Bring it on Home (Equestria's Darkest Hour I)
Fenton Residence, Earth
A day had passed since Danny and his friends had helped defeat the Dazzlings. They were gathered in the basement of his parents’ home. Leaning against the wall, his leg jittering, he let out a yawn. To his left, Sunset sat on the floor, alone and with her knees pressed against her chest. Sam approached her, but rather than say anything, decided to simply sit down beside her; Sam was never the type to console, but she could only imagine what this girl was going through. A few feet away, Tucker tinkered with the ghost portal.
Breaking the silence, Danny groaned. “This sucks. First I get stuck fighting sirens, then I get hit in the back of the head with a bottle, and now you just expect me to sit here while you modify the Fenton Portal?”
“Uh, yes?” Tucker said, pulling back from his work and giving Danny a bemused look. “It shouldn’t take too long. As long as there aren’t any setbacks, I can get a portal back to— Uh, what was your world called again?” he asked, turning to Sunset.
“Equestria,” she replied, shifting around a bit. She chuckled nervously. “Not to be confused with the other Equestria.”
“You know, I didn’t want to say anything,” Sam interjected, “but why is your world named after horse competitions?”
“I mean, it’s a world full of sapient horses,” Sunset said, shrugging. “What else would you call it?”
“I would definitely call that weird, but we have a friend who’s half-ghost, so we don’t have much room to talk,” Tucker said. “What did you mean by other Equestria, though?”
Sunset groaned. Oh, this was going to get confusing really quick. “You see, there’s this other world opposite the horse Equestria, but everyone in that world is human. Like here, but super colorful. Did you guys not find that a bit odd?” she asked.
“We stopped questioning the things we see on the daily a long time ago,” Danny said, deadpan. “But now that you mention it, I just thought everyone was wearing make-up.”
Sunset slapped a hand to her face. “Nope. I’m just… yellow.”
“Except your hair, it reminds me of bacon,” Tucker said, drooling. “Mmm… bacon.”
Sam cleared her throat. “Don’t mind them; they’re just idiots. So do you mind if I ask which Equestria you’re from?”
“Well,” Sunset said, cringing, “I was from the Equestria with ponies, but then…” She looked away. “I left, and uh, ran away to the human Equestria. I’ve been living there since then. Until now, that is,” she corrected with an awkward laugh.
Tucker finally started to get back to work on the portal, but still commented on her story. “That’s wild. I don’t know if I could ever just up and leave Earth. I’ve got too many friends here.”
“Tucker!” Sam scolded him, sending him a fierce glare.
“What!?” Tucker cried out. “I’m just saying…”
“Don’t worry,” Sunset said, managing to look back at the group. “I didn’t really discover what friendship was until I met my friends in the human Equestria. If I could go back, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
“Speaking of you being here, you know you don’t have to sit on the floor,” Danny reminded her. “You can even go upstairs and get something to eat if you want.”
“It’s fine, I don’t want to impose,” Sunset said softly.
“Alright, that’s it,” Sam said, lifting herself up from the floor. She walked her way to the stairs, turning back to ask, “I’m going to get some burgers. Do you guys want anything?”
“I’ll have my usual,” Danny said, smiling at her. Some burgers were just the thing to cure his boredom. “Go ahead and pick up the same for Sunset.” He turned toward Sunset and added, “You’ll like it, trust me.”
“If you’re sure…” Sunset replied, her voice filled with uncertainty.
“I’m good!” Tucker called out to her from inside the portal’s housing. “I actually had a bite before I came over!”
“Alright, I’ll be back in about half an hour,” Sam called back, vaulting up the stairs and out of sight.
As the door to the basement slammed shut, Sunset looked back towards the portal. Perking up just a little bit, she asked, “How long do you think I’ll be here, anyways?”
“About two weeks,” Tucker spoke up. “And that’s if absolutely nothing goes wrong.”
Sunset gulped. “How often do things go right for you guys?”
“Based on my calculations, computing all of our prior encounters,” Tucker said, pulling out his PDA and tapping away at the screen, “about five percent.”
Sunset let out yet another loud groan and dragged her hands across her face.
“Hey, no worries,” Danny said, reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll make sure you’re taken care of while you’re here.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.” Sunset smiled. “And I guess that starts with a decent meal. Where did Sam go to, anyway?”
“The Nasty Burger,” Tucker and Danny replied at the same time.
“... Right.” Sunset said, already regretting having asked. “I look forward to eating a, uh, nasty… burger.” Sunset did her best to stifle a few giggles at the sheer sound of the name. “I sure hope everyone is fine, though…”
“Trust me, things will be just the way you remember when you get back,” Danny assured her
with a smile, in an attempt to lift her spirit.
She returned the gesture, and resumed her quiet contemplation. “I’m sure you’re right.”
Random Alley, Near Canterlot High
“You will tell me where I can find that wretched girl.”
Subtlety wasn’t Dan Phantom’s forte, and the poor ghost that he had within his tight grip was beginning to learn that. “Y-you’re not Fenton. There’s no way.”
“Oh believe me, not only am I Fenton, but I’m bigger and badder than ever,” He laughed wickedly, kneeing the smaller ghost in its stomach. He wasn’t even close to the power he’d displayed when battling his former self, but he also knew that the ghost he was toying with didn’t stand a chance in hell of fighting back regardless. “So we can either do this the easy way, or there’s always the… other way,” he threatened his victim, pulling him close enough to feel the breath from every pathetic whimper.
“W-what girl are you even talking about?!”
“McLain,” he spat her name out angrily. “That has-been rockstar is going to pay for helping my weak-willed other half save this sickening planet.”
“I don’t know, I swear! I haven’t seen her in days, nobody has!” The ghost he was interrogating yelped, struggling to break free. He managed to deliver a kick to Dan’s chest, but the burly ghost hardly felt it. He loosened his grip on his victim’s neck, sending him tumbling to the ground. The smaller ghost backed up against the alley wall, desperately using his arms to shield his face as his captor stared him down. “No, please stay away from me!”
“I don’t know whether you should consider yourself lucky that ghosts can’t die, or incredibly unlucky,” Dan laughed, bearing down on the ghost. He clenched his right hand into a fist, smacking it against his palm. “Either way, this is going to be a lot of fun.”
Canterlot High School, Later That Day
“Alright, class, does anyone know who— Ah, Ember, please remove your feet from your desk.”
Ember let out a sigh, her feet slamming into the floor with two thuds. “Yeah, sure. I saved the school a few days ago, but I guess relaxing is out of the question…” she grumbled.
Her teacher huffed. “While that may be true, you are a student just like everyone else. Don’t expect any special treatment from me in the classroom, young lady.”
“That’s another thing,” Ember said, rolling her eyes. “I’m not young, I was born in nineteen sixty-three.” A cacophony of snickers rose up at that, but Ms. Harshwinny looked none-too-pleased.
“That is enough, Ms. McLain. I suggest you behave, or I’ll be assigning you detention.”
“Sure, but I’ll just phase through the wall like last time.” She smirked. The other students laughed, and she gave a quick high-five to the boy next to her when he raised his hand up towards her. “By the way, teach, I’m pretty sure the answer to your question is King Sombra.”
“B-but I didn’t even finish asking the question, how could you—”
“I guess I did my required reading,” she chuckled.
Ms. Harshwinny appeared to be fuming, something that made Ember smirk. The strict teacher settled on simply turning around and writing something on the blackboard. Ember leaned back in her seat, and peered out of the window to her right. She could see Rainbow Dash’s classroom across from her own, past a large patch of grass. “Hey, Ms. Harshwinny,” she called out, looking back at the teacher and raising her hand.
Her teacher let out an exasperated sigh. “Dare I ask what you need, Ms. McLain?”
“What’s our homework for the day?”
“To write a report on Sir Prancealot’s influence on the Knights of the—”
“Round Table, yeah, got it,” Ember cut her teacher off. With a grin, she turned intangible and shot out of her seat. “See ya tomorrow, teach, I’m heading to my math class.”
“Now you wait just a second, young lady. I’ll see to it that…”
Her teacher’s voice faded away as Ember darted through the window and across the grassy field, towards her friend’s classroom. As soon as she found herself in the class, she returned to her corporeal form. The students stared at her, caught off guard by her sudden appearance.
“Hah, you guys look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she said. Ember chuckled at her own joke, then turned to the teacher. “‘Sup, Mr. Hooves. You mind if I chill out in your class for a bit?”
“You know that you don’t have my class again until tomorrow, Ember. Is your teacher fine with letting you come here?”
“You know she’s not,” Ember answered honestly. The teacher rolled his eyes at that. “Aw, c’mon, I just wanted to learn some more math,” she said, going right back to lying.
Letting out a sigh, he relented and told Ember to just take a seat next to Rainbow Dash. Ember did as she was told, plopping down into the seat. Leaning towards Rainbow, she whispered, “You all set for the show tonight?”
“You bet. What made you wanna play an acoustic show, though?” Rainbow whispered back.
“I wanted to cover a few of my favorite songs in a new way,” Ember said with a grin. “You guys practiced with the sheet music I wrote up for you, right?”
Mr. Hooves cleared his throat, grabbing their attention. “Ms. McLain, is there something you’d like to share with the rest of my class?”
“No sir,” Ember apologized, a little saccharine. “By the way, I went ahead and did your homework early,” she added, shuffling out of her seat and walking towards him. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a crumpled up sheet of paper. “Here ya go.”
Taking the paper from her, he gave it a quick once-over, then nodded his head. “I’m impressed. Most of my students turn in their assignments late, not early.”
“Well I don’t know how long I’ll be stuck here, so I may as well make a good impression while I am,” she replied, heading back to her seat.
The rest of the day went by relatively quickly. When the bell rang to dismiss everyone, she grabbed Rainbow Dash by the arm and opened one of the windows, taking off with her fellow rocker in tow.
“Whoa!” Her friend cried out as they flew over the school. “This is awesome!”
“You sure like to use that word,” Ember laughed, landing in the parking lot after a few moments. Releasing Rainbow from her grasp, she took a quick look around to see if their friends were on the way. Seeing that they weren’t, she crossed her arms and leaned against a nearby street-light. “We can wait for everyone here.”
Rainbow Dash looked around awkwardly, clearing her throat a little and asking, “So… you mentioned you don’t know how long you’ll be here. Any, uh, reason for that?”
“Trust me,” Ember said, sighing, “I just know. When you’ve been around Danny and his friends for more than five minutes, you come to realize they have a tendency to wing it now, and think later.”
“Hey, you make it sound like that’s a bad thing!” Rainbow exclaimed. She playfully nudged Ember in the side. “Besides, didn’t Danny kick your butt all the time in your world? Guess all that winging it pays off!”
“Hey!” Ember said, “Cheap shot! That dipstick only beat me because he cheated by having his friend sing a horrible cover of my song.”
“Bet it was better than the original.” Rainbow Dash’s smirk was positively cruel.
Ember groaned. “You’re lucky I decided I like you. You don’t wanna know what happened to the last person that told me my music sucked.”
“Oh, yeah? What happened to ‘em?”
“Let’s just say he came out of our fight with less limbs than when it started,” Ember said, snorting with laughter.
“Ahh…” Rainbow grimaced.
“Don’t worry,” Ember said, “he was already a ghost, so it’s not like I changed much.”
The two continued exchanging idle chit-chat and barbs for a few more minutes, until the rest of their group finally arrived. Using her foot to kick herself away from the pole she’d been nestled up to, Ember addressed them. “Took you guys long enough.”
“Well excuse us for not being able to fly,” Rarity shot back, giving Ember a look.
“Whatever,” Ember replied, rolling her eyes. Look, let’s just get home and practice a bit before our show. We’ve gotta play like six songs, and we’re already running short on time.”
“She’s right. I gave the list a look, and I definitely need to practice some more,” Applejack said.
“Aw, you’ll be fine Applejack, don’t worry!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
“You’re just saying that because you have the easiest part of the setlist.” Applejack chuckled. “You’re so good on the drums that you hardly need to warm up at all.”
“Guilty!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, bursting with laughter as the group finally began to pile into Rarity’s car.
Practice had gone pretty well, and the Rainbooms grinned as they took the stage with Ember. Playing at the school auditorium had its perks, but now they were playing at the local sports bar, so the patrons were likely going to be a bit rowdier. “You wanna greet them, Rainbow?”
“You bet! These are my kinda people.” She grinned and walked up to the mic. “Wassup, everyone? How ya guys doing tonight?” A chorus of cheers was the bar’s collective answer. “Awesome. My friends and I are gonna be playing a few acoustic songs tonight, so sit tight and get ready to be rocked!” she shouted, brimming with her usual confidence.
The girls all took a seat in their respective stools, a mic propped up in front of each of them. With a quick count of “one, two, three” from Rainbow Dash, they began to play.
Fenton Residence, Earth
While Tucker continued his work on the portal, seemingly to no avail, the other three occupants of the room sat in a circle, putting to use the chairs that Danny had brought down from his kitchen.
“You know, sometimes I wonder what life would be like if I had never walked into that portal,” Danny said, once again breaking the silence that had fallen over the group.
“We’d probably all be dead,” Sam deadpanned, taking a hefty bite out of her veggie burger. Her mouth full, she continued, “So I guess we’d have found our way through the portal anyways?”
“She’s right,” Tucker agreed, “if not a little morbid.”
“So you fight ghosts all the time?” Sunset asked, earning a collective nod from the trio. Her eyes widened a bit. “How do you even fight ghosts, anyway? Considering they’re, you know… ghosts?”
“We have a pretty large amount of ghost hunting equipment at our disposal,” Tucker answered, looking up from the ghost portal’s control panel. “Though I’m sure Sam prefers to see her boyfriend beat the tar out of any ghosts that threaten her.”
“I can handle myself,” Sam grumbled.
“Oh yeah? What about last month when you got captured by Skulker, and Danny had to rescue you from a cage?” Tucker laughed. “You sure handled yourself.”
“How about the time you wished to be a half-ghost and got turned into a freak that tried to prove he was better than Danny?” Sam shot back, laughing as Tucker blushed at the embarrassing memory.
“Sounds like you guys live quite the life,” Sunset spoke back up, hopefully before things could get out of hand between the two. “Do you ever just wish that you didn’t have to, though?”
“Actually, I did that once,” Danny said. “It didn’t end very well, but that’s because Desiree is a certified psycho.”
“Desiree?”
“A genie ghost that grants wishes,” Sam explained. “But unless you’re extremely specific, she’ll twist your wish.”
“So if you wished for something like a million bits, she might give you a million bits worth of toothpicks or something?”
“Not sure what a bit is, but that sounds like something she might do.” Tucker laughed. “Man, imagine trying to sell all those toothpicks.”
The thought of that made everyone in the room laugh. “Call me weird, but I kinda hope I get to see one of these ghosts at some point,” said Sunset with a grin. “Well, aside from you and Ember.”
“Well with the Fenton Portal having to be switched on while Tucker works on it, you may just get your wish,” Danny said, returning her smile. “Let’s just hope it’s one of the nicer ones.”
Iron Will’s Sports Bar, Canterlot
The bar applauded as Ember and the Rainbooms played out the final few notes of their second-to-last song, and the girls all smiled. The show was going great, and they’d also been lucky enough not to have any ghosts interrupt it.
“Alright,” Ember spoke into her microphone, “I’m not sure about the Rainbooms, but I’ve been having a lot of fun playing these songs.” Turning back to her friends, she asked, “Have you guys ever played acoustically before?”
“A few times,” Rainbow spoke into her mic, looking over at Ember. “But we’ve never done any covers. Especially not songs from another world,” she joked, earning a bit of laughter from the audience.
“We’d also like to thank Iron Will for letting us play at his bar tonight,” Applejack spoke up. “And we sure hope he’ll let us come up here again some time.”
“Trust me, you girls are welcome here any time!” he shouted from the bar across the restaurant. “You saved the world!” he yelled, producing some cheers.
“Kind of a weird question, but does anyone have a whistle?” Ember asked, looking through the crowd of restaurant patrons. After a few moments, a girl raised her hand, and Ember pointed to her. “Awesome. You mind if I borrow it for our last song?”
The girl clearly didn’t. She walked up to the stage and handed it to Ember, who promptly thanked her. Rainbow Dash chuckled and leaned towards her mic as she tuned her guitar. “Everybody ready?”
The rest of the girls nodded, and Ember grabbed her pick. Raising her hand into the air, she counted down with her fingers, and the group began to play.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack were the first to start playing, and Ember placed the whistle in her mouth, holding it in place between her teeth as she waited for her part to begin. After a couple measures, she came into the song at a much higher octave, playing in place of the song’s original vocals. Once her section was completed, she sat back and began to bob her head to the rhythm.
“Just so you guys know, this one is called ‘Paradise City’,” she said into her mic. The song continued on, but slowed down a bit as Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy jumped in, followed by Rarity on the rhythm guitar. When Ember finally jumped back in, she played out the song’s bridge, then blew into the whistle. Pausing her performance as the rest of the group picked up their pace, she wiped the whistle off on her shirt and threw it back to the girl.
After about four measures, Ember jumped back into the song, and the group began to play as a whole.
Fenton Residence, Earth
“Danny, I found something pretty interesting.”
“What is it, Tuck?” he asked, leaning back against the wall next to Sam and Sunset.
“There seems to be an anomaly with the portal,” he announced to the group. “I’ve been working on it non-stop all day, but I haven’t been able to make any progress.”
“What’s the issue?” Sam asked, pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance. “It’s like all we’ve been experiencing are setbacks.”
“It looks like the portal has been tampered with from the other side,” Tucker explained. “The frequency has been altered, and I can’t change it for some reason.”
“Other side?” Sunset asked. “You mean the Ghost Zone or whatever?”
“Exactly. Nice to see you’re beginning to catch on.” He smiled. “We’ll have to go through the portal to find out who’s been interfering with it.”
“And lemme guess,” said Danny, his lips pulling up in a smirk. “You think we’re gonna encounter some trouble once we head in there, right?”
“Undoubtedly,” Tucker replied. “Anyways, we’ll have to take the Specter Speeder,” he added, walking over to the big ship. “Any objections?”
“Does this mean I’ll get to see some ghosts?” Sunset asked, clapping her hands together excitedly. Tucker nodded, and she gave a little fist bump in celebration. “Finally, I’ll be able to do something while I’m stuck here!”
Tucker opened the door to the ship, gesturing for Sunset to get in. She was all too eager, quickly clambering inside of it and looking in awe at the many gadgets stored inside. The others followed suit, piling in behind her. It was definitely a bit of a tight squeeze, but it was obvious Sunset didn’t mind. The new girl watched as the others took their seats, doing the same. As she buckled up, she asked, “So how fast does this thing go?”
“Prepare to be utterly disappointed,” Sam replied as Tucker fiddled with the controls. The ship began to hum, and slowly rose up from its supports. With the pace of a blind turtle, it began to make its way towards the portal.
“Aw, come on!” Tucker said, patting the dash of the cockpit. “I can get this puppy up to ten miles per hour.”
“Wow, that’s almost as fast as my bike,” Sunset snarked with a roll of her eyes as she glanced at the front view mirror.
Sam and Danny burst into laughter at her comment as the ship slowly disappeared through the Fenton Portal.
Iron Will’s Sports Bar, Canterlot
Ember grinned as they entered the final section of the song, which was one huge breakdown. Everyone in the group picked up their pace, and she began to strum out what would be one heck of an epic closing solo. As she began to get into the rhythm of it, though, her playing began to fall a bit off-key. Thankfully, it didn’t last long enough for anyone aside from her bandmates to notice, and she quickly got back into tune as they closed out the song.
Leaning back towards the mic, Ember spoke into it with a smile. “Thank you, guys. I hope you all enjoyed the show!”
She was met with uproarious applause, and that familiar sense of ghostly energy swirled within her chest. Ever so slightly, her flaming ponytail grew a few inches larger. Despite the changes to her life within the past few weeks, she would never tire of the feeling of being praised by her adoring fans.
Rainbow Dash snickered as she watched the ghostly musician’s flame grow in strength. “And you guys tell me I let praise go to my head.”
Her friends broke into a cacophony of laughter at her corny remark and began to gather up their equipment. Ember was way ahead of them, having already slung her guitar over her shoulder. Once the others had followed suit, they gave a wave to the crowd and began walking towards the exit, ready to head home after a long day.
“Ember.” When Ember looked over, Fluttershy stood close by, toeing the ground. Fluttershy’s gaze averted from her as she said, “I don’t know if I misheard you earlier, but, umm, it almost sounded like your guitar was out of tune for a moment there. At least, that’s what I heard.”
“No, you’re right, Fluttershy,” Rarity said, joining Fluttershy’s side with a hand at her hip. “Ember’s playing was entirely off-key toward the end. Which is odd, because her performance is usually phenomenal.”
“Yeah, what was up with that, Ember?” Pinkie Pie asked, bounding over to Ember.
“Trust me, I heard it, too,” Ember assured them. “If my guitar goes out of tune, it usually only means one thing.”
“That you’re not as good as you think you are?” Rainbow Dash interrupted her, laughing. Ember sent her a glare, and her laughter turned nervous in an instant as she recalled Ember’s earlier story about the ghost and his missing limbs.
“First of all, I never mess up. Second, it means that there’s trouble headed our way,” Ember explained.
“You mean like a ghost?” Applejack asked. Ember nodded. “Well shoot, I can’t say I didn’t see this coming eventually.”
“Nor can I,” Rarity agreed. “I suppose this school is just a magnet for nothing but trouble.”
“Either way, we’ll need to keep an eye out,” Ember suggested. “If any of you see anything, just let me know right away.”
“Oh, I can assure you, that won’t be necessary,” a new voice spoke up from behind the group. It was one that Ember was all too familiar with, and she sighed as she turned around to face the source of the voice. “Long time no see, Ember. I see you’re finally hanging around with people in your own age group?”
“Spectra,” she greeted her old friend, gritting her teeth around a forced smile. “To what do we owe this… absolute pleasure?”
“Oh! Well I heard that you would be playing a show here, and well, I simply couldn’t resist cheering on my dear friend. But enough about me,” Spectra said, trying to change the subject. “You simply must introduce me to your new friends! Oh, what was it you called them on stage? Rain… Booms?”
Ember let out a sigh. Of all the ghosts that had broken through into this world, she hadn’t expected this one. She and Spectra definitely went way back, but their relationship had sort of simmered away after a particular argument the two had had. Still, if she was here, the least Ember could do was try to be hospitable. “Girls, this is Penelope Spectra. She’s a… friend of mine from back home.”
“Is she also a gh-gh-gh-ghost?” Fluttershy asked, her voice shaking with fear. Spectra answered the timid girl by flashing her eyes a bright red, and Fluttershy immediately moved to cower behind her friends.
“So… how did you hear about our show?” Ember asked, trying to break the tension.
“You’d be surprised how much info a school counselor has access to,” Spectra said, winking. “Actually, one of the students happened to tell me about it during a session today.”
“Wait, counselor? As in, for Canterlot High?” Rainbow interjected. “How long ago did you get that job? I thought Starlight was doing that as a side hustle?”
“Oh, two or three days ago,” Spectra replied. “Your principal was very eager to hire me for a full-time position after I regaled her with my wealth of experience in dealing with teenagers.”
“By experience, do you mean brainwashing them into being depressed?” Ember asked, raising an eyebrow. “I seem to remember you coming back and regaling me with a tale of Danny ruining your career.”
“Oh trust me,” Spectra said with a wave of her hand. “I’m past that phase now. I’ve found a new way to maintain my beauty!”
“And that is…?”
“Sports, of course,” she explained, clearly piquing Rainbow’s interest.
“Why sports?” the guitarist asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, you would be surprised how distraught some students get after losing something as simple as a game of football, even if they’re not part of the team,” Spectra explained. “It makes everything so much simpler when my patient is already depressed.”
“Yeah, she’s right,” Rainbow said, chuckling nervously as she tried to feel out the situation. “My friend Ruby wouldn’t talk for days after the basketball team lost a game to our rivals last month,” she recalled. “But… why do you need to feed on depression?”
“I’m… not sure,” Spectra replied, her body language showing a sign of discomfort at the question. “I don’t think any ghost has ever come to fully understand why we work the way we do. We just sort of… do.”
“She actually has a point,” Ember agreed. “I don’t really know why people cheering for me makes me stronger, but questioning it won’t change anything. It’s just how I work, and it’s how I’ll keep working. I’m gonna warn you though, Spectra. If you even think about causing any trouble at the school, I’ll be there to stop you, regardless of our friendship.”
“Mm, yes, I heard about your battle with those sirens,” Spectra said, sighing. “Very well, you have my word. Though I must get going, I have an appointment early in the morning with a boy who tried to slide into home base and came up just inches short of winning the game. Ooh, I can just feel the gut-wrenching pain already!”
“Hopefully you can help him feel a whole lot better!” Pinkie Pie shouted out as Spectra began to walk away.
Without turning around, the ghost counselor offered up a reply. “Sure. Help him, we’ll go with that.”
With that, she finally left the group alone, and Ember let out a massive sigh of relief. “Whew, thank god she wasn’t here to cause trouble.”
“We should still keep an eye on her though, right?” Applejack asked, moving up to Ember’s side and watching Spectra walk out the door.
“That’s right, Applejack. Remember, ghosts are notorious for lying just like I told you,” she said with a nod as the group took a seat in a nearby booth. “And it’s only a matter of time before one that isn’t nearly as friendly as Penelope shows up.”
“Really? Friendly? Her?” Rainbow Dash looked absolutely befuddled, and Ember chuckled.
“Trust me, as far as ghosts go, she’s one of the nicer ones. I mean, she did try to kill Danny’s sister, but—”
“Wait, she tried to kill someone?” Rainbow cut her off. “That’s pretty messed up. Why do you even trust her?”
Ember looked lost in her thoughts, recalling that argument from the pair’s past. As the memories of that day replayed through her mind, she answered her friend vaguely. “She owes me a favor. Not to mention, Danny did save everyone, her included, at one point. So she owes him as well, even if she doesn’t want to admit it.”
“Now why exactly does she owe ya a favor?” Applejack asked. “How do ghosts even owe anythin’ to each other?”
“It’s… a long story,” Ember said, frowning. “And not a particularly happy one. I’d rather not go into it now.”
Rarity gave her a look, and as if sensing her discomfort, gestured toward the group. “Perhaps now we should all head home for the evening. It has been a long day, after all.”
Ember’s frown remained, but she nodded, and slowly began making her way to the exit, her friends in tow. As the group passed through the barrier to the outside world, she gazed up at the stars above.
‘That dipstick better get you home safe, Sunset. I’d rather not look like a liar to everyone here…’
Canterlot High, The Next Morning
Penelope Spectra walked towards her office, ready for her upcoming appointment. To say that she was surprised that Ember was attempting to turn a new leaf was an understatement. Still, the siren was one of her closest friends, and had been for years. She wasn’t about to betray the trust they’d developed over that time, nor the fact that she still owed her friend a favor. Even if they had left off on… less than ideal terms.
She came to a stop after and took out her keys, unlocking the door to her office. What she saw when she walked inside made her drop her keys in shock. “Y-you’re already here? But… how did you get in?”
“Principal Celestia let me in,” the boy seated across from her chair said. She regarded him with a look of uncertainty. The situation definitely seemed off, but as long as she was able to feed, she wasn’t going to complain. “I’m sure you’re wondering why I scheduled our appointment so early.”
“The thought crossed my mind, but I’m always happy to help a student overcome their problems,” she said as she took a seat across from him, beaming from ear to ear with a very fake smile. She shuffled a few papers around on her desk to get them organized. “Now! How can I help you?”
“Well, first of all,” the boy replied, his voice slowly transitioning to a much deeper pitch. “You can tell me just what the hell you think you’re doing in this world, Spectra.”
“Wh—” Spectra stuttered. “How do you know who I am?” she asked, trying not to let her voice betray the sudden concern she felt.
“Oh, you’ll come to find that I know a lot of things,” he replied, his eyes flashing green for a moment. “Including how to possess humans.”
“Who are you?” she demanded, jumping up from her seat, and bracing her hands against the edge of her desk. This situation had just gone from strange to threatening very swiftly.
The ghost across from her chuckled darkly. “Now, now, I’d be dropping the ball if I told you that. Let’s just say I’m someone that you'll grow to be familiar with soon enough. Any more info and you might go running off to Ember,” he spoke slowly.
“‘Familiar with’…” Spectra repeated, her eyes quickly shifting towards the door to the room, then back to the present threat. “I’ve encountered you before, no?”
“Not exactly before,” the ghost across from her smirked. That was when it dawned on her, and a look of horror swept across her face.
“N-no, that’s impossible,” Spectra stammered out in disbelief. “Clockwork was keeping you prisoner, and nobody’s ever escaped his punishment!”
“Sorry to tell you, sister,” he replied with a smirk, “but that makes me the first. Now, are you ready for our session?”
Spectra gulped and nodded, slowly lowering herself back into her seat.
“Excellent,” he replied, reaching a hand back to lock the door, ensuring there would be no interruptions. “First question. Do you want to do this the easy way, or the fun way? Well, fun for me, at least,” he added with a grin.
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https://youtu.be/Gx3310tUhVw
seems like thing are heating up big time for the future.
It lives! Yay!
Good to see a classic return. I,be been reduced to looking forward to one update on a single story once a week for years now. I was going to give up on the rest of my favorites but now you reemerge. Thx, and good luck with updates, I will be waiting.
11119896
Thank you very much for your support after all this time! I'm actually going to be working with Missy on the next chapter tonight :)
11119924
Don't rush, but don't take as long as last time please
The friendship between Ember and the Rainbooms is...surprisingly wholesome.
Oh, Dark Dan is on the attack. This won't be pretty.