Snow and Wind

by Princess OtakuGeek

CUTIEMARK CRUSADERS GHOST CATCHERS!!!

"I'm telling you we really did see a ghost!" Sweetie Belle said as her sister worked.

"Poppycock." Rarity stated as she levitated a bolt of cloth. "No offense meant to you and your friends, but ghosts don't exist. You must've seen something else."

Sweetie Belle's expression was deadpan with a little bit of frustration in her eyes. "We all saw it up close and clear as day, there is nothing else in the world that looks like a floating pony."

"And where exactly did you see this infamous 'ghost'?" Rarity asked. Suddenly Sweetie began to fidget uncomfortably.

"Oh...well...we, um saw it at...thecastleoftheroyalponysisters." She stuttered a bit before shooting out the last part at rapid-fire speed, hoping she wouldn't understand. Unfortunately, since Rarity was no stranger to rapid-fire speech (thanks to Pinkie Pie) she understood every word.

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Later that afternoon the Crusaders met at their clubhouse, and all three of them were a little upset that nopony believed them when they said they'd seen a ghost.

"So Applebloom, how'd your folks reacts when you told them about the ghost?" Scootaloo asked.

Applebloom pouted a little. "They didn't really believe me. Mah sister even suggested I might've seen some sorta albino owl or somethin' like that."

Sweetie Belle frowned a little. "Albino owls don't look like floating pony front halves with glowing eyes."

"Exactly my point!" Applebloom shouted. "Then Applejack asked me where I'd been and I had to tell her we'd gone to the old castle. She got really upset an scolded me somethin' fierce."

"Rarity scolded me too," Sweetie said. "She also didn't believe me when I told her about the ghost. Said it was 'poppycock', whatever that means."

"Aaugh!" Scootaloo exclaimed as she banged the table. "Why doesn't anypony believe us!? What we saw was a real, honest to goodness ghost! But nopony believes it!!" In the end, the pegasus filly's head dropped to the table with a groan of annoyance.

"Well, maybe we need some sort of proof." Sweetie Belle said in an effort to soothe her frustrated friend. "Like a picture. Or some ectoplasm. Or..."

"Or a ghost." Scootaloo finished as she raised her head with an adventurous smirk. Sweetie Belle didn't like that smirk, or where this was going.

"Uh...sure I guess." She said uneasily. Scootaloo rubbed her hooves together as her smirk became a bit more devious. Finally, she stood up and began to speak.

"Girls, get ready." She announced. "Cause tonight, we're going to catch a ghost."

"And this time, we're going ta have everthin' we need," Applebloom added with a similar smirk. The two Crusaders then turned to the third in their party. Sweetie Belle fidgeted a little before she sighed.

"Ah what the heck. Someone needs to make sure you guys don't get into too much trouble." She then stood up with a smirk of her own. The CMC then clapped their hooves together and the clubhouse and orchard rang with their 'war cry' to the world.

"CUTIEMARK CRUSADERS GHOST CATCHERS!! YAY!!!"

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That evening the CMC stood in front of the Castle of the Two Sisters once again. This time they had saddlebags packed with whatever they may need.

"Alrighty then, before we go in let's take stock of what we got," Applebloom said as she slipped her saddlebags off. The other Crusaders followed her example. "Ah've got a rope, in case we need it, a helmet, a camera, a compass, some bottles of cider and a sleeping bag."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "You still think a rope's going to be of any use on a ghost hunt?"

"There are other uses fer rope beside ghosts." Applebloom defended. "So what'd you bring anyways Scoots?"

Scootaloo shot her a proud smirk as she reached into her own bags. "Check this out." She said and with a flourish, she pulled out a small, hoof held vacuum. Needless to say, her friends weren't very impressed.

"Whatcha gonna do with that, fight dust bunnies?" Applebloom asked. Scootaloo frowned.

"Ha-ha, very funny." She said drily before holding up the vacuum once more. "Laugh all you want, but this baby is gonna be what catches that ghost! Just point this at it, press the button and boom! We snag the ghost."

"Is that all you brought, or are you relying on your 'amazing' vacuum cleaner?" Applebloom asked, still very unimpressed. Scootaloo's frown deepened.

"Gee, thanks for the confidence boost Bloom." She said a little sarcastically. "And no, it's not the only thing I packed. I did bring my sleeping bag, lots of jars for samples and ectoplasm, some snacks in case we get hungry and I couldn't get my hooves on a ghost detector, but I think we can make do. What about you Sweetie? What did you bring?"

"I didn't a lot of useful things like you guys." Sweetie Belle admitted. "Just some stuff I figured would be nice to have on hoof. I brought a net, but that probably won't be of much use. I've got my sleeping bag too and a few blankets just in case. But for the most part, I also brought lots of snacks and treats."

"What fer?" Applebloom asked. Sweetie Belle shot her a look.

"Because I'm a little bit of a nervous eater! And I'm about to trot into a haunted to look for a ghost, so I wanted to have some cookies on hoof!"

"Hey, don't worry Sweets," Scootaloo said as she slung her hoof across her friend's back. "If the ghost attacks us, you can be sure that I and my trusty vacuum will take care of it."

"Still don't think that vacuum cleaner will do much," Applebloom commented casually. Scootaloo shot a glare at her friend direction, only for the earthpony filly to shrug it off like it was nothing. Scootaloo frowned at her friend for a moment longer before stepping forward.

"So what are we waiting for?" She asked her friends with a daring grin. "Let's get hunting!"

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The old castle hadn't changed since yesterday. It was still big, dark and creepy enough that it sent chills down the Crusader's spines. Even so, Scootaloo puffed her chest out and took the lead. For the most part, their walk through the castle was uneventful and when the reached the exact spot where they'd last seen the ghost, the tension raised to palpable levels. Then Applebloom stiffened when she stepped in something wet.

"Uh...Scoots?" She said tensely. "Ah think Ah may have found some of that ectoplasm."

Scootaloo whipped around to face her friend. "Really?! Where?"

"Beneath Mah hoof." Applebloom deadpanned. Scootaloo rushed forward to see, only to wilt in disappointment when she got a good look at what her friend was standing in.

"That isn't ectoplasm." She said. "It's just water." Applebloom released a small sigh and lifted her hoof. Sure enough, there was a small puddle of water beneath it. And it wasn't alone. In the light of the moonlight, she could see that there were other small puddles scattered around.

"Huh, guess some water got in," Applebloom said off hoofed.

"I guess so, but doesn't it look weird?" Sweetie Belle said as she walked up to look at the mess.

"Weird how?" Scootaloo asked, having gotten over her disappointment and rejoined her friends.

"Well, how did it get here?" Sweetie asked.

"Uh, rain?" Scoots suggested.

"But then wouldn't everywhere else be wet?" Sweetie asked. "Instead it's just this spot."

"Yer right!" Applebloom said. "Everywhere else, 'cept here, is dry as a desert. And now that I'm looking at it, it reminds me of our entryway during a rainstorm after somepony shook themselves off."

"Yeah, I was just thinking that too." Sweetie agreed.

"So somepony shook themselves off here," Scootaloo said.

"Or something." Sweetie Belle added with a small amount of trepidation. "Like a ghost."

"Why would a ghost need ta shake themselves off?" Applebloom asked. "Their ghosts!"

"I don't know, but I suddenly feel like we're being watched," Sweetie answered. Suddenly every shadow seemed to hold something that was watching the three fillies. After a moment of looking all around the room, Applebloom made a suggestion.

"M-maybe we should get movin'?" The others quickly nodded agreement and they hurried on. None of them noticed the figure watching them from a half-broken rafter before floating behind the retreating trio.

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For while longer as they explored, nothing else happened and the CMC began to relax somewhat. After some time, they thought to take a break and eat a bit. Applebloom pulled out her cider while Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo pulled out their snacks though Sweetie Belle had brought more snacks than Scoots had.

"Okay, I brought chips, crackers, some cookies and water bottles." Scootaloo announced as she dumped it all on their 'picnic blanket'.

Sweetie Belle also dumped her snacks out onto the blanket. "I brought some chips, celery stalks, apples, cookies, snack cakes, cheese and crackers, carrots, blueberries raspberries, and strawberries."

Applebloom whistled impressed. "Wow Sweets. When ya pack snacks, ya pack snacks."

Sweetie Belle blushed. "Um, thanks. Shall we dig in?" She offered. Food has a way of easing fears and tensions, so it was no surprise the CMC found themselves relaxing as they enjoyed their food. The moment however disappeared when Sweetie Belle noticed a detail.

"Hey, did either of you take an extra apple?" She asked having noticed the number of absent apples didn't match up with how many had been taken.

The other two fillies looked at each other and shrugged. "Not me," Applebloom said.

"Me neither," Scootaloo added.

A chill ran down Sweetie Belle's spine. "Sooo, if I didn't take an extra apple..." She spoke slowly as the implications of what was going on slowly sank in for the other two. "...and I know I didn't take an extra apple, then who-" she never got to finish her sentence as a sudden cold breeze halted her thoughts dead in their tracks and they all turned their gaze upwards at the ethereal form just above them.

Now that they weren't screaming and running for their lives, the CMC was able to look at the ghost in better detail. It still looked like the from half of a pony with a body of blue on white mist that swirled and churning through its mane was a mix of pink and yellow that flowed up and back and its eyes were orbs of bright white light. For a moment they stared at the ghost while it stared at them. It was Scootaloo who made the first move.

"Alright! Now we can see just what this baby can do!" Scoots cried out as she pulled out the hoof held vacuum. The ghost cocked its head curiously as Scootaloo took aim, pushed the on the button and stood there as...nothing happened at all.

"Uh, Scoots?" Applebloom started with some panic edging its way into her voice. "Isn't something supposed to, oh I don't know, HAPPEN!?!"

Applebloom's shout kicked Scootaloo out of her stunned silence and she began frantically pushing buttons, hoping one of them would do something. Almost none of them did, except for the blow setting which blew the specter back half an inch before the battery died. With the vacuum cleaner dead, the three fillies froze as the ghost surged towards them...and flew past them, grabbed a snack Cake and flew up towards the rafters where they could see due to the darkness and distance. The Crusaders sat there frozen for a moment longer then they exploded into activity.

"What the heck Scoots!?" Applebloom shouted. "You said that the vacuum would snag the ghost but unless I miss my guess it didn't do anything!!!"

"I'm just as surprised as you are!!" Scootaloo retorted. "I really expected that to work! And anyway, you never really believed in my vacuum if memory serves!"

"Girls! What did we agree on about arguing?" Sweetie Belle said sternly like a scolding mother. The other two fillies automatically bowed their heads.

"Our talent and cutiemarks aren't arguing." They said simultaneously.

"Exactly. So there's no point in trying for our arguing cutiemarks." Sweetie Belle said with a smile before a thoughtful look came over her face. "Besides, we have another puzzle to figure out besides why Scootaloo's vacuum failed. Like why the ghost is taking food."

"Huh?" They both said simultaneously and Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes.

"The apple and the snack cake just now. The one thing those items have in common is that they're all food items." Sweetie explained. "And what would a ghost want with food items?"

"Maybe it's hungry," Scootaloo suggested. Applebloom shot her a look.

"Ghosts are dead ponies, they can't get hungry or eat food." Applebloom pointed out. Sweetie Belle's eyes widened.

"If ghosts can't get hungry, then maybe we aren't dealing with a ghost." She figured. The other two looked at her like she was nuts.

"Uh Sweets, didn't you see that thing?" Scootaloo asked incredulously. "What else could it be besides a ghost?"

Sweetie Belle didn't answer. Instead, she grabbed the closest food item she could, a bag of blueberries, and trotted in the direction the ghost had flown. She then wrapped the blueberries in her magic and held it out as far and as high as she could.

"Um, hey! Are you hungry?" She called out and she suddenly got the feeling that there was a third pair of eyes on her. She just shrugged it off and continued. "We've got plenty of snacks here if you want some. Just come on out and we can talk."

There was a moment of silence and the CMC swore they felt a gust of wind blow past. Then they saw the ghost's head peek out over what Sweetie guessed was a rafter. It stared down right at her for a moment before floating down and stopping a few feet in front of her. Then the 'ghost' began to change. It's body shifted from a blue on white mist to a blue on a white body, its back half reformed as well, its mane solidified and its eyes went from orbs of white light to almost normal yellow and pink eyes. The end result was a somewhat lithe filly that looked a couple years older than them.

"If you're sure that it's okay." She said shyly with a slight look of longing in her eyes. Her friends just stood there gawking, but Sweetie Belle just smiled and offered the filly the blueberries.

"Of course I'm sure." She said kindly. The filly uttered a "thank you" before grabbing the blueberries out of the air and eating hungrily.

As she practically scarfed the berries down, the CMC took this opportunity to look her over. She definitely looked like a pony, but there were key differences that made it obvious that this filly was a subspecies they'd never seen before. She was taller and lither than any filly or colt they'd seen before, but she still looked like she was within their age range. Her coat was white with swirls of blue running through it, something they'd NEVER seen before, and it was thick so that it gave the filly a fluffy look. Her fetlock was feathered and had a long tuft of fur that jutted behind and just above her hooves, which were a spring green rather than blending in with her coat like every other pony. Her tail was much like Zecora's, only the part without the tail hairs was longer but not so long that it was like a lion. And her mane and tail, which were short and curled, were also pink and yellow. The last two details they noticed was the cutiemark displayed on her flanks, a trio of pink flowers with yellow centers that were blowing in a wind, and her eyes.

When the filly finished her snack and looked up at them, the Crusaders were dumbstruck by her eyes. Unlike other ponies eyes, this filly's eyes were both pink and yellow that swirled and shifted as she stared at them. It was almost hypnotizing to the point that they almost missed what she'd said.

"Sooo...I'm Flower Dance. Nice to meet you." She introduced herself.

Since the other two Crusaders were too dumbstruck to speak, Sweetie Belle took the lead in introductions. "Nice to meet you too Flower Dance. My name is Sweetie Belle and these are my friends Applebloom and Scootaloo. So would you like to come sit with us?"

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Applebloom and Scootaloo were slightly wary of Flower Dance at first, but since she hadn't actually done anything to earn their ire, aside from scaring the crap out of them, it wasn't long before their curiosity won out and they began to barrage her with questions.

"How didja do that?" Applebloom asked. "Ah mean, how'd ya turn yerself inta mist the back again? Is it some sorta spell of somethin' like that?"

"And where'd you come from?" Scootaloo jumped in. "I haven't seen you around here before. In fact, I haven't seen anypony that looks like you before."

Flower Dance, however, didn't answer their questions as she was too busy eating snacks like a hungry pony which could possibly be true. In the end, Sweetie Belle stepped in.

"Hey, calm down girls and give her some space." She said. "Can't you see she's hungry?"

"Ah, that's right. Where are my manners?" Applebloom berated herself. "Granny Smith taught me better than that. Names Applebloom, but you already knew that. Anyways, nice to meet you an' sorry 'bout Mah manners."

"It's nice to meet you too Applebloom." Flower Dance said with a smile. "And don't worry about the questioning thing. It's all good."

"So where'd you come from?" Scootaloo asked again.

"Scoots!!" Sweetie cried out but before she could say any more, Flower Dance held up a hoof.

"No, it's alright Sweetie Belle." She said calmly. "I don't mind answering questions now that I have some food in my belly. And to answer your question Scootaloo, I come from a place very very far from here. Have any of you heard of the Crystal Empire?"

"Sure we have," Applebloom answered. "Mah sister, Sweetie's sister and Scoots sister figure all went there and they told us all about it. Why?"

"My home resides in the Northern Mountains, just beyond the Crystal Empire." Flower Dance explained. It didn't take very long for the Crusaders to do the math in their heads.

Applebloom whistled. "Then Y'all are a long ways away from home. Ah didn't think ponies lived that far north. So how'd ya do that with her body? We were so certain you were a bona fide ghost! Is it so sort of spell?"

Flower Dance suddenly looked very uncomfortable and began to fidget as she looked down at her hooves. "Um...no it's not a spell. It's just something my kind can naturally do."

"Your/yer kind?" All three fillies asked with cocked heads. Flower Dance got even more uncomfortable.

"Y-yeah. You see......I'm a windigo."

Author's Note:

Yay! Now the plot can kick in! Hope you liked this chapter! Please comment.

Comments

[Pixel_Spark]

I can't stop humming the ghostbusters theme....