Who You Gonna Call?

Ponyville. Hundreds of years ago this was little more than a plot on the edge of the Everfree Forest. Soon enough more and more ponies came and set up a town - nothing as massive as Manehattan or as fancy as Canterlot but it was a town. And slowly but surely they've been evolving to more than just a frontier town conveniently close to a zap apple orchard.

But being on the edge of the frontier, stories do crop up. Ghost stories, mostly, thought to be made up by foals and fillies to scare the pants off each other. Stories like "the ghost in Haggler's Hill will steal your soul, so don't enter, silly filly" or "there's a town of ponies with blank flanks that only appears on certain nights in the Everfree Forest." All of them rather silly when you think about it - nothing but superstition.

But that's not what a griffon in the middle of town is saying today, at noon on the autumnal equinox. The griffon, known as Dr. Spengler to anypony who bothers to look at his nametag, has done extensive work for a strange team of scientists that claim to have hunted ghosts. Now, though, they have disbanded, and Dr. Spengler himself is overweight and disheveled with thick glasses and a table full of doodads he claims to be ghost-hunting equipment. He's set up an impromptu booth, as it were, and is trying to sell his equipment off. So far he's had no success.

But other than Dr. Spengler's arrival in town, it's a pretty quiet day in Ponyville...

---

Not all of you have to be attending Dr. Spengler's lecture. Your first posts to establish where you are and what you're doing can be anywhere as long as it's in Ponyville.

Sweet Puff, buzzing around and giggling, goes up to the stand where the old griffon is. "Hi there! What're you doing? What's this stuff? D'you have any candy? How about a game?" She says quickly, all within the space of a second or two. Puff looks up at the griffon with a big grin, wings a blur, like a humming bird's.

A bleary, dark purple, teenaged Earth filly stumbled slowly into the church on the edge of town. She let out a large yawn and rubbed her eyes with her hoof, then glanced at the priest who was dressed in full vestments. "Rites, how come you're wearing full priesty gear? Are you doing a midnight sermon or something?"

The unicorn priest, who had dark grey fur, shook his head. "No, Rhinestone. We're actually not going to put you straight to work on the graves tonight. There's a lecture I believe we should both attend."

"What, did nopony die today or something? Also, I've been to enough lectures. I don't wanna hear anymore."

Last Rites smiled at her. "I believe this talk might actually hold some interest to you. It's about ghosts. It might be able to help with your little..." Rites cleared his throat, "problem. Where is she by the way?"

The pony grinned brightly, her eyes lighting up. "I managed to sneak out without her noticing. She'll show up sooner or later, but for now I get a bit of peace and quiet."

The unicorn nodded. "That's very good my dear. Now come with me. I believe we should find his booth in town square."

With that, the two ponies began making their way towards the middle of town, though Rhinestone paused for a moment to grab a shovel and sling it over her back.

Artesian Maverick adjusted his coat slightly as he walked through the town. It was quite different from what he had grown up with; Canterlot was quite crowded by comparison. He had been chasing down directions since he had gotten off the wagon train, and he felt he was finally getting somewhere when he saw the griffon with the booth.

"Um, excuse me, hi! Are you Dr. Spengler? We traded some letters, I'm Artesian Maverick... y'know, about the internship?"

Ghost-hunting was a cathartic concept for the ragged-run (and currently moderately-crowded; sheesh, when did these ponies get so interested in ghosts?) White Whisper.

It was also, he was certain, a pipe dream. As in "a dream you'd get after smoking a pipe", kind of dream. Far as he could tell, one never hunted ghosts. They hunted you.

But hey, when it came down to it, what did he know? For one thing, he was hardly one to speak disparagingly about pipes, what with the smoke wafting off the stick clamped firmly in his mouth. Still, old habits died hard - quite unlike himself, if he could speak once more from experience. If he bothered saying anything at all, as he looked as these strange devices that this Dr...Spengler? Yep, that's what the booth said...claimed to use in certain cathartic concepts.

The ashen end of the blue colt's cigarette loomed dangerously close to the equipment on the booth as he leaned in, inspecting the baubles in question with a critical and experienced eye brought about by nothing in particular except a certain self-assuredness that one was, indeed, an expert in the field. Though perhaps White Whisper had...slightly more claim than most to some hooves-on study.

Of course, without actual studied expertise in magiphysics or whatever they were calling it nowadays, Whisper had no way of knowing whether any of this stuff really worked or not. If he were any other pony, he'd have scoffed and trotted off to, he didn't know, organize a bake-off or something, but as a pony in his unique position...

...he carefully avoided touching any of the equipment as he took as unnoticeable a half-step backwards as he could. For once in his half-life, White Whisper desperately hoped nopony nearby questioned exactly why his eyes looked so funny.

Copper Rose wrote:Sweet Puff, buzzing around and giggling, goes up to the stand where the old griffon is. "Hi there! What're you doing? What's this stuff? D'you have any candy? How about a game?" She says quickly, all within the space of a second or two. Puff looks up at the griffon with a big grin, wings a blur, like a humming bird's.

The old griffon is briefly taken aback by the exuberance of the young filly flitting around him, but clears his throat after she finishes talking.

"I'm afraid not, little one," says the griffon. "My sweet tooth isn't what it used to be. But I'd be more than happy to play a game with you after I finish up here... just so long as it's not... so active."

Elacular wrote:With that, the two ponies began making their way towards the middle of town, though Rhinestone paused for a moment to grab a shovel and sling it over her back.

The booth is not hard to find - it's been set up in the middle of town so that uninterested ponies would have to go out of their way to get around it. Rather inconsiderate. A few ponies stare at the priest and the pony with the shovel on her back as they head through town, but not for very long. Ponyville can be a pretty weird place sometimes.

Crystalite wrote:"Um, excuse me, hi! Are you Dr. Spengler? We traded some letters, I'm Artesian Maverick... y'know, about the internship?"

The griffon turns to the unicorn, then takes off his glasses, cleans them off, and puts them back on before examining him again.

"Ah, yes, the Magitech fellow!" says Dr. Spengler. "Wonderful to finally meet you in person. My apologies for not getting in touch with you sooner, but good on you for taking the initiative and coming out here! Though..."

Dr. Spengler coughs and glances down at his booth, glancing down at various gizmos he has laid out on the booth, all with price tags attached. Without firsthand experience it's difficult to figure out what they do but Maverick can clearly recognize these as Magitech.

"I'm not exactly in the best of circumstances right now..."

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote:The ashen end of the blue colt's cigarette loomed dangerously close to the equipment on the booth as he leaned in, inspecting the baubles in question with a critical and experienced eye brought about by nothing in particular except a certain self-assuredness that one was, indeed, an expert in the field. Though perhaps White Whisper had...slightly more claim than most to some hooves-on study.

...he carefully avoided touching any of the equipment as he took as unnoticeable a half-step backwards as he could. For once in his half-life, White Whisper desperately hoped nopony nearby questioned exactly why his eyes looked so funny.

It's then that Dr. Spengler notices the cigarette dangerously close to one of his devices.

"Please don't get that thing any closer!" Dr. Spengler exclaims, hurriedly. "The smoke might interfere with the ectoplasmic reaction sensors, and I don't want anypony here covered in slime!"

Dr. Spengler took a few deep breaths before clearing his throat.

"Sorry, good sir," says Dr. Spengler, trying to get calm once again. "But this is dangerous equipment."

He then turns to the wide-eyed crowd.

"What I meant to say was 'perfectly safe equipment'!" said Dr. Spengler, backpedaling.

Maverick almost immediately flips into "excited fan" mode upon hearing what one of the gadgets does. "Ectoplasmic reaction sensor!? I had wondered how you pulled it off now I can see firsthoof I tried to make my own based on a theory revolving around electromagnetic field forces caused by ghost activity butitdoesn'tworkreallywellbecauseIhavenowaytotestitandnowIcancompareandfindout!" He stopped momentarily to inhale from the effort of saying so much...

"Ectoplasmic slime? That sounds sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fun!" Sweet Puff says, flying circles around the booth and halting periodically to look closely at a piece of equipment.

"It isn't," White Whisper...whispered, taking another hoofstep backwards. Ectopalsmic slime? Over all these ponies? Was this colt - no, sorry, got to remember your pronouns - was this griffin insane?

...he asked himself as if he wasn't. Heh.

Crystalite wrote:Maverick almost immediately flips into "excited fan" mode upon hearing what one of the gadgets does. "Ectoplasmic reaction sensor!? I had wondered how you pulled it off now I can see firsthoof I tried to make my own based on a theory revolving around electromagnetic field forces caused by ghost activity butitdoesn'tworkreallywellbecauseIhavenowaytotestitandnowIcancompareandfindout!" He stopped momentarily to inhale from the effort of saying so much...

Copper Rose wrote:"Ectoplasmic slime? That sounds sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fun!"

"It's totally cool!" announces Dr. Spengler.

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote:"It isn't," White Whisper...whispered, taking another hoofstep backwards. Ectopalsmic slime? Over all these ponies? Was this colt griffon insane?

Dr. Spengler pauses and looks at the strange pony in front of him, carefully... but whatever he's looking for he can't see through the fog of his glasses. Dr. Spengler clears his throat.

"It's TOTALLY cool!" reiterates Dr. Spengler. "Unless you get some on you, of course. Then it tends to react to base emotions and get in your fur and feathers and it's totally disgusting and the dry cleaning bills are SO expensive! Now normally the only way to tell if someone... pardon, somepony... has been covered in ectoplasmic slime is to, well, look at them, preferably through UV lenses, but this puppy can tell if ectoplasmic slime is reacting to a pony's brainwaves... before any reactions even occur!"

Dr. Spengler pauses for applause, but most of the crowd has no idea what he just said.

"Now, err, if anypony would like a demonstration, I just, err... need to find a sample..." begins Dr. Spengler.

Most of the ponies in the audience take a step back.

"I assure you this equipment is perfectly safe!" protests Dr. Spengler, opening a saddlebag and looking through it.

Meanwhile, a faint noise echoes through the town square...

---

Roll Perception.

White Whisper is a little too edgy to be thinking of looking around at the moment. And not 'edgy' as in 'cool, daddy-o' either. The kind of edgy that involves nervousness and making stupid mistakes.

Like, for instance, not taking a careful-enough look around town.

Spoiler:

Maverick suddenly pricked his ears. "Did you hear that?"

Perception:

Sweet Puff looks around, hoping that the sound was candy-related.

Rhinestone raised one eyebrow and made a snarky sound in the back of her throat. "Welp. They're clearly off their bucking meds. I'm gonna go dig holes now."

She began to walk away, but before she could get very far, Last Rites grabbed her tail with his magic. "Judge not, filly. Or maybe you've forgotten what it's like on the other side of the fence. Now sit down and pay attention."

The Earth pony looked as though she would speak up, but instead she bit back her words and hung her head. "Yes, Father Rites. I remember."

Rolls:

Maverick looked around, trying to pinpoint the sound. "Could it be...?" He started digging around in his many jacket pockets until he produced what looked suspisciously like a GameFilly with an antenna duct taped to it, which he started waving around slowly as it made a rhythmatic beep sound...

"Maybe my Magical Electromagnetic Detection System will work this time..."

Also Known As...:

Elacular wrote:6=perception+3=roll=9

Even with the griffin shuffling through his saddlebags, it's awkwardly quiet enough to hear a faint SOMETHING. Rhinestone is just not sure what.

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote:Perception: 7 + 8(Bonus) = 15

Spoiler:

Not helping White Whisper's paranoia is this sound he keeps hearing. It's faint, but intermittent, and whatever it is, it's getting closer...

Crystalite wrote:Maverick suddenly pricked his ears. "Did you hear that?"
1d20 [12] + Perception [10] = 22

Dr. Spengler looks up from the saddlebags.

"That noise..." said Dr. Spengler. "Are any of you listening to a Walkpony right now?"

The crowd looks around - none of them have their Walkponys with them. But whatever this sound is does sound muffled...

Copper Rose wrote:Sweet Puff looks around, hoping that the sound was candy-related.

It most certainly isn't candy-related, unless candy sounds like a quickly approaching subwoofer these days. In which case yes, it does sound candy-related.

Crystalite wrote:"Maybe my Magical Electromagnetic Detection System will work this time..."

The Magical Electromagnetic Detection System starts beeping just a little louder at the pony who was earlier smoking near Dr. Spengler's devices, then beeping near a young Earth Pony with a shovel on her back - but not directly at her. A second or two later, though, it starts beeping much faster when pointed at an area ten or so feet in front of the booth.

Maverick watched the screen as his M.E.D.S. beeped. Three blips!? He tapped the screen, and they didn't go away. He looked around, and finally pointed to a spot near the booth. "Right there!"

Rhinestone's ears perked up and then she turned confused towards the unicorn waving a gamefilly around, noticing that it reacted a bit to her. "Um...Rites? Please tell me you heard-"

"Call her, Rhinestone."

She gawked at the priest and opened her mouth to protest, but he had a grave look on his face she hadn't seen in a long time. "Something's happening. I don't know what, but I want her here."

Rhinestone slowly nodded, then screwed up her face and yelled in her mind. HEY! Freeloader! Guess what? My plot is out of bed, and you didn't even notice! Did you get bashed in the head when you died, 'cause I'm pretty sure you're missing a butt-ton of brain cells! Nyeh-nyeh-nyeh-nyeh-nyeh!

Meta:

White Whisper looked slowly over his shoulder at the area the pony next to him was indicating. It looked empty...but then again, hadn't he been hearing something all this time? Something just at the edge of his perception?

"Ah, crabapples."

Elacular wrote:HEY! Freeloader! Guess what? My plot is out of bed, and you didn't even notice! Did you get bashed in the head when you died, 'cause I'm pretty sure you're missing a butt-ton of brain cells! Nyeh-nyeh-nyeh-nyeh-nyeh!

A few seconds after Rhinestone Eyes finishes her fifth "nyeh", the pale poltergeist pony known as Bell Mare appears on top of her, invisible to everypony else, and starts pulling on her ears.

"Well look who's thinking, Miss "I Can't Hear Loud-Flank ghosts coming, even if they're right beneath me!'" echoed the poltergeist's voice in her ears.

Crystalite wrote:Maverick watched the screen as his M.E.D.S. beeped. Three blips!? He tapped the screen, and they didn't go away. He looked around, and finally pointed to a spot near the booth. "Right there!"

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote:White Whisper looked slowly over his shoulder at the area the pony next to him was indicating. It looked empty...but then again, hadn't he been hearing something all this time? Something just at the edge of his perception?

A few seconds after Maverick's declaration, a loud booming sound and a cloud of dust erupt from the ground, followed by a giant, semi-transparent speaker system, which is booming out a beat with a heavy bass. As the sound system erupts from the ground, the initial burst, and the sound waves emitting from it, blow many ponies backward, including Last Rites. Standing on top of the speakers are two semi-transparent earth male ponies with black and white face paint over their bodies made to make them look like clowns. Both of them have joker cards for cutie marks. Standing in between the two is a semi-transparent purple unicorn with a turban wrapped around her head and one completely white eye. She has a crystal ball for a cutie mark and is halfheartedly waving a flag that reads "Go MEP!"

"WHAT UP PONYVILLE?" shouted the left-hoof earth pony. "Mad Entertainer Party in the house!"

"Great scott!" proclaimed Dr. Spengler, his beak dropping open soon after.

Bell Mare starts banging her head to the beat - which no one but Rhinestone can see thanks to their... special connection.

---

Roll a check that would make sense to deal with the erupting sound system. If you wish you can also roll other knowledge/Perception checks to find out stuff about the Mad Entertainer Party or the unicorn with them.

White Whisper grit his teeth, which had taken to vibrating beneath the bass, like they were made of a particularly excited brand of gelatin (which was perhaps an apt metaphor, considering his teeth were, in fact, bones of a horse). He did so a split second too late, however, as his cigarette was blown out of his mouth the nanosecond before he could, sent spiraling towards the horizon.

Not that that was the thing he was most worried about at the moment. No, that would be his attempt to think straight enough to determine whether his eardrums had actually burst, and that was blood he was feeling, or whether ectoplasm had merely started leaking out his ears. Actually, though he'd initially considered that the lesser of two evils, he wasn't actually sure if leaking ectoplasm was better than leaking blood.

Still, through the pain White Whisper couldn't help but grin - well, grin as best as he could, considering his loosened fillings. Did he actually have fillings? It was hard to remember between pulses of the beat. Point was, this was nothing compared to...well. That time.

Spoiler:

The unicorn was all but bowled over by the onburst of sound. Luckily he was prepared; the pony one room over in the dorm also had loud speakers. He tried to withstand the pounding in his ears as he dug out what he was looking for - his sound canceling headphones! He slipped them on and let out a sigh of relief...

Mechanics:

EDIT: History:

Rhinestone let out a scream of pain and tried to mash her ears down with her forehooves. She tries to ignore Bell Mare and looks at the three ponies, seeing if she can remember anything about any of them. Bell Mare, do you know these obnoxious morons at all?

Rolls:

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote:White Whisper grit his teeth, which had taken to vibrating beneath the bass, like they were made of a particularly excited brand of gelatin (which was perhaps an apt metaphor, considering his teeth were, in fact, bones of a horse). He did so a split second too late, however, as his cigarette was blown out of his mouth the nanosecond before he could, sent spiraling towards the horizon.

Endurance: 8 + 13(Bonus) = 21.

White Whisper, by grinning and bearing the music, is withstanding the noise just fine.

Crystalite wrote:The unicorn was all but bowled over by the onburst of sound. Luckily he was prepared; the pony one room over in the dorm also had loud speakers. He tried to withstand the pounding in his ears as he dug out what he was looking for - his sound canceling headphones! He slipped them on and let out a sigh of relief...
Result: 1d20 [20] = WHOOO CUTIE MARK CRITICAL!
Who are these guys!?
Result: 1d20 [16] + History [7] = 23

Artesian Maverick's headphones, being specially designed to cancel out loud, booming noises like the speakers, are tailor-made to block out their noise, protecting him from their painful sound waves. He recognizes the earth ponies as Straight-Up G and Scooby Dope, two musicians that used to form the hip-hop band known as the Mad Entertainer Party. They used to be popular with youths who wanted to be grim and gritty, but died in a pyrotechnics accident.

Elacular wrote:Rhinestone let out a scream of pain and tried to mash her ears down with her forehooves. She tries to ignore Bell Mare and looks at the three ponies, seeing if she can remember anything about any of them. Bell Mare, do you know these obnoxious morons at all?
Endurance roll to not get a throbbing migrane.
Endu=12+roll=2

History roll+Freaky-knowledge recent dead to see if I recognize any of these buck-heads.
Hist=17+FK=5+roll=13=35

With Bell Mare pulling on her ears, Rhinestone has a difficult time cancelling out the noise, which is quite deafening, and the sound waves, which push her back, away from the speakers.

"'Course I do! Who hasn't heard of the Mad Entertainer Party?" Bell Mare's voice echoes painfully in Rhinestone's head.

That said, Rhinestone recognizes the Mad Entertainer Party members and how they died. She also knows that, while their songs tended to be more gangsta rap than anything, they swore up and down that taken as a whole their discography was speaking about a realm of the dead, in which souls filled with sin are punished. She also recognizes the unicorn, Medium Rare, a unicorn known for predicting the future, and knows she often did criminal mercenary work, but does not remember how she died.

Scooby Dope and Straight-Up G leap down from the speakers, manifesting microphones in their hooves, before they start rapping along with the beat.

We entered the crib, now it’s about to get real
We’re here to stay, motherbuckers, so how do you feel?
Trick question - you gonna panic when you’re covered in slime!
We gonna whoop y’all’s flanks, and we’ll do it in rhyme!

A light-blue glowing slime starts oozing from the Mad Entertainer Party's bodies, slowly making its way into the crowd, while Dr. Spengler hurriedly digs through his saddle bags.

Rhinestone let out a half pained half annoyed groan as she recognized them. "Oh Celestia, these morons? Can't I die with a little dignity? Pleeeeaaaase?"

In spite of her whining, however, she pulled her shovel off her back and began digging a moat to catch the ectoplasm. You could be off digging graves right now. But nooo, instead you're here protecting the normal buck-flanks from disgusting ghost slime. How is this my life?

Meta: