//------------------------------//
// Skipping forward - Museum Madness (working title- slightly edited) 
// Story: Ghostbusters: A Different Adventure 
// by Chrome Masquerade 
//------------------------------//

As Ray, Winston and Twilight entered the Museum through the back entrance, Ray looked left... thenright... then he took up his PKE meter and said, "Okay, Peter; try to keep Peck busy."

Peter sighed, but replied,


"Fine. I'll take one for the team."



With that, the trio proceeded forward, only to find some large patches of Black Slime.

Twilight queried, "Dad?"

Ray needed no explanation. "Yeah. I see it too - Switching on the packs." he replied, doing just that.

Switching to the Slime Blower device, they quickly soaked the patches of slime. Ray commented, "One nice thing is that the neutronized slime just -eventually- dissolves, leaving fresh humid air, but not much else."

Twilight, being at a lower angle, noticed the switch for the power in the area and flipped it with a flick of her magic.

Winston said, "Ah! And lo, there was light!"

Ray added, "Nice finding, Twilight. This'll make it easier to navigate through this area safely, anyway."

As they went along, they saw more patches of the caustic substance. Of course, aside from making a bit of a mess, they quickly dealt with that issue.

Moving on to the next room, they noticed a mumbling sound coming from a crate that was nearby. Switching to the Proton Stream momentarily, Twilight fired off a boson dart, breaking the crate open, revealing the museum's manager, doctor Rutherford, who thanked them profusely beforer saying, nervously, "Is that... thing g-g-gone?"

Ray was quick to reassure him. "Seems like it. But if it comes back, you're perfectly safe with us, sir."

Doctor Rutherford said, "Thank goodness. I'm a really big fan, you know. I had you guys over for my daughter's birthday party once."

Ray raised his eyebrows. "Is that so? Well, I'm sure we can get you some merchandise, if you like. It's always nice to meet a fan of ours."

"Oh, that would be great." Doctor Rutherford gushed, then continued, "Anyway, I'll lead you guys to where the party is really at." So saying, he moved toward the elevator, only to be interrupted by a blue ghost. Twilight's quick thinking resulted in a scan of the Posessor Ghost.

She warned, "Class 7-4! Full torso manifestation; wandering posessor! Careful!"

Doctor Rutherford stumbled back, and Ray stepped in front of the ghost. "You'll have to go through me first!"

The ghost looked taken aback briefly, but then smirked. "Really?"

Twilight deadpanned at the same time, "Seriously?"

The Posessor ghost was about to do just that, but Twilight quickly sparked up her magic, grabbing a hold of it. "Ooooh, no you don't!" Manifesting a semi-transparent chained rod, she  thrust it forward, saying, "Get over here!"

Sure enough, the chain looped around the ghost and tugged it back toward Twilight, holding it steady, long enough for Winston and Ray to begin zapping it. Twilight joined in, and soon enough it was trapped.

Doctor Rutherford extolled, "Alright! You guys are REALLY good!"

Ray said with a certain amount of satisfaction, "Proton-based exorcism in a nutshell. Shall we continue?"

Suiting action to words, they entered the elevator.




Arriving at the main event's main room, the three men (and one unicorn) were immediately spottted by Walter Peck, who stomped forward, a couple of security guards just behind. "No! No, no no no, NO! I will NOT have you fraudulent gangsters ruining this event!"

"Jeez, Peck; RELAX." Ray said. "We mostly came to warn they mayor of something."

Peck folded his arms. "Whatever you have to say will have to go through myself. Otherwise, GET OUT."

"Nuh uh, Peck-a-bee." Winston said, "This is important for him to hear."

Taking that as his answer, Peck said, "Gentlemen, remove these frauds. With EXCESSIVE force."

Just then, more Posessor Ghosts arrived, some of them being particularly ugly. A quick scan by Twilight showed these to be Beauty Queen Posessors, ironically enough.

As Ray and Winston went to work, hosing down the ghosts with the Proton Stream and any possessed people with slime, long enough for the Ghosts to leave the guests' bodies, Twilight said, "Alright! This place has way too many ghosts for my liking." Sparking her magic, four proton packs appeared. She levitated them over to Peter and the guards as well. "Congratulations, gentlemen; You've been temporarily drafted." Twilight said. "Now put those on and help us out!" she added, going to attack the ghosts herself.

Peter, with his pack strapped on, said, "I suggest you listen to her. If this place has as many ghosts as we think, we might need the extra help." So saying, he turned his pack on. "That said, this could be fun." he added before going to help out.




The ghosts having been dealt with for the moment, the Mayor arrived at that very convenient moment. "Would anyone care to explain to me what just happened here?"

Peck said, angrily, "I keep telling you, sir; these frauds, these... these... fakes! They're trying to steal money that they haven't done anything for! I'll see them on Riker's Island for this travesty! I don't CARE what the rest say!"

Ignoriong the incensed man, Ray said, "Look, sir, we have something to report. This world is becoming closer to crossing over with the Ghost World. The longer we don't act, the more unstable things are going to get. We've been to that place for a bit. It's not a pretty sight. It's like Brooklyn and the Bronx combined."

"Without Queens in the middle." Twilight added.

Peck, tired of being ignored, took over again. "Look you; I''ve had enough of the lot of you. I'm going to shut you down for good. You will never work in this town again."

Ray held up his hands. "Hey; we're only mortal, here. We just find the haunted places and apply our... brand of magic."

Peck scoffed at that. "Yeah. Too bad that magic-"

Ray warned, "Peeeck... you DON'T want to finish that thought..."

Peck got even closer. "Doesn't. ExisT." he finished with emphasis.

Raym Winston and Peter began to back away. "You're going to wish you hadn't said that, Peck."

"And why would that be?" Peck queried disbelievingly.

"Mister Peck." Twilight growled, actively drawing attention to herself. Her mane was beginning to smolder, as if ready to burst into flame at any second. "I've heard of being in denial, but you, sir, take the cake. I can understand not liking us; you're entitled to that opinion. I can understand wanting the best for the city. We all do. Outright denial of things that are a known fact... You've been posessed just this night, you've seen us take out these ghosts. You're -presumably- listening to a magical pony... and you still deny that magic or ghosts exist. Well, I have news for you, mister Peck..."

"Twilight, don't hurt him. He's just doing what he thinks is right, like we do." Ray warned.

"Don't worry. I won't hurt him. I have a far better idea." She glanced at mayor Mulligan momentarily. He sighed, but nodded, giving the universal "go ahead" gesture.

Twilight grabbed Peck in her magical aura, lifting him into the air. Shortly after that, the aura around her horn rose a bit more, the glow that was around the first ring of her horn extending to the second, glowing brighter. Her eyes also went bright white.

Peck felt his insides twist as he was flipped to one side. He started to grow a coat of fine pinkish yellow fuzz, startimg at his neck, but swiftly starting to cover the rest of him. Peck felt his hands and feet clench hard, shortly thereafter becoming hooves. His hair started to grow out, becoming a full mane in seconds, also sprouting a tail, both a three-tone -buttermilk yellow, mandarin orange and burgundy red- combo in colour. He also briefly lost his hearing, before it came back, somewhat louder and somewhat higher up. As he wondered at that, his new ears swiveled around, gesticulating wildly as his face began to extend slightly. Then, he felt his insides clench again as his internal structure changed entirely, leaving Peck 1) quadrupedal and 2) female! Almost as an afterthought, a mark of a peach with glasses appeared on her flank(1).

Dropping Peck to the ground, Twilight said to Peck, in an authoritative echoing tone, "Up to now, unbeliever, you've lived your life in denial of the mystical, paranormal, arcane or otherwise. Now it is a part of you, and you shall have to accept that. I hereby mark you with a brand of Actaeon; May the world have more mercy upon you than you would have given us. Good luck, my... little... po...ny..." So saying, Twilight slumped to the floor, unconscious. 

Finally, a mark of a bow and arrows with an X through it appeared on the new pony's chest, just as Peck regained consciousness.

Shaking her head, Peck said, "I just had the worst-" her eyes widened when she noticed the pitch of her voice. Silently, -and with an admirable amount of restraint- she felt around, taking stock of her new form, from her face to her hooves. Once done, she looked up at the Ghostbusters and the mayor, all of whom were looking smugly down at her.

Peter decided to be the one to rub it in. "Well, uh... 'Peachy Keen'... You asked for it."

The new pony inhaled, presumably to shriek in terror, but fainted instead.

Winston said, "And here I thought Peck'd never shut up."

Just then, a new ghost appeared. If Twilight were awake, she would have heard "What's this? A party and no one invcited me? I must say, I'm disappointed! But the fun has just begun!"

So saying, the ghost grabbed Ilyssa and dashed away, guffawing madly.

Ray picked Twilight up, putting her across his shoulders, where she hung limpy. She wwas oddly light for an equine creature of her size, he noticed. She was slightly smaller than a Great Dane, but felt like she weighed next to nothing. Shrugging it off, He said to Peter and Winston, "You guys, go after Ilyssa and that... other guy. We'll catch up when Twilight awakens."

The two security guards, still temporarily drafted, stepped forward. One said, "If there's going to be a lot of ghosts, you're going to need help. We're coming with." One of them went to Ray's side, the other moving to follow Peter and Winston.

Peter said, "I like this plan! Let's do it!"

Ray turned to doctor Rutherford and asked, "Can you direct me to the security room? We'll kind of need to go there."

Doctor Rutherford said, "Better yet: I can take you there." Noticing that there was an extra Proton Pack nearby, he strapped in and turned it on. "I may not be a brave man, but this museum is my responsibility. I'll do what I have to."

Ray smiled. "I knew you had it in ya. Come on, I'll explain how the thing works along the way."

So saying, they split up to cover different paths.