Monster Trackers

Episode 1

Chapter 1

Dancing through the shadowy, crowded space of her basement, a mare swings her hips to the sweet sounds of her boom box blaring a tune she just cannot resist moving to. A protective welder's mask shields her face as she uses a blowtorch to meld two metal pipes together, but her lemon yellow coat is splotched with soot and dirt; and her brick red mane is frizzy and tangled. She then reaches out to one of the many shelves that line the cement wall, sifting through the many, random assortments of scrap metal with her eyes still fixed on what she's building. Pulling an oddly shaped piece of metal from the shelf, she then quickly begins welding it to the welded pipes. The chorus of the song kicks in, and she immediately sings along perfectly in sync. As she finishes welding, she hops into a worn and torn swivel chair, and wheels her way over to a set of boiling and bubbling beakers, all filled with colored liquids. As the chorus rises to its climax, the mare raises her voice as high as she can.

The door leading into the basement flies open, and a bronze-coated stallion with a neatly combed, blonde mane rushes inside with his hooves plugging his ears. "Bam!" He shouts. "Bam will you please tone that 'noise' down!" The mare wheels herself over to her boom box, and quickly turns the dial to lower the volume of the music.

"Oh come on, Spades! It's Hooves and Grooves!"

"I wasn't talking about the song or the band, I meant that ear-splitting sound that was being accompanied with it," says Spades, rubbing his ears from the agony.

"Oh that was me! I'm getting good right?!"

"Well, good at helping ponies turn deaf." He mutters.

"Wait a minute." The mare, scrunching her eyebrows together, appearing as though she's just been hit with the rudeness of Spades' comment.

". . . What?"

"As a matter of fact, deafness is mostly caused by genetics, old age, infections, and a prolonged exposure to noise. Now, if we thought about this realistically, considering the amount of time that I held the last note of the chorus, I find it completely implausible that somepony could turn deaf from the mere seconds of the frequency I had my voice set. So, hah! Joke's on you!"

"Whatev's. . . Hey, I guess you could say I've been--"

"Bamboozled!" The mare says, as Spades mumbles the word along.

"I'm surprised you didn't follow it up with that, you usually do," says Spades.

"I know! Thank you for reminding me!"

"Speaking of 'reminding you', did you look for anything promising in the paper?"

"Even better!"

"I hate it when you say that. . . What do you do instead?" Spades groans with his hoof over his eyes.

"I went to go look for the paper, but I didn't find it. So, I went on a search!"

". . . And?"

"I found this huge stack of newspapers just lying around behind somepony's house! Can you believe someone even thought of throwing it all away? That paper could've been used for recycling, reading . . . papier mache. . ."

"Umm. . ." Spades mumbles as he investigates the papers. "These papers date back years ago. Local Hoofington Parade . . . 100th Anniversary?!"

"The 100th? Hooray! I can't believe it's been that long." Bam smiles with her hoof under her chin.

"Bam, it's going to be the Hoofington Parade's '150th' Anniversary this year!"

". . . Gee, it's been longer than I thought."

"Why did you keep all these papers from decades ago?" Spades asks, flabbergasted.

“I thought there would be ads for us answer to!” Bam crosses her forelegs.

“But if they're 'this' old then--! Ugh, alright, let me take a look here.” Spades digs through the stack of papers, flipping through the pages.

"So, how did the meeting with your clients go?"

"Well. . ." Spades sighs. "I stopped by that old mare's place, you know, the one who's been claiming that she's been hearing peculiar sounds in her attic?"

"Right."

"And, as it turns out, I've concluded that this was a complete waste--"

"Oh come on!"

"A complete waste of my time, Bam. I have no idea why you made me continue investigating her story."

"Well . . . I mean . . . she's just such a nice lady--"

"Exactly, you and I both know there was absolutely nothing unique or interesting about her story at all. For goodness' sake Bam, she leaves that little window in the attic open all the time. It could easily be some rodent or bird getting inside and making all these sounds she hears."

"Okay, but then why would these animals be having a party in her attic so often then? There's no way these animals just get inside to make some noises, so many times a day, just to creep her out."

"Oh, but the open window wasn't the only thing that helped me prove my conclusion."

"Well, what was it then?"

"Oh, I don't know, the fact that she has bags and bags of nuts and seeds stored up in her attic! Many of which are clearly torn into with plenty of empty shells all over the floor! Such a waste of time."

"Oooh! So 'that's' where she got all those nuts from!"

". . . What are you talking about?"

"She always stopped by our house to give my Dad a bowl of peanuts, cashews, almonds and all sorts of nuts!"

"So," Spades covers his face with his hooves, taking a big, painful sigh. "You're telling me that you 'knew' she had some stash of peanuts, and never told me about it?"

"I didn't think it was important! Besides, at least she can rest easy knowing that the noises were just some animals."

"Yeah, yeah I guess; but Bam, we can't just waste our time investigating these bland, usual cases of 'strange noises' or 'oh, I saw a shadow'. We're not going to get anywhere that way."

". . . I'm sorry."

"It's fine, don't worry about it. I know she's your neighbor and all, but I just knew it wasn't going to be anything but a simple explanation just like the other couple of clients I met today. . . Hey, what are you working on this time?”

“Oh yeah! You came just in time!”

“Oh boy. . .”

“I’ve been spending hours working on this liquid solution! All it needs is just one more thing added, and it should be impeccable!” Bam grabs a set of small tongs, picks up a test tube filled with orange fluid, and gently pours it into the boiling beaker. “And, wha-bam! There it is!”

“Okay, and what exactly is—” Spades takes his eyes away from the newspapers to see Bam gulping down the beaker of bubbly fluid. “. . . it?” He finishes. After downing half the beaker, Bam takes a pleased breath. “Bam, why in the name of Celestia did you drink that?”

“Nothing to worry about! As I’ve found our own way to produce fizzy, orange flavored drinks! None of that harmful stuff you find in the canned goods at the market, this here is all perfectly harmless!” Bam takes another sip, as Spades shakes his head, but smirks at the same time.

“So, ‘that’ is what you’ve been working on for hours?”

“Not just that, I’m putting the final touches on my newest invention!”

“Oh yeah,” says Spades as he proceeds to skim through the papers. “You wouldn’t tell me anything about it.”

“That’s right! I wanted it to be a surprise. And now, I’m ready to unveil the machine that’s going to give us the edge!”

“Yup, here we go.” Spades whispers. Bam hops out of her chair, trotting to a table with something hidden under a big, filthy white sheet.

“After several attempts, test after test, failure after failure; I am 99.87 percent positive that this time I’ve nailed it! Everypony at the university called me crazy, insane even!”

“Well, they weren’t ‘that’ far off.” He whispers again.

“And soon, they’ll be ready to eat their words! Spades my friend, you’ve stuck it through with me since the beginning, and you shall be rewarded!”

“With brain damage.” This time, Spades’ whisper is just loud enough to be heard.

“Spades!”

“Okay, okay! I’m sorry. Go ahead, what am I being rewarded with?”

“You will be rewarded with the opportunity to be the first pony to use my new Proton-Focused Energy Pack!”

“A ‘what’ now?”

“Oh yes, you heard me Spades!” Bam rips off the white sheet to reveal a hunk of metal composed of various wires, tubes, and gizmos. Like a backpack, it’s just about the same size, complete with straps to be worn on the wearer’s back. “Tada!” Spades, with his curiosity peaking, rushes over to the table investigating Bam’s new gadget.

“Wait, ‘this’ is that Proton-based, capture device you were talking about?”

“Uh-huh!”

“I don’t believe it, it’s so compact!”

“Precisely! Now anywhere we go, we can be ready for whatever threat may present itself. Whether it be physical, spectral, ethereal, you name it! I've also taken the liberty of installing ,what I like to call, the triple ‘A’ feature!”

“Triple ‘A’? What’s that mean exactly?”

“Well, with it, we’ll be prepared to adjust any situation. This dial here can be set to Arrest, Assault; and the mode I’m particularly excited to test, Astral Mode! Finally, we will be able to stand a fighting chance against all these types of beings!”

“Well- I- Th-This is incredible! Does it work?”

“Do you want to find out?”

“Of course!”

“Well, then strap it on!” Bam helps Spades get the invention around his forelegs until it’s able to rest on his back. She reaches over to the metal pipe she had been welding, and plugs a loose tube end into the other end of the pipe. “Alright, just hold on to this by the handle.” She then lets Spades grab onto a rubber protrusion from the side of the pipe with his teeth. “Now, by biting down onto the handle, you’ll press a button underneath that should release a stream of proton energy from the nozzle! Here, let me just switch you on. . .” Bam flips a switch on the back of the metal pack, following up with the sounds of revving from the inside as lights flash and pulse all around the machine. “Alright!” Bam steps away from Spades, raising her voice to overtake the noises coming from the pack. “Now I’ve drawn a typical, everyday depiction of what ponies perceive as a 'ghost' on the wall. Your beam should already be set to Assault Mode. Just aim, and press the button!”

“W-Well, okay!” Spades bites down onto the rubber handle, and instantly he can feel the rush of energy through the tubes all the way to the barrel of the handle. A bright, blue light shines out of the nozzle, and Bam’s eyes widen with anticipation. As the machine continues to rev, it suddenly struggles to keep that constant sound. The revving becomes distorted, sounding more like a growl as it grows louder. “Uhh, Bam? Is it supposed to be making that noise?”

“I’m uh . . . not too sure.”

“What?!” With an explosion of light, a jagged ray of electricity shoots out from the nozzle, jolting both Spades and Bam. The lighting dances uncontrollably around the room and towards Bam, who ducks down with her hooves over her head to avoid the ray of light. Spades’ body jerks with the movement of the electricity, unable to control it as it burns everything it touches, sending sparks flying everywhere around the room.

“Spades! Let go of the button!” Bam screams, but Spades doesn’t seem to be responding to her plea. Waiting for the right opportunity, she dashes towards the light show, and flicks a switch on the back of the machine. The lighting ends, and Spades is left standing with his face and limbs frozen in terror. Taking a sigh of relief, Bam calms herself, but is then followed by disappointment. “Well, I suppose that other .13 percent of me was right.” The basement door bursts open, and a stallion rushes inside.

“Bam Boozle, what is going on down here?! What happened?” He takes one good, long look at the utter destruction of the basement. Black scorch marks all over the walls, metal parts and shelves knocked down and scattered all over the room; with Bam carrying a worried smile on her face, and Spades still frozen with his wide eyes and clenched teeth.

“Oh! H-Hey Dad! We were just umm . . . testing some new equipment!” She chuckles nervously. Before Bam’s father can respond, Spades slowly tips over and falls on his back with a loud thud.