ground!" Twilight said.
"Fluttershy.. I'm sorry." Rarity was begging her old friend. "I'm sorry, okay. I know it doesn't make up for it but I really Really am Sorry!"
"Hello." Twilight called out, staring at the ground and it slowly began to get closer. Silently she calculated just how fast she would be moving when she hit.
"Do you even have any idea what this has all done to me!" Fluttershy cried, "I don't even feel like myself anymore!"
"I know. I'm not myself either, I guess!" Rarity looked at the ground.

"I'm faling here!" Twilight called out. "A little Help? Please?" With the gusting winds tearing up the countryside all of the other ponies seemed busy. Quietly, Twilight calculated how much force she was going to hit the ground with. "Please g-guys??" she screamed.

Fluttershy casually flapped her wings and caused one of the damaged train-cars to go rolling end over end across the grass, right at Rarity.

Twilight screamed out warning..

The car barrelled right through her without even touching the unicorn. Snippets of her conversation with Rarity floated through her head and then Twilight remembered that she hadn't finished reading the letter. She blinked.

"If You are going to get mad Then That's okay!" Rarity explained as loudly as she could. "Hurt me! I Get it! I Deserve to be Hurt back after all this! But get a GRIP! You're going to be just as bad as I was like this! Look at the Damage you're Doing!?"
Fluttershy hesitated, and finally noticed the scared cowering ponies, hiding from her horrid gales.
Her flapping stopped, the wind slowed... Twilight still fell. And it looked like the traincar would likely crush her when they landed.

Twilight Reflected.
I guess I did kill her after all.
Twilight looked at Rarity, Fluttershy had descended to the ground, the poor sun coloured pegusus looked shattered and tired. With tears all over her face and her voice now pale and weak by comparison she looked like the fabled banshees of the northern legends.
I killed Rarity. But I wasn't in time to save Fluttershy. They were in love, but not. But now they are together. Sortof.
Idly she looked at the ground.
They almost seem better off this way. Which is stupid cause they're dead...They should be worse off. But....

Twilight smiled. Fluttershy was on the ground... And Rarity was holding her. Actually holding her.
If they are going to be alright... Then I can be as well.

Power flared!

---

Once Fluttershy had calmed down, and at least partially made up with Rarity things progressed smoothly. Twilight never understood why her magic took that moment to return, or how it could return at full power when until that point she had not been able to even cast a light spell.

Ears twitching she had been able to levitate the engine into landing upright and stop herself from crashing into the ground. Rarity being a Ghost almost seemed like a blessing. Her and Fluttershy's natural abilities and magic seemed enhanced and even though Rockwell, very nervously, was the only pony willing to approach the spirits until everything was done they were easily able to get their train back on the rails. Only four hours had been wasted from the time of the crash to starting again.

Loading on those who were willing to ride the train, the Engineer took charge and willingly drove them back to Ponyville, with about ¼ of the ponies choosing to wait for a less 'haunted' rescue. They arrived in the early morning, a few hours before sunrise - just in time to bid good luck to the team sent to the crash site.

"At least!" Thought Twilight, "Rockwell got here safely."
"Oh yes.. I imagine it would have been a scandal if he hadn't!" Fluttershy was looking at Rockwell, he was emerging from one of the cabins. Rarity was fangasming.

"That is...."
"Yes." Fluttershy commented.
"But, why didn't you?"
"I didn't think it was relevant!" Twilight responded.
Rarity was biting her mane. "He can't see me, he can't see me!"
"No, he can't!" Twilight confirmed, "Don't worry. Only Unicorns can see dead people!"
Twilight wrinkled her nose. "I think." She thought about it.

"Actually - come to think of it the only Unicorn that I think saw you two was the Engineer!" She frowned.
"But But... Budddy RockWell!"
"I thought you were in love with me?" Fluttershy teased, making Rarity squeak.

Rarity watched envious as Buddy Rockwell, famous musician and heartthrob of any mare under 30 walked out of the traincar. He wore a vest to cover the wound in his side and had a guitar strapped to his back. Some time between arriving one of his posse had combed his mane and tail, and the fans who had gathered during the early morning to receive him cheered. Not knowing everything that happened.

Out of the way of the hubbub, Twilight and her spectral friends watched, only noticing a nurse pony approach when she was right in front of them.
Twilight got off the platform and got down to see what was going on.

"Twilight Sparkle." - Twilight nodded at her name. "I'd like to thank you for what you did."
"It really was nothing. I mean literally." Twilight frowned, she never understood when a pony was congratulated for doing what had to be done.
"I have to say, it seams thanks to you most everypony on the train survived. Only this colt, poor soul, died. Apparently the doctors found him right after the initial crash. But it was already too late."

"Who was he." Twilight called her magic, glad to feel it flowing readily again and flipped back the sheet. Staring at the body, Twilight froze. Unable to speek.
Curious to see what was going on, Fluttershy hovered above Twilight.

"That's the Engineer." She said.... Twilight began to stammer.

"WHY IS EVERYPONY I KNOW TURNING UP DEAD!!!!"

>>> Next Story: The Cutie Mark Crusaders in 'Bloody Mare Bloody Mare Bloody Mare'.

Comments

[SuperPinkBrony12]

"WHY IS EVERYPONY I KNOW TURNING UP DEAD!!!!" That's what I want to know too Twilight!

[lava blade]

i Will defiantly give it a read tomorrow im to tired right now