A Ghost of a Chance

by Epsilon-Delta

8. Ghost get

Zest couldn’t feel cold, but she could see it.

As the group neared the hungering nexus, the world became coated in ice. The grass along the ground became encased with it, taking on the appearance of so many tiny, sharp icicles along the ground. The trees too took on a frozen skin, transforming them into crude ice sculptures of themselves.

Though ice had no scent to it, Zest had one way of knowing just how cold it was. Practicing her ice magic had given her the ability to approximate the temperature of ice based on its hardness. She made a small blade with her own ice and scratched it against the tree as she passed.

Hers put a scratch in the other, but not without effort. If it was that cold, a living pony wouldn’t last long so close to the center.

Meanwhile, the mist grew only thicker. Soon, the ghosts found themselves trapped in a total white-out. Zest could no longer see the frozen grass when she looked down. That was two of her most important senses gone. Zest could rely only on hearing and aura sensing now.

“It’s like the middle of the day.” Zest complained under her breath. “I can’t see anything.”

There they were at last!

The target came to them, slowly but unrelentingly.

Through the white, Zest could clearly see the center– a ball of thick chains squeezing down on some unseen force that pushed back, causing them to rattle. Though mostly black, parts of the chains glowed dimly red, as though they were glowing hot but covered in a layer of thick ashes.

Most worryingly, Zest could feel the chains drenched in aura. Even with no warning, she knew she’d guess this to be a thing of pure evil. It seethed with malice unlike what she felt from even a wild wraith.

The single-minded hatred that consumed Sparky before Zest met him felt more natural, was a familiar sort of anger. But this felt otherworldly and wrong. Zest felt like an insect being forced to deal with the emotions of a pony.

Zest didn’t even recoil in fear. She merely gapped at the chains and their ill strangeness.

“Is it always like this?” Zest couldn’t possibly imagine the horror of being trapped in such a prison.

“Not for high ghosts,” said Sugarcoat. “This was made with a specific task. But you feel how strong they are, don’t you? You can’t reach its inner aura at all.”

Her aura never got blocked by a physical object before, but these chains? It felt as though she were blowing against a brick wall.

“So there’s a way to get out of there?” Zest hoped it to be the case.

“Sadly, the only easy option is death.” Sugarcoat extended her hoof in its direction. “Though in this instance, we’ll be forgiven. I believe if I destroy the correct one, the rest will come pouring out. Do you know how many are in there?”

“Not a clue.” Indigo shrugged. “But I’ll tell you they’re gonna come after me as soon as you get them out. The urge to kill me has been filling them for weeks now.”

Suddenly Zest recalled a ball of daddy long legs she’d once poked as a filly. All of them scurrying out of there at once– it made her shudder even now. At least these things didn’t have spindly legs. Though apparently, they could bite you.

“The two of you head south, away from civilization. If there’s too many for me to destroy all at once, they’ll head towards you,” said Sugarcoat. “If there’s more than two or three, I’d advise against you trying to fight them, Zest.”

Sugarcoat gestured for them to flee and they did. The specter remained behind, ready to face the worst of it alone.

They flew a good distance away, until Sugarcoat and the monster were out of sight. They only stopped when Indigo warned they were getting too close to the predeads.

So they turned back north and waited. Everything was too calm. They stood side by side in silence as they waited for something to happen.

Zest looked over at Indigo, who kept her eyes trained in the direction of their target.

In the end, Zest could only frown awkwardly, unsure of what to say. This was a terrible time to start a fight so she decided to just keep her mouth shut and embrace the awkwardness.

Without warning, a vicious wind tore through the woods. Zest braced for impact as what looked like a solid wall of mist came over them like a rockslide, only for it to harmlessly go through her.

The plants fared less well. Sticks, rocks, and shrubs were uprooted and thrown past and through Zest as they froze in midair. She turned to find Indigo facing the gust with indifference.

The fog had cleared out considerably once it’d rolled over. Zest could see more clearly now. It looked like a hurricane and then a blizzard had rolled through the area. Large branches dislodged and smaller plants were uprooted left and right. One or two of the smaller pines even fell from the force.

She wasn’t entirely sure where the snow had come from, maybe the moisture from the mist collapsed into it, but now a few inches of filthy snow covered the ground. The debris from the harsh gale left sticks and rocks poking out of the stained snow, reminiscent of the snowbanks that overstayed their welcome into late spring.

“That was more than I was expecting.” Zest blinked.

“Ah, crow!” Indigo pulled back. “I hope that didn’t draw any predead’s attention!”

“The predeads? What about Sugarcoat?!” Zest pointed to the center. “She was at the center of it all!”

“Does she feel hurt?”

Indigo had a point. Zest could hear trees falling and ice crashing in the distance, but she felt no sense of pain in Sugarcoat’s aura. Most likely, her boss was slaughtering them en masse with giant ice blasts and stuff!

So was that it? Zest didn’t even have to do anything this time?

She squinted and moved forward, hoping to get a glimpse of what was happening down there. Indigo was quick to grab her withers and pull her back.

Though it looked like an aftershock of fog was rolling in at them from all directions, Zest could feel each individual hungering mist now. She looked left and right, trying to count them but giving up after about thirty.

How common were these things? Zest had never once seen one before and now this?

Well they were just lesser ghosts, right? Her aura was strong enough to overpower them, she was sure!

She tried asserting her will onto one of them, the same way she did an orb, to tell them to sit still. When she did, she got that same feeling of planting her hoof onto a frying pan.

The hunger and will to kill Indigo was so strong! Breaking through it felt like trying to lift a mountain. Zest doubted she could make it budge no matter how hard she tried.

Worse, it was some blighted and burning mountain that sent a wave of sickness and pain through Zest the moment she tried to touch it. She had to pull back immediately, shuddering and feeling as though she might barf up ectoplasm or whatever was down there.

“That’s not gonna work,” Indigo warned. “The will of that bitch has been flooding into them for too long.”

And this wasn’t even directly from their enemy. Could she seriously be that strong?!

“What?!” Zest turned to her, eyes widening with horror. “So even if you get out, you’re still trapped?”

“It’d fade away in a few days, but we don’t have that long.” Indigo watched as they came ever closer. “Alright, I think it’s time we start running.”

Indigo flicked her muzzle in the right direction. They pulled back south for several meters. The mist wasn’t smart enough for basic pack-tactics. Instead of surrounding them, each one merely moved in a straight line from itself to Indigo.

All they needed to do was circle around that initial claw and most of the danger was gone.

Even then, Zest only realized how badly she’d underestimated the size of this horde once she got around the initial wave. Mists had been thrown off in every direction.

Their turn became increasingly wide. Soon, Zest saw mist in every direction save the outskirt of a town – its light visible in the distance. Going into a predead town was a bad idea but…

At last, Zest came close enough to see the center of one of these things. Really, they looked more like they’d be better classified as orbs than anything else. They had a semi-clear center to them – a ball of ethereal matter around which a strong wind blew, carrying the mists in a circle.

If she didn’t want to collide with one, she’d have to go to the outskirts of whatever town that was. It wouldn’t be so bad. She’d snuck into them at night before…

“Not too close to town!” Indigo rammed Zest from the side to force her closer to the center just as she veered off.

“But we’re going to run into one!” Zest looked in every direction. If they didn’t veer off into a town, there was nowhere else to go.

“Just smack it!” Indigo yelled.

Zest turned; forelegs covered in ice.

Zest charged forward. Coming close, she could feel the pain of the thing trying to dissolve her. A slight burning ran across her as though her hairs were being burnt off at the end. But she could endure it!

She slammed both blades into it. They lodged themselves inside the mist, sending it flying off to the side. The blades stayed inside, and the winds raged out of control, but Zest didn’t stick around to see if it exploded or what.

“There ya go!” Indigo cheered.

“Heh!” Zest smiled just a little.

The victory was short lived. Now five of those blocked their path.

“Okay, I can’t take this many!” Zest warned.

“Come on!” Indigo grabbed onto Zest.

Zest felt as though Indigo had pulled her underwater just then. The air grew so thick she could barely move. She could see Indigo pressing forward with a great deal of effort.

It seemed like a different world, with the colors and shadows distorted so that everything appeared to warble. It made Zest wonder if they really were submerged in water. Everything around them moved so slowly, but then so too did they. What was the point of doing this?

Then whatever magic Indigo used ended and suddenly they were meters ahead of where they’d been, on the other side of the blockade.

Zest turned back around to try and look at where she’d been a moment before.

“What was that?!” Zest asked.

“It’s cloaking! You’ve seen me do it before.” Indigo grabbed Zest and pulled her forward to remind her to keep moving.

“Okay, but I still have no idea what just happened.” Zest resumed her retreat.

“Well you’ll have to wait until later.”

“Why haven’t we been doing that this whole time?” Zest asked.

“Because I’m exhausted,” said Indigo. “I can only do that so much without passing out.”

“Yeah, how long do we have to keep this up again?” Zest lowered her head and looked around. There was no end to this.

A crash resounded behind them and a pillar of ice as tall as the trees shot up from underground. Several of the nexuses burst into gusts of wind as Sugarcoat came up from underground.

The specter sent a wave of her aura at them, forcing all the mists to disperse back in the other direction, then wound up for another attack.

“Heck yeah!” Indigo pumped her hoof in Sugarcoat’s direction. Zest too got caught up and cheered.

“Keep going,” Sugarcoat said before charging in at them a second time.

Perhaps she did cut off half of them, but there were still plenty to give chase.

They began a second loop around the center point of the woods. This time there were noticeably fewer mists coming to kill them and they were all in a much more orderly, straightened line. However, there was still no time to relax.

The chain behind them was no threat, but they had to watch out for the strays that got in their way.

Soon they were coming up on another one.

“Try stabbing it!” Indigo mimed poking it from both sides herself. “I’m gonna take us close.”

Zest nodded and formed spikes of ice around either hoof. Indigo pulled them back into that thick air. Then they reappeared a moment later less than a meter from the mist in their way.

This time, Zest was ready. The second they popped out; she stabbed her blades into either side of it. This time it actually burst into a rush of air, completely destroyed. She felt

“Ha!” Indigo slapped her on the back, then they were off again. “See? You’re getting it, worm!”

Zest didn’t even mind being called 'worm'. That time, it felt more affectionate.

They got back to the northernmost part of their loop, where Sugarcoat took another huge chunk of the mob off their backs.

They kept going around in circles like that, each loop becoming easier than the last. Before long, Zest felt more like she was out running a few snowballs than an avalanche. Any time a stray mist got in their way; Zest would effortlessly destroy it herself.

“She keeps on spinning me round and round in circles,” Zest started to sing the first song about circles that came to her head as they made their fifth pass. Not many remained by now.

“Hey. Kinda like this one.” Indigo bobbed her head left and right as Zest sang. “Or maybe I’m just delirious from exhaustion.”

“Yeah! This is kinda fun now!”

Zest had enough time to take pot-shots at whatever remaining ghosts they passed. She took the opportunity to help thin their numbers off with the occasional ice blade. Indigo cheered every time she took one out.

The mist at the center still burned her, but the small bits of her that dissolved from it reformed within a minute. At this point, the pain only seemed to serve to get her more pumped. Though now she wondered if ghosts even had something like adrenaline.

“Bam!” Indigo cocked her hoof at it as it exploded. “Another one!”

“I bet we could take out the rest of them by ourselves at this point!” Zest laughed.

“I know!” Indigo chuckled. “Those Crater Cemetery dorks just ended up wasting all these hungering mists to do nothing.”

“Yeah, they probably spent months setting this whole elaborate thing, and then we just smash it in a half-hour!”

The two of them laughed and laughed at how stupid their enemies were!

How many were even left? About fifteen were Zest’s estimate and that felt like a tiny fraction from before. There must have been hundreds at first!

“No, no! Not too close to any towns!” Indigo pulled her circle dangerously close to the hungering mists.

Zest swung two ice blades into a hungering mist that came too close. It managed to send a sharp pain through her side before getting blown back.

That clump was still too big, so she merely charged forward to keep up with Indigo.

“We don’t wanna get too close to these things, either!” Zest warned.

“Yeah. But there’s another reason I can’t lead it into a living city,” Indigo warned. “I haven’t eaten any body heat in over a week. I might lose control if I…”

Suddenly Indigo slowed and she turned her head off to one side. Her moth hung slightly agape and Zest saw the slightest bit of droll.

“Oh no!” Indigo swallowed and looked out into the woods. “Do you smell that?!”

It was the one thing you couldn’t avoid smelling. With each breath, Zest took in the scent of living ponies.

It was a whole herd of at least twenty of them, far away but approaching, armed with lanterns and who knew what else. It seemed all this commotion got the attention of some watch after all.

“You gotta get rid of those ponies right now!” Indigo pointed in their direction.

“Uh.” Zest stopped her forward momentum. “How?”

Zest blinked, worried by the look on Indigo’s face. Ghosts rarely actually drooled ectoplasm, but they drooled a lot when they did. Zest could see the streaks of green running down Indigo’s mouth.

Worse was the sense of rabid hunger radiation off Indigo. So intense was it that, Indigo forgot about the mists rushing in to try and eat her.

“Hey, maybe we should–” Zest gestured away from the predeads, but it was too late.

Indigo started towards them!

“You gotta fight it!” Zest grabbed Indigo and shook her as the mists came closer.

Maybe that was the wrong move. As soon as she did, Indigo began to struggle to break out of her grip.

The mist started closing in on them, but Zest couldn’t get away from her current spot!

There was no time! Zest held Indigo tight and started pulling her away from the predeads, inch by inch. But now the mist had caught up with them. There were still enough to blur her vision when they all came close like this.

She pulsed her aura, trying to push them away. It was too little. Zest wasn’t strong enough to keep them all away with that alone.

Zest felt the mists beginning to burn her and the heat got worse and worse. Yet with Indigo in her grasp and fighting against her, Zest could hardly outfly them.

She could let go of Indigo and let those idiots die or get eaten herself. No good choices today.

A pillar of ice shot through the ground, then a telekinetic blast scattered the mists into every direction.

“What are you two doing?” Sugarcoat looked down at them through her muzzle.

“She’s, uh–!”

Sugarcoat didn’t need an explanation and cut her off. She went straight to trying to get Indigo back to her senses with her aura.

Zest had never seen Sugarcoat struggle to keep a ghost under control before. It took significant effort, but eventually the change took hold. Indigo stopped shaking and starred off as though deeply surprised by something.

Then she buried her face in Indigo’s chest, clutching to her like a scared foal.

“I’ll chase them away,” said Sugarcoat. “Try to keep her under control. This won’t last long.”

Then she left.

Zest looked down at Indigo, still clinging to her. She started flying the two of them up and away from the predeads, hoping this would be resolved soon.

Zest felt ripples of fear moving over Sugarcoat’s aura moments later. They weren’t directed at her so Zest didn’t feel the impact, but whoever did get hit by that would be reduced to a quivering pile for a short moment.

But who was it directed at?

She remembered hearing rumors that Specters and other powerful ghosts could induce fear in predeads, that they kept living ponies away from their lairs with this effect. In her current state of mind, she only really had the association of auras working on other ghosts.

Was that ability also an aura manipulation technique that only strong ghosts could do? Or was it something else?

Zest sniffed to try and confirm her theory. Dang it if the predeads didn’t smell tasty to her as well! But she could tell most of them broke rank and retreated back to town already. Only two still soldiered on. One of them must have been a pegasus who chose to rush ahead, they were moving too fast!

Then she felt a buck.

Indigo let out a howl and clawed her hoof in the direction of the charging predead. Her mouth hung down and one eye opened wider than the others. Zest felt like she was holding a zombie back from a box of donuts.

Would Zest get like this if she didn’t eat animals often enough? She didn’t want to think about stuff like that right now!

Her own retreat ended, allowing the mists to catch up again.

Zest looked around, unsure of where to go. Underground would do nothing because they were ghosts too! She’d have to try and fight them off.

Encasing her foreleg in ice proved to be a mistake. Indigo grunted and slipped away as she tried to form an axe!

Then the phantom wrapped herself in shadows, this time without Zest at her side. The blackness shot along the ground, then Indigo was far ahead of her already! She continued to rush forward.

“At least she’s out of the way of the mist now!” Zest grunted to herself and gave chase.

Zest tried reaching out with her aura to make Indigo come back or become scared or anything, really. But she couldn’t reach her. It was like talking to a maniac. Whatever sense she had left for Sugarcoat to work with before was gone at this point.

She wasn’t fast enough to reach Indigo in time either!

Another pulse of fear moved through the aura, this time it was directed at the advancing predead, who stopped where they were.

But Indigo was within sight of them now! An orange pegasus sat stunned just meters away, easily seen in the darkness. She didn’t seem to notice the ghosts, though, her vision too poor when it was this dark.

Indigo had to be stopped right now!

Zest created a small block of ice and hurled it forward. It hit Indigo’s rear leg, forcing her to stop momentarily. That was all Zest needed to get ahead of her, but it wasn’t enough.

In a panic, Zest pulled back, encased her hoof in ice, and punched Indigo as hard in the face as she could.

It did more damage than she’d meant to. Indigo went spinning out of control in the opposite direction. A chunk of her head vanished, though thankfully reformed a moment later.

She turned back to the predead – now retreating even faster than they’d approached, then back at Indigo. The phantom sat stunned more than anything else.

“Are you okay?” Zest floated down to get a better look at her.

Zest didn’t entirely need to ask, as she could feel Indigo’s weak and trembling aura. Fatigue consumed her and dominated her emotions right now, covering that savage bloodlust from a moment ago.

Soon, all the predeads were a safer distance away and she seemed to regain her composure just enough to speak again.

“Yeah, I think I’m…” Indigo need to pant for a moment before she could continue. She shook her head. “I don’t think I have enough energy to… to move… Couldn’t chase somepony even if I lost control again… Thanks.”

Zest nodded, though now she was worried Indigo might collapse at any moment.

Sugarcoat returned shortly after. Indigo looked at her but could barely lift a hoof in greeting.

“Good work, but we need to get her some heat immediately,” Sugarcoat noted. “We’ll have to carry her back. She might not make it otherwise.”

Zest held Indigo in her forelegs. She half expected Indigo to fall through the ground if she didn’t. Would she even make it back?

“Why don’t we build a fire here?” Zest looked around. Some of this wood had to be dry enough.

“As long as she stays awake, we have hours, at least. But we need to get out of here.”

“Yeah, if any more predeads show up, we’re in trouble…” Indigo rested her head on Zest’s shoulder.

“But there’s still a bunch of those things out there.” Zest flicked her muzzle in their direction.

“They can take out a few of them without incident if they’re already prepared for a fight,” said Sugarcoat. “Besides, they won’t stop searching until they find something to explain all this commotion. If they don’t find any other ghosts, they’ll come looking and accuse us of some crime. Then we’ll be in serious trouble.”

“But I saved that pony’s life!” Zest complained. “That’s not fair! Can’t we just explain what happened?”

“It’s not always easy to explain that to the police,” said Sugarcoat. “And the law isn’t fair to ghosts. We need something else to take the blame for us.”

“Yeah.” Indigo feebly raised her hoof. “First rule of talking to the cops– don’t. Can we go already?”

Zest nodded and flew back towards home as quickly as she could. She’d wasted too much time.

Running away from the law again! Would life ever change? At least was this time she was innocent.

Though even when she was innocent, she was guilty now, if the others were to be believed.

The feeling was all too familiar, darting this way and that, keeping watch over her shoulder to confirm nopony was there. Crossing the river gave her some sense of security, but that wouldn’t stop a pegasus.

“And don’t let her fall asleep yet,” Sugarcoat warned.

“Right!”

Zest kept watch on Indigo’s eyes after that, shaking her roughly whenever she closed them. Indigo would mutter but make no other protest than that.

The trick to carrying stuff as a ghost was to never slow down. Building up the momentum was the hard part. Once you started moving, it was effortless to just glide forward no matter how heavy the thing you carried was.

Halfway between the river and home, Zest was certain there were no pursuers. She neither saw nor smelled anything living behind her for a great distance. They couldn’t possibly be scouring an area half this wide so soon.

Yet it wasn’t until she was back to the school itself that she could even begin to relax. Even though they’d do little to save her from the cops or a slayer, the orbs and Sparky gave her a certain level of comfort.

Zest darted halfway underground, keeping her head up to watch the forest for a moment just to confirm to her mind one last time the ghost was clear.

Finally, she let out a sigh and came back up.

“Is this where you guys live?” Indigo drifted along, her back to the ground, as she looked at all the orbs. “Think I’m gonna pass out now.”

Sugarcoat grabbed Indigo’s ear and pulled her back.

“In your condition, you might not wake up if you fall asleep before eating,” Sugarcoat said sternly.

“Yeah, yeah!” Indigo closed her eyes and chuckled. “I guess you’re right, Mom.”

It was good to know she was like that with everypony.

“Go get some charcoal for our new friend.” Sugarcoat kept her grip on Indigo’s ear as she turned to Zest. “A lot. And a propane tank.”

That last tug seemed to finally wake Indigo up, however slightly. She managed to keep her head up but stayed on her side.

“Yeah!” Indigo called after Zest as she went. “Like, thirty percent more than what you were just thinking about getting!”

She’d planned on getting three bags of charcoal, so Zest brought out four instead, along with a tank.

For the first time, she got to light one of the emergency propane tanks. That gave Indigo something to eat while the other two got the charcoal fires ready.

She couldn’t help but glance over at the blue flame Indigo drew heat from as she arranged the charcoal into three piles. As the name implied, these were for emergencies when you needed heat immediately. As such, Zest had never actually gotten to taste heat from flammable gas before.

Sadly, it’d have to wait even longer.

They arranged three charcoal fires in a half-circle around Indigo and stoked the flames until they were nice and hot. Normally, you’d start throwing herbs and choice pieces of wood on it to make the fire taste better at this point. Indigo asked her to not bother– she didn’t care about the taste right now. It made Zest wonder just how spoiled she was to have access to so many dried herbs.

Despite the heat being unseasoned, Indigo looked like she was in heaven smiling with avaricious as she tore the heat from the flames.

With that settled, Sugarcoat left and came back shortly with three turkeys in tow. The phantom devoured them all in seconds without the least bit of hesitation. Her shivering slowed down after that, but clearly, it wasn’t enough.

The other two built a fourth fire for themselves. It was only about then that Zest realized she was starving too, albeit it not at all compared to Indigo.

Watching her eat with such wild abandon, snuffing out the fires on occasion only to turn to the next and devour the heat like a savage. Is that what Zest looked like when she first got here?

At any rate, she felt far more sophisticated now, drawing the heat from her flames slowly like a proper lady.

Though crude, this method improved Indigo’s complexion almost immediately. Most notably, she stopped giving off steam. The holes began to fill back in and her colors re-saturated. Her eyes looked more normal, but still had darkness surrounding them. Already, Zest could tell her recovery would take days.

Eating food brought her back to the more agreeable and lively state she’d been in when the two of them were running around in circles. At one point, Zest got too close, and Indigo grabbed her, forcing Zest to sit next to her.

“They’re called black tongues. It’s cause water elementals curse all the time,” Indigo explained. “Cause they’re all sailors. Or used to be.”

“Oh, I guess that makes sense!”

“What else?” Indigo leaned back trying to think of another important one.

When she got it, she rolled back forward.

“Oh, a dead body is called a blank. And when you kill somepony and they don’t turn into a ghost– that’s called blanking them, yeah?” Indigo pointed her hoof forward, then flicked it back in imitation of shooting a wrist-canon. “Blankers are ghosts who hunt down predeads on purpose. Not a lot of them around these days, but we don’t talk to that sort.”

Zest nodded, eager to absorb as much of this as she could and determined to start talking more like Indigo. If she wasn’t going anywhere else, she might as well get assimilated.

“How come you didn’t teach me all these words?” Zest asked.

“It’s not as important as the other things I’ve shown you,” said Sugarcoat. “And I assumed you’d be able to follow my orders and let me do the talking for now.”

Zest turned to her new friend, only to get a shrug from Indigo. Her ears drooped down, and she had no choice left but to lower her head in defeat. She’d felt like such a professional just yesterday morning and got slapped down so hard.

“I want to scold you for speaking out of turn and starting a fight,” said Sugarcoat, “though that is difficult now that you two are suddenly getting along.”

“Ah, yeah! It did work!” Zest was quick to press up against Indigo once again. “I guess we just needed to, uh… do whatever happened!”

“You see?” Sugarcoat kept her eyes closed as she gave a refined nod. “It’s as I said. All you had to do to get her to like you was punch her.”

Indigo puffed a cheek out and glared at Sugarcoat.

“Wait, is that true?” Zest leaned against Indigo and looked up at her. That was what happened. “Do you like me better because I punched you? Is it really that easy?”

“No, it isn’t that easy.” Indigo rolled her eyes. “Zest saved my life and I’m not dying of starvation anymore. That makes a difference!”

“Hey, thanks.” Zest nuzzled her. “But I don’t think I saved your life. I saved that mystery pony, and I don’t think she wants to be my friend.”

“Oh yeah!” Indigo slammed her hoof on Zest’s back, a little too rough. “I never explained my unfinished business to you – why I couldn’t kill that other ghost myself that is.”

“And what’s that?” Zest asked.

Indigo hummed and floated away a meter or so. She closed her eyes trying to think of a good way to put it.

“Well like I said, I’m going to sound like a psycho if I just blurt it out.” Indigo put a hoof up in her defense. “So let me put this in context, okay?”

Zest struggled to imagine where this was going but nodded along for now.

“See, I fought in the war.” Indigo folded her arms and nodded. “That’s how I got killed.”

She didn’t need to elaborate on which war. Equestria only fought another nation once in the past two hundred years. She meant the Toxco War against Manehattan.

“Wow! Really?” Zest asked. “You were there?”

“Yep! And guess what else?” Indigo flicked her nose and raised her head. “I was a big hero, too! I have my picture in this one museum and everything!”

“Wait! For real?” Zest moved closer. Having a war hero around sounded too good to be true. “What did you do?”

Indigo chuckled, building the tension for another moment.

“You see… I was the first pony who got killed!” And she puffed herself up, extending her wings like this was something to be proud of. “In the entire war!”

Zest struggled to keep her smile up.

“And before you ask, that was officially confirmed.” Indigo smirked. “I was posthumously given a ‘first blood’ medal recognizing that I died first. It’s in that museum I mentioned before and boy does it look fancy. Though I don’t know if taking it would count as stealing.”

Indigo chuckled. When she opened her eyes and saw the expression on the others’ faces, she dropped her own smile as well.

“What?” She lowered her wings. “Are you two not impressed?”

“I mean.” Zest looked over to Sugarcoat. She’d learned her lesson and kept her mouth shut for now, not wanting to start another fight.

“It could be argued that makes you the worst soldier.” Sugarcoat adjusted her glasses.

Good! She said it!

“Yeah.” Zest tilted her head. “Is getting shot first really something you brag about?”

“Of course it is!” Indigo threw her wings and forelegs out. “Bah! You two just don’t get it. See, I was in the elite alpha strike force! We were in an airship approaching all these artillery weapons they had on top of those skyscrapers. Long story short, the pilot made a bad move, and we were staring straight down the barrel of heavy artillery guns. Everypony else was too scared to move. ‘we’re all gonna die horribly,’ they said.”

Indigo flew up over the others in preparation for a speech.

“And I said, ‘you know what? Everypony dies horribly! But what really matters is whether you live horribly! If I die, I’m going down fighting!’ and I screamed and charged at the battery of cannons!” Indigo pointed forward. “I didn’t get close, mind you. I got shot like four hundred times. But that was all the inspiration the rest needed. One of my squad mates blew up some big artillery thing and lived to tell the tale of my heroism.”

Indigo nodded one more time before opening her eyes to face the others once more.

“So you see? I lead the charge and cleared things out for the next pony. Somepony had to do it and I was the only one with the guts. I basically won the war and saved the world!”

“I guess when you put it like that it sounds more heroic.” Zest turned to Sugarcoat.

“So considering my mindset at the time I died.” Indigo rubbed the back of her head. “My unfinished business is that I never scored a kill. If I kill anypony now, I die too. I haven’t found out if any type of lesser ghost counts yet.”

Zest wanted to say that was a bad one to have, but then again it wasn’t like she murdered somepony very often.

“Well that rules out one suspect if there’s ever a murder.” Zest laughed.

“Heh. Believe it or not, that did save me one time,” said Indigo. “So what’s your fraid called anyway?”

“I don’t know what that is,” Zest whispered to Sugarcoat.

“A group of ghosts is called a fraid,” Sugarcoat explained. “Specifically, the ones living with a specter.”

“So we’re a fraid of ghosts?” Zest gazed off into the horizon. Remembering herself, her eyes quickly turned back to Indigo.

“Ah, don’t worry.” Indigo pawed at the air. “You can’t not make that pun.”

“Well we don’t really have a–” Sugarcoat began only to be shoved aside a moment later.

“We’re called The Shadowbolts!” Zest pushed past her and beamed.

“Shadowbolts, huh?” Indigo rubbed her chin.

“We’re not called the–”

“I love it!” Indigo threw open her forelegs and flared out her wings. “Consider me sold, baby!”

“Yeah!” Zest pumped her hoof. “Ghost get!”

“Okay. I guess we’re the Shadowbolts now.” Sugarcoat sighed.

Comments

[Asolem2]

“Okay. I guess we’re the Shadowbolts now.” Sugarcoat sighed.

It was always gonna happen

[hamster wizard]

“You see… I was the first pony who got killed!” And she puffed herself up, extending her wings like this was something to be proud of. “In the entire war!”

I love this, it's probably the perfect ghost origin story.

[Athrium]

Welcome back to another episode of: how many ghost puns can Zest use against the wishes of everyone else.

If you ever turned into a ghost, your unfinished business would be failing to implement all of the ghost puns you have into a story.

I love it

[Mister Morden]

Sugarcoat just accepted her fate... She is the lead ghost of the Shadowbolts Fraid!

That ghost origin story was great though... First blood medal, ha!

[FanOfMostEverything]

Gripping climax, and a great concept for Indigo Zap’s unfinished business. Definitely looking forward to this fraid’s future follies. Especially since their enemies definitely aren’t as stupid as Lemon and Indigo would like to think.

[TigerTrainer]

Zest darted halfway underground, keeping her head up to watch the forest for a moment just to confirm to her mind one last time the ghost was clear.

Now that’s a good pun.

[Arkonfleight]

>Biologically predilected to make friends with people that punch them
Does Indigo even have a biology at this point?

[ilubatar nuctemeron]

“Okay. I guess we’re the Shadowbolts now.” Sugarcoat sighed.

lml