//------------------------------//
// 10 Lines of Inquiry 
// Story: Ghost Hunter Twilight 
// by Keywii_Cookies55 
//------------------------------//

Spike closed the fridge and turned back around to face Twilight. He'd calmed down since he'd carved the name of his new enemy into the counter, and in that time he inspected the kitchen area. He gathered from the lack of requests to leave or see the map that Twilight intended to say in Partyville, at least for a couple days, so he didn't feel the need to fully inspect the entire loft. Not with haste anyway.

Looking at the book Twilight was reading, Spike nodded to himself. It was always easy to tell what was going through her mind by the book she chose to read. Fiction meant she either wanted to escape, or was looking for ideas. Newspaper generally meant she was interested in what was going on around her, since she had moments like that sometimes.

Likewise, the book she was currently reading meant she specifically wanted to learn something. She was in no rush to leave meaning it had to do with the district or something in it. And the fact that it was a a dictionary about the undead meant it most likely had something to do with ghosts. It always seemed to be something with her.

"So," Spike thought, getting Twilight's attention, "How'd things go with your girlfriend?" The reaction was immediate, and Spike grinned at Twilight's upset expression; he sure did enjoy ribbing her. It was always fun to see her eyes narrow at him.

She rolled her eyes at him in a way that told him that she thought he was an idiot. "Yeah, still not happening."

He'd chuckle if he could, but with the joke passed he found himself actually curious how Twilight's day went. "Whatever, just tell me what happened?"

Twilight took maybe eight seconds to consider if she wanted to get into it or leave things be, but she did end up closing her book and levitating it back over to the desk and stood up. "For the most part," Twilight gave her full attention to the conversation as she began pacing. "Not a lot, she was rambling on and on last night, which really annoyed me."

Spike nodded casually, "As you do."

Rolling her neck, Twilight looked up at the ceiling, stopping her pacing temporarily to groan out, "Then this morning while I was out looking for you, I ran into some moronic fangirl and a Bound farmer who I think was speaking German, or maybe Polish."

"Right, can't forget that." Spike considered it for a moment, he wasn't as versed in the supernatural as Twilight was. He had, however, picked up on a couple things, and as far as he remembered, being Bound meant a ghost was chained to a place until they were either unBound or...well, not until they died, so just forever.

Twilight resumed her pacing, her signature scowl taking its rightly place on her features. "Following that  I met with Pinkie at her bakery to discuss how to handle said farmer because, as you know-"

"You can't leave somewhere without first solving any problem you encounter." Spike interrupted, reciting what he knew about Twilight from memory. It was part of the reason she rarely interacted with anyone. There were a lot of strange and quite frankly arbitrary rules to how it worked, but that was it in a nutshell.

Twilight paused and leveled her glare at her friend. She was both aware of, and somewhat upset by, all the rules put in place that took away her control over her actions. "...right."

Spike was aware of it too, and like an actual friend, tended not to make fun of her for it. Theirs was a relationship of convenience mainly, and if they actually pissed each other off, well, that'd make it pretty inconvenient, and they both knew that. Spike pieced together what the book was for. "And I take it you came back to this book store to research how to do that."

She nodded, her glare having faded, mainly, "That, yes, this is the best place in St. Orangeberg for Source Material after all," She explained, walking over to the counter to actually see what Spike had carved into it. "But also I came into living up here, no questions asked...somehow."

Taking a moment to consider that, Spike considered himself impressed, he knew she hadn't actually done anything to steal the place, based on her comment, but results spoke for themself. He'd have to do some behind the scenes work to make sure there continued to be no questions asked. Right then though he noticed a considerable lack of pink Earth pony. "So where's your girl now?"

Twilight rolled her eyes at him as he smirked, she didn't dignify it in the way he wanted and instead answered the question. "When we couldn't find anything useful, she left to go back to work."

Spike sat back down on the couch, though he did raise an eyebrow to match his smirk, "Sounds like a quitter to me."  When Twilight didn't respond, he assumed she wasn't in the mood, so he stepped off. Jokes were only funny when they got a reaction. "So what's the plan then?" He asked, curious what solutions she had to her new problem.

"Well," Twilight began, levitating a new book over to herself and quickly flipping to a page about halfway through, "I just spent the last three hours..." Her expression soured slightly before returning to normal, "I spent a while looking at books on the topic. And the main thing I've discovered is that I need to know more about whoever this farmer is."

Spike re-raised his eyebrow at the pause, something about saying 'three hours' made her halt her thought process. But he put the thought aside, while he was curious about that, he was more so about Twilight's plan, or lack thereof. "And how do you plan to do that? I doubt they have day classes teaching anything in this district, let alone any other languages."

A small chortle escaped Twilight's throat, "Yeah, I'm surprised this place didn't burn down years ago." She joked back, though dismissively, as she was focusing. "Regardless, the plan is simple." she was smiling as she began to pace again.

Motioning forward with one of his arms, Spike grinned, anticipating something either well thought out or really funny. “Lay it on me."

Twilight began to smile as she explained, "Now, the first thing you might suggest is that I go talk to the farmer." At a nod from Spike she continued. "However I can't just go ask her what binds her to Partyville. It just can't be done." She preempted his rebuttal, to which he shrugged his shoulders and listened.

"However, according to Rainbow whatsername, the farmer just appeared one day."

"Wait, hang on," Spike interrupted, doubt on his face, "A farmer just...what? Materialized?" He didn't believe a word of it, and more than that, he was surprised Twilight did.

"Apparently!" She blurted out, clearly as confused and disbelieving as he was, which was good, in Spike's opinion. She shook her head to clear out the stupidity, "Either way, asking the people around here what they know can't hurt, so that's where I plan to start."

Spike smirked as he leaned back, putting his arms behind his head, relaxing into what he guessed would be his bed that night. "I respectlessly disagree, but whatever, go ask the brainless masses what they think."

Twilight rolled her eyes as she headed for the staircase, getting the impression their conversation was over. "Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence." She said sarcastically.

Just before she left, Spike sat back up, "And keep an eye out for that bitch Pastel Garden that froze me."

---

Twilight walked out of the book store with a scowl etched across her face: Page Views had greeted her again, and she absolutely did not trust him. Who just let people live in their business without saying a word? She'd probably never trust him until he dropped that fake cheeriness too. Getting it from the people that lived here was enough, but now she had to see it at her new safe house.

But she shook the thought from her head, he didn't matter at all, what mattered was unBinding the farmer so she could get back to her warehouse and feel safe again. And that meant questioning the locals, and that meant having to talk to the locals, and that meant having to hear the locals’ voices and actually treat them as viable sources of information.

Twilight shook her head again, "They can't be as bad as I think they are," she thought, "I'm just remembering wrong." Which she thought was entirely true, her memory wasn't hardly the best, not exactly bad, but not one to fully trust without additional evidence.

So fully removing the negative thoughts from her mind she looked down the three way intersection, determining the best path to take. She saw a small group of Earth ponies gathered around somebody, either doing a show, or protesting, or something, but she guessed that the best place to be was right there.

...which was probably a less comforting thought than she would have liked. Groups of people just...eeeh, but she'd put up with it now to not have to later. The lesser of two evils and all that. It took her more time than she'd have liked to building up the energy to engage them. "The only thing to really do is just start, standing here does nothing."

And on that thought she took a step forward and began walking over to the group. Just before she reached a green mare, she stopped, hesitating, but shook her head again, "There's no use in wasting time."

Twilight then cleared her throat and spoke with a practiced professionalism she only reserved for having to handle phone calls. "Excuse me ma'am, I'm sure you're busy, but I'd like to discuss a matter with you. Can I please have a moment of your time to ask you a few questions?" Twilight couldn't help but mentally groan at how robotic she sounded but pushed the thought aside.

"No," the mare gave a quick, flat response, obviously uninterested.

"Thank you, now, please tel-" But Twilight paused, backpedaling slightly, getting a response she didn't expect. "Ah."

The mare's expression soured before she lost patience with Twilight. "I said no, you should listen better."

Twilight, for her part, was silent. What? She thought they were all friendly, stupid, and annoying, but...apparently not. In fact, this is...sort of what she would have been expecting back in Panhandlershot. Well, she wasn't being held up at gunpoint, but it was the same type of response.

Weren't the people here supposed to be nice though? Pleasant? Able to be handled through clenched teeth, instead of being defensive about everything? She thought maybe it was just this mare, but no, it was the entire group, Twilight had seen several aside glances from them during her exchange with this woman. Why though? Did something change? They couldn't have known she was a hunter...could they?

Being silent for too long, the mare turned back to the crowd, putting the conversation behind herself. "Go away now."

---

As several more ponies entered the micropark, there was one specifically that chose to leave. A short earth pony with a large pink bow fastened to the back of her head. "Okay," Applebloom thought, "Rainbow Dash may just be another adult, but  she's smarter than the rest, so I can't get cocky." Applebloom had determined that in order to draw Rainbow Dash's attention, she'd need to appear rushed, which you couldn't do if you were in the place your target already was.

So, considering herself fortunate enough that the rainbow haired airhead hadn't actually noticed her the entire time she was sitting beside her, "I'm going to have to play this just right if she's going to believe me." Applebloom quietly walked off. She left the park, turning the corner around the post office.

Only to, seconds later, run past, looking out of breath, Applebloom stopped in front of the park, looking into it. She scanned the ponies there for a short moment before her eyes met Rainbow Dash, she smiled before running up to the pegasus.

"Rainbow Dash!" She yelled, getting the attention of several ponies, but they quickly returned to their day. All except for one, that is.

"What?" Rainbow Dash asked, she looked up from her list, being broken from her inner monologue to see Applebloom run up to her.

Applebloom stopped in front of her, breathing heavily, She took a short moment to level her breath before she looked up at the confused mare. "I'm so happy I found you," She declared, "I lost something really important and I need your help finding it."

Rainbow Dash looked around, unsure, but when nobody around seemed to be interrupting, she looked back at Applebloom. Her uncertainty didn't leave her though, and doubt had joined her tone. "You lost something?" She asked, if Applebloom lost something, it could have been anything, she was always doing something new. "Why don't you ask someone that can help you find it?"

"I AM ASKING SOMEPONY YOU FUC-" Applebloom was screaming in her head, but stopped herself before she let her expression change. "Keep it together, Bloom, you can get through this." She absolutely hated talking to adults, but it was part of a bigger plan, so she'd have to put up with it. There was a reason they called it a necessary 'evil'. "I need YOUR help, you're the only pony that can help me!"

Narrowing her eyes slightly, more in disbelief and doubt than distaste for her speaking partner, Rainbow Dash shook her head slightly. "Why am I the only one you can ask? I'm sure there's plenty of people that are better at finding things than I am."

Applebloom let out a sigh of disappointment, since that's how she was feeling, but as well it further played into her lie. She figured she'd get further into the conversation before Rainbow's self-doubt prevented her from playing into Applebloom's hooves, but you play the cards you're dealt, and lie cheat and steal to win if that hand is a flop.

"You're always reading those mystery books, and right now I need a detective." Applebloom asked, perfectly sounding desperate to her own ears. If she had to, she'd cry; it was one of the techniques she was proud of, being able to shed tears at a moments notice. It took quite a few months figuring that one out, but she was happy she did.

Rainbow Dash took a lot longer to make up her mind than would have been preferred; Applebloom had a schedule to keep to. "Tick-tock birdbrain, I haven't got all day."

After another minute, Rainbow Dash nodded, "Alright, I guess I'll help you, what are you looking for?" She asked, Applebloom cheered in her head, but externally she looked around before coming in close to whisper in Rainbow Dash's ear.

"You can't tell anypony what it is though," she explained quickly. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes lazily, before looking around herself. She then started walking out of the park, Applebloom grinned maliciously. She had her.

Turning onto the sidewalk with significantly less ears nearby, the pegasus turned back to see Applebloom had followed her.  "So what is it?" She asked, never very invested, and a little hungry, but willing to be helpful.

Applebloom though shushed her. "I mean it! You can't tell anyone, it's super embarrassing!"

Rolling her eyes a bit, Rainbow dash looked around again, wondering if she had made a mistake, but her better judgement told her to listen to the little girl. "Okay, I promise not to tell anyone, what did you lose?" She spoke with probably the least enthusiasm any person had ever had.

Applebloom continued to smile internally, things were drifting downward slightly, but no operation was perfect, and she was still on track. "It's my mom's pendant."