//------------------------------// // The Prophecy was Fulfilled // Story: Cause, Effect, and Consequences // by Coltsguy //------------------------------// The Ghost Zone is a pretty damn cool place, even if it is a bit monotonous. It mostly consists of this green haze in multiple dark hues. That's honestly the best way I can describe that stuff because it looked much more solid than a haze should be. Not only that, it seemed to form patterns out of the corner of your eyes when you weren't looking at something in particular. It wasn't just the haze out there, though. There were also multiple doors just floating out there. They acted a lot like the doors from Monsters Inc. if you've seen that except that each of those doors lead to a ghost's realm. That was only the case for the weaker ones since I knew that there were entire areas devoted to other ghosts out in the open. Every once in a while you would also see some kind of random debris just floating out there making me think about just what purpose it served since I think everything out here did something no matter how minor. I was viewing all of this scenery in the back of what was called the 'Spectre Speeder Mark III'; a stylized vehicle made to travel through the Ghost Zone while providing some protection from unknown threats that lurk around undetected. That was their words not mine, although mine may have come out somewhat similar. The speeder itself was sort of a long cylinder about sixty feet long colored a bright white with what I was told were treated windows along the sides and a wide windshield in the front and small engines built into the framework. The color was part of some running gag about 'going into the light' that no one would explain properly. It wasn't really important as I walked into the speeder with Applejack. The whole shebang was filled with instruments that I had no idea about. It simply reminded me of what the inside of a submarine looked like. There were things like lights, levers, buttons, switches, kerbobbles, jahoozites, and green-tinted screens all over. Nobody really let me have a good look at any of them. They let Applejack have nearly free reign over her time in there, but I was placed in a seat in the back that still had a view through the front windshield and told not to wander off anywhere. I may not have liked that they did that, but I did understand why they did. I was chaos to the surroundings. I may have been viewing myself as chaotic good, but my actions to date leaned more towards chaotic neutral. My good actions, like nabbing Vlad, were offset by my less good actions, like letting Desiree go. Trust wasn't going to come easy, if it even came at all. Eventually, I could feel the speeder turn on and watched through the front as a device in the wall I hadn't noticed before lit up in a neon green color. For a moment it reminded me of a Stargate, but the differences quickly dismissed that thought for me. The neon lights surrounded the giant metal circle and shortly thereafter most of the interior slid back to form an enclave that could fit the speeder though only barely. It was a moot point as a few sparks could be seen in there followed by the entire area being engulfed in a tangible medium and dark green light. The speeder then thrummed up like a jet engine and shot straight into the light. The transfer seemed instantaneous even though I was told that it wasn't. It was close enough that didn't really care, but they seemed a bit more insistent about it so I conceded the fact. As soon as we were though, and after the snippy little short, they more or less demanded that I show them which way to head. It didn't really matter that much other than the tone they used. I simply levitated Eris to the front console and she surrounded herself in a translucent blue sphere with a white dot on the surface that pointed down and to the left. With the heading given, the speeder set off towards it's destination. It would have been nice if it hadn't taken too long from there. Alas, it ended up not being that way. After ten minutes of nothing but silence, I broke down and cast an illusion screen. It's basically just a small visual illusion that you can project anything on. I chose to watch 'The Avengers' on it. That movie held a lot of significance for me. I had tried several times to watch it and then before I could I got sent on my little trip to Equestria. After coming back I hadn't really felt like doing anything. I had to go to work or else I would get fired, but I didn't do anything else. After a week had gone by, I went to see Avengers by myself and seeing that awesome movie finally lifted my spirits. It felt good to enjoy things once again. Even though Applejack didn't seem to like the movie, the rest of the group seemed to enjoy it well enough that they didn't get on me to stop it. I think a good deal of their interest in it was because there wasn't any of the Avenger's universe movies in that place. They did have the Hulk move; the original one anyway. It tanked so badly that no one wanted to touch it again and by proxy most of the Marvel franchises were summarily shied away from. It was a fun talk about little differences like that which combined with the movie took up close to four hours of time until we were interrupted. Our interruption came in the form of a high pitched alert signal followed about five seconds later by the craft shaking a bit violently. "SitRep!" Motoko demanded loudly. "It looked like high pressure sound waves," replied Togusa. A part of me cringed at a familiar memory. It was as if those who controlled irony had slapped me with a bat that had the words 'I told you so' painted on them. "It looks like it's Ember," Batou stated. "Godammit Rainbow Dash!" I yelled getting stares from everyone there. "What in samhill does Rainbow Dash have tah do with this?" Applejack asked pointedly. I turned with a sigh to the blonde pony. "Ember is a ghost who enjoys performing songs," I explained. "I'll take care of this," Danny said almost reluctantly. Upon stating that, a bright circle of white light shot out from his waist and surrounded him like a hoop. The circle then split into two with one heading upwards and one heading downwards. As the traveled their respective routes, the area in between them seemed to convert the clothing he was wearing into a skin tight jumpsuit. When they passed by his head and feet the circles disappeared leaving a very different-looking Danny. In place of his normal appearance, he now a snow white hair and glowing green eyes. He was wearing a mostly black jumpsuit save for the white waistband and wore white gloves and boots. On his chest, there was a symbol that looks like a stylized D. I didn't have time to scrutinize him for any differences to the canon version before he turned translucent and flew out through the side of the speeder. At the same time, I recalled Eris to my hand. "What are you up to?" Motoko asked me. "We meed to keep moving." "I'm going to go negotiate a cease fire." "You're what?!" was her eloquent response. "I know what I'm doing this time. I have a plan and everything." Without waiting for her to respond, I teleported outside of the speeder and reoriented myself towards Ember and Danny. They didn't seem to be fighting at the moment so I tried to approach them. Tried being the operative word as I quickly found out that I couldn't move normally in the Ghost Zone. I couldn't even turn like I somehow did after I appeared there. I had to remedy that problem in a hurry, but I simply forewent any other movements and just teleported myself closer to them. The two quickly noticed me and while Danny sighed and initiated a facepalm Ember and I silently looked each other over. Ember was a bit of a lithe woman with pale, almost white skin that was tinted slightly blue. That tint was most likely due to her long hair that was up in a ponytail. I wasn't sure how that was possible considering that her hair was made of blue fire. She was wearing what looked like a black leather top with only one strap over her left shoulder, a long black leather glove on her right arm that stopped over her bicep, a pair of black pants that looked more like spandex, and grey platform boots with the image of a comical skull over the toes. She also had tattoos around her eyes to make them looked ringed and while the left one dropped down to her cheek and looked like a fang the other curled up into what kind of looked like part of an ampersand. "So who is tubby here supposed to be? Club membership standards getting easier?" "It's not like that Ember. He's just somebody we're escorting through the Ghost Zone." "Yep! The name's Seth," I said as I stuck my hand out. She merely looked at my outstretched hand and then leveled a glare at me. "I only now realize how stupid that was," I stated pulling my hand back. "So why does the great and powerful Danny Phantom have to escort some dumb human through the Ghost Zone for?" "Oh," I replied instead, "you know, stopping reality from tearing itself asunder. Little things like that." "I didn't ask you wide load!" "Oh come on, you shouldn't be berating me like that. Appearance doesn't mean anything to a rock player." That seemed to grab her interest. "You're a rocker?" In response to her question, I held my hand out in front of me again. This time the area around it erupted into an illusionary ball of blue flames. At that moment, I used the ability that chaos magic gave me to create something for the spectacle I knew I would find myself in. When the flame died off, in my hand was a bass guitar. It was colored black with my Colts' symbol wrapped around the center. "I dabble." She gave me a little smirk that told me enough to know that she at least didn't detest my very presence anymore. "So, you in a band?" "I'm a one man band. It's a specialty of mine." She gave me a pretty disbelieving look in response. "Seriously. I'm capable of playing guitar, drums, and all vocals as well as any other instruments." "That sounds like a load." "Believe what you want, but I'm just that good." "Oh yeah? Prove it then if you're not all talk." "That's fine, but when I do I want you to escort us to the rift I was headed to. You know, to prove I'm not a liar." "Fine, but it better be worth it!" "We don't have time for this," Danny finally interrupted sternly. "Butt out Phantom!" was Ember's harsh reply. "Danny, would you rather have to listen to a song for maybe five minutes or would you like to fight your way through?" He responded with a glare for a moment before drooping with a sigh. "Just make it quick," he stated before flying back to the speeder. "Feh. I don't need no instructions to know how to rock." I closed my eyes and let off a bright flash. It was pretty much just cover for me to teleport back a ways from Ember to perform. When the light disappeared, all everyone else could see was an enormous ball of blue flame. Inside of it I set up everything for the brief show. I was really getting into these more than I thought and since there would only be a few people watching this time I felt confident instead of panicky. I let the fire go for about twenty seconds before I began to play. I started with what sounded sort of like a wind chime. I never knew just what that instrument was so I just synthesized it on a piano. The violin joined it quietly afterwards. The two played for about thirty seconds before the bass and drums kicked in; both replacing the previous instruments and also blowing out the fireball in a shockwave style revealing both myself and three copies of myself on various instruments. I continued on until the intro reached a crescendo and let out one word: "NIGHTMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARE!!!!!" I continued on playing Nightmare by Avenged Sevenfold as Ember watched me there. I knew I needed to put all the effort I could into it because while it was a good song I needed to make sure that she try to cop out of our agreement. Most ghosts aren't known for being too honest unless you impress them. Well, the more eccentric ones I mean. In the words of the Dairy King, 'most ghosts just want to be left alone dontcha know?' Still, as the vocals faded out for the end of the song, I felt like I had nailed it. I just needed confirmation from Ember to finish it. "I want to say something bad about that performance... but as a fellow musician that would just be petty of me," she finally said at length. "Still, I do think that you were being sneaky about saying you could play everything at once." "Well, I said I'm a one man band. And I proved that," I said with a hint of smugness. "And just when I I was starting to like you. You had to go and act like you're a big shot." "Oh like you wouldn't have spiked the football after you performed." "I guess you're right," she half-grumbled out. "So would you help see us through the Ghost Zone? I have to stop a tear in reality from ripping everything apart." "Wait, that's why you're here?" "Yeah. I'm trying to save the Ghost Zone. Didn't Danny say tell you this?" "No! He just blasted me and the two of us were yelling back and forth." "It's like nobody's grown up at all," I mumbled while pinching the bridge of my nose. "Well, that's really why I want you to come along with us. With you around, we're less likely to get attacked again and I don't even care what happens afterwards as long as no one's existence is ripped apart. Can you please come with us now?" "Yeah, fine. Whatever," she said dismissively. "Just don't tell nobody I was helping them out." "You're really just helping me and my friend out. You don't have say anything about anybody else." "I said fine already. Let's just get going." I nodded to her and teleported myself back inside the speeder. Unfortunately, I was greeted by a multitude of glares; even one from Applejack. "That was dumb and reckless," Applejack chided. "Who knows what coulda happened?" "I told you all I had a plan! Ember likes rock music and so do I! You get a person to talk about something they have a great deal of passion for and almost every time they will be less hostile when you speak of it in a positive manner." "Ya got away with that by dumb luck!" "Dumb luck? That was a calculated risk and I don't think I would do it any differently if-" "Both of you be quiet!" Motoko yelled into our argument. "We don't have time for this! I don't like what he did either and I doubt any of us did at that." "Hey!" "Shut it! Let's get this straight. We don't like you. We don't mind your pony friend, but none of us care for your attitude or your recklessness. This isn't a damn game. This is an operation to keep everyone safe from whatever mess you helped cause." "I didn't help-" "I don't care!" she yelled; cutting me off again. "You definitely don't seem to have any sense of crisis right now and that pisses me off more than anything!" Oh, great, her eyes went green again. "You seem a hell of a lot more interested in having yourself a good time than trying to solve the problem at hand! This is why none of trust you one bit! Because you just don't seem to care!" "Major," I heard I believe Batou speak, "I think we've arrived." I looked past her as she turned around and we all saw what seemed to be a tear in reality. It looked just like before when all of this started before. It appeared as a twisting, writhing lightning bolt moving between two fixed points on either side. "That definitely looks like what we're hear for," I said as I fished Eris out of my pocket once again and held it in front of me. She was glowing slightly now. "Yeah, I'd say that's it." Motoko looked right back to me. "Fix it and get the hell out of here." The door to the speeder opened and Applejack was picked up by Danny. I then gave Applejack my Eris coin and the two of them took off swiftly to the rift. "Wow, you weren't kidding about that tear thing were you?" I looked to the side to see Ember, quite possibly the only amicable being in the vicinity to me, floating slightly outside the speeder. "Of course not. I may lie sometimes, but not about important things like this... You're not going to attack anybody now right?" "No, I said I wouldn't and this thing is bumming me out." "Good. Let's go somewhere else and wait." A snap of my fingers and a teleport later and the both of us were a reasonable distance away from the speeder. "What the heck did you just do?" "Try to understand, I'm a magic man." "Can you talk like a normal person here?" "I've got magic powers derived from chaos," I said flatly. "You know, I think you and Desiree are the only two who won't be happy as soon as I'm out of here." "You know where Desiree is?" she asked with more concern in her voice than I expected to hear. "With any luck, she should be back in the Ghost Zone. If you see her, tell her Seth said hi." "I'll think about it. You're not going to say goodbye to lame-o's?" "Oh I'm pretty sure they hate my guts. Preconceptions have been utterly trashed. Hell, the ghosts I've met for the most part seem better than the humans. Vlad and the Box Ghost are the exceptions." "And nobody really likes them anyway," Ember added. I let out a snort of laughter. It was true. After all, Vlad pretty much screws over all of his associates once they aren't of any use to him. He even works with the same ghosts repeatedly and they still end up with the same result. It has to be the power. In the case of the Box Ghost, he was just incredibly annoying. He was sooooo annoying. There was a flash of light as it looked like Applejack made it to the tear. The rift stopped flailing about and turned into a straight line. Then, both sides came together and vanished in the middle. I was barely able to hear them from where we were. "There's some kinda countdown on yer coin now," I faintly heard Applejack say. I reached out and grasped Applejack with some telekinesis and brought her over to Ember and myself. As soon as she was in front of us, I shrunk the process down to pull Eris into my hand. True to her word, and why wouldn't she be, the blank side of the coin had a countdown of numbers that was at 43 when I started looking at it. "I think it's giving us a warning as to when we return to Equestria." "I think ah figured that much mahself." I rolled my eyes and then turned them towards Ember. "It's funny. I think I'll miss the ghosts here more than the people. Maybe if I come back we can jam together?" I asked as I held out a fist towards her. She looked at my outstretched fist before smirking and tapping it with her own. "Sounds killer." I smiled at that admission and looked down at the countdown. Soon enough it hit zero and Eris lit up brightly before a small sucking sensation took hold of me. It was the last thing that I remember happening in the Ghost Zone.