The Phantom of Canterlot High

by Lucky Seven


Welcome to the Jungle (Battle of the Bands II)

“So how’s your first day been, Danny?”

Danny looked up from his seat, acknowledging Dash with a smile. He pondered her question for a moment. Everything was different here, even the way they did basic math, and it confused the young boy beyond belief. If there was one thing he liked about this school, it was how quickly he could get adjusted. At least now he had the solace of a lunch break to distract him.

‘And pizza. Delicious pizza...’

“It’s been alright, Dash. Who’s your friend?” he said, pointing to the purple-skinned girl standing next to her.

“This is Twilight. She’s only, like, the smartest girl in our school!” Dash exclaimed, wrapping an arm around Twilight’s neck. “She’s like you, too, she’s not from around here!” she shouted.

“Danny,” he smiled towards the girl before going back to eating his pizza. The two took a seat across from him, and Twilight attempted to strike up a conversation.

“So I hear you’re having trouble adapting to Canterlot High?”

Taking a second to gulp down his food, he replied, “Heh, you can say that again. The way they do things here is definitely new, but it’s not that big of a deal.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I’m just stuck here for a little while,” he replied half-heartedly.

“Well hopefully we can make your short time here a good time,” she smiled back at him.

“Hopefully,” he repeated, looking down at the thermos attached safely to his belt. His thoughts drifted towards the realm of loneliness. ‘If Dash is right, then there are no other ghosts like me here. … Huh, that’s kind of a depressing thought.’

“Are you alright, Danny?”

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine,” he said quickly, taking a sip of his milk. “So what do you guys do for fun around here?”

“Are you kidding?! We’ve got every sport you can imagine!” Dash gushed. “We also have talent shows every few months. In fact, we have one coming up in just a few weeks!”

“A talent show, eh?”

“Have you ever considered participating in extracurricular activities?” Twilight asked.

“Um… none that I can think of,” he replied.

“Got anything you’re really good at?” Dash pressed.

“Eh, I guess I’m just your average high school student,” he shrugged nonchalantly.

“Aw, come on!” Dash groaned. “Everyone’s got something they’re great at. Heck, yours truly is the captain of the Track, Soccer, and Swim teams!”

“Wow, and here I thought you were just full of hot air earlier,” he chuckled. The thought of one teenage girl being such a multi-talented athlete was actually pretty cool. “I guess I’ve just never considered trying out for any sports.”

“So there’s nothing you’re good at?”

“What can I say? I guess I just—”

His breath turned noticeably blue, cutting his reply short. But he had more to worry about than answering his new acquaintances. ‘Oh boy, here we go. Every time someone says there’s no such thing as ghosts, there we go.’

“Um, what was that?”

“Oh, um, nothing,” he replied lamely, eyes darting around.

“But your breath was blue!” Twilight shouted out, the cafeteria going silent as a result. All eyes were on Danny now, and he groaned.

There. We. Go.

As he attempted to stammer out some sort of deflection, the doors to the cafeteria burst open. In walked three girls, who looked just a little too pompous for students.

‘Who would’ve thought the Mean Girls went to Canterlot High,’ he mused.

Even weirder, the three were making a strange humming noise. Danny’s eyes scanned across the cafeteria, and he was relieved to see that everyone’s focus had shifted to the odd girls. ‘Just when I thought this world couldn’t get any weirder.’

“Aw crap, it’s them,” Dash said, venom dripping from every word. Welp, now he was starting to worry again.

“Who are they? From the looks of it, they’ve got some attitude issues.”

“They’re the biggest jerks in the school,” she spat out, confirming his thought. “That’s all you need to know.”

Clearly that wasn’t all he needed to know, or his ghost sense wouldn’t have gone off. The more he gazed at the three gathered in the center of the cafeteria, the more he could tell that something was off about them. Something he couldn’t place his finger on. “So they’re…  bullies?”

“Not ‘bullies’, per se. Just…”

“Jerks,” Dash finished for Twilight. “We’re competing against them in a battle of the bands in two days.”

“So not only are you a multi-athlete star, but you’re also in a band?” Danny asked, taking a sip from his milk.

“She sure is!” Twilight answered for her. “The others are actually practicing right now. It was Rainbow Dash’s idea to come see how you were doing.”

Milk leaked out of Danny’s mouth as he broke out into laughter. “W-wait, your first name is Rainbow?”

“Are you really that surprised?’ She asked, pointing to her hair.

“Well I can’t argue with logic like that. Thanks, by the way. Nice to know I’m already making friends here.” Danny turned his attention back to the girls who had enraptured the many students gathered for lunch. “So what’s your issue with them? I mean, aside from the fact that they look like Mean Girls rip-offs,” he joked.

Unfortunately, Rainbow didn’t get the joke. “I’m not sure what a ‘Mean Girl’ is, but that description isn’t far off. They’ve got the entire school under a dark spell,” Dash scoffed.

“A spell? You mean like, magic?” It was a bit hard to believe, but with what he had been through in his life, he wasn’t going to start doubting the supernatural just because he was in another world. Suddenly, the pieces fit together in his mind. ‘If magic here is like supernatural energy back home, that could explain my ghost sense.’

“Precisely,” Twilight nodded. “Whenever they sing, the other students seem to do whatever they say. To be honest, I’m surprised you haven’t been afflicted by it.”

Danny looked down at his thermos for a second. This was just all too familiar. Ember had always been one of his greatest opponents, especially when she was at her peak power. Power that she only gained through people chanting her name. Turning his attention back to the Dazzlings, he narrowed his eyes at the orange one. ‘She must be the leader of their band.’

Danny’s ears finally began to rest as their humming came to an end. The scraping of the cafeteria door signalled their exit.

“Ugh, they’re leaving, finally,” Dash groaned out. Indeed they were, but something was different about them now. They seemed more…

“Oh no.”

“What is it, Danny?”

“Oh, uh, I just have to… go to the bathroom. That pizza made me feel real sick. I-I’ll be right back!” he ran off towards where the Dazzlings had gone, leaving a very confused Twilight and Dash.


“So what’s the plan, Adagio?”

“Simple, we just need to sow the seeds of distrust among our… competition,” She grinned. “I already have everything accounted for. We have nothing to worry about.”

Danny smirked. Going ghost definitely had its advantages, and being able to easily spy on others by becoming intangible was one of the best ones. Following the Dazzlings had led him to an abandoned classroom on the western side of the school. The three girls were currently sitting on top of some desks scattered about the room, legs hanging off and waving back and forth. Floating above them, Danny couldn’t help but notice how they seemed just like normal teenagers!

“What about that boy that was with those two Rainbooms at lunch?”

“What about him, Sonata?” her friend scoffed.

“He was staring right at us, Aria!”

“Everyone stares at us, that’s kind of the point of being sirens? Ugh, you’re socially inept sometimes, I swear...” Aria muttered.

“No, but he wasn’t staring the same way everyone else was!” Sonata exclaimed, her voice shaking as she spoke. “What I mean is—”

“What she means is that that boy somehow resisted our call. That is, if what she’s saying is to be believed.” Adagio tittered. “No matter. Without any magic, he has no means of stopping us from achieving our goals.”

“But that’s the thing, Adagio!” Sonata argued. “What if he does use magic? Maybe that’s why he didn’t fall under our spell.”

‘Those two really don’t take what she says with a grain of salt,’ Danny chuckled inwardly. ‘Shame, considering she’s actually on to something.’

“Well, did you sense any Equestrian magic coming from him?”

“Well no, but--”

“Then there’s nothing to worry about,” Adagio cut her off, tired of the constant interruptions. “The only thing you need to worry about is making those Rainbooms miserable. Is that clear?”

“Yes…” Sonata droned, sounding a bit sadder than even Danny cared to hear.

“Good. Once we get them to fight amongst themselves, we’ll be able to harness all the dark energy we need to regain our power.”

“So what’s next?” Aria asked, now standing up with her hands on her hips.

What’s next is we take care of the pest who’s been spying on us for the past ten minutes,” Adagio sneered with a smirk, looking right where Danny was. Her cohorts followed suit, adorning vicious smiles of their own. “Why don’t you cast away your cloak of invisibility, Harry Potter?”

‘Crap, she knew I was here the whole time!’ His eyes darted to the nearby exit. ‘I could easily run, but on the other hand… why not try stopping them now?’

Letting his invisibility fall, he slowly floated down in front of her. “How’d you know I was there?”

“What, do you think that after thousands of years of fighting, we haven’t come across ghosts? And that whole ‘cloaking spell’ is so last millennium. But you can drop the tough guy act, I’ve grown bored of that after years of Aria’s presence.”

“Gee, maybe I should go invisible too, that way you can just stay here with Sonata…”
“Besides,” she continued, ignoring her friend, “it’s not like we pose a threat to you.” Adagio softly stroked his cheek as she said this, an act that made him recoil in disgust. “Yet.

“Yet?”

“We’re not at our full power, silly willy. That’s why we have to win the Battle of the Bands!” Sonata exclaimed, a giddy look on her face. To her surprise, Danny just grinned.

“Well then you’ve already lost.”

“I suppose now it’s my turn to ask the rather stale question of, what do you mean”, Adagio laughed, and a rather annoying one at that.

“Because if you’re weak, then I can use this!” He exclaimed, pulling the Fenton Thermos from his belt and quickly unscrewing the cap. To his surprise and the Dazzlings’ delight, nothing happened aside from a few sparks coming out of it. Smacking it, he shouted, “Come on, work!”

“What? Are you going to attack us with soup?” Aria bolstered with a laugh. Adagio joined her, boisterously laughing.

“Soup!?”

Suddenly, air was all that remained in Danny’s hands, his thermos now in the clutches of Sonata. The ditzy girl began shaking it up and down, trying to make the non-existent soup fall into the lid. “I don’t get it, where’s the soup? I’m hungry!”

“Hey, give that back!” Danny griped, trying in vain to snatch the thermos.

“Or what, you’ll attack us with some more kitchen utensils?” Adagio taunted him as Sonata continued to clumsily fumble with the thermos.

“No, this!” he exclaimed, fed up. Facing his hand towards the group, he quickly charged and fired a green blast of energy out of it. The blast travelled quickly, nailing Adagio square in the face and sending her toppling into the blackboard, which proceeded to fall atop her. Now that felt good. “Now give back my thermos!”

“How about we break it instead!” Aria shouted back, grabbing it from Sonata.

“No, don’t!” Danny screamed. This was bad; if they broke it, then things would get a whole lot more complicated.

“Too late!” she countered, dropping the thermos on the ground and bringing her foot down on… nothing? “Huh, where’d it go?”

Unbeknownst to her, Danny had turned intangible once more and grabbed the thermos before flying out of the classroom. By the time her foot had hit the ground, he was already gone.

“And where did he go?” Sonata addressed the elephant in the room.

“Wherever he is, he couldn’t have gone far,” Adagio spoke her first words since being blasted. The blackboard was shoved aside, dust flying up as it hit the ground. The blast had done a number on her, and she struggled to regain her footing. Rubbing her head, she continued, “But it doesn’t matter. What matters right now is putting the next step of our plan in motion, we’ll deal with him later.”

“And just what is the next step of our plan?”

Adagio smiled diabolically. “We give Sunset Shimmer a… nudge in the right direction.”