//------------------------------//
// Chapter Zero: Prologue 
// Story: Guilt of a Phantom: New Destinies 
// by Crepusculo 
//------------------------------//


Guilt of a Phantom: New Destinies

Prologue- The Gathering


Have you ever wondered what it would be like to see everything all at once? 

To see how every action affected the world around you in every possible way? 

To see what would have happened if one random event in the past decided to take the left road instead of the right, triggering a random series of events that prevented the birth of several historical figures or world changing moments?

The simplest and seemingly insignificant actions of any single individual or creature can set in motion countless outcomes and possibilities for the world to change for the better or for the worst.

Leave early for a destination, and you get caught up and killed in an attempted robbery. Leave later than you meant, and arrive to see the aftermath of the robbery; a child and mother having been killed. Leave and arrive on time, and you end becoming a hero who subdued the robber; saving the child and mother. Three possible events and outcomes, each that will set in motion another series of events that will result in even more different outcomes.

Like a sprouting tree; all actions branch out in different directions, different outcomes. but all are connected and originating from one single act or event. A single seed, planted by one's choice and action that constantly changes the future of the world. 

Truly to think about such a thing can be maddening for a mortal mind, as one thinks of what could have been or what could be. To be able to see all possible outcomes, time lines, events, dimensions and realities at once would surely completely and utterly destroy any mortal or lesser minds.

However this was not the case for the ageless entity in charge of watching over all realities and time lines. Draining yes but not mind shattering to a being such as itself. 

Or himself as the very few mortals it had or will interact referred to it as a male given it's (his) appearance despite being genderless. Plus HE already knew how explaining it to some of the mortals he met would go, and thus never bothered at all. Some of them would want to CHECK to see if he really was genderless. But “he” was getting off topic with himself.

The point was HE was able to see everything all at once without being overwhelmed by it all, aware and existing in all of the branching time lines, knowing what past factors that created them and all of the future factors that will lead to countless possible outcomes as well. After all no matter what one chooses, as there is always a choice to make, multiple outcomes, futures will come into existing because of it.

Very few entities could claim to be his equal in such abilities, let alone act outside his influence or sight. And that list was very short, as he either stumbled onto them by accident or they had sought him out for answers. If there were more then he wouldn't be finding them anything soon. And that's what worried him greatly, that there were entities that could act without him knowing, influencing realities and their time lines and disrupting them. Disruptions that rippled throughout and threatened to destroy all of existence if left unchecked.

Thankfully his children (and he uses that term loosely), watchers and guardians of time and reality, would act and deal with the disruption as they appeared, saving the alternative reality. Or merge it with another similar reality, which is why a lot of people got the sensation of deja vu. Which ever worked.

Unfortunately, more often than not they didn't how to deal with the disruptions. Most merely watched and let the things play out, waiting till the last moment to act and keep their interference to the bare minimum. If the need arose that is. Others didn't bother to do anything at all, while others stuck their “noses” in everything.

This disrupted and weakened his influence over the realities, making it all but impossible for him to foresee the numerous futures a time line will branch off into. All he saw was pitch black darkness, a darkness that filled him with dread. If one of those time lines, specifically one connected to one of the core time lines, led to the end of that reality then it would spread throughout all other time lines and realities. Countless lives would be lost as well as the end of existence itself.

And that was the dilemma he was currently facing. One of the core timelines in which his 'children', the Master of Time, Clockwork, the Observants, and Eternal Watchers existed in, was overflowing with this great and dark disruption. He could barely see the multiple outcomes and did not like what he saw or rather what he couldn't see. The few timelines he was able to see, despite of Clockwork's and others' best efforts, ended badly. Far too many in fact. Clockwork, while the Master of Time, could not account for everything and constant tampering with the timeline would do more harm than good in the long. By the time he would actually notice it would be far too late to do anything.

And while he couldn't warn Clockwork directly about the disruption, he could help him indirectly by causing his own 'disruption' in the timeline. A spark, or rather sparks of change that together will grow into a raging fire to burn away the destructive darkness, illuminating the future and overshadowing the alternative failures. 
All he needed was ten of them and with little effort he peered into the infinite multiverse, looking for them. Scanning over countless individuals and their countless alternative versions, searching for the ones that were best suited to help him. The ones with the abilities, motivation, traits, and eventual group dynamics that will change the fates of countless people for the better whether they knew or not.

And he found them. Now all he had to do was summon them.


-Guilt of a Phantom: New Destinies-


In an alternative universe, within the United States there stood a house which contained a secret. A secret of epic, scientific proportions. For you see, within the walls and underneath the house there was a laboratory where countless scientific endeavors took place and breakthroughs occurred. All which would put nearly all mainstream scientists to shame and revolutionize the entire world.

That is if the laboratory’s builder, owner and sole scientists ever decided to make his discoveries known to the rest of humanity. He was after all one of the scarce few that knew about his secret lab. And he had no intention of letting others know about his lab and his work, lest it end up in the wrong hands.

However at the moment Dexter was seriously considering revealing his secret to world. Despite all the risks attached to such an action it seemed to be his only option to find any hope for a solution to his most challenging and soul crushing scientific pursuit.

Finding a way to cure his older sister, Dee Dee's, mysterious illness.

“Run it again, Computer!” Dexter Newton, the just shy of eleven years old science prodigy, demands tiredly as days of barely any sleep were taking their toll on him. 

His curly red hair was unkempt and full of grim due to being unwashed. His eyes were bloodshot with dark bags under them. His lab coat was unbuttoned and was just as dirty as the rest of his clothing. His stomach bellowed demanding a full meal, not just the meager scraps and other bare necessities Dexter barely took the time to consume or drink. Other than the hourly dose of his own original, experimental energy drinks and pills. Despite his poor state, the last thing on Dexter's mind was his own well being.

“Analysis complete: VIRUS STATUS- ACTIVE.” The Computer's monotone voice read the words out loud as they appeared on the screen. Dexter's tired eyes looked at the words with a hateful scowl, frustration and despair coursing through him as his hands balled into tight fists.

“RUN IT AGAIN!”

“Dexter, we have already run the analysis over 654,389 times and nothing has changed.” The computer replied to its creator, fully aware of the futility of their situation. No matter what they tried, what variable Dexter came up and enter into the equation, nothing changed. It had long accepted this, due to it's programming and logic. Unfortunately the same could not be said for it's creator.

“RUN IT AGAIN, COMPUTER! Add variables DX-46, FR-690, and GY-7 and remove variables DZ-32, RF-45, DR-4 and ZA-49!” The boy genius ordered as he continued the pattern of the last few days of coming up with a random order of variables to add or removed to his analysis program in hopes of finally seeing the word 'terminated'. He only had a small sample of the virus after all, as Dee Dee was under heavy quarantine by the government, and he didn't want to alter it and forever lose his only chances of saving Dee Dee.

'Once my program finds the cure I'll test it out on the real thing and then I can cure Dee Dee and she'll be back to destroying my lab as always.' Dexter told himself as his eyes remained locked on the progress bar, which was already at 67%, and telling himself that this would be the time he would finally see the word he wanted. The word that would be the key to returning things back to normal, to give back his big sister. His annoying, girlish, pink-pony-dance loving, dimwitted sister. His sister who, despite their differences and sibling rivalry, loved him as much as he loved her.

He should have never wished for her to....

For several minutes Dexter sat in front of his computer in silence, forehead resting on his hands as the days of relentless work and guilt were taking their toll. With a long tired sigh Dexter looked up at the massive screen before him and was shocked and livid at what he saw.

“COMPUTER, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?” Dexter shouted in renew energy brought about by anger. The progress bar was still at 67% and was showing no signs of changing. However there was no response for his computer which was unusual as it was programmed to answer Dexter at all times. It was only after a few more minutes of staring at the screen, as his sudden surge of energy relived the rest of him, did Dexter finally noticed several alarming things.

First off the screen and the rest of his surrounding were now shades of gray, as if he was in an old silent movie. Second it was quiet, dead quiet as none of his various devices were making their usual humming and beeping sounds. And third he could see a bright light reflecting off the screen just before an even brighter flash prompted Dexter to spin around in his chair to see what was going on behind him. Shielding his eyes with his arms the best he could, lowering them as the light's intensity began to diminish. Once it was faint enough to look at without being blinded, Dexter looked at the source and began to wonder if his eyes or mind were playing tricks on him. In front of the boy genius, just a few feet away, was a soccer ball sized ball orb of faint eerie-blue light. Given his past experiences he had expected an alien, someone from the future, Mandark or some other weirdo being related to science and whatnot. Not.... whatever this was.

“Hello, Dexter Newton.” The orb suddenly greeted in a distorted voice, reminding the child of ghostly characters he had seen on TV and movies. Before Dexter could ask any questions in rapid-fire the orb beat him to it. “I know all about you and that you have many questions about me but I ask to let say my part first.”
“....Go ahead.” Dexter said with uncertainty as he eyed the orb warily, his hands moving in position to be ready to use his laser pen and wristwatch.

“Wonderful! Now I am an entity that has existed for a long, long time. More or less, I was 'born' shortly after the Big Bang as many scientists call the creation of the universe or universes. Then again I exist outside of time itself so age doesn't mean squat to me.” Orb said as it flickered with each syllable like a night star and Dexter began to wonder if he was losing his mind at this point.

“Sorry a tab bit off topic, anyway I was born among side several other entities and we were charged or created to perform a certain task or tasks to insure and maintain the flow and continuation of time, reality, life and so one. Pretty much we make sure that the multiverse doesn't collapse and destroys virtually all of existence. I am in charge of watching everything and by that I mean EVERYTHING. The past, present and future, every single possible variation, all outcomes, the minor and major factors responsible, critical decisions, etcetera, etcetera. Like for example right now I can see other realities in which you are either a girl, not a genius, single child, blind, or a mad scientist.”

Dexter incredulously stared at the orb which by now he was nearly a 100% sure was a weird hallucination created by his tired and stress psyche. “.....annndd you appeared before me because?”

“I need your help, and I mean YOUR HELP specifically. And yes, while there are many different versions of you that can help me, it needs to be you. You along with nine others, working together, must help me protect and save a keystone reality. A keystone reality, as I like to call them, is a reality that is vital to other realities and if it were to be disrupted or destroyed then pretty much all other realities are boned.”

“And you can't do this yourself because...?”

“It would eventually make matters worse in the long run, so I have to keep my interference to a minimum as much as I can. So all I can really do is give a gentle nudge or one big shove every now and then. So just take my word for it when I say that this is for the best. Plus if you help me then chances are you maybe able to help yourself. Or rather you'll be able to help Dee Dee.” The orb ranted as Dexter's expression changed from bewildered skepticism to outrage.

“Are you responsible for my sister's ailment!?”

“What? NO! Why would you think that?..... Okay I see why you would come to that conclusion but I assure you, even if you don't have any reason to believe me at this moment, that I didn't have anything to do with Dee Dee's sickness, all I am saying is that if you come along and help then you'll find a means to help your sister. Or I'll just cure her for you as a reward. Either way the multiverse is saved and your sister will be cured. Win-win.”

Dexter just stared at the orb, wondering if this was all just a hallucination caused by his current physical, emotional and mental state. Maybe he had fallen asleep and this was just a dream his subconscious cooked up to 'comfort' him. At least that's what his logical and cynical sides were telling him, demanding he put an end to this dream/hallucination and get back to work. But another, smaller part of him told him to say....

“Count me in.” At his response, Dexter could have sworn he felt the orb 'smile'.

“Goody! Now this might hurt a little or cover you in black stuff. Or both. Or something else entirely might happen to you, I'm not sure, it's been awhile since I did this after all.” The orb casually explained as it began to glow brighter.

“Whoa whoa what do yo-” Was the last thing Dexter got out as a big bright flash engulfed the enormous laboratory and leaving behind an empty chair.


-Guilt of a Phantom: New Destinies-


In an alternative universe, somewhere in Japan during the night and just a few minutes shy of midnight, within the woods and mountains that surround the infamous Mahora Academy there was a cave. Within it there was a fire, set up by a ten and a half year old red headed boy.

His name was Negi Springfield and he was no ordinary child. He was the only son of Nagi Springfield, the missing legendary hero and mage known as the Thousand Master, well known throughout the hidden magical populace of the world. Growing up without his father but hearing about his heroic exploits and one tragic incident over six years ago have driven the boy to study everything there was to known about magic. His devotion and the results earned him the title of a prodigy and genius at the age of nine and three quarters, he had graduated the mage's school in Wales. And that was the day his life changed once more.

The day he, along with his peers, were magically given their respective assignments in which they would venture into the world and learn to live amongst the muggles. Keeping their magic and any knowledge about the magical world a secret while at the same trying to help out those in need. If they were found out then they would be turned into a rodent for at least ten years and their magic sealed. It was definitely not an outcome the prodigal son of a world famous hero wanted to happen to him.

Despite the challenge and his fear of the consequences of failure, Negi took up the challenge and had set forth to the land of the rising sun as the magic spirits had decreed. His assignment: to teach at an all girl junior high school, as well as being the homeroom teacher to some of the strangest and craziest girls one could meet.
Clearly the spirits had a weird and borderline sadistic sense of humor.

And as fate -in all it's mysterious, hilariously cruel ways- would have it, Negi's secret was discovered on his first day and by one of the most hot-tempered girls of his new class, Asuna Kagurazaka. And it didn't help that the girl already had it out for him due to him having replaced her crush and original homeroom teacher and that he would have stay with her at the girls' dorm. That and the fact that he had embarrassed the girl in front of her crush by accidentally sneezing on the girl, which caused him to unintentionally unleash a bit of his wind magic, resulting in a very awkward situation. One that sadly seemed to repeat a lot around him and his students, but thankfully people didn't question it and replacing their destroyed clothing wasn't that expensive. However despite their rocky and hostile start the two managed to settle their differences and forged a friendship that eventually evolved into a sibling type relationship. 

They have been through many trials together: Trying to keep his secret from others, even though more than half his class have learned Negi's secret. Helping each other out during magical mishaps such as the love potion incident. Dealing with the other girls' crazy antics and issues. The centuries old vampire with a vendetta against Negi's family. The rich girl's 'fixation' on Negi. A ghost girl and a robot. Protecting their friend during a field trip to Kyoto in which she was being targeted because of her vast magical potential that she was unaware of. And dealing with girls crushing on Negi, to name a few.

Throughout all those crazy and unbelievable events the two grew close and even, out of necessity, became partners via the magical contract known as the Pactio. Granted Negi had gone on to make other contracts with other girls in his class for the same reasons but Asuna was his first. She, their Pactio and all over relationship was one of a kind. One that had helped Negi make it through his most difficult times during his time at Mahora and helped him grow as both a mage and as a person.

He simply couldn't live without her.

And that was why he was currently in a cave, he was preparing to summon and make a deal with the devil. To bring Asuna back to life.

Even if it meant making a deal with the very entity that was responsible for her death in the first place.
Negi, while naive and inexperience, wasn't stupid, he knew that people didn't just drop dead without reason. And with no medical reasons to explain Asuna's death, Negi knew it had to be magic related. Or more specifically, demonic related. The boy had been resourceful and managed to gather the information needed to confirm his suspicions. Asuna had a power that attracted demons, resulting in havoc and destruction no matter where she went. One day she pleaded for someone or something to make it all stop and was answered by the worst of the worst. The devil himself.

According to the pages of his father's journals, which Negi had found hidden amongst his belongings at his house in Kyoto, Asuna would be free of her demon luring power but in exchange she would die within ten years time, on her 15th birthday.

And now Negi himself was preparing to do the same, he would make a deal with the devil. He would do anything, give the prince of darkness anything he wished, no matter what it was so long as it meet that Asuna would be brought back to life.

It was funny though, that Negi would go this far to bring Asuna back to life but he had never considered making a deal with the devil to find out what happened to his father.

With a shake of his head, Negi banished those thoughts out of his mind and inspected his work before him. Everything was in place, the magical runes were drawn, candles were lit and in their proper place, and all other required items where right where they needed to be. Getting himself into position, squashing any lingering doubts and second thoughts, Negi began to gather his magic and began to chant the incantation for the ritual. With each syllable the runes glowed brighter and brighter with an ominous shine. Powerful gusts of winds blowing all around yet the candles refused to be extinguished. A dark eerily mist started to fill the cave as Negi shined with a powerful magical aura.

As soon as Negi uttered the final word, an explosive bright flash erupted right in front of Negi, causing the ten-year old to fall over and land on his rear. With his head down and a hand covering his eyes, it took him a few minutes to gather his wits, trying to calm his racing heart and startled mind. He didn't even wonder why he wasn't temporary blind or deaf by the sudden explosion but he knew what he what came next and what he HAD to do. Steeling his resolve, Negi psyched himself to talk face to face with the prince of darkness. Removing his hand and lifting his head to look at the said evil entity and saw…

A bright pinkish orb that oddly reminded him of little sprites he had seen following around female mages and other little girls. Definitely the last thing he expected for a devil to appear as but he pushed those thoughts away, even though he had so many questions to ask about it. But before he could even open his mouth, not counting it hanging in shock, to utter a word the magic prodigy was beaten to it.

“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!? ARE YOU BRAIN DEAD!?” The orb shouted at him, flickering at each loud syllable it shot at him. “I-I C-CAN'T EVEN, I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN!? IS THIS THE UNIVERSE'S WAY OF COMPENSATING FOR YOU BEING SO SMART!? DOING STUPID, MORONIC STUFF LIKE THIS SHIT!?”

“.....” Negi was expecting a lot of things but not a pink orb yelling at him and calling him stupid. Confusion and fear kept him in place and silent as the orb kept on ranting and questioning/insulting his intelligence. Which was rather entertaining to watch as it seemed to choke on it's own rage. And a bit frightening too. The rant went on for several more minutes until the orb's volume and words grew fainter and fainter.

“...sigh...you're stupid.” The orb tiredly said before falling silent and Negi took it as a sign to ask it what he wanted to know.

“Uh, are yo-”

“LISTEN KID!” The orb suddenly yelled with renewed vigor.

“Y-YES!?” Negi squeaked out, startled by the sudden outburst.

“I know you miss Asuna and would give anything to have her back. But making a deal with devil? Especially the devil of this reality..... That guy is one really sadistic monster. Trust me you would be better off living with the pain. Trying to fill the hole with countless flings with multiple women. Dealing with the problems and consequences of such lifestyle before finally finding peace in manner befitting any cheesy movie’s happy ending. Or with you dead in a ditch or shallow grave before your 30th birthday.” The orb casually said as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

“I-I, um, uh, WHAT!?” Negi uttered as his face shifted from expression to expression, completely confused at what was going on. However the orb didn't even acknowledge Negi's outburst and continued.

“Now I'm sure you've figured it out by now that I am not the devil. And, also, I know all about you and that you have many questions about me but I ask to let say my part first.”

“...okay.” Negi replied in a monotone, his mind all but broken over what was currently happening.

“Thank you! Now the gist of thing is that I am an entity that has existed for a long, long time. I was 'born' more or less shortly after the Big Bang as many scientists call the creation of the universe or universes. Then again time doesn't mean much to me since I exist outside of it and all.” Explained the orb said as it flickered with each word, Negi merely standing in place and half-listening as he wondered if he had done the incantation wrong or something.

“Now I was born among side several other entities and we were each charged or created to perform a certain task or tasks to insure and maintain the flow and continuation of time, reality, life and and so on. Pretty much we make sure that the multiverse doesn't collapse and destroys virtually all of existence. And I am in charge of watching everything and by that I mean EVERYTHING. The past, present and future, every single possible variation, all outcomes, the minor and major factors responsible, critical decisions and etcetera, etcetera. Like for example right now I can see other realities in which you are either a girl teaching at an all boys' school..... and a lot of your students get arrested for questionable, uh behavior. Huh the same for the one universe in which you're a girl teaching at an all girls school. Okay this is one the major downsides to to being all seeing. You see things you really wish you hadn't.”

Negi stared at the orb, feeling completely drained of life as his soul seem to leave his body. He was seriously starting to think that he should gone with cloning Asuna or building a Google robot based off her. Creepy, definitely but it seemed more appealing to his current situation. “And you appeared instead of the devil because?” 

“Oh, well I need your help. And I mean YOUR HELP specifically. And while there are many other versions of you that can help me, it needs to be you. You and nine others must work together to help me protect and save a keystone reality. A keystone reality, as I like to call them, is a reality that is vital to other realities and if it were to be disrupted or destroyed then pretty much all other realities are boned.”

“And you can't do this yourself because...?” Negi asked, honestly curious to the reason as to why the apparently god like entity couldn't resolve the multi-universal problem itself.

“It's pretty much the equivalent of picking at an open wound too much and causing an infection, it would make things worst in the long term. That's why I try and keep any interference to a minimum the majority of the time, giving the occasional gentle nudges in the 'right' direction from time to time. Or one big shove every now and then. Every action I take is for the best of the multiverse, take my word for it since I am after all an all seeing entity. Even though there times that I wish I wasn't. Like right now, being this close to you, I'm seeing things involving you that make me really uncomfortable.”

“Do I even want to know?” The boy asked, suddenly feeling like taking a very hot shower.

“No you don't, well maybe not at least until you're much older and.... Never mind let's just drop it okay? Some of the things you fleshlings do make me really uncomfortable. For the most part. The main thing we need to focus on is that by helping me you'll be able to get what you want the most: Bringing Asuna back to life!”

Negi's eyes widen at the last part before narrowing in confusion and suspicion at the orb. “I thought you said you couldn't do that?”

“I never said that, I said that you are the king of idiots, whose picture should be right next to the definition of the word in the dictionary for even thinking, let alone trying to go through with making a deal with the devil to bring back Asuna.” The orb shot back in a harsh tone, angry at the boy's pitiful stupidity renewed. “Once again I'm all seeing and in all outcomes of bringing back Asuna that way just end up to be completely and utter nightmares. Trust me on it. Help me with this and I can either void the contract between her and the devil or you can gain the power to save her yourself during your journey. You can help save the multiverse, and in doing so save Asuna. If that isn't a win-win, then I don't know what is.”

Negi stood there and looked at the pink orb and processing what it had told and offered him, omitting the unnecessary and disturbing bits. He couldn't help but wonder if this was all some weird dream or if the devil was messing with him for a cruel laugh. A part of him yelled at him to wake up or decline the offer and find another way to bring Asuna back. However a small voice in the back of his mind told him to say…

“I'll do it.” Negi state with a firm and mature tone that seemed years beyond his true age, which seemed to be the reason a lot of girls took a too strong of liking to him. The orb then began to flicker and Negi could have sworn he heard it begin to cry softly.

“Sniff...oh....sniff...I'm so happy to heard that! I'm not even going lecture you on how stupid it is for you to trust a stranger so easily. Or more specifically a floating ball of light that says weird and random things, which popped up after you tried to summon the devil.” At that statement Negi's manly expression shifted into that of a nervous and frighten child.

“Uh, well when you put like that then-”

“Now hold still since this might hurt a bit. Also you may experience some side effects afterwards. Like bleeding out of your eyes and other orifices because a few of your internal organs may have been liquified.” The orb cheerfully said as it glowed even brighter. Negi looked ready to burst into tears at that and tried to stop the orb.
“WAIT!? WHAT!? NOW HOL-” And with that Negi was engulfed by the orb's bright light and disappeared, leaving behind an empty cave in the middle of the woods.


-Guilt of a Phantom: New Destinies-



-Equestria Girls Universe Post RR-


Sitting alone in the storage closet inside the empty halls of Canterlot High was Sunset Shimmer, the world jumping, former student of Princess Celestia, and reformed villain turned good guy. After her defeat at the Fall Formal she had worked hard to atone for her past actions during her time at CHS. Helping out as much as she possibly could, and being as friendly as possible to everyone around her. It had been difficult as every student, and even several teachers hated her guts. But still Sunset stuck with it, even though she knew could just run away again just like she did back then in Equestria all those years ago.

But that was a different Sunset Shimmer, the old Sunset that only wanted power and nothing else. But after being blasted by the Elements of Harmony, that great thirst for power and the darkness in her heart was purged from her very being. Now no longer clouded and corrupted by her inner darkness Sunset had felt remorse for her actions and knew that the right thing to do was to atone for her sins. Even though it would be the most difficult thing she would ever have to endure. And honestly there were times she wanted, and even tried to run away from it all, but every single time she stopped for one reason.

Her friends. The five human versions of the Elements of Harmony. The five girls whose friendship she had so easily destroyed, had been the first and only ones at the time to give her, the one responsible for a lot of horrible things, a second chance. It was a rocky start but they grew closer as time went on, and little by little Sunset's burden began to feel a bit lighter and easier to bear. However doubt still plagued Sunset, wondering if the girls truly thought of her as their friend. Even Twilight gave that feeling when she returned to help with the sirens.
But after the Battle of the Bands, Sunset began to finally feel that they were all true friends, that she had finally been forgiven for all her past misdeeds. That she had finally moved on from her old self at long last.

Anon-a-Miss proved how wrong she was to believe that. Sunset didn't know exactly how the mind behind Anon-a-Miss did it but he, she, or they managed to find out all of her friends' and everyone at CHS deepest and most private secrets. And everyone believed it was her, even her so called friends accused her and turned their backs on her. After everything they've been through, how could they abandon her like that? The evidence against her was damning, but still they knew her, the real Sunset, they should have given her the benefit of a doubt. Hell it wasn't that hard to find out an embarrassing story about someone, grandparents loved to tell those all the time. And smartphones can be hacked!

Or maybe Applejack and Rarity's little sisters spread their secrets to make her look bad out of jealousy, and other students were anonymously sending them secrets to get back at at others.

Sunset quickly banished that thought since she knew the two younger girls, despite their limited interaction, to be well-meaning and rather direct girls. Even though they got into a lot of trouble with their friend Scootaloo, they would never go and do something as stupid and destructive as spreading people's most private and intimate secrets. The consequences of something like that would follow them throughout the rest of their lives! True the three often did stupid things but they would never anything like that. And if there was something troubling them then they would tell their sisters, not go behind their backs and betray their trust.

But whatever the case was, the fact remained that Sunset was alone now, with no one to turn to other than Twilight Sparkle. She wanted so badly for her to come through the portal and help prove her innocence, but knew that the former unicorn had other duties to attend to. Sunset knew she would come if she asked her, but she just couldn't. Both out of fear that she might make Twilight leave at a bad time, or if she, too, would come to believe Sunset went back to her old ways. Sunset even thought about asking her to open the portal and return to Equestria, but again fear kept her from doing so.

The unicorn turned human just didn't know what to do anymore, even Twilight's advice to find her family in the human world did little to help. Her friends were the closest thing she had to a family and right now they wanted nothing to do with her. She could try to convince them that she wasn't Anon-a-Miss and try to figure out the culprit's true identity but the fear of even further rejection and pain stopped her. The scorn and hateful treatment from the others hurt but it all paled in comparison to receiving the same treatment from the people closest to her.
“Someone, anyone, please give me the answer. What am I suppose to do?” Sunset whispered to herself from her curled up position.

“It's all really up to you, but for now, how about you listen to what I have to say.” A calm voice answered from above the distressed girl, who looked up and saw the most bizarre thing she had ever seen. Well one of the most bizarre things, she did come from a magical world full of ponies. Plus, she hanged out with Pinkie Pie.
Floating in front of her was a glowing orange orb which was roughly the size of a soccer ball, illuminating the room with it's soft pulsing light. Sunset was so caught off guard by the orb she failed to noticed that everything around her lost it's color, and were now mere shades of gray. Seconds turned to minutes as Sunset just stared at the orb, her mouth open and face frozen in stunned bewilderment. The orb itself simply floated in front of Sunset in silence, as if waiting for something-

“GAH!”

Yep there it is.

“WHA-WHAT THE!? WHAT ARE YOU!?” Sunset screamed as she backed away from the orb, pressing against the wall as best she could. The orb flickered as it.. chuckled(?) at Sunset's reaction.

“Well it's a really, really long story that relates to the very beginning of time and the universe, pretty much of everything really. A story, if told, will answer all the questions scientists, philosophers, religious leaders, deep thinkers and whiny teens ever had about life, existence, and other stuff. A story that would enlighten anyone who hears it.” At the orb's rant, Sunset's eyes went from being full of fear to being full of awe and wonder. Now they were sparkling at the thought of learning the secrets of the universe.

“But I'm not here for that crap.”

And just like that Sunset's good mood was shot down like a duck during hunting season. Plus she was sure the orb planned it, since it was flickering that way again, a sign that it was laughing.

“I am the extension of an entity that was created, along with many others, shortly after the Big Bang. And each one of us was charged to perform a certain task or tasks to insure and maintain the flow and continuation of time, reality, life and so on. Pretty much we make sure that the multiverse doesn't collapse and destroys virtually all of existence. And I am in charge of watching everything and by that I mean EVERYTHING. The past, present and future, every single possible variation, all outcomes, the minor and major factors responsible, critical decisions and etcetera. Like in one reality you succeeded in taking over Equestria. In another the Sirens win and take you and the others as..... uh servants? Yeah let's go with that. In others you hook up with Twilight Sparkle, or Adagio, Fluttershy, or you make a herd. Oh and in another you and Celes-”

“ENOUGH!” Sunset screeched with her face a bright red, both out of embarrassment and anger at what the orb was telling her. “Either tell why you're here or go away! I have enough problems as it is! I don't need to add dealing with a mysterious and creepy orange orb to the list!”

“Well you're no fun,” the orb said with a displeased tone, “Alright Sunny, here's the deal. I need your help, and you are the most qualified version of your, eh, yous to do so. Granted there are others that come close, but you stand out from the other yous. You along with nine other individuals, others that are not you by the way, must work together to help protect and even save a keystone reality. A keystone reality, as I like to call them, is a reality that is vital to other realities and if it were to be disrupted or destroyed then pretty much all other realities and everyone in them are boned beyond boned.”

“......um, huh?” Was Sunset's intelligible reply at what she just heard, her mind still processing the whole alternate versions of her and she being a 'chosen one' amongst them. However, she soon gathered her wits as a thought sprang up. “Wait, why do you need me and nine others? Why can't you do yourself, isn't it your job to fix it yourself?”

“If I could then I wouldn't be here talking to you now, would I?” The orb retorted with a snarky took, which got a scowl from Sunset. “Hey I'm telling you the truth here! If I go in then I'll end up making matters worse by messing with things. Should I intervene, and change one or more events, other entities on my level would do the same for one reason or the other. It's like a whole lot of dominos falling or a big oil fire. You just gotta let it all fall down or burn out, doing very little to just enough to make sure things don't get too messy afterwards. A little bitty nudge here and there towards the 'right' or 'best' option from time to time. Or one big shove every now and then, like throwing even more fuel into the fire to make it burn out quicker..... Okay not the best analogy since it sounds like I'm sending you to be burned alive in a way. But my point is that I am an all seeing entity and that every single action I take is for the best of the multiverse, so take my word for it that I need help to protect it.”

“Oh yeah, and what will happen if I DON'T help you?” Sunset challenged, still highly uncertain about the orb's claims. A part told her not to listen and contact Twilight about it the first chance she got. The orb seemed to dim and Sunset couldn't help but feel that this was it's way of showing it being uncomfortable.

“Well I could try and contact the other versions of you that are, uh, similar to the you of this reality, but I keeping foreseeing thingsss...... Not working out.” The orb struggled to say, as if debating with each word on what to say or not to say. “And just so you know, the reality that is in danger is one in which a different version of Earth and Equestria have met via tears. Long story, but the critical point is that if it collapses ALL other alternate versions of both Earth and Equestria will follow suit. And the destruction and countless deaths will not be instant for most of them.”

Sunset looked horrified at that and her mind immediately picturing such events, which were very livid thanks to several graphic and gory sci-fi and horror movies she had watched.

“Listen I'm not trying to guilt you into doing this or anything. The choice is yours and yours alone, but I'm being truthful in what I say. And the truth is that, in that universe, I'm having difficulties in seeing the future. Or, at least, the future in which it doesn't collapse. There are worlds and timelines that end completely, but they are outnumbered by the ones that continue. That's why I need your help to tip the scales, so that everything isn't wiped out of existence. Will you succeed? Yes. Will you fail? Yes, but not as much as other versions of you would have. They would succeed as well, but it's barely enough to maintain the balance. I can take more steps to ensure the survival of the multiverse, but they will just barely help out. That's why I need you.” 

silence fell amongst the two following the end of the orb's explanation. The former unicorn processing everything she was told.

First she was framed, and then abandoned by her friends in her time of need. And now a floating orb was asking her to help deal with a crisis on a multiple-dimensional level. Telling her that without her help specifically all universe would always be on the brink of destruction. Everything and everyone would be wiped out. Her answer was obvious.

“I'm in.” Sunset said with sober and unwavering conviction. The orb's light grew brighter, making Sunset wondering if that's how it smiled or displayed positive emotion.

“Good! Now hold your breath or your lungs will collapse. Plus you may or may not be physically altered in some strange way. Like an extra, cough, appendage or something.” The orb rapidly said as it glowed brighter preparing to release its power and send Sunset away to where she needs to be. And as one would expect, Sunset didn't like what she heard.

“HUH!? WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN BY THAT!? YOU BETTER NOT BE TELLING THAT I'M GOING TO END UP WITH A PEN-” Were Sunset's last words before being consumed by the orb's light and sent off to a whole new adventure, leaving the orb alone as it had another duty to perform.

“I wonder how she'll react when she finds out that she'll need to work with THEM. Let's take a look into that.” The orb took a few seconds and saw into the future. Soon it burst out laughing. “Well at least things won't get boring anytime soon. Now on to my next job.”

And with that the orb faded out CHS and teleported itself to the next people it needed to join it's team. And it knew just how to get them to help.


-Guilt of a Phantom: New Destinies-



**Elsewhere in the same Equestria Girls universe**


Within the confines of a slightly rundown house, inside a rather messy room on the second floor sat Adagio Dazzle, the 'leader' of the sirens for over a thousand years. Well former siren since their pendants were destroyed by the Rainbooms, taking away her and her sisters' magic and singing voices. Without their magic they were far more vulnerable than ever before, even more than when they had been banished to the human world. Thankfully, as luck would have have it, Adagio had made plans in case of such events due to past incidents in which they had lost their pendants for one reason or another.

Most of them having to do with Sonata.

Whenever they would lose one of their pendants or had to lay low, they would hide out at one of their safe houses Adagio had acquired whenever they moved to a new city or town. And they had plenty of emergency cash saved up as well. Enough to last them for five to ten years, which was how long it took them to find a pendant in the past.

However, this time there was no way for them to get their magic back. The source of their power was now in pieces and useless. Now they had to find a way to survive as normal human girls. And hopefully just long enough to find a way to get revenge, restore their powers, take over the world, and return to Equestria to take it over as well. But right now that was just wishful thinking at this point.

Currently the siren leader was sitting at her desk with various books, papers, and other items spread all over it. A shard of her broken pendant in her hand.

“Come on! Do something!” Adagio whispered harshly to the red shard in her hand, looking at it with such intensity, it was if she was trying to set it on fire. At least, that's what one of the books about magic she got told her to do in an attempt to infuse the shard with her inner energies, or something like that.

She was getting pretty desperate at this point. Hay, she was evening taking advice from the 'Magic for Dummies', wiki sites, and random web pages written by countless anonymous people. Obviously, a lot of what they posted was just stupid and straight out gross, so most of them were just crossed off as options, and a few were listed under: 'Barely Maybe', or: 'Dear-Celestia-I-Hope-It-Doesn't-Come-to-That!'

After several minutes of trying to trigger some magical response via intense eye contact, Adagio felt like her eyes were going to pop out as they began to twitch, while a few veins began to throb in her face and neck. Deciding that she rather not risk rupturing a blood vessel, Adagio stopped and set the shard to the side before dropping her aching head over her arms. The house was unusually quiet, despite the fact that both Sonata and Aria were home and would often get into loud arguments, or would have the volume of any of their electronics up to the max.

But Adagio wasn't going to complain or even question it how such a miracle came about. All she wanted to do for the next several hours was to simply rest her poor aching head on her nice, soft arms, enjoy the cool evening breeze coming in from her window and slowly drift to sleep, lulled by the silent night.

“AAAHHH!! ADAGIO!! ARIA!! HELP!!”

“SHUT UP SONATA!! I'M TRYING TO WATCH THIS... UUUHHHH... NEVER MIND WHAT JUST SHUT UP! YOU REALLY ARE THE WORST!”

“BUT I NEED HELP!!”

'Damn it. Why couldn't my nights ever be interrupted by a bunch of hot, famous and rich guys who all want to adore me? Was that too much to ask for? Was it unrealistic? Without her magic that is? Oh well, maybe if I ignore her she'll pass out from all the screaming. She does forget to breath when she screams, she'll be out in a few minutes, no biggie.'

“BUT I'M SUSTINO- SOUP COMBUS- I'M ON FIRE GUYS! HELP!! HELP!!!” At the word 'fire' Adagio shot out of her desk, while the sound of stuff being knocked over from the other side of the hall told her that Aria was on her way as well. Sonata plus fire always equaled Discord level trouble. Like in that time in the city of Rome... or Chicago for that matter. 

Which was why every room in the house had a fire extinguisher and other fire fighting tools. Grabbing the one she kept right next to her door, Adagio all but knock down the obstructing piece of rectangular wood and ran down the hall towards Sonata's room. 

She nearly run into Aria who had abruptly burst out of her room, fire extinguisher and blanket in hand, and looking rather disheveled and sweaty. Her cloths were in disarray, as it was clear that she had dressed in a hurry. The heavy blush and awkward look on her face, along with the sounds coming from the laptop in her room gave Adagio an all too clear idea of what Aria had been doing. And Adagio was not pleased.

“Aria...” Adagio flatly said with a disapproving glare shot at her fellow siren.

“Uuuhhhh, I... can... explain?” Aria dumbly said as she squirmed under the look she was getting.

“You know better then to watch those kinds of videos when Sonata is in the house! Don't you remember what happened back in Greece!? Everything she wanted to try because she thought it would be fun and what we had to go through to stop her!? And don't get me started about what happened when we went to India and Japan! Especially Japan!” Adagio half-shouted, half-screamed at Aria with gritted teeth, anger and disgusted as she remembered those disturbing and traumatizing times. Times she wished she could forget by reaching into her brain and tearing the gray matter that contain those memories with her own bare hands.

“HEY! MOST OF THOSE TIMES WERE YOUR FAULT! YOU WENT OUT FOR SOME 'FUN' WHILE I HAD TO BABYSIT SONATA AND MAKE SURE SHE DIDN'T FOLLOW YOU! WHICH IS REALLY HARD SINCE SHE ALWAYS WANDERS OFF! BUT YOU WOULDN'T KNOW NOW, WOULD YOU!?” Aria hotly shot back at her 'leader' and 'sister', face red with both anger and embarrassment. “.... and I have needs too.”

“THOSE WERE DIFFERENT TIMES! AND YOU ALWAYS SAID THAT YOU WEREN'T INTEREST, PLUS THAT IT WOULD BE WEIRD IF WE WENT TOGETHER!” Adagio countered as the two butted heads. “AND WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT THIS RIGHT NOW WHEN THE IDIOT IS PROBABLY BEING BURNED ALIVE AT THIS VERY MOMENT!?”

“I DON'T KNOW, BUT YOU STARTED IT! NOW SHUT UP AND LET'S PUT OUT THE FIRE BEFORE WE LOSE THE HOUSE!” Aria shouted, not knowing why she was still shouting but she sure as hell wanted to end the conversation as soon as possible. “... oh and make sure Sonata is okay I guess.”

“We're talking about this later.”

“Damnit.”

The two dashed towards Sonata's room, knocking down the door, and unleashing a near biblical wave of fire suppressing foam from their extinguisher, ignoring the occupant's cries of protest. Past experiences taught them to extinguish first and ask questions later. Only after they emptied both of the red canisters and covered everything in the fire stopping whiteness did they take note of certain key details.

First, there were no signs of fire. No smoke, ashes, burnt smells or anything.

Second, Sonata was whimpering, but not out of pain from being burnt.  Just from being hit by her fellow sirens' twin assault.  Other than that she seemed to be perfectly fine. By Adagio and Aria's standards anyway.

And lastly, there was a floating orb of fiery orange light in the middle of the room, pulsating and occasionally flashing.

Adagio and Aria simply stared at the orb, ignoring Sonata's whimpers, unsure of what to make of it. So they flew back on some old habits.

“Psst Aria.”

“Yeah?”

“On my mark we throw the extinguishers at that thing and make a run for it.”

“Gotcha, but you're the one that's dragging Sonata since you're closer to her.”

“Fine. Okay on three.”

“One, two, two and half and thr-”

“HELLO!” 

“GAH!?” 

The orb suddenly spoke, which scared the hell and a yell out of Aria and Adagio, causing Aria to drop her extinguisher on her foot and Adagio to fling hers to the side, narrowly missing Sonata who yelped as it flew past her head.

“OW MOTHER BUCKER! MY FOOT!!” Aria cried as she dropped to one knee and tried to sooth away the pain in her foot, muttering rather colorful words under her breath.

“DAGI! YOU ALMOST HIT MY HEAD YOU BIG MEANIE!!” Sonata cried with tears in her eyes as she looked at the big haired siren.

“TO TARTARUS WITH YOUR STUPID FOOT AND YOUR STUPID EMPTY HEAD!” Adagio shouted back at the two, giving them both a look before settling on Sonata with a frown. “WHAT THE HAY IS THAT THING SONATA!? WHAT DID YOU DO!?” 

“Me!? What makes you think I had anything to do with this!?” Sonata asked, feeling hurt that she was being blamed for the weird orb.

“Whenever something stupid or weird happens it's usually your fault!” Adagio snapped back.

“Yeah you really are the worst, Sonata. Ow, my foot.” Aria chipped in from her downed position. “Once the pain stops you're going to wish there had been a fire!”

“Well, I didn't have anything to do with this. I swear! For realsies!” The blue siren turned human girl pleaded her innocence to her fellow sirens, stomping her foot in frustration. “And excuse me for thinking that a sudden bright flash of light meant that I was suptousnaus, sup, um, that I suddenly got fire for no reason!”

“Sonata it's pronounced spon- you what never mind, we'll punish you later,” Adagio said as she rubbed her temples, not even sparing a glance at Sonata's indignant look, and settled her gazes on the orb. “What I want to know is where the hay did it come from?”

“How should I know?” Sonata grumbled out with a pout as she went to grab a towel and clean herself. “Why don't you ask it, since you know that it can talk!”

“Unless 'hello' is all it can say,” Aria added as she slowly stood up, gingerly standing on her feet as she took extra care not to put too much weight on her injured foot, “That will be the second worst thing to deal with. The worst still being Sonata.”

“Oh yeah, well, you're purple!”

“Go-”

“ENOUGH!” Adagio shouted, cutting off Aria as she wasn't in the mood for another one of the pair's annoying arguments. Once the two had shut up, Adagio pointed at the orb demanding and gave it her best menacing glare.

“You! Orange orb thingy. Where did you come from!?” Adagio demanded, unsure of how to address the orb as Aria gave her a flat look with a raised eyebrow, while Sonata wept over her ruin clothes.

“...” The orb just floated in silence as it flickered.

“...” The sirens stood in silence and wondering if maybe they had just imagined the 'hello'.

“Well!?” Aria piped up, already tired on the entire situation.

“Hmm? Oh were you talking to me?” The orb replied, surprising the sirens, which quickly turned to anger as it had just admitted to have been ignoring them.

“YES!!”

“Geez, no need to shout. I was just waiting for you three to settle down and finish your little argument.” The orb said as it flicker with each word. “Hmm, how do I explain this? Since you will either not understand it, or you just won't care.”

“Oh, come on! Aria isn't that stupid.” Sonata chirped in as she listened intently to what the orb was saying.
“He was talking about you, Sonata.” Aria said with annoyance.

“Well I thi-”

“DON'T YOU EVEN START!” Adagio ordered as she shot a glare at the two to silence them before looking back at the orb. “And you, whatever you are, tell us who or what you are and why are you here?”

“Well, to keep things short and simple. I am the extension of an all seeing entity who needs some help from you three, plus seven others, to save another universe. Once you have accomplished the task, you three will be reward handsomely.” The orb clearly stated and the sirens gave it a variety of expressions.

Sonata looked at orb with wide, sparkling eyes and a childlike smile on her face. Aria narrow her eyes in suspicion, but had an eyebrow up in intrigue and let out a 'hmm' of interest. And Adagio gave it a flat look of great skepticism, and decided to voice her thoughts on the matter.

“What kin-”

“GASP! YOU'RE SANTA CLAUS!? THIS THE BEST NIGHT!! OF ALL TIME!! FOR REALSIES!!” Cheered Sonata as she jumped in place and clapped her hands, much to the annoyance of Aria and Adagio. “OH! OH! WHERE'S MY LIST? WHERE'S MY LIST!?”

“Sonata, you are an idiot, that thing is not Santa!” Aria snapped at the blue girl as she pinched the bridge of her nose, “And even if he was, I doubt you would get anything but coal. And I hope it'll be in the shape of a brain to put into that empty head of yours.”

“But he said he saw everything and that he was here to give us presents!” Sonata whined with a pout, “And what do you mean that I'll get nothing but coal! I never got any coal in the past since I've been real good, and tried to make up for all the bad stuff I've done in the past too!”

“Sonata it wasn't... You know what I'm not going to bother to explain the coal thing to you right now,” Adagio muttered out, rubbing her temples as she could feel a big headache coming on, “The weird orb thing never said that it was here to give us anything. It's here to ask us for help to save another universe, and then we'll be rewarded.”

“I'm kind of more interest in the 'all seeing' part,” Aria stated with a disturbed look on her face, “When you say that you see everything... does that mean that you see everything we do? Like even when we're alone?”

“Yep, everything and everyone, no matter when or where. And yes even when they are alone,” the orb casually stated with a bit of mirth under its tone, “But don't worry, there's nothing you've done that countless others haven't already done themselves. But you and those countless others should be very ashamed of themselves. Very ashamed.”

“Oooh, Aria's been a naughty girl!” Sonata sang teasingly as she giggled at Aria's reddening face, and the orb joined in, “A very naughty, naughty girl indeed.”

“Alright, enough!” Adagio yelled over their teasing, getting their attention while Aria trembled in rage and whispering how she'll have her bloody, bloody revenge. “What do we have to do in order to save this other universe and what kind of reward do we get after we accomplishing this task?”

“Well the first part wouldn't be explained until you're with the other seven in said universe,” the orb said in a trailing off manner, “but as for the reward, well how does having your very own world to mold as you please sound?”

“Wait? What?” was Adagio's intelligent reply, unsure of what she just heard. Sonata had a look of confusion as she tried to figure out what the orb just said. But Aria's eyes lit up in realization of just what they were being offered.

“Whoa whoa whoa, are you saying that, if we help you out and succeeded, we'll become gods of our very own world? Like, we're talking about having reality-bending powers like Discord, right?” Aria said as her tone became more and more excited and anxious in hopes of having her inquiries confirmed.

“What!? We'll turn into something like Discord? But I don't want to have random body parts or a goatee!” Sonata cried in despair as she dropped to her knees and shouted "No!" to the heavens.

“Sonata, shut the hell up!” Adagio snapped at the girl, “She means that we'll have powers like him, turn into whatever the hell he is, and do whatever we want. And you do mean that we can do ANYTHING we want in OUR world right?”

“The sky can be green, the oceans purple, chocolate animals roaming the wilds, the entire world populated by either humans or ponies or anything you want. You can live out all of the fantasies you've always wanted but never could, no matter what it may be. Like Sonata's fantasy of hunting down and devouring taco people, which isn't as creepy as some of the things you and Aria fantasise about. Then again, I have always found the things you fleshlings do in private to be downright disgusting. But the things you'll go through to keep the things you do in private a secret, or get someone else to join you are just plain, straight out hilarious.”

A very awkward and uncomfortable silence fell amongst the sirens, blank looks on their faces as they each looked at each other yet not willingly to look each other in the eye.

“....Aria …. Sonata, let's make a pact right now to keep our fantasies, whatever they may be, to ourselves. And once we have our world to mold said fantasies will only be acted out during 'Alone Time', away from each others' eyes and whatever happens during 'Alone Time' stays in 'Alone Time'.  We will not interfere or bother one another during 'Alone Time' and we are to give each other a heads up before we have 'Alone Time'. Agreed?” Adagio said with a drained and monotone voice.

“Agreed.” Aria said without any emotion, not sure how she should feel about the fact that her fantasies were apparently worse than Sonata's.

“Um, right now I'm starting to remember some of the things that I wanted to try when I heard about them years ago back in Japan, and some other places. Now most of them sound just really gross, and if that's what you guys fantasies about then, yes, I agree with a hundred percent realsies.” Sonata said with an uncharacteristic tone for her, her blue face paling and eye twitching.

“Good. Now let's never speak of this again. Ever.”

“Agreed.”

“For realsies.”

“Soooo, you'll help?” The orb asked, barely able to hide it's amusement at how uncomfortable the sirens were.

“With our reward being an entire world to rule and do as we please? Of course we'll help.” Adagio said with a smirk, envisioning her empire and her adoring servants/subjects.

“You got that right!” Aria chimed in as she stood strong and proud with her arms crossed, wincing slightly as pain shot up from her foot. She still managed to grin as she thought of the fun she will have with powers like Discord in her hands. Forget getting even with the Rainbooms, this offer sounded a lot better.

“Fear me taco people for soon, I, Sonata the taco-eater will hunt you down and devour your taco goodness!” Sonata roared, mimicking a monster while the other sirens rolled their eyes and face palmed at her antics.

“Perfect. Now it's been awhile since I teleported someone to another dimension, and I can't remember the last time I did a group. But I'm sure you'll be fine. Probably. Maybe. But I would cross your fingers and pray just in case.” The orb said in a rush as it began to glow brighter as it prepared to send the three away. This set off an alarm in Adagio and Aria's heads while Sonata was just confused.

“Wait a minute you're having us leave now? Right now? But we haven't packed or prepared or anything!” Aria protested, not wanting to leave without her MP3 player and other necessities, by her standards anyway.

“And what do you mean that we'll be fine, but still need to pray for it? Just what could go wrong?” Adagio half-screamed, suddenly feeling like they've made a huge mistake.

“Well a lot things, especially with a group. You'll either switch bodies, body parts, merge semi-completely or completely, or one of you could end up pregnant with one of the other two's' child.” The orb replies as if it were talking about the weather. At this the sirens began to freak out but found themselves unable to move.

“WHAT!? NO! I LIKE MY BODY AND THE WAY IT IS!” Adagio screamed as she tried desperately to move her legs.

“LIKE HELL I'LL SWITCH ANYTHING WITH SONATA, LET ALONE SHARE A BODY WITH EITHER OF THESE TWO! I RATHER KISS EVERY MEMBER OF THE RAINBLOSSOMES!” Aria cried as she tried to claw out her own throat, death sounding a very appealing option at this point.

“WE'RE GOING TO BE MOMMIES!? I ALWAYS WANTED A BABY! BUT I DON'T WANT TO GO THROUGH THE PAIN OF CHILDBIRTH! CAN YOU MAKE SURE THAT IT'S ARIA THAT GETS PREGNANT SINCE SHE'S TOUGHEST ONE OF US? ALSO I DON'T WANT TO RUIN MY FIGURE!” Sonata shouted, mainly because the other two were shouting, while she pictured what her maybe baby or babies would look like.

“WHAT!? SONATA YOU REALLY ARE THE WOR-” Was the last thing any of the sirens yelled before they were consumed by the orb's light and sent off to a whole new world.

“Heh, I wonder how they'll react when they run into Sunset on the other side. Well things won't get boring anytime soon.” The orb said with a chuckle as it faded away.


-Guilt of a Phantom: New Destinies-



<In some other reality>


He felt nice and warm, like he was sleeping on a soft cloud that drift through the sky as a warm, gentle breeze carried along under the warm light of the sun. He felt at completely at ease and peace, free of any doubt, fears and negativity. He could stay like this and sleep forever.

“...wake up...” What? Who was that? Why did that voice sound for familiar? And why did they want him to wake up when he felt so good?

“...wake up you idiot!” Another voice? Great there was another voice that wanted him to wake up, and this one also called him an idiot to boot! Who the hell did this voice think he was, to insult him of all people? The son of the Seventh Hokage!

“Come on! You gotta wake up!” One voice cried, sounding really familiar now, it's tone making him want to both comply and yell at the voice at the same time.

“Yeah! Wake up already, you! Ugh you're worse than Shikadai!” Worst then Nara Shikadai? As if! That guy could spend a week lying on his back and watching the sky without moving. A sloth moved more in a day then that guy did in his entire life to date!

“...Go away and leave me alone...” He mumbled out and tried to tune out their eventual responses, wanting nothing more than to sleep in peace an-

SMACK!!

“OW!! WHAT THE HELL!” Uzumaki Boruto cried out as both his hands went straight to his stinging cheek where he had been slapped. “WHY DID YOU DO THAT?”

“It's your fault for not waking up when we asked you to! Shannaro!” An all too familiar and stern voice snapped back at him, and prompted the son of the Seventh Hokage to look up at the owner.

“SARADA!? Why'd you slap me, and what the hell are you doing in my room?” Boruto cried in both rage and awkwardness at the girl he had known his entire life, Uchiha Sarada.

“I'm sorry, Boruto, but we really needed you to wake up and Sarada lost her patience,” a soft, kind voice next to Boruto said and the boy turned to see his little sister, Uzumaki Himawari, kneeling next to him with an apologetic smile on her whiskered face, “Oh and we're not in your room or any room for that matter.”

“Huh!?” was Boruto's intelligent response before he took a good look around and saw that they were in the middle of nowhere. Or, rather, they were in of vast white nothingness. As far as he could see, all he saw was white. A white empty sky, and an endlessly flat and equally white ground. There was only one thing for him to say at this point.

“WHERE THE HELL ARE WE?! THIS HAS GOT TO BE A DREAM, YA KNOW!?”

“This isn't a dream, Boruto,” Sarada calmly said as she readjusted her glasses, and gave the blond boy a flat look, “We were all brought here for reason.”

“Huh?”

“She's right, big brother,” Himawari chirped in with a smile, “we were just waiting on you to wake up on your own, but you were taking too long. And mom always said that it's impolite to keep others waiting, even if Uncle Kakashi does that a lot.”

“Huh? What in the hell are you two talking about? For what reason are we in the middle of white nothingness, and who the hell is waiting for us?”

“WE were waiting for you to wake up. And as for who, just look behind you.” Sarada flatly said as she pointed right behind Boruto, who promptly looked over his shoulder and jumped to his feet at what he saw.

Floating in midair was a pale-skinned elderly man wearing a white, full-length kimono with a pattern of six black magatama the high collar, beneath which he wore a necklace which was also made up of six black magatama. His deep wrinkles gave away his advanced age. He had spiky, shoulder-length, pale-red hair, with a chin-length braid hanging in front of his left ear. He sported a goatee that tapered down to his waist. He had horn-like protrusions on his forehead, lacked eyebrows, and had a red marking that match his eyes in the centre of his forehead. But his eyes were the most bizarre. They were a complete light purple, with a ripple pattern that spread over his eyeballs. A staff which was somehow attached to his back, and, as he sat indian style, ten glowing orbs circled underneath him.

And, to the individual's side, there was one more glowing sphere to be found. A glowing purple orb, hanging stationary in the air. But Boruto was more concerned with the odd looking old man. Thankfully he had just the appropriate response for such a situation as this.

“Who the hell is this old weirdo?” He bluntly asked as he rudely pointed at said weirdo, and was justly rewarded with a smack on the back of his head, courtesy of the daughter of his father's best friend and rival.

“OW! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR SARADA!?” Boruto cried as he shot a glare at the Uchiha girl.

“BECAUSE YOU'RE AN IDIOT, SHANNARO! Don't you recognize him from the stories my mom, your dad and Kakashi used to tell us? That's the Rikudō Sennin, the Sage of Six Paths, Otsutsuki Hagoromo! The founder of the Shinobi world, original wielder of the Rinnegan and the first Savior of the World!” The Uchiha girl screamed at Boruto while pointing at Hagoromo with each word to emphasis her point.

Boruto slowly backed away for her, a look of fear and panic over his face. Himawari had a similar, if a bit more nervous, expression on her face as she tried to say something to defuse the situation but nothing came out. 

Fortunately, or unfortunately, Boruto decided to try and quell the girl's rage by displaying a bit of commonly know knowledge.

“Oh I remember now! He's the creator of ninjutsu, ya know!” Boruto proudly stated as his sister palm met her face, Hagoromo's eye twitched, the purple orb flickered and.... chuckled? And Sarada, well... she rewarded his effort with another smack to the side of his thick head.

“OW! WHY!?” 

“YOU IDIOT! SHANNARO, YOUR DAD JUST TOLD US YESTERDAY, WHEN HE VISITED OUR CLASS, THAT WAS A MISCONCEPTION! HE CREATED NINSHU WHICH TAUGHT PEOPLE TO USE CHAKRA TO PROMOTE PEACE! NINJUTSU BRANCHED OF THOSE TEACHINGS TO FIGHT AND CREATE WAR!” Sarada ranted displaying the same fiery temper her mother was well known for, veins throbbing in her forehead and a fist clenched so tightly her knuckles turned white. Normally she wasn't this shorted tempered but given the circumstance, she was really on edge.

“Yeah, well. I hardly listen to what old man says anymore, ya know,” Boruto muttered, angry over the fact that class visits were one of the few times he ever saw his dad during the day anymore.

“WHAT!? He's your father and the Hokage! How can you be so disrespectful!” Sarada shouted, taken aback by what he said, even though she could understand the reason why.

“Oh, just shut it will ya!” Boruto shot back as his sister moved and tried to get between the two thirteen year olds, in hopes of defusing their argument.

“Y-You two, come on,” Himawari meekly said as she tried to get their attention, “this isn't the time to be fighting, Otsutsuki-sama wants to talk with us, remember?”

However, Himawari's plea and the older pair's bickering were drowned out by loud, deep, and rough laughter coming from the floating old man himself. For what seemed like several minutes the old sage laughed as his descendants merely looked on at the odd sight of him laughing. Soon enough his bout of laughter began to die down, and finally seized.

“It's heartwarming to see that my sons' current incarnations have sired such lively children such as you three,” The sage said with a kind, grandfatherly smile, “however, little Himawari is right. I have urgent business to discuss with the three of you.”

“Okay, then what is it that you want from us?” Boruto asked, very confused over the whole situation, “I mean, our dads the strongest ninjas in the world, and they've talked to you before, so why didn't you go to them instead?”
“Well it's not really me that needs something from you,” the sage said with a hint of uncertainty on how to phrase the following words as the three kids looked at him in confusion, “it's him that needs you for something very important.”

The sage motioned to the purple orb floating next to him. The two Uzumakis and lone Uchiha looked at the orb, then back to the sage, then back to orb, and back to the sage, and then to the orb again before shifting back to the sage. The same thought struck them all at the same time, but they didn't know whether or not they should share it with the sage. Or if it was even a good idea. Sadly there is always one.

“Have you finally gone senile, ya old fart? What could one of your weird and only glowing ball want from us, ya know?” Boruto asked rudely, all manners his mother had taught him completely forgotten over the current situation, as the two girls fed their palms to their faces.

“Idiot.”

“Stupid big brother.”

“HEY! WHO ARE YOU CALLING WEIRD GLOWING BALL? THAT'S RACIST! THE CORRECT TERM IS WEIRD GLOWING ORB OF SUPER UNEQUAL AWESOMENESS!” The purple orb shouted out as it flickered brightly with every word it said. The trio jaws dropped, unable to comprehend for the moment what just happened.

Saradan shakily raised a hand as she tried to point at the orb, stuttering to say something. 

“D-di-did th-that ball j-”

“ORB, O-R-B, ORB, AND YES I DID!”

“-orb just talk?” Sarada barely managed to finish, completely caught off guard by the talking orb. The Uzumaki siblings weren't faring much better either.

“Uhhh.... um, yeaahh orb, my bad ya know.” Was Boruto's only responses.

“Um, hello mister orb?” Himawari greeted uncertainly.

“And now I'm gonna take advantage of the fact that you three are too weird out to even speak to explain a couple of things,” the orb jovially said, enjoying the looks of befuddlement of the three children, “I am the extension of an entity, one of many, that has existed since just shortly after the Big Bang and has been charged with the task to watch over, protect and maintain all of existence: time, reality, life and etcetera. In other words, I need to make sure that the multiverse doesn't collapse and destroys all of existence. I am charged with watching everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. The past, present, and future. Every single possible variation, all outcomes, the minor and major factors responsible, critical decisions and so on. An example: in certain realities Naruto marries Sakura instead of Hinata.”

“WHAT!? GROSS!!” Boruto cried out as his face looked slightly green.

“EEEWWWW! JUST EEEEEWWWW!” Himawari whined, drawing out the word for a good minute before pausing and repeating a few more times.

“That's like Boruto and Himawari getting married! So wrong and gross, shannaro!” Sarada muttered, her face paling before turning green as well, he cheeks puffing up as she put a hand over her mouth in an attempt to resist the incredibly strong urge to vomit.

“Heh and what makes all three of you say that?” the orb asked, clearly amused by their antics. Even though it already knew why, it was still fun to hear them out.

“They're practically brother and sister!” Boruto cried out as if it was the most obvious thing the world, “hell I even called Sarada's grandparents 'grandpa' and 'grandma' when I was little!”

“I checked their birth certificates, and even did some blood tests to make sure if they were related.” Sarada admitted as she coughed into her hand and looked away from Boruto's incredulous, unbelieving look.

“EEEWWW!” Himawari was still going strong and kept going for a few more minutes, before finally seizing. “Okay I'm done now.”

“Moving on. Now, I the need help from you three. Specifically you three, as other versions of you won't work out to help prevent the complete destruction of a keystone reality.  A keystone reality, as I like to call them, is a reality that is vital to other realities and if it were to be disrupted or destroyed, then pretty much all other realities are doomed. Doomed! You three must work together with seven other, carefully selected individuals to protect and save that reality.” The orb stated with as much seriousness as possible.

“Wait why exactly do you need US? If you're some kind of god, then couldn't you protect this keystone reality yourself?” Himawari innocently asked as she didn't understand how two genin and an academy student were suppose to help in such a serious matter. This snapped both said genin from their unofficial staring contest, as they both turned to the orb for an answer.

“It would eventually make matters worst in the long run, so I have to keep my interference to the bare minimum. So all I can really do is give a gentle nudge or one big shove every now and then. So just take my word for it that this way is for the best. So what's your answer?” The orb asked the three, Sarada and Himawari falling completely silent as they thought about it.

If they were the only ones that could help save an entire universe, and by connection, all other universes then of course they had to say yes. However there was also the possibility of failing and dooming all of existence, as well as one or all of them dying. These two thoughts kept from answering, however Boruto had no such problems.

“I'm in! I can't wait to rub it in the old man's face that I saved countless worlds ya know!” Boruto boasted with confidence that only the son of Uzumaki Naruto could muster. Confidence that was very contagious, as it seemed to wash away the two girls' self-doubts.

“If you're in, then so am I, big brother! Us Uzumaki and Konoha-nin always stick together!” Himawari proudly proclaimed with a bright smile as she pumped a fist to the air, similar to her father in his youth.

“Well then I guess I'm in too, otherwise who knows what kind of trouble you'll get yourself in.” Sarada wistfully said with a sigh and small smile, wondering if her mother and father ever experienced this type of thing with the Seventh Hokage during their younger years.

“Fabulous! Now all three of you hold perfectly still, or else your skin will fall off. Or you may end up in a completely different reality than I meant to send you to. One that is home to horrible monsters, or drag queens. Whichever you find far more horrifying. Oh, and Boruto. Other versions of your dad have already saved the multiverse. Multiple times even.” The orb rapidly said as it glowed brighter as it prepared to release its power and teleport the three children to where they needed. Once it's words registered in the trio's mind they reacted as one would expect.

“WHAT!? OH COME ON!!” Boruto cried out, not believing his ears at the latter, while ignoring the former.

“WAH!! I DON'T WANT MY SKIN TO FALL OFF! OR BE IN A WORLD FULL OF GENDER CONFUSED MEN!” Himawari wailed, the eleven year old fearing both outcomes.

“SHANNARO! WHY ARE YOU TELLING US THIS JUST NOW! YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SH-” Was the last thing Sarada got in before they were consumed by the orb's light and sent off to a whole new world.

“Was any of that nonsense really necessary?” The old sage asked with a deadpanned expression.

“Not one bit, but it sure was funny. To me anyway.”

The sage just sighed.


-Guilt of a Phantom: New Destinies-


<Alternate time line>


Thirty years had passed since the Great Nasty Burger Explosion, which claimed the lives of six innocent people, and left one fourteen year old boy orphan and alone. And it was only a few weeks after that day Danny Phantom returned, and ushered in a decade long reign of terror on both the Earth and the Ghost Zone.

Twenty years ago. Danny, or rather, Dan Phantom had simply disappeared without a trace. Both the humans and the ghosts joined forces and searched every corner of both worlds for the embodiment of destruction, but found none. No one knew why he had vanished, or if he would ever return. And if so, when? There were theories, such as: He had finally met his match, was sent to another world, fell into a slumber, was trapped somewhere, or had an epiphany and decided to pass on to the afterlife. And many, many more.

No one, human or ghost knew for sure. But the very possibility of Dan Phantom returning to terrorize their worlds had both humans and ghosts come together, and forge a shaky and fragile truce and alliance in order to prevent, and if need be, fight off the great threat.

Eighteen years ago, however, that all changed when Vlad Masters, former billionaire reappeared after twelve years of hiding. The close friend of the late Fenton family came forth and announced that he would personally spearhead the reconstruction of both the human and ghost worlds. As well as mend the bridges between the two worlds and preached for both humans and ghosts to co-existence side by side as friends. Despite lacking both initial public support and financial backing, Vlad worked tirelessly to accomplish both these goals. It was during this time that he met Maya Martinez, who joined him in his efforts to bring a new era for both humans and ghosts.

Sixteen years ago. Vlad Masters and Maya Martinez married on the same day both human and ghost leaders signed a treaty between the two worlds; the first step for co-existence between them. Nearly one year later, Maya gave birth to their son, who was named after Vlad's best friend, Jack Rey Masters-Martinez.

Ten years ago. In order to deal with new and old ghosts, as well as other humans that were stirring up trouble, a joint force, made up of both humans and ghosts, was formed to deal with such threats; dubbed the Fenton Ghost Fighters, in honor of the late Fenton family. 

Eight years ago. Maya passed away from a rare form of aggressive cancer, and was unable to return as a ghost due to Dan Phantom's actions, which brought a great imbalance to the natural order of things. A few weeks later Vlad called Valerie and Skulker over to train Jack in the art of ghost hunting.

Six years ago. Vlad's health began to deteriorate, and following medical tests reveal that he was dying, brought about by having his ghost-half being ripped out him twenty four years prior. He decided to keep this a secret from friends and family alike.

Four years ago. Jack became the youngest member of the FGF at the age of ten by breaking up a gang of humans using animal ghosts to commit crimes, and blood sport. However he didn't start active duty until six months later, due to be grounded by his father.

Three years ago. Vlad finally accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for his actions and contributions to promoting peace between ghosts and humans, having refused it in the past for personal reasons.

One year and seven months ago. Jack was placed on a mandatory leave from the FGF until further notice. The reason was due to having suffered a mental breakdown following the investigation and arrest of another criminal ring of humans that had been abducting ghosts for purposes and reasons that had yet to be released to the public. One of the ghostly victims was a friend of Jack's.

Eleven months ago. Following a sudden collapse at a public function, Vlad finally reveals to those closest to him that he was dying, devastating them.

Six months ago. Despite doctors, human and ghost's best, frantic efforts and tireless work, there was no way to save Vlad's life, who was given only a few weeks to live.

Four and half months ago. With his end near, and his ability to speak leaving him, privately Vlad summoned his son for a deathbed confession. Vlad reveals his entire past to his son, which shook the boy to the core. That, and the knowledge of alternative timeline in which the nightmare of Dan Phantom never happened.

Three months ago. Vlad Masters passes away in his sleep, leaving behind a legacy of human perseverance and kindness that had inspired both humans and ghosts alike, and a son who's entire view of the world had been shattered.

Two months ago. Jack moved in with Valerie Gray, who, along with several ghosts, looked after him, while also trying their hardest to pull the troubled teenager out of his depression. They didn't have much success, and Jack barely left his room, except to visit someone once a week.

Current Day at Amity Park Cemetery.

Standing before two graves of the late Mr. and Mrs. Masters was their fourteen year old son, Jack Rey Masters-Martinez. The teen stood at 5' 6”, bore a close resemblance to his father, but had inherited some of his mother's rounded features, along with her light brown skin tone. His hair was jet black, and pulled back into a small ponytail; the edges uneven due to Jack cutting his own hair as he had neglecting going to the barber. He was wearing light brown khaki pants and black boots, a long-sleeved black and white hoodie with the initials FGF on it, and a backpack hanging off on his left shoulder. 

But what really stood out for anyone that saw his face were his eyes. Jack had heterochromia, a condition in which his eye iris were of a different color. His right eye was emerald green, and his left was sapphire blue. An odd condition that had in the past unintentionally charmed many of the opposite gender.

However, that wasn't what was on Jack's mind right now. It hadn't been for a long time, as well as many other thoughts that didn't have anything to do with what had been constantly on his mind for the past four months.

His father's, Vlad Masters', secret past and his many sins. Jack just didn't know how he should feel, or even deal with the burden of such knowledge. A dark side to his father that had played a part in the living hell humans and ghost were forced to endure.

His father had gained ghost powers from an accident during his college years. And due to having grown bitter over it, used them to amass an ill gotten wealth. Committing crime after crime, and ruining life after life, Vlad had sought to become ruler of both the Earth and Ghost Zone. 

Oh, and apparently he wanted to destroy Jack Fenton and make Maddie Fenton his bride.

It was his hunger for power and tyranny that led him to attempted many dangerous experiments and ploys with disastrous results. Pariah Dark being a prime example. Had it not been for Danny Phantom, then the Earth would have suffered under the Ghost King's rule.

Danny Phantom. Now that was a shocker for Jack that, just like his father, a fourteen year old boy had gained ghost powers through an accident. But, unlike his father, Danny Fenton had used them for good. To help out others, and protect them from danger and evil ghosts. Which inevitably led him to go up against his Jack's father, with the two clashing repeatedly. Vlad did his best to either get Danny to join him, or destroy him. More of the latter as time went on, and contempt between the two Halfas grew.

And yet, it had been a small gesture of kindness from one to another that changed the course of history, twice.

After the death of his friends and family, Danny had gone to Vlad who took the boy in with open arms. However Danny had been unable to deal with the guilt and pain, and had asked Vlad to take away the source and cause of it. His ghost-half. Vlad honored Danny's wishes. It was a wish he wished he hadn't fulfilled, as it was that gesture of 'kindness' that result in the birth of a great evil, Dan Phantom. 

Free of his human emotions and inhibitions, Danny's unstable ghost self attacked, removed, and somehow merged with Vlad's ghost-half and was consumed by his evil. Evil that had warped the unstable ghost even further. The feelings of loss and rage that had dwell within them both creating the most powerful and horrible ghost ever known.

After surviving the destruction of his mansion, Vlad had gone into hiding, powerless to do anything as Dan grew ever more powerful for ten long years. Ten years for the bitter hermit and former villain to reflect on his life and past actions, and realize far too late of what a fool he had been. Wishing every day, every hour, every minute and every second that he would have realized it sooner and done things differently, as he had confessed to his son on his deathbed.

How he wished he had gone to Jack and Maddie after discovering his powers and gotten their help. Only now realizing that they wouldn't have turned him away due to their friendship. Thinking of all the good they could have done working together as a team, just like they were back in college. Letting go of his feelings for Maddie that had turned into an obsession. Wishing that he would have realized and accepted that she loved Jack, wishing he had been happy for them instead of bitter hatred. He had done so many wrongs in pursuit of gaining power and wealth that he had in self-delusion believed would allow him to win Maddie's heart.

So many regrets, so many wrongs, and so many days and nights Vlad spent wishing he could take it all back, or have a chance to make things right.

And he did, when Danny Phantom from the past came to him for help, and even showed him, Vlad, a small gesture of kindness and trust. Kindness by, to some degree, forgiving his old enemy for his past actions and crimes. And trusting him to remove Clockwork's time medallion so he could return to his time and change his future, despite the fact Vlad could have easily killed him instead. 

Vlad had seriously considered it, but two things stopped him.

One, his his guilt for his role in everything that has happened. And the other was that it would have been pointless. What Danny and many people didn't know, let alone realize, was that history cannot be erased. Changed, and set on a different course yes, but never erased. Danny going back to his time and preventing the incident that would have led him into becoming Dan would not undo the damage Dan had already done. Time was simply not that kind or generous to fools. But at least it was kind and generous enough to allow one foolish old man the chance to give a boy he had wronged, as well as an entire world, or in this case four worlds, a brighter future.

Danny also mentioned something about a world full of magical ponies but Vlad decided not to ask what the hell that was all about.

While Vlad did fear the damage his past self would most likely do in his pursuit of power, and his attempts in getting Maddie, he had absolute faith that Danny Phantom will be there to stop him. And, hopefully, his other self would come around, and realize the errors of his ways. Or be put in a prison where he can't do any damage. Whichever happened first. But he was happy to be able to do the right thing for the first time in his life, and for the boy he had wronged so many times. 

It was by this one action alone he had gained the strength and drive to go out and help rebuild.

His father had hoped to die without any more regrets. But he failed in that, for he was leaving him alone when he needed his father the most. All his father could give him in the end was a final speech before his last breath.

'Losing someone you love is the most painful thing one can experience. And now you. my dearest boy. must experience it for a third time it seems. Your happiest memories of us will not doubt bring you even more pain, because there will be no more of them. And you'll wish for it to simply stop, for the pain to go away, no matter the cost. But you must bear that pain, my boy, no matter how much it hurts. It will help you grow, if you let it, if you accept and understand it. Do not fight it, do not reject or force it away. Otherwise you may end up jaded and cynical of life. Or worse, you'll end up like Dan Phantom. HE taught me that. I should have helped Daniel deal with his pain, rather than to try and take it away. I will not make the same mistake with you, my son. You cannot run away from your pain because it is, and will always be a part of you. The more you struggle, the further and further it will drag you down into the darkness. But if you stop struggling and accept it, you will come to realize that you only felt such terrible pain because of the great happiness you've experienced before. That will give you the strength to move on and find new sources of love and happiness. Please, Jack. Don't let the memories of your mother, your friend, and me be the chains that sink you into darkness, but the bonds that lift you up into the light. It will take a while for that time to come, but trust me, it will. But no matter what happens, until then, no matter what you may do with yourself. Until then, know this my boy. We will always love you.'

“You know you can't keep going on like this,” An all too familiar voice came from behind Jack, snapping him out of his flashback as the teen looked over his shoulder and away from the graves of his parents and the Fenton family. Sure enough, there was his old ghost hunting instructor and FGF captain. The Ghost Zone and Earth's greatest hunter: Skulker.

After the 'fall' of Dan Phantom, the mini green ghost and Technus had ended their partnership, and Skulker returned to his older type robot suits. However, instead of going back to his old ways, the hunter went and aided other ghosts rebuild their homes, and even protect them from ill willed ghosts as well. Having spent ten years as Dan Phantom's prey had changed him it seemed. He was even the first ghost to support and help Vlad in his campaign, and the first one to join the FGF. The latter being the one he enjoyed most, as he was both helping the community and hunting worthy prey, predators of the weak, and other elusive scumbags.

Jack admired and respected him, and thought of him as the closest thing he had to a brother. The same could be said of the other ghosts that had worked with Vlad, or were members of the FGF. The irony? They were all past enemies of Danny Phantom, who were all now doing what he would've done before his fall.

Right now, however, Jack didn't feel like seeing his brother right now. Just like he hadn't felt like seeing him or anyone else in the past few weeks.

“I know.” Was all Jack said, nothing more.

“I know that what happened back then is tormenting you, and losing your father only worsen it,” Skulker slowly and carefully said as he tried to find the right words. “But that doesn't mean you should shut yourself away from the world. You might as well be dead, and that's coming from a ghost!”

“......”

Skulker sighed out tiredly, “Listen Jack, how about we go out and, um, what's that thing that old and young men do alone, together, or with one or two more? That's really wet and smelly?” Skulker mumbled himself out loud as he tried to remember the bonding experience two men of different ages do. He broke into a grin and snapped his metallic fingers. “FISHING! That's it! Let's go fishing, it'll help you get your mind off things!”

“.....”

“We'll do all that stuff you're supposed to do on fishing trips, whatever they may be... I'll have Technus look it up for us!”

“.....”

“.....I'll let you drink beer?”

“.....”

“.....Take you to peep on the women's changing room on the beach?”

“.....Maybe some other time.”

Skulker sighed out again, “Well, you are still only fourteen. But still, you gotta at least try and get yourself out of this depression. Not just for yourself, but for me and the others as well. It hurts all of us to see you so broken.” Skulker said as he walked closer to Jack and placed a hand on his shoulder. “We may not be the ideal makeshift family, and I'm using all three of those words very, very loosely. But we are a family now. Your family, and we'll be there whenever you need-”

BEEP! BEEP!

A long, annoyed, and tired sigh escaped Skulker, “You know, I could feel it coming just as I was saying that.” Skulker muttered as he looked at his new and improved PDA's screen, seeing the message hailing him back to the FGF HQ. “And it looks I'm needed for something big going on in Asia. So it means I won't be able to be here for you when you need me.”

“Kind of ruins your whole family thing speech now, doesn't it.” Jack said with a small hint of mirth, despite his previous mood. A small part of him found it funny, and he couldn't help but remember the times Skulker's old PDA had given him problems.

“Yes, it does. But my point still stands!” Skulker hotly said, now feeling like a jackass as he activated his jet rockets. “We'll talk after I get back alright? Take care.”

And with that, the Greatest Hunter of the Ghost Zone soared into the sky, leaving Jack alone in the cemetery.

Turning back to the graves, Jack could only feel himself get heavier as he now felt guilt over worrying the others. Burying his face in his two hands, Jack couldn't help but ask himself: “Just what I'm suppose to do?” He wasn't expecting what came next.

“Well, how about you come and help me out?” A voice suddenly said right behind Jack, scaring the hell out of him as he jumped and dropped his backpack. How the hell did he not notice someone sneaking up on him? Jack had learned from Valerie and Skulker how to feel when someone was around him, ghost or human.

With a shaky breath the young ghost fighter, which he preferred over hunter for personal reasons, turned around and saw not a human or ghost, but a greenish-blue floating orb of flickering light right behind him. There was only one thing the fourteen year old could say at that exact moment.

“What the hell!?” Jack cried as he stared at the orb with confusion and uncertainty. It was either some weird glowing gadget, or a really lazy ghost who didn't bother to work on their physical form.

“I mean, it'll give you something to do while you're figuring things out!” The orb suddenly said, flickering with each word that came out of it's non-existent mouth.

Jack could only stare at the orb for a whole minute, before taking a look around to see if there was anyone else around. But all he noticed was that everything seemed to turn gray for some reason. But before he could ask what the hell happened to whatever little color there was at a place like a cemetery, the orb began to talk again.

“Now, here's the thing. I am the extension of an ancient entity that has existed for a very long, long time. 'Born' more or less, just shortly after the Big Bang. Though time doesn't mean squat to me since I exist outside of it, and all that. And let me tell you that really pisses off Clockwork, which I happen to enjoy, oh so very much.” The orb explained cheerfully, it's tone getting perkier as it spoke, especially at the end. 

“Uuhhh....” And at this point Jack really wanted to ask it about a few things, well about a whole lot of things. But when it had mentioned the master of time, he felt it would be best to wait and hear it out.

“Now, like Clockwork, as well as many other entities like ourselves, we were each 'born or created' for, and charged with, a specific task. A task that helped to insure and maintain the flow and continuation of time, reality, life and so on. In short, we make sure that the multiverse doesn't collapse and destroys virtually all of existence. And I am in charge of watching everything, and by that I mean EVERYTHING. The past, present and future. Every single possible variation, all outcomes, the minor and major factors responsible, critical decisions, and etcetera, etcetera.”

“Wait, isn't that Clockwork's job? Or are you some other kind of time ghost? Or have I finally gone insane, and you are just the first of my many hallucinations to come as I slowly become divorced from reality?” Jack asked as he tried to think of this whole thing logically. Well as logical as one could get when you took time travel into a discussion.

“Okay, first off, I prefer that you didn't call me a ghost! A ghost is an embodiment of someone or something who has died, and still lingers in the physical plane. I EXISTED way before any of you little fleshlings appeared. Call me a orb, entity or even deity. But calling me a ghost just feels wrong to me, since you're implying that I had a physical body. And that just grosses me out, I've seen what you fleshlings do with yourselves and your fleshy bodies. That's one thing I wish my all-seeing power would censor me from.” The orb said with a strong hint of disgust in its tone. “And while Clockwork is the master of time, he is not all seeing like me. I see everything that could happen all that once. Every possible reaction and direction a single event could take, the reasons and factors why one thing happened, then another. Clockwork is inferior to me in this manner since he has to watch events play out through his viewing portals to see the future and all. Plus, there are other forces out there that can act without him knowing, and that's precisely why I came to you, Jack.”

“And what exactly do you want from me?” Jack asked as his mind was still struggling to understand time travel and its rules. Try as he might, Jack couldn't keep himself from getting a real bad headache. This is why he hated time travel movies, shows, and stories!

“I need your help to protect and save the time line of the reality that Danny Phantom came from, as it runs parallel with your own timeline. It's part of a keystone reality. A keystone reality, as I like to call them, is a reality that is vital to other realities. And if it were to be disrupted or destroyed then pretty much everything and everyone is screwed!” The orb said dramatically as it moved closer to Jack's face. “Especially since in that timeline there was a divergence of events that opened the gateway into another world. One full of magical, talking ponies!”

“.....”

“.....”

“...What?” Jack finally said after a few seconds of bewildered confusion. The orb laughed at his expression and Jack could feel it smile internally.

“Yeah, you see. In that timeline, when Danny sealed the Ghost King again, and as Amity Park was phasing between Earth and the Ghost Zone, one of the many doors to other worlds got caught and ripped apart when the city finally returned to the Earth. And now tears open up between the two worlds, with humans and ponies traveling between the two worlds.” The orb said cheerfully while Jack had a blank look on his face.

“Well, that explains why he asked my dad about ponies,” Jack said more to himself as he remembered his dad wondering why the younger Halfa had asked about ponies. “Still though, a world full of ponies?”

“Magical talking ponies.”

“..... Meh, I'll accept it,” Jack said with a shrug. After all, having been raised by, and lived around ghost all his life, he doubted that magic talking ponies would be all that weird. As several versions of a certain pink mare felt their Pinkie Sense act up, Jack looked at the orb and motioned it to go on with a wave of his hand.

"Anyway, I need you along with nine others, working together to help me protect and save a keystone reality. Now I know what you're going to ask me, and the reaso-”

“You can't do it yourself because direct or constant interference from you would eventually make matters worst in the long run. At best, you try to keep yourself to do the bare minimum, a gentle nudge every now and then so to speak. Or the occasional big shove when the need arise. Just like right now.” Jack said with a rather mature and professional tone for his age, clearly understanding the orb's position. “These other nine you've selected along with myself are the best solution you've seen to protect all of reality. I have no choice but to take your word when you say this is for the best.”

“I, uh, yeah. Man, I may have a limited all-seeing ability in this state compared to my true form, but I wasn't expecting for you to come to that conclusion by yourself.” The orb complimented the teen, not really expecting that response from him. And it was true, he had limited his all-seeing power so as to stay under the radar of other entities. But he had only expected for Jack to ask why he couldn't do the job himself, deny to help him, or merely agree to help. “And so, you'll help?”

“I own Danny Phantom for giving my world, my time, a real future of peace and prosperity. For giving my father the chance for redemption. For all the wrong my father has done to him in the past. But most of all, if it wasn't for him then I would have never been born, now wouldn't I?” Jack said with a small smile as he spoke the truth. If Danny had never come to the future, then Vlad would've stayed in hiding until he died. He would never met his mother, and Jack would've never existed. “So, yeah. I'll help you out. Now, when do we leave?”

“Uh, right now, if that's okay?” The orb said, still off-guard by Jack's demeanor, as the teen simply picked up his backpack and gave the orb a small smile and nod.

“Okay, here we go! Insert random possible horrible consequence of being send into another reality, and make you react in a funny manner!” The orb awkwardly said as it glowed ever brighter and unleashed its power to teleport Jack where he needed to be. 

Jack merely stood there as he felt the energy wash over him, and felt himself moving as a bright light painlessly blinded him. His thoughts turned to the other nine chosen to help him protect all of existence, wondering what they would be like. They must be individuals of grand stature, with many great accomplishments beneath them. They might even have saved or changed their worlds at least once! He knew that he was only picked for his connection to Danny Phantom and nothing more. But he would prove his worth, and play his role in saving all of existence. Jack just hoped that he would make a good first impression when he met the other nine.

Soon enough, the light began to fade, and Jack suddenly felt himself kissing dirt as he had been a few inches of the ground. Surprised by the sudden drop and his own yell, Jack failed to hear nine other similar cries of surprise and pain. But, as he was spitting out dirt, he did hear others doing the same thing he was doing. Whining in pain, or cursing everyone and everything. While that had been expected, he didn't expected it to come from what sounded like young boys and girls, even if most of the girls sounded older.

Worried that he might have hit his head, Jack looked around from his position to the other voices and took a good look at them as they shifted around and checked themselves for injures. And he became really worried that he had indeed hit his head really hard. 

He saw three kids that would put around nine to ten years old. There was one girl with dark-blue hair and... whisker marks on her cheeks? She was wearing a collared, long-sleeved yellow shirt with an orange cross-hatch pattern that resembles a sunflower,  red pumpkin shorts and a pair of yellow sandals. The other two were both red headed, glasses wearing boys. One seemed to be dressed up as a scientist, and one that really, really needed to take a bath by the looks of the grime on his clothing. The other one was in the same state but was dressed up as a mage and had a wooden staff with him.

Next to them were two more kids, a boy and a girl, who Jack would put around to be his age given their height. The boy had blond hair, and wore a black tracksuit with red lining and red stripes along the bottom and sleeve cuffs. Beneath the jacket, which was left open, Jack could see a plain white V-neck-style shirt, and he had a bolt tied to a string around his neck. And to top of his look, he wore a pair of black open-toed boots, as well as some kind of bandana with a metal strip attached to it with a strange symbol carved into it.

The girl had a fair complexion. onyx hair that was straight and shoulder-length. Her matching eyes were framed by a pair of red-rimmed glasses. She wore what Jack would guess to be a Chinese red, sleeveless shirt with, what looked like an image of a fan, on the back. A pair of light-colored shorts, and long purple arm warmers. 

And, like the boy next to her, she also wore a pair of black open-toed boots and the same bandana.

But what really had Jack concerned for the state of his poor brain was the sight of four teenage girls currently screaming at each other, oblivious to everything else. They looked to be a few years old than Jack, between sixteen to nineteen at least. Also, they were very, very colorful, and he didn't mean the curse words they flung around. At least, Jack thought they were cursing at each other, because, at the moment, the only sense that was working for him was his sight. The blood rushing to his head muffled out a lot of the sounds around him. It didn't help that they were all very attractive, and three of them wore short skirts, and that Jack was a teenage boy full of hormones.

But back on track.

They were literally the most colorful girls Jack had ever seen. One girl had blue skin with blue hair. Another had purple skin with purple hair. And the other two had yellowish skin. The only difference between those two was their hair. One had a lot of it, being a few shades darker then her skin tone, while the other one had red and yellow hair. And she was also the only one of the four to be wearing what Jack would consider to be normal clothing. The other three's outfits seemed to be straight out of an amateur music video that Jack Fenton had made as a get well soon for his father after the ghost portal accident. 

He had even somehow gotten their classmates to take part in it. And dear god was it terrible, two and half hours of visual and audio torture. Vlad had only kept it because of Maddie despite the fact that Jack Fenton. was always right next to her throughout the video. But now it served as a memento, a mentally scarring one, but a memento none the less.

Jack was soon snapped out of his inner musings when he saw the four girls' argument escalate as they started to shove one another. Gathering his wits, Jack got onto his feet and was about to yell at the four to both stop them and catch their attention, only to be cut off.

“Well, it's nice to see that you are all so full of energy.” A powerful, if a tab tired, sounding voice washed over the group and they all turned to the source.

Floating just a few feet from them, and standing out from the white misty background and dirt was the strangest creature they had ever seen, surrounded by six familiar colorful orbs. It resembled a human with turquoise skin, and wore a blue-tint robe. But that's where the similarities ended. It had no legs. Instead, his bottom was attached to a ghostly tail. It was bald, had no mouth or ears and it's nose was so small and flat that it might not even exist. It's two 'normal' eyes were unblinking and milky looking, indicating that they didn't work, but that really didn't matter. The reason? It's whole body was covered with multiple eyes that open and close at random, revealing multiple pupils of shifting colors.

Truly one of the freakiest things that Jack had ever seen, but nothing to get worked up over. It didn't even bother him when it spoke telepathically to them.

“Greetings, and thank you for accepting this task. I am the one who summoned you. You may call me Allseer.” The entity, Allseer, said to them in rather plain and tired tone of voice.

And then the screaming began.