Who You Gonna Call?

Sweet Puff buzzes over to in front of Whisper, the same way she did with Medium Rare. "But you can't leave! We have to play Ghost Extermination with the old griffon!"

"And you didn't answer my question!" Maverick said, standing in his path defiantly. "I want to know why my sensor thinks you're a ghost."

"Everyone, please!" said Dr. Spengler, trying to get everypony/everyjackal's attention.

He coughs once again, clearing his throat, and stands as straight as he can.

"It's clear you all have at least some interest and ability in getting rid of paranormal problems," said Dr. Spengler, having caught his breath. "How would you all like to work as ghost hunters in a more... professional fashion? You'd receive compensation, of course..."

"Yes please. You already offered me a job anyways," Maverick replied, calming down somewhat.

"Um...on a few conditions. I don't have to be awake during the day, I can still bury dead things and...you guys help me with a thing." Rhinestone scratched the back of one of her forelegs with a hoof nervously.

White Whisper took a long, long drag on his cigarette before turning back around, not quite seething but looking a little like it.

He broke into a smile. It didn't look happy. "Well, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Don't you all? Oh, and uh, you might want to do some refining on your, er, meds if we're gonna be workin' together. I'm not a ghost, but I suppose you could say I'm halfway there and not be too far offa the truth."

"Ah, don't worry about my meds, half ghost dude. Rites probably has some elephant tranquilizers he can share with you if I go off the deep end...wait, what I just said just occurred to me." She whirled around and began meticulously examining White Whisper. "Huh. You don't look dead or smell dead. All the benefits and none of the cosmetics, huh?"

Brony 7 of 9 wrote:"How would you all like to work as ghost hunters in a more... professional fashion? You'd receive compensation, of course..."

The twins pause their skirmish, with Hallows on top. "Uh, excuse me? We already are professional ghost hunters, mist-" Gallows throws his sister, rolling into the dominant position. "Yeah, but he wants to pay us, dummy. We'll do it." It is then Gallows' turn to be upended. "We might do it, assuming you have any idea what you're talking about, and don't get us experts killed." The jackal gets off her brother, and they both rise to their feet.

---

As they say in the Fandom, Hallows is not a clever pony.

Crystalite wrote:"Yes please. You already offered me a job anyways," Maverick replied, calming down somewhat.

Copper Rose wrote:"Only if we get to play games! Also, what made you think I'm actually interested in that? I was just getting revenge for tricking me with the not-candy!"

Elacular wrote:"Um...on a few conditions. I don't have to be awake during the day, I can still bury dead things and...you guys help me with a thing." Rhinestone scratched the back of one of her forelegs with a hoof nervously.

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote:"Well, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Don't you all? Oh, and uh, you might want to do some refining on your, er, meds if we're gonna be workin' together. I'm not a ghost, but I suppose you could say I'm halfway there and not be too far offa the truth."

Bronymous wrote:The twins pause their skirmish, with Hallows on top.  "Uh, excuse me? We already are professional ghost hunters, mist-" Gallows throws his sister, rolling into the dominant position. "Yeah, but he wants to pay us, dummy. We'll do it." It is then Gallows' turn to be upended. "We might do it, assuming you have any idea what you're talking about, and don't get us experts killed." The jackal gets off her brother, and they both rise to their feet.

"I'm, err, sure that accommodations can be made," said Dr. Spengler.

"Regrettably, I will not be able to join you," said Last Rites. "My duty remains in Ponyville."

He walks over to Rhinestone and hands her a bag.

"Your medicine, should you need it," said Last Rites. "And remember, Rhinestone - pacification, not destruction, will be your greatest ally no matter how... irksome... the problem may be."

"Is that old coot talking manure about me again?"

"I have complete faith in you," continued Last Rites, obviously not hearing Bell Mare in Rhinestone's head.

Dr. Spengler starts digging through his saddlebags.

"Now, since I am the foremost authority on wayward spirits," explained Dr. Spengler. "I have received a few letters asking for my assistance in hunting them, despite, well... the fact that I'm not part of a ghost hunting agency anymore. Now, I would normally be happy to investigate, seeing as how they are offering a substantial amount of bits, but I am... not the fittest bird in the flock anymore. Hence why I need ponies... or jackals, as the case may be... to do the work for me. I will provide ghost-hunting materials for you and give advice whenever it's needed, and in exchange I get ten percent of the profit. The rest is yours to split amongst yourselves."

Dr. Spengler pulls out three tablet-shaped devices, one with a long, straight antennae and a speaker attached, the second with three buttons, two of which have arrows on them pointing left and right, and a third that looks much like the scanner Maverick was using. Following that, he pulls out ten traps, like the ones that captured the Mad Entertainer Party, and unstraps the device he had on his back which was used to blast them.

"These," said Dr. Spengler. "Are the aforementioned materials. You have a communicator which allows for wireless communication with me, wherever I may be. This tablet contains sections of Tomin's Spirit Guide, an indispensable guide to categorizing wayward spirits. The scanner there is a PKE sensor which lets you detect traces of ghostly activity. These traps allow you to contain a spirit - just put them below the spirit and hit the button. Don't hit the button if the light on that trap is green, you'll release the spirit. And finally, a proton pack - very useful once you've found a spirit's fetter or their core.

As for where you will actually be going..."

Dr. Spengler pulls out five letters.

"This first letter is from Manehattan, my old 'stomping ground' as it were. Apparently the police are having issues with the restless spirits of pony mafia and have asked for... 'backup' is the term they use. I suspect this is not an official letter, though, because my old ghost hunting team did not have the best of relations with the police force.

The second letter is from Canterlot, requesting an investigation into the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. Apparently Prince Navy Blue requested a squadron of royal guardsmen to accompany him there, and they haven't been seen in a week. They suspect they're lost in the haunted Everfree Forest.

This third letter is... rather hard to decipher... but from what I can tell it's from Las Pegasus. There's a factory in the middle of the nearby desert there that's stopped working. Now normally I would have thrown this away but they're offering money for me to fix it.

The fourth letter is from a Diamond Dog calling himself "Wow". He said he was working on a super-secret project in the Frozen North when 'things start happen in mine and IS SPOOKY'. That's as written. But he's offered a share of valuable gemstones if he receives aid.

The fifth is from a pony named Gideon. Most people know him as 'Crazy Gideon', owner of the Bazaar of the Bizarre, a museum on the edge of Ghastly Gorge. He's offered a reward for me to turn my research over to him, but says it's not to be put on display, so I don't know why he wants this technology...

The choice is yours for which one you want to do first, of course. After all, you're the ones doing all the hoofwork."

---

tl;dr gadgets and choice of where to go
1. Manehattan
2. Everfree Forest
3. Las Pegasus
4. Frozen North
5. Ghastly Gorge

Sweet Puff does a little squee. "I wanna go to the Everfree! I wanna go to the Everfree!"

"LAS PEGASUS!" The twins bark in unison, eagerly. "It's warm and dry, like the wastes." "It's home to all sorts of crazy ponies, and probably ghosts!" "It's a killer city!" "Murders equals ghosts for sure!" "Abandoned factory?" "3 spooky 5 me!" "Let's go!"

Maverick considered the options carefully. "A factory is more likely to feature scrap material that I can improvise with. I vote Las Pegasus."

The Earth Pony walked over to one of the traps and gently poked at it, a huge smile spreading over her face. She smirked up at Bell Mare before turning back to the others.

Rhinestone considered. "I'd kinda like to stay closer to home since that's where the cold ones are, but...Rites? Do you think you could run the church and the graveyard alone if I went far away?"

Elacular wrote:Rhinestone considered. "I'd kinda like to stay closer to home since that's where the cold ones are, but...Rites? Do you think you could run the church and the graveyard alone if I went far away?"

\
"Of course I can. I'm not entirely helpless, after all."

"Hold on, hold on, hold on," White Whisper interjected into all the excitability, raising a hoof and calling for attention. "Right. You ask the first place I want to go? That would be the nearest bar, so I can salt my throat. Well,  I suppose some of you are underage, and that's pretty irresponisble, so I can satisfy myself with a sandwich at a nearby restaurant, but the point is..."

He leaned forward. "If we're to be workin' together, we can't go making grandiose charges a la the Light Brigade unless we want to end up like samesaid ponies - ghosts ourselves. We need to have us all a proper sit-down, chat ourselves up a bit." The cigarette in his mouth shifted to the other side of his mouth, "Most importantly, we need to know what we're all capable of doing. Histories would probably help too."

A pause. "Now see, I say all this, right, but I also understand we're gonna have to travel wherever we end up goin' and that'll provide us plenty opportunity to get to know one another. But you see, I'm a bit persnickety sometimes, right, and I just figured it might be good to let you all know - or remind you, you might've thought of it yourselves - that we do need to take the time on those trips focus up and speak up, and that there are secrets we shouldn't be keeping if we're gonna be hunting..."

Ah. The shock. It had finally settled in.

"Hunting ghosts..." Whisper shook his head quickly. "For example, as alluded to in my middling attempt at rhythm and poetry, I'm a little like a dragon - I can make as much fire as you please. Unlike the tall, gruesome, and scalies, though, I'm immune to cold, not heat. So I'd be remarkably useful in two very distinct ways - surviving the cold myself and helping you lot do so as well - if we chose to go to the Frozen North, which incidentally and as a direct result of that is where I vote we should go. Don't worry, that's it; I've said my piece."

"Introductions?" "Oh, uh..." "We kind of already did ours, so..." "So give us like, 5 minutes!" Hallows and Gallows retreat a few steps and huddle together, whispering.

"I'm Artesian Maverick; call me Arty or Maverick. I just got out of school, I'm a Magitechnician..." He looked at the tome. He levitate it over towards his face, adjusting his glasses slightly as he started to read...

"Uh...well, I guess I'm Rhinestone. I'm clinically insane, but it's not my fault because I've got a...do you all promise not to try and put me an in mental institution?" She looked down and kicked at a rock as she spoke. "Dead serious here. I know it's hard to believe, but I'm not actually crazy and I don't wanna go back there, so promise, okay?"

"Pinkie Promise!" Sweet Puff starts going through the motions, but suddenly realizes she doesn't actually remember what they are. Oh well!

"A toaster? What does that even mean?" "I said Ghoster, moron." "What does THAT even mean?"

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote:He leaned forward. "If we're to be workin' together, we can't go making grandiose charges a la the Light Brigade unless we want to end up like samesaid ponies - ghosts ourselves. We need to have us all a proper sit-down, chat ourselves up a bit." The cigarette in his mouth shifted to the other side of his mouth, "Most importantly, we need to know what we're all capable of doing. Histories would probably help too."

"Err... Dr. Spengler, scientist," said Dr. Spengler. "But... you probably already knew that. But yes, you do raise good points. Hunting ghosts is not easy. You'll need to have each others' backs, know each others' abilities, and cover for your weaknesses.

Crystalite wrote:"I'm Artesian Maverick; call me Arty or Maverick. I just got out of school, I'm a Magitechnician..." He looked at the tome. He levitate it over towards his face, adjusting his glasses slightly as he started to read...

The tome, or rather the tablet representing it, is full of information categorizing various subtypes of spirit... along with annotations by Dr. Spengler and his former colleague Dr. Stanz.

Elacular wrote:"Dead serious here. I know it's hard to believe, but I'm not actually crazy and I don't wanna go back there, so promise, okay?"

"Of course," said Dr. Spengler. "And even if you did sound crazy I wouldn't dream of sending you away."

Copper Rose wrote:"Pinkie Promise!" Sweet Puff starts going through the motions, but suddenly realizes she doesn't actually remember what they are. Oh well!

"Pinkie What Now?" asked Dr. Spengler, confused.

Bronymous wrote:"A toaster? What does that even mean?" "I said Ghoster, moron." "What does THAT even mean?"

"Perhaps... a nickname for 'ghost hunter'?" asked Dr. Spengler.

Sweet Puff flies over to the jackal twins. "Well, a toaster is used to turn slices of bread into toast, and a Ghoster is... uhmm, I think they're somepony - or somejackal - who hunts ghosts for a living. I might be thinking of a Ghost Buster though..." Sweet Puff trails off in thought, wishing she'd paid more attention in school.

Rhinestone was contemplative for a moment then took a deep breath. "Hooo...okay. I broke a grave a bunch of years back and whoever was under there's been haunting me ever since. She's here right now. Maybe your thingy can sense her, I dunno."