//------------------------------// // Bonus Material // Story: Ghost Hunter Twilight 2: Clone Lores // by Keywii_Cookies55 //------------------------------// First and Foremost the incomplete and completely unedited chapter 10 Chapter 10: Welcome to the Jungle The evening sun shone down over St. Orangeberg as the whispers of night tantalized the mind. A cool wind and some clouds had rolled in over the afternoon and now in this late hour they happily blocked more and more of the sky. In place of birds chirping though and other nature like sounds the cacophony that assaulted the ear was distant sirens and nearby gun shots. Applebloom shivered as she listened to the noise, talking about killing people was one thing, but having the threat of death as a palpable flavour on the air was another thing. As much as she liked to talk a big game, she was still a kid; she hadn’t even hit puberty yet. It was probably gonna start over the next year, but the fact was it hadn’t by then. She looked around herself, she hadn’t actually entered Panhandlershot yet, but that border was within sight. Even so, the district so simply titled Storage was pretty bad; Storage has a lot of parked forklifts and industrial equipment, as well as warehouses. It seemed to be the main thing populating the district, other than several factories Applebloom had seen, as well as a single office building. Normally it wouldn’t be so bad, but the place was run down, Applebloom guessed that most of the workers had gone home for the day, so the only ponies she’d spotted were drug abusers, a gang that failed to notice her, and a travelling hobo that was lighting a palette fire. If not for her destination, Applebloom would be thrilled to leave Storage... not that she’d ever let anyone know her discomfort. “I’d know,” Applebloom heard the Whisperer chuckle in her mind. “You don’t count,” She thought back, met with more amusement. Applebloom rolled her eyes and kept moving. It’s not that she was afraid per say, she knew Nona would keep her safe if anything actually happened, but it was unsettling. She’d lived in Partyville her entire life, travelling around the nearby districts, but never venturing too far into the city. She hadn’t seen a tree or even a patch of grass in over an hour and she was beginning to wonder if anything was even able to grow in the inner city anymore. Then again, apparently the elites downtown had full blown parks and hydroponic farms, as well as amazingly renewable energy. If she were ever able to make it past the walled off downtown and it’s hailstorm of guards both alive and dead, Applebloom wouldn’t mind seeing how the other half lived. But pushing her impossible dreams to the side, she focused on the sounds around her, the voices of shouting and faint hoofsteps nearby. Despite being empty looking, the area seemed to be pretty populated. Taking a deep breath, Applebloom approached the district border, to the unobservant it was just a bright yellow line separating some warehouses, one side had Storage stencilled onto the ground, the other side of the yellow line, which was marked with diagonal black and yellow stripes was Panhandlershot. As she observed more around her, Applebloom noticed a metal bar running parallel with the yellow stripe painted on the ground, but roughly three metres up. It had twisted barbed wire above it, and looked like it was once a chain link fence, but that the fence part had recently been removed. Judging by the scrape marks, it was pretty violently removed. Another observation was that an invisible line seemed to be drawn in terms of maintenance for the buildings between the two distracts. On the Storage side the warehouses didn’t look new, but they looked well kept, the windows were cleanish, the paint wasn’t chipping, and there was hardly any rust. By contrast, the identical warehouse buildings on the Panhandlershot side were comically in disrepair. It almost appeared as if they were thirty years older somehow, water damage marred the walls, the metal was rusting so badly in places that it had started flaking off somewhat. There was a row of what Applebloom could only assume was once windows, but most had long been destroyed or removed, the only pieces left were opaque grey. The final thing Applebloom noticed up ahead, other than that the trend of negligence seemed to be uniform, was that there’d been some additions to some of the buildings up ahead. Cheaply constructed second and even third ‘floors’ were visible. With different hastily constructed walkways and rooves slapped together It must have been free to live in Panhandlershot, but there was evidence that plenty of people did - even if no one was visible. Swallowing her nerves, Applebloom moved her left hoof forward, crossing the yellow line into Panhandlershot. She’d done it, she was in the place everyone used as an example of shitty living conditions. Applebloom felt a bit of the weight on her hooves leave her as her final legs crossed over. “So far so good.”   “Now for the rest of the district.” Applebloom heard chuckling at the back of her mind, so rolled her eyes and moved one hoof in front of the other. Slowly but surely she made her way into the district. She looked up and saw wooden boards between the two warehouses flanking her, it was pretty dark already but with all the extra slapped together walkways and huts and the like it got quite a bit worse. She suspected there’d be a couple places the sun never saw. Exhaling from her nose she listened closely to the noise around her. Appleblook didn’t dare close her eyes, but staying alert did reward her with the sounds of a couple planks creaking. Stopping she looked up and saw one pony glaring so hard it made Twilight look pleasant. “Fuck you looking at?!” He screamed at her. “Nothing,” Applebloom immediately turned away and continued walking, she was starting to understand why Twilight so frequently referred to herself as nobody every time anyone talked to her. “Next time I catch you eyeing me I’ll slit your throat.” Swallowing she didn’t look back, she doubted she’d be hurt, but better safe than sorry. Keeping her head down to avoid a repeat offence, Applebloom couldn’t keep the curious look off her face, ”I’m finding it harder and harder to believe that Twilight actually lives here. How does anyone live here?” “I can confirm that Twilight has lived here for most of her life.” “How?” Applebloom passed the corner of a dilapidated warehouse and narrowed her eyes, studying the area before she sighed in relief and began walking again. “When all you’ve ever known is suffering, you become dependent on it.” Applebloom rolled her eyes, “You’re being dramatic again, I’d be the exact same whether I grew up in Partyville, Panhandlershot, or the Inner Sanctum.” The Whisperer made a noise to motherly disagreement, “Life isn’t the same for everyone, Applebloom, where one might see a train engine and think of the gears that make it work, another sees it as an antique that needs destroying.” “But the pony that loves the gears is going to love the gears regardless of where they came from. That’s my point.” Applebloom looked around, things seemed to be getting worse the further in she went. At that point the makeshift scrap housing was pushing on five floors. And seemed to be getting worse the further they went. The creaking of the warehouse directly beside her made her nervous. “Not that I don’t love it here, but how much longer?” “Twilight’s warehouse is actually on the other side of this development.” Applebloom cocked an eyebrow, “You don’t sound happy, what’s eating you.” “Panhandlershot was supposed to be a stand in for Canterlot, not some pony version of Kowloon.” Applebloom shook her head, Nona knew she had no context for that sentence but said it anyway. “I can’t help it, it’s just so forced at times.” “Uh huh,” Applebloom quipped, she didn’t care, all she knew was that she needed to keep moving. --- And that's all I did before I officially went on hiatus. I'd say it's about half way done. However, here is the summary of all the chapters as I wrote it before I began the story. Everyone's chapter start with something, right? 1 It’s a month later, and Twilight is running her bookstore like normal, talking with Applejack and Pinkie. They talk about the latest goings on. Twilight reminisces over the changes and just as she gets to applebloom’s part, AB walks down from the loft saying that there’s two pieces of bad news, putting emphasis on the executioner (who has gotten more active recently) being a huge problem, and also the clones have gotten to the point of being needed to be dealt with. Applejack angrily says she’ll deal with the executioner, being a ghost so she can’t die, and Pinkie agrees to go with her. Twilight, who’s afraid of the executioner happily let’s them handle it. Applebloom says that Twilight should handle the clone issue by going over to the expert on the matter in the next District over. “Ashton?” “No, the other direction, Sideo Breach” “Good, don’t plan on getting accused of anything today.” Twilight says she has several dozen pages of notes on clones and how to deal with them (from her Trixie days) back at her warehouse. Applebloom says she can go to the warehouse while Twilight goes to talk to the expert. Twilight asks why they don’t just switch jobs, and AB says the Whisperer won’t explain why, it’s just better that way. They get ready to go to their respective places when Rainbow Dash walks in asking for help with “a pony that looks like me” 2 Applejack and Pinkie run into Spike on the way to Pinkie’s bakery, they ask if he’s interested in joining them in going to handle the executioner. He pulls out his switch blade and gives a few practice swings before offering thumbs up. They walk to the bakery and enter Pinkie’s bedroom, where she has some sensors telling her where the executioner was last seen. She has this mainly to avoid danger. They see the tail end of the pony enter a door on the side of a laundry mat several blocks away and plan to gear up before discussing things with twilight and Applebloom. 3 Twilight and Applebloom leave the bookstore, (twilight locking it up) when they spot another rainbow dash, but with the signature clone aspect of being smaller than the original, Just to double check, Twilight asks the clone her name, to which the response is a horse whiney and what looks to be the beginning stages of mitosis. Applebloom quickly smacks it in the back of the head, knocking it out and pausing the mitosis. Twilight charges up a spell that compresses the clone into a single spot, it goes wrong though and it explodes into goo the colour of Dash’s coat. Applebloom laughs before the real Rainbow Dash says that was cool. AB narrows her eyes and says that there’s an alpha clone out in the forest that needs to be found so they can dispose of it. Dash happily accepts the reconisense mission. Once she’s gone, Twilight comments on how even if Dash is a waste of oxygen, it was kind of rude to just send her to die in the dangerous forest. Applebloom shrugs and says she doesn’t care that much. They then walk towards the edge of the district. 4 Applejack, Pinkie, and Spike walk down the street to go meet with Twilight and discuss what to do next discussing Applejack’s history with the executioner. The executioner is a powerful ghost that works for the council, and happened to be one in charge of recruiting every ghost in PArtyville, including Applejack. And was the first face she saw when she initially died. Pinkie asks how Applejack died and they talk about her life before, (which was in the future on the other side of St. Orangeberg) It’s about here that they get to the bookstore and find it locked. Wondering what to do next. Spike signs that they should take care of things themselves, which Applejack agrees wholeheartedly, and they make their way to the laundrymat. 5 Twiight is watching Applebloom walk off, before she walks into Sideo Breach, immediately she’s met with the new town. It’s high tech and looks to be closer related to scientific discovery. Twilight internally comments on how nicely clean and quiet things seem to be. It’s nice to see smart people not being evil or assholes or corrupt. She passes by a conversation two scientists are having about a cartoon they both like and they act like fangirls about ‘best waifu’ and Twilight sighs, retracting any compliments she gave. She walks around for a bit, trying to locate who might be an expert in clone related problems. She asks somebody where the expert might be, and the somebody says that “the crazy mare who’s obsessed with clones and pixies is at (location) and Twilight thanks them for actually being helpful 6 AJ, Pinkie and Spike approach the laundry mat, discussing Pinkie’s reputation, when she mentions a name Spike recognizes, Pastel Gardens, he stops them and looks violently angry. Pinkie says that she doesn’t know where Pastel Gardens is at the moment, but that the Pegasus tends to spends Saturdays up on the roofs downtown. He immediately runs off, and Applejack comments saying she’s never seen anyone silently declare they want to kill anyone before. They make it to the laundrymat, having not been that far away. And spot the door, or at least Applejack does, Pinkie can’t see it anymore. Applejack asks why that might be, and Pinkie explains that ghosts can see more than the living can. Applejack opens the door (after commenting that it makes no sense and shouldn’t lead anywhere) and a doorway opens up for Pinkie as well. They enter the white void. 7 Twilight arrives at a slightly downgraded laboratory, it’s a large building though, reminding her of her warehouse array. She walks in and finds an empty reception area, noting sarcastically that it’s promising. As she debates leaving and checking elsewhere, she gets spotted by Starlight and they have a short and practical conversation about dealing with a clone problem. Twilight actually smiles at how to the point and reasonable Stralight seems to be, thinking it too good to be true, and wondering when it’ll fuck up. Starlighht suggests Twilight see what she’s doing. They enter a big room with a clone of Starlight strapped to a stretcher with a high powered (but quiet) fan blowing air at the clone Twilight sighs, realizing that Starlight, despite appearances is probably psychotic due to torturing a version of herself. Starlight tells twilight that it is an Alpha Clone, one that was directly cloned from somebody else, is able to change forms, and has a form of actual intelligence. Going into the lore of clones and how they work. 8 Rainbow Dash is walking through the forest, a bit afraid of the forest, but actively pushes on because she wants to be helpful to Twilight and Applebloom,. We explore her mind, how she doesn’t really have any friends due to reading her books (it[s implised that her mind hasn’t been whipped much due to not being around other ponies much. She recounts her books and how if she isn’t careful, she’ll end up like a victim, but as she plays out a scene, she comes across a clearing with a clubhouse in it. 9 Pinkie notices the door close behind them, sealing them into the white void. Applejack confirms that there’s no door anymore and realizes that they won’t be going back until they confront the executioner. The white gives way to a well furnished room. One with lavish furniture, a fireplace, an adorning dining room, and it’s mixed perfectly into the white void. Pinkie comments that she didn’t expect an executioner to have such good taste. Which is what causes the executioner to show herself. It’s Rarity, which Pinkie is shocked to find out, she thought Rarity was just somebody that liked to go for jogs in the morning. Rarity dismisses the shock, saying it was pretty obvious. Applejack lunges in anger, which Rarity stops midair with her powers. She briefly touches on how everything in her domain is completely under her control and “blah blah blah, nothing to go into” and then inquires about their Hunter friend. Pinkie asks how the executioner found out about twilight, and Rarity explains that she knows the identity and affinity of everyone in Partyville due to partially controlling the Power of Sight. She then begins her monologue about how the hunters are a plague on the city, and how she dislikes their idea of balance, wanting nothing more than to tip it in her favour. Turning menacingly to Pinkie she asks, “wouldn’t you agree, Blocker?” 10 Applebloom arrives in the Panhandlershot district, immediately noticing how horrible it looks. It appears to be a series of blocks depicting failing architecture, rusted metal, gangs huddled around burning barrels (not to keep warm, but instead seemingly to hoard the flames) Applebloom feels pity and disbelief that this is the place Twilight actually lives, it looks as poor and aggressive as possible. The Whisperer (in her mind) confirms that this is the place Twilight calls home, and it’s the main reason she’s so distrustful. As they pass into the warehouse city Applebloom notices that they all look almost exactly the same, and comments that it’s for the best, likely being easier to hide out in that way. She notices two groups sort of converging on the area so she enters Twilight’s warehouse before they notice her and takes in the look of it. Before getting to work in searching for the notes. 11 The clone is panting as it recovers from it’s wind torture, Starlight is checking over some printed readouts about the clone’s condition, and asks Twilight why she was sought out. Twilight explains that the clone issue has been getting a bit out of hand in Partyville and that something should be done about it. Considering it a perfect opportunity for revenge, the clone send out a pulse to all it’s ‘children’ giving them the urge to converge on partyville, this uses it up into a husk, as a clone pulse is only one use. Twilight, despite lacking her notes, recognizes what this means and yells at starlight to follow her. Starlight is devastated at her decade of lost work. But pulls herself together long enough to follow Twilight. 12 Rainbow dash knocks on the clubhouse, unsure of what she’ll get, the door is answered by Scootaloo of all ponies, who looks at Dash curiously. Dash asks if they’ve noticed any clones. Scootaloo rolls her eyes and almost closes the door before Sweetie Belle stops the slamming and talks with scootaloo a bit, they offer to invite her in, at least to chat. She compliments the book shelf, appreciating that scootaloo has a good collection of classic books. Scootaloo actually lightens up at that and they discuss different genres. Sweetie Belle gets in the conversation. Sweetie Belle stops when she hears something though, something that Dash and Scootaloo don’t hear. Dash asks what it is, and Sweetie explains that it’s related to clones and not to worry about it. Dash remembers that that’s why she was out in the forest in the first place. She was looking for an alpha clone. Sweetie says that’s not what they’re called, but the closest thing to an ‘alpha’ clone would be the Seeder clone, and it was just destroyed. Dash nods and says that she has nothing left to do for the day so they agree to at least chat for a bit longer before Dash goes back into town. 13 The pulse is heard by Spike next, who’s on the hunt for Pastel Gardens. He stops when he hears it, noting that everyone in the crowd except one pony continues moving. It’s Fluttershy, who looks up, stopped for a moment, but just long enough to be spotted by spike. He runs at her, dodging and weaving between the crowd. She sees him, knife brandished and takes the opportunity to fly off, but not before he grabs a broken flouresent light beside a dumpster and chucks it at her like a javelin. She takes it in the wing and goes down. He quickly makes his way towards her. She’s got a red demonic glow over her wing, healing it. Spike stares at her for a moment, before they both run at each other at the same time. 14 Pinkie freezes in place, not from control over her, but due to fear. Being called ‘Blocker’ overwhelmed her senses and she’s not doing too well, she crumples slightly on the floor. Rarity laughs and pulls her back up to her hooves, conjuring a giant psychic hand that then proceeds to pet Pinkie like a cat. She turns to Applejack who had been quiet since she’d been stopped mid lunge. Rarity points out how adorably weak the living are by comparison to ghosts. And says that if Applejack joins her, she’ll give AJ powers beyond her wildest dreams. To demonstrate she gives Applejack a tiny fraction of the power she could obtain and AJ gets placed lightly on the ground. “well, what do you say?” 15 Applebloom is looking through a filing cabinet out of a possible dozen or so, marked ‘clones/sparks’ Applebloom says that she doesn’t believe in sparks before the whisperer says that they’re real, also that I should be ashamed of myself for plugging something I invented completely. They grabbing a thick folder filled with notes on clones and how to deal with them. Gunshots riddle sound in the air, tearing several holes into the warehouse’s metal walls. Applebloom gets down and asks how twilight can live in these conditions, the whisperer says that she thinks she deserves it.. Bloom hears continued screaming from the gun firers and agrees to go out the back, having what she needs, and grabbing notes on executioners as well, though that’s decidedly skimpier. The whisperer brings a few cans of soup with them and they make their way out. 16 Spike and Fluttershy stare each other down before they charge each other, she blocks his slash, he slides under her, she rages, he runs up the wall and jumps at her, she goes for a dodging maneuver but falters due to the wing injury. He takes advantage of this and makes the wing injury worse. Fluttershy, seeing little else in the way of options, stops her healing magic in an effort to get out an ancient word. Spike notices this and slits at her throat, stopping her part way through the word. She jumps back, holding her hoof to her neck, the demonic magic glows under her hoof and the blood flow slows. Spike smirks and watches her as she backs up. He’s satisfied with the damage he’s done, and she tries to get off a word, but just gurgles blood, speaking no more. Spike flips her off and she’s had it, the demonic glow spreads to her hoofs and she holds them out in front of her, Spike notices a pressure on his torso, pulling both directions. He senses that he’s going to be rpped in half, so in a moment of desperation tosses his knife at her, she lets up for the barest of moments. Enough for Spike to avoid getting split in half, but his arm is caught, and not wasting any time, Fluttershy rips it off of him. She’s about to rip off more of his limbs, but she has a moment of weakness and immediately returns to healing herself as Spike runs off, bringing his severed arm with him, dripping dragon blood out of his now left stump. 17 Applebloom runs into a unicorn wielding a knife in his magic, the whisperer has already concealed all Bloom is carrying, so there’s no fear of being robbed. Instead the knife unicorn threatens Applebloom if she doesn’t buy some of his merchandise, pointing to a stall directly behind himself. It contains several shirts with an odd logo a few mugs, and even some hats. Bloom attempts to out-manipulate him, saying she’d love to but forgot her wallet, and that she’s on her way to go get it. He happily allows her to walk away before aggressively stabbing into the wall beside her and getting really close up, asking if she thinks he’s stupid. She doesn’t answer the way he likes, so he holds her chin up with the knife, specifically not cutting her, but getting close. She desperately tries to figure a way out of the situation but can’t find one. She also takes too long and angers the pony, who slices into the skin of her cheek, leaving a scar there, saying he’ll happily draw out the experience. The whisperer is about to step in when a gun shot goes off, hitting the cart, the knife unicorn tosses it at high speeds into whoever shot his cart, before telling Applebloom that it’s her lucky day, and he turns to deal with the gunshot. Applebloom takes no time running as fast as she possibly can away. 18 Applejack stares down a smiling Rarity. With her new found power she goes to punch Rarity. Rarity sighs with that same smile before all activity stops, the room fades away, Pinkie and Applejack both can’t move. And she says that it’s a shame Applejack won’t be joining her, before deconstructing applejack, lightly flipping through the ghosts internal organs (different from a living ponies organs) and asks Applejack where she thinks the name ‘executioner’ originated from. Neither she nor Pinkie know the answer. Rarity brings out a pulsing green sack of ectoplasm, lightly squeezing it to demonstrate that it is indeed Applejack’s. Rarity explains that the name comes from their ability to completely kill a ghost, to the point of them never returning. The ectoplasm floats out, dissolving on a molecular level. Half the fluid being atomized, which is reflecting in how much weaker Applejack looks. Rarity loses her smile for the first time, giving Applejack a serious look. Saying that if they ever mess in her affairs again, she’d kill Applejack and Scootaloo both. And give a hell of an effort to make Twilight’s life a waking nightmare she’ll never escape. She then chuckles saying that she probably wouldn’t have to even do anything for that to happen. Applejack is reassembled, and they’re given the freedom of movement again, Pinkie turns and sees the door having returned, she helps Applejack up, and the too leave, Rarity giving a final departing of “toodles” 19 Starlight and Twilight are outside of Oakfields, there’s dramatic winds and dark clouds and Twilight comments oj how cliché nature is. Starlight is setting up a beacon behind the bookstore with her magic, quiet and looking depressed. Twilight comments that Starlight should hurry the hell up and Starlight barely speaks. Twilight wonders how much longer they have before all the clones from all over St. Orangeberg arrive and destroy the place. Pinkie shows up, asking how things went, and Twilight comments saying that they have a plan to lure them to a single place in order to destroy all the clones. Starlight comments that she doesn’t actually know how to destroy them, just how they work and the patterns they follow. Twilight asks where Applejack is and Pinkie says she’s resting at the bakery. There’s a rumbling from the two storey spire of metal before it sends off it’s own pulse, powered by a battery containing Starlight’s magic. It’s followed by another rumbling as a bunch of clones emerge upon them. The three of them worry, since they didn’t actually have a plan for destroying any of them. Starlight shouts not to let them destroy the beacon. Twilight and Starlight both shoot husking spells, but they aren’t fast enough. Applebloom teleports in, pausing time for everyone except Twilight, who hears a speech from the Whisperer herself. Saying that Twilight is a Hunter and that that means she’s unlocked parts of her magic that don’t exist for other ponies. Twilight wonders what she can even do, and the Whisperer points out that she already knows, it’s just buried under years of underuse. But as a hint, the Whisperer says that she’ll reawaken one of Twilight’s skills and give her enough power to overload it enough to destroy the tidal wave of clones. Time resumes and Twilight unleashes her Chain-Vines, stabbing into every clone, sapping them all of energy and turning them all into piles of multicoloured goo. Rainbow Dash, who got caught up in the tidal wave, falls to the ground and gets covered in clone goo. They turn to Twilight, impressed by her actual ability to be a Hunter and isn’t all talk, when they see the energy pass out of her horn, showing a kaleidoscope of spell matrices before a perfect replica of Twilight is 3D printed in front of them. Starlight tries to stop it, knowing what will happen. But she can’t end the process, and watches the twilight clone create herself. It’s first response to to shrink back in fear, knowing her true nature and the events that *just* happened. She flees, being let free by Applebloom who stops the others from acting. They turn to the original Twilight who has collapsed and they rush over to her. 20 - Finale There’s a party a few hours later, ‘party’ being in quotations, since it’s just a small get together for the characters from the chapter. Twilight looks better, at least being able to stand, but still seems kind of out of it. Pinkie asks Starlight about the beacon, and she explains that clones from all over the city and beyond will be drawn to it, but it’s keyed to her magic due to the rush job, and the batteries will run out, so she’ll have to stay in Partyville to recharge it regularly. Everyone nods saying they don’t mind. It shifts to Applebloom and Twilight talking. Applebloom hands the folder onto the counter beside them, alongside a couple cans of soup. Twilight is happy to see the food and impressed that Bloom made it, only for AB to show sympathy to Twilight, saying that when they first met, she had assumed they were in the same boat. But clearly Twilight had the significantly worse life, and officially forgives her for beating the shit out of her when they first met. Twilight appreciates the sentiment, but asks that she not get special treatment or anything. It’s at this point that the door slams open, revealing Spike’s armless form. They all ask what happened, and Twilight points out that she called something like this happening. Spike, having cauterized his wound stares at Twilight for a moment, she chuckles and waves him over. Pinkie asks what he said and Twilight says that she and Spike will be retiring for the evening. They chat about the differing experiences as they walk up the stairs, before they collapse onto the couch.