//------------------------------// // 5: GhostFacers vs. Creepers // Story: The Invisible Mare // by Thunderhalk89 //------------------------------// Twilight did not know where to begin. At first, she thought about sneaking into the theater, but kids already did that. She knew the true test would be to go up against somepony with a keen eye for detail. If she truly wanted to push her stealth to its limits, then she would need to go up against Rarity. If anypony would notice her, it would be the fashionista. What she was most concerned about was her magic. It was still camouflaged, as she had not figured out how to make it invisible. She knew that Rarity had made a few dresses using the "Chameleon-spell" before, and would probably notice the faint shimmer without even looking for it. As she trotted along the streets of Ponyville, she tried to think of a valid experiment. As she looked up into the bright blue sky, she saw a lone cloud. "I thought the weather team had planned a clear day," she muttered to herself so that no one else could hear. As she took a second look, she noticed a rainbow streak hanging over one side. The single cloud made sense to her now as she watched Rainbow's tail sway over the edge: she usually liked to keep one cloud around for her naps. As Twilight looked on, she began to think of all the times Rainbow Dash and Pinkie had pranked her. At times, it had seemed like they could enter and leave a room without her noticing. She grinned devilishly as she began to devise a plan. After visiting Rarity, she would have to think of a way to get them back; only this time, they would not see her coming: but how? She thought over all of their pranks until one particular event from earlier that day made her grin even more, "Those three fillies thought I was a ghost, so I will become a ghost. Ponyville will not know what hit it." She chuckled darkly as she snuck inside the Carousel Boutique, careful to hold the chime in her magic so that it would not alert the shop's owner to her arrival. She found Rarity in her "inspiration room", sitting at her drawing board, sketching out several new designs. Twilight looked over her friend's shoulder and watcher her work for a few minutes. She never how Rarity designed all her outfits, usually all her friends were shown were the final sketches, never the drafts. Perhaps I could study ponies in their natural habitats, she thought as she watched her friend repeatedly erase and redraw different parts of the outfit repeatedly. Then again, I have a more important mission. Her maniacal grin turned into a dark smirk as she tried to compose herself and gently whispered as to not spook her prey, "Hiss." Rarity's ears perked as Twilight began again, a little louder this time, "Hisssss." She now had Rarity's attention. The white unicorn began looking around, trying to figure out if she had actually heard anything, or if her imagination was just running wild. She glanced at the window, ensuring that it was closed, before shrugging and returning back to her designs. Twilight could not help herself as she hissed even louder, before igniting her horn, releasing an explosive burst of magic that threw paper and fabric everywhere and giving off the sound of a crate full of fireworks all going off simultaneously. Twilight watched in amusement as Rarity jolted several feet in the air, screaming in surprise. Once her heart rate dropped enough, she looked around angrily, hoping to find the culprits: probably her sister and her friends. When she did not see anything, she got up and stormed out of the room with Twilight following not far behind. "Sweetie Belle! I know that was you! If you come out right now I won't destroy you," after a brief moment she added, "too much." Rarity paused in confusion. She had searched every square inch of her home and shop, and had not found a trace of her sister or her friends. Usually she could hear their giggling, or one of the doors opening as they made their escape. She had once even caught them trying to sneak out one of the windows. When Twilight felt Rarity's guard had lowered enough, she stepped in front of her, gave an extended "hiss", and "exploded" again. Rarity nearly passed out from the surprise attack, but managed to catch a glimpse of something shimmering in front of her before she fell over like a fainting goat. Twilight left the room and quietly teleported away. Only once she was back in her lab did she explode with devious maniacal laughter. She now knew why Pinkie and Rainbow always seemed to be pranking everypony: it was fun. "No," she said darkly, "It is power." ~~~ "So, what's this ghost look like?" Pinkie Pie was lurking around buildings, and rolling into cover as she and the Cutie Mark Crusaders patrolled the streets. "Thought we already told ya? It was invisible. We couldn't see it at all: just heard it," Apple Bloom replied, rolled her eyes as Scootaloo started ninja-rolling behind Pinkie. Pinkie suddenly stopped dodging, ducking, dipping, diving, and dodging and held her hoof up, halting the three fillies. "Okay troops," Pinkie marched back-and-forth in front of the lined up Crusaders as they stood at attention, "you have in you hooves the only sure-fire way to deal with a mean ol' ghostie." "I thought you were supposed to giggle at them to make them disappear?" Sweetie Belle quietly asked. Pinkie was instantly looking the young filly eye-to-eye, "Did I give you permission to reference the transcripts Private Belle?" "Umm... no…?" Sweetie guessed. She tried looking to her friends for help but they both just shrugged. "Rightie-tightie," Pinkie began pacing before them again, "The Proton-String-Pak is more than just a silly string-cannon: the silly-string is a highly concentrated mixture of cotton candy, frosting, and a bunch of random ingredients and spices I found in the kitchen. In a pinch, it can be used to decorate cake; but its primary use is to re-visible-ize invisible ghosts. You fire it by aiming it at the ghostie and pulling this trigger." Pinkie then pulled the trigger, covering an entire park bench in silly-string. Hmmm, nopony's there, Pinkie shrugged, I guess Lyra and Bon Bon are sitting at another bench today. "How are we supposed to find an invisible ghost," Scootaloo asked, standing firmly at attention, "mam?" "Hmm," Pinkie rubber her chin in thought, "I guess we could use my Pinkie-sense." Maybe that’s what something not sitting right in my tummy means. Maybe it didn't have anything to do with Twilight after all, and has everything to do with ghosts invading Ponyville. Pinkie found herself almost lost in her thoughts and quickly clamored out, less she got really lost. She remembered the last time that happened it had taken seemingly forever to get unlost. She escaped the labyrinth of her mind just in time to hear a hissing coming from behind her. Her eyes went wide as her pupils became pinpricks. She quickly pounced on top of the Crusaders just in time to shield them from the massive explosion. She quickly looked around, looks like he's gone for now. "You forgot to mention that the invisible ghost was also a creeper." "We had no idea it could do that. We swear." Apple Bloom tried to respond, still trying to recover from the disorientation caused by the blast. "That was awesome!" shouted Scootaloo, "It was like a Sonic Rainboom! Only not as epic," she amended. So, we have an invisible ghost that is also a creeper. We might need a new strategy. ~~~ "Phase two is a success," Twilight muttered to herself, pleased with her work. First, she had gotten past Rarity's keen eye, and now Pinkie's Pinkie-ness. "If I could get past those two then nopony will be able to stop me!" Her grin let up, "well, not stop a criminal," she quickly added. She was not a criminal; she was just trying to find a way to prevent criminals from using her spell for wrongdoing. As Twilight walked along the streets, she watched the ponies of Ponyville going about their daily routines. Nothing seemed amiss to them. Twilight knew otherwise. She could see it everywhere she looked: chaos and disorder were running rampant in the small friendly town. As she approached the park, it became even clearer to her that the ponies here were woefully doomed. She saw colts and fillies chasing each other, laughing, and young lovers enjoying each other's company, and a grey pegasus was littering. A pony was littering! In her town no less. She quickly cantered over to the grey mare. Twilight observed her throwing small mini nut-muffins from her saddlebags onto the ground near some of the trees for a few moments. The saddlebags bore the logo of Equestria's Postal and Packaging Services. "It's a disgrace to the Princesses," she sneered to herself, "She pledged to work for them, and repays them by breaking the law." Without another thought, she grabbed all the muffins on the ground in her magic, and angrily threw them all into a garbage bin along the walking path. She disregarded the ponies nearby as they immediately took notice of the flying barrage of muffins: some ponies seemed concerned, having not seen a magical aura around them. She then wrenched the saddlebags off the confused pegasus and made sure to send the remaining muffins to join the others. As Twilight began to trot away, she felt something pull on her magic. She looked on with bemusement, as the grey mare attempted to wrestle the floating saddlebags out of the air. "You are a disgrace to the uniform," she told the mare defiantly as she shook her loose, "I will not allow such actions in my town." Once she had teleported herself and the saddlebags back to her lab she began looking around, still disgruntled about the mail-mare's disgraceful disobedience to the law. "Where is my clock?" She blinked, remembering that she still had yet to get one for the lab. She unceremoniously shoved the mail-mare's saddlebags into her own, double-checking that they were still invisible and that the mailbag could not be seen before teleporting away again. ~~~ "Mayor," the mayor's secretary gently nocked at her door, "There is a Mr. Time Turner here to see you. He says that it's urgent." "You can send him in." The secretary opened the door, allowing a brown-coated earth pony and, unknown to all three, an invisible unicorn, into the mayor's office. "Timey Wimey! So good to see you," the mayor stood up from her desk and hugged him as the Secretary left them alone. "I really wish you would stop calling me that," he sighed, returning the mayor's embrace. "You know I can tell when something is troubling you, and you really looked like you needed a hug today. Unless you need money, I know the town could always use more. Please sit down and tell me all about it." Time Turner hesitated; he did not know where to begin. Being the town's official timekeeper, and the younger brother of the mayor, the town "elected" him to be the one to tell her about whatever catastrophe was threatening the town that week. Usually, it was just a couple of kids doing something ridiculous in a futile attempt to get their cutie marks. Everypony went through that phase, so as long as none of the foals got their hooves on a cannon or explosives, there was no reason to worry. "A ghost, or a thief… or something," Time Turner began, after collecting his thoughts, "is rampaging through Ponyville." Mayor Mare blinked a few times before beginning to chuckle, "Have you been hanging around Pinkie Pie again," she asked light-heartedly. She stopped laughing when she saw the seriousness in his eyes. "Someone is breaking into ponies' homes, spooking them, and stealing things. It even attacked Derpy and stole her mailbag, making it vanish." His tone was filled with resentment for whomever, or whatever, had harmed his mare-friend. Twilight watched the events unfold before her with amusement as Time Turner explained the events of the day. She could not help but smile as he went into detail about each of her actions. What she found most interesting was that apparently, Pinkie Pie had recruited the Cutie Mark Crusaders and was trying to find her. They were even calling themselves "Cutie Mark Crusader GhostFacers". "How cute," Twilight whispered to herself. As Time Turner left, Twilight could not help but frown as she felt the extra weight in her saddlebags alongside Derpy's mailbag: apparently, he had been told about everything she had barrowed: books, magazines, food, non-safety scissors from the schoolhouse. However, he had yet to notice that she had borrowed a clock from his shop. She waited a few moments more to ensure that she was alone with mayor. "So Miss Mayor Mare, what do you think of my test so far," she asked in a cocky, brazen tone. The mayor jumped out of her seat, standing with her back to the window overlooking Ponyville behind her, "Who's there?" "That doesn’t' matter right now," Twilight replied, "What I need from you is information as to why Equestria would hire a criminal to deliver the mail?" "I, I, I," Mayor Mare stammered, "I don’t know what you are talking about." "Derpy Hooves," she snapped. "From what I was told you just attacked her, that makes you the criminal here," the mayor countered, attempting to sound braver and less afraid than she really was. "What the good clock doctor failed to tell you was, that at the time I found her, she was littering." The mayor looked on with a mixture of shock and amazement as the mail-mare's saddlebags appeared before her. "From what I've heard, she likes to feed the squirrels the left-over stale nut-muffins from Suga-" "She was littering!" Twilight breathed deeply, trying to calm herself from the outburst, "Now there are going to be some changes around here. First, I am in charge now: you will not sign any new proposals, or attend any meetings without my consent." "And why should I listen to you?" "Because you and every other pony in this town are weak," she retorted, "With my help it will become a shining example for all of Equestria. I will rule over Ponyville; and be revered by the Princesses. Don't worry though," she added, "I will make sure that you are rewarded for your efforts as well." Mayor Mare's eyes enlarged and glowed as a large bag of bits manifested itself before her, "I have one question?" "What is it?" "What should I call you?" Twilight grinned. Sure, she had robbed the bank, but she could easily pay it, and all the ponies she had borrowed from back ten-fold once the Princesses thanked her for her report on invisibility, and for turning Ponyville into utopia. "Master, my pet."