Blade Swipe woke up to find himself strapped to an operating table. He was a regular pony as he struggled to get free. He saw a couple Kraang droids marching up to him before Kraang Subprime walked.

“This is Project E?” he glared at Blade.

“Affirmative, Kraang Subprime.” A Kraang droid answered. “According to our research, Project E is from that which is known as Equestria.”

“That world where Kraang Prime got booted out of?” Subprime pondered. “Hmm. This could be useful to Kraang. I will talk to Kraang Prime when he returns to the Digital World. Inject the mutagen in him.”

As Subprime left, the Kraang Droid turned to the other droid. “Kraang, inject mutagen in that which is known as Project E.”

The Kraang Droid nodded and threw a lever. A claw with a syringe went to a mutagen tank and filled with mutagen. Blade struggled in his straps as the syringe drew closer to him.

“No! No! NOOOOOO!”

But his efforts were in vain as the syringe injected in him. Blade hollered in pain as the mutagen went into his body. The Kraang droids watched as Blade’s shadow showed fingers growing out of his front hooves.

“Restrain him!” The Kraang droids grabbed Blade by his new arm as he still screamed in pain. A Kraang droid leaned closer to him.

“Blade! Blade, Wake up!”

“Blade! It’s okay!”

Blade Swipe woke up to see he was in the firehouse, sweating from the memory he had with the Kraang in his dream. Blade Swipe panicked when Ray came up with a washcloth and struggled it out of his hands. He looked to see the other Ghostbusters, Illyssa, and his friends looking at him as he laid on a bed.

“Easy, your safe. I was just going to clean the sweat off your forehead.” Ray coaxed.

Blade touched his forehead and found he was sweating. “Sorry, Ray.”

“You okay, partner?” Applejack asked.

“Just... A bad memory.” Blade panted. “Where are my weapons?”

“We took them off so you can rest. Egon and I ran some test and found you used a lot of energy on that Black Slime T-Rex.” Donnie explained.

“Starting to wish Mikey was here to name these things.” Shini mumbled.

“You should be careful how much lightning you fire, Blade. The particle throwers must’ve drained you more than usual.” Egon warned.

“Sorry. Just wanted to help.” Blade sighed.

“Anyway, we think you should rest for a bit.” Donnie advised.

Blade Swipe wanted to argue, but he felt like his bones were lead. “Okay, I think your right.”

“Already ordered a pizza for you. Whole thing is yours.” Ray smiled.

“Thanks, Ray.” Blade thanked before Slimer came up with a cold Root Beer for him. “Thanks.”

“Welcome.” The green ghost chuckled.

“You guys are real heroes.” Illyssa complimented.

“Kinda routine. As usual, I led the charge.” Peter boasted.

“We’re fired heroes. Peck’s gonna pull our liscense.” Ray sighed.

“Maybe we can bring Karai and my brother over to teach him a lesson.” Gamer spoke. “Just an option.”

“Let’s keep from doing something rash, Games.” Shini rubbed his head.

“Get real, guys. It’s the holidays. Nobody in this town is gonna be around to pull our license until Monday! We got a whole weekend to stop this calamity and probably half a dozen others, save the city. We got a four day weekend! We got time to ourselves!”

“Then we better make it count.” Donnie got up. “We better figure out that constellation.”

“I’ll help Rowen empty the traps.” Applejack volunteered.

Janine spoke up. “Dr. Venkman, if they start evacuating Manhattan, I won’t be coming in on Monday. Catastrophic exodus of the city does not count as a floating holiday. I know, I looked it up.”

Later, everyone was lounging in the garage while Ray was in the office studying the symbol while Gamer was trying to help.

“What does this symbol mean?” Ray wondered.

“Beats the heck outta me.” Gamer pondered.

As he walked in, Winston noticed something. “Uh guys?”

Everyone gathered around as he placed the symbol over the map of New York. “Perfect fit.”

The way he had it, the nods of the constellation matched the locations of their past missions.

“Of course!” Donnie wowed.

“Impressive.” Shini smiled.

Ray awed at this discovery. “It’s not a constellation. It’s a mandala!”

“Come again?” Applejack asked.

“I can’t believe I never saw it before.” Illyssa blinked.

“Ok, for one minute could we pretend no one here knows what a mandala is.” Peter spoke.

“I don’t.” Gamer raised his hand before Peter shushed him.

“A mandala is like a spiritual labyrinth.” Egon spoke.

“It looks like this is like a spiraling system that feeds the nodes along the line until it reaches a culmination point.” Shini studied the symbol.

“Before he died, Shandor must have set some mechanism in place similar to the antenna in Dana’s building.” Ray guessed.

“I think you helped to make that clearer.” Peter mumbled. “So, this was the gizmo that’s supposed to feed energy for the destructor form?”

“That’s… that’s right Peter!” Ray exclaimed.

“Well, Dr. Venkman.” Illyssa smiled.

“Well, I had to get one right eventually, didn’t I? I mean, it’s just math.”

“So those places we fought those ghosts are its batteries. Impressive.” Applejack shrugged.

“Okay I’m just speculating, but it’s possible Ghosts are trapped in the system, funneled from node to node, and they get stronger and stronger, until they reach the end, and then they…”

Ray then interrupted Egon’s theory. “Look, the first portal… the library. The second… the Museum. The third… the Sedgewick.”

“Wait. Why didn’t we see the symbol when we were at the Sedgewick?” Gamer wondered.

“Maybe it wasn’t active yet.” Guessed Donnie.

“Probably. The Sloth Ghost was an escaped ghost while the fisherman ghost wasn’t a big enough threat.” Egon then looked the map. “And that means the fourth portal must be… right… here.”

“The middle of the Hudson?” Winston raised his brow.

“Well, according to the mandala, yes.” Ray confirmed.

“It might need a little tweaking.” Egon shrugged.

“I don’t know, plenty of bodies in that rivers could become ghosts.” Peter mentioned.

“Ain’t it polluted as well?” Gamer asked.

“That too.”

“But what does this have to do with me? What did I do?” Illyssa wondered.

“You were at the museum and the Sedgewick.” Ray recalled.

“Maybe you were some sort of catalyst… accidentally setting things in motion.” Egon guessed.

“You’re saying this is my fault?” Illyssa worried before Peter stood up.

“You are blameless! What Egon meant to say was that you have some sort of connection to this thing and we’re gonna go back to the Sedgewick and find out what. Isn’t that right, Brainiac?”

“That’s right, Peter.” Egon nodded.

“You could’ve just been at the wrong place at the wrong time.” Everyone looked at Gamer. “I’ve been watching horror movies lately.”

“With or without Sweetie Belle?” snickered Shini while Gamer blushed.

“WILL EVERYONE JUST DROP IT! WE’RE JUST FRIENDS!”

“What’s what they all say.” Peter whispered.

“What Games is trying to say is that we don’t think know what to suspect until we get more proof.” Donnie translated.

“Do you remember where you were going when you were at the Sedgewick?” Applejack asked.

“I was standing outside a room… 1221. Something was compelling me to go in, but I woke up just before the door opened. I ran out of there as fast as I could. And then some jerk tried to pick me up on the elevator.”

“I wonder who?” Applejack looked at Peter.

Peter ignored her and turned to Illyssa. “Okay, you need to stay here where it’s safe and where you can’t set off any more cross dimensional shockwaves, hot stuff. Here, read up on the mandala, and the boys will take the kids and check out the Sedgewick.”

“The boys? And what about you, superstar?” asked Winston.

“I’m gonna have you drop me off near Peck’s office. Something tells me he’s not quite what he seems.”

“Good idea. Meet us at the hotel when you’re done.” Ray then turned to Slimer. “Slimer, you stay here and take care of Blade as he recovers.”

“You got it, Ray!” Slimer saluted.

“And no trying to mooch Blade's pizza when it gets here!” Peter declared.

“I'd never!” Slimer grumbled before Ray whispered in his ear.

“There's an extra double pepperoni stuffed crust in the order with your name on it for being a big help lately.”

“Yum! Yum! Thanks, Ray!” The green ghost licked his lips.

“Alright! Let’s move out!” Egon said as they all got in Ecto-1.

“Bye bye!” Slimer waved as they drove off.

“I guess I better go tell Blade about the mandala before studying more.” Illyssa said before walking upstairs.

To Be Continued

Author's Note

Here's our next page from Tobin's:

Possessor Ghost

• Class: Class VII Wandering Possessor
• Type: Ghost (must trap)

• Behaviors:

  • Attack: Range
  • Weakness: Proton Stream
  • Daze Duration: Moderate
  • Trap Resistance: Medium
  • Special: Possess Bystanders

Mrs. Myrnick, a pragmatist with vision, opened the St. Nicholas Rehabilitation Mission for Wayward Angels. The mission took "fallen" and destitute women off the mean streets and cleaned them up, gave them hope, and trained them for "new" careers. St Nick's provided its desirable charges to many gentleman's club events, fraternity parties, and business conventions that occurred around the city on a regular basis, in exchange for considerable donations.

Shrewd Mrs. Myrnick could always spot an opportunity and knew that her "customers" could not afford to let word of their excesses get around: These were highly respected and upstanding men in the community, after all. She told them she was willing to remain discreet, for a sizable donation.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Myrnick failed to realize the lengths some would go to preserve their reputation and one night, a gang of Pinkertons paid a visit to St. Nick's. Mrs. Myrnick's ghost (and those of her charges) has appeared in many fine establishments and hotels since 1923, but they tend to favor the Natural History Museum.

Contact Protocol:

On their own, Possessor Ghosts aren't that much different than other spooks. Their ranged attacks, however, are far more powerful than most enemies. Take Possessor Ghosts down like would the Beauty Queen Ghosts. Force them out of their human hosts with your Slime Blower, then zap, cap, and trap!

Notes:

• Darth Wrex suggested we'd have Blade Swipe have nightmares of his mutation. I guess it fits. Blade Swipe will be back in the final node mission.

• I wanted Gamer to point out about the pollution of the Hudson River, but I've read it's gotten better. if possible.

• I might have Blade to know about mandalas through the Dark Codex. Might save it for Shandor Island

and I think that's it.

Next time: Return to Sedgewick!