Pipp the Poltergeist

by Misty Shadow

Sunny's Salvation

The photo in the dark room Zipp and Izzy were in was now gone…because Pipp the Poltergeist had taken it. She was now in the lounge room of Canterlove Studios, a part of the building that was close to the entrance and the area where Sunny and Hitch had done their cooking show. Knowing this as she also recalled this being the room where she had given Sprout a test, she chuckled to herself eerily as she eyed the photo of Sunny as a kid with Argyle, her attention focused on the familiar ghost…

“I could tell what she was thinking…” she thought to herself, reminiscing on her conversation with Zipp inside of Creator. “Yes, ghosts do show up in pictures…just…not the way you’d expect…”

A small flame glowed in Pipp’s eyes, a miniscule fire containing a soul with eyes devoid of life…

“Pipp!” Sprout’s familiar, a ghost resembling a slightly overweight male Twilight Sparkle, called out to her as he entered the room from the area where Hitch and Misty had fallen unconscious.

“Yes?” Pipp answered, turning to face the familiar, who was holding a sleeping Sparky, Hitch, and Misty in the air with his magic.

“I must now return to my other master.” he told her solemnly as he gently placed the unconscious trio on the same couch where Sprout had sat. “Sunny’s test is next. You know what we must do to protect her friends from Opaline’s curse.”

“Indeed I do.” Pipp replied with a smile, looking up towards the ceiling where Izzy and Zipp were. “I’ve already planned out what to do to protect them from any potential harm. The spirits will at least allow me to ensure they don’t get hurt while Sparky is kept safe elsewhere. If only I could do the same for Sunny…

“They’d never permit it under any circumstance.” Sprout’s familiar told her bluntly. “There’s a line they won’t cross, but in order for Sunny to learn how to utilize the fire that will free us, she must understand the full extent of the power of malice. The harsh truth she must accept will become even more painful once she sees how malice can even affect one such as you…”

“Don’t remind me…” Pipp responded in frustration with her smile becoming a scowl. “I want to be in the proper mindset while I’m protecting my sister with my creation. I’m sure you want the same thing as you share the cure with them…”

“Absolutely.” Sprout’s familiar said with full sincerity. “Forgive me for my indiscretion. I’ll be taking my leave now, but we’ll meet again very soon…”

Sprout’s familiar then faded away, leaving Pipp alone with the two ponies and the baby dragon that were resting on the couch. As Pipp eyed Misty, her smile returned, remembering the book from Opaline’s library Misty had brought her.

“Just you wait, Misty…” Pipp spoke in a foreboding tone. “Soon, you’ll be completely free of any feeling of guilt over what happened to me…”

With those words, a purple glow appeared in Pipp’s eyes…

“For a part of me is choosing this…enjoying the thrill of being under control…”

---

Meanwhile, outside of Canterlove, Sunny and Sprout were both awestruck by the new power that had awakened inside of Sprout after Spring was absorbed into his soul. Sunny watched the new familiars Sprout could summon hovering around them with amazement.

“The stories my dad told me were true…” she said in astonishment, observing two pink-colored ice spirits taking the form of horses with wispy tails as the lower halves of their bodies. “Windigos are real…and some of them are reformed…”

“Indeed…” Sprout’s familiar interjected as he materialized beside the two. “Some of the Windigos accepted the fire of friendship into their hearts and were born anew…”

“Wait, that voice…” Sunny thought, feeling a strange premonition.

“You…” Sprout said to his familiar, turning to face him, shooting him a suspecting glance. “I can sense something different about your aura…what have you been doing?”

“Helping a friend.” Sprout’s familiar blankly answered. “I can sense something different about your aura too, now that you’ve become one with who you were in a past life.”

“Not like I was given much of a choice in the matter.” Sprout retorted. “But I’m glad Spring merged with me. She awakened this power that was brewing inside of me, something that I fully intend to use to protect Sunny.”

“Ah, yes…” Sprout’s familiar replied happily. “Now that Zipp has passed her test, Sunny is the only one left with a trial to face. And she will most certainly need your help…”

“Spring told me that I’m going to have to face the hardest truth about how far ponies can go astray…” Sunny chimed in, speaking with a tone of nervosity. “Was she referring to…you-know-who?”

“You’re not outsiders to us anymore, you can say, “Opaline”.” Sprout’s familiar informed her. “And she was not referring to Opaline specifically…no, the truth about how far ponies can go astray goes far beyond just Opaline. Opaline may be one truly irredeemable monster…but know that she’s like that because she’s possessed by evil she chooses to be consumed by…”

“When my dad’s spirit came to talk to me in my mind, he told me that Opaline has deluded herself into believing she’s doing good for the world.” Sunny recounted. “He also said that there’s a desire to do good in all of us…so surely, even Opaline must have good in her.”

“We are not simple creatures, Sunny…” Sprout’s familiar replied ominously, his face contorting into a piercing, pensive gaze. “Sometimes, we don’t know exactly why we feel the way we do or do the things we do. Sometimes, we just allow ourselves to be consumed by malice…because we have nothing else…” ‘

Sunny’s eyes met the familiar’s gaze, allowing her to see a soul that had been affected by a great sadness. A forlorn look formed on her face.

“I can’t imagine what you and the spirits haunting this building had to go through…” she said to empathize. “But I made a promise to my dad that I fully intend to fulfill. I’ll make sure that all of you find your peace!”

“How far are you willing to go to ensure that?” Sprout’s familiar asked, still speaking ominously. “Would you even go so far as to deny them their free will?”

“…Huh?” Sunny responded with bemusement, something shared by Sprout. “What are you talking about? Even if I had that kind of power, I’d never do that. Besides, how could any pony not want…wait…”

Sunny felt tremendous fear welling up inside of her as she thought over what the familiar had said about ponies allowing themselves to be consumed by malice because they had nothing else, now putting it together with what Spring had told her about how far ponies could go astray…something she didn’t want to believe was now making sense…

“No…” she murmured in trepidation that she fought with hope. “No…I would never deny them their free will…I’m going to save them the right way!”

This exclamation of resolve led Sprout’s familiar to smile proudly.

“You truly are worthy of my faith…” he said happily as he glanced over at the Windigos Sprout had summoned. “For just like me, you understand that a fire’s purpose isn’t to burn, but to warm…”

“Hmm?” Sunny thought to herself. “That’s what my dad told me…why is he giving those creatures from my dad’s story a look of interest?”

“I believe we’ve kept the spirits waiting long enough…” Sprout’s familiar remarked as he then glanced at Sprout. “I’m sure that you also want Sunny and her friends to learn who I really am soon…”

“Yeah…” Sprout replied with a hint of annoyance in his voice as he waved his hoof to dismiss the familiar speaking to him along with the Windigos. “Just know that I might be one of those friends of hers now…”

Hearing this slightly astonished Sunny, who uttered without thinking…

“Sprout…”

“Let’s just go inside Canterlove already.” he responded bluntly, turning his face away, trying to hide his blushing in embarrassment.

As the two made their way to the entrance, ready to finally enter the building, Pipp the Poltergeist watched them with anticipation from the window of the dark room above.

“Would you attempt to deny us free will if you were pushed far enough, Sunny?” Pipp asked with great intrigue. “Would you try to do such a thing knowing that it would be an act of extreme defiance against Creator?”

She turned around to gaze at her sister, Zipp, and Izzy, both of whom had been knocked unconscious by her singing and were now lying on the floor. Argyle’s pendant, an old, blue cloak, and Pipp’s lantern were lying beside them too. Floating over to Zipp with a bottle of the hoof polish that could temporarily make other ponies ethereal in hoof, she began to say something solemnly…

“I also wonder what you would do in her place now that you’ve met Creator, my sister. It’s true that nothing’s ever actually gone for good…but unfortunately, that goes for bad things in this world too…like the resentment you created in me by bullying me as a foal…”

Pipp’s eyes began glowing purple again…

Meanwhile, on the bottom floor, Sunny’s soul had been separated from her body by the intense supernatural energy. Just as Sprout had taken hold of her unconscious body, he noticed something around him change…the room around him was being inundated with a massive amount of aura, making him feel somewhat nervous.

“I know Sunny’s test is meant to be the hardest…” he remarked in thought. “But I can detect great malice in this aura…can even a pony with alicorn powers handle this? The spirits would never go too far…”

Before he knew it, Sunny’s soul began to gravitate towards the lounge room, leading Sprout to follow her after putting her body on his back.

“Sunny, hold up!” he cried out to her. “Sunny…huh?”

He stopped once he realized he had accidentally stepped on something on the floor…the photo Pipp had taken from the dark room. Feeling an especially intense amount of aura from it, he picked it up and looked at it.

“What in the…?!” he reacted with shock upon seeing what the photograph displayed.

The photo he held showed Sunny as a filly with her father on a couch in the living room of their home, the two of them looking at each other happily…with Pipp the Poltergeist floating beside them.

“This…this has to be an altered photograph…” he logically inferred despite his growing worry. “Pipp couldn’t possibly have been there…nor was she a ghost then…”

“Does it matter if it’s altered?” the Pipp in the photo suddenly spoke, shocking Sprout as she stared at him with glowing, purple eyes. “That’s one of the perks about being a ghost. I can be anywhere I want to be, and that includes photographs…”

“But what would you want to take refuge in a photograph for?!” Sprout exclaimed in bewilderment.

“A soul possessing me envies who was originally in this photo…” she answered forebodingly. “The ghost this photo originally showed is the one who gave it to me after a friend of his helped him find it. You’ve met Argyle before, right?”

“Y-yeah…” he responded with a stutter, feeling uncertain.

“And you remember what he said about a fire’s purpose, right?” she continued to speak ominously. “It’s not to burn, but to warm? I’m afraid your familiar is the only spirit among the souls of Opaline’s victims who mastered how to use the magic of fire for the purpose our maker, Creator, intended. The rest of them only know how to burn…as you’ll see in the place we’re taking you and Sunny to…”

“Wait!” Sprout cried in confusion and anger. “I thought you promised Sunny that she wouldn’t end up in a realm of fire!”

“The promise was that she wouldn’t be lost there permanently…” Pipp explained before her voice began to change, growing deeper and more intimidating. “We’re not taking you to a realm of fire either…we’re taking you to a realm Creator made…a mirror world of this building, showing you what things are always like for us…”

With that, Sprout briefly saw a soul with eyes devoid of life appear in front of him before a blinding flash of light led him to shut his eyes…

---

When he opened them again, he saw that he no longer had the photo in his hoof, but that was the very least of his worries…

Before he even looked around, he could tell from the spiritual energy surrounding him that he had in fact been teleported to a mirror world of Canterlove. He was still in the exact same spot of the building as before, only now, the building was on fire. Sprout gasped, knowing he needed to act quickly. Thankfully, it quickly came to mind what he had to do.

“The ice spirits!” he recalled in thought. “I need to summon them to put out the fire in this place!”

He wasted no time in proceeding to summon his new familiars, the two reformed Windigos.

“Work your magic on this fire!” he commanded them.

They promptly obeyed and began breathing icy wind from their mouths on the flames surrounding them. However, their ice magic was not able to completely extinguish the fire, with the flames still burning slightly.

“It figures…” Sprout thought to himself. “This fire must be how the spirits intend to force Sunny’s soul to merge with her body. As Sunny’s guide, it’s my job to guard her body to the best of my ability, but neutralizing the threat entirely would defeat the purpose of the test. Given my experience with the spirits, my power to create supernatural fire, and additional protection from the familiar I had guard this building, I should be fine. Sunny’s body, however…”

Sprout looked over at Sunny’s body on his back with concern, feeling it grow hotter…

“I have to find her soul now…” he said with resolve. “Something about this test is giving me a really bad feeling in my gut!”

Having last seen Sunny’s soul move to where the lounge room was, Sprout made his way there to be treated to a truly shocking sight…

Sunny’s spirit was in the form of an alicorn, staring down another spirit wearing a smug look on its face with a burning fire of rage in her eyes. This other spirit looked exactly like her, more specifically, it resembled the disguise Opaline had worn when she had spoken to Sunny through the compact mirror she used to spy on her and her friends. The two were flying above a couch, with the sight Sunny had seen on the couch being the source of her fury…

It was the sight of her friends, Hitch, Zipp, Izzy, and Misty, lying unconscious in the form of ghosts…

“This is pure, absolute evil…” Sunny said with tears streaming down her cheeks before making the angriest cry she had ever made in her life…

“I WILL NEVER, EVER, EVER ACCEPT THIS!”

With that, the spirit began to laugh derisively as Sunny attempted to blast it with lasers from her horn, lasers it effortlessly dodged and countered with lasers of its own as it flew around.

“I take it this is your first true taste of pure evil?” the spirit mocked her. “I still remember when you talked about holding your own against Opaline…speaking as if it was some great accomplishment when you know nothing about how vile she actually is…”

“LIKE YOU’RE SO MUCH BETTER!” Sunny howled.

This slight caused the spirit to waver, a nerve being struck. Left open to attack, it took a hit from one of Sunny’s lasers and collapsed on the floor, clutching its chest, the place where it had been hit. Sunny then landed in front of it, glaring down at the spirit with an intimidating look on her face, subduing her urge to fire another laser at it after feeling no will to fight emanating from it.

“Tell me…” she demanded, still irate, shaking with anger. “WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED TO YOU IN THE PAST?! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO MY FRIENDS?!”

“Opaline put a curse on us…” the spirit answered calmly. “And what happened to your friends is simply something we allowed to happen…it was something done to protect them…”

“Protect them?!” Sunny cried in bewilderment. “How is killing them protecting them?!”

“They’ve not actually been killed…” the spirit explained. “But even if they had been, they would not have had to suffer a fate worse than death…LIKE US…”

With that utterance, the spirit looked up at Sunny and gave her a grisly look that froze both her and Sprout in place with fear. Smiling sinisterly, the spirit continued to speak…

“OPALINE DID NOT JUST KILL US…SHE INFECTED US WITH MALICE…FRAGMENTS OF HER SOUL’S MALICE STILL LIVE WITHIN US ALONG WITH FRAGMENTS OF PRINCESS PLATINUM…”

“H-h-how…” Sunny stammered, finding it hard to speak from how terrified she was. “…h-h-how did she do that?”

“POISON FROM A MAGICAL BOMB…LONG AGO, BEFORE TWILIGHT’S TIME, SHE LED US IN A REVOLT AGAINST THE DETESTABLE PRINCESS PLATINUM’S REIGN…BUT IT WAS A TRAP…A FAÇADE TO GET HER HANDS ON FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE HELD BY THE ROYALS…ONCE SHE GOT THE BOOK SHE WANTED, SHE DETONATED A BOMB TO TRY WIPING PLATINUM AND HER SUBORDINATES OUT WITH NO REGARD FOR OUR LIVES…”

“That…” Sprout thought worriedly as a horrifying thought came to his mind. “That book…that couldn’t possibly be…”

“AND WANTING TO ENSURE THAT PLATINUM, HER SUBORDINATES, AND HER NEAR RELATIVES WOULD DIE, SHE HAD THE BOMB ENCHANTED WITH A TOXIN…AN INSIDIOUS TOXIN THAT DESTROYS THE BODY FROM THE INSIDE OUT…BEFORE DRAINING THE SOUL OF ALL LIFE…”

“How could something that contemptible exist?!” Sunny bellowed, baffled and incensed. “Surely, there must be a cure!”

“THERE IS…” the spirit replied blankly. “ONE OF PLATINUM’S ADVISORS, AN ERUDITE SCHOLAR, FOUND THE CURE AND SHARED IT WITH THE INFECTED…BUT ALAS, IT ONLY WORKS ON THOSE WHO ARE WILLING TO FULLY ABANDON THEIR INNER MALICE…FOR SO LONG, WE HAVE TRIED TO DO SO, YET HAVE NEVER SUCCEEDED. FOR EVERY TIME WE THINK WE MAY BE ABLE TO FINALLY RELINQUISH OUR GRUDGE AGAINST OPALINE, IT IS NOT TO BE. THAT’S WHERE YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS COME IN…”

“With the fire that will free you?” Sunny surmised, remembering what Spring had said when she had possessed Sparky. “But only you can choose to forgive Opaline.”

“WE KNOW…” the spirit replied ominously. “THAT’S WHY YOU MUST USE YOUR POWER AS AN ALICORN TO MAKE US FORGIVE OPALINE. IT WOULD HELP IF YOU VOWED TO OBLITERATE HER COMPLETELY AND SEND HER TO A REALM OF ETERNAL FIRE…”

Both Sunny and Sprout were thrown in a state of complete shock upon hearing this.

“WWWHHHAAATTT?!” they both yelled.

Sunny hadn’t known beforehand that Sprout, having made his presence known with his cry, was watching her battle with the spirit, but didn’t turn to face him anyway. Her mind was too busy trying to make sense of what the spirit had just told her…however, Sprout’s presence helped her recollect what his familiar had told her before her test began…

“Would you even go so far as to deny them their free will?”

“I tried to forget about it…” she told herself tearfully in thought, remembering how afraid she had been then. “But it’s undeniable now…the truth that lies before me…these malice-laden spirits are warped through and through! There’s no way my test ends until I’ve conquered what’s afflicting them…I can feel it…I can sense it…”

Sunny looked at the evil smile the spirit was still wearing…

“It’s obvious…” she thought in suspicion. “They’re not afraid of me saying something they don’t want to hear. They also showed no fear after I overpowered them…they must be ready to hit me with all their malice in a last-ditch effort…”

“IF YOU DON’T WANT TO RID US OF OUR MALICE THROUGH MAKING US FORGIVE OPALINE…” the spirit confirmed her suspicion. “WE’RE OPEN TO HEARING WHATEVER YOU PROPOSE “THE RIGHT WAY” OF REMOVING IT IS.”

Sunny knelt her head, trying to fight back tears, knowing she had to be stronger than she had ever been before…

“I’m so sorry, Dad…” she thought, feeling deeply sad. “But you taught me to always be true to myself and what I believe…I’m not going to go back on my word…I’m going to give these spirits peace if it kills me!”

“What I propose…” Sunny told the spirit with a stern glare. “…is to absorb all the damage from the bomb you plan to detonate…”

“HUH?!” the spirit exclaimed in bewilderment, disbelief shared by Sprout.

“THEY PLAN TO WHAT?!” Sprout yelled in concern.

“HYAAA!” Sunny cried, pouncing on the spirit that had been caught off guard, doing her best to restrain it with her magic while covering it completely with her own spiritual manifestation.

“SPROUT!” she then called out to her guide. “TAKE THE SOULS OF MY FRIENDS AND GET FAR AWAY FROM HERE! THE SPIRITS HAVE RECREATED THE SAME BOMB OPALINE USED TO KILL THEM! SAVE YOURSELF AND MY FRIENDS FROM THE POISON!”

“YOU IDIOT!” Sprout screamed. “I’M YOUR GUIDE! I CAN’T ABANDON YOU!”

“JUST DO AS I SAY!”

“NO!”

Sprout’s defiance caused the spirit to snicker, watching him rush towards Sunny.

“WE’LL GIVE YOU CREDIT FOR YOUR ASTUTE OBSERVATION, FIGURING OUT OUR SCHEME…” the spirit remarked confidently to Sunny. “…BUT WHAT WILL YOU DO NOW, GIVEN YOUR COMPANION’S DISOBEDIENCE? DOESN’T THIS MAKE YOU WISH YOU COULD ACT AGAINST HIS FREE WILL? FOR WE’RE SURE YOU KNOW, OUR EXPLOSION WILL SURELY DESTROY YOU BOTH…YOU WILL BOTH DIE…”

“Wrong…” Sprout bluntly said as he took Sunny’s soul and put it inside of her body before tossing Sunny onto the couch, astonishing her and the spirit. “Only I will die…”

Sprout then grabbed the spirit and absorbed it into his body, leaving the spirit in a greater state of disbelief than ever.

“What…how…” the spirit said with its tone of voice changing. “Why would you do this for her?”

“Because she’s my friend.” Sprout answered with full sincerity. “Even when I was her enemy, she wanted to see my soul mature and be saved. And that made me so happy…yet also so guilty for the time I said I would’ve left her to die if I was in a difficult situation like this. Spring and I are one now too…she’s also been touched by kindness that she wants to repay…”

Sunny was awestruck. The shock of seeing Sprout’s will to give his life for her combined with an extreme sense of urgency and powerful desire to save him and protect her friends from the poison sent her into a trance. Her eyes glowed white as her horn began charging up a spell. Just before the spirit inside of Sprout triggered the bomb, a purple sphere with a red button on it, it was overwhelmed by a feeling it couldn’t describe...

“Fire…” it impulsively uttered.

It then saw Sprout’s familiar appear in front of it, staring down at it sternly.

“Could it be…” it said in realization as it detonated the bomb by pressing the button. “The reason why we couldn’t accept your fire…”

Sunny fired a spell at Sprout just as the explosion inside of him caused his body to erupt in flames. Her magic allowed her to transform the fire that consumed him and turned his body to ash into a fire with an essence that was not malicious, but benevolent. The flames coalesced into a pink and purple fire shaped like a heart, floating beside Sprout after the destruction of his body had left him as a ghost infected with poison from the bomb. However, once he took the heart-shaped fire and absorbed it inside of himself, he was cured of the poison.

Soon, all of the fire in the burning building began gravitating towards Sprout, merging with the heart-shaped fire inside him. With a blinding flash of light, Sprout was magically levitated towards the ground, a wispy tail he had acquired as a ghost now becoming a pair of back legs. Sprout waved his hoof to dismiss the Windigos and ordered his familiar resembling Twilight to appear. Said familiar gave him the photo that had teleported him and Sunny to this place, a photo that now showed Pipp the Poltergeist crying.

“Sprout…” Pipp said despondently. “Why…how…you had to have known…that they could only go so far…I wanted to be the only sacrifice…and now you’re just like me…why?”

Sprout didn’t answer right away. He simply looked over at Sunny, having passed out on the couch from the toll the power she had tapped into had taken on her body, and walked over to her, putting the photo next to her before giving his response...

“Because a desire to do good I inherited from Sunny and her friends came over me. I saw that they were truly willing to die for you, willing to do anything for you. If I couldn’t match their fire, how could I call myself a friend of theirs?”

Something in Pipp’s eyes that looked like a soul now had a spark in its eyes, which now looked far less lifeless…

“You’ve grown so much…” Pipp remarked with tearful joy. “Please…when they solve the mystery…help them catch me…help the spirits and I become completely free…so that we can repay you…”

With that, Pipp began to vanish from the photo as Sprout solemnly uttered…

“A true friend never expects something in return…”

A great, bright light then washed over the burning building, as Creator had seen that this realm had served its purpose…

---

Sunny and her friends were teleported back to Canterlove. The effects of Pipp’s spirit-transforming hoof polish wore off, causing Zipp, Izzy, Misty, and Hitch to transform back to normal before Sunny regained consciousness.

“Uhh…” she moaned as she awakened. “What happened…am I…even still alive?”

“Very much so, as are your friends.” Sprout’s familiar answered happily. “You aced your test, the spirits are now more free than ever. Your spiritual senses have been heightened and you now have the power to create supernatural fire like mine…”

Sunny caught a shiver, immediately recognizing where the voice was coming from…the photo Sprout left by her. Grabbing it straight away, she wasted no time in asking the familiar who now appeared on the photo in Pipp’s place as a cloaked figure wearing a familiar pendant…

“When you say, “my friends”…you mean Sprout too, right?”

“By Pipp’s definition of “alive”, he’s very much alive too.” the familiar answered, immediately causing Sunny’s heart to sink, knowing what he meant. “Do not weep…he has no regrets.”

“I have regrets…” Sunny said somberly. “My power wasn’t enough to save him…how am I going to tell my dad that a friend had to be sacrificed to help the spirits…”

“Before him, Pipp sacrificed herself.” Sprout’s familiar interjected, shocking Sunny. “And thanks to his sacrifice, Pipp will have the opportunity to be “normal” again. Your father knows this. I believe it’s time you met us both together…”

“You…know my father…?” Sunny uttered these words in absolute bewilderment before her mind started putting the pieces together…

“You’re not just the spirit who spoke to me in my mind after I ate the cookie Sprout gave me…” she stated upon realization. “…you’re my ancestor…”

Author's Note:

We're getting very close to the end here now, just two chapters left. Also, just striking the record, as always, I know the Windigos are called, "creatures of wind", in the finale of FiM. They're called, "ice spirits", here as a reference to the icy wind they produce.

Comments

[PonyPuffy 2012]

So... is Sprout a ghost like Pipp now? I admit I certainly wasn't expecting him to sacrifice himself like that.

[Misty Shadow]

11831262
Yes. There is a difference between him and Pipp though in that he's free from the malice of the spirits, which will come into play later.