Guilt of a Phantom

by Powerdrainer

A Job Half Done

Author's Note:

Well, what have we here. A new chapter, so soon? And a short one as well, again. What is going on?

Simply put, after the response I got with the previous update, I decided to try and make shorter chapters and see how that would go. Surprisingly, writing shorter chapters also means you're done faster. Who knew?

Anyhow, I'll try this smaller format out for a bit, and see where it leads me. Though with the recent release of Spider-man on PS4, and Tomb Raider, both of which are sucking away what little free time I have, I really need to force myself to sit down and write.

With that said, share your thoughts, ideas, or spotted mistakes down in the comments, and enjoy this continuing story that just seems to grow and grow every time I blink. (5 years and counting, and more than 550K words in this story alone. )

Edited by Slayerseba, and Clawder.

A Job Half Done

<<>><<>><<>>

For the last hour and a half, the Hive had been a near litteral beehive of activity. Danny, or at the time, Fenris had worked with dedicated focus to extract the poisonous hate from all those afflicted by it; only stopping to rest when he finished about twenty or so minutes ago, and leaving the task of caring for the sick to the foals now running and, if possible, flying around.

Danny, now himself again as Fenris had retreated back into his mind, returning control over his body, leaned heavily against a wall as exhaustion slammed into him, hard. True, he had been stuck on the backseat, so to speak, but even then he shared in the strain and effort Fenris went through, leaving precious little energy left for him to work with.

Slowly sliding down, Danny rested his head on his knees with a weary sigh, closing his eyes and just letting the world around him wash away into white noise as the full drain of the day's activities made themselves known.

Of course not all sounds were washed away, and the occasional cry for help cut through the rumble of voices, pounding hooves, buzzing wings, and magical chime, as those too weak succumbed.

Danny grimaced each time, knowing that before this was over more would have passed. They did what they could, but for some, it simply wasn't enough. It was a fact he realized the moment he learned the state the changelings were in. The changeling foals, too, learned this fact the hard way over the long weeks they fought this losing battle. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, however, were not really prepared. They understood that changelings had died, and were still dying when they first came here. But the realization that there were still those dying, even after they were 'saved', was a painful blow, and a harsh lesson to them: Sometimes, your best efforts just aren't good enough. Not for everyone, at the least.

Sighing out tiredly, which grew in a long, drawn out yawn, Danny lifted his head up enough for him to look over his knees; rubbing his eyes with the back of a hand, compromising his vision for a moment, as he saw blurred shapes rush from left to right.

"At least we've gotten to all of them," he murmured sleepily, finding an odd sense of comfort at his words.

"Not all of them," a young voice squeaked and the tired human shifted his blurred sight to the ill defined, black shape beside him; staring up at him with his large, slightly luminescent, pale blue eyes.

Danny groaned, blinking several times to sharpen his vision and properly see the young colt.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like this?"

<<>><<>><<>>

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo ran from one changeling to the next without pause, exhausted, but unwilling to allow it to stop them, they continued helping the changelings any way they could, but more often than not, unable to do more than replace a pillow, or a blanket kicked away during the wild tossing and turning as Fenris worked his 'magic' on them.

Still, as little help as they were right now, it was still more than the third pony in the room was able to accomplish.

Sweetie Belle, just as eager to help as her friends, soon faltered and stumbled, unable to focus, and slowing everyone down; shaking her head persistently, while holding a hoof against her temple as if she had a particularly bad headache.

Noticing their friend's troubles, both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo took a moment from their continuous errant run to stop and help their friend. Much to their surprise and shock, however, their willingness to help was rudely turned down as Sweetie Belle snapped at them without cause, her eyes glowing bright green, before flickering and returning to her mortal, un-glowing green.

"What the hay, Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo shouted, staring at her friend.

"I-" Sweetie Belle shook her head, eyes clenched shut while grimacing.

"Are ya alright?" Asked Apple Bloom, stepping closer once again as she tried to place a comforting hoof on her shoulder.

"Ye… yeah," Sweetie Belle mumbled unconvincingly, this time not lashing out at her friend and allowing her to close the distance. "Just tired, is all."

"You sure?" Scootaloo looked at her dubiously.

"Well, she has been runnin' an' flyin' all over tha place. Ah s'pose everypony would be tired after that. Danny certainly is."

"Then what about her eyes glowing and flickering like that?" asked Scootaloo, not at all convinced.

"I, eh… wha?" Sweetie Belle looked at her friend, confused.

" 'T must be a spirit thaing, or something?"

"I guess," Scootaloo ruffled her wings. "Just… don't know. Got a bad feeling about this."

"Well, maybe Danny knows. He's been a ghost for years now," Apple Bloom suggested, right when Danny walked into the throne room and all three fillies watched the tall biped as he stopped, looked around, frowned, then set his sights on them, and approached.

"Hi, Danny," Apple Bloom greeted, her smile just a little bit forced, as two changelings ran past her.

"Girls," Danny nodded a tired greeting. "Do you know where Erlea is?"

"... Ehhh," Sweetie Belle glanced at her friends, surprised by the question. "Isn't she with her mother, Chrysalis?"

"Makes sense," Danny muttered as he combed a hand through his hair, stopping halfway to scratch his scalp.

Dropping his arm after messing up his hair, he turned to leave, only to be blocked by both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo; reared up and pressing their fore hooves against his waist.

"Danny, wait!" Apple Bloom said urgently, looking up at him with big eyes.

"Okaayyy….? Don't have a lot of time though, so better make this quick."

Dropping down to all four hooves, both ponies looked at Sweetie Belle standing behind Danny, shuffling her left fore hoof on the ground in uncertainty.

"It's about Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo told him. "Something weird's going on, and maybe it's because of her powers."

"Weird?" He said, looking at the small unicorn.

"Really girls, I don't think it's anything," Sweetie Belle told them, trying to ignore the staring.

"Then why did your eyes flicker and flash like that?" asked Scootaloo.

"Or did ya jus shout at us like tha?" Apple Bloom added.

"Really. I'm just tired, is all," Sweetie Belle defended herself.

Sighing out, Danny knelt before the filly. "You only just gained your powers, right?" at Sweetie Belle's confirming nod, Danny chuckled lightly. "Don't worry too much about it," he told the fillies. “My powers were also unstable when I first got them. Can't even remember how many plates I broke as they fell through my hands. Not to mention me sinking through the floor, or the involuntary invisibility. Besides, you've been up all night, flying around and doing I don't even know how much. And you clearly are tired, plus the added strain of spectral exhaustion. Just get some sleep, and you'll be fine," he smiled at the relieved fillies, then stood up and stretched himself with a groan. "Now to tackle this other problem," he muttered through a groan.

"Other problem?" Apple Bloom asked, her previous worries forgotten after Danny's words, only for her ears to twitch in concern.

"Yeah… Just, don't worry about it," he told them, seeing the look in their eyes. "Just point me towards Erlea, and I'll take care of it."

"Ehh…" Apple Bloom glanced at Scootaloo, who in turn looked at Sweetie Belle; the latter shrugging in response. "Okay, follow me, Ah guess," Apple Bloom told Danny, pushing a path through the flittering mass of changeling foals.

Rolling his shoulders, and for the umpteenth time wishing he could just go to bed, Danny followed after the bow wearing pony, before he lost her in the mass of bodies, despite her sticking out in the sea of black changelings.

"Okay… ehh… I guess I'll go help over there, then?" Scootaloo said, unsure, looking at her remaining friend. "You going to be okay?"

"Yeah," Sweetie Belle nodded sluggishly. “Just gonna sit here and rest a bit, okay?"

"Kay," Scootaloo gave a small smile, patted her friend on the wither, then moved off, to help the changelings once more.

Sitting down as she said she would, Sweetie Belle groaned as she clenched her eyes shut; shaking her head as if in pain. Taking several deep breaths, she slowly pried open her lids, a snarl on her lips as her eyes flashed green while her pupils turned catlike for the duration of the glow.

<<>><<>><<>>

"Over here, Danny!" Apple Bloom called back as she led Danny through a set of corridors, she herself had become quite acquainted with over the long hour prior; she helped carry Queen Chrysalis back to her chamber to rest, (her earth pony strength helping considerably, nor was she weakened due to a lack of food).

Erlea, she knew, was there as well; doing everything in her power to keep her mother from slipping over the edge like several others had done after Fenris cut out the hate. The fact Chrysalis was one of the worst afflicted made this a precarious task to be sure, and it could be considered nothing short of a miracle she hadn't already succumbed.

Not only that, but the task of leading the changelings, or those who remained and were still active, also rested on the far too young shapeshifter's shoulders, who was forced to juggle the tasks of tending to her mother and issuing orders to keep things running smoothly with next to no experience, other than what she had picked up over the last few trying months.

Of course this meant she made mistakes, and plenty of them. The last most noticeable actually got most of them 'consumed' by some unholy shadow. Which admittedly, did work out for them in the end, but still. She knew, had always known, she was not cut out to be a leader. Not like her mother.

That was, until she too made a mistake. One that almost cost them everything. And now, seeing her mother, and her scuffed and slightly cracked chitinous form, slowly and shallowly rising and falling with each weak breath she took, combined with the stress of all those harrowing days, weeks, and months, in the privacy of her mother's chamber, she finally allowed her frustration to truly break free; releasing a harrowing cry as she punched against a wall, hot tears streaming down her face; remembering just how everything began to fall apart.

****

Day of the Royal Wedding

~This day is going to be perfect~

A nervous excitement filled the air, and Erlea's wings flittered in response as she, Abela, Devora, every other foal, and the few adults still in the hive, listened with almost single minded focus to the hive mind; all the reports and acknowledgments coming in almost at once, proof of the flawless execution of her mother's plan. A plan she had worked on for over a year ever since her husband, the king, died of starvation.

A rumble came from her stomach, but she ignored it. Not much longer now, and noling would have to suffer starvation for much longer, and instead she focused on the voices of the scouts; the small group moving in, before the main force, after her mother had given the signal and set everything in motion, searching for targets of high emotive value, to be targeted before all others while the pony guards were occupied by the main assault force.

Her wings, buzzing the entire time, stopped, however, when just about every pony encountered by the scouting party were deemed appropriate, and she could almost feel the nurturing sustenance of such a wealth of love, happiness, and other positive emotions, making her stomach rumble much louder in response.

A sound coming from every other changeling around her.

Not long thereafter, Erlea picked up on the excited report that their forces were even able to overwhelm and capture the Element wielders, further cementing their complete victory and a cry of celebration echoed through the, now far too quiet and empty city.

It would seem that, finally, after all those long years, centuries even, their luck was finally looking up.

If only her dad could have been here to see the day.

Erlea sighed in mix of relief and sadness, a faint smile tugging at the corners of her lips as she shook her head to clear her thoughts; disconnecting herself from the hive mind lest she accidentally showed everyling her thoughts and feelings. Something her mother had told her time and time again to be careful with, as it didn't befit a ruler to share her every thought without control, and leaving her an open book. It was for that very reason that her mother did not let herself be heard over the hive mind, except when she gave her orders, or requested updates.

All of it was calculated, planned and done with uncanny efficiency only achieved by those who, literally, shared their thoughts.

It was because of this that, when Erlea reconnected to the hive mind, the panicked shouts of her mother shocked her almost as if she was bucked in the teeth.

Somehow, somewhere, something had gone terribly, horribly, catastrophically wrong.

She, as well as every other changeling in the city suddenly cried out in pain, clutching at their heads as a disabillitating blast of interference wracked their connection, and all dropped to the ground in a heap as thousands of voices shouted over one another, lost in the jumble of noise, with most of whatever was said lost entirely, as their shared mind fell apart right then and there.

Erlea didn't know how long it lasted, nor when she passed out as a result of the agony assaulting her mind, or how much time passed as she laid there before twitching and waking. The only thing she did know was, as she groggily tried to push herself up and from the ground, that the quiet of the city, did not compare to the tomb like silence in her mind. The always present hive mind, either a symphonic cacophony of voices when focused upon, or a gentle droning in the back of her mind when disconnected, was silent. Completely and utterly silent.

"H-hello?" she called out, both physically and mentally, hoping for a response on both sides.

"What… what the buck just happened?" Devora cried out as she pushed herself back on unsteady hooves, swaying dangerously before falling to her knees.

"I- I don't know!" Erlea answered as she wobbled to her friend, offering her a shaking hoof and grunted in exertion as she pulled Devora back to her hooves. "Do you… Can you hear the others?"

Devora blinked, staring at Erlea with glassy eyes, unfocused. "No," she answered, shaking her head as her eyes refocused. "What the dung beetle happened?"

"I don't know?" Erlea replied nervously, biting her lower lip in worry and piercing the skin with a fang; a small trail of greenish blood starting to stain her chin.

Shaking her head forcefully, she looked back at her friend. "Find Abella, and everyling else. We must see if they're okay, and find out what happened to the hive mind; and more importantly, everyling out there."

"And how do we do that? Without our connection, where do we even start to look?"

"I- I have no idea," Erlea looked down at her hooves, took a deep breath, and pushed her fried nerves as far back as she could before looking back up and meeting her friends eyes. "But we have to do something. We'll start here, and work our way out. And if we're lucky, maybe the connection will recover."

"Yeah, if," Devora hissed in uncertain fear. "Nothing like this has ever happened before."

"I know, and that's why we can't stand here and do nothing. We need to figure this out, now, before anything worse happens. If we, here in the city, miles away from the fight are affected like this by whatever the hay just happened, then image what happened to everyling… to my…" her voice suddenly stopped working as the full ramifications of what she said to her friend just hit home.

Before everything fell apart, she could hear her mother's panic broadcasted over the hive mind, and a truly numbing shiver ran down her spine.

"We have to find them," she said in finality. "We have to!"

****

And they did.

As she had hoped, after several of the longest hours of her life, the subtle drone of the connection in the back of her mind returned. But after its absence and hours of silence with nothing else but her own thoughts and worries, the sound came crashing in like an avalanche, terrifying her with its sudden return, just as it did to every other changeling, and a new rounds of cries and shouts reverberated off of the city walls, to be swallowed by the chasm far below the hanging city.

Once the initial shock had passed, and the connection re-established, everything quickly became both better, and worse.

Status updates of the scattered forces all came in at once; a complete mess of voices; the mind's harmony completely out of whack, and it took forever for a voice of command to break through. But when she did, Queen Chrysalis quickly and efficiently got everyling to, quite simply, shut up. Then, after a second time of unnatural quietness on their connection, she spoke. Her voice tired, bedraggled, but clear and authoritative.

Orders were given, and those injured, but capable were instructed back to return to the hive. Those in better shape were send out to locate and take their less fortunate brethren back, or to locate and mark the position of those fallen for later pick up. They wouldn't leave behind their death, but priority had to be given to those still alive.

Then, with these tasks given, Chrysalis requested an update of the current situation not relating to the orders she just issued.

Again, a storm of voices crashed into each other, and again the queen had to assert herself to quiet the storm. Then, one by one, more and more details of what happened, and was still happening were revealed to any listening, and Erlea's eyes grew wider and wider with every report she heard. But then a final voice spoke up, and for a second time she felt her mother's worry as she cried out in frustration.

A group of them had been captured and detained; locked away in the prison of the city they had conquered just before that.

'We have to help them!' She remembered herself calling out, taking everyling, even herself by surprise, and she could almost feel the wince of her mother as she realized her daughter had overheard everything.

Even worse, after a bedraggled sigh, Chrysalis reaffirmed her orders to return to the hive, and told the captured to stay put and await further orders.

At the time, Erlea didn't understand, and she called out in protest. But a harsh hiss from her mother stopped her cold. Though it wasn't the tongue flailing sound, but the overwhelming sense of shame she felt that froze her mid-sentence.

Later she understood why, both the shame, and why noling was send to rescue their friends and family, as all those who returned were battered, bruised, or down right beaten to a pulp, including her mother; mane tangled up, half of it seemingly missing. Numerous cuts bleeding all over her body, which needed tending quickly. Her right hind leg was kept off the ground, making her wobble as she refused to put any weight on it. And one of her eyes was swollen shut. And yet, despite all of this, she smiled a sad smile as Erlea came running to her with a cry of worry; jumping in a ready arm as she clung to her mother's chest, feeling her mother nuzzle her while holding her in a tight hug.

"And then the sickness came," Erlea muttered through sniffles as she stared at the slight chip in the wall where she had just punched, remembering how, one by one, her friends and family started to fall ill.

At first it was believed to be the result of the lack of energy they had left after the failed invasion, with the more severely injured succumbing faster than others. But when changelings fortunate enough to pass through the ordeal without any injury save scraps and bruises began to fall seemingly overnight, the truth slowly began to present itself.

Things became dire quicker and quicker, and it didn't take long for everyling to realize that everyone who fell ill were all involved in the invasion, while those who remained in the city did not. Worse still, this left the task to tend for the sick to a dwindling number of changelings while more and more of their loved ones collapsed.

And then, the sickness claimed their queen, and whatever shred of hope they had to pull through was quickly torn to pieces as the sickness spread out in a wave, accelerating and claiming more and more changelings each hour of the day until only the foals, and the select few older who stayed behind in the city were left.

And to add to this out of control disaster. The invasion had drained what few scraps of food they had left, and now those few were forced to spread themselves between helping their fellow changeling, and venture out and scavenge food where ever they could find it.

The oldest among them first took this task upon them; searching for any source of love, happiness, or even contentedness among all creatures. But any large population capable of generating the food they needed were either too far away for the few that ventured forth, or at high alert after the attack on Canterlot, leaving them with no other choice but to avoid these places and seek out other sources out in the wilderness. Yet the few creatures they found, ranging from rabbit, birds, and squirrels, just didn't provide them with what they needed. Not in the quantities they required, at the least.

At one point, in a desperate attempt to both find food, and maybe, possibly a cure, one of the older changelings took a risk. A extremely risky, poorly thought out, risk born out of desperation. He took on the form of a seemingly unimportant unicorn pony, and set out to cross one of these tears, enter this other world they had only heard about, and was never heard from again.

After the loss of Aeshna, and their reserves completely exhausted, Erlea, the princess and current leader, as her mother had fallen ill, was then forced to make one of the most difficult decisions ever. Stay, take care of everyone and slowly starve to death. Or send more out there, hope to find something, anything to eat and lose those who went without aid.

Though both choices were terrible, she knew which one she had to pick; what she had to sacrifice to, hopefully, give the Hive a fighting chance, as slim as it might be. And so, she, Abella, Devora, and half of the other foals left to gather food, while the rest remained to do what they could.

All of it, every decision she'd made then and thereafter; all consequences as a direct and indirect result of it weighted down on her, as if the city itself was crashing down on her, and she weakly scraped a hoof over the chip in the wall.

'Don't… blame yourself.'

Erlea's ear twitched, and she looked around, confused, sure she had heard something. But as she strained her hearing, all she heard was her mother's calm but shallow breathing.

'You did what you could.'

A faint gasp escaped her as she slowly stepped closer to her mother; realizing, but not believing just yet, that the sound she 'heard' was a whisper in her head.

"Mom?" She asked, cautiously hopeful as she gently placed her fore hooves on the bed near her mother's face and pushed herself up to get a better look at her mom.

'None of this was your fault.'

Now she was certain, and as she leaned in closer, she could see just the tiniest glint of green of her mother's iris as she looked at her daughter through a barely opened eye.

"MOM!" Erlea cried out, jumping onto the bed fully and burying her face in the crook of her mother's neck, sobbing.

'It's alright, child,' Erlea now clearly heard her mother speak, even if physically she lay unmoving on the bed. 'It's alright.'

"No it isn't. None of this is," Erlea muttered, which earned her no reply. Slowly pushing away, she finally noticed her mother had drifted off again, and Erlea breathed a heavy sigh as she rubbed her eyes dry of tears.

"In here, Danny," the familiar, yet muffled voice of Apple Bloom came through the door, followed moments later by a trio of knocks, clearly not made by a hoof.

"What is it? What do you want!?" Erlea called out, irritated.

"There is something we need to talk about," Danny answered, voice grim. "And, no. It can't wait," he informed her. Then, after a moment, he added: "It's about those imprisoned in Canterlot."

This caught her attention, and with a gasp Erlea rushed for the door; unlocking the onyx portal with a flicker of her horn, (the most she could manage, but fortunately just enough to activate the runes controlling the opening, or closing of the portal; same as the castle's gate, and every other home in the city).

As the stone slab blocking the passage seemingly melted away, it revealed the human and pony standing on the other side; the former watching with a bemused expression at the door, which soon turned serious when he spotted Erlea, the latter equally amazed, but having seen this happen before when they opened the castle's gate.

"What about them?" Erlea didn't waste any time, glaring up at Danny.

"They're still sick, and we know they can't be treated by anything the ponies have. And the longer they stay there, the worse their situation will become."

"So, what? We can't exactly stop by, wave and smile, ask for them to give us back our friends and family."

"Not on a short notice, no," Danny shook his head, only knowing some details about what had happened during the invasion. "Though I doubt they would deny them the medical aid they require."

"So ya're gonna tell 'em ya're a ghost?" Apple Bloom asked, hopefully.

"If it would solve these problems, probably. But right now, it would only make things far, far worse. If I tell them what I am, and who, they'd attack me where I stand."

"Then what?" Erlea demanded, frowning. "We can't just go over there and break them out of prison."

"And why not? Wouldn't be the first time I broke into, and out of a prison." Danny said, grinning ever so slightly as he looked in the wide eyes of the young shapeshifter; seeing the flash of green from his eyes reflect in her's, while she and Apple Bloom looked up at him with ever widening eyes at his admission. “And knowing my luck, it won't be the last either."

<<>><<>><<>>

Hidden in the mountain of ice, unseen by any, Tree of Life stood tall and proud as a faint glow began to shine from a small seed growing high up a small branch; separate from the three joined together, as well as the fifth and smallest of seeds.

It didn't grow, yet its glow did not diminish. The child it resonated with at the cusp of growth, but not there just yet.

Soon, though. And with luck, the others would follow.

Comments

[Stardust-pony]

OMG new chapter
Thank you so much

[Osiris Prime]

I think I could get used to these shorter but more frequent chapters, yes.

I don't have any meaningful feedback, really, beyond that I can't wait for the next installment of both series.

(And yeah, Spider-Man is pretty awesome, don't feel bad about having to force yourself away from it.)

[Crepusculo]

Yay! New chapter, short but still sets up a lot of whats to come later.
Like what's up with Sweetie Belle, how will the deaths of the changelings that were cured affect everyone (CMC), and what kind of train wreck will the changeling break out be like? And will there a Danny x Chrysalis moment in following chapters?

I can't wait for more!

[RandomPerson65]

Jee, has it already been five years since you’ve started? This story certainly has come a long way. I’ve only been here about 2 years, but this quickly became and is one of my favorite stories. Though it can be a bit confusing with just how much is in here. Anyway, great work as always! Can’t wait to see what happens next, and for Danny Phantom to return in full glory!

[looker2611]

I thought this story was dead thanks for making it a ghost

[Timuri]

So it would seem Erlea is one of the chosen foals alongside the CMC.

It's unfortunate, but Danny is right that a prison break is the only chance for the captive lovebugs that is fast enough to save any of them. Before that, though, he needs sleep, otherwise he's going to make a mistake at a critical point.

[Powerdrainer]

9252198
Funny you should say that...