How long has it been?
A day? A month? Maybe even years.
Years trapped in these chains. I could see that being the case. It has felt like ages in this unforgiving dungeon. I had given up ideas of escaping long ago. My every movement was restricted, even unable to eat.
Not that I needed to eat, but the familiar feeling was nice. Nice was not something I normally cared for. I didn’t care much for anything, really. Not since I gave up my humanity.
I had it all at one point. The entire world, trembling at the very mention of my name. It would have brought me joy if I could have felt such a thing. Not much was left to tremble, thinking about it. Only a few pockets of humanity had survived, and that was only because I just hadn’t gotten to them.
Of course, there just had to be a stubborn group. My old home: Amity Park. It always came back to that place, didn’t it? Where ghosts and ghouls roamed, creating the perfect area for defense. Years and years of hauntings and ghost attacks had made its people ready for someone like me.
Or so they had hoped.
Took me ten years, but I finally destroyed the last greatest line of defense humanity had. With Amity gone, there was nothing to stand in my way.
Except my past.
Clockwork just had to interfere, him and the blasted Observers. Because they feared me, I had to be eliminated. But how do you beat the unbeatable? I’ll grudgingly admit they were smart about solving that problem: by destroying him before he could become unbeatable. Time travel always did seem like a problem to me, even long before I became a ghost.
There was an old saying: the past will always come back to haunt you. Little did I know that it became literal for me. My fourteen year old self found a way to the future and vowed to make sure I never happened.
Well, I couldn’t just let that go, could I? I needed to exist. It’s all I do… besides destroy. I trapped my past self in the future while I went back in time to make sure I happened. I made sure everything was set: cheating the test, keeping Jazz out of sight, and making sure the old Nasty Burger restaurant was set to explode. I was so close.
How did the past change so much? To this day, I still look back on it and try to understand where the changes began. I was certain that everything had happened just as it should have. So where did it go so wrong?
Perhaps I shouldn’t have gotten a little arrogant at the end. Maybe if I hadn’t let my past self trap me in that blasted thermos I could have finished making my future bleak. As it should be. Ten long years, gone in a single moment.
I realized I only had myself to blame. Literally, it was myself I hated. Didn’t even know how I could feel hatred, but it didn’t matter. I would return to show my younger self that you don’t mess with this Phantom.
Took me longer than I would like to admit to break out of that thermos. A few years, but it didn’t matter. When I was free from my imprisonment, of course Clockwork tried to stop me, but it was futile. I existed outside of time and space, making his powers worthless against me. He was so shocked when he tried to stop time and I still wailed on him. Both iterations: pounding him and using my wail.
I decided not to kill him, he does keep time in check after all. That’s something that would have been a threat to me. The least of those as possible was good for me.
Exiting the Ghost Zone was much easier than in my own future, since no one bothered keeping tabs on them in what I found to be a ‘time of peace’. And what did I find standing in the middle of Amity Park? A statue to me… well, the me of this time line. Large, unimposing, and holding the world in his hand.
I found it… oddly irritating. The world in his hand and yet he chooses to let them run his life. Well, I was gonna have to change that. It was time for a little payback.
I found a newspaper stand (slightly surprised they still existed) and found I was only trapped for about six years. And it was a special date. I remember smiling when I found that my younger alternate would be at some geek convention that day as well.
Happy thirtieth to me.
Didn’t take long to find the Amity Convention Center, geeks of every kind going to… Ghost Con…
And they wondered why I despised humanity? Honestly, I would have given up right there even with my human half.
A convention to celebrate ghosts… they are just asking to be destroyed now, aren’t they? Humanity, pitiful.
I remember striding into the convention like I owned the place. Wasn’t too far from the truth because once I had destroyed my alternate, the world would be mine. Can’t remember too much about the actual convention, didn’t care enough to keep anything in memory. Though there was some stoned fool who thought I was in a “Dark Danny” costume. His parent’s shouldn’t be expecting him home again… ever. I don’t think the janitor was very happy when he went to the bathroom to clean.
As I strode by the multitude of stands, something glinting in the faint sunlight let in by the skylights caught my eye. When I looked, I was about ready to start blasting. Someone dared to have a Fenton Thermos for sale at their stand. I decided to have a… talk with the seller. I walked up to the stand and grabbed the thermos in my hand.
“Where did you get this?” I asked, looking down at the measly merchant. He most certainly wasn’t from the States, the accent and the crazy hair being prime evidence. Someone had been touching the coffee too much, I figured. He was jittery and unfocused, his talking getting on my nerve as soon as he started talking.
“Oh oh, you likey? Hmm, you likey da thermos? Creeper find in Creeper house, I did! You want buy thermos? You likey thermos to buy?”
Like I said, wanted to blast him out of existence right there. But information like that would have been necessary. If he had a thermos, how many others had one? Know thy enemy, the old saying went.
“Where. Did you. Get this?” I repeated with a little extra force.
“I find. Creeper find in special place.” Special place? He gasped and grabbed the thermos from me and pulled a strange package out from underneath the stand. “No, is no good to sell like dis. Thermos need drink. Need good something. Creeper throw in Ectolytezer. Creeper own creation. Not know how, but Creeper make. Good for ghosts. Very good.”
He handed me back the thermos, now filled with a gloppy green substance. I gave it a small sniff and could tell it was filled with ghostly energy. Where did that strange person find such raw energy? It shouldn’t have been possible to acquire that.
“Go on, go on!” he urged. “Drink, drink! You like, you’ll like. Creeper assures. Customer satisfaction is Creeper creed.”
Odd for such a creed, being that he was odder than most ghosts I had met. What harm could a little drink cause? I was the most powerful ghost to ever live, I had nothing to worry about.
I really need to get that arrogance in check, it constantly bites me in the butt.
Just taking that one little sip made me clutch my chest, a cold pain searing through my body. I looked to the shop keep who was smiling like he had won the blasted lottery! That crafty little…
“Creeper keep customers satisfied. Creeper promise Phantom peace. Trust in Creeper, Phantom going to like where he’s going.” He chuckles… creepily as I fell to my knees.
“I feel… cold,” was all I could say before everything went black.
When I awoke, I was atop a mountain. The winds howled around me, snow blustering and blowing, whipping my cape like a frenzy. I was bewildered; odd for me. What was odder was I wasn’t cold… at all. Most wouldn’t find that weird, but ghosts can feel cold in environments like this. Only ghosts formed in such an environment would be able to handle such weather, and I most certainly was not one of those. Not something I couldn’t get over, but I should have at least felt a little chill.
I figured it out rather quickly when a wolf thought I would be a good lunch. My ghost ray froze the animal solid. Cryokinetic abilities were a new on me; not unwanted, but certainly a nice surprise. First some electrokinesis during my early years, then pyrokinesis when I absorbed Plasmius, and finally cryokinesis from a strange drink. Why did it feel familiar? Did someone make a videogame of that or something?
Didn’t matter, I suppose. I needed to find out where I was. Taking flight from the mountain top, I could see lights in the distance. Civilization, the first one I would bring down. I still would have said it was a nice birthday gift.
Upon arriving, I found it to be a large city made of what appeared to be some form of crystal. But that’s not what I enjoyed about the sight. It was seeing it’s inhabitants, trudging through gloom and doom, watched over by what looked to be a dark king. Brought a smile to my face seeing these… ponies? Odd, I admitted, but there were stranger ghosts than these living creatures. But seeing those ponies in chains, working like the mules they were just seemed right.
Oh, but what was that? Two flying ponies, with horns… girliest thing I had ever seen but...ooh, they were attacking the evil ruler. Interesting, a coup d’etat perhaps? Never did ask, but I simply wanted to observe that conflict. Hmm, the king was putting up an admirable fight, certainly some spunk in him. But the rebels, they had plenty of their own. Ha, ponies with magic? At least that’s what it had appeared to be. It wasn’t ecto energy, that was certain. I would have been able to sense it if it was.
As I watched, I came to the understanding that I certainly was not on Earth anymore. No, there was no such place as this in either the real world or the ghost zone. An alien world, perhaps in a different dimension altogether. How… enticing.
And down went the white one. Intriguing, the blue one seemed rather upset. Must have been either a lover or a relative. I assumed the closest would be a sister. Then… now that was something. A darker energy consumed the smaller one, giving her a lot of power. But still the king blasted her away. Oh, the other was awakening, looked like the blue one’s power dissipated as well. How strange.
And then the two rose high into the sky, crossed their horns and attacked the king with all their might. I could hear his screams from my high view; it didn’t sound pleasant. Not pleasant at all. Oh, but he wasn’t going down easy. His body was destroyed into shadow and just as the ice consumed him, it took the entire city as well. Now that was a show; the villain took a win in the end. Taking his slaves and kingdom with him to the grave; admirable, those two will never forget that loss.
The two flew off into the distance, not looking very victorious. They vanquished the villain, but at a mighty cost. I floated down to where the grand city was only minutes prior and found nothing had been left.
I marveled a little at the efficiency. There was no winner in that battle. But that left me wondering something: despite that show, what was I meant to do now? I pondered this as I flew in the opposite direction of the what I presumed to be sisters. There was no Phantom here for me to take revenge upon. I existed outside of time and space and no longer restricted to my original world.
It gave me… potential. Sure, I could have focused on returning to my world for revenge, but then again, there was nothing saying I could have had my fun with the populace on this world. If so many could be enslaved by one of their own, certainly wouldn’t be too hard to put some terror and destruction into their bland lives.
Oh, I remember those next couple years being bountiful. I started small, haunting small, out of the way villages. It was almost too easy. Simple spooks ended some of the ponies prematurely. Every trick in the book was brand new to them and it made smile at the destruction I caused. I eventually moved to the cities, not large or bustling ones like I had known, but they were larger than the villages.
But I couldn’t simply haunt these creatures to death. I had to step it up a few notches. How? Simple: I blew up a city.
I decided to make it easy on my self, so I went to the center of the city. Making sure they could all see me (because everyone needs an audience before doing something magnificent), I used my old repulsion field to turn the town into a crater. Nothing survived, disintegrating the instant the field hit it.
Of course, this caught the attention of the rulers of the country. Turned out that the ponies from that day in the crystal city were the princesses of the country I had been haunting. And they did not appreciate me killing several thousand of their subjects. They were mad, very mad, and wanted me to “pay for my crimes”. As if they could stop me.
My powers far exceeded theirs. I put them in their place fairly easily. I didn’t have to hold back on them like I did my past-self. I wanted to exist back then after all. No worries about it then.
Something strange happened, though. They pulled out these six strange gems, floating them around. They all looked like ordinary gems, save for one that looked like a six-pointed star. They began to glow in golden aura, I couldn’t sense what kind of energy was being used. The sisters poured in their own energy and fired an actual rainbow at me. It was so unexpected that I didn’t move in time to get away from the blast. Being a ghost has its advantages, though. I turned intangible just as the rainbow hit.
I felt the need to smirk, but something was wrong. I was untouchable, nothing should be affecting me at all. Yet, the strange magic was burning me. I saw smoke coming off my intangible form, the rainbow beginning to wrap around me. I let out a roar as I was consumed by the magic.
Something was surging into me, something unwanted and unneeded. When my vision was no longer consumed by rainbows, I had to look up at the two ponies. My body felt… smaller, less powerful, and...no… NO!
“Sister,” I overheard the blue one through my delirium. “He was not sealed in stone nor banished. How hath this occurred?”
“We know not,” the white replied. “But we must take more drastic actions to prevent this monster from harming our little ponies.” I shakily lifted my head to meet her cold eyes. My face felt longer, was that natural? “For thy crimes against Equestria,” So that was the name of the country. “We, Celestia, Princess of the Sun, and Luna, Princess of the Moon, sentence thee to banishment from our land. Thy will suffer dearly for harming our subjects in the depths of the great prison, Tartarus. Doth thee have any last words?”
“I feel… why do I feel?” I glared at the pony princesses. “What did you do to me?!”
“We know not, tis never happened with prior use of the Elements of Harmony. However, if thy suffers from this form, then tis well deserved. Farewell, Phantom.”
I began to sink into the ground below, as if the planet was consuming me. There was too much pain for me to cry out or declare that I would return. But I swore that there would be recompense for my imprisonment.
I knew not how long ago that was, but I was certain it was many, many years ago. It felt like it had been that long. I had long since accepted my prison. I was trapped in chains, constricting ever limb from moving even the slightest bit. I felt a little pride that I was trapped so fully; they took no chances. Guess I had put them in a fearful state.
And why not? I was often called the ‘Ultimate Enemy’ during my glory days.
A sound rang in my ears, making my eyes open in an instant. I couldn’t see through the darkness, but I knew that was the sound of metal against metal. Something had opened my cell; I was no longer alone in there. Something crashed on to the shackle restricting my left arm. My eyes shifted and I saw a strange face. It seemed similar to a monkey, but in such a world that I was living in, I could have been very wrong.
“Who are you?” I asked, cringing inwardly at my new voice. It just wasn’t right to my ears.
“I am your savior, young one,” he responded. Certainly a ‘he’. And ‘young one’? I could feel the need to laugh, but who knows how long this creature had been down here. He was slamming a rock on my chains, sending out sparks that allowed me to see more. I saw shackles on his wrists, making it sure to me that he was a prisoner in this dreadful hole as well. “I am Lord Tirek, a fellow prisoner. But now is a time to rejoice. The guardian of this realm has disappeared, making this the prime time to escape.”
“Why help me?” A valid question.
“I have heard of your reputation. I was skeptic, but this many seals means you scared the alicorn princesses highly. That means you will be a worthy ally.”
“And if I were to refuse your offer?”
“I doubt you pose much threat to me, boy.”
So little you know. I allowed him to continue to destroy my shackles and chains. One by one, my limbs were freed, dropping to the ground like stones. When the final clamp around my midsection was freed, I slumped to the cold, stone floor.
I hated the feeling. I hated feeling.
“Come, up we go.” He hefted me on to his back, revealing to me that he was a form of monkey-centaur. Intriguing to say the least. We moved cautiously through the dank caves that made up Tartarus. I never saw much outside of my cell, but I could tell that this was no happy wonderland. It looked like the Underworld from that movie based on a Greek hero; filled with death and certainly not welcoming to the living. A perfect place for ghosts to mingle, but I sense not a single one within. Odd.
We exited through a large cave opening, looking like the maw of a large stone monster. For all I knew, it could have been at one point in time. A world of magic held many mysteries. Upon exiting, the sunlight burst into my eyes, making me shield my face.
It was at that point that I finally got a good look at my body. It was nothing like I was used to. It was pure white, completely covered in fur and… I couldn’t believe it. I wasn’t just different… I was unrecognizable. I was one of them!
I was a pony, covered from hoof to hoof in pure white fur. A black mangled mess of a mane fell into my face and I looked back to see the same could be said of my tail. Having a tail was the actually the best part of the experience. Tails are very handy I would find out later. But the absolute worst part?
I was short. Much shorter than an adult of the pony species. My voice, the strange feelings… NO! I… I… I was a colt!
I clambered off my rescuer, frantically looking at every aspect of my new form. I felt fear, disgust, anger, hatred, sadness, IT WAS TOO MUCH. And I succinctly summed it all up in my all too familiar fourteen year old voice.
“This SUCKS!” Yep, completely rational for an adult to say that.
“And now, for you to repay me,” Tirek said, walking up to me. “You will work for me and help me get back the power that is rightfully mine. If you refuse, then I will simply take your magic and leave you for when Cerberus returns. You’ll make an excellent chew toy-slash-treat.”
Did he just…? I turned to give him a cold glare. “Let’s get one thing straight, Tirek. I work for no one. Especially not some freak’s animal breeding project gone awry.”
“And what are you going to do about it colt?!” he laughs. “You are no threat to me! What could you possibly do to stop me?”
I can’t believe I have to say this old shtick again, but I suppose nostalgia has its perks. “I’m going ghost!” That old ring of energy appears around the center of my body and slowly begins to go up and down. I could feel my old body, my hands, my feet, but greatest of all was my power!
Tirek gasped, backing away as I stood back to normal in front of him. I examined my ghostly form, seeing nothing was wrong with my pale false-skin. I looked in a puddle near my feet and saw that my red-eyes had returned to the green they were when I had begun my ghostly quests. Odd.
“Wh-what are you?!” the centaur asked in fear.
Heh, I smirked at his fear. It was a familiar feeling I relished in of seeing them be afraid of me. “I am Dan Phantom, Tirek,” I smiled evil, lighting my hand with ecto energy. “And I don’t need you anymore.” I blasted him off the cliff, falling into the depths below. I looked over the edge, not seeing anything through the tree coverage. I smirk, before something painful catches in my chest. The hoop appears again and I am forced back into a colt.
“Erg,” I snarled weakly. “Looks like I can’t sustain my true form. That’s gonna be a pain for a while.” I looked out at the setting sun, an uncertain future ahead of me. “Just watch out Princesses, the Ultimate Enemy is coming back.”