//------------------------------// // The Afterlife to a Ghost // Story: Pipp the Poltergeist // by Misty Shadow //------------------------------// Sunny and her friends only had one thing left to do now…to catch a ghost, their friend. Not only did they somehow have to find a way to capture a being of spiritual energy, they also had to somehow find a way to heal the spiritual pain in Pipp’s heart. “Pipp…” they told their friend sincerely. “No matter what happens, we’re always going to be here to help you. However, you also have to be willing to tell us what’s going on. You know you can’t fool us now that our supernatural powers have grown as much as they have. Be honest with us…what are you hiding?” “If you want me to tell you, you’ll have to catch me first…” Pipp retorted with a cheeky grin on her face as she pulled out her lucky microphone. “I wouldn’t get distracted if I were you, especially if you didn’t come to me prepared…” Pipp then began to sing a song that would put Sunny and her friends to sleep, but Izzy just smiled as her horn lit up, the type of magical energy and bubbles around her horn becoming visible around the auras of Sunny and her friends. You hear that song… Pipp had intended to sing A Special Tune, the lullaby she had made for Sparky, but thanks to Izzy’s spell, it sounded to her friends like she was singing the remix Izzy had made for Pipp’s song, All You Need is Your Beat. Pipp, however, quickly caught on to what was going on, ceasing to sing once she could feel that the power of the auras of her friends was being enhanced. “Nice try!” Izzy exclaimed cheerily. “But my spell ensures that whatever tune you sing to us with the intent of putting us to sleep or sending us to meet Creator sounds like the kind of song you would sing with the intent to invigorate a pony’s supernatural power!” “Well played…” Pipp replied, feeling largely unphased. “However, that was just a warm-up to make sure you were truly ready…if you think catching me is going to be easy…” Pipp then put her microphone away and instead pulled out a book. “That’s the book that I gave her!” Misty exclaimed in thought, immediately recognizing it. “Then it’s time to change your tune…” she finished her sentence with confidence in her voice as her cutie mark began to glow, along with her hoof that wasn’t holding the book. “Creator! Spirits! Give me your strength!” Pipp then waved her free hoof down from her mane to her wispy tail, causing her to disappear in magical, purple flames. “Huh?” Sunny reacted in surprise, something shared by her friends. “Where’d she go? Is she trying to flee from us?” “Does this answer your question?” Pipp retorted mischievously as she materialized behind them before they turned to face her. “Boo!” “AAAHHH!” they went in startlement, with the exception of Misty, who attempted to use her magic to cast a spell on Pipp she hoped could stymie her movements. “Ha!” Pipp exclaimed tauntingly as she quickly teleported back to her original position. “You’ll have to do better than that! As if one pony’s magic would be enough to stop me!” Pipp’s scoffing made her friends quickly realize they needed to work together on a strategy to capture her…but what? Their minds harked back to what Sprout had told them before he left with Sparky… “Putting everything you got from your trials together is the key…” They then realized that what Pipp had said about one pony’s magic not being enough to stop her was a clue about how they needed to work together. It should’ve come as no surprise, given how often they had worked together to find a solution to their problems, but there was a weird feeling that came over them as they thought about working together against a friend… Hitch, Zipp, and Sunny each looked at the items they had come across during their tests, the jar with fire in it, the cord, and the photo respectively, just like they had after they had told Pipp they were going to choose to help her. This was another puzzle they knew the solution to in their hearts, and they knew they had to confront this bad feeling that was continuing to foster inside of them…so they did what their hearts told them… Zipp took the cord in hoof and used her supernatural power to run her aura through the transparent and glowing object. Hitch opened the jar and absorbed the supernatural fire inside it into his front hooves. Sunny put the photo away as she whispered something to all her friends. All of them nodded after she finished quietly telling them what she had said and slightly distanced themselves from her as Sunny, in her alicorn form, approached Pipp while preparing a spell with her horn. “It seems you haven’t learned…” Pipp continued to speak mockingly. “No matter…we can do this all night if you want! After all, ghosts don’t need sleep!” “I’m ethereal in this form too, you know…” Sunny retorted. “And I have no intention of wasting your time. I just hope you’ll return the favor once we’ve caught you…” “Gladly!” Pipp exclaimed confidently. “Just be sure to give me my money’s worth! Ghosts also don’t need money, but it’s not like death ever stopped this salespony!” “You won’t be bragging for long!” Sunny proclaimed as she fired a magic blast at Pipp in an attempt to stymie her as Misty had done, a blast that was followed by two subsequent shots. “No! Nope! And nopers!” Pipp taunted Sunny without relent despite Sunny’s cry. “The same trick done better by a one-trick pony is still nothing new! And I suppose I should warn you…you may not be able to capture me, but I can certainly capture you and the rest of the group whenever I want!” “What does that mean?!” Sunny demanded to know. “It means that even while I can’t sing songs to send you to meet Creator,” explained Pipp, “Creator will be disappointed if this is the best you can do and grant me permission to return your souls to him for a little while, heh heh…” Pipp then turned the pages of the book and started building up aura in her free hoof. “Just a heads up for the next time I sneak up on you…” she warned Sunny. “I’m going to knock you out…” Sunny then glanced over at her friends and gave them a nod as they nodded back. She looked at Pipp again. “Try me.” Sunny retorted confidently. “I’m serious…” Pipp responded as she cast the same spell she had used to take Sunny and her friends by surprise earlier, disappearing while leaving behind purple flames. “I don’t intend to try…I intend to do. Don’t you dare blow your last chance…” Sunny remained silent as she thought deeply about the situation at hand. “I know what you’re up to, Pipp…” she spoke seriously in her mind. “You’re making these jeers and warnings as a way to motivate us to give this our all, not wanting us to hold back against you because you’re our friend. You’re making things difficult because you want us to have fun doing this, knowing it would be boring if this last endeavor of ours was easy…” “Sunny…” Pipp said solemnly in thought as she prepared to sneak up on her friend. “I hope you understand me…” Fortunately, Sunny had already understood what Pipp was trying to communicate to her and her friends from the start. The plan she had discussed with her friends earlier was about to be put into action. As soon as Pipp began to manifest behind the alicorn, Sunny, able to detect her immediately, now fully focused with her alicorn form making her heightened spiritual senses sharper, made the aura around her body grow brighter as a signal to her friends. “NOW!” her friends exclaimed as Zipp threw the cord, which had been tied like a lasso rope, at Pipp. “They knew all along!” a surprised Pipp cried in thought as the cord was wrapped around her ghostly form, constricting her tail. “My sister transformed this cord into spiritual matter!” She looked over at Zipp and noticed that it was not just her gripping the cord that she had thrown with her hooves. Hitch also had his hooves on the cord for a reason her mind was trying to discover. As she contemplated this, however, Misty took advantage of her occupied mind to cast a spell at the book she was holding, knocking it out of her hoof. Misty then took hold of the book with her levitation magic. “Commendable work…” Pipp offered her friends praise. “But I hope you haven’t forgotten that I don’t need magic spells! I still have my supernatural fire!” Pipp then made supernatural fire appear in her hooves and pressed them against the cord tied around her in an attempt to burn it away. However, as soon as her fire touched the cord, it was subsumed by another fire…Spring’s fire of friendship. This supernatural fire was especially potent from being ignited within Sprout by his friends coming together. With the power of one who could sense the fire of friendship from the very beginning enhancing it, Pipp’s flame couldn’t hope to compete. “What?!” Pipp cried as she turned her attention to a smirking Hitch, realizing the reason why his hooves were on the cord now. “Oh…now I see…this cord is imbued with supernatural fire far stronger than mine. However, even though you’ve overpowered me, it’s not over until you’ve captivated me completely!” “We know…” Sunny told Pipp forebodingly as she pulled out the photo with her magic. “And we also know where you’d like to be held captive…” Pipp blankly stared at the photo for a moment before smiling sweetly and closing her eyes. “I knew this was going to happen right from the beginning…” she said contently. Sunny didn’t reply, looking down while not saying a word as the magic from her horn enveloped Pipp’s bound ghostly form and drew it towards the photograph. As soon as Pipp touched the photo, she disappeared in a magical flash of light, the cord around her losing its grip and falling to the floor as a binding that was no longer needed. Sunny’s friends then gathered around her to look at the picture she was holding…which now showed their ghostly friend, still smiling. “You did it.” she told them happily. “It’s over now…” “No.” Sunny bluntly replied. “It’s not over. Before we entered this building, we made a commitment to help you no matter the cost. And we can’t help you unless you tell us what you know we need to know. You have to tell us what’s bothering your heart…what is the root of the malice inside of you?” Upon being asked this, Pipp’s smile faded, her expression becoming downcast. “I knew this would happen too…” she said despondently. “No hiding anything from you guys, is there? Well, now that you’ve caught me and proven yourselves worthy, I guess there’s no need for any more wordplay or ghostly tricks. I’ll tell you outright. The souls of Princess Platinum and her subordinates are inside of me, still feeling hatred towards Opaline for what she did to them…but it’s not just their malice inside of me. I can’t help it, but I have some resentment inside of me…for my sister over the mean things she’s done to me.” Sunny and her friends were taken aback as a disheartened look formed on Zipp’s face. “Pipp…” Zipp told her sister sincerely, her tone of voice showing feelings of remorse and guilt. “I’m sorry for all the times I’ve not been a good sister. I never would’ve done anything mean to you had I known it would lead to everything that’s happened to you…but now that we’re together like this, we can find a way to help you become a normal pony again.” “Indeed you can…” Pipp remarked in an unnervingly deadpan tone of voice. “…depending on what choices we make with our free will. Freedom, however, isn’t free. While the spirits possessing me were alive, they made innocent ponies suffer with their malice, something they still do not wish to atone for. Creator can’t accept unrepentant souls. For them to have a chance of righting their wrongs, their wrongs must be paid for. That’s where I come in…” Sunny and her friends felt like a shock of lightning had just hit them, realizing where this was going… “PIPP, NO…” they uttered in terror, realizing that the bad feeling they had earlier was about to be confirmed. “I’ve chosen to die for them.” Pipp confessed. “Only one sacrifice has to be made for their sins, however. In theory, you could make me “normal” again by asking Creator to have me be reborn into a new body…but a pony would still have to be sacrificed so that the souls possessing me don’t have to suffer in a realm of fire. You can only save me…by allowing Sprout to remain dead.” What Pipp told her friends caused something inside each one of them to snap. They all fell to the floor and started crying. “Why…” they said with great sorrow. “WWWHHHYYY?! WHY, PIPP?! WHY, CREATOR?! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DIE, PIPP?! CREATOR, HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN?!” Creator heard the cries of Pipp’s friends and answered them in their minds… “It is not my will that things have happened this way. It is the will of my creations. You have to be able to choose your own paths, even if those paths lead to destruction. The actions of destroyers must be punished, and the wage of sin is death. A soul that returns to me consumed by hate can not abide in me. They all return to me, but they can’t all stay. It’s not fair for the souls of the innocent to be cursed by the malice that unrepentant souls refuse to relinquish.” Zipp was truly devastated. However, the one most devastated by what had been revealed, the most agonizing truth Pipp’s friends had to face during their journey, was Misty. Looking at the book she had given Pipp, she couldn’t help being more angry with herself than ever before. She gripped the book with her hooves, and without even knowing it while crying with her eyes shut, supernatural fire came out of her hooves… “Tell me, Creator…” Misty muttered in rage while remembering how Sunny and Sprout had acted oddly before while talking about the book. “What were Sunny and Sprout hiding from me?” This instantly caught a nervous Sunny’s attention. “NO, PLEASE NOT NOW!” she shouted in her mind. “They kept it secret, the fact that the souls inside of Pipp now were drawn to the book you gave Pipp to protect you. But it was not just the book that brought them here. It was Pipp’s incredible willpower. She wanted this. She wanted to use the spells in the book to help them. She knew the magic came with a price and accepted it, wanting to help the souls Opaline harmed and all of the ponies in Equestria with products she could make with the magic.” “What does it matter…” Misty replied as she began shaking with anger. “The fact remains that none of this would’ve happened if I HADN’T GIVEN HER THIS ACCURSED BOOK!” Misty then threw the book against the wall, creating a dent in it as the book fell to the floor. Breathing heavily, her rage only began to abate when she noticed that the book was now enveloped by her supernatural fire…and that there were small souls resembling cake ghosts on fire coming out of the book, looking at her with tears in her eyes… “NO!” Misty cried, immediately feeling remorse. “HOW DID I…” “You lost control of yourself. It’s not just in cookies and hot drinks, but in any place a soul can enter. Do you know why this normally doesn’t happen when you make refreshments that cake ghosts enter?” After Creator said this to Misty, Misty instinctively turned her head towards the window, feeling sunlight on her body. Her friends also turned to face the window, realizing that the sun was coming up with it now being early morning. “All of you, look at how the sun is rising. The sun is a burning star that could incinerate you instantly…yet it provides you with warmth.” It was in that moment that all of Pipp’s friends figured it out. They finally knew what Argyle meant when he said that a fire’s purpose wasn’t to burn, but to warm… “I really do love you, Dad…” Sunny impulsively said as she touched the pendant Argyle had given her and smiled. “I’m so sorry for hurting you…” Misty told the spirits from the book earnestly as she faced them. The spirits smiled back at her as the fire around them stopped causing them pain. The fire from the book merged with the fire around them, becoming a pleasant warmth that they cheerfully disappeared with. “Do you understand now?” Pipp interjected, talking to Misty. “You need to become completely free of your guilt so that you can help others. Platinum is my ancestor, this is not something I could avoid. It’s just like how all of you can’t avoid your role in this world to use the fire we must keep going no matter what as a way to make the lives of everyone in Equestria better…” This instantly reminded Zipp of what Pipp had told her inside of Creator, leading her to look over at the lantern Pipp had shown her there. Her friends followed her gaze…and knew what had to be done… “Creator…” they asked their maker. “Could you please…have Sprout join us here with Sparky?” “Of course.” Creator answered their request in their minds and telepathically contacted Sprout. He told him about how Sunny and her friends had succeeded in capturing Pipp and how he could tell from what he could feel in their hearts that they were going to make the right decision. Upon hearing that, it wasn’t long before a very pleased Sprout joined the group in the room with Sparky in one hoof and a phone in the other. “Umm…I appreciate you watching Sparky…” Hitch remarked in bemusement. “But what’s the phone for?” “You’re about to find out.” Sprout cheekily retorted as he put Sparky down, the cheerful dragon making his way over to the lantern upon being let go. Sprout also came over to the lantern with the phone still in hoof, putting the other hoof that had held Sparky on the lantern. In preparation for what he knew was going to come, he had shared a bit of his power with Sparky. Sunny looked at the photo that held Pipp captive and saw not only Pipp in there, but Platinum and other souls surrounding her. Pipp and every soul beside her was on fire, supernatural fire creating a burning sensation resulting from the spirits’ malice…yet Pipp was not phased, ready to finally let go of her malice. Instead of screaming, she began to sing… “Ghosties get all my love, give you spooks in our club…” It was the first song she had sung in Canterlove as a lullaby. However, it didn’t become a remix to the ears of her friends as a result of Izzy’s spell, since she was now singing it with the intent of invigorating their power. “Our ghostly lights! Will always burn stronger! Our flames come together!” As Pipp continued to sing, Sunny and her friends felt the magical energy inside of them becoming more powerful than ever with their auras overflowing. Sunny’s pendant began to exude blue aura while Sprout could feel the auras of his familiars surging in the hoof of his that was on the lantern. “Are you ready to choose? It is only with the conviction of your decision that you’ll be able to turn that fire of malice surrounding Pipp into a fire of benevolence. Will you allow Pipp to be the sacrifice or have Sprout supplant her?” Sunny and her friends gave Creator the only answer they could…and once they had made their decision, the power of their will was enhanced to an absolute state. Each one of them used a hoof to light the lantern with a supernatural flame. Sparky joined in too, putting a hand to the lantern, causing the lantern to emit a magical wave that erupted and spread all throughout Equestria. “Heh heh heh…” Sprout chuckled as he looked at the phone. “Good morning, Equestria. Hope you’re all enjoying this historic moment…” Sunny and her friends then looked outside the window and noticed that the magical wave had caused a magical bird of fire to appear from the clouds, a phoenix. The phoenix then began to fly over the town of Maretime Bay, spreading magical balls of light with its wings to every pony in town, intending to do the same thing across all of Equestria. The enthralled ponies could feel the energy of the light being absorbed inside of their bodies, unlocking a magical power inside of them… …a piece of the power from the fire that surpassed Opaline’s fire magic… The magical wave had also created a change in the spirits surrounding Pipp in the photograph. A light twinkled in one of Platinum’s eyes as the spirits felt a strange sensation. They knew full well now why they couldn’t accept Clover the Clever’s fire, recalling dreadful memories of agony from Opaline’s atrocity and how they had been affected by her poison…and what they had done before then… “Just look at these luscious crops! Don’t forget that I’m the one who made this possible!” Platinum recalled how she had been a corrupt leader who lied to her subjects about how everything in Equestria had been better than ever under her reign. This was patently false, as more ponies than ever at this time were starving to death… “If you support Platinum, you deserve death! Beat them and take everything they have!” The spirits of those who rebelled against Platinum remembered how they had even harmed innocents before the coup d'état… “…So that’s it…we had no passion…to create goodness…” Platinum and the spirits both said this to themselves as they could feel the energy of one soul in particular growing stronger than ever…a soul inside one of Pipp’s eyes… It was the soul of one of Platinum’s guards. A newly recruited stallion who was still in training, he had signed up for the job with the desire to fight for Platinum and all the ponies of Equestria, including those who detested his liege. However, after Platinum’s palace was attacked, tragedy demoralized him, and the determination in his eyes left him. He died alone and forgot who he was, but seeing how committed Sunny and her friends were to helping Pipp had reignited a spark within him…and now there was a spark in his eyes that were full of life… Soon, all of the spirits beside Pipp were feeling the fire surrounding them no longer burning them, but soothing them with blissful warmth. Sensing what was going on in the photo, Sunny gave it a look and saw that the purity of the hearts of her and her friends had changed the fire affecting the spirits from one of malevolence to one of grace. Inspired by their goodness, they were now repentant of their sins and ready to begin finding peace. Some of them still felt a sense of confusion and lingering attachment, not feeling that they were ready to join Creator yet. However, some of them were so touched that they had become completely free of all the fragments of malice afflicting them and wanted to help fulfill one of Pipp’s wishes. Each spirit in the photo aside from Pipp began to disappear, with the exuberant soul in her eyes disappearing last. He was feeling happier than ever now, having become completely free from the malice and was ready to join his maker…as well as share the life he was given… “Look Dad, I did it…” Sunny said with joyful tears in her eyes. “My friends and I were able to guide them to their peace…” “Some of the spirits you and your friends have freed from Opaline’s curse will be joining me soon and even want me to help them enhance the phoenix’s power. Others will meet with me, but not be ready to abide with me, still having issues they need to resolve. But you’ve done all you can for them…and even if they become lost to a realm of fire again, the magic you and your friends have shared with them will always exist inside of them, helping to guide them back on the right path. No matter what happens, I will always be waiting for them and all souls…forever.” Once Creator had told Sunny this in her mind, she became curious. “What about Pipp and Sprout though?” Sunny inquired. “Will they…?” “Don’t worry, they will remain here in Equestria. That is what both of them desire. Neither of them wish to leave this realm yet. However, whatever will happen next, you should know, depends on the decisions they’ve made with their free will…” After Creator gave this answer to Sunny’s question, Sunny and her friends noticed that Pipp had taken the form of a ball of light and was now leaving the photograph. “And the decisions they’ve made as ghosts have been made based on what the afterlife is to them…” Once Creator said this to Sunny, she and everyone in the room watched with great anticipation as the ball of light Pipp had become took the shape of a pony…and soon, a truly historic moment was photographed… Before long, Sunny and her friends were now on the first floor of Canterlove Studios, ready to depart with their quest now complete. Pipp, now in the form of a pony, was hanging a picture on the wall to commemorate their journey. Smiling a sweeter smile than ever, she turned to her friends and told them… “I’m glad you made the right decision…” Before she took the form of a ghost… “For this is the afterlife that I’ve always dreamed of…” All of Pipp’s friends glanced at the floor melancholically, remembering the decision they made… When they had given Creator their answer after he had asked them whether they would allow Pipp to be the sacrifice or have Sprout take her place, they responded with… “Our decision is what Pipp and Sprout want.” Out of every invidious position Sunny and her friends had been put in, this was one was by far the hardest. However, before they were asked to give their answer, they had realized what was going on from clues they were given by Sprout, Pipp, and Creator himself…this was a test to see if they could accept the hardest truth of all. The truth that they could not defy the free will of another, something even Creator could not do. Even if they had offered Sprout to be the sacrifice in Pipp’s stead, Pipp would’ve remained a ghost, for that is what she wished. She had also wished for Creator to give some of her power to the phoenix to help Sprout. Her experience with the spirits had changed her view of life and death, thus spending time with her friends as an ethereal being and creating supernatural products for her fans became the life of her dreams. It was also always the afterlife of her dreams, since any afterlife where she was happy with her friends and followers was paradise to her… Sprout, on the other hand, wished to be alive again. The afterlife of his dreams was an afterlife where he would be reborn into a body that would last forever. Despite what he had said after he had sacrificed himself, he couldn’t deny what his soul wanted. This wish of his soul was granted when the phoenix had finished spreading magic to every pony in Equestria and returned, flying inside of Canterlove and perching on one of Sprout’s forelegs. It then shared its own magical fire that had been enhanced by the power of Pipp and the reformed spirits with him, granting him new life. “Heh…” he chuckled in admiration. “I didn’t do what I did for a reward…but it would be shameful for me to reject the gift of life from souls who have been given life anew.” Sprout had found himself a new familiar, the bird that held the power of resurrection. Sunny and her friends were amazed upon seeing this, especially Misty, having once only known this bird from a book in Opaline’s library she read that had her believing it was a fire hawk of terrible danger. She was still terrified of phoenixes, but she began to wonder… “Is this…” she said to herself in realization as she and her friends then looked over at Pipp. “…a sign? Sprout told me I’d see that giving Pipp that book was a great thing I did for Equestria. Are we being told to not judge a book by its cover? Are we being told that while Pipp not going back to normal looks like a bad thing…it could actually be a good thing?” Sprout then smiled and winked at Misty. “Well, what did I tell you?” he told her in a self-assured tone of voice as he showed her and her friends what was on his phone. ‘ The group was awestruck at what they saw. Sprout had livestreamed the event of them combining their supernatural fire and magic together, and not only was enthusiastic talk of how the magic that was unlocked inside of the ponies of Equestria trending on social media, with every pony sharing their feelings of joy, there was a new hashtag trending that had completely eclipsed #Where’dSheGo?...#ThereSheIs. Seeing Pipp’s friends unite their power together combined with hearing the sound of Pipp singing had filled Equestria with relief and excitement. An also relieved and excited Pipp soon chimed in with… “Do you see now why I believe what I do about life and death? What does it matter if I’m a ghost or not? What matters is that you all came together to heal my spiritual pain, change that part of me that wanted to stay under the control of the spirits possessing me…and now, all of us are in a better position than ever to change the world around us, changing the world with what we create…” Pipp then gleefully glanced at the lantern and everyone in the room followed her gaze. They were all overwhelmed with joy as they realized what Pipp was trying to tell them, especially Izzy. She remembered when Creator had first revealed to her the purpose of her existence, and now, getting to see a lantern like the one she had made for Sunny being used to share what she had learned and believed in with all of Equestria…used to save souls…it brought a feeling of satisfaction to her soul like no other. “Come on…” Pipp told her friends eagerly as she pulled out her phone. “We need to commemorate this moment…” And so, all of Pipp’s friends gathered around her as Pipp pressed the button on her phone to take a picture… Even as this photo was showing Pipp and all of her friends to be happy, Pipp’s friends now felt morose as they thought over what this would mean for the future, especially Zipp. Noticing this, Pipp did her best to uplift them… “I understand this is hard, but never forget that resolve you showed me…” she reminded them with an endearing smile. Pipp’s friends slowly felt their vim return once they remembered the promises they made before they had entered Canterlove. Pipp then began to hover closer to her sister and told her warmly… “And I want you to never forget that I’ll always be by your side. Portrait Day is never going to be any different...” Pipp then transformed back into a pony and gave her sister a hug. Everyone in the room joined in the hug, their feelings of happiness having fully returned as they were coming together just like they had in the photo…the photo that didn’t just show them, but the spirits of Argyle and Clover the Clever floating around them, sharing their feelings of joy... THE END Epilogue Soon, Pipp, in the form of a pony, and all of her friends were leaving Canterlove Studios, ready to return home. Misty was carrying the book with her, intending to keep it in a safe place. “So, every pony…” Pipp told her friends cheerfully. “Did you have the most spooktacular time of your lives?” “Oh yeah!” Sunny exclaimed in response as her friends all made remarks of agreement. “Uuuwwwaaahaha!” Sparky let out a cry of delight on Hitch’s back. “He sure did!” Hitch happily proclaimed. “It was a great adventure.” Sprout commented. “I have to say though that I am glad the place is no longer haunted!” Unbeknownst to him and his new friends, however, inside of the room in Canterlove where they had completed their quest, something was coming out of the part of the wall where Misty had made a dent with the book… …a small, happy spirit resembling a cake ghost…