//------------------------------// // 15 Shades of Freedom - Finale // Story: Ghost Hunter Twilight // by Keywii_Cookies55 //------------------------------// The dark oranges and pinks of the sunset hues were finally giving way to the light and dark blues of another night over St. Orangeberg. Much of the district had quieted down considerably from the day time hours. Some shops were still bound to be open, but the lights favoured homes over businesses. A rare exception to both options stood resolute under the darkened sky. Not a home, a business, not even a service building, but a farm. A farm that stretched out into the wildly untamed yonder outside the Partyville outer border. Looking out on such a farm you'd find trees aplenty, fields of crops, and greenhouses dotting the landscape. And among that endless stretch of fertile land, a pony stood; a simple smile, a worn-out-looking stetson, and a hoe gripped in her hooves. Applejack stood alone, as she often did, out on the farmland she was cursed to. It wasn't five years ago that she was going about her life, delivering fast food in her part time job at the wok, when 'Whoops! Guess that mugger wanted to eat more than your customer! Hope you like knives to the chest!' She refused the urge to scratch at the wound that didn't exist anymore. But forget being dead, no, that's for chumps. As it turns out, ghosts are both real and have some kind of weird secret society, and the douche in charge takes away Applejack's ability to speak English, Binds her to some stupid plot of land and says, "get to work!" Applejack rolled her eyes at the memory. Apparently there was some hierarchy to the whole system, but she didn't feel the need to bother with any of it; the whole thing was just a waste of time. They even had the gall to ask her to work for them and be higher up their dumb power system. She couldn't refuse faster. The years really start to blend together when you don't need to eat or sleep. Truthfully she didn't know if she'd been a ghost for five years or fifty, but it didn't rightly matter. What mattered was that she had to do a thing and she did it. Yes, doing literally anything else would be a welcome distraction from her lackluster afterlife, but thoughts like these distracted her, so she shook her head, sighed, and got back to tilling the land. That is until she saw a pony walking her direction. It was hard to make out who it was at first, but it specifically wasn't that freeloading waste of space Rainbow Dash, so at least Applejack didn't have to yell at anyone right now. She had to strain her eyes, but whoever it was, they were dragging their hooves in the path, looking almost defeated. Applejack scraped her hoe across the soil for a minute longer before the pony got close enough to actually make out. It turned out to be the unicorn from earlier that morning. The… purple one that didn't introduce herself. The mare had a lot of questions about Applejack, suspicious questions that Rainbow Dash answered, before the unicorn looked like she was caught hiding something and then finally left. Really, she was obviously hiding something. Which was further proved right when the head of the society came and looked at Applejack's thoughts. Not that the blonde mare minded, it was annoying sure, but the situation didn't involve her. Or at least she didn't think it did, she didn't want it to anyway. The purple unicorn walked up to Applejack looking completely defeated. Her eyes were distant, she was quiet, and she just stood in place once she walked up to Applejack. The farmer though, would much rather have this unicorn do something, help her, or leave her alone. "C-cześć?" Applejack cautiously greeted, she really had no idea what this unicorn's deal was, or how to approach the situation. She almost tried again when she saw a shiny golden apple being levitated over to her. "Eat this," were the unicorn's only words. She stood there silently, looking down at the ground in front of her. Applejack probably shouldn't have taken the apple. This unicorn was a stranger, and a suspicious one to boot, there was nothing trustworthy about her. But she was already a ghost, so what could be the harm? The Earth pony took the yellow fruit, her teeth chopping a piece off into her mouth. Immediately she began to glow a deep golden as whatever magic was in the apple was transferred over to Applejack. She hardly had time to think about what was happening when, just as suddenly as it started, the magic swirling into her body vanished, dropping her to the ground. Without pause, Applejack knew she could leave the farm. She… she could relearn English. She could be free! APPLEJACK COULD BE FREE! She pulled the unicorn into as large a hug as she could, tears of joy streaming down her face. "Dziękuję bardzo! Jesteś moim zbawicielem!" The unicorn, who Applejack now knew was named Twilight, slumped out of the hug and started walking back towards town. Applejack followed, leaving the hoe on the ground behind her. --- Wind blew through the trees under the darkened sky as Applebloom walked through the forest outside Partyville. She smiled contentedly as she strode forward with purpose. She didn't blame the Whisperer for showing pity to Twilight. Yeah she'd love to get a few return kicks in, but whatever, apparently the world was busy doing that for her. She had to give it to the Whisperer though, tricking Twilight into protecting her secret was brilliant. Applebloom knew the thing in her head was smart, but this was next level. She was still giddy about the whole deal. Good thing Twilight was so passive, otherwise the next while where they'd have to get to know each other would probably suck. Applebloom's smile widened as she saw Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle standing outside their clubhouse for her. And they were even talking to each other, which was a plus. "Hey guys," Applebloom called out to then as she walked closer. They both turned to her and met her part way through the clearing. "So how did your part go?" Sweetie asked, noticing Applebloom's chipper attitude but asking regardless. "The plan's off, girls," Applebloom explained, to her two friends’ immediate confusion. "Nona took care of everything." Scootaloo looked like she was in the process of exploding before she heard the name and momentarily paused only to raise an eyebrow. "Nona?" Sweetie Belle turned her head and nodded, "yeah, that's the name Applebloom gave the Whisperer." Seeming to accept this answer, the pegasus returned to popping a blood vessel, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE PLAN'S OFF?!" She practically screamed. "You mean I followed that worthless freak around and I don't even get to kill her anymore?!" "Relax Scoots." Applebloom waved off the threat nonchalantly, "I never said you can't, I just said we don't have to anymore." Applebloom walked past the two of them and headed inside their clubhouse. "Our problem is over, probably forever, and I'd rather focus on other things. Like getting that deck of cards." Sweetie Belle smiled as she looked between Applebloom and Scootaloo - the latter having visibly relaxed - and deeply sighed. It turned out they wouldn't become murderers quite yet, and that sat right with her. If they could just spend all their time not planning to kill anyone, well, her life would be a good one. The three headed inside, light spilled from the windows as the lamp was turned on. Shortly after that some moving of objects could be heard and finally the television sparked to life, filling the air with sounds of cheap entertainment. --- Two Days Later The sun was shining brightly over a peaceful Partyville; things were, while busy, peaceful. A certain blue pegasus was walking down the sidewalk with a list in her hooves, mumbling to herself as she walked. Stopping at an intersection, she looked up at the final location on her list. If this place didn't have what she was looking for, no place did... and she'd have to start her search over again next week. When the light changed she crossed the street and walked up to the door. Thankful that the shop was open, she entered. "He-llo," greeted a heavily accented voice. Rainbow Dash turned to see who had spoke to her and saw three ponies at the counter. The first was a pink Earth pony that she could swear she'd seen before, who was talking with the second pony Rainbow Dash saw, Twilight! Oh, and Applejack, but that didn't matter, her friend Twilight was here. Rainbow Dash didn't remember her working here the last time she came into Oakfield's, but here she was, behind the counter. "Twilight!" A nasal voice called her as she was talking to Pinkie. It was excited and annoying, she thought. Twilight turned to see who it was only to see that it was that weirdo horror enthusiast. It was bad enough that she was stuck here, now she had to deal with this prism's wet dream of a horse. "I didn't know you worked here! Now I can come visit you all the time!" Twilight didn't answer, she didn't need to, she knew that her life in Partyville was going to be a headache inducing nightmare, and it wasn't even a week before the blue one found her. She dropped her head onto the counter in front of her. "UUGGGGGGHHHHH..."