//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Prologue // Story: Equestria's Phantom // by RayRox360 //------------------------------// Chapter 1: Prologue Plasmius let out a snarl of rage as he landed on the floor of his library, transforming back into Vlad Masters. His fists curled in anger as he began to pace back and forth across the study. How dare that child defy me?He thought to himself as he continued to muse. The man's latest plan to get through to the boy hadn't ended quite how he had expected. Once again, the boy had managed to foil his plan and make a fool of the elder halfa once again. As Vlad paced, it was getting harder and harder to suppress his anger and coherently understand why he was going through all the trouble just to gain a son. If he really wanted Daniel under his control, he would need to treat his case just like he would a business deal. He never made deals unless his opponent respected him or was at least being overshadowed into respecting him. That'swhat he was missing! Respect. If he wanted Daniel to obey him, then he would need him to respect him. He would need to have the power to crush the boy with a squeeze of his fists, if merely as a precaution if the child disobeyed him. And the fastest way Vlad got respect was through fear. He needed Daniel to fear him. The man glanced down at the jelly staining his suit that had transferred over from his ghost suit, the aftermath of Daniel's latest mockery. Of course, it was an unpleasant surprise when the boy's two irksome friends joined him in throwing the jelly-filled balloons.Fear me, huh? Well that's obviously not the case right now.He growled to himself. If he wanted to produce fear from the boy, he needed to show him that he had the strength to crush him whenever he felt like it. He needed power. As he continued to rant in his mind, he continued to replay the fight, wondering where he went wrong. As he did, his mind continued to drift over the series of taunts the boy had strung while they had fought, and they made him angrier and angrier. Too bad about your suit, Plasmius. Hey, why not just let your cat lick it clean?! He let out a shout of rage as his hand it up with ectoplasm and he fired a large blast at the wall. There was a loud bang as the wall exploded, books flying everywhere as the wood splintered and began to rain from the sky. He sighed in content, finally feeling a sense of relief from his stress when he turned his head and noticed one of the books lying on the ground. It was an old brown book with gold etched into the sides, a golden unicorn with blue eyes on the cover. Slowly bending down, he picked p the book and ran his hand over the cover. Flipping the old pages, he opened the book to reveal colorful pictures of equines. HE had read this book millions of times, learning of all the other ancient relics ad powerful creatures that resided there. He narrowed his eyes and let out a sigh.If only this world truly existed. Merely one of these powerful relics would give me enough power to become unstoppable.He thought to himself as he stood back up and raised his arm, ready to place the book back on the shelf, only to freeze as a single thought shot through his brain. What if it does exist? He furrowed his brow in thought.Twenty years ago, that blubbering idiot, Jack, proved that ghosts could exist when that damn machine created me. And later, he proved the Ghost Zone existed, something that many would assume to be a mere hoax. It was all proven correct. So who's to assume this world doesn't exist as well.His grin grew wide as he walked over to his fireplace and shifted the position of the bust of his head. A loud creaking filled the air as the entire fireplace began to move backwards. Descending down the secret flight of stairs that appeared behind the fireplace, the man's thoughts continued to swirl as he entered his lab. There are millions of portals opening and closing in the Ghost Zone every minute, not all of them leading to our particular time period. So who's to say one can't open that doesn't even belong to our world? Stepping into the lab, he paused and raised a hand to his chin.Although finding one particular portal in a sea of them might prove to take a little longer than expected.He murmured to himself. Suddenly, his eyes widened as he perked up. "Unless I had a map." His face grew a malicious grin as he stared out into the swirling green portal that sat across the room. As Vlad neared the frozen land, he activated his invisibility, cautiously remembering his last experience with the place. He shuddered.So many birds. Shaking off the feeling, he continued on slowly as he dove down into the ice tunnels below. Despite his invisibility, the man would find that he would periodically be forced to stop and fly into the ground whenever a patrol of guards would pass by, knowing with their heightened senses, they might discover his presence in their land. Finally, having enough when he flew into the ground for the tenth time in the last five minutes, Plasmius decided to travel the rest of the way underneath the ice. After a while, he popped his head out from the ice and scanned the area. Seeing that the main cave was a few paces away, he flew up from the ground, retaining his invisibility, and flew into the building. Flying through the icy caves, he took note of the different scrolls and paintings that lines the frosty structure. After successfully choking down the bile that came at seeing the cave paintings of Daniel and his praised deeds, he found himself in a large cavern filled with different maps and artifacts scattered about. Despite all the old and mysterious artifacts that floated around, his eyes instantly traveled to the glowing chest that sat in the very center of the room. He grinned and flew closer, hands hovering over the case before quickly pulling back as he took notice of the glowing purple aura around surrounding it. He narrowed his eyes before lighting his hands up with energy, slamming them down on the case. The room exploded in light as Vlad fought against the magical hold of the chest. Finally, with the combination of his ecto-beams and his enhanced strength, he was able to force the chest open, revealing the hidden treasure inside. He cackled as he reached in and pulled out the large, rolled up scroll. Letting the chest close once more, Vlad unfurled the map and let his eyes wander over it. "Finally." He breathed out, so engrossed in the scroll's beauty that he failed to notice the newcomer in the room until it spoke up. "Plasmius."It said with a low growl. Whipping around, Vlad came face to face with a large yeti, one arm made entirely out of ice. Frostbite snarled in rage as his eyes met Plasmius'."I thought I proved my point the last time you trespassed in our land." He snarled out as he raised his arms and slammed them down where the man had been moments ago. Vlad skidded across the ice and fired a bright pink beam at the giant. Frostbite raised his ice-encrusted arm and blocked the shot, the beam ricocheting around the room before dissolving in the frosty air. I wouldn't worry too much, Frostbite. I won't be staying for long." Plasmius smirked as he clenched his glowing hands and slammed them down into the ice. The cracks lit up with a bright pink light before exploding underneath Frostbit's feet, sending him stumbling backwards. Flying into the air, Vlad fired another shot at the ghost, hitting him in the chest as he crashed into the back wall. Letting a large smirk fall onto his face, Plasmius fired one more shot at the ice above the monster's head, watching with a chuckle as a large mound of ice and snow buried the ghost underneath. "Enjoy your freedom while you can, Frostbite. Because the next time you see me, I will be your king!" He shouted with a cackle as he sped down the hallway. In the cavern, a large rumbling filled the air before the pile of ice and snow exploded with a loud roar. Frostbite let out a loud huff as he stared down the hallway where his thief had disappeared. He snarled in anger before raising his head. "GUARDS!" Vlad snarled in anger as more and more yetis snarled and threw blasts at him as he flew past. Suddenly, a large paw wrapped around his ankle and dragged him down, slamming him into the ground. He let out a growl as he placed a hand to his head and glared at the other yetis as they all began to surround him, eyes glowing a bright blue. Before they could shoot at him and encase him in an icy tomb once again, he whipped the man open. "Get me out of here." He snarled to it. Before anyone could move, a large flash of light filled the air as Vlad was dragged out of the icy land. Colors began to blur together as the wind whipped around him. The map stopped suddenly, making the man's stomach jerk violently. He narrowed his eyes and glanced around at his surroundings, not exactly sure where in the Ghost Zone he was, but at the moment he didn't really care. Unfurling the map once more, the man glanced over it with a hungry eye. Leaning closer, a smile grew on his face. "Take me to Equestria." He whispered to it. On the map, he could see a white dot outlining a long and winding path that led to a small portal on the edge of the Zone. In a flash of light, Vlad was gone Vlad groaned as he cracked open his eyes. The first thing he noticed was how stained the sky seemed to be. It was cloudy and murky, a deep shade of orange stretching across the horizon, and from what Vlad could tell, small black dots were scattered around it. Farther in the distance, Vlad could make out what appeared to be a castle-like structure made entirely out of stone. Yet the land around the intricate architecture was barren and dead, devoid of any life whatsoever. He shook his head and told himself to focus. As he tried to get to his feet, he flopped back down and noticed he couldn't feel his legs anymore, or his arms for that matter. He knew they were still there but they felt . . . different. As if they weren't even his. Glancing down, the man's eyes widened as he realized he had no feet to speak of. Instead he had what appeared to be hard, round hooves. He narrowed his eye and shakily stood up, scanning his surroundings once more. A little ways off, a little divot in the land had created a small pool. Warily hobbling towards it, he stared down into the reflection. What the hell is this? Instead of his usual ghostly form, he was what he could only assume to be a pony of some sort. He had a light turquoise coat that matched his usual ghostly skin tone, and black hair that pointed upwards along with a matching black tail. Around his neck was his usual white cape lines with a red inside. The article of clothing draped over the rest of his body. Kicking it to the side, he noticed that there were strange limbs tucked close to his sides. Unfurling them, he realized they were large wings that faded from turquoise to red at the tips. Staring back at the puddle, he also noticed he had a long horn that curled inwards slightly as well as his usual glowing red eyes. Yet the thing that confused him the most was that there appeared to be an image imprinted onto his rear.Why the heck do I have a tattoo?He asked himself. Upon further inspection, he noticed the mark was a swirling pink flame that seemed to resemble his ecto-blast. He let out a long and tired sigh.Great. Now I have to get used to moving around in this thing. He growled to himself, though he knew it wouldn't be as much trouble as he made it out to be. If he could master something as unpredictable as his ghost powers, mastering this new body would take a couple hours at the most. Unfortunately, as his luck would have it, he didn't have a couple hours. A strange buzzing sound began to fill his ears, instantly making him cautious. Raising his head, he realized those black dots from before were now moving towards him. Great. Locals. Making his way to his fee-hooves, Vlad watched as the creatures landed, revealing that they were black, insect-like creatures with holes drilled into their hooves and empty blue orbs that replaced normal eyes. "Freeze, intruder!" The head creature hissed angrily. Vlad watched with a bored look as the others began to surround him, threateningly moving closer and closer. "Well I guess it could be worse." Vlad mused. "I could look like you lot." He chuckled as he raised his hoof and tried to summon an ecto-blast, only to furrow his brow in confusion when nothing happened. The changelings shared a confused look before shrugging their shoulders, writing the stallion off as crazy before lunging. Vlad growled angrily as he ducked underneath one's grasp. Luckily, he didn't have to rely solely on his powers to defend himself. twenty years of nonstop training was good forsomethings. Whipping around, he used his back hooves to kick a group of the creatures back. As he fought and became angrier and angrier, he noticed his horn beginning to glow a bright pink. Glancing up at the new addition, he grinned maliciously at the changelings as realization sank in. Lowering his head, he watched as a large pink blast shot from the horn and hit the ground in front of one particular group sending them flying backwards. Glancing down at his sides, Vlad unfurled his wings and shrugged. "Might as well break them in." He chuckled as he leapt into the air and began to flap. Thankfully, after learning how to fly without wings, flying with them was a breeze. He swooped down from the sky, horn glowing brightly as he fired another shot, the blast ripping through the ground at the group's feet, knocking them backwards. Stretching his wings wide, he noticed the tips beginning to glow the same shade as his ecto-blasts. Whipping them down hard, he laughed as two shockwaves shot out and hit the horde head on, driving them back. Landing back on the ground, he watched as two more changelings tried to at least land a simple blow as they lunged forward. He smirked and turned intangible, grinning as he watched their faces morph into ones of confusion before he bucked them into the air, blasting them back down into the ground. Vlad finally let a tired yawn slip from his mouth s he glanced around the area. The group of changelings was now scattered all around, twitching and moaning in agony on the ground. He chuckled and shined his new hooves on the front of his chest. "WHO DARES TRESPASS IN MY KINGDOM?!" He cast a bored look to the sky as the booming voice continued to echo out, rolling out of the way as a bright green blast hit the spot he had been moments ago. Glancing up, he watched as a large female version of the other creatures landed on the ground on front of him. Her coat was black and her mane was a sickly greenish-blue color. A series of holes could be seen in her hooves and her mane. On her back, a large pair of insect-like wings could be seen as well as a long twisted horn o her forehead. She narrowed her glowing green eyes at the newcomer. "Who are you?" She growled out, her horn glowing in caution. "Plasmius. Vlad Plasmius. Pleased to make your acquaintance." He said in a sly voice, extending a hoof towards the mare. She stared at it in disgust before turning back to the stallion. Before she could retort anything, she noticed his large wings and still smoking horn. She furrowed her brows and took a reflexive step backwards. Vlad took notice of this and grinned, eyeing the crown atop the mare's head. "Hmm . . . If I may ask, your Majesty." He started. "Why reside in this terrible place? Doesn't seem like the best place to care for subjects." He said in the same tone he used whenever condoning business with naive clients. The mare narrowed her eyes and lowered her gaze. "It's called banishment, you imbecile." She snapped. Vlad took no offense to the name and tilted his head. "So you have enemies here?" "I'm a queen. Of course I have enemies." Vlad walked forward and placed a wing on her shoulder. "Well then, do I have a proposition for you." He said, already scheming up a way to use the creatures to his advantage. "And I don't believe I ever caught your name." The mare hesitated for a moment before warily responding. "Queen Chrysalis."