//------------------------------// // 18. Sting // Story: A Ghost of a Chance // by Epsilon-Delta //------------------------------// Once again, Zest found herself in Meltdown’s throne room, pools of mercury at either side as his elemental strike force stood in assembly. She didn’t have much hope of any actual help, Meltdown’s haggard expression made it clear his patience with their constant pestering was nearing its end. But actual help wasn’t why they were here. “The meeting is going to take place on the coast, near the shipwrecked battleships,” said Sugarcoat. “If we can get any support in this mission–” Meltdown waved her off right there. “I’m not going to do anything about this,” said Meltdown. “First of all, I wouldn’t be so eager to trust the ponies on the other side of the wall. We’ll always be beneath them. If she’s really so crafty, I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re being manipulated just the same as the pony you intend to mug.” “Come on!” Zest pleaded to Meltdown. “The whole world is in danger and we have a chance to do something about it.” “I only have a responsibility to the ponies on my side of the wall,” said Meltdown. “I don’t have the resources to worry about the entire world.” “Well maybe if you cared a little about them, they’d be more likely to care about you,” said Zest. “Don’t both-sides this.” Meltdown deadpanned at her. “I’m not oppressing anyone. They’re the ones with the power to ‘be nice’ here. Go lecture your new friend.” “But Sour Sweet says you won’t even talk to her,” said Zest, “and she’s willing to work with us! If we do nothing and they go through with their plans, Equestria could turn on us.” “Equestria isn’t the real threat to us and frankly I hardly care what they think at this point.” Meltdown’s voice grew darker as he moved to the throne. “They’ll never be able to take our city. It is Crater Cemetery that concerns me. I can’t do anything that will encourage them to take action.” “From the sound of things, they’re already trying to undermine you,” Sugarcoat warned. Meltdown considered the idea but shook his head. “I won’t stop you, either,” he said. “But understand that if anything happens, I’ll have no choice but to banish all of you forever. Believe me, I won’t hesitate to throw all of you under the train if things go poorly.” “I suppose that would be worth it.” Sugarcoat bowed her head. “Thank you.” Despite getting shut down, Zest couldn’t help but smile. The trap had been set! They were going to tell each group that the sting operation was at a different location, carefully leaving out the part that a traitor might be lurking on their side as well. Of course, the traitor would inevitably hear and run off to tell Aria and Sonata. When one of the banshees went to investigate the fake spot, they’d reveal which group the traitor belonged to. If they showed up near all those shipwrecked battleships, that meant it was one of the elemental strike force guys. Across from the collapsed department store would mean it was one of the water elementals, near the main predead base meant one of the regular guards. And here, back in the shopping district where they’d gotten the attention of a small crowd. “Anypony who’s interested should meet us at the far west end of the wall,” Zest called out to them. Indigo stayed invisible to better take note of the ponies in the crowd. Wallflower moved off to the side, watching from another angle. She had an almost supernatural ability to disappear into a crowd. Sugarcoat focused on watching for any suspicious aura activity. That left Zest to give the speech herself. They didn’t actually want a small army of ponies coming with them, so she purposely made it sound more dangerous than it was. “I won’t pretend like this isn’t going to earn us the wrath of Crater Cemetery,” Zest warned. She could see that one line lost what little interest there was to start with. “But we may not get another chance to fight back against them!” Predictably, no ghosts agreed to go along. But the trap was set if the traitor was among the crowd. The ponies dispersed without one argument Zest hadn’t already heard. That was fine, she knew she’d have to prove it to them. Indigo and Wallflower returned, carrying notebooks where they recorded the cutie marks of each pony they’d seen near every location. Indigo was the more skilled of the two at espionage and had finished hers while Wallflower still struggled to jot hers down before the memory faded. “Most of the city should have heard us by now.” Sugarcoat looked off to one side, the direction where the two banshees were. They’d been careful not to get anywhere near them. “There are still three spots I’d like to hit, but those two haven’t moved from the northern district for some time.” “Sour Sweet’s way smarter than I thought she’d be,” Zest added. “It’s like we’re in a spy movie! But what if a whole bunch of ponies spread rumors to them?” “Everypony here hates them,” Indigo pointed out. “Nopony but the idiot traitor would blab on us. Not this fast, anyway.” Sugarcoat turned her head and Zest picked up why just a moment later. A ghost was rushing towards them. By now, Zest’s aura sensing was good enough to recognize ponies she was familiar with. She could pick out Sugarcoat or Indigo easily enough. Meltdown only by how big his aura was. Other than that, she could just barely make out the distinction between Wallflower’s and that of one more pony. Zest smiled upon seeing her guess was correct when the most heavily clothed ghost in town appeared through a building wall. Juniper joined the group with no real hesitation. Maybe she’d decide to be a Shadowbolt if this went well? “I hear you’ve been running around giving speeches,” said Juniper. “Did I just miss one?” She was one of the few ponies left who hadn’t heard them out yet, come to think of it. They estimated there were less than twenty left in the city. “Juniper!” Indigo spread her forelegs and wings wide to receive her. “Surely you’re coming with us!” “Coming where?” Juniper asked. “I thought you were staying here a few more weeks.” “Maybe not. Might get banished, but it’ll be worth it. The mission we’re on could be our one chance to get a dig on Crater Cemetery.” “You want me to do something that could get me banished?” Juniper asked. “We’re going to piss off Crater Cemetery and Old Manehattan this time?” “When’d you become such a chicken?” Indigo swatted her hood. “I’ve accepted the fact I’ll probably get horribly slaughtered in the end. But if I get one point on that bitch on the way out, then I can die happy. Ziggy would feel the same way!” Invoking that name managed to give Juniper some pause and left her unable to look Indigo in the eyes. “Hey, who’s this Ziggy pony you keep mentioning?” Zest looked back and forth between the two of them. “Should we be looking for him?” Indigo smiled a sad smile and shook her head. “Ziggy is no longer with us.” Indigo bowed her head in respect, prompting Juniper to do likewise, then hit her chest twice with a hoof. “But he died the way he lived– a screaming maniac.” “His last word was ‘blarg’,” Juniper added. The two shadows chuckled at that. Juniper hummed as she kept her head and eyes down. After a moment of silence, she opened her eyes again. “I suppose Ziggy would want me to go with you.” Juniper grasped one of her pigtails and stroked it as she agonized over the decision. “I guess anything I do at this point is stupid and dangerous by default. I was leaning towards leaving with you three anyway.” Zest’s ears perked up. “I’ll grant you sanctuary for as long as we can hold out,” Sugarcoat promised. “Alright.” Juniper let go of her mane. “I’ll join the Shadowbolts so long as this ‘mission’ isn’t a total embarrassment.” “Yeah!” Zest pumped her hoof in the air and did a little twirl. “Ghost get!” Then Zest grabbed her headphones and started singing a little victory jingle consisting of ‘duns’ and ‘nuns’ as she bobbed her headphone back. Juniper gave Indigo a curious look. “Zest is cool!” Indigo put a foreleg over Juniper. “Just give her a shot. Heh! I’m glad I managed to keep one of my old friends around. We got a cool spot up north, you’ll see.” “Another pony is joining?” Wallflower looked up from her book. The poor thing’s ears had been pinned down since they first learned of this dangerous mission, but they at last relaxed a little. “That’s good. I finished writing them all down. Here. Look.” Wallflower handed the book to Sugarcoat. Sugarcoat flipped through the notebook while Wallflower nervously tapped her hooves together. She waited until the specter had finished to speak up. “Uh!” Wallflower gestured over to Juniper. “She probably knows the names of the ponies in town better than the rest of us. Maybe we should ask her to write the ones she knows under the right cutie marks now? In case we have to run right away and can’t ask for Meltdown’s help later.” “That’s a good idea.” Sugarcoat nodded and handed the book over to Juniper. “Sure, fine.” Juniper took the book and flipped through the pages. She stopped to prod at one of the pages. “How long have you been here for, though? Shouldn’t you know who Bit Axe is, at least?” “Who?” “The lumber guy?” “Oh.” Wallflower looked away to hide her embarrassment. “I know his face. I’ve been here over a year, but I don’t really… talk much.” “Daw!” Zest had to rush over there and grab her new friend in a hug right away. “Don’t worry! It’s okay if you were too shy to make friends before because now you’re my friend!” Zest gave her a single nuzzle and felt the tension in Wallflower. “I-I am?” Wallflower slowly turned her eyes to Sugarcoat for confirmation as Zest continued to nuzzle her. “I’m impressed you’ve managed to push yourself through this despite being so afraid.” Sugarcoat nodded. “If you stick to the course, I’ll allow you to be a Shadowbolt.” “Yeah, you know I honestly expected you to complain or run away the second you heard about this.” Indigo gave her a playful jab. “But turns out you got more guts than Juniper!” “Hey!” Juniper shut the book closed, then swatted it at Indigo’s head. It passed straight through, but Indigo made a pratfall, pretending to get hit anyway. That was all it took to placate Juniper. Wallflower relaxed a little, Zest could feel it. She could see the slight smile on Wallflower’s face as that barrier eased up ever so slightly. Moments later, she sobbed and became aware of how big her tears had gotten. The emotion was too much for her and she turned away. “I’m sorry.” Wallflower whipped away her tears. “I’m just always so scared to talk to other ponies. I was never– I’ve never really felt like I was part of something before.” “Ponies are a herd species,” Sugarcoat nodded. “I can understand how that could be painful.” “But I won’t let you be alone again!” Zest put a hoof on her headphones and gave her slickest smirk. “You know, if we don’t die tonight.” “We’ve wasted enough time talking about feelings.” Sugarcoat started towards their next location. “We don’t have long left.” Juniper spent most of the next few hours fussing over that book. They knew that exactly one thousand two hundred and fifteen ghosts were living in the city from the record books. From their notes, they could confirm that the vast majority had heard them directly. At long last, the time for the strike operation had come. Just after three in the morning, the Shadowbolts started moving in the general direction but didn’t get too close. The Banshees had moved ahead of them, as predicted. Sugarcoat pulsed her aura to try and suss out their specific location. The others would move in once they saw. “Something’s wrong.” Sugarcoat stopped them. Sugarcoat looked to Indigo and Zest, gesturing them to move forward, then more sternly at the two new recruits, signaling them to stay put. Zest looked straight ahead. But that would be the right meeting spot. She refused to think of what this might mean just right. There may have been a misunderstanding still. The two of them moved underground for a way before popping their heads out in the shadow of the wall. In the far distance, on the very top, stood a lone pegasus– pink with pigtails. Zest could smell warm blood that wasn’t being pumped by a heart– fresh blood on the ground. She could feel an aura coming from that lone pony and one more from the other side of the wall. That pegasus, Aria, looked right down at them! She must have noticed their auras as well. Indigo and Zest went back under and rushed back to Sugarcoat. “Yeah,” Indigo confirmed their fears. “It’s her.” But the only ghosts who knew the correct spot were the five ponies right here. That meant the traitor had to be one of the five of them! Zest looked over her shoulder at Juniper and Wallflower, both with looks of horror on their faces. Or more specifically, it was one of those two.