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// The Ghost In The Secondary Sub-Basement Laboratory 
// Story: Beanery 
// by TCC56 
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Normally, Twilight Sparkle didn't believe in ghosts.

She also didn't believe in curses at one point, but in retrospect that had been an extremely narrow-minded approach which dismissed a swath of magical knowledge that was normally untouched by mainstream mages and wizards. (She had been right, she defended, in that Zecora hadn't cursed them during the Poison Joke incident. But that also brought up the rest of said incident and how Twilight had been wrong, so she rarely flexed her correctness on that point.)

The point was - ghosts weren't real.

At least, they hadn't been real.

Crystals glowed with eldritch energy. A tall jacob's ladder crackled as electricity ran up it. Dozens of beakers full of strange liquids bubbled and smoked. And at the center of it all sat a broad, open space. That open space was far more important than the rest, however - without the sprawling circle of sigils etched there, the spell would never work.

It was one of Twilight's greatest achievements: derived from the spells of a dozen ancient wizards, the summoning circle would channel the power of the tree-castle into a single point, tear open the barrier between life and death and - if all went according to plan - pull lost souls through. In retrospect, it had actually been pretty easy. (This was a very relative statement as she was the Element of Magic, an alicorn and had access to both the restricted section of the Royal Library and four out of the five most powerful spellcasters in modern Equestrian history.)

Getting the specific souls she wanted had been the tougher part. There was nearly no research on that aspect, partially because delving into the Realm Beyond was banned research for some weird reason and partially because the handful of rogue researchers who had tried generally were megalomaniacal crazies who were trying to create zombie armies. (The two points being related was not something which occurred to Twilight at the time.) But she had managed it - the spell to pluck specific spirits out was clumsy and awkward, but in theory it would work.

Now it was time to move past theory and intro practice.

It was high noon, to draw on the power of Celestia's sun.

She began.

Twilight slowly paced around the circle with careful, measured steps. Each forceful hoofstrike was accompanied by speaking one of the spell's component phrases in a clear voice as she lit one of the circle's specially prepared candles. Each flame that lit brought the unfathomably complex runes into flickering focus, and each word made one of the etchings light up with magical energy.

It took long minutes for Twilight to complete the cycle around her work, but when she reached where she began? The circle was aglow with both the burning flames of the candles and the magenta of her magic that had been infused into the mystic circle. All around her, the air shimmered with both heat and magical power - and the scent of raspberry and vanilla, oddly. (She made a mental note to herself: next time, do not borrow candles from Rarity.)

Next, Twilight aimed her horn to the center of the circle. It glowed brightly - both the horn and the point in space she was aiming at - as the second part of the spell began to weave itself. Two tiny pinprick holes formed as Twilight used unfathomable alicorn magic and raw will to pierce the heavens and create a gap between life and death. The holes were barely stable - wobbling and pulsating around the edges as reality itself struggled against Twilight's power to try and reform itself. But she held - and it held.

Something came out of the holes. Too miniscule to allow a whole entity to pass through, the pinholes oozed the things through in a thread-like length. They extruded themselves a little bit at a time like phantasmal pasta that fell to the well-warded floor and piled together. One lump of ghostly stuff glowed a muted orange-beige, while the other closely resembled lemon curd.

The ectoplasmic ooze piled up slowly - the beige eventually easing into a more vibrant orange and the lemony yellow into a stark ruby red. Just how much time it took, Twilight couldn't tell. Just that by the time both pinholes ran dry with a wet slurp, every atom of her body ached and her horn was hot enough to create steam from the air's ambient moisture.

But that wasn't important.

The two phantasmal figures in the circle were.

Bright Mac and Pear Butter, in the ectoplasm.

The wonder and magic of the moment was ruined by the fact both were dry-heaving and groaning in pain.

This did not stop Twilight Sparkle from celebrating wildly - dancing and whooping with the occasional shout of victory.

It took approximately three minutes for her to finish, which by coincidence was about how long it took the two ghosts to find their unsteady (and unphysical) legs. They looked uncertainly at her; she looked gleefully at them.

Pear Butter is the one who spoke - hesitantly. "Are… Where are we?"

"And you can talk! Wonderful!" Twilight squeed. "I wasn't certain how much cognitive function was retained post-mortem or if you could create speech without lungs to push air. I actually have four different spells prepared to facilitate non-verbal communication if it came to that. But it didn't!"

The two Apples looked at each other with concern. This time, it was Bright Mac who stepped up. "That's nice an' all, but we could use a few details 'bout what's happening here. If ya don't mind. "

That time was enough - the polite but forceful request pierced Twilight's academic glee. "Oh! Right, yes, I'm sorry! I'm just so excited this worked!" She beamed brightly at the two deceased. "I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle, and this is the lab in the basement of my castle in Ponyville. I've been trying to bring both of you back - and it worked!" She descended into gleeful cantering again, bouncing in place.

"Ponyville?" Pear Butter's eyes went wide. "Wait - do you know our family? The Apples?"

Twilight responded with a laugh. "Do I know them? Of course I do! They're the whole reason I wanted to bring you back!"

Joy spread over both Apple faces - love and joy and eager relief. "Well then! C'mon! Let's go see 'em!"

A pad of paper and a quill levitated over to Twilight. "Sure, sure, we'll do that in just a minute. But first I need your help real quick to do what I brought you back for." Dipping a bit of ink to the quill tip, Twilight fixed the Apples with her inquisitive gaze. "So I'm dating your daughter and I need ideas for her anniversary present."