The celebrations had begun for the Rainbooms. They’d yet to face off against Trixie and the Illusions, but as far as they were concerned, that battle was a forgone conclusion. They would face off against both Ember and the Dazzlings soon enough, and nobody was happier than Pinkie Pie.
“Woohoo, this means I’m gonna win no matter what!”
The girls all laughed, and Ember and Pinkie high-fived. “You know,” Ember paused, taking a gulp of her punch, slamming it down when she was done, “you might just be the best drummer I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing with.”
“Believe me, we’re all glad she’s on our side,” Rainbow Dash chuckled. “I’ve seen her win talent competitions since she was just a little girl with that drumset.”
“Speaking of talent, our spy hasn’t returned yet,” Ember pointed out. “Hopefully he didn’t get caught,” she joked.
There was no better way to put it. Danny was bored. Bored of sitting around and watching the Dazzlings try to come up with a plan, only to realize it would never work and start all over again. Not since Technus had he seen such poor strategizing. Of course, it wasn’t entirely Adagio’s fault that her plans had gone sideways. He suspected that had it not been for Ember, the Dazzlings may have already been celebrating their victory.
“Wait, I’ve got it!” He heard Aria exclaim. He perked up almost instantly, and repositioned himself in the tree to get a better look at the trio. “When Ember walked off the stage, what did she say?”
“Something about being excited to play against the Rainbooms,” Sonata recalled. “But what does that have to do with anything?”
“Ugh, don’t you get it?” Aria groaned. “I’m sure that Trixie girl heard that comment. How do you think that would have gone?”
“I would imagine that Trixie is somewhere between miffed and frothing at the mouth,” Adagio chuckled. “Though I believe I see where you’re going with this. You believe we should manipulate her, no?”
“Exactly,” Aria grinned evilly. “If Trixie were to be persuaded to join our cause, then we could rid ourselves of the Rainbooms forever.”
“I like your thinking,” Adagio complimented her friend. “What will we do to bring her to our side?”
Danny’s eyes shifted back to Aria as she spoke, and he made sure to remain quiet as she began to go over the details of her plan. The further into it she got, the more stunned Danny found himself. ‘Wow, this is actually a pretty intricate plan. I’d better get back to the Rainbooms and warn them…’
“I must admit, this plan seems foolproof, Aria. However, you’ve left one thing unaccounted for.”
“And that is…?” Aria asked boredly, seemingly sure that she hadn’t.
“Danny,” Adagio smirked. “We’ll need to take him out of the picture before any of this is possible.”
‘Well, that’s my cue to leave,’ Danny gulped, launching himself into the air and attempting to take off towards the music hall. His attempt was cut short as he felt someone grab hold of his ankle. Twisting himself backwards, he frowned at Adagio. “Let go.”
“You know, for a spy, you’re not very stealthy. Do you really think we didn’t notice you?”
“I was kinda hoping,” he retorted, punctuating the end of his reply with a kick to the siren leader’s unguarded face. She reeled back, grabbing her nose with both hands, and sent a glare his way. Sonata and Aria flanked her, and Danny quickly went ghost, prepared for a fight.
“Wait, so you don’t have to be a ghost to turn invisible?” Sonata scratched her head, confused.
“It’s not—”
“It’s quite obvious that he can use some of his abilities while in his human form,” Adagio cut him off. He looked angry, something that Adagio took a sick pleasure in seeing. “Oh, I do so love seeing my foes get all riled up.”
“Yeah, well there’s one difference between your old foes and me,” Danny replied, floating down to the ground and landing gently in front of her. He was practically oozing a confident vibe, and Adagio tilted her head.
“Oh, there is, is there?”
“Yeah, you can count me as your last!” he shouted, firing a beam of energy at her. The stunned siren fell down, but maintained her composure. That is, until she looked down to see that her clothing had become quite singed by his attack. Sonata and Aria moved to grab him, mirroring their prior encounter, but Danny was ready this time. “Sorry, I only let my girlfriend hold me,” he grinned, backing away from Aria and sweeping his leg out, pulling hers up from under her. She fell with a thud, and Danny looked up from his crouched position to see Sonata just… standing there?
That was certainly odd. Was she scared of him? Or… Danny chuckled. “Lemme guess. Scared of letting down your big bad boss?”
“She has good reason to be,” he heard to his left. Quickly looking that direction, he pushed himself off the ground and into the air, dodging Adagio’s punch.
“The only thing she should be scared of is losing,” Danny replied with a smirk. “Do you really think you can beat all of us?”
“Why, you’ve given us the key to our victory, you fool.” Sonata and Aria moved to their leader’s side as she held up just what she’d been aiming for the entire time.
‘The Fenton Thermos!’ His mind was racing at this point, but he did his best to remain calm. After all, it wasn’t like they could capture him. At least, not yet. “Fat chance capturing me. You have to weaken a ghost first,” he snickered from above the trio. “And from the looks of things, you have about as good a chance of that as you do winning this talent show.”
“Oh, believe me, we’ve come to realize that. Unfortunately for you, it won’t be us weakening you.”
“Just what is that supposed to—” Danny’s question was cut short as he felt something impact the back of his head. He didn’t have much of a chance to see what it was as everything went black. He fell to the ground with a thud, and Adagio began to laugh maniacally.
“I can’t believe that actually worked!” She exclaimed. “That fool actually believed our fighting was real?!”
“Um, you might wanna suck him into this thermos before he wakes up,” Arai suggested. Adagio quickly recomposed herself, clearing her throat, and her pig-tailed companion smirked. “Unless you’d like to pat yourself on the back some more?”
Adagio frowned, walking towards Danny and giving him a hard kick in the side. “That was for damaging my face.She smiled widely, taking the cap off of the thermos and aiming it at him. With a press of the button, a beam of light overtook his body, and his body thinned out as it began to swirl into the ghost-capturing machine. Once she was sure he was inside, she slammed the lid on top of it. “And so ends that threat. Who would have thought a simple glass bottle would be enough to knock him out?”
Adagio happily tossed the thermos up and down in her hand, only to be interrupted by their new guest clearing her throat. “Ahem. Trixie has done as you asked her to before the show began.”
“That you have,” Adagio smirked, ceasing her tossing of the thermos. She threw it over to Trixie, who caught it and looked at it curiously. “Of course, this doesn’t mark the end of your obligations to us.”
“What would you have Trixie do?” the cocky girl inquired, placing the thermos on one of her belt loops. “As long as Trixie gets to win the competition, she will do anything.”
“We need to you to take care of someone for us,” Aria answered her. “That girl, Ember?”
“Oh,” Trixie looked a bit scared at the prospect of that, but Aria was certain that she’d come around if it meant victory. As it turned out, she was right, and Trixie lowered her arms, giving a confident look. “How?”
“All you need to do is plant that thermos on her.”
“Um, won’t she notice it?” Trixie asked, looking over to the stage that she’d be playing on shortly. The girl they were asking her to frame had rocked it no less than ten minutes ago, and she doubted that a girl whose hair could actually turn into fire would be scared of losing to her.
“Don’t worry yourself with that. We’ll take care of the smaller details.” Adagio smiled. “Sonata?”
“Yeah, ‘Dagi?”
“I have a job for you.”
“It’s been a while since Danny left. Do you think he’s okay, Ember?”
“I’m sure he’s fine, Sunset,” Ember replied boredly, tuning her guitar as the other bands began to pack up their equipment and move outside. Even if he was in trouble, she had grown used to the fact that he would always find a way out of it, no matter the odds. “He’s probably off— Ach, dang it!” She shouted as she tested out the guitar, only to find it was out of tune. “I think something is wrong with my guitar. No matter what I do, it won’t stay in tune.”
“Aren’t you a siren?” Rainbow Dash asked. “You should be able to, like, play it perfectly no matter what.”
“Not always,” Ember sighed from her spot up against the wall. “You know that ghost sense Danny has?” She asked. The girls all nodded, and Ember continued. “Sometimes my guitar will go through the same sort of thing if there’s trouble nearby.”
“Are you saying we’re in danger?”
“I’m not sure, Twilight,” Ember replied calmly, attempting to tune it once more. When she plucked at the strings, she found it to be just as out of tune as before, and she gave a grunt of anger, tossing it to the ground.
“You need to calm down, Ember. I’m sure everything is fine,” Sunset spoke slowly, scared of incurring the ghost girl’s wrath.
To her surprise, Ember smiled back at her.“You’re right. But if I can’t fix my guitar, then there’s no chance of me winning this competition.”
“Not like there was much of a chance anyways,” Rainbow Dash joked, earning a glare from her newfound comrade. “Uh, hehe, just kidding?”
“I’m sure you were,” Ember chuckled, satisfied at the effect her glare had had. Placing a hand on the ground to stabilize herself, she pushed herself up to her feet and grabbed her guitar. “I’m gonna go see if I can find the dipstick.”
As she turned to walk away, she felt a bit of pressure on her right bicep, and wheeled around to see Sunset staring at her. “What’s up?”
“I want to go with you,” she replied, making everyone’s jaws drop simultaneously. “What?”
“It’s just, uh,” Ember stammered, “You don’t seem like the type of girl that actively goes out looking for danger.”
“And just what is that supposed to mean?” She laughed. “I can be just as tough as you. Besides, I’m sure the girls will do fine without me. After all, I just manage the band nowadays.”
“Sunset, don’t be silly, we need you,” Applejack pleaded. “Besides, it could get pretty dangerous out there. I think we should just let Ember handle this one.”
“That’s just my point,” Sunset replied. “Danny might need us a lot more than you need me. I’m going, and that’s final.”
“You know, I don’t mean to interrupt your little chat, but I kind of wanna get going,” Ember spoke up, a hint of frustration in her voice. Taking a look around the music hall, she was satisfied to see that the rest of the bands had finished clearing out, leaving the group of eight alone. “Alright, Sunset, you ready?”
The yellow girl nodded, and Ember let go of her guitar. To the group’s surprise, it didn’t fall to the ground, instead stopping just short and flipping over so that it was face-down. With a grin, Ember hopped on top of it. She motioned for Sunset to join her. She seemed hesitant, but ultimately did so. To her shock, she was completely stable on top of it.
“Don’t worry, you’re locked onto it now,” Ember grinned, floating her guitar up a bit and giving it a quick test run around the other girls. “Alright, it seems to work fine still.”
“Um, how fast can this thing go?” Sunset gulped.
With a grin, Ember turned the guitar nearly ninety degrees upwards. She laughed, and launched towards the ceiling. Just as they were about to hit it, she turned intangible, and Sunset and the guitar followed suit.
“Whoa! That is so cool!” Was the last thing the two heard before they flew straight through the building and into the brisk night sky. Sunset was doing her best not to hyperventilate from the sheer idea of flying on a tiny guitar nearly a hundred feet in the air. Reminding herself that this was for her friends, she managed to calm down long enough to shout a question to Ember.
“Um, can you slow down?!”
The ghost girl laughed, doing just that. Once they had slowed down to a leisurely pace, she turned back to her friend. “Having fun yet?”
The girl shook her head furiously as Ember began laughing even harder. The siren immediately picked up the pace, flying out towards the last place she’d seen the Dazzlings. To her dismay, there was nobody there, meaning the two of them would have to search for them if they wanted to locate Danny. To Sunset’s dismay, Ember quickly flew down and then back, upside down.
Luckily for her, it didn’t take long before the ride came to a grinding halt, and the guitar flipped back over. “Sunset, look down there in the crowd,” Ember pointed. Sunset did as she was told, and was shocked to see Trixie holding something that she could have sworn belonged to Danny.
“Is that…?”
“Yeah, it’s his thermos. He uses that thing to catch ghosts, so what is she doing with it?”
“You don’t think…”
It took Ember a second to realize what Sunset was getting at, and she stammered. “N-no! There’s no way that doofus would let himself get captured.”
“Well I doubt he’d just give it to Trixie,” Sunset pointed out the obvious. “Besides, look who she’s talking to.”
Ember narrowed her eyes when she saw. “Them… Ooh, I can’t wait to clobber that cocky orange one…”
“You should follow them,” Sunset suggested. Ember saw no issues with that, and rose her guitar up a bit higher, not wanting to be spotted if their intangibility wore off. “I had a question, by the way.”
“Shoot,” Ember replied, not even looking at her new friend. Her focus was entirely on the conversation that Trixie and the Dazzlings seemed to be having. The four of them were all smiling, but she could tell that something was a bit off about Trixie’s. It was more of a hesitant smile than anything, as if she didn’t want to disappoint the siren’s.
“How can we even see each other right now?”
“Anyone who’s intangible can see anyone else that is,” Ember explained. “It’s kind of like being a ghost of a ghost, get it?”
“Not really,” Sunset replied bluntly. The two remained silent for a few moments, and the exchange between Trixie and the Dazzlings came to an end. The sirens walked off towards the back of the crowd, while Trixie shifted her eyes around. After a few seconds, she began to walk in the opposite direction, back towards the stage. “It looks like Trixie is nervous.”
“She should be.” Ember looked a lot more serious, and she narrowed her eyes at Trixie. “If he’s in that thermos, she’s finished.”
Before Sunset could ask what she meant by that, she found herself flying downwards as Ember shot right towards the showgirl. Her band appeared to be setting up on stage, and Ember cackled as she ended their intangibility and came to a screeching halt in front of her.
“What’s up, Trixie?”
All eyes were now on the duo, and Sunset slowly stepped down from the guitar, landing with a soft thud on the concrete below. Meanwhile, Ember simply extended an arm out, and her guitar flew out from under her and into her waiting hand. Trixie seemed unfazed, though, even managing a small smirk. “I’m on my way towards my victory, ghost girl.”
At Trixie’s declaration, there were loads of whispers throughout the crowd, but Ember did her best to ignore them. Keeping her eyes on Trixie, she spoke out, “Sunset, go let the Rainbooms know that everything is fine.”
“But Ember, that’s not a very good id—”
“Just do it!” The ghost girl shouted.
Sunset found it better not to argue, and decided to listen to Ember. As she made her way onto the stage and towards the curtain, she turned around to see her friend get her guitar ready. With a silent wish of good luck, she disappeared behind the curtain, leaving Ember and Trixie alone.
“You know, I actually thought you were a pretty cool girl, but then you go and let yourself get manipulated by those sirens. Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Ember shook her head in disappointment.
“You have no right to presume anything about Trixie,” she shot back. At the same time, Ember noticed Principal Celestia walking towards the two of them, and chuckled to herself. This was certainly going to be good.
“Would you two mind explaining just what is going on?”
“This girl is a ghost!” Trixie shouted, “And she intends to do our school harm! Go ahead, ask everyone here, they all saw her appear out of thin air.”
“Oh, come on, do you guys seriously believe that?” Ember asked, a green glow flashing in her eyes as she did. All at once, the students shook their heads, as did Celestia and the other judges. Even Trixie’s bandmates seemed to believe Ember, and she sent a malicious smirk towards Trixie. “Just like I thought.”
Trixie let out a gulp at that. “Y-you’re a siren, too…”
Ember replied by striking a chord on her guitar. A green pulse of energy flew out and knocked Trixie off her feet. “And I’m the last one you want to mess with.”
The terrified girl seemed to cave in to the pressure, and simply threw the thermos at Ember before scrambling to her feet and scurrying off. Ember tittered as she ran off and leaned down to pick it up. The light on it was blinking red, and nothing happened as she pushed the button on the side. Chalking it up to the thermos having to recharge, she attached it to her waistband. She could free him later, after she was through with the Dazzlings.
“I’m pretty sure this means Trixie is disqualified!” she shouted back as she took to the sky, searching for any trace of the sirens. To her dismay, they were nowhere to be found, so she did the next best thing, and hastily flew backstage. She landed on the ground with a soft thunk, and was happy to hear the crowd begin talking again. “Good, they’re not totally under my control…”
Trixie’s disqualification was inevitable, but that raised the question of just where exactly the Rainbooms were. There was no trace of them in the music hall, and Ember shouted, “Hello?!”
There was no reply, of course, leading Ember to wonder just what was going on. “Okay, this is getting really weird. They couldn’t have gone outside, because I was just there,” she spoke to herself. “I wonder…”
A sound out at the stage grabbed her attention, and she slowly made her way to the curtains, pulling them back to reveal that the Dazzlings were about to perform.
‘Already? But Celestia didn’t even announce anything…’
Deciding that it was best to keep calm, she decided to simply watch and see what would happen. She seemed to have the students on her side, so it would be quite a challenge for the Dazzlings to steal them back. But to her utter horror, the students seemed to be completely enraptured as soon as they started to sing their song. Letting go of the curtain, she began to pace back and forth.
‘Okay, gotta think. If I were a group of sirens bent on world domination, where would I keep any of my threats?’ That’s when it hit her. She was a siren that used to be bent on world domination, and she knew exactly where she’d put anyone that could threaten that goal. A spot that she herself had dragged Danny to to remain hidden from everyone else. ‘Oh, the basement. Duh.’
She was quick to fly down there, and her suspicions were proven correct as she saw the Rainbooms all sitting on the ground, looking rather shaken. “You know, you look pretty glum for people who are being rescued.”
Ember floated down to them with a smile, and the girls all gathered to their feet, giving a collective shout of her name. She closed her eyes, basking in it.
“I know, I know, I’m awesome,” she laughed. Her expression quickly took a serious turn, though. “Unfortunately, those girls trapped Danny in this,” she delivered the bad news, pointing to the thermos as she did. “And until the light on it turns green, we can’t let him out.”
“Oh no, that’s terrible…” Twilight muttered. “What’s worse, those rotten sirens took our instruments when they trapped us down here.”
“We’ll deal with them, don’t worry,” Rainbow Dash said, brimming with confidence. “Right, Ember?”
“Right,” she nodded. She paused for a moment, and looked to the corner of the room to see Sunset sitting down, arms crossed around her legs. “Sunset, are you alright?”
The girl didn’t give a response for a few moments, but eventually let out a soft sigh. “They were waiting, Ember. As soon as you sent me in here to get tell the others everything was fine, they pounced on us.”
“How did they even get back here so quickly?”
“I’m not sure, but all I know is that I can’t wait to see them lose,” Sunset spoke softly.
“Well that’s gonna be tough. For some reason, they’re already playing, and—”
“Wait, they’re already playing?” Twilight interrupted, and Ember nodded again. “This is bad. If we don’t find a way to stop them, then they’re going to soak up enough magic to regain their original forms!”
“You mean that’s not what they normally look like?” Applejack spoke up, voicing what everyone else was thinking.
“No. Sirens are fearsome creatures, nearly ten times the size of the average human,” she explained, and a look of fear came across everyone’s face.
“Well then we don’t have any time to lose. How do I get you guys out of here?” Ember asked.
“There should be a manual release for the trapdoor up on the stage. Unfortunately, that means you’ll have to go near the Dazzlings,” Twilight gulped, then chuckled nervously. “But I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
“You’d better hope so, or there’s no possible way we can beat them,” Ember replied. “You guys stay safe.”
“Not much else we can do,” Pinkie Pie giggled, lightening the mood a little bit. With a sigh of unsurity, Ember took to the air and phased through the ceiling, back to the music hall. If Twilight was right, then all she’d have to do was get close enough to the Dazzlings to pull a lever. Of course, that would be far easier said than done.
Her worst fears were realized as she peered through the curtains. The Dazzlings were floating in the air, and their eyes appeared to be a pure red as they sang their tune. “Well, I hope you’ll welcome me to the show as much as you’re welcoming your fans…” Ember whispered, attempting to sneak behind the girls. The students seemed too focused on the sirens to notice her, luckily, and she kept herself against the far right wall as she began to slide towards the release switch.
She found herself stopped by a beam of red light slamming into the wall next to her, though, and the sirens beared down on her. With a small chuckle, she addressed them. “Oh, um… hello?”
She didn’t even have time to brace herself as what looked like a giant seahorse with hooves appeared behind Adagio and slammed her aside with its tail. She tumbled to the floor and grunted in pain as her adversary appeared in front of her. “Do you honestly think we weren’t prepared for you this entire time, ghost? We’ve been playing you since the beginning,” Adagio growled, kicking Ember square in the face, sending her flying back into the wall. “Trixie was just a decoy this entire time. She was always meant to be confronted by you,” Adagio cackled, floating over to her foe. “And you fell for it!” She punctuated her exclamation with another kick to Ember’s ribs.
There wasn’t much she could do in this situation, as her pain began to overcome her, and she could do little more than watch as the three began to bear down on her, ready to finish her off. The music had totally stopped at this point, yet she could still hear… something. It sounded strangely familiar, and it began to grow louder, as if it was getting closer. Then it hit her, and she smirked.
“What are you smirking about?” Adagio laughed.
“Oh, nothing,” Ember coughed a bit from her pain. “Look behind you.”
Just as Adagio did that, a giant object slammed into her, knocking her to the floor. Aria and Sonata gave a look of pure malice to Ember, but she ignored it, and used this opportunity to grab the trap door’s release switch and pull it down just before they grabbed her. The doors flew downwards, and she could hear the Rainbooms shout their approval. Her focus was entirely on the object that had slammed into Adagio, though, and the portal that it was coming out of.
“Uh, Sam, where are we?”
“I dunno, but it makes me want to puke. It just reeks of conformity.”
“Hey, isn’t that Ember?” The one she recalled as ‘Tucker’ asked, nudging his friend and pointing at her.
“Yeah, it is. Man, she looks pretty beat up. And she— Wait, what’s that on her waistband?”
“Okay, I know how it looks,” Ember finally spoke up, “but I’m not the one who captured the dipstick.”
“Well then who did?” Tucker asked confidently.
“The giant siren that’s about to crush your stupid ship!” Ember shouted, breaking free of Sonata and Aria's grasp. She jumped to her feet to try and tackle Adagio to the ground. Somehow, she managed to do it, and she turned back to Tucker and Sam. “How did you even get that thing here anyways?!”
“Oh, that was simple. I just helped his parents fix up the Ghost Portal, and then it was a simple matter of injecting some code into the—”
“Forget I asked, geekotron,” Ember taunted him, narrowly dodging a tackle from Sonata as she flew into the air. “You picked a heck of a time to show up, though,” she said, sidestepping out of another rush by Aria. “You'll have to stay put while we fight off these sirens.”
“Well the portal will only stay open for about fifteen minutes,” Tucker explained. “After that, it’ll close forever.”
“Well then,” Ember panted, watching as the Rainbooms finally climbed their way out of their hole, “we better hurry up, girls.” Unlatching the thermos from her belt, she tossed it over to Tucker. “You need to figure out a way to free him while we fight off these sirens.”
“Can do!” He beamed, hooking the thermos into the Specter Speeder’s control panel and beginning to go to work.
“Aren’t you just a little bit confused that she’s helping us?” Sam asked, but Tucker simply shook his head.
“Heck no, I just wanna hear her sing again!” He exclaimed. Sam facepalmed at that, turning to watch the battle play out. Unfortunately, the Rainbooms didn’t have any instruments, and Ember had lost a large portion of her power.
“Hey, Rarity, do you have a hair band?” Ember looked to the alabaster girl, who nodded.
“I always keep a spare!” she shouted happily, grabbing one from her hair and tossing it to Ember. The ghost girl quickly put her hair back into a ponytail and looked at the trio of sirens with a glare.
“Hey, Tucker!” She called out to him, keeping her eyes on her enemies, who were slowly closing in on the group. “Can anything go through that portal?”
“Yeah, why?” He shouted back, not looking up from the screen he was typing on.
Ember didn’t reply, instead closing her eyes and focusing. On what, nobody knew but her. With a ghostly whirring, three blob-like beings surged out of the portal, and slammed into the ground behind her, kicking up a large cloud of dust. As the dust began to fade, the group looked on in shock.
“Is that…?”
“That’s right! It’s my own personal ghost band!” She finished for her, looking at them with a wide smile on her face. That smile turned into a grin as she turned back to the sirens. “I’d move back, girls,” she warned the Rainbooms. They did just that, and she gave a quick count of “One, two, three!”.
Ember began to strum out a quick intro, getting herself into a rhythm as the Dazzlings watched with curiosity. After a few measures, her ghostly band mates joined in, and they all played out the intro together. Ember didn't seem nearly as winded as before, and the sirens took quick note of that. Noticing their looks, Ember turned the knob on her guitar and fired off a wave of pink energy at them. They were staggered a bit, and that’s when they decided to strike before she could get too powerful.
The crowd was beginning to get into it, though, and the sirens found themselves struck by an enormous bolt of lightning from the head stock of her guitar. “I will end you!” Adagio shouted over the music. The sirens all shot towards her, intent on ending her right then and there, but she began to spin around quickly, and disappeared in a spiral of green energy. When she reappeared, she was behind them.
“The only thing ending here is the threat of your three ever ruling this world!” She shot back as the first verse of her song ended. “Now say bye bye, birdie!” She laughed, turning the knob and shooting a fireball at them she she strummed out a few prolonged notes. The fireball hit Adagio dead on, and Ember began playing a bit faster. As Aria and Sonata began to close in on her, her hair grew to a colossal size, and their eyes grew to pinpricks. "Sorry girls, but this battle has made me a little hot blooded," she threw a smirk at them, and turned her hair into a makeshift flamethrower. The sirens were consumed completely, and began to writhe around as they tried to escape.
She wasn’t sure whether she was doing it for the song, or to taunt the sirens, but she was satisfied to see their pure forms fade away as they finally escaped from the fire that was her hair, leaving the three in their red-eyed state.
Meanwhile, in the Specter Speeder, Tucker had finally made some progress, and pulled the thermos free of the control panel. The light blinked red a few times before turning a solid green, and he shouted, “Eureka!”
“You gonna gloat all day, or are you gonna let him out?” Sam asked, clearly annoyed. Tucker responded with a nervous laugh, and aimed the thermos outside before pressing the button. A thick blue light shot out from the hole on the end, and Danny was freed, landing on the stage with a thud.
“What the heck happened…” He moaned, rubbing his head. He looked around, only to find that things had gotten really chaotic since he’d been knocked out. “Sam?! Tucker?! What are you guys doing here?!”
“We’re here to rescue you, you big dummy!” Sam shouted back. “You better not leave me hanging like this again, by the way…” she muttered, making him laugh.
“I promise I will, tru— Wait, is that the Dazzlings?!” He cried out, stunned by their new appearance. The red eyes were creepy enough, but the wings were just a bit too much for him.
“Yeah, and you need to help Ember out!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
Danny was about to do that, but a loud “Hold it!” Caught all of them off-guard, and everyone turned to see Trixie standing by the stage curtains.
“What are you doing here?” Sunset called her out. “You’re the reason we’re all in this mess, you know!”
“Trixie knows, and she’s sorry!” Trixie replied. “Trixie never meant for this to happen, so she would like to show her apologies by showing you where the Dazzlings hid your instruments.”
“Why should we trust you?” Rainbow Dash glared at her, and she winced.
“You have no reason to, but Trixie knows you also have no other options.”
“She’s right,” Twilight reasoned. “Even if it is a trick, it’s a risk worth taking at this point. I think we should follow her.”
“You do that!” Danny shouted, crouching to the ground and going ghost. “While I help Ember distract them!” At that, he took to the sky as Ember’s song appeared to be close to ending. As she began playing the main riff again, he decided that the best way to reintroduce himself would be through his most powerful attack. “Mind if I provide some guest vocals?” He asked, coming to a stop next to Ember.
The crowd was going wild at this point, cheering for Ember, and she turned to Danny. “Go right ahead, babypop.”
Danny grinned, and inhaled a huge amount of air, then let it all out at once in the form of a ghostly wail, which struck the sirens down to the ground, rendering them unable to move as he kept it up. It wasn’t long before he noticed the Rainbooms on the stage again, with all of their equipment in hand.
“And allow us to finish this off!” Twilight smiled as the group began to play along with Ember. Like the Dazzlings, they began to float into the air slowly, but when their eyes reopened, they were pure white. Danny and Ember watched with curiosity as a blinding beam of rainbow colored light shot out from them, and arced through the sky, right towards their prone enemies.
With no way to escape, the Dazzlings were struck by the full force of the Elements of Harmony, and their screams of terror were the only thing that could be heard until the white light faded, as did the rainbow. When it faded away, the Dazzlings remained, but their necklaces were completely shattered.
“N-no! No no no!” Adagio screamed out, her face full of horror. She gave a feeble attempt at singing, but all that came out was a voice that was so grating it made everyone cover their ears. A cacophony of boos poured down over the sirens, and they quickly got to their feet and ran off, making Danny laugh.
“All that talk about winning, and then the second they lose, they run off!”
“Let’s just be glad they did lose,” Ember panted, the battle having tired her out a bit. “They were pretty close to avoiding that, you know.”
“Yeah, but I’d love to hear about what you guys just did to them,” Danny smiled at the Rainbooms.
With the miniscule amount of time they had left, Danny and Ember were preparing to leave the world they’d stumbled into just days earlier. Trixie had even come over to apologize for everything she’d done, but they let her know not to sweat it, because she had still made the right choice in the end. The crowd of students was slowly dispersing, and it was time for the group to say their final goodbyes.
“You know, I don’t say this often, but it really sucks that I won’t be able to come back to this place.”
“Actually, that may not be entirely true,” Tucker spoke up, grabbing everyone’s attention. “If we make some modifications to the Ghost Portal, I’m sure that we can give it the ability to bring us here as well.”
“I’d rather not stay in such a happy-go-lucky place,” Sam pouted. Danny smirked, climbing into the Speeder and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. A blush poured over her face, and she relaxed a bit. “Oh, fine, but only so I can be sure nobody steals you from me.”
“What about you, Ember? Will you ever come back?” Sunset asked, walking over to give Danny a goodbye hug through the window of their machine.
“That might be within the realm of possi—” Ember was cut off by a low rumbling sound, which began to resonate louder and louder. With a ear-shattering screech, what looked like hundreds of ghosts sped out of the portal at the same time, and scattered off in several directions. The portal was consumed in a blinding white light, and everyone shielded their eyes. When the light dissipated, the portal was gone, and so was the Specter Speeder. Worse than that, the group immediately noticed that something else was missing.
“Oh my gosh, the portal just ate Sunset!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed with a scream.
Ember did little more than look up at the sky, watching as hundreds upon hundreds of ghosts began to fly through the sky. “They’ll bring her back, don’t worry,” she tried to ease her new friends’ collective consciences. “But it looks like I’m here for the long haul now…”
“What are we gonna do?” Rainbow Dash asked, a hint of panic in her voice. “She’s just gone!”
Ember grinned as she looked at the mass of ghosts soaring through the air. “You girls better start learning how to fight ghosts, because we’ve got work to do.”
Meanwhile, on Earth...
“Um… what just happened?” Danny turned to Tucker, but his friend simply shrugged.
“No clue, but we’re home, and that’s all that—”
“Uh, guys?” Sam interrupted her friend. “I think we have a problem,” she droned, pointing in front of the ship.
Danny’s eyes went wide as he finally noticed her. “Sunset?!”
“Danny? Uh, where are we?” Sunset asked. “Is this… your world?”
Danny didn’t respond, instead letting out a sigh. A sigh that turned into a scream as he slammed his head into the ship’s control panel out of frustration. “Hey, don’t worry,” Tucker smiled. “We’ve got plenty of time to figure out how to get her back to her world. Besides, what’s the worst that could have happened?”
Back in Equestria...
“Finally, I’m free of that wretched prison,” a large man said, landing on the ground with a thud. He took a look around, and frowned. “This isn’t Earth. At least, not as far as I can tell. No matter, I’ll just have to make a change to the game plan,” he smirked. “I’ll make this world mine soon, or my name isn’t Dan Phantom...”
To be continued...