“So, long story short, we’re all dead.”

Five mares stared at their friend, each drawing faces of horror to shock to everything in between.

“What do you mean we’re dead?!” Rainbow demanded, eyes dancing around the darkened halls of Twilight’s castle. Scorning the regal walls were unsightly waves of scorch marks spiraling into an epicenter on the ash-riddled floor.

Twilight sighed, “Yeah… I messed up that spell pretty badly. I’ll admit I’ve done worse, but that was awful.”

“Worse?” Rarity cried, “What could be worse than this? We’re all dead! We’re just ghosts of our former selves!”

“Good one, Rarity,” Pinkie giggled. Rarity looked back incredulously.

“Let’s not panic, girls,” Twilight said, taking a turn to look into each of their concerned faces, “I can fix this.”

“How could you possibly fix this? Dead means dead, Twilight,” the designer retorted.

“Necromancy,” she said nonchalantly, calmly returning her friend’s stare.

“…Of course.”

“Now then,” Twilight said, looking around the room, “Does anyone know where our bodies are? We’ll need those.”

“You’re standing in them,” Applejack deadpanned.

The alicorn looked down to the piles of ashes at her feet. Then she looked up at her friends once more and awkwardly took a few steps back. “I can still fix this.”

“Can you?” Applejack said, an eyebrow raised.

“…Yes. I’ll just need a bit more time.”

“So what are we supposed to do until then? Just be dead?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight waved her hoof. “Go… Wait, Fluttershy, where are you going?”

Five sets of eyes turned to her as she silently walked away, her eyes glazed over. Ignoring their calls, she continued her seemingly aimless path down the hall.

Rainbow frowned then took off with a flap of her wings, landing in front of the canary pegasus. “Hey, where’re ya going?”

Fluttershy blinked as the life, or remains of it, returned to her eyes. “Oh!” she said, eyes widening in surprise, “What just happened?”

“You were walking away from us all creepy-like,” Pinkie called, bouncing on her hooves over to the two pegasi, “You were all like, ‘I’m going to go all ghosty,’ which is funny because you are a ghost so I guess you were just acting natural but definitely not normal, unless this is the new normal, but Twilight says it isn’t, so I’ve completely lost my train of thought!” She smiled.

“Um… I just felt… compelled? Like something was telling me to go that way,” Fluttershy explained, looking down at the transparent shades of her hooves.

Rainbow glanced over her shoulder and called, “Any ideas, Twi?”

She put a hoof to her chin as she thought aloud, “If I had to guess, I’d say it’s the embodiment of death calling to put our souls to rest for eternity.”

“What?!”

“If any of you see the skeleton of an alicorn with black robes and a scythe, assuming the depictions of it are true, try to stay away. I can’t resurrect you if your soul is in the afterlife.”

Once again, silent took its rule as everyone stared at her.

“Anyways,” Twilight said, “Go haunt Ponyville or something until I find a way to fix this mess. We should travel in at least pairs of two, though, in case what happened to Fluttershy happens to one of us.”

“Sounds great, Twi!” Pinkie said, being the only one to share the feelings, “Hey, Dashie, want to see what kind of pranks we can pull like this while we wait?”

Rainbow brightened up at the suggestion. “Hay yeah! Might as well see what being a ghost is like while we’re like this. Twi, can we fly without flapping our wings and go through walls and stuff like in ghost stories?” Twilight just shrugged. Rainbow smirked then set her wings into resting positions at her sides. Steeling her concentration, she jumped up and, resisting the urge to unfurl her wings, found herself floating in midair. “Awesome!” she called as she proceeded to do flips in the air. “Pinkie, try the other thing. See if you can go through walls.”

Pinkie mock-saluted then grinned. In a mere moment she began sinking into the floor. Soon, only her head was visible. “Look! I’m just a head! Where’s the headless horse-pony when you need him?”

Twilight chuckled then addressed the others, “Well, it seems that they’re going to go abuse their newfound powers. How about the rest of you? I’m staying here to do research.”

“I’ll stay with you, if you don’t mind,” Fluttershy answered, “Not that I don’t want to be with you two, Applejack, Rarity, but I’d rather stay with Twilight…”

“Don’ you fret none, it’s all fine. Looks like you’re with me, Rares.”

“Indeed.”

“Great,” Twilight stated, “Now that that’s been taken care of, why don’t we all meet back here in an hour —”

“Twilight?!” a voice echoed down the halls. All eyes turned and were met with the sight of one purple dragon walking the path. He stopped at seeing the burnt mess of a room in all its blazed glory. His eyes dropped into a half-lidded deadpan as he said, “Might as well clean this up. Twilight would tell me anyways when she gets back from Whereverland.” He turned tail and walked back down the hall in search of broom.

“Can he not see us?” Rarity asked.

“I guess not…” Twilight said,” But what did he mean about me telling him to clean this up? I don’t do that often, do I?”

Everything except the lavender mare suddenly became much more interesting to the others.

“No, really? Applejack, am I like that?”

“What? Why me?”

“Because I know I can always count on you for an honest answer,” she said, a solid smile plastering her face.

“Oh, uh… Well, Twi, ya see… Ah…”

“Yeah ‘Honest Applejack,’ what’s the verdict?” Rainbow unhelpfully added, smirking devilishly as she floated by.

“Quiet, Rainbow! …Now, Twi, Ah think —”

“Here we are,” Spike interrupted, making his reappearance. Humming a nondescript tune, he started sweeping the floor’s dirt and grime and charred pony ashes into a pile.

“Hey, you be careful with my remains!” Rainbow called as she landed down next to him, glaring.

“I don’t think he can hear you either, dear,” Rarity said, cringing as she watched.

“I bet you can get his attention,” Rainbow piped in, turning to Twilight, “Call his name as if you needed something done.”

“What?”

“Just do it,” she insisted, grinning a grin.

Twilight looked at her suspiciously but relented with a shrug. She took in a breath before yelling, “SPIKE!”

The baby dragon instantly shuddered as if a chill wind had blown through. “That was weird…” he said, shifting his eyes about nervously.

“Ha! Ha!” Rainbow triumphantly laughed, drawing a few chuckles out of a few others, the exception being one confused alicorn. “Alright, enough of Spike and his apron. Pinkie, want to head out?”

“Sure do! See you all later!”

“Bye,” they all called back. Rainbow bolted towards the wall and phased through it, followed by an eager Pinkie.

“Ten bits says she forgets she can’t do that and hits the wall when she’s back to bein’ alive,” Applejack commented, “Wanna head out too, Rares? There’s bound ta be somethin’ around town for a spirit ta do.”

The unicorn nodded. “Not like I’ll be able to get any work done anyways. I don’t think I have any colors that would match transparency.”

“Alright. See ya soon, Twi.”

“Bye girls,” she called back as they left with their returned farewells.

Twilight turned to Fluttershy. “Well, it’s just you, me, Spike, and hours of science ahead of us,” she said, eyes lighting up at the idea.

“Yay.”