Riptide's ears twitched forward as she heard the familiar sound of hooves stamping against the stone floor and the scrape of metal, trotting towards the sound. "Stormy?"

"Mmf?" The pegasus paused the sheet metal she was dragging, giving Riptide a curious glance. "What?"

"Have you seen Horus? He went out to go on patrol a few hours ago. Or at least, he said he did."

Stormbringer shook her head, nearly tossing Lampy off her neck in the motion. "All I saw was chipmunks." Her ears twitched as she glanced over her shoulder, calling out, "Hey, Feldspar! Could you help me carry this?"

The unipeg nodded slightly as she trotted back to the temple cavern, shaking her head. "He's probably just fine."

Elsewhere, in a snow field, Horus was staring up at a rotting muzzle and a set of wolf-like teeth. With a guttural snarl, the jaws opened wider, preparing to slash in a downward arc towards the unipeg's throat.

Horus bit first.

He did his best not to gag as his teeth first hit bone, then flesh as a cloud passed over the moon. The undead pony squalled in surprise and rage at being bitten, momentarily going insubstantial. Horus abruptly let go as the ghostly hooves sank right through him, chilling him to the bone. Despite the shock of cold, he managed to take advantage of the situation and roll over onto his feet, wings madly beating as he took to the air. He peered down at the pony below him, who was now sitting on her haunches and still snarling indignantly.

The pony rubbed at her bitten muzzle with a forehoof, her snarl changing to a whine. Eyes narrowing, she glared up at the unipeg above her. She hissed briefly, then returned to rubbing at her aching muzzle. Although she was unable to vocalize the actual words, the message was fairly obvious. That hurt.

Hovering above the pony, Horus quirked an eyebrow at the hiss. "You would have done far worse had I allowed you to continue with your planned course of action." His head tilted slightly as he watched the pony. "Why have you refrained from departing for so long? I would assume that you would want to take refuge in the forest once more."

In response, she simply flopped down on the snow, still watching him.

"You truly are a contrary creature."

At being called a creature, the pony simply snarled and curled into a ball, hiding her wounded snout in her tail.

A few long moments passed before Horus sighed and glanced to the half-exposed skeleton lying in the field. "I assume that is-was-yours?"

With a snarling squeal, the undead pony got back on her feet and raced over to the skeleton, standing guard over it. Her ears laid back as she continued snarling, glaring up at Horus.

The unipeg's own ears went back as he watched, and he sighed again. "If you do not wish me to examine the corpse, I will not." Folding his wings back, Horus dove towards the earth, landing gracefully as his hooves crunched against the snow. He peered at pony placidly, not moving from the spot where he had landed. The pony squalled and charged up at him, halting only inches from his face with her fangs bared. One ear twitched lazily as he refused to budge. "I would be most appreciative if you would halt your attempts to kill me and act civilly."

She continued to snap at Horus as she circled the unipeg, finally giving up as he still refused to flinch. Sitting down, the pony snorted in defeat and glowered. The pony raised an eyebrow as she peered at the utterly calm unipeg, tilting her head to the side and sending her forelock cascading over her half-decomposed face.

Horus simply peered back. "Now that you are acting civil, would you like to try and explain?"

"Stormy!"

"Mmf?" Stormbringer stepped away from her work, dropping the wrench that she had been holding. She gave Nova a curious glance over her shoulder, twitching an ear. "Who's mad now?"

Nova sidestepped away from a table that looked dangerously overloaded with a stack of sharp objects. "A mob from Dream Valley. They're still upset over that ambassador blowing himself up."

Lampy jumped off a desk, hopping across the cavern floor with a clunking noise as he peered up at Nova. "She told him not to press the red button."

The pegasus turned, gesturing towards the back of the cavern with a flick of her tail. "I think I've fixed that, now that I think of it. Want to help test it?"

"No." Nova's eye twitched slightly as he spoke. He laid his ears back, pawing at the floor with a forehoof. "Anyway, they're demanding your head. And the lamp's bulb."

With a clunking noise, Lampy dove behind Stormbringer's forelegs. Tossing her forelock, she rolled her eyes. "Give 'em two hours or so. They'll give up. Or start a riot. One of those two.."

The twitch reappeared in Nova's eye. "If they start to destroy the library.."

Stormbringer grinned, turning and trotting towards one of the many worktables scattered about the cavern. "Don't worry-they won't. And come look at this."

Repressing a shudder, Nova followed after her, keeping an eye on the piles that looked on the verge of collapse. "Do I really want to know?"

The pegasus nodded cheerfully as she sat up on her hindlegs, pulling several large, blocky objects from the clutter. She gestured proudly towards them with a forehoof.

Nova simply stared at the objects. "What are they?"

"Proton packs. See, Horus was talking about ghosts, and that gave me an idea.."

"Stormy, have you ever thought about how all your ideas end up blowing something-or someone-up or setting things on fire?"

"Not really."

The unipeg's ears remained backed as he peered at the proton packs. "I shouldn't bother asking, but are these things safe?"

"Perfectly safe. At least, they should be.."

Horus sighed to himself as he twitched an ear, listening to the undead pony attempt to snarl out an explanation to his questions. He was fluent in several languages and dialects, but the other pony's speech was totally untranslatable to him. "Is that the only way you can communicate?"

He was given a silent nod in response.

Nodding back, he idly twitched his tail from side to side. "That is not exactly the best development possible, but.." Shaking his head, he blew his forelock out of his face. "You did have a name while you were amongst the living, correct?"

Another nod, punctuated by a squeal.

"What do you wish me to refer to you as?" His ears went back for a moment as he rattled off a list of different ghost types to himself. Despite wracking his brain for an answer, he wasn't sure what to classify the undead pony as. "Wraith, spectre, banshee, poltergeist, phantom, phantasm.."

The undead pony snorted, her ears pricking up slightly at the last word.

Horus raised an eyebrow slightly. "Phantasm? You wish to go by that identifier?"

Snorting again, the pony's shoulders rose and fell in a shrug. Although unspoken, the rough message was fairly easy for Horus to understand. It'll do.

Horus nodded, peering over at the skeleton. He could definitely see the shattered wing bones, but no horn protruded from the skull. Glancing over to Phantasm, he twitched an ear. "You were a pegasus, correct? Are you aware of why you lack wings now?"

Phantasm nodded at first, then shook her head.

Ears twitching, Horus nodded again, his tone curious. "Were you of any particular type?"

At the question, Phantasm nodded furiously, then gestured skywards with her snout. She made a peculiar, bark-like noise as she continued to point up at the sky.

Horus blinked as he watched the undead pony point towards the sky. He had barely noticed that the sun had risen while he was attempting to make sense of what Phantasm had squawked and snarled. The unipeg blinked again in surprise as he stared up at the sky. "Good gods. That might explain a good deal of this.."

"He's not like this usually. Really." Wraith glanced over his shoulder at the new ambassador. "Hand me that broom, would you?"

"Th' lake it ish shaid ne'er gives up her dead when the shkies of Nove'ber turn gloooomy!" Perched upon a chandelier that was swinging from side to side dangerously, Blizzard was still merrily belting out 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' despite being quite drunk.

The new ambassador grabbed the broom in her mouth and carried it over to Wraith, who took it with a grateful nod. Attempting to speak around the broom, he nudged at Blizzard with the broom. "Sir, please get down.."

Peering up at the pegasai above her, the ambassador began to consider looking into that job offer in Khemket.

"You understand how this works, right?"

"Mostly."

Stormbringer nodded cheerfully at the response. "Good." She turned her attention to Lampy for a moment, twitching an ear. "If that mob gets up here, just poke one of the piles of scrap. The avalanche should make 'em scatter."

Nova frowned as he managed to fit the proton pack over his wings, peering at the contraption with some trepidation. "Why do you sound so sure about that?"

The pegasus grinned again. "It's always worked before." Looking back to Nova, she tilted her head to the side. "Why do you sound so worried all of a sudden?"

"I'm not worrying. I just have an unlicensed nuclear accelerator strapped to my back. What's there to worry about?"

Stormbringer rolled her eyes. "It'll work just fine. Now let's see if we can find someone to carry this third one.."

Horus galloped across the snowy plain, staying out of the air for the moment. The glare of the sun against the snow was already blinding at ground level, and he had no desire to make it worse. He glanced over at Phantasm as she galloped beside him, tilting his head slightly. "You were a resident of this area once, correct?"

Phantasm squealed and nodded, her fangs clicking at the motion. Her ears twitched forward as they neared the citadel, sliding to a halt and looking around cautiously. She snorted, pawing at the snow and wrinkling her muzzle back.

"I would suggest hiding your teeth until I am able to give an explanation to the rest of the residents. The sight of your teeth may incite panic, and I believe that we have already had one mob today.." Horus trotted into the citadel, glancing over his shoulder at the undead pony as she followed.

"Hey, Wraith!"

Wraith started in mid-air, a movement which led to the now-violently swinging chandelier crashing into the side of his head. He dropped to the floor, lying stunned. After a few moments he got back onto his feet, shaking his head and staring at Stormbringer and Nova for a moment. "No. Stormy, whatever it is-no. I don't want to get blown up today!"

Above them, the chandelier continued to swing back and forth with Blizzard still clinging to it stubbornly. Much to the relief of Wraith's ears, he had switched to a different song as soon as he set eyes upon the pegasus and unipeg pair. "If there's somet'ing weird an' it don' look good, who you gonna call?"

Stormbringer glanced up at Blizzard for a moment, while Nova just shot the newest ambassador a sour look. "If I get him down, will you help?"

"How could you get him down? I've been trying since last night! It's impossible to-" Wraith cut himself off as the other pegasus fired off a shot from the proton pack's gun, sending the chandelier crashing to the ground. Still clinging to it, an unharmed Blizzard gave the group a cheerful grin. "…Deal."

Giving her brother a triumphant look, Stormbringer nudged the third proton pack towards Wraith. "Put this on." As he did so, she looked back and forth between Nova and Wraith. "There's one thing you guys need to know about these."

"Do I really want to know?" Nova laid his ears back as he eyed Stormbringer.

"Don't cross the streams."

Nova and Wraith looked at each other for a moment, asking in unison, "Why?"

"It would be bad."

Ears still backed, Nova frowned. "I'm fuzzy on the whole good-bad thing. How bad?"

"Total protonic reversal." At the blank look the pair gave her, Stormbringer attempted to simplify. "Big boom. Real big boom." As an afterthought, she added in, "Oh, and you'll want to wear these." Out of a pouch attached to the side of her proton pack, she brought out two sets of goggles identical to the ones current perched atop her head.

Nova growled to the best of his ability, shaking his head as he took the goggles. "That's bad. Okay. Important safety tip, thanks Stormy."

Wraith put on the goggles, resting them on top of his forelock. "What are these supposed to do?"

Fetching a cigarette from the pouch and lighting it, Stormbringer shrugged. "I don't want anybody to put an eye out." She trotted out of the cavern, spreading her wings as she prepared to take to the air. An eyebrow was raised slightly as she peered at Nova and Wraith's expressions. "What's wrong?"

The paired followed after her, taking to the air with a noisy flapping of wings. "I thought you quit!"

"You're smoking while wearing an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on your back, THAT'S WHAT'S WRONG!" Nova's shout caused an echo in Blizzard's cavern, shaking a few chips of stone loose from the ceiling. The new ambassador made a note to look into the job in Khemket immediately.

Stormbringer didn't hear-or acted like she didn't hear the two males. She spread her wings, peering down at the mob milling around the main cavern. "I think that's the biggest mob I've stirred up in years."

Nova scowled down at the mob, still attempting to adjust to flying with the weight of the proton pack and goggles. "You sure that the lamp is going to be okay?"

Looking cheerful, Stormbringer nodded. "Positive. The little guy's tougher than he looks. Besides, that crowd looks mostly like earth ponies. What's the worst that could get up there?"

*clunkwhunkTHUD*

Various bits and pieces of projects flew through the air as the two combatants wrestled-or wrestled as well as they could. The pair fell off the side of the with a crash and the tinkling noise of broken glass. There was a long silence before the outraged cry was sounded. "THAT WAS MY BULB!"

"DIE, wretched little lamp beast!"

"Who're you calling little?!"

"AHA! With this POINTY metal object, I will cause FIREY CHIPMUNK DE-"

"Put a sock in it!"

The clash of the less than a foot tall titans continued raging through Stormbringer's cavern, totally unnoticed by the trio as they went about their ghost hunting.

Phantasm hung back slightly as Horus trotted into the temple complex. She flattened her ears back, lips momentarily wrinkling back to reveal her fangs. Stamping a hoof, she backed away a few steps from the entrance.

Horus frowned as he paused in mid-stride, glancing back at the undead pony. "There is nothing to fear here, unlike the rest of the citadel. The high priestess-and what I believe it termed 'my partner in crime'-Riptide, is quite kind. I do not believe that she would wish you harm."

Looking somewhat unconvinced, Phantasm followed after Horus, cringing slightly as she glanced around the temple complex. The arrival of a strange-eyed pony lacking in a symbol caused some quiet talking among the acolytes, but the pair continued onwards. Phantasm paused for a moment to peer at her reflection in one of the hot springs as they went farther back into the complex, staring at it for a moment before destroying the reflection with a stamp of a forehoof. As she caught sight of the unipeg sitting in front of one spring, Phantasm looked to Horus, snapping her jaws once and hissing softly.

Riptide looked up at the sound, twitching an ear curiously. "Horus? Glad to see that you're-" She stopped herself as she noticed the dark, unfamiliar pony that was watching her with a baleful glare. "Who are you?" Getting to her feet, Riptide trotted over, a faint frown creasing her muzzle.

"Phantasm is the name that is currently sufficient. I am not aware of her true name, and she has no way of communicating it." Horus paused for a moment, clearing his throat. "She is the ghost that I have been searching for ever since the incident at Christmas."

"Horus, she might not look like your average pony, but that doesn't mean that she's a ghost." Riptide shook her head, peering at Phantasm, who shirked back. The two mares stared at each other for a moment, then Phantasm began to reach out to prod Riptide with a forehoof. The unipeg barely restrained the urge to leap backwards in alarm. Phantasm was cold-not from the conditions outside, but cold in the same way a corpse was. The undead pony became shadow like for a moment, phasing her hoof through the unipeg's foreleg. This time, Riptide did leap back and take to the air at the shock of cold.

"I cannot wait to see how you will react to her appearance in the moonlight." Horus' tone was dry. At Riptide's questioning look, he elaborated. "Phantasm's undead nature is quite evident when she is exposed to the moonlight. It appears that she is in a state of decomposition."

Nova frowned as he folded his wings back, diving towards the ground. "What makes you think that it's going to be the temple, if it exists at all?"

Stormbringer shrugged at the question, twitching an ear as they passed the groups of acolytes muttering amongst themselves. "It's as good a place as any." Her ears pricked forward again as she hovered for a moment. "Horus said it was dark, with no symbols and weird eyes.."

Wraith laid his ears back as he noticed Phantasm, who was peering at a tapestry on one of the walls while Horus and Riptide talked, lost in their conversation. "Like that one?" At the nod from Stormbringer, he frowned. "So what are we supposed to do now?"

There was a long pause as Stormbringer mulled over her options, then shouted out, "GET 'ER!"

Phantasm whirled around with a snarl, her muzzle wrinkled back to show off all of her fangs. Horus turned as well, swearing a bluestreak in his native tongue as he caught sight of the trio. "Provoking her is extremely unadvisable!" The undead pony charged as a shot from a proton pack hit the ground, missing her entirely.

"Run away!" Riptide translated, her ears laying back as she heard the snarl and the blast.

The trio did so, flapping their wings as fast as they could. With Phantasm hot on their heels, maneuvering was difficult, and the guns attached to the proton packs began to bang together. The clunking noise of metal hitting metal sped up, and the triggers of the two guns. Both beams fired, combining…

..And nothing happened, aside from a scorched spot appearing on the floor.

Nova burst out laughing as they kept flying, grinning like a lunatic. "Gods damn it all, Stormy, you make one thing that is supposed to explode, and even then it backfires!" The trio continued moving as fast they could, swiftly making their way out of the temple complex and soaring upwards to land on a rock ledge. He gasped for breath for a moment, then began laughing again. "'Get her!' That was your whole plan. I like it; it was scientific."

Wraith raised an eyebrow, laying his ears back for a moment as he muttered to Stormbringer. "I think he's finally snapped for good."

Phantasm stood at the entrance of the temple complex, screeching once more angrily before turning and trotting back inside. Horus and Riptide flew out of the complex as well, Horus rolling his eyes and sighing. "It appears that once more we must take up the mantle of damage control and explain this fiasco.." He flew into the space above the main cavern, where a large group of ponies was already talking excitedly amongst themselves, with Riptide following.

The acolytes still in the cavern didn't dare go anywhere near Phantasm as she headed back into the temple complex, although some fled as fast as they possibly could. She ignored them as she trotted slowly back into the section of the caverns she had been in before. The undead pony stopped in front of the tapestry that she had been looking at before, her ears flattening as she stared up at the depictions of several rainbow ponies.

Low in her throat, Phantasm made a soft, keening whine.