//------------------------------// // Ghost? Busted. // Story: Papers and Poltergeists // by GreyGuardPony //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash idly wondered how much Princess Celestia would chew her out for going off script like this as she looked up at the center of Altenprow’s government. Sitting next to the statue of some old griffin hero across from the building’s entrance, she was certainly in the thick of things now, that was for sure. Ragora sat next to her, looking more bored than anything else as he took in his surroundings. The ram was an odd one, seemingly unconcerned with the concept of going after a beheading ghost. She wasn’t sure if it was bravery or insanity, really. Of course, I could say the same about me. Horst came striding out of the administrative building, a rune carved pistol strapped to his side. He gave her a curt nod as he approached. Six members of the Altenprow guard were right behind him rifles slung over their shoulders. “I am obliged to try and talk you out of this one last time.” Horst growled. “Not gonna happen.” The griffin officer rolled his eyes before turning towards Ragora. “Do you have a way to find her?” “Of course.” Ragora grinned, his unbroken horn lighting up, the bell from Tambelon hovering before his head. A white aura formed around the bell, that was then matched in his eyes, “Dealing with the undead is what I do.” “Lead on then.” - - - - Ragora’s efforts lead them back towards the lowest tier of the city. It had been relatively slow going at first, as the ram’s lack of flight slowed them down. This had eventually been resolved when, in a moment of frustration, Horst had ordered two of the guard to just carry the ram. In the end, they had come to a warehouse among Altenprow’s factories. The building was quiet, the windows boarded up and the doors chained shut. “Should have known.” Ragora nodded sagely, “Ghosts are naturally drawn to abandoned places such as this.” “You don’t say.” Horst snarked back, “I am overjoyed that ours is conforming to proper undead stereotypes.” He paused for a moment, looking around the area with an increasingly angry look on his face, before turning to face Rainbow Dash, “It occurs to me...how are you going to be able to see her in the night? Not many street lights around here.” It was true, Dash realized. Aside from the lanterns that some of the guard had been carrying, the whole block of factories they were currently standing amongst were shrouded in darkness. No need to keep the lights on when there were no workers about. “Okay, that makes things a little more difficult….” She began. “Oh, for crying out loud. Just forget the spellcaster here.” Ragora grumbled, his good horn once again lighting up as he wove a spell, wrapping it around the group. Dash felt a tingling sensation descend on her eyes for a moment, that caused her to rub at them furiously with the back of her hooves. It faded a moment later, leaving her blinking as she looked about at her surroundings again. The difference was like night and day, literally. The darkness had somehow retreated, leaving her able to see like it was the middle of the day, despite the moon and stars still hanging in the sky. “Woah.” She blinked, but smirked all the same, “That’s kind of weird, but cool.” “There.” Rogora nodded, passing the enchanted bell over to her, “Problem solved.” Horst sighed, drawing his pistol. “Very well. Prepare yourself. My men and eye will lure her out.” Dash nodded, taking to the air as Horst and his guard moved towards the doors. - - - - The chains on the front door were broken away by two of his men, Horst stepping into the main floor of the warehouse first. The weight of the revolver in his claws- usually a comforting factor- felt wholly inadequate as his eyes swept the room. The warehouse had obviously been abandoned for quite a while. A clawful of dusty crates, marked with the sigil of an airship company long defunct, and occasional piles of abandoned parts, lay scattered about the floor. He mentally sighed; such a waste. His target, the ghost of General Hurricane, was currently engaged with one of those piles. Crouching down, she poked at an engine cylinder, seemingly unconcerned with how her hoof kept passing through it and more perplexed with what it actually was. <”Get ready to run.”> He whispered, motioning for them to take aim. The ghosts’ head snapped up, fixing them with an angry glare. They hadn’t been quiet enough, it seemed. She took a step forward, flaring her ghostly wings in an aggressive display, her borrowed head snarling. “What griffin is so brave enough to stand before General Hurricane?” She demanded in two voices, one in Equestrian, one in Griffish. “I am Horst Kraller.” He answered in even Equestrian, keeping his revolver trained on her, “Officer of the State Security Ministry for Altenprow. You shall cease all operations and allow a...contracted spiritualist...to send you on to the afterlife, or you shall be destroyed.” General Hurricane blinked- a very living gesture- before throwing her head back and howling with laughter. “Very well. Shoot her!” The gunfire shot an angry retort back General Hurricane’s way in a flurry of noise and smoke, the latter actually obscuring the ghost for a moment in a white haze. “Fall back!” Horst barked, having no intention of sticking around to see the results. His men rushed for the door, as he brought up the rear, keeping his revolver raised. . The form of General Hurricane burst from the smoke, ethereal wing blades spread wide, shooting right for him. Swearing, Horst raised his revolver in a knee jerk defensive measure. The edge of Hurricane’s right blade impacted against the metal of the gun with a clang, angry sparks flying, the runes blazing bright in response. Acting more on instinct than anything else, Horst reared up on his paws, lashing out with his free talon. Grabbing the horn of her borrowed, and very corporeal head, he flipped her as hard as he could. Tumbling over with an undignified squawk of surprise, her ghost body phased through the floor, stopped only by her un-ghostly head. Horst didn’t hesitate. He just ran. - - - - Rainbow Dash circled overhead, bell of Tambelon clutched between her hooves, watching the spooked griffin come tumbling back out of the warehouse. They scrambled across the street from the entrance Horst quickly urging them back into some kind of firing line. An angry, roiling mass of shadows slammed through the door a moment later before reforming into the enraged looking General Hurricane. Dipping a wing, Dash immediately dropped into a dive. Stretching her forelegs out before her, she kept her grip tight on the bell, aiming right for her target. Hurricane lept for Horst. Dash shifted her wings to adjust her her course. The remaining distance closed in a moment and she was less than an inch away… Hurricane’s ghostly body curled up into a ball of shadow, recoiling away in a sudden, flowing motion. Swearing, Dash flicked the bell to a wing, her hooves slamming hard into the cobblestone street. The general reformed a few feet away, raising a shadowy eyebrow as she looked Rainbow Dash over. “Conscripting poor deluded pony “citizens”? I’ll make you pa-” Dash threw herself forward again, transferring the bell back to her hooves with a flick of her wing. Hurricane snarled, pointing her wing blades forward to ward the charge off. Dash rolled to the left, the tip of her wing brushing against the street as she shot past General Hurricane. The general twisted about, chasing after her with a screech of rage. “Traitor! I am trying to save your ungrateful hide from these monsters!” Snorting, Dash ignored the angry shouts, pumping her wings harder to gain some more distance. Counting off a few beats in her head, she flipped into a loop, coming around and swooping towards General Hurricane from behind. The wing blades hissed through the air, General Hurricane’s whole body twisting into a corkscrew, to slash at her attacker. A few locks of red and orange mane fell from Dash’s head, the Element of Loyalty flaring her wings not a moment too soon. “Aww, come on!” She shouted, patting at the slice in her mane, “You’re totally ruining my look!” “I was aiming for your neck, race traitor.” General Hurricane shouted, twisting back into a proper pony shape. Rushing for Rainbow Dash, she angled her wings forward again, the phantom blades growing longer and more wicked looking. Dash pulled her wings close to her body, letting gravity take over for a moment. Hurricane shot past, but then pulled an on the spot one eighty spin, immediately diving back after the falling form of Rainbow Dash. “Damn.” Dash swore, quickly rolling over and returning to powered flight. Once again, the distance between the two of them grew, Hurricane not able to keep up with Rainbow Dash’s speed. Once again, Dash swung back around in another complicated loop, that was blocked by General Hurricane’s insane maneuverability and malleable body. She swore as she was forced back again, General Hurricane grinning wide with her borrowed head. While Dash knew that she was faster than the good general, it didn’t mean anything so long as she was more maneuverable. “You can not win.” Hurricane pointed out, “I am a better fighter than you, trained to be a perfect weapon for the advancement of Equestria. You are an ignorant foal, shaking a hoof those who know better while you scrape and beg at the griffin’s talons.” “Hey! I don’t scrape and beg to anypony!” She shot back, puffing her chest out, “I’m loyal to my friends and Princess Celestia-” “Princess...Celestia?” Hurricane gaped, “You say that the immortal sun is a princess? And, you are somehow her representative?” “Well...no.” Dash frowned, “But she does rule Equestria and my loyalty is to her!” General Hurricane’s expression wasn’t so much one of disbelief, as a it was an expression questioning Dash’s very sanity; mouth agape, face scrunched up with one eye squinted and the other open as wide as it could go. “If you are loyal to Equestria, then why are you trying to stop my righteous-” An angry screech echoed through the air, Horst dropping from above. Grabbing the general by her horn with one talon, he jammed his revolver right into her side with the other and opened up. Hurricane roared in pain, the runic enhanced bullets tearing into her incorporeal form. “You will REMOVE yourself from my city!” Horst bellowed. Hurricane’s wings bent at right angles, stabbing backwards and up at Horst, one slicing into his right shoulder, the other digging into his left side. “I’ll carve you up.” She hissed back. “The hay you will!” Dash swooped in, slamming the Bell of Tambelon in between General Hurricane’s wings, as hard as she possibly could, “Like he said. Remove yourself from his city!” A discordant tone pealed out, echoing between the rooftops and streets of the city. A while glow sprung to life around the bell, flowing across the shadowy form of the general. “NOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo….” She screamed, her body fading away. The severed head dropped, Horst managing to grab its horn and stop the fall, wincing in pain from the wounded shoulder. “Scheisse!” He swore, rubbing at the wound with his good arm, “That hurt.” “That was insanely brave.” Dash smiled, “You’re my kind of griffin Horst.” “I am overjoyed to meet your lofty standards Frau Dash.” He shook his head, extending his good claw, “The bell please. I shall return it to Ragora. You will go home.” “Really? After I helped you out?” “That is why I am not arresting you.” He eyed her, “I am still convinced you were here for reasons other than a vacation.” “Fine, fine. But if you’re ever in my neck of the woods, feel free to pay me a visit. Ponyville’s a friendly place!” “Of course it is.” - - - - Two days later, Rainbow Dash sighed as she stared at the golden circle marked door before her. She stood there for quite a while, nervously shifting from hoof to hoof, before finally deciding to just go with it and push the door open. Much like last time, Princess Celestia was already there, sitting at the head of the massive circular table. A tray with a warm pot of tea and two cups rested on the table next to her. Smiling warmly as Rainbow took her seat, Princess Celestia bowed her head towards the pegasus. “I am glad to see that you’ve returned safe and sound Rainbow Dash. I am to understand that you helped Altenprow deal with a wraith?” Dash blinked. “You heard about that?” “Yes. The griffin ambassador was slightly concerned that I might declare war if you died in that battle.” “Eh heh hehe.” She laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her head, “Sorry about that princess.” “No apology necessary.” Celestia shook her head, pouring each of them a warm cup of tea, “What you did was very brave.” “It wasn’t that brave.” Dash pouted, tapping a hoof against the table, “It was my fault it was there. I didn’t listen to you and I landed in the Teutenborg.” “And I should have told you why landing there was a bad idea.” Celestia sighed, ruffling her wings, “My desire to protect you was...misplaced in this regard.” “Protect me?” “I am sure that Whitewings told you of the the first Confederation-Equestrian war from the griffin perspective?” “Oh yeah...how Queen Platinum wanted to unite all the ponies everywhere.” Celestia nodded, taking a sip of her tea. “The fact that some of Equestria’s founders had a rather reductive view of what harmony is something that I’ve never been pleased about. Especially since they have come to be viewed as heroes.” She bowed her head again. “I am sorry that you had to deal with the ghosts of the past Rainbow Dash. I should have taken greater steps to resolve the problem, but considering the historical context of how that war got started-” She trailed off. “No!” Dash interrupted, slamming her forehooves on the table, “Princess...you’ve done so much for us and for Equestria. Just because General Hurricane was actually some kind of monster…” “But she wasn’t.” Celestia smiled sadly, “When alive, she was misguided, but still an honorable warrior.” “What do you mean?” “The nature of being a wraith,” Celestia sighed, “Twists one’s thoughts and desires towards their worst incarnations.” She ruffled her wings, sighing a bit deeper this time, “Everything right and just about the pony in question is warped.” “Ahh.” Dash muttered, rubbing the back of her neck, “Well, if it’s alright with you princess, I’d like to head back to Ponyville now. Kind of...get over this.” “Of course.” Celestia nodded, “If there’s anything else you need, feel free to write me. One question before you go, however. How did things go with Gilda?” Rainbow Dash smiled. “I think she’s back on her talons. Before I left, she had her old fight back in her.” Celestia smiled back. “For that, I’m glad.”