Jake: Evening.
Me: "Hello to you, as well." Silver says, sliding her glasses up her muzzle with a manicured hoof. "Nice to meet you, mister...?"
Jake: He, in turn, slid his thick-plated goggles up a bit with his dirty, work-worn hoof. "Jake. You know, it's late out. Why're you out here by yourself?"
Me: "I was on my way home." Silver said, letting out a soft sigh. This was a lie, of course. She had made sneaking out at night a habit of hers, and she wasn't about to let her evening end early because of some random curfew-enforcer.
Jake: "...You know, you really are bad at lying, even to yourself." Jake got down on his hind end and smiled softly at the filly. "Now why is it you're out here? Maybe you could talk about it?"
Me: Silver's perfectly purple eyes begin to narrow. At least, they did, until she calmed herself by letting a deep breath out of her lungs and pushing her glasses back up before her eyes. "I told you, I'm on my way home."
Jake: "You'll stay out late, because you really don't care about what your parents say. I've been there, kid." He gave that same sigh, a bit rougher, still with the same spirit as he shrugged off his saddlebag, pulling a shiny red apple out. "Hungry?"
Me: "I LIKE my parents." Silver said, fluttering her silvery eyelids shut in an attempt to remain calm. "Which is why I'm heading home on time." She stepped to one side restarted her trot, her saddlebags hanging heavily off of her sides. "And I don't take food from strangers."
Jake: "...You're smart." He replaced the apple, getting onto his hooves and trotting along side her. "I mean, you can do what you want, I was just thinking your parents would be worried. And you should be lucky you HAVE parents that love you."
Jake: "I didn't."
Me: "Congratulations." Silver said, her hooves beating against the ground faster in an effort to avoid this pony. Her braids began to angle ever-so-slightly backwards in the air as she moved. She honestly didn't know what to say to "I never had parents." She wasn't heading home before, but she was seriously considering it now. There or the police station,.
Jake: A cold breeze blew through the air, a single leaf upturning to her movement. Jake was nowhere within a meter's radius of the poor filly. His motionless body instead rested on a nearby park bench, a strange necklace hanging from his open hoof as it swayed.
Me: Silver shrugged and continued on her way, her trot slowing to a more comfortable pace. She was definitely on her way home now- at least it would be safe from this crazy pony. If he could just disappear like that, it'd be easy enough for him to show up in her bedroom later at night. A shiver ran down her spine before she opted to perish the thought.
Jake: Though she was about another three meters away from him and his bench, as soon as that chill went through her, a popping noise was heard. The bench was a few feet closer.
Jake: "Help..."
Me: Silver jumped. That was, well, what happened. Her head whipped around and her perfectly purple gaze focused on the source of the noise. Her hooves beat against the ground faster now, eager to take her home.
Jake: This bench, and its occupant, would not leave her be, as each time she got far enough away, it got closer. And each time she looked behind her, the path in front of her strayed, as she entered a foggy, misted area, dead trees looming over, that sort of thing. Spooky and stuff. She had intertwined her in this mysterious forest.
Me: "What do you want me to do? I just want to go home!" Silver shouted, stamping her manicured hoof against the ground. Some dirt would stick to it, of course, but her current situation was one that a few minutes with a hoof bath wouldn't fix.
Jake: A low-sounding growl was heard from the left, then close to her right. Then right. Behind. Her. IT WAS THE BENCH. PLOT TWIST
Jake: The stallion still laid there on the bench, the necklace still hanging from around his right hoof, which in turn was hanging off the side. Cold and malnourished, he lay there, crying gently to himself. "Nobody's my friends..."
Me: Silver backs a few steps away, still pretty freaked out. "Maybe eat that apple you tried to give me. You look like you could use it."
Jake: ""Help me... Please... It hurts..." His breathing became heavier, more raspy, as more of his life force drained away. His glasses fell off his face, revealing bright red eyes, the pupils aimed directly at her.
Me: "What do you want me to do? Just tell me and leave me alone!" Silver says, backing away with a big, nervous. grimace stretching across her face.
Me: *big, nervous grimace
Jake: "Free me... Free yourself." A tad bit of blood began to drip from his open mouth, pooling around the ground. "I've been without a friend for too long... My body is dying..."
Me: "So... you're a friendship vampire? You need friendship to live?" Silver sneered, her hooves backing her away ever-so-slowly. "H-have you tried literally anypony else? It's hard to want to be friends with... this." She waved her hooves in... his? direction.
Jake: "I wasn't always like this. I was cool once." His body faded away, leaving behind his young soul. His glasses were thinner, his hair was a lighter color, and his tail was a single color. "When Discord was defeated, everything changed but me. I'm ruined."
Me: "You look okay now." Silver said, taking more and more steps away. "Please don't hurt me."
Jake: "I wouldn't hurt anypony." He took a few steps toward her, his hoofprints making shallow, white holes in the cold earth as he made his way towards her. "Why would I hurt you? If anything, you're hurting me."
Me: Silver soon begins to shiver, forcing her saddlebags to beat against her body and her braids to quiver in the air. "You're a ghost and you're being creepy. If you're trying to scare me into being your friend, that's not how you traditionally go about it."
Jake: "I don't want to scare you, forgive me." He backed off quite a ways, going so far as to cower before her. "I really mean you no harm. I just need somepony to be my friend..." His voice, while eerily soft, seemed to be clear enough in its requests. It needs a friend.
Me: "Why me?" Silver asks, her shakes slowly calming. She managed to shiver her glasses all the way down to the point of her nose, prompting her hoof to go and slide them right back up. "I'm... good on friends."
Jake: "You're just... Well, to be honest, sweet. I can tell you're different from the others. I pick my friends very carefully, you see..." He leaned forward and gave her a gentle pat on the head before returning to his post. "You're so innocent compared to most other fillies and colts."
Jake: //Continue tomorrow if you feel?
Me: ((Sorry, I've got a lot of stuff to be doing.))
Jake: //No problem. Good talk. *Internet high five.*
Me: Silver... didn't know what to say. She didn't think of herself as a particularly innocent pony, but she already knew this pony wasn't all there. "Thank you?" She said, nervously sucking air in through her teeth.
Jake: He nodded kindly. "And... Well, I really haven't had a friend in years. If that makes sense. I'll pay handsomely if you do become my friend, and I'm sure you'll be glad to know that you won't see me tonight. I-I mean, if you want to see me..." He blushed.
Jake: A ghost blushed. What should have been a dark red, it was more of a pale-ish pink. "I don't know what to think. I don't talk good around girls."
Jake: //Get that last one?
Me: ((I did.))
Me: "I have money." Silver said. He must not know who he was talking to. It was an easy enough mistake to make. Not everyone knew when they were talking to the wealthy heiress of a delivery company, she supposed. "You know, bribery isn't a very good way to make friends."
Jake: "Only way I know how..." He sighed. "Nopony else goes to be my friend because of 'good looks' or anything." A ghostly tear fell from his eye, landing with a quiet splash onto the soil.
Me: Silver never considered herself a mare of pity. When somepony tried this hard to make her feel sorry, it always ended up making her roll her perfectly purple eyes up into her head. "Look." She said. "Come by my place tomorrow afternoon. My dad won't be there and we can have a trial run." She let out a heavy sigh. She couldn't believe she was inviting a stranger- much less a creepy one- into her home. "That's my offer. Take it or leave it."
