Ghost Squad

by Sollace

Epilogue

Ponyville was in shambles. Half the buildings were in ruin whilst the rest either billowed smoke or let off agonising groans as they burned to the ground. Stallions and mares criss-crossed the narrow streets, hurrying to put up scaffolding to begin the reconstruction effort whilst others simply lay by the wayside, either shovelling green slime and molten bats from the gutter, or to tend to their wounds.

Our hero looked over this from her position at the head of the street, her mouth agape as she stared. “Land sakes...” Applejack mouthed. She eyes the ponies—Carrot Top, still tending to a fainted Roseluck, and blue mare who appeared to have had a bite taken out of her mane. “... What in the hay happened here?”

She slowly started down the street, limping as she hauled the cast-iron ball—a little ‘’ from her adventure—behind her. As she trotted further into the town square, more of the destruction revealed itself to her.

Broken fences, fainted Flower Mares, Mayor Mare with a nervous tick—who had a nervous tick—all covered in a thin splattering of translucent green slime. The Castle of Friendship itself was nothing more than a broken stump. Shattered gems and broken pillars lay around it base in giant heaps, interspersed by the occasional scaffold as pegasi carefully flew the pieces up to the top. A heavy banner hung over the entrance with a scrawling of hoof-written letters.

AJ paused. She looked up at the sign and squinted. Then, shaking her head, she trotted up the stairs and pushed the door inwards.

DING

A sound chimed over the entrance way, and almost all at once Applejack found herself bombarded with a commotion of ringing bells, fluttering papers, and slamming diallers. “Ghost Squad, please hold—“ DING Ditzy’s wobbly voice was cut by the rigging and buzzing of several phone calls as she rushed to answer each one in turn. “Ghost squad, please hold—Ghost squad, please hold—Oh, hi, Applejack!” Ditzy waved from her position behind the receptionist’s desk, slinging droplets of herself all over the hardly organised mess around her. Papers fluttered to the floor as she spun back around to resume her duties... “Ghost squad, yes—Oh, right. Thick base, hold the mayo, and can you add extra...”

Ditzy reclined in her chair. With the received gently tucked in her chin, the slime pony began twiddling with the cord between her... Her... Applejack’s eyes crossed as she tried to think of the word. Her... w-whatever those things she were using for hooves.

“Aaa—uh—” Applejack worked her mouth for a moment. She smacked her lips, and tore her gaze away from the strange way that Ditzy seemed to be slipping down the chair. “I um—” The floor suddenly became very interesting to her. And, in all honestly, it was. Especially how—oh Celestia I’m standing in her, aren’t I?”

“Sorry about the mess, AJ,” Ditzy piped up apologetically. Applejack glanced in time to see Ditzy look to her with a quirked smile. “I can’t help it. It just... happens in hot weather.”

“Ah. ... Right.” Applejack nodded. She took a look over the reception-turned-office, taking in the haphazard way it had been thrown together. Shelves of equipment and papers lined the walls with heavy machinery humming away in the corners. Papers and filing cabinets filled the central area around Ditzy’s desk, leaving only a small space for ponies to actually walk. And then, back to Ditzy’s desk itself, the mare seemed to be slumped happily behind the counter, busily answering phone calls at her over-sized operator deck. “So, like”—she approached the desk, leaning with a fetlock over the corner. “Have ya seen—“

“AJ!”

She was taken off guard by a mare’s shout, followed by a blur of pink as an unknown pegasus grabbed her into a rough sideways hug. “Uh—wha—” Applejack did a double-take, then immediately gagged as the air was squeezed out of her lung. “R-Rainbow!?” She glanced over the mare, spotting, somewhere under the layer of pink and gauze—indeed somepony that seemed to resemble her best friend.

“Oh, yeah”—Rainbow pulled away, releasing her friend with a sheepish smirk. “S-sorry. Too excited ya know?” She blushed.

Applejack felt a smile crack and she couldn’t help but to hide a snicker. “Aw shucks,” she said, “It ain’t nothin’, really.” She pulled Rainbow it a softer hug. “I’m glad t’ see ya, too.” She patted Dash’s back, then pulled away, leaving her hoof on Dash’s shoulders as she shook her head, laughing. “And you won’t believe the night I’ve just had!”

“Oh...” It was Rainbow’s turn to laugh. “I don’t know about that, AJ. We—”

“Ahem.” A mare’s cough caught their attention and both mares turned to see Ditzy leaning between the two, the phone received held between her hooves. She had the speaking end covered with her hoof as she whispered to each of them in a hushed, albeit urgent tone. “Girls, I think you should listen to this.”

Applejack and Dash shared a glance. Ditzy didn’t wait for their response. She turned back to the phone and quickly spoke to the pony on the other end in her sweetest tone. “Hello? Hi.” She swivelled in her seat and her eyes darted to Dash as she spoke. “I didn’t quite catch that. Can you please repeat what you just said?”

Silence fell, and there was a moment of pause as Ditzy listened to the other end.

She nodded—“Mhm”—and pulled the receiver from her ear, quickly squeaking out. “Okay, scream demonically into the receiver now,” she said.

Almost instantly the phone seemed to go through some kind of unholy transformation. The holes in the speaker glowed a burning fire red as the room was filled by a echoing deep voice, enchanting some unknown tongue. The phone itself seemed to melt and morph as thrashed like a rabid dog.

Applejack’s jaw dropped.

Rainbow’s did too.

They both gulped, and the latter quickly recovered. “... Is that...?”

“Saddle up, girls!” A third voice entered the room, and both mares whipped around in time to see Twilight trot through the back door. She was bandaged heavily from the waist down, and sporting a fresh new green overall-the perfect match the heavy, beaten and battered, metallic pack weighing down on her back. She levitated a pair of black shades to cover her eyes, and she looked to Rainbow with a confident smirk.

“We got us a code 3. It’s a sequel-type emergency on our hooves.”

Comments

[fluttershyfan3030]

Great story. Love the sequel baiting in that last line very self aware

[Sollace]

9264428
Thanks! And you'd better bet there's going to be a sequen in some form or other. This story's been too much fun to just leave it here.

[fluttershyfan3030]

9265302
Cool feel like adding a 4th or 5th member to you ghost squad if so how about you use my O.C. Twisted Dreams she's a pegasus born to a thestral father and pegasus mother. She looks like a light blue pegasus with light pink mane and tail with a dark bue streak runing through them. She has thestral eyes and has prophetic dreams. Her cutie mark is that of a wolf dreaming under a full moon. If you want to use her that is.

[Sollace]

9265414
Sorry, I already know what I want to do, and I don't want to add OCs to my fics.

[fluttershyfan3030]

9265607
No prob. I look forward to what happens