//------------------------------// // Danny's Interaction with the Mane 6 // Story: Phantom Pony // by Zeprto678 //------------------------------// Danny looked at the table and saw that there was an orange-colored pony wearing a farm hat, a shy-looking pegasus, that Rainbow Dash pony, an elegant-looking unicorn, a purple unicorn with wings, and a small green and purple-colored dragon. “Howdy there, stranger. Mah name’s Applejack,” said the orange pony with a country accent. “Never seen ya in Ponyville before. Ya just arrived?”  He nodded. “Yeah. I was looking for a place to stay temporarily until my friends arrive, but then your friend brought me here, saying that she’d help me find one?” the ghost pony informed. Danny was kind of impressed. “A country pony? Why not?” “That’s Pinkie Pie for you. Always helping out those in need,” said the elegant unicorn, giggling. “The name’s Rarity. Carousel Boutique’s fashion designer. Pleased to meet you, darling.” He held up a hoof in greeting. “Same here,” said Danny. She took a look at the ghost pony before her eyes landed on his shirt. The fashion pony had a shocked look on her face. “Oh, my. What is that drab, awful clothes you're wearing?” asked Rarity.  Danny was confused about what she was talking about. The ghost pony looked at his own shirt before looking back at the fashion pony, eyebrow raised. “It’s my shirt? I always wear this one,” answered Danny. He looked insulted. “And what are you calling ‘drab’? I happen to like this shirt. I wear this shirt everywhere I go. Even at parties.” Hearing that shocked the fashion pony even more. Rarity couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The fashion pony shook her head. “No, no, no. This won’t do at all,” said Rarity. “You have to visit my boutique sometime so that I can make you a new outfit to replace that one.” The ghost pony shook his head. “No, thanks. I’m perfectly fine wearing this shirt,” said Danny. He really wasn’t interested at all. Besides, who knows when the ghost pony will be rescued? Danny didn’t want to return home with some kind of a weird outfit, and even if it wasn’t weird, he might wear it only once or twice after getting back home. Unfortunately, she wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “I insist, dear. I’ll make you an outfit free of charge,” said the fashion pony, adamant. The ghost pony frowned. “And I said that I don’t want it. Like I said before, I’m perfectly fine,” said Danny. He stressed out the two words. “Is she stubborn or hard of hearing?” Before Rarity was about to say anything, the fashion pony was then interrupted by the shy-looking pegasus. “Rarity, you shouldn’t force an outfit on him when-”, stopped herself. The shy-looking pegasus looked at the ghost pony, wanting his name. Danny realized why she was looking at him. “Danny. Danny Fenton,” the ghost pony informed. The shy-looking pegasus nodded before looking back at Rarity. “-Danny doesn’t want one. You have to respect that,” she continued. “Who knows? He might want one when he feels like it.” The fashion pony knew that her friend was right, and sighed in defeat. “You’re right, Fluttershy,” said Rarity. She then looked at him. “I’m so sorry about that, Danny. I let my generosity get the best of me. Could you ever forgive me?” The ghost pony sighed. “It’s fine. I forgive you,” said Danny. “But if she tries to force some outfit on me again, then I am out of here.” He then looked at the purple unicorn with wings. She realized that he was looking at her, and smiled. “I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle, but you can call me Twilight,” said the purple unicorn with wings. Danny was kind of surprised. “Now there’s a pony princess? I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more of them here in this kingdom of ponies,” thought the ghost pony. “It’s nice to meet you, Twilight.” The smart pony then looked at the dragon. “And this is my number one assistant, Spike,” she introduced. “Hi. Do you like comic books?” asked Spike. That surprised him that comic books existed in their part of the Ghost Zone. “Yeah. I do,” answered Danny.  The dragon kid smiled. “Cool. I’ve got some comic books at home if you want to check them out one day, and there’s even a comic bookstore here in Ponyville if you want to buy some yourself,” he informed. The ghost pony smiled. “Cool,” said Danny. The rainbow pony decided to choose this time to interrupt the conversation. “Sorry to interrupt, but we have a ghost alicorn pony thing to find. I’m sure they’re still somewhere in Ponyville, and I am not giving up until I catch them,” she said, determined.  Applejack sighed loudly. “And like ah said before, how are ya supposed ta catch a ghost? They're dead and can slip through ya hooves like a greased up hog,” she argued.  “And that’s why I asked Twilight if she knows or can find any spells that can allow us to capture a ghost or at least let me hit one,” argued Rainbow Dash, still determined. That worried the ghost pony. He really hoped that there really weren’t any spells, or that Twilight didn’t know any of those spells that could be used against ghosts. It’d be really hard for Danny to defend himself against them if that were the case since the ghost pony doesn’t have full control over his ghost powers for now.  The smart pony cleared her throat. “Actually, Rainbow Dash, I don’t know any spells that could help us against ghosts,” said Twilight. “I could check, but spells involving ghosts and spirits sounds sort of like Necromancy, something I don’t deal in or want to be involved in. But I can send a letter to Princess Celestia about this and see if she knows any spells that could help.” She then looked at the rainbow pony with a stern look. “Until then, none of us will be fighting any ghosts. Got that?” Everyone, except for Danny, nodded their heads. As for Rainbow Dash, she only crossed her hooves and grumbled, knowing that her fight with the ghost alicorn would have to be put on hold for now.  Danny inwardly sighed, relieved that he was safe, for now. The ghost pony was also kind of surprised that there was actually another pony princess other than Twilight herself. “I was only joking that I wouldn’t be surprised, but now I am,” he thought. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie reappeared right next to the group. “Hello, everypony! What happened while I was in the kitchen?!” exclaimed the party pony, excited. “Did everypony become friends?!” He was surprised again as the party pony had come out of nowhere. As for her friends, they weren’t as all of them were used to it. Once the ghost pony calmed down, Danny was able to talk to Pinkie Pie. “Well, your friends were talking about some ghost alicorn thing, and Rainbow Dash wanted to catch it, but can’t because Twilight said that no one should for now. Also, I guess we did become friends,” he informed. The party pony smiled. “Great! Also, it’ll take a while for the Chocolate Chip Muffins to be ready,” she said. “Until then, we can discuss whose house you’ll be staying over until your friends get here.” The ghost pony had forgotten about that, until now. “Oh. Well, I am a bit hungry,” thought Danny. He was thinking more about the muffins than about his living situation. The smart pony had an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, but we don’t have an extra room at the library, but we do have a couch if you want to sleep on that,” offered Twilight. The ghost pony thought about it. Sleeping on a couch might be uncomfortable because of Danny’s current form. “Um, I’ll think about it,” he said. Pinkie Pie had a sad look on her face. “I wish you could stay over at the bakery, but I don’t think Mr. and Mrs. Cake would let you. It’s already crowded with the Cake Twins living here too,” the party pony informed. “It’s okay. I don’t want to make the place overcrowded than it already is,” reassured the ghost pony. That made Pinkie Pie smile. “Well, he can’t live with me. I live inside of a cloud home,” Rainbow Dash informed. “He’d fall right through on the first step.” The others agreed. It would be dangerous if Danny lived with the rainbow pony. Hearing about that made him worried, but also thankful too. “If you want, you can live with me and my animal friends at the cottage,” offered Fluttershy. The fashion pony decided to bring something up that was kind of concerning. “Fluttershy darling, I was wondering, but what about Discord? How would he feel about it?” asked Rarity. The shy pony remembered something as soon as the fashion pony had brought it up. “Oh, my. You're right, Rarity,” she said. “I don't know how he’d react if I were to tell him.” The ghost pony was confused. “Who’s Discord?” asked Danny. Everyone was shocked that he didn’t know who Discord was. “You don’t know who Discord is? Everypony in Equestria knows who he is after all of the chaos he caused a few times,” the smart pony informed. Rainbow Dash snapped out of her surprise and was now looking at the ghost pony with narrowed eyes, suspicious of Danny. “Something’s suspicious about this stallion,” thought the rainbow pony. “Where did you say you were from?” The ghost pony realized that he was in trouble but decided to play it cool. “I didn’t. No one ever asked,” said Danny. “Well, I’m the one who’s asking now,” said Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash! Don’t be so rude,” admonished Fluttershy. She looked at the shy pony, shocked “But-” said the rainbow pony. “No ‘buts’,” said the shy pony. She then looked at Danny with a kind smile. “Sorry about that. Continue.” He smiled a little. “Thanks,” said the ghost pony. Danny hoped that telling them where he’s from might fool them. “I’m from, uh, Amity Park.” They were all confused as they all had never heard of ‘Amity Park’ before. Then, the smart pony had a mistaken idea. “Oh, I get it. You must be from somewhere across the ocean, right?” she asked. The ghost pony was surprised to hear there was an ocean here. He just nodded in response. “Now that I think about it, I don’t think ponies or other creatures from outside of Equestria would have heard of Discord anyway.” Luckily, the others fell for it as they agreed with Twilight, seeing as how she was right. As for Danny, he inwardly sighed in relief. The smart pony decided to answer the question Danny had asked before. “Discord is the God of Chaos and a Spirit of Disharmony. A long time ago, he took over Equestria, but the Princesses defeated him by using the Elements of Harmony to turn him into a statue,” explained Twilight. “At some point, Discord escaped from his stone imprisonment and terrorized Equestria once again. My friends and I went up against him. Thanks to the power of our friendship, we were able to defeat him with the Elements of Harmony and turn him back to stone.” The ghost pony nodded. “Oh-kay? Then why did Rarity ask Fluttershy about how this Discord guy feels if he's just a statue?” he asked, looking at Fluttershy and the fashion pony. Before the smart pony could answer again, Rainbow Dash interrupted the smart pony. “The Princesses thought it'd be a good idea if he were released and reformed by Fluttershy. Every now and then, he causes chaos with his magic despite being ‘reformed’,” she explained with hoof quotes. “I still don't trust him.” Fluttershy gave the rainbow pony a soft smile. “Now, Rainbow Dash. Discord is still learning to use his magic for good,” she said. “Just give him some time and you’ll see that he’s doing his best.” The rainbow pony only rolled her eyes. “Whatever,” said Rainbow Dash. The shy pony looked back at Danny. “I could go home right now and talk to Discord and tell him about you. If you’re planning to stay over, I mean,” said Fluttershy. He thought about it. “This Discord guy sounds like he could be a real pain in my butt, or flank I think, if I stayed with her. It’s better not to get on his bad side until then,” thought the ghost pony. Danny shook his head. “Sorry, but I don’t think he’ll like me staying over your house one bit, even if you talked to him about it. Better safe than sorry.” She nodded, agreeing. “Well, darling. That just leaves me, Twilight, and Applejack to choose from,” said the fashion pony. “Applejack lives at her family's apple farm, Sweet Apple Acres, while I live at my fashion store, Carousel Boutique. Both of us have an extra room for you to temporarily stay in until your friends arrive. But you could also choose to stay in the Library with Twilight and Spike if you want to.” The ghost pony had a thinking expression on his face. “So, I either choose to live in a fashion store surrounded by clothes, in a library surrounded by books, or live on a farm and do farm work every day? Ugh, which one should I choose while I’m staying in this town?” thought Danny. In the end, the ghost pony made his decision. “Applejack, can I live with you at the farm?” The apple pony smiled. “Why sure thing, Danny. Glad to have ya,” said Applejack. “I'll introduce ya to mah family and even give ya the grand tour around Sweet Apple Acres once we get there.” Danny smiled, but was kind of worried on the inside. “I hope I made the right decision, or else I'm going to regret it later,” thought the ghost pony. “Also, I hope Tucker and Sam noticed my disappearance after I had gotten sucked into the Ghost Portal. Speaking of which, if I got sucked through and ended up here in this part of the Ghost Zone, then it’s possible that the other ghosts who were in the lab got sent here as well. And if that really happened, and they find me and find out that I don’t have control over my powers, I’ll be toast, or worse.” Meanwhile-Manehattan At some random city, ponies were running around screaming as boxes of different kinds were floating around everywhere, surrounded by an eerie, blue aura. In the air, a mysterious earth pony figure with red eyes was floating.  An evil, joyful laugh sounded from them as they enjoyed the terrified screams of the ponies. “Mwa ha ha ha ha ha!” laughed a male voice. “Now, to terrorize the next city for I am the ‘Box Ghost’! Master of all things that are square and box-like!” The pony floated off into the air above the city, and then he flew off in a random direction with an evil laugh, but it wasn’t just any random direction the pony went. It was in the direction of Ponyville.