Ghost Hunter Twilight

by Keywii_Cookies55

13 Imminent Death

It was getting late. A few businesses had closed and the young ponies that went to school had finished their day. The sun hadn't quite decided to set yet, but it was certainly considering the idea. Many of the folks of Partyville that weren't still working were either at home or on their way to their homes.

The streets were alive during the rush hour home, people wanted to unwind and eat after all: thoughts of eating leftovers while watching their favourite evening programs with their families inspired them to get home all the faster.

One mare, however, was missing out on that commute. Out in front of a sporting goods store stood a pegasus that looked equal parts tired and confused. She wore what passed for a detective’s hat, though it sat crooked on her head; she was clearly done with today.

The pegasus was looking around a lamp post at the edge of the sidewalk as she stood beside a young yellow Earth pony. The filly, for her part, looked disinterested as well, almost bored. She watched the adult pony sigh and turn to her.

"I'm sorry Applebloom, I can't find it anywhere."

Applebloom looked up at Rainbow Dash with sad eyes. "Please Rainbow Dash, I know I left it somewhere." In her head, Applebloom was completely sick of following Rainbow Dash around. She thought Pinkie was annoying, but wow did Rainbow Dash love to complain. Not only that but she never once stopped talking about her stupid books, even going as far as giving a synopsis of it for her as they looked around for the non-existent pendant.

If anything, it only cemented how much she wanted this idiot killed. If she couldn't do that though, the next best thing was have her taken away for the death of Pinkie Pie, deal with both of them at the same time. The Blocker and the fangirl taken out both in one strike, it was going to be poetic really. All it required was finishing the set up today, and tomorrow, letting all the pieces fall into place; a lot could go wrong, of course, but assuming Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle did their jobs, more could go right.

Rainbow Dash shook her head, having had enough searching for today. Which was fine, that was part of the plan. "I'm sorry," she apologized again. Applebloom made sure she looked really disappointed; appearances were nine tenths of a lie after all.

"But..." Applebloom meeped, trying to sound as small and sad as possible. "But I thought..." she then turned to look away, making sure attention was on her. It was common practice for more innocent children to not want to be seen when they start crying, which was the look she was going for.

If Rainbow Dash didn't make a move she'd start crying herself, Applebloom knew how to make her eyes water on command, and it'd make things go just right. That wasn't needed, however, because Dash walked towards the earth pony, a sympathetic look on her face. "Hey, we tried, okay, and if you want, we can try again tomorrow."

The sound of a mousetrap springing was like sweet music to Applebloom. She forced her eyes to begin to get glossy and turned to look directly at Rainbow Dash, making sure to look as excited as she could get. "Really?!" Applebloom practically shouted. "You'll really help me out tomorrow too?!"

The volume might have been a bit much, she was still tweaking the sound of her own voice, but it'd do; Rainbow Dash wasn't exactly a genius. "Sure," The pegasus agreed, looking relieved. "I'll be here after breakfast I guess. Nine o'clock, we can meet up and continue looking."

It was at that point that Applebloom thanked whatever gods existed that she wasn't some cartoon character or something. Any time people on television explained something in oddly-placed detail, that meant it was about to be subverted somehow. Luckily, she knew the adults here just happened to talk that way. She wrapped her front hooves around Rainbow Dash. "Thank you so much, Rainbow Dash, thank you for helping me look for my mom's pendant!"

Applebloom let go and backed away, genuinely happy that she didn't have to continue touching the mare. Hugs may be good for deception, but she valued her personal space. Dash smiled and nodded before walking away. "Good night Applebloom."

"Night Rainbow Dash, and thank you again!" And without another word, Applebloom turned away and walked in the opposite direction from the adult, ecstatic that she was done dealing with the idiot. Phase one of the plan was complete, thankfully, and that was a blessing in and of itself.

Seven. That was the time she agreed to meet back up with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo at the clubhouse. Lucky her, she was actually ahead of schedule. Applebloom looked around as she walked down the street, reading the names of the stores and shops as she debated what to do with her extra time.

"Food," she thought, not actually hungry, but wanting to eat anyway. "It's been forever since I've had shawarma."

It was an interesting day that Applebloom decided to eat meat for the first time. Normally she'd eat something spicy, but there was something about the smell coming from the nearby side street. She made a point to stay out of Partyville's Cattown, but she was doing something nearby and she smelled something she couldn't place.

She never thought she'd enjoy eating chicken, but after one bite, not even the weird aftertaste could make her dislike the satisfaction of eating something that used to be alive. Since that day she learned that all birds, when prepared by a carnivore, were amazing. Cows not so much, but that was fine. She even eventually stopped throwing up from her body rejecting the food, which was a plus.

As Applebloom was reminiscing over her past palate change she turned a corner around an electronics store. She was lost in thought, considering what to eat, so she almost missed who was standing in front of her, staring intensely down at her, waiting, angrily. Applebloom stopped and looked up at a scowl unlike any she'd seen. She was almost impressed by it, then she got a look at the mare giving it to her.

Twilight had spent the last hour and a half hunting down one young bow-wearing earth pony. The Lockout was really starting to get on her nerves: not only did no one talk to her, but they all actively discouraged each other from talking to her. She was on the verge of ripping every strand of hair out of her mane with her magic.

And to top it off, some Executioner was watching her and controlling her actions, which meant there was nothing she could do about all her frustration. Nothing except seek out some little shit that probably thought she was better than Twilight. Some grand manipulator that wanted to get rid of her? If Twilight wasn't so upset she'd probably laugh. Applebloom didn't know the first thing about manipulation.

She lived in Partyville, an outer district where nobody was violent, nobody carried knives, nobody made you recite their shitty poetry for their amusement. No, Applebloom didn't know the first thing about dealing with other people. And Twilight intended to teach her lesson number one: ‘Don't piss off a unicorn.’

And what a stroke of luck, Twilight found herself face to face with the little stain now.

Applebloom backed up, slightly confused as she stared up at Twilight. She then cursed internally "Fucking seriously?! Everything was going perfectly! That hunter was supposed to-" She thought.

Twilight didn't give her a chance to continue thinking though, as she grabbed Applebloom with her magic, lifting her off of the ground and bring her to eye level. "Big mistake, kid."

Applebloom was furious: her entire perfectly-organized plan was about to be unraveled because the best hunter in St. Orangeberg apparently couldn't get one loose end off her back. But despite her anger, she didn't let it show, not like this pen pal here. She made sure she looked scared, which is what the situation called for.

"Please don't hurt me!" Applebloom yelled, bringing her forelegs in front of her face. It was a surprise when the nearby adults didn't come to her rescue, they didn't even stop walking. "Hold on," Applebloom thought just before she was slammed against the wall of the store behind her.

"Hurt you?" Twilight asked, bringing herself inches in front of Applebloom, "I'm going to do so much more than hurt you."

Concern was beginning to race through Applebloom’s mind; sure the ponies here were stupid, but they weren't the type to ignore a filly under attack, she knew this first hand. Something was wrong. They were around her, and they looked at what was going on, but they weren't doing anything. "Please!" She yelled, trying again to catch the attention of the ponies nearby.

Twilight slammed her into the wall again. "And you can drop the act, I know exactly what you're doing you little shit. And you can't fool me."

Something wasn't adding up, and Applebloom was probably running low on time, plus being slammed against a brick wall wasn't exactly a painless experience. Why wasn't anyone stopping the clearly violent unicorn harming the filly? What was causing them to ignore the situation?

"You think you're smart, don't you?" Twilight asked, holding Applebloom against the wall as she herself backed up a step or two. "You think you have everything figured out, that you can do whatever you want behind everyone's backs just because they're idiots."

SLAM!

"Well let me tell you something you don't learn in the outer districts. There's always somebody smarter than you! ALWAYS! It doesn't matter what you do, how much you know, or what you think you can get away with. There's ALWAYS! SOMEBODY! SMARTER!"

Applebloom’s breathing came painfully; as it turned out, the wall was starting to hurt a lot. Twilight tossed her to the ground and stood over top of her, the setting sun behind her obscuring her face slightly, making her figure more imposing.

"And today that somebody is me. You want to kill me? You'll have to give it more than that." Twilight kicked Applebloom in the stomach. "I’m more of a threat than you are."

Twilight looked down at Applebloom with disdain. There was so much in her life she couldn't control; she wasn't safe, she wasn't happy, she wasn't comfortable, she wasn't even in control of when she could return to her own damn library. But in this bow-wearing excuse of a pony, and in this set of circumstances set up against her will, there was just enough of her own freedom to beat out her frustrations.

Twilight kicked again, but her hoof stopped dead in its tracks mere centimetres before hitting Applebloom in her face. Confused, she looked down at the Earth pony and saw something she didn't expect. There was a completely different expression.

Applebloom slowly looked up at Twilight with an expression as cold as ice. "You want me to drop my mask?" Twilight's eyes slowly opened and she stepped back. Applebloom began to rise from the ground, first to her hooves, then off them completely. The bruises that were starting to form faded away as Applebloom rose further into the air, hovering above Twilight.

The unicorn was shaking as she fell backwards on her flank. "No..." she whispered.

Air was shimmering off of Applebloom like heat off of a fire. "Fine, I'll show you who I really am." Her voice took on an echoey aspect, and she looked down on the scared Twilight. "And make you regret forcing my hoof."

Twilight was dead, that's what she knew. She could have attacked anyone at all and it would have been fine. But the one girl she angered had to be the Whisperer.

Author's Note:

Things get a touch brutal in this one as the train takes a steep turn at high speeds. But not to worry, it hasn't gone off the rails quite yet.

That's next chapter.

Comments

[Sunny O]

It was at that point that Applebloom thanked whatever gods existed that she wasn't some cartoon character or something.

Totally not a cartoon. :-|

But the one girl she angered had to be the Whisperer.

And here I thought she was just a normal filly (if you ignore her ponycidal tendencies at least). Though I wonder, was she always like that, or did she get possessed right at that moment? She really seemed to be a more or less ordinary kid all the while: at some point thinking that Sweetie was an imaginary friend, fearing the "moron flip" and all that. What happened was really unexpected.

I suspect that Pinkie Sense is the only thing that can save Twilight now.