Chapter 3: Ghost!

I found myself pinned down on the floor, as my attacker kept me still by using all their weight on me. I could feel the hooves pressing against my chest, and felt slightly uncomfortable. Looking up, I found it hard to see the face of the pony who kept me on the floor because of the hood. But knowing who my attacker was wasn't important unless I manage to escape. Desperately I tried to push my attacker away, using my fore hooves, but to no avail. The pony was just too strong and I knew that I had no chance at escaping. I shivered in fear as my thoughts wondered on what would happen to me. If I was to meet the same fate as Autumn, then I hope that it would be swift an painless. So I closed my eyes and waited.

The sound of magic entered my ears and I refused to open my eyes to see what was happening. I only imagined the pony taking a weapon, like a knife or a gun, and readying it for use against me. Shutting my eyes tighter and waiting for the invertible pain, I waited for the fatal blow. But seconds passed and nothing happened.

Slowly opening my right eye, trying to get a peek on what was happening; I was surprised to see that there was no knife or gun. In fact, the pony had no weapon drawn at me at all!

I also noticed that the pony's hood was down, revealing the face. At first I didn't grasp much of this, but when I got a good look at the face, my eyes went wide like dishes. Shock and disbelief run through me as I started to panic once more. I shook in fear as I fret and stammered. I tried to speak, to say something to the pony in front of me, but I found no words to say.

Right in front of me, face showing of a wide grin, was Autumn! The very pony I though dead was right in front of me. Although my heart jumped in glee to see her, my mind found it very puzzling. My mind found it hard to comprehend as my thoughts returned to the possibility of this being a dream. But soon change to the possibility of her being a ghost. A ghost who came to haunt me, because I couldn't help her in her time of death.

She moved aside, the grin still plastered on her face, giving me room to stand up. She offered a her hoof to help me up, but I rejected it. Since I was still shocked at the situation and didn't believe that she was actually standing in front of me. So I clumsily stood up, keeping my gaze at her, as she watched me.

So we stood in the hallway, facing each other, without saying a word. She had the same compassionate look that she had on her face, while carrying the adventurous and rebellious grin on her. There was no mistaking that she was really there, as I feeling her presence radiating, and not just my imagination.

So I went to the next logical conclusion that I could make at the time. She was a ghost!

Slowly moving forward, getting closer to her, I began a visual examination. She didn't look fogy to me, like how I expected ghost to be but then again, I never seen a ghost before. So it was time to do a physical examination.

Autumn gave me a curious look, as if I was crazy, as I lifted my right hoof and moved it towards her. I then started poking her on the chest and was surprised that I was making contact with her. I expected ghost to be translucent, well I guess I am wrong again.

"Ummm….Silver, what are you doing?" She asked, confused at what was happening.

"Trying to check if you are real and a ghost?" I replied still poking her. But I soon stopped poking her when she shoved my hoof away.

"Ghost?" She said, surprised. "Why would you think I'm a ghost?"

That was when my expression changed. I suddenly looked down, sniffling, as bad memories returned. The thought of her being dead got to me, as the thought of losing the one who understood me the most was a scary thing.

"I…I thought you were dead." I stammered, as a tear streamed down my cheek and slipped towards the floor. I started sniffling as I tried to keep my composure. "I saw two ponies carrying guns…" I then raised my head to look at her, as tears continued to stream from my face. "…I thought they killed you!"

Her face change from worry to a caring look, as she moved closer and wrapped her hoof around me for a hug. I buried my face on her chest and let my emotions go. Crying on her fur, I felt sorry for getting her wet. But she didn't complain and instead comforted me in my situation.

"Don't worry…" She said as she ran her hoof on my mane. "…I'm alright. Nothing bad happened."

"Then why did I see two ponies pointing their guns at you?" I asked looking up at her.

She froze and looked at me, staring directly in my eyes. From all the years I knew her, I knew that her expression showed seriousness. Looking back at her, I waited for an answer.

"Listen…" She said, in a serious yet soft tone. "…I need to ask you a question. How much did you see?"

"Not much, I turned off the monitor when I thought they were going to shoot you." I said sniffling. "Which reminds me, who were they and why were you on the wanted list?"

But I didn't get any answers directly at first. Instead, she grabbed my on the shoulder with both her hooves and said:

"Silver, I don't want to involve you in this, yet it seems like life has other plans. I tried to hide this from you, but now I think your involve whether you know it or not. So I'll tell you as much as I can about the things that happened. Those ponies you saw weren't just armed gangsters who want to rob ponies. They were trained assassins. Seeing that you didn't see what happened, I could tell you that I manage to escape them unharmed. I don't even think you were supposed to see all those. Didn't you say your monitors go blurry when arrests happen?"

I nodded my head, remembering the annoyance I use to feel during those events.

"Well, I think there is a reason for that. We think there are jammers in your monitoring systems, blocking any witnesses to the killings and abductions that happen."

I nodded trying to take it all in. But even though I looked calm in the outside, I was mentally screaming in the inside. All was this was too much, as I wondered why they wanted to kill her. Killing? Abductions? I know there were a lot of missing ponies, but I never heard of killings and abductions. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I barely caught the question she asked me.

"…what did you do after you turned off you monitor?"

"Well…I went out and informed my superiors. I thought that maybe they could use the information for an investigation."

"No!" She screamed. "If they know that you saw something like that, even though it wasn't that much, then they would surely eliminate you, so that you won't spill the beans. There's a reason why they jam your monitors!"

I gulped. "Eliminate?"

My question seemed to have been answered when the elevator door opened, with a 'ding'. Looking towards it, we noticed the metal door slide open to reveal two ponies, wearing black combat suits, and levitating revolvers in front of them.

"Buck!" She exclaimed. "It looks like their already here!"

She then stood in front of me, and used her magic to pull something out of her coat. Looking forward, I could see that it was… It was a gun! When did she get one of those? Those she even know how to use that thing?

The sound of her discharging two shots answered my question, as she motioned me to head towards her room. So I did it as fast as I could, not wanting to get shot, while she followed close behind. I heard the ponies from the elevator fire back, as the bullets hiss pass Autumn. Firing two more shots, she moved in the room before closing the door, locking it, and galloping across the room.

She headed towards a window, with the emergency fire escape near it, and opened the glass panel immediately. Hopping out, she motioned for me to follow.

"Come on, we don't have all day. A single door won't stop them."

The sound, of somepony slamming against the door was enough encouragement for me. As I hoped out of the window and landed on the fire escape. I then looked towards Autumn to see her racing down as fast as she could. I followed close behind, trying to keep up. It took me a while before I realized that I could have used my wings to get down, rather than just run.

"Well this day is filled with failure…" I muttered to myself, as the sounds of gun shots came from above. The bullets landed near us, with a hissing sound as they impacted. "…and danger!"