Pear and Velvet: Voltergeist

With the newfound knowledge of the lost soul that was housed in the mass of writhing current, the three of them looked back at the creature with mixed emotion.

“Damn it…” Hibiscus muttered. “What do we do?”

“Move back inside, slowly.” Pear ordered as she carefully stepped backwards.

“Well, the power to the house is off so we’re safe here.” Twilight noted.

“We need to make sure we stay grounded.” Pear looked back at them. “As long as our protected hooves are on the ground, he can’t run current through us.”

“He can still impact us though.” Twilight reminded. “When I watched it attack Wyndham’s team, it went out of its way to get creatures in the air and compromise their gear.”

Hibiscus dropped to the floor and opened up the bag, rifling through it as Pear and Twilight watched. “What are you doing?” Pear asked.

“Looking for something totemic,” Hibiscus answered. “These are his things, he’s a drifter so this is all he had on his back. Maybe there is something in here, something personal that… I don’t know… we can use to reach the part of it that’s still Meadow.”

“You think we can reason with it?” Twilight knelt beside her.

“Not reason with, but maybe… distract.” Hibiscus pulled out an old Polaroid. “Look at this, these must be his parents.”

“Well… ain’t nothing more meaningful than family.” Pear conceded.

“Let me have it.” Twilight opened her hand. “If you think we can reach it, I’ll take a shot.”

“But…” Hibiscus protested as she handed over the photo.

“Don’t worry, Sugar.” Pear laid her hand on Hibiscus’ shoulder. “We won’t rely just on that.”

“What have you got planned?” Twilight watched her creep towards the window.

“Well, if we can move along making sure there are high points of conductivity around us; we should be able to make a run for it.” She explained.

“What, like lightning rods?” Hibiscus inquired.

“Any old thing can attract lightning,” Pear glanced back at her. “We just have to make sure we’re the least attractive things around.”

“Don’t hear girls say that too often.” Hibiscus jested with a nervous laugh.

“We just have to plan a very particular route.” Pear continued.

“Well, the chain link fencing along the easement should draw some fire.” Twilight noted.

“We can also use the stop signs and phone poles.” Pear added. “When we move, just make sure you always have one hoof on the ground.”

“Right.” Hibiscus nodded.

“Is it still watching?” Twilight joined her by the window.

“Like a hawk in a field of rats.” Pear confirmed.

Twilight headed for the door again and bravely stepped outside, she looked up at their opponent and took a deep breath. “You recognize this place, don’t you!?” She called up. “You used to live here, right!?” Pear and Hibiscus stepped out to her back. “Meadow! That’s your name, isn’t it!?” The thing’s head tilted sharply at the name and focused its eyes solely on Twilight. “It’s you, isn’t it Meadow!? Maple helped you, gave you a place to stay… but you killed her!”

“Not the time to be accusatory.” Hibiscus worriedly suggested.

The creature held its arm out to the side and fired into the connector for the line it stood on, the wire came loose and fell to the street; he shrunk and vanished from view only to reform at street level by the end of the wire.

“He needs to maintain a place to manifest.” Hibiscus observed. “He can’t just move about as he wants.”

“Good to know.” Pear whispered back.

“Meadow.” Twilight braved a few steps closer. “Something terrible happened to you, didn’t it? That’s why you attacked the plant and the town, that’s why you keep killing creatures.” The thing still refused to act as she spoke. “I’m sorry about whatever happened to you, but this has to stop.” She pleaded. “My friends and I have been trying to find out what happened to you. We want to help, if you need justice or closure then let us help you.”

Its erratic mouth slowly dropped open. “JUST…ICE…”

“Holy shit…” Hibiscus clamped her hand over her mouth in shock.

“Justice?” Twilight repeated. “Were you… killed?”

“KI…KIL…KILL!” It suddenly raised its arm again.

“Meadow!” Twilight held up the photo. “This is yours, right?” She pushed the photo closer. “Are these your parents?”

It suddenly moved its arm upward and fired again, another wire running on the opposite side of the road fell not five feet from Twilight.

“Vel, get back.” Pear calmly instructed, reaching out for her.

Twilight held her arm back to stop her. “No.” She watched as through a planned arc, the form deconstructed and reconstructed closer to her.

“MO…THER…FATH..ER…” It reached out towards the photo.

“I’m a mother too, Meadow.” Twilight continued. “I know that if something happened to my child, I’d want to know the truth. Help us learn the truth.” She looked to him with eyes that only a mother could offer. “I’m so sorry this happened to you, but punishing the creatures of this town isn’t the answer. Maple said that you were a good Stallion, and now more than ever, I know that Stallion is still in there.” The others watched in amazement as the swell of its body seemed to calm.

“She’s really doing it.” Hibiscus muttered in awe.

“Meadow.” Twilight continued. “Can you tell me what happened?”

“I….I…” It seemed to struggled with coherent thought.

“We know it happened at the plant.” Twilight relayed. “We know that Mr. Pollack…”

The creature’s eyes suddenly flared and the swell of its body returned. “AL…AL…ALABASTER!” It roared, causing Twilight to fall back.

“Time to go, sugar!” Pear grabbed her arm and started to run. “Come on, girl!”

“Right behind you!” Hibiscus followed.

“Stay close and stay low!” Pear commanded and random bolts of electricity began striking around them. Twilight could hear Meadow’s pain in the horrid cries that echoed behind them; the emotional response causing the creature to lose focus in its aim.

“Look!” Hibiscus pointed up to the lines above; it had returned to its vantage and was giving chase.

“Stick to the plan, stay close to something that can draw his shots!” Pear noted as they retraced their steps back through the streets. As they weaved and zig-zagged around available metal, the hypothesis held true as the arrant strikes were attracted to the more conductive pieces of the urban landscape. Hearts pounding and legs burning, they made their way back through the easement and used the fence as a shield as they rushed through the weeds. Once back out on the street, they were forced to the side as it managed to get in front of them. It fired again and struck Hibiscus in the chest, as she flew backwards, Pear jumped on her and pressed her against the ground as another shot struck her in the back. Managing to maintain grounded status, the protective clothing was enough to keep them safe but the blunt force of the impact still managed to send blood spilling from her mouth.

“Meadow!” Twilight called and waved, drawing its attention away from Pear. “Over here!” She ran behind a car and crouched as a bolt struck the vehicle. She moved forward, using other cars parked along the sidewalk to keep moving up the street.

Back behind her, Pear got Hibiscus to her knees. “You okay?”

“Your mouth.” Hibiscus saw the blood.

“Not now, we need to keep moving. We're almost to the safe zone.” Pear pulled her to her hooves. “Let’s go.” The pair began sprinting up the road, ahead of them they could see it firing down at Twilight as it rode the power lines.

“Hey, look.” Hibiscus saw one of the cars with a dead stallion in the driver’s seat. “If the engine isn’t dead, we can use that to take out the poles.”

They went to the vehicle and Pear pulled the body from the driver’s seat, finding the key still in its hand. “Looks like he didn’t get a chance to start it up, should be usable.” Pear got in. “Let me handle this, you keep moving up the road.

“Be careful.” Hibiscus begged as she hurried away.

Pear started the engine and quickly put the car into gear; putting her hoof down on the accelerator, she quickly blew past Hibiscus and up the street. The power of the vehicle quickly drew the creature’s attention and it ceased attacking Twilight. As it aimed its arm at the car, Pear opened the door and rolled out onto the street as the car slammed into the pole. The base split and it began to topple, forcing the electrically bound spirit to fall back to a previous pole.

“Pear!” Hibiscus ran across the street and helped the cut and scraped Pear up. “We’re almost there!” The two of them hurried up to Twilight who took Pear’s opposite arm and with the enraged screams of the stalled creature behind them, they made their way back into the safe zone.

Once safe, the three of them all but collapsed; Twilight held Pear’s cheek and checked her scraped hands and face.

“Are you okay?” She asked worriedly.

“Heh… yeah,” Pear nodded through a series of short breaths. “Been more banged up roughhousing with Applejack.”

“You saved me,” Hibiscus hugged her opposite side. “Thank you.”

The sound of the crash and toppling pole caught the attention of some of the nearby townsfolk; they saw the exhausted trio and hurried to aid them. Knowing there was no time to relax, they made their way back to the station to see Wyndham. Seeing their condition, he was quick to summon the EMT’s on his team to tend to them; after being treated and cleared, Wyndham joined them in the makeshift triage area.

“Thank heavens you made it out with just the injuries you did.” He pulled up a stool and sat across from them. “I hope it was worth it.”

“It was,” Twilight began. “I talked to it, Wyndham. We know who it used to be.”

Her words brought all those within ear shot to a standstill, with heavy murmurs they were quickly crowded. “Quiet.” Wyndham ordered. “You really know?”

“Yeah,” Pear nodded. “It’s a Stallion named Meadow. It turns out the Mare that left her home to my mother did it with the intent of getting her here and getting the truth in her hands so she could help you.” She laid her hand to her chest. “Which means that technically, we were brought here to specifically to help y’all end this nightmare.”

“Meadow…” Wyndham repeated the name. “Not familiar to me.”

“He was a drifter who got a job at the plant.” Hibiscus carried on, holding up the bag. “These are his things.”

“Maple let him stay with her and got worried when he disappeared.” Twilight continued. “She left a letter explaining everything.” She took the letter from her pocket to show him.

“And you… spoke to it?” Wyndham asked further.

“Yes,” Twilight confirmed. “Hibiscus found a photo of his parents, I showed it to him and he calmed down. I told him we wanted to help and find out what happened to him so he could find peace. But he repeated the word justice after I said it… something happened to him at that plant and he wants revenge for it.”

“It was Alabaster.” Pear said soundly, bringing more murmurs to the gathered creatures.

“What?” Wyndham eyed her.

“Twilight had him calm until she mentioned him; as soon as he heard the name he flew into a rage and started attacking us, that’s when we had to run.” Pear detailed. “He did something to that boy which must be why he wants to keep his mouth shut and hole up in his home until this is over.”

Wyndham absorbed the heavy tale. “Well, I doubt you’d make any of this up at this point.” He looked at the letter. “Given the evidence, it seems I’m going to have to have a talk with him.” He sighed. “Getting to him is going to be a problem though; like I said, he’s close to the plant and the closer we get the stronger that thing becomes.” He stood and looked around him. “Listen up, reaching and questioning Alabaster Pollack is our priority operation. I want the work teams to halt for the time being and focus on finding a route we can take to his home.”

“Yes sir!” Several of the creatures sounded.

“Get to work.” He dismissed them, looking back to Twilight. “It seems you really were brought here to help. Thank you.”

“Glad we’re able to.” Twilight smiled.

“Yeah,” Pear took her shoulder. “And we’ll help see it through to the end.”

Wyndham nodded. “Get back to the motel and rest, I’ll have word sent to you when we have a plan.”

“Rest sounds good.” Hibiscus let out a long breath. “My legs are killing me from that run.”

“Girl, you’re half our age.” Pear laughed. “If that little jog got you wore out you then you won’t make it to our age.”

“Little jog!?” Hibiscus said in exasperation. “Sorry I’m not some farm-raised super hero.”

“It’s okay,” Twilight put her arm around her with a laugh. “You’re a book smart girl just like my daughter.”

Applewood was at the font desk when they returned; the obvious worry on his face melted away upon seeing them and he gave Hibiscus a welcoming hug. “Oh, I was starting to get worried.” He sighed, noticing their bandages and wraps. “What happened?”

“That’s… a bit of a story.” Hibiscus noted.

“Well I want to hear it,” He noted as he looked to Twilight. “You’ve got a visitor too, said he heard you were looking for him earlier.”

“That must be Winchester.” Twilight glanced over at Pear. “Maybe he knows something about Meadow.”

“Okay, well…” Pear looked to Hibiscus. “Why don’t you get Applewood filled in and we’ll talk to Winchester.”

“Sure,” Hibiscus nodded. “Come on, Tanner will want to hear this too.”

“Right,” Applewood pointed back towards the former breakfast area. “He’s waiting for you in there.”

Pear and Twilight headed back into the quiet space to find the Stallion sitting with a cup of coffee and a small package of pretzels. He looked between the Mares and lightly raised the cup to them. “I guess you’re the ones looking for me?” He asked.

“Yes,” Twilight said as she and Pear joined him at the table. “Thank you for coming here.”

He slowly nodded. “Sorry I wasn’t at the bank I just… needed some space.” His face belied a deep weariness at life. “I don’t like crowds… crowds draw too much attention from that thing.”

“Meadow.” Twilight stated. “His name is Meadow.”

“What?” His eyes widened.

“We learned who it used to be,” Pear began. “It’s a long story, but the point is that he used to work…”

“At the plant… yeah…” Winchester finished. “I remember him.”

“What happened to him?” Twilight asked. “We’re so close to figuring this all out and once we do… we’re sure we can find some way to stop all this.”

“As far as I knew, he left.” Winchester answered. “He was a good kid; worked hard, kept his mouth shut when it needed to be and ran it when we needed to blow off some steam.” He let out a distant chuckle. “Most of the crews liked him.”

“Him leaving is just a story.” Twilight informed. “We can all but verify that; Pollack did something to him, even his assistant said he handled his ‘firing’ in an unorthodox manner.”

Winchester laid his hand over his mouth and stared off at the wall. “Naw…”

“What?” Pear recaptured his attention.

“He said he had gotten into it with the old man,” Winchester started slowly. “Didn’t say what about but…” He turned his eyes to Pear. “Did anyone tell you about Mayweather?”

“Who?” Pear asked.

“His girl,” Winchester continued. “She practically lived at the plant, everyone knew her and treated her like one of the family. She was cool with everyone but… she was pretty flirty with Meadow; everyone noticed it and ribbed him about it all the time. He said nothing was going on but that doesn’t stop rumors; it was just a running joke, but if you think Mr. Pollack really did something to him… then maybe it wasn’t a joke.”

“Meadow and his daughter were dating.” Twilight surmised.

“I… don’t know,” Winchester shook his head. “Like I said, there were rumors but it was just something to get the kid red cheeked over. Nobody really thought he was banging her.” His face grew grim. “Is that thing really Meadow?” He asked.

“Yeah, it is.” Pear nodded.

“God damn…” Winchester put his cup down and slumped in the chair. “I saw it before… I was so scared that I nearly pissed myself. All the creatures it’s killed, that isn’t like Meadow at all.”

“It isn’t fully Meadow, only the anger and pain that remained after his death.” Twilight summarized Hibiscus’ explanation. “But… believe it or not, I did speak to some part of him that’s left.”

“No shit?” He looked to her in surprise. “Poor kid… whatever happened to him, he didn’t deserve it.” He looked back to his cup and raised it, downing the remainder of the coffee. “If you can really stop this, then maybe the kid can finally rest.” He stood and offered a light wave. “That’s all the help I can be though.”

“Thank you, Winchester.” Twilight could see how much the news impacted his already disillusioned state of mind. He left and they could hear the front door part and close again; Twilight shook her head at the new pieces of the puzzle they had just been handed. “This just gets messier and messier.”

“Maybe,” Pear agreed. “But at least everything keeps pointing in the same direction.”

Twilight let out a tired breath. “I’m beat.”

“Well, we did darn near get ourselves killed.” Pear chortled.

“Yeah, I’m not looking forward to when all that really sinks in.” Twilight said with a half smile “Feels like everything is pure adrenaline; that was fine back when I was twenty something.”

“Aw, you’re in fine shape.” Pear patted her back. “Especially for a city gal.”

Twilight laughed at her common nickname. “I’m looking forward to getting back to my ‘city gal’ life. Where the most intense thing is my spin class.”

“Riding a bike that don’t go nowhere…” Pear muttered as she stood. “Doesn’t make a lick of sense.” She offered her hand to help her up. “Come on, I think we’ve earned dinner tonight.”

Pear and Twilight were the talk of the table that night; word had already begun to spread of what they had done and what they had uncovered. However, for the first time in a long time, there was an air of hopefulness. Finally, as faint as it may have been, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. While it felt good to see an upturn in everyone’s mood, it was not lost on them that they were nowhere near the hard part; but in the meantime they resolved themselves to do a little celebrating.