//------------------------------// // Hitch's Fire // Story: Pipp the Poltergeist // by Misty Shadow //------------------------------// After Hitch had touched Sparky, who had become possessed by a spirit after integrating some of Sprout’s newfound supernatural fire into his body, as Misty attempted to stop him, the three were teleported to the inside of Canterlove Studios by an unknown magical force. Soon, Hitch began to awaken, finding himself feeling lighter. “I feel so strange…” he said to himself, immediately sensing something out of the ordinary. “What happened after I touched Sparky…SPARKY!” Hitch instantly remembered that he had no clue as to where Sparky could be. Nor did he have any way of knowing where Misty or his other companions were, surveying his surroundings only to see darkness all around him. “What in Equestria HAPPENED?!” he cried worriedly, his inability to assess the situation and what landed him in the situation in the first place being a great detriment to his mental state. “Everything just happened so suddenly after Sprout made that fire…SPROUT!” Hitch yelled that name angrily as he gripped his hooves. Despite knowing that Sprout wasn’t responsible for the predicament he was in, he directed his frustration at him simply because he needed an outlet. “If you hadn’t created that flame, I wouldn’t be in this mess!” the incensed Hitch shouted in spite of his heart knowing this wasn’t the truth. “The mighty don’t flaunt their power, but you just had to be flashing that fire because you’re an insecure LOSER!” With that slight, Hitch began to feel something change in the air around him. It was as if the atmosphere was becoming hotter… “What in the…” he reacted in bewilderment. “Did I just…make my surroundings hotter…with my anger?” As he began to ponder what was going on, an unpleasant smell became detectable to him… “Ugh!” he cried in disgust. “It smells like gas from an oven! …Hey, wait a minute…” He recalled the baked goods Sprout had prepared… “I have a feeling I’ve not been teleported somewhere far away…” he began to muse, becoming more calm and composed. “No…if I were to hazard a guess, I’d say I’m inside Canterlove Studios now…since this is where Sunny and I did our…cooking show! That’s it! I’m inside the place we used as our kitchen!” “Very good!” a figure with a voice exactly like Hitch’s proclaimed. “Huh?” Hitch responded in surprise. “Who said that? And why do you sound like me?” “Who knows?” he asked cheekily. “I could be you, for all you know…” “What?!” Hitch cried in bewilderment. “I’m not falling for your mind games! I’m the only me!” “You’d be surprised…” the figure continued to toy with him. “Is the existence of “another you” any stranger than your grandma somehow being able to talk to you in your mind? You know that unlike me, she’s not a ghost, right? All we have in common is that we’ve both been reborn…” “How did you know…” Hitch began to ask how this entity knew about how he heard Grandma Figgy’s voice after he had eaten one of Sprout’s cookies before he began to consider a possibility. “Hold on…” he wondered to himself. “Grandma Figgy told me she was making those cookies for a long time…if this ghost is telling me the truth about how they’ve both been reborn…no way…” Hitch knew for sure at that moment he’d be coming out of this building a different stallion… “All you need to know right now is that I’m a spirit inside your body…” the figure answered. “Remember what Pipp told you?” “Oh no!” Hitch cried, having a dreadful realization. “That’s right!” the spirit exclaimed with sadistic glee. “When you were brought here by one of my companions, your soul was forced out of your body, allowing me to take control of it! Right now, your friend Misty is trying to stop me from keeping your head in an oven and all your silly little dragon pal can do is watch, mwa ha ha!” “You’re trying to kill me?!” Hitch shouted in terror. “Not exactly…” the spirit answered nonchalantly. “If I kill your body, you could end up lost to a realm of fire, and that’s not what I want. Instead, I’m going to breathe in just enough gas to put your body on the verge of death so that you’ll have no choice but to fuse with it, turning it into spiritual energy. Then you’ll be just like your friend, Pipp…” “No way am I allowing Misty or Sparky to bear witness to that!” Hitch proclaimed with resolve. “I’ll stop you no matter what it takes!” Following that declaration, Hitch could feel the atmosphere around him begin to grow cooler. The smell of gas was replaced with the smell of freshly baked cookies and the darkness surrounding him was replaced with light as he was able to hear a familiar voice call out to him… Very good, Hitchie dear…however, you need more than just determination to overcome your adversaries…sometimes, even souls that have been captured by evil just need a little kindness… “That voice…” Hitch said to himself in realization as a soothing feeling came over him. “Grandma Figgy’s voice…I can hear her again, just like I did when I ate that cookie Sprout gave me…SPROUT!” Upon realizing that something Sprout had done had allowed him to experience comfort, feeling that a pony he loved was closer to him in his heart than before, his anger towards Sprout became replaced with gratitude. He then started to have a vision… In the vision, he was in a playroom with other foals. Colts and fillies were playing with each other before an elderly mare with a purple coat, gray mane and tail, and a tea set for a cutie mark came into the room with a plate of cookies in hoof. “Snack time!” the mare exclaimed in a lyrical voice as all the foals in the room gathered around her. “Hey…” Hitch remarked in thought. “She looks kind of like…my grandma…” Before Hitch knew it, he was staring at the plate the pony who resembled his grandma had been holding. Only one cookie was left. He was about to reach out and grab it before something stopped him…he could feel a unicorn’s magic on his hoof… Unicorns… He could hear the voice of a female unicorn saying this… “HITCH!” His vision ended when he heard a familiar voice calling out to him… “HITCH!” the unicorn continued to cry in concern. “If you can hear me, say something!” “Ugh, uh…” Hitch grunted as he was now able to see his friend, Misty, standing in front of him with a plate of cookies in hoof, just like the pony in his vision, and Sparky, seemingly back to normal, making excited noises on Misty’s back. “…Misty? Sparky? What happened?” “I’m not exactly sure myself…” a still concerned Misty answered in a tone of uncertainty. “What I do know is that after Sparky got possessed by that spirit, we were teleported to the part of Canterlove Studios where you and Sunny did that cooking show! I actually got to watch that on my phone if you can believe it! That was nothing like actually being here though, finding you with your body possessed and your head inside an oven! Being your guide, I already knew what I was going to have to do to help you, so I grabbed a premade batch of cookies from the fridge and heated it up to lure your body out of there!” “How did you do that with my body’s head in the oven?” Hitch asked curiously. “Did you use the microwave?” “No.” Misty replied blankly as she used her magic to levitate a cup of cold tea off the counter into her other hoof. “I did this…” To Hitch’s surprise, steam began to rise from the now hot tea in Misty’s hoof, leading something to dawn on him… “You can create supernatural fire too…” he reacted in amazement. “Just like Sprout and Pipp!” “So can Izzy.” Misty added. “As soon as we were teleported here, she messaged me on my phone asking about where we were, and I immediately messaged her back saying that I had everything under control in here. This power’s instilled me with so much confidence…and it will be yours too if you can pass this test. You’ve done a great job so far, fighting that spirit inside of you. But be warned, just because you have control now doesn’t mean the spirit’s given up. I’m still worried about you…and Sparky.” “Urooo, ha!” Sparky exclaimed innocently. “He’s acting normal now, but…” Hitch remarked, sharing his friend’s concern. “I have a bad premonition myself. We still don’t know exactly how the spirit that possessed him teleported us here…and if learning how to create supernatural fire is my reward for passing this test, there’s no way it can be over yet. But the thing is, I don’t even care about the reward! I don’t want more power! I just want to keep every pony and Sparky safe!” All of a sudden, Sparky burst out laughing. “BWA HA HA HA HA!” he guffawed demonically in the same tone of voice Misty and Hitch had heard when the spirit possessed him. “Now that’s an oxymoron if I’ve ever heard one! You don’t want power while also wanting to keep others safe?! You clown! If you don’t have power, you can’t protect others!” “Spare me the clichés!” Hitch exclaimed angrily. “Get out of Sparky’s body now!” “Clichés are a good thing.” the spirit possessing Sparky retorted cheekily. “And you know I’m right. You can’t save others without power. I’ll teach you by example…” The possessed Sparky then burped dragon fire from his mouth, making a knife appear. Taking the knife in hand, he put it against Misty’s throat. “I’m sure you’re familiar with this cliché situation…” the spirit told Hitch sinisterly. “Do as I say or I’ll kill her.” “GGGRRRGGGHHH!” Hitch cried in absolute fury. “YOU’RE SLIME!” “You’re too kind.” the unphased spirit replied. “And that’s your problem. You can’t save anyone by being nice. The weak can not be virtuous. Evil doesn’t fear kindness. Evil only fears strength. In order to defeat one as evil as Opaline, your power must be greater than hers. Now, do as I tell you. Put your head back in that oven and I won’t harm Misty. Let your anger towards me grow strong as your body is put on the cusp of death, allowing you to become more powerful than ever…” “Don’t listen to her, Hitch!” Misty exclaimed. “Kindness is a strength! The kindness you and your friends showed me is what inspired me to change and become stronger! It’s why I’m not scared to die right now! Don’t submit to her demands!” “Wait a second…” Hitch replied, feeling his anger subside. “The ghost possessing Sparky…is a “she”?” He then thought back to how the vision he had ended before he remembered what Grandma Figgy had told him…and before he knew it, everything was starting to come together in his mind… “I finally understand how I’m being tested now…” he told himself in his mind in self-realization. “This is a test to see if I’m capable of staying true to my commitment to kindness while also utilizing its power…now that I know, all that’s left is to make Grandma proud!” He then shot a stern look at Sparky, a gaze aimed at the spirit possessing him. He was now able to see something he couldn’t before… “Ooh…” the spirit cooed. “I like that look…so I take it you’re not going to agree to my demands? I didn’t think you had it in you…but pray tell, what do you plan to do to stop me?” “I’ll make you an offer.” Hitch stated in a serious tone of voice. “Ha!” the spirit exclaimed in a mocking tone of voice. “So you’re going to try bargaining your way out of this?” “Let me explain.” Hitch answered. “This is no simple negotiation. I don’t intend to just give you something in exchange for sparing Misty. I want to give you something while showing you an extraordinary power.” “I like the sound of that…” the spirit replied in an intrigued tone of voice. “Alright then, show me this “extraordinary power”…” Hitch then walked towards Sparky…and grabbed a cookie off the plate Misty was holding. He then handed it to Sparky as he told the spirit this… “Here. It’s yours…Spring.” The spirit gasped as Sparky dropped the knife in shock. “How did you know my name?” she asked in astonishment. “Did…did my partner let it slip?” “No.” Hitch answered bluntly. “He told me nothing about your identity. He did give me a clue about his identity, however. I know now that I am his reincarnation. You, me, and Grandma Figgy…we are all reborn from ponies at that orphanage in the past.” Misty, like the spirit, also found herself gasping in shock. Without even thinking about it, she made fire appear in the hoof of hers that was holding the tea. Cake ghosts rose from the tea, something that caught Hitch’s attention. In each cake ghost that emerged from the tea, he could see something familiar in its eyes…the same twinkle that he saw in the eyes of what appeared to be a soul in Pipp’s eyes… “It now makes sense to me what your partner was telling me about his and my grandma’s rebirth…” Hitch remarked solemnly. “The reason why I was able to hear my grandma’s voice despite the fact that she’s still alive was because that wasn’t my grandma talking to me…that was a part of the pony my grandma was in a past life’s soul talking to me…and the true nature of your partner is a part of who I was in a past life’s soul.” Misty was flabbergasted, finding what Hitch said difficult to comprehend. However, once she saw something that looked like a cake ghost, the soul of Spring’s partner, in Hitch’s eyes, she felt like she was slowly starting to understand. “When I died in that past life, not all of my soul went on to be reincarnated.” Hitch explained. “The same thing happened to my grandma and you, Spring. Small parts of our souls broke off and became independent spirits. They’re like the cake ghosts that can find their way inside tea and cookies. Just because something is small doesn’t mean it’s not important. That’s part of the strength of kindness, being able to appreciate that fact. This small act of kindness, giving you a cookie, is something a soul can remember forever, even if it’s just a fragmented part. Tell me Spring, does this remind you of something?” Spring then recalled a time when she was a filly at an orphanage, her mind recreating a scene from the past… She was in the same place Hitch saw in his vision, standing next to an electric blue earth pony colt who had a face just like Hitch’s when he was young and a light and dark blue mane and tail. The colt was about to grab the last cookie from a plate the orphanage’s caretaker was holding before she had used her magic to force his hoof away. “Hey, what gives?!” the colt cried in protest. “Unicorns get first dibs!” she exclaimed in a snobbish tone. “I have magic, you don’t, that makes me better than you. It’s only fair that I get the last cookie!” “Spring, behave yourself!” the caretaker warned her sternly. “I know you’re still upset about your father, but this behavior will not be tolerated! Do you want a timeout?” Spring released her magical grip on the colt’s hoof before trotting away somberly. The colt looked upon her with sympathy as the caretaker turned her attention to him. “Take it.” she told him. “I’ll let you decide who gets the last one.” When the colt grabbed the cookie, he looked at it for a moment, contemplating whether or not the filly who insulted him deserved clemency. He then reflected on how he had recently lost his mother and realized that he had something Spring didn’t when he looked back at the caretaker. Something to fill the void that the caretaker had given him through acting like a mother to him… It was then that he made the decision to approach Spring and offer the cookie to her. “Huh?” Spring reacted in bewilderment. “Why are you letting me have it? I don’t need an earth po…I mean, your pity.” “This isn’t a pity offering.” the colt replied sincerely. “I’m giving this to you because we can always have cookies another day, but getting to fill the void in another pony’s heart…that’s an opportunity I couldn’t miss for anything.” Spring gasped in awe, unable to believe this colt’s kindness as she looked into his eyes and saw her reflection…a reflection that showed her as a pony that looked just like Sprout, also being red and having a blond mane and tail… Spring’s mind then became focused on what was happening in the present inside Canterlove as she looked into Hitch’s eyes. “So that’s how you figured it out…” she said in realization as she took the cookie. “My eyes gave it away…you found out I was a fragment of Sprout’s soul through seeing that same sadness in my eyes as you did in your past life…” “Wrong.” Hitch replied bluntly. “It wasn’t the sadness, the sight of emptiness…it was my desire to fill that emptiness. Raw power can’t fill the void in one’s heart. Kindness, however, can. It can inspire even the ponies most undeserving of it to change and create something from the nothingness in their hearts, so long as they appreciate the kindness given to them…” Upon saying that, something appeared in Hitch’s hoof, the hoof that the spirit had taken the cookie from…supernatural fire… “This is my extraordinary power…” he said, brimming with confidence. Both Misty and the spirit looked upon the supernatural fire Hitch had conjured with amazement. Unlike Sprout, Pipp, and Misty’s supernatural fire, it had a pink and purple color to it. Misty and the spirit could also see a small ghost in the center of the flame that matched the white and gray color of Hitch’s aura, something he was now exuding a copious amount of… “That soul…” Spring said upon recognizing who the small ghost in the fire was. “That’s my partner…the fragment of your soul. You are in complete control now of the spirit who possessed you, tapping its power to make your fire stronger than mine…I can’t defeat you or do your loved ones harm now. You’ve won.” “You’re the best, Hitch!” Misty lauded her friend with admiration. “Not only did you save me, you passed the test with flying colors! The power you’ve gained is even stronger than I expected! I’m going to tell the others about this right away!” As Misty put the tea and the cookies on the countertop and pulled out her phone to message Izzy, Spring, still in Sparky’s body, ate the cookie she was given and used dragon fire to make a jar and a lid appear. “You’ve completely conquered your trial and learned the truth about how souls are reborn.” Spring told Hitch solemnly. “There is no reason for me to continue possessing Sparky. However, before I leave his body, please accept this gift. You deserve a sample of the fire that will free the ghosts who haunt this building…just make sure you share it with friends…” Spring then spit a flame of pink and purple fire that took the shape of a heart into the jar and closed the lid on the jar before handing it to Hitch. With that, she left Sparky’s body, leaving the baby dragon to slump over and begin napping on Misty’s back. Hitch and Misty both smiled at Sparky, feeling happy and relieved. However, as Hitch examined the fire he was given more closely, he began to notice something about it that felt familiar…too familiar… “This is just like what I felt from the fire I saw when Sprout dismissed his familiar…” he recounted. “This same goodness…something that could only be created by the power of unity…” Meanwhile, Pipp the Poltergeist was chuckling to herself in a dark room, looking out from the window on how her friends were celebrating the news of Hitch’s victory that Misty had messaged. “Of course, I knew that Hitch would pass the test.” Pipp said with a smirk. “Just don’t be lulled into a false sense of security thinking that you’ll pass your tests easily…” Her eyes paid special attention to her sister, Zipp, who was laughing a haughty laugh… “You won’t be laughing once you see how bad things were for me when my soul was forced out of my body…” she remarked with a tint of resentment in her voice. “You’ll regret insinuating the possibility that I killed myself after you hear my latest song…” Pipp then pulled out her lucky microphone. Even though it was wireless, she had grabbed it off a long, black cord… “Given that your supernatural ability is to hear things that others can’t…” she continued speaking forebodingly. “…it’s only fitting that you’ll soon be like Izzy, able to hear their voices…hearing the voice of Princess Platinum…”