Chapter One: The Portal

Thane galloped out to the outskirts of Ponyville; his red hair blowing in his face as he moved. He had overslept yet again, and his friend was expecting him to be at the lab for his latest project. The scientist had not been forthcoming with details, but Thane was looking forward to what ever it happened to be. He was soon approaching the building. It was a large complex with a neon-light sign on the top saying Machina Labs. As he drew up short, Thane saw the familiar figure of an older mare exiting the lab.

“Hello Thane,” she said as she came out. She peered down at the maroon colored colt with a look of concern “Is there something wrong? You look out of breath.”

“No. I’m fine Mrs. Coil. I’m just running a little late. Is Tes in?”

“Yes. She’s waiting for you in the basement. You two be careful down there.”

“Yes ma’am”

Thane stepped inside the house and searched for the door to the lower floor. He opened the door and hopped down the stairs to the basement below. A dark brown unicorn with a blond mane sat at a table, cobbling together an electrical device. Her interlocking gear cutie mark was just partially concealed by the hem of her lab coat. Thane looked to his own bare flank wistfully, hoping that he would finally get his cutie mark soon. He knew they couldn't be rushed, but he had been waiting so long for it. The earth pony saw several various devices all around Tesla’s lab. His eyes were drawn to a white sheet covering a machine twice his size, pushed against the far wall. Tesla Machina put her device down the second she saw her assistant had arrived.

“Late again, I see,” Tesla said in her rather jubilant voice.

“Sorry Tes,” Thane apologised. He quickly tried to find a way to change the subject. “So, um. What did you call me down here for? You made it sound important.” Tesla's faint smile widening into her characteristic grin at her old friend's curiosity.

“Its not just important. This may very well be the greatest discovery know to any pony in history!”

Here we go again, Thane thought. Tes loves her grandstanding.

“Today I am going take you on a tour of another world beyond our own” Tesla rushed over to the device on the wall and removed it’s covering. “Behold!

She revealed a large, circular entrance way made of metal. Much of the device was built behind the wall where it stood. The extra space held a power source and control panel. There was plenty of room for a young pony Thane and Tesla’s size to get in and make repairs.

“This is the ghost portal”

“The what?” Thane asked, utterly confused.

“The ghost portal, my boy. The entrance way to the ghost zone. A plane of existence where the souls of the departed go when they cannot move on. My father and I theorised a year ago that the source of all paranormal activity are portals- openings in the barrier between our world and the world of ghosts”

“I’m not sure about this” Thane said with a skeptical look on his face. “This whole thing seems far fetched”

“Oh ye of little faith” Tesla said reassuringly. She skipped to her work bench and grabbed the smaller device she was working on moments earlier. She fitted a single battery in the remote and held it above her head. “I shall have to make a believer out of you with a demonstration”

Tesla placed a pair of goggles over her eyes and handed a pair to Thane for him to do the same. The unicorn proceeded turned a dial on the remote. The portal began its preparatory procedurs and fired up the moving parts. The power source came humming to life as the rings on the doorway of the portal began to rotate and shift in the warm up procedures. Indicating lights began to glow amber, then red as the flux engine reached full capacity. Each ring began to move faster and faster as the noise from the machine became a cacophony of whirring and buzzing

“Now for phase two!” Tesla screamed over the constant sounds. She turned another dial and the portal reacted again. This time, turning the power source into a pale green color."To create a seven point two gigahertz resonance, I used a fire-emerald core in a positronic valent shell so the interdimentional frequencies can align in the correct polarity casca- And your eyes have glazed over. It glows, Thane. It glows."

Plasmic charges began to twist and turn within the device. Wind blew furiously, knocking down anything in the lab that was not secured properly. “Now the sequence shall be completed!”

Tesla slammed down on the large blue button on the controller and waited. The vortex spun until it was at it’s peak and then; nothing. The machine completely stopped. The gears ceased to move, and the swirling portal of energy diminished into the air. Tesla was understandably puzzed at this. She looked from the remote, to the ghost portal, and back; hoping something would give her the answer.

“I don’t understand,” She finally uttered. “All the pieces were set. Everything was in order. I don’t get why it didn’t make it past phase two”

“Maybe this ghost zone thing is just to out of reach,” Thane said. He pulled off his goggles and placed then on the bench. He sat silently while Tesla took a closer look at the portal.

“No, no, no. That can’t be,” Tesla argued. “All the calculations were in order. It must have something to do with the connection between power exchange and the launch sequence. Thane, would you stay here while I get the blueprints from upstairs?”

Thane nodded, and Tesla was off up the stairs. Thane sat for a moment or two after the scientist had left, but his curiosity began to get the better of him. He too wanted to know what made the portal shut down. Even if the machine didn’t go to whatever bizarre place Tesla wanted it to go, it still should have continued to collect energy. Thane was not a mechanical genius in Tesla’s league, but he decided to look around the portal anyway.

Thane approached the portal and checked the outside for a quick fix. Everything was hooked into the proper sockets. There were no exposed wires. All the circuits were complete. Thane surmised that the problem lay within the portal itself. He stepped through the entrance and stood before the the power source; a hoof sized metal sphere that glowed white when not in use. Thane poked around the controls, and it all seemed to check out. That’s when he noticed something out of place with the machine’s design.

A metal box was mounted to the side of the portal’s interior. Written on it, on opposite ends, were the words “safety” and “engage”. A red lever had been flipped to the safety side.

“Tessy, you idiot” Thane sighed to himself aloud, “How the hay did you miss this?” Thane grabbed the lever and pulled it to the engage side. “There. That should...AHHH!”

A bolt of electricity flew up out of the control box and zapped Thane in the arm. The shock caused him to recoil back and trip over a wire, sending him tumbling to the cold, metallic floor. Power continued to surge as the machine’s parts began to move. The white colored power source was once again a bright red, and the quickly shifted to green. Thane scrabbled to his feet and motioned toward the portal’s exit. As he got up he was hit with a blast pale green energy radiating from the back of the portal.

The colt fell on his back as the substance took effect. The energy penetrated his being, pulling at every fiber of skin and muscle. His skin felt cold, as if all the blood had drained from his veins. From his position on the floor, Thane could see something inside the portal. An equine figure, with a transparent tail in place of hind legs, began to slither out the device. Thane could see its pale mouth move, forming the word, “Freedom”

As the undead force escaped, the ghost portal began to overload. The power source shut down and the last of the green substance flowed out of Thane’s body. When he felt his equilibrium was restored, he slowly stood back on his hooves. Thane felt an intense pain in his head, and his body temperature was still low. As he exited the ghost portal, he could hear Tesla’s hoof steps coming down the stairs.

“What’s with all the noise down he...” Tesla paused as she looked at Thane stepping from the machine. “Thane? What did you do?!”

“Huh?,” Thane said weakly as he tried to find his balance. “I tried to fix your stupid portal. I hope you’re happy. This thing turned on, but only succeeded in giving me a major headache”

“That’s...not all it did.” Tesla uttered slowly.

“What do you mean? And why are you looking at me like that?” Thane could see an odd expression on Tesla’s face. It was not one of fear, but childlike curiosity.

“Um,” Tesla struggled to find the right words as he stared at Thane, “Maybe it’s best if you see for yourself.” Tesla went to her work bench and levitated a small mirror over to Thane. Thane took it in his hooves and gawked at the unfamiliar sight in the reflection.

“What the hay is this about?”

The portal had dealt for more numerous side effects than Thane originally thought . The normally maroon colored pony’s coat had before jet black. His mane had turned from a bright red to a deathly white. The strangest alteration was in Thane’s eyes. They now glowed with the same pale green light as the energy from the portal. “What did your machine do to me?”

“That’s a good question,” Tesla retorted. She put a hoof to her chin and looked towards the portal again. “Were you inside the ghost portal when it activated?”

“Well duh”

“Hm. Interesting” Tesla stared off into space. “I never accounted for what would happen when the ectoplasmic energy of the ghost zone made contact with equine DNA. After seeing you, I’d guess the spectrum transcribes itself to things of this world rather than destroy it”

“And that means?” Thane asked with a puzzled expression.

“Well, it simply means the pure essence of the ghost zone is in your body. You have, ghost DNA, if you can imagine that. But that I can fix,” Tesla said with a cheerful smile, “I’m just glad nothing dangerous escaped from through the portal”

Thane adverted his eyes from Tesla’s. The black pony kicked at the ground in the awkward silence. Tesla took this as a cause to question further.

“Thane?,” He said, still trying to maintain is cheerful demeanour, “Nothing got out of the portal, right?”

“Actually,” Thane began to admit, “I might have saw a ghost, kind of, fly out of the lab”

“Nooooo!,” Tesla screamed at the top of his lungs. He grabbed Thane by the shoulders and lifted him up off the ground as he shook him back and forth. “Do you have any idea what this means? Do you what you’ve done. There’s a poltergeist loose in our world. It might be committing untold horrors on our dear Ponyville as we speak. WHAT...ARE...WE...GONNA...DO?”

“Chill out Tes,” Thane chirped, trying to calm his friend, “You built this thing. Don’t you have something made in the off chance something like this happened?”

Tesla stopped shaking Thane and stood frozen for a moment. Without warning, she dropped Thane and the ground and ran for a closet on the far side of the lab.

“Of course!,” the filly yelled dramatically as she disappeared behind the door, “How could I forget? My father left me with a contingency plan for such a time as this. Now where...” Tesla paused as she rummaged through the mess in the enclosed space. “AH HA!”

Thane waited as he heard shuffling in the closet. after 3 minutes, Tesla bolted out. She was dressed in an orange jumpsuit four sizes to large for her. Red tinted goggles fit comfortably over his eyes, and a chuck of metal was strapped to her arm. Thane took one look at the strange outfit and laughed uncontrollably.

“What the...? What’s that stupid looking getup for?”

“It’s my dad’s ghost catching gear. I’ll have you know, he put down more spectres than you can count with this stuff.”

“Doesn’t make you look any less rediculous,” Thane said as he stifled his laughter.

“Enough of your silliness,” Tesla said as professionally as she could. “We have a town to rescue. ONWARD!”

Tesla pushed Thane up the stairs and they were soon on there way to the main hub of Ponyville. As they walked into town, Tesla constantly fumbled with the series of nobs and indicators covering the device on her arm. She always had it pointed in front of her, as if it would react to something. As they continued to run into more and more citizens of the town, Thane became weary of the odd looks the pair were receiving. Thane never liked being and crowds, nor did he like being the center of attention. It always made him nervous. He convinced Tesla to use deserted streets and alleys as cover. Tesla’s device eventually started blinking, a sign that what they were looking for was near.

“Spectacular! The ghost is somewhere near here. Thane, you look around those sets of buildings over there,” Tesla said, pointing her hoof towards the east, “Ill track look around the outsides”

“All right. I’m on it”

“Oh, and Thane...” Tesla reached over her back and produced a saddlebag with a thermos inside. “Take this with you”

“You want me to share some soup with him?,” Thane asked as he took the bag, “Weird way to make friends, but okay”

“Of course not,” Tesla sighed, “That’s the Phantom Thermos. When you encounter the enemy, open it then switch the dial to capture. Its that simple.”

Thane nodded and galloped away. As he moved along, he wondered where the ghost could have gone. He didn’t have much experience in ghost hunting. He hadn’t even seen one before today; only heard about them second-hand from Tesla Thane did remember from stories that ghosts loved to scare fillies and colts. It could very well be around where the most ponies where. That meant Thane had to go back out in the open. Thane crept to the corner of a house and peeked around. It was the middle of the day now and everypony was outside, doing their daily routines. Thane wanted to stay unnoticed. If he saw somepony he knew, he didn’t want the trouble of explaining why he looks the way he does. He wished for nothing more than to disappear that very moment.

Thane gave a sigh and proceeded to walk out onto the main street. He searched tirelessly for any sign of the ghost. To his surprise, not a single pony gave him the odd looks he got when he first got into town. They didn’t even seem to notice him. Thane felt at ease for the first time that day. Then he saw an older pony walk towards him, and looking right at him.. A lump formed in his throat as she approached. He lifted a hoof for a nervous wave but instead of stopping to talk, the mare walked into him.

“Ow. Watch where you’re going,” Thane yelled.

The mare jumped back and looked around. she seemed bewildered at what had just occured.

“Hello?” She answered back, “Who’s there?”

Thane cocked his head to the side. “What is her problem?” He thought. He reached out to touch her shoulder and was started by what he saw; or more accurately, what he didn’t see.

His hoof wasn’t there. He could feel it, but it could not be seen by his naked eye. Thane looked at the rest of his body and it was the same for everything else. Thane had become invisible. He didn’t have long to process this new ability, as a scream erupted a few blocks from where Thane stood.

Thane rushed towards the source of the cries. The scream came from an orange pony standing next to a food cart. She was on the ground shivering in terror. A familiar transparent equine floated above her, munching on a bundle of carrots.

“Hey! Mister short, pale and creepy!,” Thane yelled at the apparition, “You gotta pay for those. Nopony’s running a charity here”

The ghost ceased chewing his meal and looked around.

“Who dares to mock me?,” the poltergeist bellowed in a deep, scratchy voice.

Oh right. He cant see me. Thane placed an image of what his body looked like in his mind. He concentrated on the point he felt his hoof was, and it began to fade back into view. Thane was soon in full view of both ponies, causing the bystander among them to faint. The ghost, however, was not moved by Thanes attempts at heroism.

“Ah. Its the mortal that brought me to the land of the living. I do appreciate the help. But if you’ll excuse me, I have some haunting to do”

“Not so fast.” Thane pulled the thermos from his saddlebag and removed the top. “I think it’s time for you to go back to where you came from” Thane placed his hoof on a switch labeled “capture mode” but was unceremoniously knocked back by the ghost’s front hoof. Thane was knocked back into a nearby wall and dropped the thermos. The ghost seized his chance and scooped up the thermos.

“I’m afraid I’m not going anywhere for a long time” The ghost turned around and flew into house across from Thane, phasing into it as he flew. Thane got up and looked at the spot where he last saw the ghost.

“Great. How am I suppose to go after him now?”

He thought back to what Tesla said back in the lab.

“We’ll, it simply means that the pure essence of the ghost zone is inside your body”

“Of course,” Thane thought out loud, “That would explain the trick I picked up. I’m some kind of ghost now” Thane glanced at the wall the ghost faded into. “Hm. Well that’s worth a shot” Thane reared back, and galloped to the wall. He jumped up at full speed and Thane’s face connected with the brick.

“Gahhh! Dang it” Thane sat there rubbing the side of his face. He thought for sure that would work. He placed his hoof on the wall, seeing that he was solid as he ever was. Thane closed his eyes and concentrated. As he pressed harder on the surface he felt a strange sensation go up his arm. His hoof was passing slowly through the wall. Thane moved the rest of his body forward and felt the sensation spread. When he opened his eyes, he was in a dark room inside the house.

“You again?”

Thane turned and saw the ghost lazily hoovering above a sofa. It was throwing the stolen thermos up in the air and catching it with its hoof.

“Alright. Listen up,” Thane commanded, “You’re gonna give me back that thermos and then your gonna get you’re flank back in that portal”

“And what are you going to do if I don’t?”

Thane snarled and scraped his hoof against the floor.

“I’ll just have to drag you back there myself”

Thane charged at the ghost, who floated over Thane with ease. The ghost let the thermos hoover at his side, and formed his ghostly tail into a pair of back legs. Thane bucked at the spectre several times, each strike missing its target. The ghost soon grew bored and kicked Thane on the chin. Thane used his left front leg to catch himself, but was heavily disoriented.

“Ha. You are pathetic, little colt. You should have known better than to trifle with a being from another realm. You’re far too inexperienced”

“Oh shut up would you?”

Thane trusted his front hoof forward with all his might. Without warning, a beam of green light fired from the tip, and blasted the ghost away. Thane rose his head to see what he had done. Then a wicked grin moved across his face.

“What was that?,” the ghost asked in a high pitched, scared voice.

“That my friend is the sound of you getting beat down”

Thane trusted both of his hooves toward the ghost and the beams of light hit him again, this time blowing him through the roof and out the house. Thane phased through the wall after him to the outside. Once there, he fired another beam and pinned the ghost against a wall. The phantom thermos the ghost had in his possession fell on the ground and rolled towards Thane. As the ghost recovered from the attack, Thane switched it on and pointed it towards his foe again. A vortex of green energy sprung from it and ensnared the phantom. Then, just as quickly, it spun back into the thermos, shrinking the ghost down and bringing him with it. Thane place the cap back on the thermos and placed it back in his bag.

“Hope you like it in there,” Thane joked. He felt a great sense of accomplishment from catching his first ghost. At the moment he felt like the strongest colt in all of Equestria. That feeling went away the moment he snapped back and realised what was going on around him.

Most of Ponyville had formed around him, no doubt drawn out by the commotion of the fight Thane had. Everypony stood there in utter silence. Thane’s heart skipped a beat. He began sweating from every pour on his body. That feeling began to fade, as he was calmed by the sound of clapping from somepony in the crowd. The clapping grew to a few dozen, then to everyone in attendance. They were not afraid of Thane at all. They were happy he was there. They were greatful that he had managed to stop the ghost. For the first time in his life Thane didn’t shy away the attention, but revealed in it. He gave a few bows and waves. When he was sure it was time to go he. Closed his eyes and made himself invisible again.

When he was sure he was far from preying eyes, he made himself reappear. He took the thermos out of his bag and held it up to his face.

“Wait until I tell Tesla I have a specimen for her. A real life ghost. She’ll go nuts”

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