Pipp the Poltergeist

Chapters

Sprout the Supernatural
Spiritual Bloom
Life to a Ghost
Hitch's Fire
Zipp's Call
Sunny's Salvation
The Familiar Revealed
The Afterlife to a Ghost
It is Ghosties This Time...

Sprout the Supernatural

Outside of Canterlove Studios, the familiar red pony with blonde hair, Sprout Cloverleaf, was still smirking to himself as he sat down in a folding chair. He was sitting at a table with an assortment of baked goods and sweets on top of it and holding a mug of lukewarm cocoa in his hooves. He put the mug down on the table and pulled out a pair of binoculars.

“Heh heh heh…” he snickered as he watched Sunny and her friends approach the building from a distance through the binoculars. “Oh, I can’t wait to see the look on their faces when they learn that I really do have the strongest magic of any pony in Maretime Bay…”

He then put the binoculars away and grabbed the mug of lukewarm cocoa again, putting it on top of one of his hooves. Soon, somehow, it became hot…

“And I also can’t wait for them to see you…” he said excitedly as he turned his head toward the front doors of the building, talking to something invisible to the naked eye. “My familiar…”

Whatever he was talking to let out a yawn. Zipp could faintly hear the sound of this yawn, something that led her to stop in her tracks and put a hoof to her head.

“What’s wrong, Zipp?” Sunny asked her friend in concern.

“I don’t know.” Zipp answered honestly. “I just felt…like there was this strange vibration in the air…”

“We’re definitely getting close…” Izzy remarked forebodingly. “I can sense a spiritual presence from close by…something tells me we’re going to have a supernatural encounter before we even enter the building…”

“Really?” Hitch reacted in surprise. “Do you think Canterlove Studios is that haunted?”

“The level of how haunted it is bears no relevance to what’s likely waiting for us outside the building.” Izzy answered. “I have a good feeling that he’ll be there…”

“Who’s “he”?” Zipp asked in perplexment.

“Sprout.” Izzy replied blankly.

“Ha!” Sunny exclaimed cockily. “Knowing what a scaredy-cat he is, I bet if he has decided to visit the place today, he’s already galloped off with his tail between his hind legs!”

“I wouldn’t bet on it…” Misty retorted. “Sprout knows about the sixth sense Izzy and I possess.”

Sunny’s attitude immediately shifted from happy and confident to disillusioned and uncertain just from hearing what Misty said.

“…You’re kidding me, right?” Sunny remarked in a subdued tone. “Sprout of all ponies knew about your otherworldly senses before we did? What are you going to tell me next, that he has supernatural powers too?”

Izzy and Misty both looked at each other abashedly. Noticing this, Sunny’s face displayed a pained expression of terror.

“Oh my hoofness…” she said, now greatly worried. “What kind of abilities does he have?”

“Nothing you, the alicorn, should feel threatened by, heh heh…” Misty replied sheepishly.

“We’ll be fine.” Izzy explained assuredly. “It’s not like Sprout is interested in fighting us. He’s just going to try silly games with us.”

“Seems you’ve done your homework…” Zipp interjected with her usual tone of suspicion.

Izzy looked away guiltily, leading an equally ashamed Misty to speak defensively.

“We’re just honoring what Pipp wants…” she said sincerely.

“Wait…” Zipp replied, curious. “Are Pipp and Sprout…”

“Uuurrrooohhh!”

Zipp was cut off by a sudden eager cry from an excited Sparky, who had just detected the pleasant smell of something.

“What’s up, little buddy?” Hitch asked the baby dragon that had been perched on his back.

“Uuurrrooohhh!” Sparky cried happily again as he jumped off his caretaker’s back and ran ahead.

“Sparky!” a concerned Hitch exclaimed as he and the others naturally gave chase. They were running toward a table that Sparky hopped on top of, ready to grab a heated cookie off a plate of cookies that had been laid out on the side of the table. Just before he did though, Sparky saw a red hoof emit something that normally couldn’t be seen by the naked eye.

“Uuuwwwooohhh…” he reacted in surprise.

“Hmm?” the owner of the red hoof said in response, also surprised. “When did you get here?”

Sprout, the owner of the red hoof, had been admiring what he had made appear in his hoof before Sparky arrived. He was looking at Sparky confusedly before he looked back at his hoof and continued talking with…

“Oh yeah, that’s right. This morning, you didn’t actually-”

“Sparky!” Hitch exclaimed again as he and the others arrived at the table, where Hitch promptly grabbed the baby dragon and put him back on his back.

“You can’t go running off like that! Not to mention almost spoiling your dinner!” he admonished the hatchling.

Sprout chuckled upon hearing this.

“You sound like my mother…” he joked.

“What it’s to y-” Hitch was about to retort before he paused in mid-sentence, seeing in Sprout’s hoof what Sparky had seen.

“What…what is that…?” he asked in astonishment.

Sprout, realizing that Hitch could somehow see what was in his hoof, quickly made it disappear.

“What’s what?” he responded, playing dumb. “I’m just hosting a friendly bake sale here! Want to try something?”

Sunny and all of her friends shot Sprout an unamused glare, not buying his act of feigned innocence.

“Nothing on the table is poisoned, I assure you!” he exclaimed in an inviting tone that failed to convince them.

“That’s what they all say…” the always suspecting Zipp responded.

“You can drop the act, Sprout...” Sunny interjected.

“You know who else needs to drop the act?” Sprout made a rejoinder. “Your mom!”

“I don’t have a mom.” Sunny replied bluntly.

“Well, I do!” Sprout exclaimed giddily. “Score one for the boys back home!”

“You know what, forget you.” Sunny told him off before turning away and addressing her next remark to her friends. “Come on gang, we’re going inside.”

“Sure, just waltz on in there…” Sprout told them sarcastically, swigging his hot cocoa condescendingly on his hoof. “…If you can…”

“Oh, what?” Sunny retorted, turning back to face him. “Are you going to use your “spooky” supernatural powers to stop me? In case you didn’t know, I’m an alicorn! I’ve faced off against worse than whatever you could throw at me! I held my own against Opaline!”

With the simple utterance of Opaline’s name, Sunny saw a smug grin on Sprout’s face immediately fade, but not for the reason she wanted. His hot cocoa began to bubble ominously before he put it down. She began growing nervous, becoming overwhelmed by an eerie premonition when Sprout shot her a displeased look and said in a tone that made him sound like he had become possessed by a demon…

“Did you say…OPALINE?”

Sunny gulped, trembling as she now felt like she was in the presence of a completely different pony. There was fear in her eyes as they met Sprout’s eyes, seeing a fire in them that filled her with the dreadful thought of ponies burning to death…

“…Yes.” Sunny finally told Sprout sheepishly. “I’m sorry…is her name…taboo to you?”

“No.” Sprout replied in his normal voice, though he sounded angry despite trying to speak blankly. “It’s just that the spirits who haunt this building don’t like hearing their killer’s name used flippantly by an outsider. My familiar who guards this place is one of her victims too…and let me tell you that he’s definitely not going to let you enter the building after hearing that.”

Sunny regained her composure slightly after hearing the word, “outsider”, and shot Sprout a stern look.

“No one’s an outsider here, Sprout.” she rebutted him. “I don’t care what supernatural force says otherwise, this building is for every pony, and my friends and I are going to keep it that way.”

“Ha ha ha…I like you…”

Sunny could hear that laugh and those words spoken in a familiar voice addressing her, and in shock, she turned around to see the entrance to the building. There was nothing to be seen…by the naked eye. However, for a moment, she knew something was present…it was as if something had briefly awakened her sixth sense…

“That voice…” she said to herself in her mind in bewilderment. “It sounded like…Twilight Sparkle’s voice? But…more masculine? What’s going on here?!”

“I can see that my familiar has taken an interest in you…” Sprout commented, a bit of cockiness returning to his tone. “However, under no circumstances is he going to let you by just because of that. Nor will I.”

Sunny sighed, realizing that she had no choice but to play Sprout’s game. Although that presence guarding the building was likely just messing with her by trying to imitate Twilight’s voice, she had sensed that it was stronger than her…

“What do you want from us?” she begrudgingly asked Sprout.

“First,” answered a Sprout who had his cockiness fully restored, “you, Zipp, and Hitch need to try one of my cookies. I normally charge for them, but I’ll let you each have a free sample. Just mind the cake ghosts…”

He slid the plate of cookies that had attracted Sparky from the side of the table to the center. Small, purple spirits emerged from the cookies, making Sunny, Zipp, and Hitch slightly nervous.

“Why don’t Izzy and Misty have to eat one?” the usually suspicious Zipp asked.

“Because these cookies are for fully awakening one’s dormant supernatural abilities.” Sprout explained. “Izzy and Misty have already become fully aware of their power to sense the supernatural, so they don’t need one. We’re all adult ponies here who have to watch our caloric intake, after all. Ha ha ha!”

“You, Izzy, and Misty are hardly my idea of adult ponies…” an unamused Zipp thought to herself, not impressed by what she felt was Sprout’s attempt at subtly flexing his supposed maturity. “You especially, at least Izzy and Misty are cutely immature…”

Despite her friends sharing her lack of enthusiasm, however, they all knew what they had to do…

Sunny, Zipp, and Hitch each took a cookie and ate it. After they chewed and swallowed the cookies, they felt an uncanny sensation…and each of them experienced something different…

Sunny saw a ghostly image of her father flash through her mind before she could feel a pony from behind place a hoof on her shoulder and whisper something in the same voice she had heard earlier when she momentarily sensed Sprout’s familiar…

“We’re dying to meet you…once you have the power that existed before Twilight’s time…”

Zipp saw an image of her sister as a ghost flash through her mind before she could hear something spoken in what sounded like her sister’s voice distorted…

“Our family has a secret…the blood of powerful unicorns runs through our veins…”

Hitch saw an image of a pink and purple fire flash through his mind before he remembered a time when he was a colt, eating cookies his Grandma Figgy had made as she told him…

“I’ve been making these cookies for a very long time now…ha ha ha…”

After these experiences ended, all three ponies could now feel a new sensation come over them…they looked at their bodies and became awestruck as they could now see and feel a white and gray light glowing around them.

“Woah…” Hitch reacted in amazement.

“What is this?” Zipp asked curiously.

“Have Izzy and Misty always been able to see this?” Sunny said, pondering.

“Yes, we have.” Izzy gave her friend an answer. “That’s your aura. It’s the supernatural light that surrounds us all, not to be confused with your sparkle, a luminescence that reflects the unique aspects of your soul.”

“Speaking of unique aspects,” interjected Misty, “you three should each start seeing your own unique latent supernatural ability fully emerge. Though we all have the power to sense the spiritual, each one of us has a different calling to a different kind of power based on predilections, convictions, and upbringings.”

“For example,” Sprout chimed in, “I love food that reminds me of my mom’s cooking, so I’m good at preparing sweets like those cookies that awakened you to the power to see your aura. I also dream of being a great leader, so I was called to the power to summon familiars to do my bidding.”

“So even with supernatural powers, he’s a lazy mama’s boy…” Sunny thought to herself in amusement. “Some things never change…”

“Don’t start getting overconfident now though just because I’ve graced you with new power…” Sprout admonished the three with a complete lack of self-awareness. “First, look up at the sky. Then, look over at the entrance to the building.”

The three curiously looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was beginning to set…they felt a slight chill course through them as they realized that even though it only felt like minutes had passed since they ate the cookies and experienced what they did, it was actually hours that had passed. They felt even more unnerved once they glanced over at Canterlove’s entrance and saw the form Sprout’s familiar had taken…a slightly overweight, lavender unicorn stallion that bore a striking resemblance to Twilight Sparkle. He was resting with one eye open in front of the doors…

“What the…” the three went in confoundment.

“Don’t rack your brains, that’s not Twilight.” Sprout said to alleviate their bemusement. “That’s just a spirit trying to imitate Twilight’s form. Although I didn’t command it to take that form…it just likes that form for some reason…”

“A reason that doesn’t concern you at the moment, heh heh…” Sprout thought to himself amusedly, having played dumb.

Despite the three still being bemused, they could sense this familiar was stronger than them, strong enough to stop them from getting into Canterlove without making a wholehearted effort.

“How do we get him to move?” Sunny asked inquisitively.

“I’ll dismiss him once you pass my test.” Sprout explained his conditions. “I’ll ask you, the alicorn, one question and you have to give me the right answer…or at least an answer I like, heh.”

“Just one question for me?” Sunny replied, slightly puzzled.

“Yes.” Sprout answered blankly. “It’s a question just like one Pipp asked me not too long ago…”

This line instantly caught Zipp’s attention, leading her to inquire…

“Hold on…” she interjected. “Are you two working together?”

“Hmmm…that’s a tricky question…” Sprout replied in a tone that sounded derisive. “I think the way I’d describe our business is…none of your business, bwa ha ha!”

“Grrr…” a frustrated Zipp growled. “But why not tell us?! What detriment is it to you?! Pipp’s our friend! My sister!”

“Maybe Pipp asked me not to tell you.” he teased with a wink. “Regardless, I’m the one asking the questions here. So if you want answers from me, you better hope your alicorn friend gets this question right.”

“Enough mouthing,” said Sunny sternly, unhappy with Sprout’s rude behavior towards Zipp, “just ask me the question.”

“Since you’re begging, sure.” Sprout agreed after one more declaiming. “What would you do in the following scenario?”

Sunny felt a bad premonition similar to the one she had felt earlier when Sprout had reacted the way he did to the mention of Opaline’s name.

“You’re in a burning building.” he told Sunny the scenario. “Izzy and Misty are on one side of the building, Pipp is on another side of the building, and I’m lying on the floor unconscious. You can only save Izzy and Misty, Pipp, or me. Who do you save?”

Sunny and her friends were completely taken aback, alarmed and shocked by what Sprout had asked.

“You can’t expect Sunny to answer something like that!” Hitch protested in indignation. “There’s no right answer to a question like that, never has been!”

“Sprout, that’s sick!” Sunny exclaimed, also indignant. “I value all life equally! I’d try to save every pony!”

“Not a valid answer, I’m afraid.” Sprout retorted. “Although speaking hypothetically, one choice could lead you to save every pony, so choose wisely.”

Zipp, Izzy, and Misty were speechless, recalling what Sprout had said about this question being like one Pipp asked him…

“What’s gotten into my sister?!” Zipp thought in terror. “She’s definitely possessed!”

“I think I already know what Sprout’s idea of the right answer is…” an unnerved Izzy thought. “When I was here this morning while I was watching Sparky and wanting to check on Pipp…I heard him talking to himself and gloating about how an answer that looked obviously wrong was going to turn out to be right…”

“Sprout knows from the spirits of Opaline’s victims how awful it is to be burned alive…” a shuddering Misty thought. “And so does Pipp…I know she doesn’t have the option to hold back, but allowing Sprout to ask Sunny something like this feels like too much!”

Despite the intense amount of pressure she was feeling, Sunny knew she had to be resolute and sound of mind.

“I have to remain calm…” she reminded herself in thought. “This is just a puzzle…and I will find the correct solution that allows me to save every pony!”

“No matter how she answers…it’s a win for me.” an always overconfident Sprout thought. “I’ll still see her submitting to my will…in realization that my magic is the strongest in Maretime Bay! Mwa ha ha!”

Unbeknownst to him, however, Pipp the Poltergeist was watching everything from above, looking out from a window in a room on the top floor of Canterlove Studios. She could tell what Sprout was thinking from a smirk on his face and chuckled.

“He doesn’t know yet that the strength of one’s supernatural power isn’t measured by the strength of one’s magic…” she thought amusedly. “It’s measured by the strength of one’s will. Sunny will surely triumph over Sprout, for her willpower is far stronger.”

She then looked at the pendant with a familiar symbol on it before saying…

“Especially with it being enhanced by your faith, wouldn’t you agree?”

A blue, ghostly energy began to exude from the pendant, leading Sunny to start sensing a warm presence…her aura began to grow larger as she entered the space of her mind, now able to see her own thoughts…

Author's Note

Lot of mysteries being built up with this chapter. Also, did you catch the joke with the title?

Spiritual Bloom

Sunny Starscout had entered the space of her mind after sensing a warm presence, now seeing an area completely filled with a bright, white light. Just like when she had eaten one of Sprout Cloverleaf’s cookies, she saw a ghostly image of her father flash. Only this time, the image of her father became solid in front of her, speaking to her directly.

“Long time no see, Sunny.” the image of Sunny’s father, Argyle Starshine, greeted her happily.

“Dad?!” Sunny cried in shock, feeling a rush of mixed emotions. “Is it really you?!”

Sunny couldn’t help but ask on impulse. Whether the figure standing in front of her was something her mind had conjured up or the real spirit of her father was something she had to ascertain.

“That depends.” the figure gave her an unprecedented response. “Do you want it to be me?”

“Huh?” a perplexed Sunny reacted, putting a hoof to her head and shaking her head. “Okay, now I’m confused…”

“Then allow me to try and explain it in a simple way.” the figure responded. “When ponies lose the ones they love, they naturally want to believe their loved ones are still with them in a way. If a pony’s will is strong enough, they can make that belief a reality they can live. Now that you are spiritually aware, the ones you love who no longer have a physical form can always abide with you…if you truly desire for it to be with everything in your soul.”

“…” Sunny was awestruck, having no clue what to say. This figure standing before her had such an endearing presence, filling her with hope that what she had been told was the truth. She was truly starting to feel now that this really was her father…and she knew in her heart the best way to confirm this feeling…

“If you really are my father…” she told the figure. “…I want to know two things. Just please answer these two questions for me.”

“Gladly.” the figure answered cheerfully with a nod and a warm smile.

“Has the afterlife been good to you?” she asked. “And…if you’ve been watching over my friends and I…can you tell me that Pipp is okay?”

“Are you sure that’s what you wish to ask me?” the figure replied, still smiling. “You know there are better questions for testing to see if I really am your father. Also, don’t you want to know if your father’s proud of you if he’s been watching over you?”

“Yes, I’m sure.” Sunny answered sincerely, nodding and smiling warmly just like the figure had. “Because even if I was only slightly confident in my belief that you’re my father, what’s most important to me is that he’s doing just as great in the afterlife as in this life…and that all of my friends are safe.”

“Oh, Sunny…” the figure replied, lifting up his forelegs, inviting her to give him a hug.

Sunny answered the invitation, knowing as soon as she entered this figure’s warm embrace that it really was him…not an illusion conjured by her mind, but her father, Argyle Starshine.

“There’s a reason I don’t need to ask you much…” Sunny further explained her reasoning for asking what she did as tears of joy began to roll down her cheeks. “It’s because I’ve always known in my heart that you’ve always been here for me…that you’ve never truly been gone…”

“I can assure you,” said Argyle, “I am just as alive now as I was before I passed away. My faith in you makes me feel alive, and your faith in turn enhances that feeling of vivacity. As for Pipp, I’d say she feels more alive than ever right now. She knows the truths you and your friends will have to face will be difficult to take in, but fully trusts in all of you pulling through. This challenge Sprout has given you is nothing but a minor obstacle.”

“Heh heh…” Sunny snickered. “I can’t believe I was actually nervous when I first realized he had supernatural powers. Not so much because I was afraid of him, but because of how…uncertain that fact made me. After all, I’ve never looked at Sprout as the type to deserve otherworldly power, but even though he’s annoying and selfish, I can’t bring myself to look at a pony I used to play with as all bad. Getting to see you again makes me more confident that there’s something more to this…there has to be some desire to do good in him.”

“There’s a desire to do good in all of us, Sunny.” Argyle replied. “Even a pony as evil as Opaline has deluded herself into thinking she’s done good for the world in her attempts to turn it into a place where the strong have full domination over the weak.”

“Opaline…” Sunny repeated that name as she recalled something. “When I said her name in front of Sprout, he started acting really strange…like he was a completely different pony. I felt something from him that really freaked me out!”

“What you felt wasn’t coming from him.” Argyle explained. “That was the anger of the spirits of Opaline’s victims. Opaline has been making ponies suffer since before the time of Twilight Sparkle. Their ghosts have been drawn to this location, not by lingering attachment to it, but by something that has called them here. I think they’ve sensed that this is where they will finally be able to find peace…”

“If it’s peace they want, it’s peace they’ll get!” Sunny exclaimed enthusiastically. “It’s my job as the alicorn to lead ponies to live happy lives! It should be no different for the afterlife! If they want help finding peace, I’ll gladly accommodate them!”

“Ha ha ha ha ha!” Argyle let out a hearty laugh. “I’ve only just explained to you who these ghosts that terrified you are and what they want, and your first reaction is an expression of an earnest desire to help them! That’s my girl! You’re going to burn through this…”

“You bet!” Sunny exclaimed, pumping a hoof. “I know for sure how I’m going to answer Sprout’s question now…and it’s all thanks to you.”

“Don’t be so modest, my dear.” Argyle warmly replied as Sunny prepared to leave the space of her mind and give Sprout her answer. “You should know that the reason I had this conversation with you isn’t because I felt you needed my encouragement…”

It’s because…

Having now returned to the physical world, Sunny was fully ready to give Sprout the answer to his question, exuding an aura many times brighter than she was exuding before. Her friends could feel the strength of her aura and were amazed. Sprout could feel it too, quickly also feeling his confidence in his own power diminish.

“What the…” he said in his mind with nervosity. “Where did this power come from?”

“So…” Sunny told Sprout with a confident grin and glare. “Ready to hear my answer?”

“How…” Sprout continued to make disbelieving remarks in his mind. “…Why does it feel like our roles have now been reversed?”

“Yes…” he answered Sunny sheepishly, hating to hear the sound of fear in his voice.

“If I was trapped in a burning building with Izzy and Misty on one side, Pipp on the other side, and you lying unconscious in front of me, and only able to save one pony…” Sunny said before giving her answer. “…I’d save you…”

Every pony was surprised to hear Sunny say this, wondering what her reasoning could possibly be.

“Is she really going to tell Sprout what she thinks he wants to hear?” Izzy pondered in her mind. “No…Sunny’s too principled for that…I can sense that she has a deeper reason…”

“Why?” Sprout asked curiously. “Why not save your friends? If you save Izzy and Misty, you save two friends. If you save Pipp, you save a princess, sparing another princess who’s a friend of yours from losing a family member. Why choose me, a pony who isn’t close to you?”

“I’m not choosing you.” Sunny explained. “I’m just saying I’d save you because you’re the only pony I can save.”

“Huh?!” every pony exclaimed in bewilderment.

“Are you making fun of me?!” a displeased Sprout yelled. “Trying to call me weak?! You do know that if I don’t like your answer, I won’t dispel that familiar! You’ll have to leave knowing that you’ve failed!”

“No, Sprout…” Sunny retorted. “You’ve failed. That’s why I can only save you.”

“That does it!” Sprout cried angrily before turning and pointing a hoof at his familiar, the spirit that resembled a slightly overweight male Twilight Sparkle. “You! Hope you’re having fun relaxing there because I command you to…”

Sprout abruptly paused, finding himself unable to finish his sentence.

“What’s going on?” he asked himself in his mind, confused. “Why can’t I give him the order to stay there all night?”

“I know what you’re thinking…” Sunny told Sprout. “The reason you can’t tell your familiar to continue making sure we don’t get inside is because your heart’s not in it. Your will wants me to pass this test in a way you like, but you know in your heart that’s not going to happen. You know you have to face the truth that my will is stronger than yours.”

Sprout then suddenly felt the compulsion to look up at the top of Canterlove Studios and see that Pipp was watching him from a window with a smirk on her face. She then pulled herself away from the window.

“I think I’ve seen enough…” she remarked to herself gleefully. “Sunny, Hitch, and my sister definitely have what it takes to handle the supernatural energy of this place…with the help of their chaperones, of course…”

Sprout then felt the premonition that Pipp was preparing to greet her friends, which made him feel even more unnerved.

“What’s happening?!” he cried as he turned back to Sunny and her friends. “Have you put some kind of spell on me?!”

“No.” Sunny answered bluntly. “I already explained, this is not me, this is you. Deep down inside, you want me to save you from your ego, but your ego is preventing your spirit from experiencing the growth you crave. Tell me, if I were to restore you to a conscious state in that burning building, would you help me save Izzy, Misty, and Pipp? I believe that with the help of your supernatural powers, we could save every pony.”

Sprout felt a sense of elation upon hearing that.

“So you chose me because you trusted me?” he asked, feeling relieved, though also frustrated. “Geez, why didn’t you say that from the start?! That familiar would’ve already been dispelled! Were you just playing mind games with me by way of revenge?”

“Again, no.” Sunny responded. “Regardless of whether I chose to save Izzy and Misty, Pipp, or you, I know we’d find a way to save every pony. But you’re the only pony in that scenario whose soul needs saving. Because if our roles were reversed, and you didn’t have your supernatural powers…you’d leave me to die.”

Those words were enough to immediately induce fear into Sprout again, his face contorting into an expression of pain and shock as he recalled the question Pipp had asked him that was similar to what he asked Sunny...

Sprout’s mind flashed back to the night before, the night of the day when he had first met Pipp the Poltergeist…

“What do you want from me?” he asked Pipp, who was floating above him, in a timid tone of voice, while he was sitting on the couch in the lounge room of Canterlove Studios.

“I just want to ask you a question to see if you’re up to a certain task.” Pipp answered in a sly tone of voice. “The same spirit who possessed me seems to have taken a liking to you now that you’ve suffered a painful experience as we both have…”

“Don’t remind me…” Sprout said uncomfortably, clutching himself as he recalled the agonizing feeling of being scorched by intense heat. “I’m just glad I didn’t end up like poor you, where I can’t truly call myself alive or dead…”

“I don’t need your pity.” Pipp retorted, nonchalantly stroking her hair. “I feel more alive than ever…now onto what I wanted to ask you…the way you answer this will determine how I decide to use you…are you ready?”

“I sure am, boss…” Sprout replied with a hint of frustration and sarcasm in his voice, not liking the idea of being “used”, especially after experiencing something traumatic.

“What would you do in this situation?” Pipp asked him. “Sunny, Hitch, and your mother are drowning in the sea. Your earth pony magic isn’t working right, and you only have one life preserving ring nearby you that you can use to save one of them. Who do you save?”

“Well, that’s easy.” Sprout answered. “My mother. I’d obviously hate to leave Sunny and Hitch to die, but it’s my mom. Sunny and Hitch were my friends when I was a kid, sure, but we naturally grew distant from each other as we got older. Besides, there’s an old saying. Friends come and go, but family’s always there for you. You can replace your friends, but you can’t replace your family.”

“That’s all I need to hear.” Pipp told him blankly. “Now then, listen closely to what I have to say…”

After Pipp started relaying to Sprout what she wanted him to do, Sprout’s mind returned to focusing on the present, with a key part of that moment from the past now standing out to him…

“Now I get it…” he said in his mind, feeling embarrassed. “She may not have reproved me for the way I answered, but her assigning me to this role wasn’t her way of saying I was right or that I had given her a worthy answer. She didn’t trust me to show Sunny that she still has a lot to learn about magic. She trusted Sunny to show me the weakness of my heart…”

Sprout felt guilt for how he had answered Pipp’s question and how rude he had been to Sunny and her friends welling up inside of him, intensified by him seeing Sunny smirk at him with a familiar figure by her side, a figure whose presence earned the amazement of Sunny’s friends along with Sprout’s remorse…

“I’m sorry that I mocked you for not having a mom…” he apologized on impulse in a somber tone of voice. “My mom is the best…but you have a pretty cool dad…and unlike you, I don’t have a dad who lives on inside of me…”

Sprout then began to cry with his hooves on his face, remembering how he felt alone growing up without a father. Sunny’s smirk faded upon seeing Sprout like this, empathizing with him despite his actions.

“Sprout…” she told him affectionately. “Even after how mean you’ve been to my friends and I, I don’t hate you. All we want is for you to let us see Pipp again. And I know that’s what your heart wants too. You used this test to see if I could fill a void in your soul while also stroking your ego, but doing both is impossible. Our egos are what prevent our spirits from growing. That’s why my dad came to me in my mind after you asked me that question. Not because he saw me as in need of help…it’s because…”

“I wanted my daughter to pass the key to spiritual maturity onto you.” Argyle told Sprout. “Her humility is what allowed her to want to help you despite the fact that you’ve been an enemy to her. Are you ready to humble yourself now?”

“Yes.” Sprout replied solemnly. “I admit defeat. I’ll dispel my familiar now.”

“Heh heh.” the familiar chuckled. “I knew things would turn out this way. I hope you kids won’t disappoint me once you get inside…and learn how I died…”

“Huh?” Zipp reacted in thought to the familiar’s last words before Sprout put his front hooves together, causing the familiar to vanish, leaving small flames that dissipated behind. “Learning how he died…is that the mystery Pipp wants us to solve?”

“That fire…” Hitch said in his mind curiously. “It’s like Opaline’s…but also not. The essence of it doesn’t feel malicious…it feels…benevolent…created by the power of unity…”

While Zipp and Hitch were focused on the familiar’s words and his fire respectively, Sunny’s attention was on the ghost of her father, their eyes meeting before he began to fade.

“I’ll let you go now, darling…” Argyle told his daughter affectionately. “Just remember this…a fire’s purpose isn’t to burn…it’s to warm…”

“Dad…” Sunny wondered to herself, recalling what she and her dad discussed about Opaline’s victims. “Do you already know how I can give those ghosts their peace?”

Once Argyle had disappeared, Sprout got up from the table and trotted closer to Sunny and her friends.

“Congratulations on passing your first test.” he told her sincerely. “But be warned, things are only going to get more difficult from here on. I’ll be transparent and say that Pipp wanted me to gauge your potential with a warm-up. I knew you were coming here from what Izzy and Misty texted me.”

“Color me shocked…” Zipp remarked sarcastically as she and the rest of the group turned to Izzy and Misty. “Let me guess, Pipp’s wishes?”

“We’re not just acting in her best interests.” Izzy explained. “We’re also doing this for all of you.”

“Pipp also wants us to guide and protect you.” Misty elaborated. “Being able to sense the supernatural is not enough if you want the strength to handle the energy inside of Canterlove Studios. You also need to have an extraordinarily powerful will…the will to experience death…”

What Misty said had Sunny, Hitch, and especially Zipp feeling mortified…if Pipp was inside…that meant…

“No…”

The only word Zipp could utter came from her mouth as her mind desperately searched for a way to deny what she deeply feared…

“Izzy…” she found herself able to say something else as she recalled something Izzy had told her before they had set off. “You told me about how unicorns have stories in their folklore about ponies being able to transform into ghosts without dying…my sister’s not…actually dead, right?”

“Ha ha ha…” a ghoulish laugh came from behind. “Why don’t you ask her yourself?”

Recognizing the voice behind them, Sunny, Hitch, and Zipp turned around straight away to see…Pipp the Poltergeist. Her ghostly form had passed through the entrance doors where the familiar had been, with the upper part of her form floating outside of the building and the lower part of her form remaining inside of the building.

“AAAAAIIIIIEEEEE!” Sunny, Hitch, and Zipp shrieked in terror. “PIPP! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!”

“I died.” Pipp replied bluntly, grinning blithely. “But I found a way to live again while also being a ghost. My physical body is now spiritual matter. The Pipp you once knew is gone. For I am now…Pipp the Poltergeist! Mwa ha ha ha ha!”

Pipp cackled maniacally while raising up her hooves as the sound of lightning striking could be heard. A small flame could also be seen in her eyes…

…and inside of that flame, another pair of eyes could be seen…a pair of lifeless eyes belonging to what looked like a soul…

Author's Note

And now, all of Pipp's friends know of her newfound ghost form...where will things go from here? Keep reading to find out...

Life to a Ghost

Once Pipp had finished her maniacal laugh, she looked into the eyes of Sunny, Zipp, and Hitch, their blank stares immediately telling her that they were having a hard time processing the fact that she was now a ghost. Empathizing with their feelings of shock and confusion, Pipp decided it was appropriate to elaborate more on how she became Pipp the Poltergeist.

“I suppose you deserve more of an explanation on how I ended up this way…” Pipp told her friends who had only now seen her as a ghost in a sympathetic tone of voice. “Very well then…I’ll elucidate what happened before we start our game…”

And so, Pipp began to share with her friends who hadn’t known of her ghostly transformation beforehand how she became like this…

“It started three days ago, when I was talking to Misty about my interests in the paranormal. Misty told me that the supernatural was a sensitive subject for her, letting me know of the otherworldly horrors Opaline had put her through, forcing her latent supernatural powers to awaken by having her go through a painful near-death experience that permanently scarred her.”

Misty impulsively closed her eyes, sniffing and sobbing as Izzy put a foreleg around her to comfort her as the rest of her friends gave her looks of pity, feeling very sorry for her. Even Sprout could not help but feel bad for her.

“Yes, I felt quite sorry for Misty myself. That’s why I offered to help her overcome her past trauma. I wanted to come up with a way for no pony to have to suffer through what she did ever again, so I committed myself to doing as much research into the supernatural as possible. I asked Misty what she knew about the paranormal that I didn’t, and in turn, she offered to let me borrow a book from Opaline’s library that would reveal to me some of the greatest secrets of the world beyond. I happily accepted the offer without hesitation, and once I received that book, oh my glitter…I had never been so engrossed in anything in my life…”

Pipp then pulled out her phone, gazing at it with an unsettling smirk on her face…

“Even my phone couldn’t compare…it was the first time in my life I was happy to take a break from social media…since this book was explaining to me what my subconscious mind had always wanted to learn, exactly why social media is so addictive to me…”

Pipp then turned to her friends, still smiling a creepy smile.

“Tell me, can any of you explain to me exactly how a smartphone works?” she asked cheekily.

Her unnerved friends shook their heads.

“Of course you can’t.” she answered her rhetorical question amusedly. “Because no pony can explain exactly how an entrance to a metaphysical world works. It may feel natural to us now, but before the time of Twilight Sparkle, the idea of something like this existing was considered by Equestria to be impossible, transcending the laws of reality. It’s no coincidence that I’ve always loved social media and the paranormal, since both of them go beyond what should be possible. That, to me, is the meaning of life, and how I fulfill my purpose…by going beyond the realm of possibility…”

“But Pipp…” Zipp interjected with a deep sadness in her voice. “Now that you’ve died…”

“Can you explain to me exactly what life and death are?” Pipp abruptly asked another question she knew none of her friends could answer. “Do you equate life and death with existence and nonexistence respectively? Even lifeless objects exist and can not truly be destroyed, only reduced to dust and particles. Every day, ponies all over Equestria interact with this world called the internet, something that doesn’t physically exist, yet has a profound impact on our world and our lives. This world truly has changed a lot since before the time of Twilight Sparkle, when no pony thought the creation of such a thing as a smartphone was possible…take note of the word, “change”. That is the true essence of life and death. To live and die is not about existence…to live and die is about how you change both yourself and the world around you…”

“Sis…” Zipp replied in a suspecting tone of voice. “You didn’t allow yourself to die on purpose, did you?”

“No.” Pipp answered bluntly in a tone that made her sound slightly offended. “I would never take my own life. I’m not telling you this because I want you to subscribe to a warped ideology that debases life. I’m telling you this because I want you to understand that there’s far more to life than you know. The reason I’m doing what I’m doing is because I want to improve the quality of life for the ponies of Equestria, that’s why I create my products. I want no pony to have to suffer what Opaline put her victims through ever again. That’s why we need power. Even though I’m no longer technically alive, I can show you the power I gained in death…a glimpse of the power that could be yours too…”

It was then that Pipp made fire appear in one of her hooves, surprising Sunny, Zipp, and Hitch.

“That’s just like what I saw in Sprout’s hoof!” Hitch exclaimed in astonishment in his mind.

“This power I discovered to create supernatural fire isn’t perfected…” Pipp explained. “It’s not on the level of Opaline’s fire magic. The spirits who have been drawn to this building will never be able to rest in peace if I can’t surpass Opaline. Her weakness is that she is alone while I have allies. That’s where you, my friends, come in. In order for you ponies to help me perfect this power that will help us defeat Opaline, you’re going to need the will to experience death…but if I force you to commit to that cause, I’ll become the very thing I’m fighting against. I’ll be no better than Opaline. I want you all to decide for yourselves whether or not you want to risk your lives. Just take my words to heart and know that even if you are to die like I did, death is not the end. Death is only a change…”

“Fear of death was not going to stop us from doing the right thing to begin with.” Sunny chimed in, speaking in a bold tone of voice. “If you die, we die. It doesn’t matter if you’re no longer alive in the traditional sense, you’ll always be alive to us. My dad may have died, but he’s as alive as ever inside of my heart. He actually came to me, spoke to me, told me you were more alive than ever. No matter what happens, I have to believe him.”

“I couldn’t have said what Sunny said any better!” Hitch exclaimed vigorously. “If I’m the kind of stallion who wouldn’t be willing to risk his life after seeing his friend suffer a tragic fate, then Sparky deserves a better dragon dad than me!”

“Even before today, there are things I feared more than death, Pipp.” Zipp told her sister earnestly. “And one of those things was losing you…I’ve not always been the best sister, but even I would never choose giving into my fear over helping you at a time like this. I’m willing to do whatever it takes!”

Pipp, Izzy, Misty, and Sprout were all touched and full of admiration for Sunny, Zipp, and Hitch’s compassion and valor. Upon seeing the resolve of her friends, something in Pipp’s eyes that looked like a soul now had a twinkle in its eyes that once looked lifeless…

“Huh?” Hitch reacted in confusion in his mind, noticing this. “A spark in her eyes…it’s like I just saw the kind of flame from that familiar flicker…”

“Are you going to tell us what this game’s about now?” Zipp inquired from her sister readily.

“I sure am.” Pipp answered enthusiastically. “There was no way I was going to allow you guys to not have fun with your endeavor, so I came up with a simple challenge with easy-to-understand rules. All you have to do to win my game is solve a mystery, then capture me.”

“I read you right…” Zipp replied, sharing her sister’s excitement as she remembered the hunch she had that lifted her from despair before she and her friends set off. “You know I love mysteries…what’s this one about?”

“It’s about uncovering the identity of the familiar Sprout ordered to guard this building.” Pipp explained. “I’ll give you a clue…you already have his name…it’s just the last name you’d think of…”

“Eee hee hee…” Zipp giggled ebulliently, making Sprout feel slightly unnerved.

“Pipp wasn’t kidding about her fascination with mysteries…” he thought in astonishment. “Don’t want to imagine how she’d react if I were to spoil the surprise…”

“How are we supposed to capture you?” Sunny asked curiously. “You’re our friend…I’m not keen on the idea of putting you in some kind of prison…”

“That’s part of the game, figuring out how.” Pipp answered with a wink. “A puzzle’s no fun if you’re just given the solution. From this point on, I’m not going to hold your hooves. The most help you’re going to get is from your chaperones. Izzy, Misty, and Sprout are here to help you and protect you from harm inside of Canterlove Studios.”

“I’m sure it goes without saying that all three of us have experienced death.” Misty said solemnly. “You already know about me. Izzy had her near-death experience in a ghost’s deadly energy trap and Sprout had his here…”

“There’s a difference between us and Pipp though.” Izzy explained. “The deaths we experienced involved our souls temporarily being separated from our bodies. Pipp’s soul didn’t return to her body normally after her encounter with death, rather it fused with her body, converting it into spiritual energy.”

“The term “near-death experience” in this context is really just a technical term with a misleading name.” Sprout informed the trio. “All of us “actually died”. Our souls left our bodies and could’ve left this world for good. It’s a good thing that you three don’t fear death, because there are worse fates than it…had things gone differently, we could have been lost to a realm of fire…”

Sunny, Zipp, and Hitch gasped in horror.

“Don’t worry.” Pipp chimed in to comfort them. “That fate will definitely not befall you three. Not only are you different from the spirits I’ve met who have fallen victim to that fate, I’m working on something that will ensure all will be saved from it…”

Sunny, Zipp, and Hitch each had a different reaction in thought to what they had been told…

“By “spirits she met”…” Sunny pondered to herself. “Is she referring to…”

“When she told me about that batch of products she was working on…” Zipp wondered in thought. “Is she really…”

“What would make us different from those spirits?” Hitch mused to himself. “I know there was something unique about that familiar’s essence…”

“I know you all have questions that you want answers to…” Pipp said softly, able to observe the curiosity of her friends. “However, you can only find those answers inside of Canterlove. Once you enter this building, the intense supernatural energy that haunts it will overwhelm your bodies, causing your souls to depart from them. You must then do whatever it takes to return to your bodies. I can assure that you won’t end up in a realm of fire, but I can’t promise that you won’t end up like me…”

“We deserve worse than your fate if we fail.” Sunny replied without hesitation, maintaining her courage.

“There’s no turning back at this point.” a headstrong Zipp assured the group’s commitment. “No leaving friends or family behind.”

“I just want your word that no matter what happens, Sparky will be safe.” a concerned Hitch requested as he turned to Sparky, who was sleeping soundly on his back.

“That, I can promise.” Pipp responded sincerely. “Your chaperone, Misty, will look out for both you and Sparky. Zipp’s chaperone will be Izzy and Sunny’s chaperone will be Sprout.”

“Wait, what exactly are our “chaperones” going to do?” Zipp asked curiously. “What is this, a party? What exactly is the harm they’re going to protect us from?”

“If Misty’s going to look out for me and Sparky…does that mean Sparky’s going to have to come inside the building too?” Hitch inquired, now even more concerned. “How will he handle the supernatural energy?”

“Why do we each have a guide specifically assigned to us?” Sunny questioned confusedly. “Is there a reason why they can’t just all watch us together? And why did you assign them that way?”

“The body is most susceptible to possession when the soul leaves it.” Pipp started answering her friends’ questions with Zipp’s. “Your chaperones will protect your bodies from becoming possessed by dangerous spirits and help your souls. Sparky won’t have to worry about anything because he already knows how to sense and handle supernatural energy, we safely ascertained this when Izzy brought him here this morning.”

“Sparky was already here today?!” Hitch cried in shock, taken aback.

A thought then crossed his mind as he remembered the way Sparky was acting earlier around Izzy and Misty, like he knew something.

“So that must be why…” he told himself in his mind in realization.

“We’re sorry, Hitch.” Izzy interjected with an apology, speaking on her and Misty’s behalf, the both of them looking forlorn from guilt. “We only did it for the sake of his safety and yours, we promise. Sparky wanted to come here too, there’s something about the energy of this place that excites him.”

“I have a plan too with how I’m going to make things up to the both of you.” Misty assured. “We’re not just going to keep giving excuses. I’m going to be the best guide I can be, protecting you both. I know how to make some mean tea…with cookies.”

Misty said this with a confident smirk and a wink, trying to give Hitch a hint on how she intended to help him and Sparky in the near future. Hitch, however, didn’t get the hint.

“I’m…sure that will be lovely.” Hitch replied bemusedly, not sure how to respond.

With that conversation putting Sparky on his mind, Sprout looked at his hoof and wondered something in concern.

“Sparky hadn’t known about my ability beforehand…I have a bad feeling…”

“Anyway…” Pipp continued. “Your guides are assigned the way they are because they each have their own unique abilities that are best suited for who they’ll watch over. They can’t all watch you together because you each have your own spiritual challenge that you must conquer personally.”

“Not that I don’t trust Izzy, but I don’t know how I feel about any pony having to be my literal bodyguard.” Zipp expressed her sentiments of uncertainty.

“I trust that Misty really has changed, but I don’t want to burden her with having to take care of both me and Sparky.” Hitch commented in a tone of discomfort.

“I believe this could be an opportunity for Sprout to show me that he can continue to change and mature, but I would’ve wanted us to take on a challenge like this together.” Sunny remarked, displeased at the prospect of splitting up.

“I understand your doubts, worries, and disappointment.” Pipp replied empathetically. “However, this is the way it has to be. This is the best way for everyone to be kept safe while you three are given a chance to prove that you are worthy of new power. We must all prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are capable of surmounting Opaline. All Izzy, Misty, Sprout, and I want is for you three to trust in us. Do you?”

“Of course we do.” Sunny, Zipp, and Hitch answered instantly with complete sincerity.

“Perfect.” Pipp responded eagerly with a nod. “I’ll see all of you together again once you’ve solved the mystery of the familiar’s identity. Each trial you conquer should give you a clue to solving the mystery. By the time you’re done, I’m sure you’ll also know how to capture me…farewell for now…”

Pipp then gave her phone one last eerie glance before she went back inside the building. As her ghostly form vanished through the doors, Zipp heard a sound that only her ears could pick up…

“Did she just…take a selfie?” Zipp wondered to herself in thought. “Completely characteristic of her, yet something bothers me…do ghosts actually show up in pictures?”

“I really do hope that by the time we’re done, we’ll also know of a way to change Pipp back to normal…” Sunny said with concern.

“I’m sure there’s more to why she was being so nonchalant about her situation other than the fact that she enjoys being a ghost.” Zipp shared her thoughts. “A hunch tells me that “out of this world” batch of products she told me she was working on has something to do with it…”

“Ghost or not though, Pipp’s still our friend.” Hitch affirmed affectionately. “She’s never going to be dead to us. Once we obtain this new power, we’re not just going to use it to stop Opaline, we’re also going to use it to help Pipp. Even if she can’t be a pony again, we’re going to make sure she can still enjoy a great life!”

Sprout was awe-inspired by how nothing about Sunny, Zipp, and Hitch’s demeanor had changed since Pipp left, the care they had shown for their friend being entirely genuine.

“Do you guys…” he interjected in disbelief. “…really not worry about the fact that this could be the end of your lives? If we fail to protect you, you’ll end up just like Pipp. Isn’t there any doubt instilled in you, given that I’ve only recently changed and that Izzy and Misty worked with me while I was still your enemy? Do you really trust us completely after we kept you in the dark about so much?”

“I’ve always felt really bad about keeping secrets from you…” Izzy expressed her shame. “I always just wanted to look out for every pony, but can you really trust me again so quickly?”

“If I hadn’t given Pipp that book, none of this would’ve happened.” Misty said guiltily. “And then I deceived you…it’s like it just keeps compounding, the stuff that my friends have to forgive me for. I wish that what happened to Pipp had happened to me instead…”

“NO!” all of Misty’s friends cried, immediately giving their friend a hug.

Sprout felt even more sorry for Misty than he had before, his sympathy compelling him to ask Misty’s friends a question…

“…Do you…mind if I join in?”

Right away, he received an inviting reply of…

“Of course not.”

With that, Sprout joined the group hug, an embrace that led him and every pony present to feel captivated by a serene, comforting aura…

“I don’t blame you for what happened to my sister.” Zipp told Misty sincerely. “You were just doing what you thought was right…Pipp was just doing what she thought was right…how could I possibly stay mad at you, especially after knowing what you went through?”

“You’ve already redeemed yourself for what you did to us and Sparky.” Hitch chimed in assuredly. “It’s out of the question for us to keep holding a grudge while keeping track of what you’ve done right and wrong.”

“You, Izzy, and Sprout have all been through far too much…” Sunny said despondently, trying to fight back tears of sadness for these ponies. “We already don’t hate any pony…how could we resent you when we haven’t been in your position, having to deal with your pain ourselves?”

This sentiment Sunny expressed caused something to click in Sprout’s mind…

“Now I get it…” he uttered in realization. “Your full trust in us after what we did…it doesn’t just come from a place of courage, kindness, faith, or a combination of the three…the goodness in you stems from selflessness…pure selflessness, the unwavering desire to help and understand others…”

Sprout made that statement with the memory of what Argyle had told him about Sunny’s humility allowing her to want to help him on his mind. Curiously, he then said to Sunny…

“I remember you asking your dad something about giving ghosts peace…what do you think he meant by what he said about a fire’s purpose?”

“That’s what I have yet to figure out…” Sunny replied, pondering as the group concluded their hug. “But I have a nagging feeling that my dad’s figured something out…you all saw him…whatever he knows is definitely something too important to keep between just us two. Pipp also mentioned something about wanting to help spirits and spirits she met that had become lost to a realm of fire. If she was referring to the same spirits that haunt this place, that could mean…”

On impulse, Sprout made fire appear on his right hoof, staring into it as he could feel that something about it had changed to match his change of heart…like an icy coldness had become overwhelmed by something invitingly warm…

“UROOOOO!” Sparky abruptly cried, suddenly awakening from his sleep on Hitch’s back.

Sparky then jumped off Hitch’s back and went over to Sprout, touching his left foreleg. His horns began to glow as the supernatural fire in Sprout’s hoof faded, becoming absorbed into his body.

“Uwo ha ha…” Sparky let out an ominous chuckle as his entire body began to glow, his eyes turning white as if he had become possessed…

“Sparky!” Hitch yelled in fear. “What’s going on with you, buddy?!”

“Yes…” Sparky said in a discomforting voice that was not his own, but the voice of a ghost who had possessed him. “This is the fire that will free us…you ponies are the saviors who will deliver us freedom from the fire alicorn’s curse! We’ll finally be like him…the prophecy he told long before he became a familiar will be fulfilled!”

“SPARKY!” Hitch bellowed in great concern as he reached his forelegs out to the baby dragon.

“Hitch, no!” Misty exclaimed, trying to stop Hitch by putting a foreleg to his chest to push him away from Sparky out of her own concern, but it was too late. Once Hitch touched the possessed baby dragon, a magical force of purple aura enveloped the three, causing them to suddenly disappear in a flash of light…

Meanwhile, inside of Canterlove Studios, Pipp was in a dark room, staring at the photo she had held earlier…

It was a photo of Argyle with Sunny as a kid…and a familiar ghost…

Author's Note

Longest chapter yet, yeah, you can tell that my five-to-seven chapter plan is going to have to change. It's looking more like this story's going to be nine chapters long. I want one chapter each for Hitch, Zipp, and Sunny showing how each of them face their own spiritual trial, one chapter for them solving the mystery, and the final chapter for them catching Pipp.

Hitch's Fire

After Hitch had touched Sparky, who had become possessed by a spirit after integrating some of Sprout’s newfound supernatural fire into his body, as Misty attempted to stop him, the three were teleported to the inside of Canterlove Studios by an unknown magical force. Soon, Hitch began to awaken, finding himself feeling lighter.

“I feel so strange…” he said to himself, immediately sensing something out of the ordinary. “What happened after I touched Sparky…SPARKY!”

Hitch instantly remembered that he had no clue as to where Sparky could be. Nor did he have any way of knowing where Misty or his other companions were, surveying his surroundings only to see darkness all around him.

“What in Equestria HAPPENED?!” he cried worriedly, his inability to assess the situation and what landed him in the situation in the first place being a great detriment to his mental state. “Everything just happened so suddenly after Sprout made that fire…SPROUT!”

Hitch yelled that name angrily as he gripped his hooves. Despite knowing that Sprout wasn’t responsible for the predicament he was in, he directed his frustration at him simply because he needed an outlet.

“If you hadn’t created that flame, I wouldn’t be in this mess!” the incensed Hitch shouted in spite of his heart knowing this wasn’t the truth. “The mighty don’t flaunt their power, but you just had to be flashing that fire because you’re an insecure LOSER!”

With that slight, Hitch began to feel something change in the air around him. It was as if the atmosphere was becoming hotter…

“What in the…” he reacted in bewilderment. “Did I just…make my surroundings hotter…with my anger?”

As he began to ponder what was going on, an unpleasant smell became detectable to him…

“Ugh!” he cried in disgust. “It smells like gas from an oven! …Hey, wait a minute…”

He recalled the baked goods Sprout had prepared…

“I have a feeling I’ve not been teleported somewhere far away…” he began to muse, becoming more calm and composed. “No…if I were to hazard a guess, I’d say I’m inside Canterlove Studios now…since this is where Sunny and I did our…cooking show! That’s it! I’m inside the place we used as our kitchen!”

“Very good!” a figure with a voice exactly like Hitch’s proclaimed.

“Huh?” Hitch responded in surprise. “Who said that? And why do you sound like me?”

“Who knows?” he asked cheekily. “I could be you, for all you know…”

“What?!” Hitch cried in bewilderment. “I’m not falling for your mind games! I’m the only me!”

“You’d be surprised…” the figure continued to toy with him. “Is the existence of “another you” any stranger than your grandma somehow being able to talk to you in your mind? You know that unlike me, she’s not a ghost, right? All we have in common is that we’ve both been reborn…”

“How did you know…” Hitch began to ask how this entity knew about how he heard Grandma Figgy’s voice after he had eaten one of Sprout’s cookies before he began to consider a possibility.

“Hold on…” he wondered to himself. “Grandma Figgy told me she was making those cookies for a long time…if this ghost is telling me the truth about how they’ve both been reborn…no way…”

Hitch knew for sure at that moment he’d be coming out of this building a different stallion…

“All you need to know right now is that I’m a spirit inside your body…” the figure answered. “Remember what Pipp told you?”

“Oh no!” Hitch cried, having a dreadful realization.

“That’s right!” the spirit exclaimed with sadistic glee. “When you were brought here by one of my companions, your soul was forced out of your body, allowing me to take control of it! Right now, your friend Misty is trying to stop me from keeping your head in an oven and all your silly little dragon pal can do is watch, mwa ha ha!”

“You’re trying to kill me?!” Hitch shouted in terror.

“Not exactly…” the spirit answered nonchalantly. “If I kill your body, you could end up lost to a realm of fire, and that’s not what I want. Instead, I’m going to breathe in just enough gas to put your body on the verge of death so that you’ll have no choice but to fuse with it, turning it into spiritual energy. Then you’ll be just like your friend, Pipp…”

“No way am I allowing Misty or Sparky to bear witness to that!” Hitch proclaimed with resolve. “I’ll stop you no matter what it takes!”

Following that declaration, Hitch could feel the atmosphere around him begin to grow cooler. The smell of gas was replaced with the smell of freshly baked cookies and the darkness surrounding him was replaced with light as he was able to hear a familiar voice call out to him…

Very good, Hitchie dear…however, you need more than just determination to overcome your adversaries…sometimes, even souls that have been captured by evil just need a little kindness…

“That voice…” Hitch said to himself in realization as a soothing feeling came over him. “Grandma Figgy’s voice…I can hear her again, just like I did when I ate that cookie Sprout gave me…SPROUT!”

Upon realizing that something Sprout had done had allowed him to experience comfort, feeling that a pony he loved was closer to him in his heart than before, his anger towards Sprout became replaced with gratitude. He then started to have a vision…

In the vision, he was in a playroom with other foals. Colts and fillies were playing with each other before an elderly mare with a purple coat, gray mane and tail, and a tea set for a cutie mark came into the room with a plate of cookies in hoof.

“Snack time!” the mare exclaimed in a lyrical voice as all the foals in the room gathered around her.

“Hey…” Hitch remarked in thought. “She looks kind of like…my grandma…”

Before Hitch knew it, he was staring at the plate the pony who resembled his grandma had been holding. Only one cookie was left. He was about to reach out and grab it before something stopped him…he could feel a unicorn’s magic on his hoof…

Unicorns…

He could hear the voice of a female unicorn saying this…

“HITCH!”

His vision ended when he heard a familiar voice calling out to him…

“HITCH!” the unicorn continued to cry in concern. “If you can hear me, say something!”

“Ugh, uh…” Hitch grunted as he was now able to see his friend, Misty, standing in front of him with a plate of cookies in hoof, just like the pony in his vision, and Sparky, seemingly back to normal, making excited noises on Misty’s back. “…Misty? Sparky? What happened?”

“I’m not exactly sure myself…” a still concerned Misty answered in a tone of uncertainty. “What I do know is that after Sparky got possessed by that spirit, we were teleported to the part of Canterlove Studios where you and Sunny did that cooking show! I actually got to watch that on my phone if you can believe it! That was nothing like actually being here though, finding you with your body possessed and your head inside an oven! Being your guide, I already knew what I was going to have to do to help you, so I grabbed a premade batch of cookies from the fridge and heated it up to lure your body out of there!”

“How did you do that with my body’s head in the oven?” Hitch asked curiously. “Did you use the microwave?”

“No.” Misty replied blankly as she used her magic to levitate a cup of cold tea off the counter into her other hoof. “I did this…”

To Hitch’s surprise, steam began to rise from the now hot tea in Misty’s hoof, leading something to dawn on him…

“You can create supernatural fire too…” he reacted in amazement. “Just like Sprout and Pipp!”

“So can Izzy.” Misty added. “As soon as we were teleported here, she messaged me on my phone asking about where we were, and I immediately messaged her back saying that I had everything under control in here. This power’s instilled me with so much confidence…and it will be yours too if you can pass this test. You’ve done a great job so far, fighting that spirit inside of you. But be warned, just because you have control now doesn’t mean the spirit’s given up. I’m still worried about you…and Sparky.”

“Urooo, ha!” Sparky exclaimed innocently.

“He’s acting normal now, but…” Hitch remarked, sharing his friend’s concern. “I have a bad premonition myself. We still don’t know exactly how the spirit that possessed him teleported us here…and if learning how to create supernatural fire is my reward for passing this test, there’s no way it can be over yet. But the thing is, I don’t even care about the reward! I don’t want more power! I just want to keep every pony and Sparky safe!”

All of a sudden, Sparky burst out laughing.

“BWA HA HA HA HA!” he guffawed demonically in the same tone of voice Misty and Hitch had heard when the spirit possessed him. “Now that’s an oxymoron if I’ve ever heard one! You don’t want power while also wanting to keep others safe?! You clown! If you don’t have power, you can’t protect others!”

“Spare me the clichés!” Hitch exclaimed angrily. “Get out of Sparky’s body now!”

“Clichés are a good thing.” the spirit possessing Sparky retorted cheekily. “And you know I’m right. You can’t save others without power. I’ll teach you by example…”

The possessed Sparky then burped dragon fire from his mouth, making a knife appear. Taking the knife in hand, he put it against Misty’s throat.

“I’m sure you’re familiar with this cliché situation…” the spirit told Hitch sinisterly. “Do as I say or I’ll kill her.”

“GGGRRRGGGHHH!” Hitch cried in absolute fury. “YOU’RE SLIME!”

“You’re too kind.” the unphased spirit replied. “And that’s your problem. You can’t save anyone by being nice. The weak can not be virtuous. Evil doesn’t fear kindness. Evil only fears strength. In order to defeat one as evil as Opaline, your power must be greater than hers. Now, do as I tell you. Put your head back in that oven and I won’t harm Misty. Let your anger towards me grow strong as your body is put on the cusp of death, allowing you to become more powerful than ever…”

“Don’t listen to her, Hitch!” Misty exclaimed. “Kindness is a strength! The kindness you and your friends showed me is what inspired me to change and become stronger! It’s why I’m not scared to die right now! Don’t submit to her demands!”

“Wait a second…” Hitch replied, feeling his anger subside. “The ghost possessing Sparky…is a “she”?”

He then thought back to how the vision he had ended before he remembered what Grandma Figgy had told him…and before he knew it, everything was starting to come together in his mind…

“I finally understand how I’m being tested now…” he told himself in his mind in self-realization. “This is a test to see if I’m capable of staying true to my commitment to kindness while also utilizing its power…now that I know, all that’s left is to make Grandma proud!”

He then shot a stern look at Sparky, a gaze aimed at the spirit possessing him. He was now able to see something he couldn’t before…

“Ooh…” the spirit cooed. “I like that look…so I take it you’re not going to agree to my demands? I didn’t think you had it in you…but pray tell, what do you plan to do to stop me?”

“I’ll make you an offer.” Hitch stated in a serious tone of voice.

“Ha!” the spirit exclaimed in a mocking tone of voice. “So you’re going to try bargaining your way out of this?”

“Let me explain.” Hitch answered. “This is no simple negotiation. I don’t intend to just give you something in exchange for sparing Misty. I want to give you something while showing you an extraordinary power.”

“I like the sound of that…” the spirit replied in an intrigued tone of voice. “Alright then, show me this “extraordinary power”…”

Hitch then walked towards Sparky…and grabbed a cookie off the plate Misty was holding. He then handed it to Sparky as he told the spirit this…

“Here. It’s yours…Spring.”

The spirit gasped as Sparky dropped the knife in shock.

“How did you know my name?” she asked in astonishment. “Did…did my partner let it slip?”

“No.” Hitch answered bluntly. “He told me nothing about your identity. He did give me a clue about his identity, however. I know now that I am his reincarnation. You, me, and Grandma Figgy…we are all reborn from ponies at that orphanage in the past.”

Misty, like the spirit, also found herself gasping in shock. Without even thinking about it, she made fire appear in the hoof of hers that was holding the tea. Cake ghosts rose from the tea, something that caught Hitch’s attention. In each cake ghost that emerged from the tea, he could see something familiar in its eyes…the same twinkle that he saw in the eyes of what appeared to be a soul in Pipp’s eyes…

“It now makes sense to me what your partner was telling me about his and my grandma’s rebirth…” Hitch remarked solemnly. “The reason why I was able to hear my grandma’s voice despite the fact that she’s still alive was because that wasn’t my grandma talking to me…that was a part of the pony my grandma was in a past life’s soul talking to me…and the true nature of your partner is a part of who I was in a past life’s soul.”

Misty was flabbergasted, finding what Hitch said difficult to comprehend. However, once she saw something that looked like a cake ghost, the soul of Spring’s partner, in Hitch’s eyes, she felt like she was slowly starting to understand.

“When I died in that past life, not all of my soul went on to be reincarnated.” Hitch explained. “The same thing happened to my grandma and you, Spring. Small parts of our souls broke off and became independent spirits. They’re like the cake ghosts that can find their way inside tea and cookies. Just because something is small doesn’t mean it’s not important. That’s part of the strength of kindness, being able to appreciate that fact. This small act of kindness, giving you a cookie, is something a soul can remember forever, even if it’s just a fragmented part. Tell me Spring, does this remind you of something?”

Spring then recalled a time when she was a filly at an orphanage, her mind recreating a scene from the past…

She was in the same place Hitch saw in his vision, standing next to an electric blue earth pony colt who had a face just like Hitch’s when he was young and a light and dark blue mane and tail. The colt was about to grab the last cookie from a plate the orphanage’s caretaker was holding before she had used her magic to force his hoof away.

“Hey, what gives?!” the colt cried in protest.

“Unicorns get first dibs!” she exclaimed in a snobbish tone. “I have magic, you don’t, that makes me better than you. It’s only fair that I get the last cookie!”

“Spring, behave yourself!” the caretaker warned her sternly. “I know you’re still upset about your father, but this behavior will not be tolerated! Do you want a timeout?”

Spring released her magical grip on the colt’s hoof before trotting away somberly. The colt looked upon her with sympathy as the caretaker turned her attention to him.

“Take it.” she told him. “I’ll let you decide who gets the last one.”

When the colt grabbed the cookie, he looked at it for a moment, contemplating whether or not the filly who insulted him deserved clemency. He then reflected on how he had recently lost his mother and realized that he had something Spring didn’t when he looked back at the caretaker. Something to fill the void that the caretaker had given him through acting like a mother to him…

It was then that he made the decision to approach Spring and offer the cookie to her.

“Huh?” Spring reacted in bewilderment. “Why are you letting me have it? I don’t need an earth po…I mean, your pity.”

“This isn’t a pity offering.” the colt replied sincerely. “I’m giving this to you because we can always have cookies another day, but getting to fill the void in another pony’s heart…that’s an opportunity I couldn’t miss for anything.”

Spring gasped in awe, unable to believe this colt’s kindness as she looked into his eyes and saw her reflection…a reflection that showed her as a pony that looked just like Sprout, also being red and having a blond mane and tail…

Spring’s mind then became focused on what was happening in the present inside Canterlove as she looked into Hitch’s eyes.

“So that’s how you figured it out…” she said in realization as she took the cookie. “My eyes gave it away…you found out I was a fragment of Sprout’s soul through seeing that same sadness in my eyes as you did in your past life…”

“Wrong.” Hitch replied bluntly. “It wasn’t the sadness, the sight of emptiness…it was my desire to fill that emptiness. Raw power can’t fill the void in one’s heart. Kindness, however, can. It can inspire even the ponies most undeserving of it to change and create something from the nothingness in their hearts, so long as they appreciate the kindness given to them…”

Upon saying that, something appeared in Hitch’s hoof, the hoof that the spirit had taken the cookie from…supernatural fire…

“This is my extraordinary power…” he said, brimming with confidence.

Both Misty and the spirit looked upon the supernatural fire Hitch had conjured with amazement. Unlike Sprout, Pipp, and Misty’s supernatural fire, it had a pink and purple color to it. Misty and the spirit could also see a small ghost in the center of the flame that matched the white and gray color of Hitch’s aura, something he was now exuding a copious amount of…

“That soul…” Spring said upon recognizing who the small ghost in the fire was. “That’s my partner…the fragment of your soul. You are in complete control now of the spirit who possessed you, tapping its power to make your fire stronger than mine…I can’t defeat you or do your loved ones harm now. You’ve won.”

“You’re the best, Hitch!” Misty lauded her friend with admiration. “Not only did you save me, you passed the test with flying colors! The power you’ve gained is even stronger than I expected! I’m going to tell the others about this right away!”

As Misty put the tea and the cookies on the countertop and pulled out her phone to message Izzy, Spring, still in Sparky’s body, ate the cookie she was given and used dragon fire to make a jar and a lid appear.

“You’ve completely conquered your trial and learned the truth about how souls are reborn.” Spring told Hitch solemnly. “There is no reason for me to continue possessing Sparky. However, before I leave his body, please accept this gift. You deserve a sample of the fire that will free the ghosts who haunt this building…just make sure you share it with friends…”

Spring then spit a flame of pink and purple fire that took the shape of a heart into the jar and closed the lid on the jar before handing it to Hitch. With that, she left Sparky’s body, leaving the baby dragon to slump over and begin napping on Misty’s back. Hitch and Misty both smiled at Sparky, feeling happy and relieved.

However, as Hitch examined the fire he was given more closely, he began to notice something about it that felt familiar…too familiar…

“This is just like what I felt from the fire I saw when Sprout dismissed his familiar…” he recounted. “This same goodness…something that could only be created by the power of unity…”

Meanwhile, Pipp the Poltergeist was chuckling to herself in a dark room, looking out from the window on how her friends were celebrating the news of Hitch’s victory that Misty had messaged.

“Of course, I knew that Hitch would pass the test.” Pipp said with a smirk. “Just don’t be lulled into a false sense of security thinking that you’ll pass your tests easily…”

Her eyes paid special attention to her sister, Zipp, who was laughing a haughty laugh…

“You won’t be laughing once you see how bad things were for me when my soul was forced out of my body…” she remarked with a tint of resentment in her voice. “You’ll regret insinuating the possibility that I killed myself after you hear my latest song…”

Pipp then pulled out her lucky microphone. Even though it was wireless, she had grabbed it off a long, black cord…

“Given that your supernatural ability is to hear things that others can’t…” she continued speaking forebodingly. “…it’s only fitting that you’ll soon be like Izzy, able to hear their voices…hearing the voice of Princess Platinum…”

Author's Note

Just reiterating what I posted in my latest blog, this story's place in G5's continuity has been slightly altered, thus why Sparky has never been acting depressed and why Misty can make a mean cup of tea. With cake ghosts.

Zipp's Call

Pipp the Poltergeist was still in the dark room, holding her lucky microphone in her hoof and watching her friends celebrate Hitch passing his test. Using her other hoof, she pulled out her phone.

“How about we celebrate your victory with song and dance?” she cheekily remarked, sounding like she was possessed. “Just warning you though, this party is going to raise the dead…and if you pass out, be ready to meet your maker…”

A fire grew in a lantern sitting below her, something that sat aside a rope and a bottle of hoof polish sitting in a basket…

Meanwhile, outside of Canterlove Studios, Zipp was still laughing cockily with her friends.

“I had a good feeling that everything was going to go without a hitch!” she exclaimed cheerily, a drumbeat and cymbal clash accompanying her joke, leading her friends to give her not-so cheerful looks. “It’ll be the same for both me and Sunny, guaranteed!”

“Let’s not get complacent because of this, Zipp.” Izzy warned her friend. “You’re likely going to be the next pony to be tested. Given that Sunny can take the form of an alicorn, an ethereal being, the spirits are likely going to save her test for last.”

“Even though we could’ve all gone into the building together…” Sprout interjected while reflecting over the situation with his fire being absorbed by Sparky, examining his hoof. “Hitch and Misty were teleported inside there by that spirit. The spirits probably wanted to contend with Hitch first, given that his supernatural power is related to fire and that spirit said something about a fire offering freedom. Now that he’s overcome his trial, the spirits are likely going to be interested in testing the power of Zipp, her being the sister of Pipp, the first pony they tested.”

Upon hearing this, Zipp’s overconfidence became replaced with a modicum of anxiety.

“Wait…” she began speaking in an inquisitive tone. “…are you saying that my relationship with Pipp is what intrigues them about me? But before my sister became “Pipp the Poltergeist”, she should’ve just been no pony to them. Unless…”

Zipp then recalled what was spoken to her in her mind after she had eaten the cookie of Sprout’s that fully awakened her supernatural ability…

“The blood of powerful unicorns runs through our veins…”

“That spirit I saw after I ate that cookie was telling me the truth…” she finished, now pondering a new possibility.

“What spirit?” Sunny asked curiously. “Was a spirit of some pony you know talking to you too, like how my father was talking to me?”

“After I ate that cookie…” Zipp recounted. “I saw a spirit that looked like my sister and heard this distortion of her voice telling me something strange, saying that we carry powerful unicorn blood. But my mom never told me anything about there being unicorns in our family. It wouldn’t even make sense, considering that the pony tribes had been divided for so many moons before our sister and I were even born.”

“When my father was talking to me, he was telling me about the time before Twilight Sparkle…” Sunny replied. “How much have you been told about your family’s history?”

“I was never given information on anything from that far back…” Zipp answered. “Probably because my family wasn’t able to preserve everything about our history. Records from that long ago are prone to becoming lost, illegible, or destroyed. However, I don’t believe that anything’s ever actually gone for good. Pipp was even telling us about how things can’t truly be destroyed. I wonder now if…”

Before Zipp could continue, she began hearing the voice of her sister, what sounded like her singing to a familiar tune…

“Ghosties get all my love, give you spooks in our club…”

“Hey, are any of you hearing what I’m hearing?” she asked her friends.

“No…” they replied in puzzlement. “What are you hearing?”

“My sister singing!” Zipp exclaimed. “It might only be audible to me because of my ability, but…I can hear something coming from…”

Zipp then turned to the window from the room on the top floor of Canterlove Studios where Pipp the Poltergeist had been watching her and the group from.

“There…” she said suspiciously, pointing her hoof to the window before proceeding to fly towards it, feeling compelled to do so by what felt like a trance she was entering...

“Wait, Zipp, no!” Sunny cried in concern. “This could be a trap!”

“And if it was?” a familiar spirit that appeared by Sprout asked.

“What the?!” Sunny, Sprout, and Izzy yelled in shock. “Who are you? And why do you look like…”

“Sprout?” the spirit, Spring, finished their sentence. “That’s not important. What is important is that you have to overcome these trials with your own abilities. I believe in the power of you ponies more than ever now. I was once lost…and had Hitch not defeated me with his own strength, my heart would’ve remained unchanged. It was a harsh wind that made the vikings, but this isn’t just about you ponies needing to find strength within yourselves. This is also about the salvation of souls…”

Those words instantly triggered a memory in Sunny’s mind, causing her to recall the time when she promised her father that she would help the ghosts haunting Canterlove find peace. This provoked her to ask Spring a question…

“Are you…saving my test for last…because you believe I can help you and the spirits who accompany you here rest in peace?”

“I’ve already found my peace…” Spring answered contently, smiling while looking at Sprout. “But the spirits who haunt this building are a different story. Your test isn’t just being saved for last because of our confidence in your power as an alicorn…it’s because the truth you must face will be by far the hardest one to swallow…a truth about how far astray ponies can go…”

Sunny gulped and put a foreleg to her chest nervously.

“For right now though,” continued Spring, changing the subject. “I believe a certain unicorn should be helping her pegasus friend as she discovers the meaning of life.”

“As if I’d forget that.” Izzy retorted before she turned to Sunny. “Seriously, the truth of the reason for our existence is really something.”

“I’m…sure it is.” Sunny replied in a bewildered tone of voice, feeling awkward.

“I’ll be back before you know it.” Izzy told Sunny and Sprout confidently before she prepared to enter Canterlove. “Zipp is going to learn a new way to fly…”

With that, Izzy began trotting toward the entrance to Canterlove. After she left, Spring resumed talking to Sunny.

“We’ll go in after her once Zipp has passed her test.” she explained. “For right now, it’s time I earned my respite in becoming complete with my reincarnation…”

She looked at Sprout again, earning a puzzled glance from him.

“What does that mean?” he asked uncomfortably.

“It means I’m going to be absorbed into your soul…” she answered as she floated towards Sprout’s chest. “Merging with you will invoke a new power…the power to summon familiars from before Twilight’s time…”

Sprout gasped as the spirit entered his body, feeling a strange sensation all throughout it. He then looked at his right hoof, recalling his feeling of an icy coldness in his heart becoming overwhelmed with an inviting warmth…and realized a new fire within him was awakening…

Meanwhile, inside of Canterlove Studios, Hitch was still examining the fire in the jar Spring had given to him after possessing Sparky, a sight that was enticing both him and Misty as Sparky was still sleeping on Misty’s back.

“If what Pipp told us was true…” he mused as he recalled what Pipp had said. “This fire should be a clue to solving the mystery of the familiar’s identity. The benevolent warmth I feel from this flame tells me this familiar should be on our side, so that form of Twilight Sparkle it takes is clearly not something it does out of disrespect.”

“The main difficulty is pinpointing a pony from before Twilight’s time that could possibly be the familiar.” Misty remarked. “Opaline’s the only pony I’ve ever known from before that time and we all know how she’s the polar opposite of “benevolent warmth”. I once heard Zipp speculate the possibility of Opaline being from before that time though. Maybe she’ll discover something during her test that will-”

“Hold on…” Hitch interjected.

“What?” Misty asked in confusion.

“You’ve said Opaline’s name twice now…” Hitch explained. “Sprout said that the spirits of Canterlove hate hearing her name…yet I detect no malevolence around us, something I should be able to sense now that my supernatural powers have grown stronger.”

“That’s because you’re not outsiders, our faith in you growing stronger since you passed Sprout’s test.” an unidentifiable figure with the likeness of Twilight explained after materializing behind Hitch and Misty. “Besides, right now, the spirits of this building are focused on something else.”

“AH!” Hitch and Misty cried, turning around to face what turned out to be Sprout’s familiar.

“They’re too busy listening to a song from Pipp the Poltergeist.” the familiar continued. “It’s a special tune that reminds us all of the inner fire of our souls…can you hear it?”

After the familiar asked this, Pipp’s singing became audible to Hitch and Misty…

“Our ghostly lights! Will always burn stronger! Our flames come together!”

“Oh yeah, I can hear that…” Hitch replied, abruptly feeling languid.

“Me too…” Misty added, now feeling drowsy. “Is this some kind of a lullaby, because it’s making me…”

Misty then yawned as she and Hitch collapsed on the floor unconscious, now sleeping beside Sparky.

“A lullaby, it is not necessarily.” the familiar elaborated. “Pipp the Poltergeist’s music has the power to do all kinds of things. It can put ponies in trances, lull them to sleep, invigorate them, and even send them on a spiritual journey to where all our souls come from and must return to…”

The familiar then looked up, knowing of the fate that Zipp had met when she had entered Canterlove through the window…she now also laid unconscious on the floor as her soul left her body…Pipp, her phone in hoof playing music, then floated over to her sister’s soul, and whispered something…

“Even outside of this world, I’m with you…”

Everything to Zipp had gone black…

“This is a call to you for all walks of life…”

Zipp began to regain consciousness in the form of a spirit as she started hearing what sounded like her sister singing to another familiar melody…

“Lift up your hooves now under the starlight…”

Hearing this provoked Zipp to look at her now ghostly hooves before examining her surroundings and realizing she was in a place that resembled outer space. All around her, there were stars shining in a pitch-black sky. She could also see balls of spirit energy everywhere, balls of spirit energy that appeared to be moving towards something.

“Just riding on forever…”

Without even realizing it after these words became audible to her, Zipp found herself being gravitated towards whatever the balls of spirit energy were moving to, as if her soul was naturally heeding some kind of call. Eventually, she found herself facing what they were heading towards, a ball of spirit energy so large, she felt intimidated.

“Let’s all unite…”

After hearing this, Zipp watched the balls of spirit energy surrounding her begin to merge with the massive ball of spirit energy. As soon as she felt herself being drawn towards the giant spherical essence, she knew that she too would meet the same fate. She joined the balls of spirit energy that had arrived here in coalescing with this enormous mass of spirit energy, and once inside of it, she immediately noticed that she was no longer hearing any singing, but the sound of her own thoughts.

“Where am I?!” she immediately cried in thought as she looked all around, seeing nothing but white. “How did I get here?!”

“Ha ha ha…” a figure with a distorted voice Zipp instantly recognized chuckled. “You’re inside of your maker. You don’t remember how you got here because of the trance you were in from listening to Pipp’s music…but you are now where all souls originate from and must return to at one point…”

Zipp gasped upon seeing the figure talking materialize before her in the form of her sister.

“YOU!” she exclaimed. “You’re the spirit that spoke to me after I ate that cookie Sprout gave me! What’s your deal with pretending to be my sister? And what do you mean with all this stuff about me being “where all souls originate from and must return to”?”

“I happen to be a very distant ancestor of your sister and you…” the figure answered in a smooth-talking tone of voice. “You should feel honored to be a descendant of a figure as prestigious as I, Princess Platinum. And of course, every pony should consider it an honor to reunite with the one who created them once they have left their mortal coil…”

Zipp was taken aback, slowly beginning to process what had happened to her as she looked around.

“Are you saying…” she spoke in astonishment. “That I’m actually inside of…”

“The one we call, “Creator”, yes.” Princess Platinum finished her sentence, talking in a serene tone of voice. “This giant mass of spiritual energy we call, “Creator”, is a collection of souls. We are created by the fragmentation of it after we are conceived inside of it. Creator thinks us up, then we break off from him and enter a physical body. This is exactly where you were back when you were only just a thought.”

“Just…a thought…” Zipp said on impulse, slowly comprehending this revelation.

“Humbling, isn’t it?” Platinum remarked in an ironically smug tone of voice. “Amusing how the most self-assured friend of Sunny’s is the one to be exposed to this ego-shattering discovery as part of her test.”

“Look who’s talking…” Zipp retorted in a slightly irritated tone. “If you’re an enemy of mine hoping this will break me, you have another thing coming. My mind’s been open to the idea of the existence of all sorts of otherworldly phenomena since I was a kid, partially thanks to my sister always being obsessed with the supernatural. I can be somewhat cocky, but it’s been part of my personality since I was a filly to enjoy researching and considering every possibility. You think I never considered something like this to be possible?”

“Oh ho ho…” Platinum laughed condescendingly. “I know all too well about how you’re a nerd…a creative type…just like that unicorn who’s watching over your body as we speak. I am indeed your enemy at the moment in the sense that I’m acting as a threat as a way to assess your spiritual potential. Would you like to see what’s going on inside of Canterlove right now?”

With a wave of her hoof, Platinum caused small parts of the mass of spiritual energy she and Zipp were in to come together and form a screen displaying what was happening inside of the dark room Zipp had entered before she had fallen unconscious. Zipp’s soul gasped as she saw what was unfolding. Her body, possessed by a ghost, had her wings tied down with a rope and was now taking the cord Pipp’s lucky microphone was once on top of and wrapping it around her neck. With it attempting to tie the other end of the cord around a hook on the ceiling that was hanging above a stool on the floor, both the hook and stool being held in place by a supernatural power, all while Izzy was trying to push it away from said stool, Zipp began to feel great dread as it became abundantly clear what was happening…

“Like your unicorn friend,” said Platinum in a sinister tone of voice, “you can now hear the voices of your ancestors, like yours truly. There’s a fragment of my soul inside of your body, and now, your body is listening to its commands, trying to put an end to itself and forcing your soul to merge with it before it can die…”

“You jerk!” Zipp insulted Platinum angrily. “How is this a fair test if my soul is stuck here while my body’s there?!”

“Who said anything about being stuck?” Platinum retorted. “This is the inside of Creator. Although outside your world, it’s also intertwined with your world, allowing you to return to Canterlove whenever you want. You can create whatever Creator’s will allows and have it physically manifest in the mortal realm. You can also interact with any soul back there you have a strong bond with.”

“Any soul I have a strong bond with?” Zipp asked. “Does that include…”

“That’s all for clues.” Platinum replied. “May we meet again on the other side…or this side, ha ha ha…”

Zipp growled as the image of Pipp before her disappeared.

“Curse it all!” she cried, feeling incensed. “What am I supposed to do?!”

“Calm down, Zipp.” another figure with the familiar voice of Pipp began talking to Zipp. “Your mind needs to be focused right now if you want to think of a way to rescue your body.”

“Who said that?!” Zipp shouted, still enraged. “Is that you again, Platinum, trying to mock me?!”

“No Zipp, it really is me.” Pipp answered softly, materializing beside her sister with an Ocean Lily in her mane, a sight that placated Zipp.

“This portrait day, I want you by my side…”

Suddenly, Zipp could hear these familiar words sung to a familiar tune. Not only did she know for sure now this was Pipp from what she had done to remind her of what they had done for their portrait day, she also had a thought about what she had seen earlier when she last met Pipp…

“If Pipp doesn’t show up in pictures anymore…”

“Zipp, there’s something you need to know.” Pipp explained. “You haven’t just been brought here as part of your test. Just like you, I have a part of Platinum’s soul inside of me. She’s been manipulating me…you can’t let her get to you!”

“Wait a minute…” Zipp replied in surprise. “Is part of the reason why you want us to catch you…”

“There’s no time to explain!” Pipp exclaimed in concern. “Your body’s in danger! I can only help you and the others so much because of the will of the spirits! It’s going to take something out of this world to save you. You and Izzy need to put your minds together and find a new way to fly!”

With a wave of her hoof, Pipp then made a lantern appear from the spirit energy below and used her supernatural powers to light a fire inside of it.

“Remember Zipp…” Pipp told her sister wholeheartedly. “There’s a reason for why there’s a realm of fire…it’s because in this world, there’s a fire we all have to keep going no matter what…”

Upon seeing the fire, a vision of the floor of the dark room Zipp had fallen unconscious in flashed through her mind, the sight of a rope and a basket containing a bottle of hoof polish beside the lantern. She then saw her sister telling her something after her body and soul were separated…

“Even outside of this world, I’m with you…”

Pipp then began to vanish…

“Pipp, wait!” Zipp exclaimed, reaching out to her sister in vain before she completely disappeared.

Zipp then began to think back to what Platinum had said about her being able to communicate with any soul from the mortal realm she had a strong bond with.

“I don’t think trying to talk to Pipp again would get me anywhere…” she thought to herself. “I have to talk to Izzy next, but what kind of plan could we concoct to save my body? Pipp’s obviously been trying to give me clues, I just have to put them together now…”

Thinking over everything, one clue in particular began to stick out to Zipp…

“New way to fly…” she pondered. “I already have the power to fly, which would normally make it impossible for me to hang myself to death. The rope…Platinum used rope to tie my wings down…but if it was to be used to help me…with the fire and basket…I know Izzy always carries…oh…but what about the hoof polish? What would Pipp want me to do with one of her products…NO WAY.”

Zipp recalled what Pipp had told her before she vanished and the way she had described her latest products as “out of this world”. Something shocking was finally beginning to make sense to her after she also recalled what Misty had said about Pipp preparing a big surprise for not just her and her friends but every pony in this world and beyond…

“She wants us all to know of the reason for our existence…”

Soon, in the dark room in Canterlove, Zipp’s body was getting ready to step on the stool with the cord wrapped around its neck. Izzy, having done everything in her power to keep Zipp’s body from being hung up to this point, was beginning to worry.

“Come on, Zipp…” she thought frantically. “I can’t do this all by myself!”

“Izzy!” Zipp exclaimed in Izzy’s mind, communicating with her telepathically through Creator. “I know how to save my body!”

“Yes!” an elated Izzy responded in her mind. “There you are, Zipp! Tell me, what do you need me to do?”

“I need you to put that hoof polish on the floor around my body’s neck!” Zipp answered. “Then, I need you to use your magic to move something I’ve crafted below the window!”

“You got it, Zipp!” Izzy cried joyfully, levitating the hoof polish with her magic.

“Whatever you’re trying now, it’s too late!” Platinum proclaimed through Zipp’s body, now on the stool that was released from a supernatural grip and ready to kick it away.

“It’s never too late…to get creative!” Izzy declared confidently as she splashed the hoof polish on Zipp’s neck, causing Zipp’s body to collapse on the floor after she kicked the stool away.

“What?!” Platinum cried, confounded. “Why was my neck not suspended by the cord?!”

“Because you have the neck of a ggghhhooooosssttt now!” Izzy explained cheekily, prompting Platinum to look down and see that Zipp’s neck was now transparent and had passed through the cord. “Zipp figured out that Pipp’s next line of products is intended to give ponies the opportunity to experience what it’s like to be ethereal like her! Temporarily, of course!”

“She truly does have sharp wits, I’ll give her that…” Platinum said as she stood up, only slightly phased by this turn of events. “But I’m not done just yet!”

Izzy’s horn lit up with magic as Platinum raced to the open window.

“Hope that like me, you had a Plan B!” Platinum cried in a derisive tone of voice as she jumped out the window.

Izzy simply smirked as she heard Platinum’s fall being cushioned.

“Hope I had a Plan B?” she retorted. “You hurt my feelings. I always carry around something for a Plan B, as well as Plans C, D, and E…”

A stunned Platinum looked down and saw that her fall had been cushioned by a hot air balloon. Zipp, in the form of a spirit, was in the basket, taunting her with a wave of her hoof saying, “Hi.”. The spiritual fire she had used to make the balloon airborne after tying it to the basket with a rope was imbued with the powerful aura of Creator, stifling any potential movement from Platinum, overwhelmed by the sensation from the heated air in the balloon.

“…Balloons.” Izzy finished her sentence, smiling sweetly as she used the rope around the wings of Zipp’s body to fully tie it up and levitate it back inside of the dark room. “Give up?”

Something in Platinum’s eyes twinkled…

“Alright, you got me.” the restrained Platinum admitted defeat. “But this isn’t the last you’ll see of me…there’s another force besides me manipulating Pipp…tied to the root of all our hatred…”

“The howl of a sore loser is still the howl of a loser!” the spirit of an irritated Zipp fired back as she entered her body and took control. “We’re going to free Pipp from you and whatever else has dared to try controlling her!”

After Zipp regained control of her body, the rope restraining her body became undone and she now felt a new spiritual sensation inside of her. A new power awakening as she could hear someone talk to her in her mind…

“Well done…my child.”

“Creator…” Zipp responded in thought solemnly.

Instinctively, she looked over at the cord Platinum had tried to strangle her body with and went over to grab it. Before she knew it, her body poured spiritual energy into it, causing it to become transparent and glow. Zipp then examined her hoof, and on impulse, she made it become transparent and glow as well…

“Pipp…” she said in a remorseful tone of voice, now realizing something. “I’m sorry I made that despicable insinuation that you allowed yourself to die on purpose…I would’ve died too…the only reason I passed this test is because of you, Izzy, and Creator helping me…”

“The reason for our existence is really something, isn’t it?” Izzy remarked warmly as she affectionately put a hoof around Zipp.

“Yeah…” Zipp replied with a smile on her face as she and Izzy looked out the window. “We’re here to create…to grow and make this world better with our creations…giving others things that are out of this world. That is our call…”

They saw something sparkle inside the fire keeping the hot air balloon afloat…Zipp had been inspired by the fire from Pipp’s lantern to find a new way to fly…remembering how a magic lantern was what transformed that tram car she and Izzy remodeled into the Mare Stream…

However, what Zipp and Izzy didn’t see was the photo Pipp had with her in the dark room…something that was now missing…

Author's Note

For the record, Pipp the Poltergeist singing is something I originally planned to have happen in the fourth chapter before plans were changed for this story to have more chapters. The only song Pipp sings in this chapter that isn't from any piece of G5 media is the first song, a parody of Glowin' Up I wrote way back.

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.

The Familiar Revealed

Sunny was in a state of complete astonishment at the revelation she had just discovered. Sprout’s familiar, the ghost speaking to her through the photograph she was holding, was her ancestor. In response to being called as such, he smiled and nodded.

“That’s right.” he confirmed. “I am indeed an ancestor of yours from before the time of Twilight Sparkle. Long ago, in a room like this one, when you were only a foal, I appeared beside you and your father, Argyle Starshine. It happened as he was taking a picture, something he hid from you once it was developed, not wanting you to be afraid. I believe it was the day when you first had Sprout and Hitch over at your home. Your father was telling you three a story about the Windigos as he opened a book…a book that made my spirit feel compelled to visit your home…”

“That reminds me of what Pipp said about the book Misty gave her…” Sunny stated what she recalled. “Is there something about it that made you and the other spirits want to visit this building?”

“Yes…” Sprout’s familiar answered with his smile becoming a disconcerting frown. “Pipp and I both knew, but we did not tell Sprout, fearing it would go to Misty and make her feel worse about what’s happening now. That book Misty gave Pipp…is the same book Opaline stole from the royals when she led that rebellion against Princess Platinum.”

Sunny gasped upon hearing this.

“No…” she said with small tears in her eyes, worrying of the guilt Misty would have to endure if she were to find out.

“However…” Sprout’s familiar continued to explain. “We are not simply here because of the book. It was also the extraordinary will of Pipp that drew us here. Rest assured, it is not because of Misty that she is a ghost now…the reason for that is a truth you and your friends lying beside you must discover after you have ascertained my identity. I’m sure they’ll be regaining consciousness shortly…”

“What about Sparky and Sprout?” Sunny asked in concern. “Where are they?”

“Sparky and Sprout are inside of the room where your friend, Zipp, underwent her trial.” Sprout’s familiar answered. “The baby dragon has been sleeping soundly this whole time as Sprout now watches over him there. That is where we shall be waiting for you once you’ve solved the most spooktacular mystery ever.”

“Hold on…” Sunny said as a thought came to her, remembering something the familiar had said earlier. “Does “we” include…?”

“Your father will be there too, yes.” Sprout’s familiar bluntly replied. “He knows about what happened with Sprout and doesn’t fault you for it at all. Let me inform you that he has always had a premonition of a day like this coming. A day where spirits of the past would return to haunt Equestria, leading you and your friends to have to find a new fire together. He knew it was something you would have to figure out by yourselves, however. For it is only with your own will that you can accept the fire that will free you from the poison called malice…show that fire you have inherited from me to your friends, and soon, all the clues you have been given as to who I am should come together. Let us meet again soon…”

With that, Sunny could feel the presence of her ancestor in the photograph disappear. Soon, her friends awakened…

“Ugh…what happened?” they asked themselves as they turned over to sit up straight on the couch. “All I can remember is…Sunny?!”

The presence of their friend immediately caught their attention, not just because they had suddenly been greeted to the sight of her, but because they could instantly sense that something about her soul was different now. And so, they asked…

“Sunny, did you…?”

“Yes.” Sunny quickly answered. “I passed my test. However, a terrible price was paid to ensure my success. Sprout sacrificed himself. He’s just like Pipp now.”

Sunny’s friends were in complete disbelief at what they had been told.

“Are you saying that Sprout…died for you?!” Zipp exclaimed in utter shock.

“I knew he was going to be sincere in his mission to protect you…” a slightly less surprised Izzy interjected. “…but I never expected him to go that far…”

“Me neither…” a saddened Misty chimed in, feeling pity for him that was shared by the rest of the group. “The poor soul…”

“It’s not your fault…” Sunny remarked on impulse. “You may have brought Pipp that book, but…never mind…”

“Huh?” Misty replied in a suspecting tone after Sunny stopped herself from letting the truth slip.

“That spirit that possessed Sparky…” Hitch recalled. “The way I gained control of the fragment of my soul…did Spring…”

“Spring merged with him.” Sunny confirmed Hitch’s speculation of Spring having something to do with Sprout’s change in personality. “However, that’s not all there was to it. Sprout was touched by the way we were determined to help Pipp at any cost. He even wanted to be considered part of our group. It was the fire of our friendship that moved him…”

Sunny’s friends grew even more astonished as they watched Sunny create a pink and purple fire shaped like a heart with her hoof…

“That fire…” Hitch reacted in amazement, immediately recognizing the familiar sensation of benevolent warmth emanating from it. “It’s the fire of that familiar…”

“Quite so.” Sunny confirmed another postulation of her friend’s. “And that familiar of Sprout’s is no ordinary ghost…he’s an ancestor of mine.”

Just when Sunny’s friends thought they couldn’t be any more surprised, this revelation blew their minds away.

“Y-Y-Y-YOU MEAN…” they said while stammering. “A-A-ALL THIS TIME…D-DID YOUR DAD KNOW?!”

“He had to have, given what the familiar told me about what he hid to protect me.” Sunny solemnly answered. “The familiar also explained to me that he always had a feeling something like this would happen and had a solid reason for not telling us…that reason being that the fire of friendship is something we had to discover the secrets of on our own…and now, we have to come together to discover the secret of the familiar’s identity…”

“Yes, just as Pipp told us.” Izzy replied with a nod of agreement. “We need to put all the clues we found together.”

“As the detective here, allow me to have first dibs.” Zipp chimed in, speaking in her usual self-assured tone. “During my test, I learned the truth of our existence inside of the one who made us. We’re all a part of Creator, a collection of souls that conceived us all.”

“Woah…” every pony in the room aside from Izzy and Misty said in response.

“And that’s not all.” Zipp continued. “Pipp actually appeared to me inside of Creator and told me something about a fire we all had to keep going no matter what while showing me a lantern she had…”

“Lantern?” Sunny said with piqued interest. “Was it…like the Prisbeam Lantern?”

“It definitely seemed different to me than that…” Zipp answered, though not with full certainty. “Though in retrospect, I do find it to be an interesting coincidence how right after that was when I discovered that Pipp intended to share the secret of the purpose of our existence with every pony…”

“So you know now what her big surprise is.” Misty interjected softly. “Those products of hers…I can tell from my spiritual senses that she used them to temporarily turn us into ghosts while we were unconscious.”

“We were ghosts while we were unconscious?!” Hitch cried in shock. “Oh no, I just realized that Sparky isn’t here! Where’d my little dragon buddy go?!”

“Relax, Hitch.” Sunny said to calm her friend. “The familiar told me that Sparky is safe with him and Sprout.”

Hitch breathed a sigh of relief.

“Still…” Sunny continued in a slightly surprised tone of voice. “I can’t believe Pipp actually made something that can turn ponies into ghosts…during my test, I was told it was something done to protect you guys. I believe that wholeheartedly, knowing Pipp would only ever create something like that with good intentions in mind. She wanted to protect you guys from a deadly attack the spirits made during my test…something that wouldn’t have just destroyed our bodies, but siphoned the life from our souls were it not for the cure I now have the power to create with my hoof alone…”

Once Sunny made a pink and purple fire shaped like a heart appear with her hoof again, something began to dawn on Hitch…

“You know, my test taught me how to create supernatural fire too…” he recounted as he mused. “And that spirit, Spring, gave me a sample of the fire just like the kind you have in your hoof…”

Hitch then proceeded towards the kitchen, where he found the jar containing the sample and brought it back to the lounge room for every pony to see.

“Something tells me that there’s an inextricable link between all of our tests…related to fire…”

“You and Sunny said that’s the familiar’s fire…” Zipp chimed in, coming to the same conclusion as Hitch. “But what could that be telling us about who he is?”

After some thought and remembering the way the familiar had behaved earlier around Sprout after a new fire in him was awakened, Sunny finally figured it out after realizing that something the familiar had told her was actually a key clue to solving this puzzle…

“The story my dad told me…” she uttered in realization. “The story of the Windigos!”

“The story of the what?” her friends responded in confusion.

“Ice spirits,” explained Sunny, “creatures of wind that would manifest when ponies would fight and show hate for each other during the time before Twilight Sparkle. My dad told me they even showed up once during the time of Twilight, but that wasn’t the focus of the story…no…his story was about a learned scholar…like the one the spirits told me about. I don’t remember his name, but I know he’s the one who found the cure to the poison from the bomb Opaline detonated during the rebellion against Princess Platinum.”

“Wait, Platinum?!” Zipp reacted in surprise. “What did the scholar in that story do?”

“In that story,” answered Sunny, “the scholar defeated the Windigos with the fire of friendship, which also happens to be the cure for the poison that I can now create…which can only mean…”

Every pony in the room’s eyes went wide as they all came to the same realization and proclaimed…

“That scholar is Sprout’s familiar!”

“We just need to figure out his name now!” Zipp exclaimed earnestly. “Pipp gave us a clue before any of us entered Canterlove about how we already knew his name, it was just the last name we’d think of…hold on…Sunny, can you at least remember what the scholar from the story’s name was like? Did he have one name or two?”

“All I can remember is that his name was different from an ordinary pony’s name.” Sunny told her. “It was like…”Something the something”…”

“I’ve never heard of a name like that before.” Hitch chimed in. “Maybe we’re supposed to put what we can learn from that clue Pipp gave us with something we know about the familiar now in order to find out his name.”

“Last name…” Zipp said as she thought over the clue from Pipp. “Since he’s Sprout’s familiar…could she have been talking about Sprout’s last name? And if he’s a learned scholar, that means he’s highly intelligent…one would assume a scholar would want a title associated with intellect…OOOHHH…”

Zipp began to giggle the same way she had giggled when she had first been given the clue from her sister.

“I know his name…” she declared ebulliently.

An also enthusiastic Izzy smiled upon seeing Zipp’s excitement, knowing it was time to make some preparations…

Meanwhile, Pipp, Sprout, Sparky, and the familiar resembling Twilight were in the room the familiar had told Sunny and her friends to come to once they had solved the mystery of his identity. Pipp was looking outside the window with a morose expression on her face, Sprout was happily drinking a cup of cocoa, and Sparky, now awake, was sitting on a pillow with the familiar by his side.

“Urooooo!” he cried with glee upon sensing the familiar’s kindred nature.

Sparky then put his hand on the familiar’s stomach, causing the familiar’s stomach to lose mass as cake ghosts departed from it, looking cheerful as they subsequently vanished. A blue, ghostly energy exuding from the pendant the familiar was wearing then materialized into Argyle, who also appeared to be happy. Naturally, he, the familiar, and Sprout wanted to learn why Pipp was brooding as they turned to face her.

“What’s the matter, Pipp?” Sprout decided to be the one to inquire. “Are you still feeling guilty over what happened to me?”

“Of course I am.” Pipp bluntly replied. “I know none of you want me to blame myself, but it’s more than just a feeling of guilt. I’m also disillusioned…I had a conviction made right from the start that I and I alone would be the sacrifice. Everything about the idea of you taking my place just feels so wrong, I feel like I broke my promise…”

“You did no such thing.” Sprout’s familiar reassured her. “If Sprout wishes to take your place as the one to pay the price for the wrongdoings of the spirits, that’s his decision. If you don’t want him to take your place, that’s your decision. The noble actions of another do not diminish your integrity.”

“I know, but you know as well as I do that we are not simple creatures…” Pipp rebutted. “There’s a part of me that wants to be the sacrifice for selfish reasons, enjoying how it makes me feel good about myself. Having Sprout be the sacrifice in my stead is obviously selfish too, but with my friends wanting to see me become “normal” again, wouldn’t it also be selfish to deny them that desire after how much they’ve gone through? No matter what, I can’t win…”

“Pipp, sometimes there is no right answer.” Argyle chimed in solemnly. “Sometimes, the best thing we can do is have faith. “Believe in yourself and those you love.” is a very overused maxim, but a very valuable one. We must believe in those we love and the things we say and do. What would my daughter think of me if I didn’t believe in her? What would she think of you if she saw you sulking like this? Wouldn’t you truly be remiss in being one true to their word if you were to not be yourself while giving them the most spooktacular time of their lives?”

Pipp’s glum look shifted to an astonished look once Argyle’s words reminded her of the message she told Izzy and Misty to relay to her other friends if they had accidentally given away the truth of her supernatural powers too soon. She created a fire with her hoof and examined it for a moment before looking over at her lantern on the floor. Remembering what she had told Zipp inside of Creator, she began to smile after turning back to the fire in her hoof…

“I really do feel silly…” she remarked as her vim began to return. “It makes no sense for me to be acting this way when I’m the one who told her about the fire we have to keep going no matter what…”

“Would that fire happen to be related to the fire of friendship in any way?”

Everyone in the room turned to face Sunny and her friends making their entrance as Sunny uttered this.

“Absolutely.” Sprout’s familiar answered Sunny’s question. “For part of our purpose in life is to share the fire that drives us to create incredible things with friends. I shared the fire of friendship with the ponies of my time, the spirits in this building, the spirits inside of me, the Windigos, and you…something that in turn, will be shared with your friends. Now that you’re all here, I’m sure you all know my name.”

“Indeed we do.” Sunny earnestly confirmed. “You’re Clover the Clever.”

Pipp, Sprout, Argyle, and the familiar all perked up when they heard that name, delighted that Sunny and her friends had found the correct solution to the puzzle.

“Yes…” Pipp said happily, grateful that her friends had not only solved the mystery, but not seen her in the state she was in beforehand.

“Who would’ve thought that Sprout Cloverleaf would end up with Clover the Clever’s ghost?” Sprout joked about the clue Pipp had given them.

“I knew I was right to never doubt you for a second.” Argyle remarked as he looked at Clover, who met his gaze. “Clover, I think we know who that pendant belongs to now…”

“Since it originally belonged to you…” Clover respectfully replied as he took off the pendant and gave it to Argyle. “I think you should do the honor of bestowing it upon her.”

“Hold on a second!” Sunny exclaimed in protest. “I can’t just accept a reward like that!”

“Why not?” Clover retorted. “You’ve already accepted the reward of a new fire, the very thing you were promised from the beginning. You’re not going to be able to share it with your friends with that attitude.”

“But it just doesn’t feel right…” a downcast Sunny responded. “Not only can I feel from my heightened spiritual sense that the spirits aren’t completely free, I passed my test at the cost of Sprout’s life…”

“Sunny, the spirits can only be completely free if they so choose.” Clover told her solemnly. “You made up your mind that you would never try to take away their free will, and unfortunately, if the spirits choose to remain trapped, that is how they will remain. Some souls simply choose to wander aimlessly and even find themselves as cake ghosts in hot drinks and baked goods…”

Sunny and her friends gasped as they looked over at Sprout, seeing that the cup of cocoa he had in hoof now had small, purple spirits emerging from it, the same spirits they had seen rising from the cookies he had given them before they entered Canterlove. They then looked over at Clover’s belly, noticing that he had lost weight as the same spirits emerged from his stomach, looking happy before they disappeared.

“It’s not your fault that souls become lost, Sunny.” Sprout chimed in. “Our responsibility is to be a guide to the lost, and my sacrifice was part of my duty as one.”

“You’ve done a tremendous job as a guide to the lost, honey.” Argyle complimented his daughter affectionately. “We all just need to do our best to provide solace to the souls around us. If they don’t want peace, we can’t force it on them. However, thanks to what you’ve done, I think the souls haunting this building are closer to finding peace than ever…”

Argyle then leaned closer to his daughter to put his pendant around her neck before whispering something in her ear…

“That’s why this is no time to be losing your groove. Spirits that still need guidance reside within one of your closest friends…”

Sunny’s eyes widened in astonishment. She could immediately tell who Argyle was referring to, looking over at Pipp, who looked back at her. With her increased spiritual power, she could now feel something inside of Pipp, something longing to be rejuvenated with magic…

Tears then began to fall from Sunny’s eyes as she gave her father a hug.

“You’re the best, dad…” Sunny told her father with full sincerity. “I’m so glad you didn’t show me that photograph when I was a filly. I’m so glad that my friends and I got to solve this mystery by ourselves. I know you’re always going to live on inside of me, but I have no doubt in my mind that you’ll allow me to continue to save souls with my own strength…showing them how to accept the fire that will free them into their hearts…”

It was then that Argyle’s spirit entered the pendant, leading Sunny to transform into an alicorn. She proceeded to cast a spell on her friends that caused them to become enveloped by golden, magical energy. They then looked at how the aura surrounding their bodies was glowing brighter than ever, and instinctively, they each made a supernatural fire appear in one of their hooves, a fire that was pink, purple, and shaped like a heart. Clover looked upon the sight with pride.

“My work here is done…your power is far greater than Opaline’s…” he said with accomplishment, smiling and nodding as a tear of joy came out of one of his eyes before he turned to face Sprout. “Will you do the honor of dismissing me?”

“Of course.” Sprout responded without hesitation. “It really is an honor. You know, I still remember when I thought a familiar as powerful as you was perfect for a pony like me. But now, my opinion’s changed. It’s not just you who’s too good for me…it’s Sunny and her friends too.”

Once Sprout waved his hoof to dismiss Clover, everyone in the room, including Sparky, looked at Sprout in surprise, awestruck at his newfound humility.

“Sprout…” Sunny said in disbelief. “Do you really mean that?”

“Why would I say that in jest?” Sprout retorted as he grabbed Sparky. “After what you did for those spirits, why is it any surprise that my heart has changed?”

“Aww…” Sparky murmured happily as he gave Sprout’s neck an affectionate rub with his head.

“Don’t worry, we believe you…” an admiring Hitch chimed in upon seeing that Sparky could sense the transformation in Sprout’s heart.

“Given that, would you trust me to watch Sparky while you undertake your final mission?” Sprout asked.

“Yes.” Hitch answered with sincerity. “I can see he’s taken a liking to you.”

Sprout then turned to Izzy and Misty.

“I hope you have that spell ready.” he told Izzy.

“Sure do!” Izzy cheerfully replied. “Some pony’s going to be singing a really special tune here soon, heh heh!”

“And Misty…” he told Misty. “You’re going to see soon what a great thing you’ve done for Equestria by bringing Pipp that book…you’re awesome.”

“Hmm?” Sunny thought in perplexment. “Does he now know about…?”

“…Thanks.” Misty responded with uncertainty, feeling the same sense of suspicion she felt earlier when Sunny said something off to her. “I think we’ve all changed for the better lately…”

Pipp put her front hooves on her cheeks, wearing an enamored grin on her face.

“I also want all of you to know…” Sprout said to Sunny and every pony accompanying her. “What happens from here on out will be forged by choices we’ve made with our free will. I’d love to live again as a normal pony and Pipp will do what she loves to do. You can’t change Pipp no matter what, but know that Creator will work through you to unlock the magic inside of us all…”

Pipp then looked over at her lantern and gave a slight chuckle…

“Putting everything you got from your trials together is the key…use the newfound fire within you to do what it’s meant to do…” Sprout gave them one last hint of advice. “When the time comes, I know you’ll make the right choice…”

Sprout, using a power he had gained upon becoming a ghost, then vanished with Sparky in hoof as Pipp turned her attention to Sunny and the group.

“It’s finally time…” she gleefully said in an ominous tone. “Now that you’ve solved the spooktacular mystery, it’s time to catch me…but once you do, what will you choose?”

Hitch looked at the jar containing the fire Spring had given him, Zipp looked over at the cord in the room she had made into spiritual matter with her new power, and Sunny looked at the photo her ancestor was in.

“Pipp…” they answered solemnly, fighting the bad feeling that was welling up inside them all with hope. “We already know what we’re going to choose…to use our power to help you!”

There was a spark in Pipp’s eyes as something that resembled a soul in them now had eyes that looked far less lifeless...

Meanwhile, Sprout had teleported himself and Sparky to the lounge room below. He put the baby dragon down on the couch and pulled out his phone. Knowing of how Equestria was reacting to the disappearance of Pipp, he wore a serious expression on his face.

“Soon, they’ll all know the truth of their existence…” he said forebodingly.

Author's Note

Up next is the finale. Can Sunny and her friends catch Pipp the Poltergeist and accept the most difficult truth they'll have to face yet?

The Afterlife to a Ghost

Sunny and her friends only had one thing left to do now…to catch a ghost, their friend. Not only did they somehow have to find a way to capture a being of spiritual energy, they also had to somehow find a way to heal the spiritual pain in Pipp’s heart.

“Pipp…” they told their friend sincerely. “No matter what happens, we’re always going to be here to help you. However, you also have to be willing to tell us what’s going on. You know you can’t fool us now that our supernatural powers have grown as much as they have. Be honest with us…what are you hiding?”

“If you want me to tell you, you’ll have to catch me first…” Pipp retorted with a cheeky grin on her face as she pulled out her lucky microphone. “I wouldn’t get distracted if I were you, especially if you didn’t come to me prepared…”

Pipp then began to sing a song that would put Sunny and her friends to sleep, but Izzy just smiled as her horn lit up, the type of magical energy and bubbles around her horn becoming visible around the auras of Sunny and her friends.

You hear that song…

Pipp had intended to sing A Special Tune, the lullaby she had made for Sparky, but thanks to Izzy’s spell, it sounded to her friends like she was singing the remix Izzy had made for Pipp’s song, All You Need is Your Beat. Pipp, however, quickly caught on to what was going on, ceasing to sing once she could feel that the power of the auras of her friends was being enhanced.

“Nice try!” Izzy exclaimed cheerily. “But my spell ensures that whatever tune you sing to us with the intent of putting us to sleep or sending us to meet Creator sounds like the kind of song you would sing with the intent to invigorate a pony’s supernatural power!”

“Well played…” Pipp replied, feeling largely unphased. “However, that was just a warm-up to make sure you were truly ready…if you think catching me is going to be easy…”

Pipp then put her microphone away and instead pulled out a book.

“That’s the book that I gave her!” Misty exclaimed in thought, immediately recognizing it.

“Then it’s time to change your tune…” she finished her sentence with confidence in her voice as her cutie mark began to glow, along with her hoof that wasn’t holding the book. “Creator! Spirits! Give me your strength!”

Pipp then waved her free hoof down from her mane to her wispy tail, causing her to disappear in magical, purple flames.

“Huh?” Sunny reacted in surprise, something shared by her friends. “Where’d she go? Is she trying to flee from us?”

“Does this answer your question?” Pipp retorted mischievously as she materialized behind them before they turned to face her. “Boo!”

“AAAHHH!” they went in startlement, with the exception of Misty, who attempted to use her magic to cast a spell on Pipp she hoped could stymie her movements.

“Ha!” Pipp exclaimed tauntingly as she quickly teleported back to her original position. “You’ll have to do better than that! As if one pony’s magic would be enough to stop me!”

Pipp’s scoffing made her friends quickly realize they needed to work together on a strategy to capture her…but what? Their minds harked back to what Sprout had told them before he left with Sparky…

“Putting everything you got from your trials together is the key…”

They then realized that what Pipp had said about one pony’s magic not being enough to stop her was a clue about how they needed to work together. It should’ve come as no surprise, given how often they had worked together to find a solution to their problems, but there was a weird feeling that came over them as they thought about working together against a friend…

Hitch, Zipp, and Sunny each looked at the items they had come across during their tests, the jar with fire in it, the cord, and the photo respectively, just like they had after they had told Pipp they were going to choose to help her. This was another puzzle they knew the solution to in their hearts, and they knew they had to confront this bad feeling that was continuing to foster inside of them…so they did what their hearts told them…

Zipp took the cord in hoof and used her supernatural power to run her aura through the transparent and glowing object. Hitch opened the jar and absorbed the supernatural fire inside it into his front hooves. Sunny put the photo away as she whispered something to all her friends. All of them nodded after she finished quietly telling them what she had said and slightly distanced themselves from her as Sunny, in her alicorn form, approached Pipp while preparing a spell with her horn.

“It seems you haven’t learned…” Pipp continued to speak mockingly. “No matter…we can do this all night if you want! After all, ghosts don’t need sleep!”

“I’m ethereal in this form too, you know…” Sunny retorted. “And I have no intention of wasting your time. I just hope you’ll return the favor once we’ve caught you…”

“Gladly!” Pipp exclaimed confidently. “Just be sure to give me my money’s worth! Ghosts also don’t need money, but it’s not like death ever stopped this salespony!”

“You won’t be bragging for long!” Sunny proclaimed as she fired a magic blast at Pipp in an attempt to stymie her as Misty had done, a blast that was followed by two subsequent shots.

“No! Nope! And nopers!” Pipp taunted Sunny without relent despite Sunny’s cry. “The same trick done better by a one-trick pony is still nothing new! And I suppose I should warn you…you may not be able to capture me, but I can certainly capture you and the rest of the group whenever I want!”

“What does that mean?!” Sunny demanded to know.

“It means that even while I can’t sing songs to send you to meet Creator,” explained Pipp, “Creator will be disappointed if this is the best you can do and grant me permission to return your souls to him for a little while, heh heh…”

Pipp then turned the pages of the book and started building up aura in her free hoof.

“Just a heads up for the next time I sneak up on you…” she warned Sunny. “I’m going to knock you out…”

Sunny then glanced over at her friends and gave them a nod as they nodded back. She looked at Pipp again.

“Try me.” Sunny retorted confidently.

“I’m serious…” Pipp responded as she cast the same spell she had used to take Sunny and her friends by surprise earlier, disappearing while leaving behind purple flames. “I don’t intend to try…I intend to do. Don’t you dare blow your last chance…”

Sunny remained silent as she thought deeply about the situation at hand.

“I know what you’re up to, Pipp…” she spoke seriously in her mind. “You’re making these jeers and warnings as a way to motivate us to give this our all, not wanting us to hold back against you because you’re our friend. You’re making things difficult because you want us to have fun doing this, knowing it would be boring if this last endeavor of ours was easy…”

“Sunny…” Pipp said solemnly in thought as she prepared to sneak up on her friend. “I hope you understand me…”

Fortunately, Sunny had already understood what Pipp was trying to communicate to her and her friends from the start. The plan she had discussed with her friends earlier was about to be put into action. As soon as Pipp began to manifest behind the alicorn, Sunny, able to detect her immediately, now fully focused with her alicorn form making her heightened spiritual senses sharper, made the aura around her body grow brighter as a signal to her friends.

“NOW!” her friends exclaimed as Zipp threw the cord, which had been tied like a lasso rope, at Pipp.

“They knew all along!” a surprised Pipp cried in thought as the cord was wrapped around her ghostly form, constricting her tail. “My sister transformed this cord into spiritual matter!”

She looked over at Zipp and noticed that it was not just her gripping the cord that she had thrown with her hooves. Hitch also had his hooves on the cord for a reason her mind was trying to discover. As she contemplated this, however, Misty took advantage of her occupied mind to cast a spell at the book she was holding, knocking it out of her hoof. Misty then took hold of the book with her levitation magic.

“Commendable work…” Pipp offered her friends praise. “But I hope you haven’t forgotten that I don’t need magic spells! I still have my supernatural fire!”

Pipp then made supernatural fire appear in her hooves and pressed them against the cord tied around her in an attempt to burn it away. However, as soon as her fire touched the cord, it was subsumed by another fire…Spring’s fire of friendship. This supernatural fire was especially potent from being ignited within Sprout by his friends coming together. With the power of one who could sense the fire of friendship from the very beginning enhancing it, Pipp’s flame couldn’t hope to compete.

“What?!” Pipp cried as she turned her attention to a smirking Hitch, realizing the reason why his hooves were on the cord now. “Oh…now I see…this cord is imbued with supernatural fire far stronger than mine. However, even though you’ve overpowered me, it’s not over until you’ve captivated me completely!”

“We know…” Sunny told Pipp forebodingly as she pulled out the photo with her magic. “And we also know where you’d like to be held captive…”

Pipp blankly stared at the photo for a moment before smiling sweetly and closing her eyes.

“I knew this was going to happen right from the beginning…” she said contently.

Sunny didn’t reply, looking down while not saying a word as the magic from her horn enveloped Pipp’s bound ghostly form and drew it towards the photograph. As soon as Pipp touched the photo, she disappeared in a magical flash of light, the cord around her losing its grip and falling to the floor as a binding that was no longer needed. Sunny’s friends then gathered around her to look at the picture she was holding…which now showed their ghostly friend, still smiling.

“You did it.” she told them happily. “It’s over now…”

“No.” Sunny bluntly replied. “It’s not over. Before we entered this building, we made a commitment to help you no matter the cost. And we can’t help you unless you tell us what you know we need to know. You have to tell us what’s bothering your heart…what is the root of the malice inside of you?”

Upon being asked this, Pipp’s smile faded, her expression becoming downcast.

“I knew this would happen too…” she said despondently. “No hiding anything from you guys, is there? Well, now that you’ve caught me and proven yourselves worthy, I guess there’s no need for any more wordplay or ghostly tricks. I’ll tell you outright. The souls of Princess Platinum and her subordinates are inside of me, still feeling hatred towards Opaline for what she did to them…but it’s not just their malice inside of me. I can’t help it, but I have some resentment inside of me…for my sister over the mean things she’s done to me.”

Sunny and her friends were taken aback as a disheartened look formed on Zipp’s face.

“Pipp…” Zipp told her sister sincerely, her tone of voice showing feelings of remorse and guilt. “I’m sorry for all the times I’ve not been a good sister. I never would’ve done anything mean to you had I known it would lead to everything that’s happened to you…but now that we’re together like this, we can find a way to help you become a normal pony again.”

“Indeed you can…” Pipp remarked in an unnervingly deadpan tone of voice. “…depending on what choices we make with our free will. Freedom, however, isn’t free. While the spirits possessing me were alive, they made innocent ponies suffer with their malice, something they still do not wish to atone for. Creator can’t accept unrepentant souls. For them to have a chance of righting their wrongs, their wrongs must be paid for. That’s where I come in…”

Sunny and her friends felt like a shock of lightning had just hit them, realizing where this was going…

“PIPP, NO…” they uttered in terror, realizing that the bad feeling they had earlier was about to be confirmed.

“I’ve chosen to die for them.” Pipp confessed. “Only one sacrifice has to be made for their sins, however. In theory, you could make me “normal” again by asking Creator to have me be reborn into a new body…but a pony would still have to be sacrificed so that the souls possessing me don’t have to suffer in a realm of fire. You can only save me…by allowing Sprout to remain dead.”

What Pipp told her friends caused something inside each one of them to snap. They all fell to the floor and started crying.

“Why…” they said with great sorrow. “WWWHHHYYY?! WHY, PIPP?! WHY, CREATOR?! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DIE, PIPP?! CREATOR, HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN?!”

Creator heard the cries of Pipp’s friends and answered them in their minds…

“It is not my will that things have happened this way. It is the will of my creations. You have to be able to choose your own paths, even if those paths lead to destruction. The actions of destroyers must be punished, and the wage of sin is death. A soul that returns to me consumed by hate can not abide in me. They all return to me, but they can’t all stay. It’s not fair for the souls of the innocent to be cursed by the malice that unrepentant souls refuse to relinquish.”

Zipp was truly devastated. However, the one most devastated by what had been revealed, the most agonizing truth Pipp’s friends had to face during their journey, was Misty. Looking at the book she had given Pipp, she couldn’t help being more angry with herself than ever before. She gripped the book with her hooves, and without even knowing it while crying with her eyes shut, supernatural fire came out of her hooves…

“Tell me, Creator…” Misty muttered in rage while remembering how Sunny and Sprout had acted oddly before while talking about the book. “What were Sunny and Sprout hiding from me?”

This instantly caught a nervous Sunny’s attention.

“NO, PLEASE NOT NOW!” she shouted in her mind.

“They kept it secret, the fact that the souls inside of Pipp now were drawn to the book you gave Pipp to protect you. But it was not just the book that brought them here. It was Pipp’s incredible willpower. She wanted this. She wanted to use the spells in the book to help them. She knew the magic came with a price and accepted it, wanting to help the souls Opaline harmed and all of the ponies in Equestria with products she could make with the magic.”

“What does it matter…” Misty replied as she began shaking with anger. “The fact remains that none of this would’ve happened if I HADN’T GIVEN HER THIS ACCURSED BOOK!”

Misty then threw the book against the wall, creating a dent in it as the book fell to the floor. Breathing heavily, her rage only began to abate when she noticed that the book was now enveloped by her supernatural fire…and that there were small souls resembling cake ghosts on fire coming out of the book, looking at her with tears in her eyes…

“NO!” Misty cried, immediately feeling remorse. “HOW DID I…”

“You lost control of yourself. It’s not just in cookies and hot drinks, but in any place a soul can enter. Do you know why this normally doesn’t happen when you make refreshments that cake ghosts enter?”

After Creator said this to Misty, Misty instinctively turned her head towards the window, feeling sunlight on her body. Her friends also turned to face the window, realizing that the sun was coming up with it now being early morning.

“All of you, look at how the sun is rising. The sun is a burning star that could incinerate you instantly…yet it provides you with warmth.”

It was in that moment that all of Pipp’s friends figured it out. They finally knew what Argyle meant when he said that a fire’s purpose wasn’t to burn, but to warm…

“I really do love you, Dad…” Sunny impulsively said as she touched the pendant Argyle had given her and smiled.

“I’m so sorry for hurting you…” Misty told the spirits from the book earnestly as she faced them.

The spirits smiled back at her as the fire around them stopped causing them pain. The fire from the book merged with the fire around them, becoming a pleasant warmth that they cheerfully disappeared with.

“Do you understand now?” Pipp interjected, talking to Misty. “You need to become completely free of your guilt so that you can help others. Platinum is my ancestor, this is not something I could avoid. It’s just like how all of you can’t avoid your role in this world to use the fire we must keep going no matter what as a way to make the lives of everyone in Equestria better…”

This instantly reminded Zipp of what Pipp had told her inside of Creator, leading her to look over at the lantern Pipp had shown her there. Her friends followed her gaze…and knew what had to be done…

“Creator…” they asked their maker. “Could you please…have Sprout join us here with Sparky?”

“Of course.”

Creator answered their request in their minds and telepathically contacted Sprout. He told him about how Sunny and her friends had succeeded in capturing Pipp and how he could tell from what he could feel in their hearts that they were going to make the right decision. Upon hearing that, it wasn’t long before a very pleased Sprout joined the group in the room with Sparky in one hoof and a phone in the other.

“Umm…I appreciate you watching Sparky…” Hitch remarked in bemusement. “But what’s the phone for?”

“You’re about to find out.” Sprout cheekily retorted as he put Sparky down, the cheerful dragon making his way over to the lantern upon being let go.

Sprout also came over to the lantern with the phone still in hoof, putting the other hoof that had held Sparky on the lantern. In preparation for what he knew was going to come, he had shared a bit of his power with Sparky. Sunny looked at the photo that held Pipp captive and saw not only Pipp in there, but Platinum and other souls surrounding her. Pipp and every soul beside her was on fire, supernatural fire creating a burning sensation resulting from the spirits’ malice…yet Pipp was not phased, ready to finally let go of her malice. Instead of screaming, she began to sing…

“Ghosties get all my love, give you spooks in our club…”

It was the first song she had sung in Canterlove as a lullaby. However, it didn’t become a remix to the ears of her friends as a result of Izzy’s spell, since she was now singing it with the intent of invigorating their power.

“Our ghostly lights! Will always burn stronger! Our flames come together!”

As Pipp continued to sing, Sunny and her friends felt the magical energy inside of them becoming more powerful than ever with their auras overflowing. Sunny’s pendant began to exude blue aura while Sprout could feel the auras of his familiars surging in the hoof of his that was on the lantern.

“Are you ready to choose? It is only with the conviction of your decision that you’ll be able to turn that fire of malice surrounding Pipp into a fire of benevolence. Will you allow Pipp to be the sacrifice or have Sprout supplant her?”

Sunny and her friends gave Creator the only answer they could…and once they had made their decision, the power of their will was enhanced to an absolute state. Each one of them used a hoof to light the lantern with a supernatural flame. Sparky joined in too, putting a hand to the lantern, causing the lantern to emit a magical wave that erupted and spread all throughout Equestria.

“Heh heh heh…” Sprout chuckled as he looked at the phone. “Good morning, Equestria. Hope you’re all enjoying this historic moment…”

Sunny and her friends then looked outside the window and noticed that the magical wave had caused a magical bird of fire to appear from the clouds, a phoenix. The phoenix then began to fly over the town of Maretime Bay, spreading magical balls of light with its wings to every pony in town, intending to do the same thing across all of Equestria. The enthralled ponies could feel the energy of the light being absorbed inside of their bodies, unlocking a magical power inside of them…

…a piece of the power from the fire that surpassed Opaline’s fire magic…

The magical wave had also created a change in the spirits surrounding Pipp in the photograph. A light twinkled in one of Platinum’s eyes as the spirits felt a strange sensation. They knew full well now why they couldn’t accept Clover the Clever’s fire, recalling dreadful memories of agony from Opaline’s atrocity and how they had been affected by her poison…and what they had done before then…

“Just look at these luscious crops! Don’t forget that I’m the one who made this possible!”

Platinum recalled how she had been a corrupt leader who lied to her subjects about how everything in Equestria had been better than ever under her reign. This was patently false, as more ponies than ever at this time were starving to death…

“If you support Platinum, you deserve death! Beat them and take everything they have!”

The spirits of those who rebelled against Platinum remembered how they had even harmed innocents before the coup d'état…

“…So that’s it…we had no passion…to create goodness…”

Platinum and the spirits both said this to themselves as they could feel the energy of one soul in particular growing stronger than ever…a soul inside one of Pipp’s eyes…

It was the soul of one of Platinum’s guards. A newly recruited stallion who was still in training, he had signed up for the job with the desire to fight for Platinum and all the ponies of Equestria, including those who detested his liege. However, after Platinum’s palace was attacked, tragedy demoralized him, and the determination in his eyes left him. He died alone and forgot who he was, but seeing how committed Sunny and her friends were to helping Pipp had reignited a spark within him…and now there was a spark in his eyes that were full of life…

Soon, all of the spirits beside Pipp were feeling the fire surrounding them no longer burning them, but soothing them with blissful warmth. Sensing what was going on in the photo, Sunny gave it a look and saw that the purity of the hearts of her and her friends had changed the fire affecting the spirits from one of malevolence to one of grace. Inspired by their goodness, they were now repentant of their sins and ready to begin finding peace.

Some of them still felt a sense of confusion and lingering attachment, not feeling that they were ready to join Creator yet. However, some of them were so touched that they had become completely free of all the fragments of malice afflicting them and wanted to help fulfill one of Pipp’s wishes. Each spirit in the photo aside from Pipp began to disappear, with the exuberant soul in her eyes disappearing last. He was feeling happier than ever now, having become completely free from the malice and was ready to join his maker…as well as share the life he was given…

“Look Dad, I did it…” Sunny said with joyful tears in her eyes. “My friends and I were able to guide them to their peace…”

“Some of the spirits you and your friends have freed from Opaline’s curse will be joining me soon and even want me to help them enhance the phoenix’s power. Others will meet with me, but not be ready to abide with me, still having issues they need to resolve. But you’ve done all you can for them…and even if they become lost to a realm of fire again, the magic you and your friends have shared with them will always exist inside of them, helping to guide them back on the right path. No matter what happens, I will always be waiting for them and all souls…forever.”

Once Creator had told Sunny this in her mind, she became curious.

“What about Pipp and Sprout though?” Sunny inquired. “Will they…?”

“Don’t worry, they will remain here in Equestria. That is what both of them desire. Neither of them wish to leave this realm yet. However, whatever will happen next, you should know, depends on the decisions they’ve made with their free will…”

After Creator gave this answer to Sunny’s question, Sunny and her friends noticed that Pipp had taken the form of a ball of light and was now leaving the photograph.

“And the decisions they’ve made as ghosts have been made based on what the afterlife is to them…”

Once Creator said this to Sunny, she and everyone in the room watched with great anticipation as the ball of light Pipp had become took the shape of a pony…and soon, a truly historic moment was photographed…

Before long, Sunny and her friends were now on the first floor of Canterlove Studios, ready to depart with their quest now complete. Pipp, now in the form of a pony, was hanging a picture on the wall to commemorate their journey. Smiling a sweeter smile than ever, she turned to her friends and told them…

“I’m glad you made the right decision…”

Before she took the form of a ghost…

“For this is the afterlife that I’ve always dreamed of…”

All of Pipp’s friends glanced at the floor melancholically, remembering the decision they made…

When they had given Creator their answer after he had asked them whether they would allow Pipp to be the sacrifice or have Sprout take her place, they responded with…

“Our decision is what Pipp and Sprout want.”

Out of every invidious position Sunny and her friends had been put in, this was one was by far the hardest. However, before they were asked to give their answer, they had realized what was going on from clues they were given by Sprout, Pipp, and Creator himself…this was a test to see if they could accept the hardest truth of all. The truth that they could not defy the free will of another, something even Creator could not do.

Even if they had offered Sprout to be the sacrifice in Pipp’s stead, Pipp would’ve remained a ghost, for that is what she wished. She had also wished for Creator to give some of her power to the phoenix to help Sprout. Her experience with the spirits had changed her view of life and death, thus spending time with her friends as an ethereal being and creating supernatural products for her fans became the life of her dreams. It was also always the afterlife of her dreams, since any afterlife where she was happy with her friends and followers was paradise to her…

Sprout, on the other hand, wished to be alive again. The afterlife of his dreams was an afterlife where he would be reborn into a body that would last forever. Despite what he had said after he had sacrificed himself, he couldn’t deny what his soul wanted. This wish of his soul was granted when the phoenix had finished spreading magic to every pony in Equestria and returned, flying inside of Canterlove and perching on one of Sprout’s forelegs. It then shared its own magical fire that had been enhanced by the power of Pipp and the reformed spirits with him, granting him new life.

“Heh…” he chuckled in admiration. “I didn’t do what I did for a reward…but it would be shameful for me to reject the gift of life from souls who have been given life anew.”

Sprout had found himself a new familiar, the bird that held the power of resurrection. Sunny and her friends were amazed upon seeing this, especially Misty, having once only known this bird from a book in Opaline’s library she read that had her believing it was a fire hawk of terrible danger. She was still terrified of phoenixes, but she began to wonder…

“Is this…” she said to herself in realization as she and her friends then looked over at Pipp. “…a sign? Sprout told me I’d see that giving Pipp that book was a great thing I did for Equestria. Are we being told to not judge a book by its cover? Are we being told that while Pipp not going back to normal looks like a bad thing…it could actually be a good thing?”

Sprout then smiled and winked at Misty.

“Well, what did I tell you?” he told her in a self-assured tone of voice as he showed her and her friends what was on his phone. ‘

The group was awestruck at what they saw. Sprout had livestreamed the event of them combining their supernatural fire and magic together, and not only was enthusiastic talk of how the magic that was unlocked inside of the ponies of Equestria trending on social media, with every pony sharing their feelings of joy, there was a new hashtag trending that had completely eclipsed #Where’dSheGo?...#ThereSheIs. Seeing Pipp’s friends unite their power together combined with hearing the sound of Pipp singing had filled Equestria with relief and excitement. An also relieved and excited Pipp soon chimed in with…

“Do you see now why I believe what I do about life and death? What does it matter if I’m a ghost or not? What matters is that you all came together to heal my spiritual pain, change that part of me that wanted to stay under the control of the spirits possessing me…and now, all of us are in a better position than ever to change the world around us, changing the world with what we create…”

Pipp then gleefully glanced at the lantern and everyone in the room followed her gaze. They were all overwhelmed with joy as they realized what Pipp was trying to tell them, especially Izzy. She remembered when Creator had first revealed to her the purpose of her existence, and now, getting to see a lantern like the one she had made for Sunny being used to share what she had learned and believed in with all of Equestria…used to save souls…it brought a feeling of satisfaction to her soul like no other.

“Come on…” Pipp told her friends eagerly as she pulled out her phone. “We need to commemorate this moment…”

And so, all of Pipp’s friends gathered around her as Pipp pressed the button on her phone to take a picture…

Even as this photo was showing Pipp and all of her friends to be happy, Pipp’s friends now felt morose as they thought over what this would mean for the future, especially Zipp. Noticing this, Pipp did her best to uplift them…

“I understand this is hard, but never forget that resolve you showed me…” she reminded them with an endearing smile.

Pipp’s friends slowly felt their vim return once they remembered the promises they made before they had entered Canterlove. Pipp then began to hover closer to her sister and told her warmly…

“And I want you to never forget that I’ll always be by your side. Portrait Day is never going to be any different...”

Pipp then transformed back into a pony and gave her sister a hug. Everyone in the room joined in the hug, their feelings of happiness having fully returned as they were coming together just like they had in the photo…the photo that didn’t just show them, but the spirits of Argyle and Clover the Clever floating around them, sharing their feelings of joy...

THE END

Epilogue

Soon, Pipp, in the form of a pony, and all of her friends were leaving Canterlove Studios, ready to return home. Misty was carrying the book with her, intending to keep it in a safe place.

“So, every pony…” Pipp told her friends cheerfully. “Did you have the most spooktacular time of your lives?”

“Oh yeah!” Sunny exclaimed in response as her friends all made remarks of agreement.

“Uuuwwwaaahaha!” Sparky let out a cry of delight on Hitch’s back.

“He sure did!” Hitch happily proclaimed.

“It was a great adventure.” Sprout commented. “I have to say though that I am glad the place is no longer haunted!”

Unbeknownst to him and his new friends, however, inside of the room in Canterlove where they had completed their quest, something was coming out of the part of the wall where Misty had made a dent with the book…

…a small, happy spirit resembling a cake ghost…

Author's Note

That's the end! I hope all of you had a spooktacular time reading this story!

It is Ghosties This Time...

According to a rumor trending on social media, Canterlove Studios, the newly renovated Canterlogic, is haunted…

“Mwa ha ha ha ha…” a familiar laugh could be heard from inside of a dark room in Canterlove Studios one night.

A pegamouse that had secretly stayed behind after Pipp Petals and Hitch Trailblazer led his companions out with a song was crawling around the floor of the room before he reached a lantern. He examined it curiously for a second before it abruptly became lit, revealing a sight that caused him to squeak loudly and flee in terror…

…a ghostly pink tail…

“It’s not going to be mice and Sprout this time…” the one the laugh belonged to said forebodingly with enthusiasm, sounding like they were possessed. “Although I do know of a way to use Sprout… Mwa ha ha ha ha…AH HA HA HA HA!”

The following day, in the afternoon, something on social media was trending higher than the rumor of Canterlove Studios being haunted…

…#Where’dSheGo?, a reference to a popular song made by Pipp…

Sunny Starscout, Izzy Moonbow, Zipp Storm, Sparky, Hitch, and Misty Brightdawn were all sitting at a table near Sunny’s smoothie shack, watching a trending video on the front page of Trotter that had been marked with the popular hashtag. It was an edit of the music video for Pipp’s song, Where’d It Go?. In the edit, instead of Glory, Seashell, and Peach Fizz saying, “Where’d it go?”, they said, “Where’d she go?”, as they appeared beside a transparent Pipp. Viewing this led Zipp to growl impulsively.

“Ugh!” she grunted in frustration. “Why is the internet always like this?! Any time something serious is happening, it’s like all every pony cares about is how they can get clout from it! What if my sister’s in real trouble?!”

“Calm down, Zipp!” Sunny told her friend in an attempt to assuage her anger. “Lots of ponies look up to your sister. I’m sure they’re worried too.”

“Yeah,” interjected Hitch, “I’m not the most internet-savvy stallion out there, but I know enough about social media to know that this is the way of the cyber world. Some ponies do this kind of stuff because they selfishly want attention, but there are also ponies who post stuff they genuinely believe is spreading awareness for a cause.”

“Well, there are ways to spread awareness for a cause without downplaying the severity of a serious situation.” Zipp retorted. “Pipp is not just going to magically turn up because ponies are posting “funny meme videos” about her being missing. We should be putting our full efforts into investigating her disappearance! Unlike some of these ponies who have just been typing away on their phones, I’ve actually been working on trying to find out why she vanished!”

“Have you found any clues yet?” Hitch asked.

“No…” Zipp answered solemnly. “I just have a hunch based on some circumstantial evidence. When I last saw Pipp two days ago, she told me something interesting about this new batch of products she was working on. She said that she was working on something her fans would literally describe as “out of this world”. And then, the day after, rumors about Canterlove Studios being haunted started popping up all over the web. Isn’t that odd how right after she goes missing, talk of the supernatural, one of her biggest interests, trends?”

“You don’t think…” Misty said, acting surprised while talking strangely. “…That this could all be part of some elaborate prank by her?”

“It’s definitely a possibility.” Zipp suggested. “One that I hope is true too, considering it’s the best-case scenario I can think of at the moment.”

“What’s the worst-case scenario?” Izzy asked innocently.

“What do you think?” Zipp replied in a frustrated tone.

“Hmm…I’m not sure…” Izzy said while pondering, leading Zipp to grunt in annoyance and put a hoof to her face. “…Wait, it’s not her becoming a ghost, right?”

“Are you for real?” Zipp retorted, her irritation growing. “Of course it’s the worst-case scenario if my sister’s not alive!”

“But what if Pipp was a ghost and still alive?” Izzy asked, annoying Zipp even more. “Like, what if she found out how to do astral projection? It’s in unicorn folklore too, tales of curses and jinxes that can transform living ponies into ghosts without causing them to actually die…”

“Just shut up, Izzy!” Zipp shouted, slamming her hooves on the table. “No one cares about your stupid unicorn fairy tales!”

Izzy winced in response, looking rather hurt. Seeing this, Zipp breathed a sigh of disappointment in herself.

“I’m sorry…” she apologized despondently. “I’m just really stressed…I just really want to see my sister again…”

Izzy and Misty then shared a look of concern with each other, as if they were both making the same contemplation. They then looked at Sparky, who smiled and nodded…

“Zipp, there’s something we should tell you that I think might help your investigation.” Izzy said solemnly.

“Really?!” Zipp exclaimed, perking up. “Please, tell me!”

“Three days ago, I lent Pipp a book from Opaline’s library.” Misty explained with a tone of guilt in her voice. “When I found out that she was a paranormal enthusiast, I thought something I could do to make her happy was let her borrow one of Opaline’s books about spirits.”

Zipp gave the two unicorns a puzzled stare for a second before her countenance changed to an expression that made her seem like she had realized something.

“I think I know what’s going on here now…” she said ominously, shooting the two a suspecting glare.

“You do?” Misty replied nervously.

“Yes…” Zipp answered. “That book you gave Pipp must have gotten her so engrossed in the supernatural, she went on a ghost hunt without telling us!”

Izzy and Misty then breathed a sigh of relief that went unnoticed by Zipp, who was distracted from being enamored with her hypothesis.

“You really think Pipp would go on a ghost hunt for days without letting us know?” Sunny asked, surprised.

“You don’t know my sister like I do.” Zipp replied blankly. “When she gets wrapped up in her own little world, she really gets wrapped up. We should try looking for her in a place that’s said to be haunted. Given the buzz about Canterlove Studios lately, that would be a good place to start.”

“Um, “start” as in “start now”?” Misty chimed in nervously, confusing the others.

“…Yes.” Zipp answered suspiciously. “We “start” as in “start now”. Why would we wait?”

“I-it’s just that, u-um…u-uh…” Misty stammered, trying to quickly come up with something to say. “Ghost hunts are traditionally done at night, so it’s more likely we’ll find Pipp after sunset.”

“That may be true…” Zipp acknowledged despite her growing suspicion. “…However, what do we stand to lose by going to search for Pipp there now?”

“Um…” Misty said worriedly, unable to come up with an answer before Izzy intervened, exclaiming…

“Sunny will have to close up shop early! Plus, we all know how Canterlove Studios is still technically the property of Sprout and his family! If we go during the day, he might try and stop us from coming in!”

Izzy then nudged Misty slightly, leading her to begin writing a text on her phone under the table. The rest of her friends were so bemused by what she had said, they didn’t pay attention to Misty.

“With all due respect, Izzy, that makes no sense.” Hitch retorted. “Why would Sunny not close up shop early for the sake of finding a friend?”

“Yeah,” interjected Sunny, “I’d never put my job before my friends. And if Sprout tries to stop us, why should we care? We’re the ones who fixed that building up and opened it up to the community. It’s everyone’s building and he has no right to deny us access to it.”

“Are you two hiding something from us?” Zipp asked Izzy and Misty point-blank.

“What makes you say that?” Izzy replied, putting on an innocent smile after noticing that Misty had finished her text and sent it. “If you want us to go to Canterlove Studios now, we don’t have a problem with that. We just thought it would be a better idea to wait.”

“Yeah, going there now doesn’t inconvenience us in any way!” Misty proclaimed, trying her hardest to sound self-assured. “And I can assure you that it doesn’t inconvenience Pipp in any way either!”

Misty said this while smiling confidently with one eye partially closed and a hoof raised, leading Izzy to dejectedly sigh while all of her other friends gave her flabbergasted looks. Sparky then proceeded to facepalm.

“Yeah…” a perplexed Zipp remarked. “I’m sure that finding my sister will in no way inconvenience her, even if being found wasn’t part of her schedule today.”

“That’s the spirit!” Misty exclaimed jubilantly, not realizing that Zipp was being facetious.

Izzy then gave Misty another slight nudge, causing her to remember something.

“Oh wait…” Misty said as she realized something. “I mean, that’s not the spirit. I mean, I just meant to praise your attitude, not say that your sister was a spirit.”

Izzy put her front hooves on her forehead and sighed again.

“Even I’m not this socially awkward and clueless…” she thought wearily.

“Do you two know anything else about Pipp and spirits that you’d like to share with us?” Zipp asked them, wanting to confirm a thought.

Izzy and Misty then glanced at Sparky again, who was giving them a disappointed frown. He then made a gesture by pointing two fingers at his eyes before pointing those fingers at them. He and the two mares collectively nodded, something Hitch noticed.

“Hmm?” Hitch thought to himself, puzzled. “Why is Sparky nodding with them like he has the same understanding they do?”

“Yes.” Izzy answered Zipp honestly. “We’re not trying to keep secrets from you guys. You’re our friends.”

“It’s just that…” Misty chimed in, feeling anxious. “We know of some truths that ponies who are less acquainted with the supernatural than us aren’t ready to handle…”

The rest of the group was taken aback by this remark, especially Zipp, feeling a chill run down her spine.

“OH NO…” she thought, feeling deeply terrified.

Without even thinking twice, the words just came out of her mouth…

“Is Pipp okay…”

She then got up from her seat and slammed her hooves on the table even harder than she had done before as tears came out of her eyes.

“IS MY SISTER OKAY?!” she bellowed, deeply concerned.

“Calm down.” Izzy blankly replied, this time unphased by Zipp’s outburst. “Pipp is still with us. She awaits us at Canterlove Studios.”

“You knew she was there the whole time?!” Zipp cried in shock, astonishment that was shared by her, Sunny, and Hitch. “Why didn’t you tell us straight away?!”

“It was out of respect for Pipp’s wishes.” Misty answered bluntly, surprising the three even more. “She’s preparing a big surprise for not just us, but every pony in this world and beyond. Because Izzy and I have a powerful sixth sense, she couldn’t keep her supernatural discoveries secret from us, so she had to get us to promise not to spoil the fun for you guys or any other pony.”

“Wait,” interjected Sunny, “I’ve always known that Izzy has had the power to see another pony’s sparkle and talk to the spirits of her ancestors, but what about you, Misty?”

“The ability to sense the supernatural is a latent power we all possess…Opaline forced that power to awaken in me…” Misty explained with sadness in her voice. “The pain of learning what the ponies she’s hurt have had to endure…Pipp has learned that pain now too. And she wants to ensure no pony suffers that pain or Opaline’s wrath ever again. What worries me is that since she has just recently discovered her hidden spiritual ability, she’ll be especially susceptible to possession…”

“So you’ve known the dangers of this supernatural stuff from the beginning…” Zipp said with great ire emanating from her voice, recalling what Misty had told her about giving Pipp a book on spirits before slamming her hooves down on the table for a third time.

“How could you encourage her to get more entrenched in this stuff knowing that?!” she shouted.

“I wanted to redeem myself, okay?!” Misty yelled, getting up from where she sat and slamming her hooves on the table too. “I thought it would give her positive reinforcement! Help us defeat Opaline! But I guess I screwed up AGAIN!”

Zipp and Misty made direct eye contact for a while. Zipp could feel her anger abate as she looked into Misty’s eyes and realized how sad Misty was, having truly only meant the best. The two then both sat back down as Misty began to cry, covering her eyes with her front hooves. Sunny and Hitch empathized with her and put their hooves on her shoulders to show compassion.

“Misty…” Zipp said somberly. “I’m sorry I keep losing my cool…I just want to see my sister again…”

“You will.” Izzy told Zipp to comfort her as she gave Misty an affectionate stroke to comfort her as well. “Pipp anticipated this, us letting it slip that she now has supernatural powers like us. There’s a message she wanted us to give you in case this happened. This is that message…“Catch me if you can. It may not be easy, but it will give you the most spooktacular time of your lives. So long as you’re willing to accept the truths you need to face in order to solve the most spooktacular mystery ever, you’ll find a new fire.”.”

Something started to dawn on Zipp…something that lifted her from her state of despair…

“I think I get it now…” Zipp thought, feeling a renewed sense of optimism. “This is a challenge Pipp set up for us…she wants us to have fun learning what she’s discovered!”

“I’ve made up my mind…” Zipp said with resolve. “No more flipping out over this. I trust you guys no matter what. We’re all in this together as a team to find Pipp, right?”

Sunny, Hitch, Izzy, and Sparky smiled at Zipp before Misty started wiping the tears from her eyes. Feeling happier after hearing that Zipp still believed in her, she smiled too before she and the rest of the gang exclaimed…

“Right!”

“Then let’s head out!” Zipp proclaimed boldly. “To Canterlove Studios ASAP!”

As the group proceeded to depart for Canterlove Studios after Sunny closed up shop, Izzy and Misty looked out at the sky and saw that it would still be quite some time before sunset.

“Let’s hope he keeps us entertained long enough…” they collectively thought.

Meanwhile, at Canterlove Studios, a familiar red pony with blonde hair was smirking sinisterly outside the building. Inside the building, the one laughing in the dark room the night before was still in that room, holding a photo…

“She will certainly have the most difficult time confronting her truth…” the being with a ghostly pink tail remarked ominously. “But I know that you have the utmost confidence in her…the same way that I have the utmost confidence in my sister…”

The being then placed the photo by a pendant with a familiar symbol on it and an old, blue cloak…

“She’ll come to terms with the fact that I am now…”

Raising a hoof, a lantern below the being’s fire grew, revealing her to be…

“…Pipp the Poltergeist.”

Author's Note

Would you believe me if I told you that this was originally going to be a comedy story? ...Probably, because the premise is ridiculous, I know. However, I honestly felt called to do this idea seriously and I hope you're enjoying this execution of it so far.