It was an average evening in the big, bustling city of Manehattan, and Fluttershy was standing outside the fire station that house a very unusual team of scientists. They were called the Ghostbusters and, as their name implies, their job was to rid Manehattan of all its paranormal entities. Fluttershy happened to be at this very place because she was here to start her first day as the ‘Experiment Technician’, as the job form implied. Without wasting any more time, she stepped through the door and into the firehouse.
At the reception desk, she found a purple haired woman with blue eyes that are like gems. She wore deep purple dress with small diamond designs and black glasses. She had her nose buried in some paperwork, so she didn’t notice Fluttershy until she let out a small cough. The lady looked up and gave Fluttershy a small smile.
“You must be Fluttershy,” she said with an accent that Fluttershy couldn’t exactly place. She nodded and the lady motioned to the seat in front of the desk.
Fluttershy quietly took a seat and took a quick look around her as she waited. Behind the desk was a small area blocked by a small, wooden fence one would probably find at a courthouse. Inside the fence was a desk that was covered in papers. On the wall behind that was a board that had several documents of some sort pinned to it. To the left of that was another board that was covered in drawing from a local elementary class that included the Ghostbusters with a banner hanging over that said, “Thank You, Ghostbusters!” Fluttershy smiled at that before continuing her inspection of the room.
Turning her head to the right, she saw a line of filing cabinets. Most were cluttered with papers, seemingly just thrown in haphazard piles. Next to that was a painting of a man, however, Fluttershy felt as if something about this painting was off. But she decided to move her eyes elsewhere instead of examining it further, mainly because it began to creep her out.
Turning to her left, she jumped slightly at what she saw. In a metal storage container of some sort, there was a small green and purple figure flying around. The body was dripping with a green ooze as it’s claw-like hands were fumbling around with a deck of cards.
“That’s Spike,” the lady said, noticing Fluttershy’s stare. “He was the first ghost they caught. Quite something, isn’t he?” Fluttershy nodded, watching the ghost float around in circles. “Well now, everything is in order. The only thing is this,” the lady said, handing Fluttershy a paper with a list.
“Um… W-what is t-this?” She asked, taking the page with a slightly shaking hand. The lady smiled, pointing to the list.
“This is just standard procedure. You’ll just have to agree in believing these thing,” she explained with a small, heartfelt smile as she gestured to the paper. “It wasn’t my idea.”
Fluttershy sigh before looking down at the list. She had a confused look on her face as she read a few items off. “The Lochness Monster, the Theory of Atlantis, Astral Projections, and ESP?” The lady nodded. “Well, I guess... if it means I get the job, then I’ll believe anything,” Fluttershy replied with a small smile.
The lady smiled back, stretching out her arm for a handshake, which Fluttershy nervously accepted. “Welcome aboard, then,” she said as she shook her hand. Then she pointed to a staircase behind Fluttershy. “The others are upstairs, so you should probably go meet them,” she said. Fluttershy nodded and stood up, but didn’t leave quite yet.
“Um…. I never got your name…” She said, turning back towards the lady.
The lady looked up at her and smiled again. “Rarity, darling.”
Fluttershy climbed up the stairs to the second floor of the firehouse. There she found two others in tanish-brown jumpsuits. One had purple hair with two streaks running through it, one a deeper shade of purple and the other pink. Her lavender eyes were entirely focused on the pack that she was messing with, either fixing it or adjusting it. The other person, the one who was holding the pack on their back, had a big poofy hair-do of pink-colored hair. Her head was turned towards the purple-haired lady, talking to her about something Fluttershy couldn’t hear, before her head turned and her sky-blue eyes landed on her.
“Oh joy! Look, Twilight, the new recruit is here!” She said as a smile on her face grew. Twilight looked up and smiled before returning her attention to the pack.
“Just a few adjustments to fix the heating and we’ll be done. But please remember not to move, Pinkie.” Pinkie nodded as Twilight fiddled with something. “Now if you start to smell burning flesh, please let me know this time.”
“Hey! If you’re gonna burn someone’s flesh, do to the recruit and not Pinkie. Our mortgage is in her name.” Another person said as they walked into the room. She was wearing the same jumpsuit as the other two and her hair wasn’t just one color, but was entire rainbow. Twilight nodded and removed the pack from Pinkie, allowing her to rush towards Fluttershy, causing her to jump back into the railing behind her.
“So… What’s your name?” She asked with a smile.
“Nope. No names,” the rainbow lady said. “Don’t need to get attached to this thing.”
“Come on, Rainbow Dash. Let’s play nicely with the new recruit.” Pinkie said before turning back to Fluttershy, waiting for a response to her earlier question. “Well?”
“Um… M-My name is Fluttershy…”
--Meanwhile at the Museum of Natural History--
The security guard was walking down the halls of the old museum. They had closed to the public early because they were still preparing their exhibit on Nightmare Moon, and, even though it was still light outside, the inside of the museum was darker than ever. Suddenly, static broke the silence in the air as another guard spoke to him. “Yo, Flash. You near that Nightmare exhibit?”
“Yeah, why?” Flash replied, shining his flashlight through the darkness onto a sign that stated, ‘Nightmare Moon’.
“Well there’s somethin’ coming your way.”
“Hold on. I hear something,” Flash said, moving into the room. He shined his light around, illuminating objects that hid in the shadows.
“You wanna hear something? The guy who donated all this stuff, this Discord dude, they say that he’s done some nasty things in the past. Something ‘bout being a part of some cult...” At that moment, Flash shined the light on a skeleton and jumped.
“Um… How about we talk about this some other time…” he said, his voice shaking. “Any other time…” At that moment, a woman with golden hair that had streaks of red ran by Flash, carrying a stack of books. “Hey!” Flash cried, making an attempt to chase the lady. “You can’t be in here!” He got as far as the entrance of the exhibit before a blue glow behind caught his attention and before he knew what was happening, he was hit by some aura that knock him out. The blue aura exploded from the museum and spreaded across Manehattan.
Let Me Guess... It's A Seven
After getting her all suited up in her new Ghostbuster jumpsuit, Twilight took a step back, inspecting Fluttershy as she made sure that her new outfit fitted the pink-haired lady correctly. Fluttershy felt her face heat up in embarrassment as she watched Twilight’s eyes look her over.
“I think that’s it,” she said, smiling at Fluttershy. “Now all we have to do is to adjust the straps on the Proton Pack so it can sit nicely on your back.”
Fluttershy nodded and picked up the pack off the stool nearby. When it slid off the seat, she nearly fell over due to its unexpected heavy weight. She struggled as she lifted it off the ground while Rainbow Dash snickered at her. “Wasn’t as light as you expected, huh, newbie?” She said with a smile. Pinkie rushed over and helped Fluttershy slip her arms through the straps on the Pack, tightening them and clipping the buckle close.
“There!” Pinkie said, taking a step back. “Looks like the new recruit is all saddled up and ready.”
Twilight nodded at Pinkie, then turned to face Fluttershy. “I’ll just need to run a few more test and we’ll be ready…” Right at that moment, a shockwave shook the firehouse. The building rumbled as the ghostbusters stumbled around on the shaking floor. Then the shaking stopped as suddenly as it started and the group remained still incase of an aftershock.
After a few short seconds, Rainbow Dash looked at the others with a worried look on her face. “Was that us?” She asked.
Twilight shook her head. “No, I don’t think that was us…”
Pinkie began jumping around in joy. “That must have been some form of psycho-kinetic energy shockwave, level 7 or more!” She said with a smile.
At that moment, Rarity had entered the room via the staircase. “Is a Level 7… Whatever-you-call-it… Bad or very bad?” She said, looking around the room at the girls.
“Let’s just say that on a scale from one to ten…” Twilight started before being interrupted by Rainbow Dash.
“Let me guess… It’s a seven…”
“Let’s just say that things will be getting very busy very soon…” Pinkie said. Then a loud crash ran through the building. Moving quickly, Pinkie rushed to the fire pole located in the far corner of the room. She looked down through the hole and saw a familiar green and purple ghost had escaped his containment unit and was roaming freely in the Firehouse. “Spike’s gotten out… Again…”
“Pinkie, you go get suited up. We will need your help wrangling the little spud,” Twilight said. Pinkie nodded, grabbed the pole and slid down, heading towards the lockers. Then Twilight turned to Fluttershy and smiled. “Looks like training will be on the job today.”
Fluttershy nodded weakly as she followed Twilight and Rainbow Dash down to the ground floor. Pinkie met them at the bottom of the stairs with her own Proton Pack. “He went downstairs,” she said, taking the lead. The group followed her down another set of stairs that were behind the first. They led to a basement area that looks as if it’s used as a workshop area.
Approaching the bottom of the staircase, Fluttershy saw Spike floating before a giant, red circular door that was connected to several panels of electrical devices.
“There he is. By the Containment Unit,” Twilight said to the others.
Pinkie nodded in response. “Of course he is. Ever since you added the viewer to the unit, he’s been fascinated with it,” she said. Then she turned to Fluttershy. “Alright, cadet, it’s your turn.”
Fluttershy nodded meekly as she pulled on the Neutrona Wand and flipped the switch on her belt, just like she was told by Twilight earlier. The pack whirred to life as the Proton Accelerator turned on, heating itself up. She took aim, directing the nozzle towards the small ghost in front of her, who was still being distracted by the Containment Unit, and let out a small whimper as she pushed the trigger.
A concentrated stream of protons ruptured from the Wand and headed towards Spike in fluctuating path. It missed its target and zapped the Containment Unit instead, spooking the ghost, who rushed down the narrow hall to Fluttershy’s right into the sub-basement. Sparks shot from the door as a stream of smoke came from one of the control panels.
“Hey, careful! That’s some extremely sensitive equipment you’re vaporizing there!” Rainbow Dash yelled, causing Fluttershy to flinch in fear. Then a groan came from the door as another ghost popped into the room. It was a gray pony with no hind legs and a VERY large stomach. It had slime running down its chin and eyes that were a darker color of gray. Before anyone could do anything, the ghost shot from the Containment Unit and rushed down the same hallway Spike went.
“Oops, you let one out…” Pinkie said, moving down the hall.
“That’s my fault. I was calibrating a few things. I should have been more careful,” Twilight said, inspecting the Containment Unit for damage. “Why don’t you and Fluttershy go wrangle our little friends into a trap before they escape?”
“Right!” Pinkie said with a smile. She nudged Fluttershy as she passed by. “Come on.”
Fluttershy nodded and followed Pinkie down the hall and through the door that led to the Sub-basement. As they moved down the slightly-narrow path, Pinkie turned to Fluttershy with a smile on her face. “Hey, don’t sweat the Containment Unit. Everyone gets excited with their first time,” she says, putting some of the guilt that Fluttershy had to ease. “Twilight will have it fixed before you know it.”
Fluttershy smiled weakly as they approached another door. Pinkie grabbed the knob and looked back at her pink-haired friend with a smile. “Here we go.”
