Lemon Zest is pretty lucky for a pony who just got fried to death, as she scores the one in ten thousand chance a pony has at becoming a ghost. Knowing nothing about how to survive the afterlife, Zest seeks out the guidance of a far older and more experienced specter named Sugarcoat. Fittingly finding herself haunting an abandoned schoolhouse, Lemon Zest will need to learn the basics if she ever wants to be a pro-ghost.
Of course, tuition isn't entirely free, and Sugarcoat will expect Lemon Zest to help her recruit more ghosts to the lonely Shadowbolt Academy.
More stories set in this AU can be found here.
A very intriguing story. I will wait for the continuation.
Ah yes. Lemon Zest is now a Rotom. She'll have to see if she can possess her cylinder player. Maybe she'll be able to use Boomburst!
Definitely looking forward to more of this, especially with one of my favorite underused characters as the protagonist. (I should also catch up on A Witch in Broad Daylight while I'm at it.
) It'll be very interesting to see what you do with the rest of the expected girls, to say nothing of any surprises popping up.
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Thanks! It'll be updating every Friday for at least a couple of months.
Well isn't that interesting
Except for the weird pull making you go south
No no give it a chance, I wanna see if Red Mage's theory about Cold Fission creating heat could actually work
(that's an 8-Bit Theater [a webcomic] reference for those of you that get extremely confused about what I'm talking about)
Or she's lying, don't think she is in this case though... still Zest, you should be a bit more careful about who you trust
ghost lore? ghost adventures? sign me up!
Wait, would a fire elemental still need to eat the heat of others or can they make their own?
There used to be one, what happened?
Oooh, Zest lucked out and Sugarcoat's aura ended up being in between the source of the pull and Zest
Ahh yes, the one Sonata is "working" for
Being a ghost is not ideal. At least when all the bigger and meaner ghosts want to steal your lunch money.
I will take all the Epsilon-Delta and Witch In Broad Daylight AU I can get!

Congrats on featured.
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You just gotta be the biggest and meanest ghost, bro. Just do it!
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Don't worry. This one is crawling with undead. They're all over the place. 100% chance you'll see a fire elemental at some point.
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Thanks!
me irl
Very well written, I look forward to future updates of Zest being incredibly lucky.
Well, little Lemon. If this is the same AU, I must do this, I am sorry, but you are now cursed. You are forever a noobie ghost, the end condition is that you must get Twilight Sparkle to say books are stupid.
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Lemon Zest's shoujo training arc begins now! She'll become the yureikage. Believe it!
That was a interesting story. I hope it stays that way.
Now the obvious question is where in the timeline does this take and whether what happens in one story will affect the other.
Like Zest even though she's a dumb, dumb pony.
Weird stuff world building. Can get into this.
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She may be dumb now, but surely the school will increase her intelligence score.
Geeze, suddenly being a ghost doesn't seem as great if you can be enslaved by other ghosts... Fates worse than death I suppose.
Nice detail!
Liquid oxygen
Water?
Being depressed, committing suicide and then ending up as a ghost must be a bummer
If this is a South Park reference it made me laugh. Good stuff!
Can ghosts use plutonium 238?
img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/aNpYgZA_460s.jpg
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That is ancient. Like Season 1 or 2 South Park. Miss those days.
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They can eat any type of heat, the only issue is the taste of it. Hot metal is too disgusting for most ghosts to stomach. I believe that would make plutonium unable to be used directly, though if you used it to heat up something else it could be more palatable.
Ghosts can easily boil and freeze the same lot of water over and over again. It tastes bland but it's doable.
Not sure how many ghosts are out there exactly, but they should get into the cryogenics business, they'd make a killing.
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Interestingly, they would be able to tell if it was 'killing' anyone, eventually, as there's always the one in ten thousand chance someone frozen to death becomes a ghost.
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I think from a practical standpoint there's not really any way to "survive" a cryogenic freezing, the idea is more about eventual resuscitation. I was thinking more along the lines of a profitable, and legal way to freeze people, even if it might be a scam.
Not just ghost abilities, but ghost ethics as well. Quite the curriculum Lemon's working through, even if she's making up some of it as she goes. And it's clear that Sugarcoat isn't the best fit as a teacher. Still, she's the only one Lemon has.
Also, the idea of Lemon leading a parade of orbs like Pinkie and the parasprite parade is delightful. Thank you for it.
Was wondering when "Brave foolish child befriends Zest and Sugarcoat" would come around.
Not disappointed at all.
Also had to look up what a Wight was. You're probably using one from a TTRPG monster manual.
So incredibly dangerous creatures.
Kid, the devil is in the details!
This chapter made me laugh! Good stuff.
Oops indeed kid. He’s lucky they bumped into it and Sugar didn’t leave thinking she did it.
Oh yeah they are
Aww, Lemon made a friend!
And met a fiend.
Oh dear, this is why we need put more funds into paranormal education. Let's see how this goes.
I was already in a good mood, but this chapter put me into a great mood. I then finished it and the ending put me into an amazing mood. I cannot express how much I enjoy your writing.
Yes, yes they do!
I have to ask, did Lemon Zest try to steal from team fortress 2's red team? Because the implications of that would lead this story in a very different direction from what I expected.
This was a fun chapter, made me laugh.
Need to go back and proofread the Chapter. Rind Hard is not supposed to be called Rind heart. Rind has her instead of his sometimes. The spell check works, but it's too dumb for consistency.
Basically LOTR with extra steps. Or is that less steps?
In the coming chapters: Lemon Zest finds herself being turned gay suspiciously often.
Okay so the only Revnant I know of in the context of the undead is a nigh unstoppable revenge fueled machine of death.
Is this worlds revenants similar or different?
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Boss Rattler was a revenant so you've already seen one in Broad Datlight.
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Ahh right, good to remember
Poor Zest... Can't escape things even in death!
Question. If a pony is sick with a high fever, can ghosts nibble in the pony to cool them off?
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They can but even a skilled ghost has a chance of accidentally freezing you to death. Ponies with fevers taste better so its even more difficult for them to resist the urge to kill you.
How come Wights aren't in there at all? Do they not actually count as ghosts?
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Wights are corporeal undead.
But three wights make a weft!