Equestria Girls: Girl's League

by Olakaan Peliik

Hidden Heroines

Jenny noticed the drop in Dani's body temperature immediately and the look of panic on her face. Jenny was about to ask what was wrong when Dani stood abruptly.

"Sorry, girls. I don't think today's lunch is sitting well with me, I'm gonna use the ladies room. Be right back." Dani almost ran to the restroom with her bag.

"Well she may be a little rough, but pleasant company all the same," Rarity said.

Twilight started to speak. "Well she's just a calmer version of Rainbow Dash, so I don't see-"

BOOM!

A thundering crash came from outside as well as some screaming. Looking outside Jenny could see an overturned car and people running away from something that was down the street.

She stood to go have a look. "Darling if something is happening out there, it's safer here." Rarity called.

"My mom would want me to get home as soon as possible." Jenny lied. She went outside without another word and pretended to run with the crowd until she came across an alleyway. Once out of sight she changed her usually near human-like skin to her dence armored exoskeleton with afterburners and weapon deployment points. Knowing there was no time to lose she took to the skies and began looking for the source of the problem.

It wasn't hard to find. Believing in what she was seeing was another matter. A Mummy. Mostly rotted, wrapped in linen bandages, and shouting stuff in ancient Egyptian. But this wasn't scientifically possible. Jenny decided to try and get a scan of this thing.

<Error: Invalid Target>
<Warning: Ecto-energy reading detected>

Jenny's systems told her. Which obviously meant she couldn't scan it. So she decided on something else. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?" she shouted.

It reacted to her. Which actually creeped her out. "Leave metal creature, this does not concern you." It said in English.

"You're wrecking my town, you bet it involves me," Jenny said, deploying her particle lazer.

When she fired, this creature seemed to evaporate into thin air. Then it reappeared just to her right, floating. It somehow utilized its wrappings to grab hold of Jenny and throw her to the ground.

"Hotep Ra is not here for you!" It continued on like Jenny wasn't there.

"No, but you are here for something!" Another voice shouted, female this time.

Jenny sat up and looked to the sky, a girl, she had snow-white hair in a pony tail and glowing green eyes. A white and black jumpsuit with a "D" like logo on her chest.

"Phantom!" Hotep growled.

"Oh how nice, you remember! But enough about me. How've you been? I’d just love to know how you got out of the Ghost Zone?" She asked sarcastically like they were old buddies.

"The walls between dimensions are thin around here. Getting out was… easy." Hotep lunged at this Phantom girl. She produced a freezing blast from her hand which stopped Hotep and he fell to the ground and shattered.

The Phantom flew down to where Jenny was standing and greeted her. "Hey, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm ok. What was that thing?" Jenny asked standing and brushing some asphalt off her arm.

"A ghost. A bad one. I have the hardware to contain him but I could use a hand. The name's Dani Phantom."

"X-j9, I'm more into robots. Ghosts are a bit out of my wheelhouse." Jenny admitted.

"That's ok, I'm gonna guess you couldn't scan him right?" Dani asked, Jenny nodded. "Try scanning me, and calibrate your weapons and systems to my flux-frequencies."

Jenny, as X-j9, did just that. And to her amazement, she could now register this Hotep Ra on her targeting system. He was regenerating himself from being frozen and shattered by this Phantom.

"Get ready to hit him. I'm going to keep him from going intangible so you can hit him when he is solid. We gotta get him weak before I can use the Ghost Thermos on him."

"Understood. Let go." Jenny took off and took up a kind of orbiting position around the fight. True to her word Dani would go intangible whenever Hotep would and lay on the hurt. Then as soon as he was solid again, Jenny would fire her layers at the wrappings he was trying to use to attack with.

It was a good strategy, that is until Hotep got hold of a car and hurtled it toward some civilians. Neither Dani nor Jenny could get there in time.

Fortunately, someone was already there. Huge energy gems formed over the civilians and stopped the car in its tracks. Then a rainbow blur began to take the civilians away from danger. Some cars were even being levitated in place to create roadblocks to keep civilians from getting close.

Jenny wasn't sure who it was helping but she was glad they were. So she got back to the fight with the Ghost. Dani had gotten him close to depleted now, Hotep looked tired. Jenny's readings showed his ecto-energy was faltering.

Hotep attended to tackle Dani around her midsection, dani countered with a knee to his head followed by four quick punches to the Mummy's stomach and a roundhouse heel kick to his head. Hotep went down and was taking his time getting up. Or perhaps he was really having trouble.

"This… this isn't over whelp!" Hotep snarled. Dani didn't say anything to him, just got the thermos off her back and activated the device. Which promptly began pulling the ghostly entity inside it. “I’m not the only one out, and I’ll return. Count on it!” Dani put the lid back on the thermos, seemingly satisfied.

Jenny landed next to Dani Phantom. "Glad that's over."

"Yeah, maybe. We worked well together." Dani said.

"Maybe we should-" Jenny had started to say but was cut off. She was reviving an alert. Her mom was calling her back to the house. "I have to go. See you around."

"Yeah sure." Dani flew off in the opposite direction and turned invisible. Jenny proceeded to fly home.

---

When Jenny landed in her bedroom at home, her mother was waiting for her. Jenny changed back to her human-like appearance before Ms. Wakeman started asking questions.

"So, I saw you on the news today." Ms. Wakeman said in a seemingly disapproving tone.

"Yes, mom," Jenny said. She knew her mom hated it when she was on the news.

"I have just one question…" Wakeman said, stepping up to her. "Are you alright?"

Jenny was a little surprised. "You're not mad?"

"While I'm not excited that the news caught a clear glimpse of you. I'm more worried about ecto-energy affecting your systems. I wasn't exactly anticipating that you would fight ghosts when I built you."

"I'm fine. If it wasn't for that Phantom girl I probably would have sustained damage. I was able to scan her before scanning the ghost-mummy."

"So you have a data file?" Wakeman asked.

"Yes, Mom. Would you like a copy?" Jenny asked sitting on her bed.

“Indeed I would. It would seem I will have to call a few scientist friends about ghosts. Never thought that would happen. Although I suspect I will have to call upon a few experts outside my normal social zone.” Ms. Wakeman pondered, “But that can wait a bit, how was school? I did notice you didn’t come straight home.”

“I got invited to go for smoothies and shakes by a new friend I made in science class. Her name is Twilight and she is really smart, maybe smarter than you.” Jenny said excitedly. “She introduced me to her other friends, Rarity, Apple Jack, Rainbow Dash, Sunset, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. There was another girl there that Rainbow brought, Dani Fenton.”

“Fenton?” Wakeman asked.

“You know her?”

“The name, a family of scientist ghost hunters. Once to be thought as a bunch of phonies. Perhaps it is them I should call. And perhaps you should make friends with this girl, she may know something about these ghosts as well.” Ms. Wakeman instructed.

“I’ll do my best mom.”

“Dinner is in an hour, do your homework if you even have any and then get yourself cleaned up, you smell like old wood.” Ms. Wakeman said leaving the room.

Jenny suddenly got a little self conscience about how she smelled, seeing as she was an android, she had no sweat glands, and could not sweat. She wondered how she smelled to the other students. Worth investigating sutley.

---

The next day Jenny did her best to get a chance to talk to Dani in the first part of the school day to no success. Dani was always sitting more than two seats away from her and Jenny dared not use any of her abilities. She was supposed to be blending in, not revealing that she was an android. Jenny’s opportunity didn't come till lunch.

Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Twilight were already at the lunch table; they were all caught up in their own conversations and didn't really hear what Rarity, Rainbow, and Dani were talking about as they approached.

“I just can't believe you didn’t, at least, consult me before doing this Rainbow. I could have told you if it was in fashion this season or not.” Rarity was saying to Rainbow Dash who had come to school with a new hairstyle. The sides of her head were shaved leaving just the top and back, which she kept in a ponytail.

“It looks good Dash,” Dani said as she sat down across from Jenny. “Don't think I could pull it off though.”

“It looks cool,” Jenny piped up.

“Thanks Jen. Say, did you get home okay yesterday?” RD asked.

“Yeah, my mom had a lot of questions. She’s a scientist so she was curious about my interactions since I have never been in public school before.”

“Your mom is Dr. Noreen Wakeman, right?” Twilight asked. Jenny nodded. “She is a very respected robotics developer, and was recognized for her work on the XJ Robotics program. The XJ-3 was an interesting bit of tech, although nobody in the scientific community has heard much from her in a while. Does she still tinker?”

“A bit,” Jenny shrugged, a little surprised that someone knew who her mother was.

“Speaking of robots,” Sunset said, arriving at the table. “What was that yesterday? Not just one ghost in town but two, one of them a hero, and then that robot hero girl?”

“I don't know, but that mummy seemed to be after something.” Twilight said, seemingly thinking hard.

Jenny took this as her moment. “Say Dani, you're a Fenton right? As in Fentonworks? Ghost Hunters based out of Amity Park Minnesota? What do you think about this?”

Everyone was suddenly waiting on Dani to talk. Dani seemed shocked that Jenny seemingly knew her family ties. “I don't really talk to my Aunt and Uncle, I’m more in touch with my cousins and they don't really do the whole “Ghost Hunting” thing. To be honest I thought it was all crazy talk.”

Jenny registered on her systems that Dani’s heart rate increased as she talked and her body temperature went up, indicating she wasn't being entirely truthful. “Well, I'm glad nobody was hurt.” Fluttershy commented.

“Yeah, I heard there were other masked girls there, seven of them. One was strong, one was fast, one called upon the animals, one moved cars with her mind, and another conjured rocks out of the air.” Dani said listing off what she had heard.”

“They are gems, darling,” Rarity corrected immediately. Everyone but Jenny and Dani shot Rarity a look, even Twilight’s dog which was odd. “What? They are.”

“Anyway, I was gonna ask you all something,” Dani started. “My stuff is arriving this afternoon, I was hoping you all would like to help me settle in. I was gonna order some pizza, make an evening of it, ya know?”

“I have no plans, I’m there.” Sunset said nodding.

“Same here.” Applejack nodded.

Everyone else nodded collectively, “I’ll need to ask my mom, but I think I’ll be able to make it.”

“Cool, I’ll send you all the address and code for the gate,” Dani said, checking her watch. “Lunch is almost over and my next class is on the other side of the school,” she stood. “See you all tonight.”

One by one everyone began to disperse. Jenny had to make sure she asked her mom, making it sound like it was recon on the Fenton family. As far as she was concerned crime fighting was on hold, she was invited to a gathering with other girls.

---

Jenny was walking to the bus stop with Thunderlane and she had gotten done telling him about everything that had happened over her first two days of school. Thunderlane just nodded and made the occasional comment as he listened.

Jenny suddenly realized, “I’m sorry we haven't gotten to hang out at school.”

“It's fine actually. I have other friends that I can spend time with at school. We are neighbors as well as schoolmates so we’ll see each other enough. But tell me more about this Dani Fenton, she sounds interesting.”

“She is. She tried out for the School’s MMA program, and according to Rainbow Dash, she got in.” Jenny told him.

Thunderlane perked up at the mention of the MMA program. “Yeah I was there for that. She dropped last season’s champ like she was nothing, a quick one-two-three-four combo and wham! Roundhouse-kick to the side of the head.”

Jenny then recalled Rainbow describing the same thing when she brought Dani to Sugarcube Corner. Then Dani Phantom did the exact same move. Jenny was developing a hunch, but she had to do some more research before jumping to conclusions. Looking up they were now outside their houses.

“I need to get home so I can ask my mom if I can go to Dani’s housewarming, and get ready, I’ll see you tomorrow yeah?”

“Yup, See you tomorrow.”

Jenny hurried home and immediately got to work looking for her mother. Who was in the basement experimenting with mechanical bees. Jenny knocked on the wall gently to announce her presence.

“Welcome home dear, how was your day?” Ms. Wakeman asked in an autonomous tone.

“It was good. I think I made headway on learning more about Dani Fenton, I think I could learn more if I go see her at her house tonight. She is having a housewarming and asked a few of us there to keep her company as she unpacks. Was hoping I could go?”

Wakeman was looking up from her project now and was considering her android daughter. On one hand this was probably an opportunity for XJ-9 to goof off, on the other it was indeed an opportunity to learn more about ghosts if this Fenton girl really does know something. Besides, it's not like boys were a real worry with XJ-9.

“Oh very well, but be home at midnight and no later, you still need to rest.” Wakeman instructed.

“Oh, thank you mom!” Jenny hugged her mom rather suddenly and hard prompting Wakeman to gasp momentarily for air as Jenny ran upstairs to run through her closet for something to wear.

---

Sunset and Rarity were outside Rarity’s parents house as Sunset began living with them not long after they became friends. They were the last of the group to be picked up by Applejack and the others.

“So what do you think Dani’s place will be like?” Sunset asked Rarity.

“I don't know but I’m bringing my sample kit, just in case she wants to decorate her space with some drapes, or maybe even a tapestry.”

“A tapestry?” Sunset asked.

“Aside from wonderful decorations, they insulate in the cold, and they cut down on echo in empty rooms. They have a purpose other than decoration."

"I believe you. She said she was staying with that Pendragon guy. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he doesn't have any electives does he?" Sunset asked.

"I haven't seen him in any. Neither has Applejack." Rarity said, as she thought about it. "Haven't seen him at any school fundraisers either. He was absent for the entire Siren fiasco."

Apple jack pulled up with all the others in the back of her suburban. Rarity and Sunset got into the back passenger seats, Jenny was in the back-back with Pinkie and Fluttershy.

"Buckle-up, ya'll." Applejack said as she pulled away from the curb.

"I'm so excited! I brought snacks!" Pinkie said excitedly.

"She'll probably have snacks there, Pinks," Sunset said looking back at her.

"We told her," Rainbow said.

"Well, what if there isn't enough?" Pinkie argued. "If there isn't enough you'll be thanking me."

Applejack cut in, "Alright Pinkie you've made your point. Hey RD, open up the address on your phone again, I wanna be sure of where I'm going."

"It's the old airstrip, how do you not know where it is?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I ain't been there in a while." AJ defended.

The conversation trailed off as Applejack drove. Ranging from school dramas to how Rarity's Boutique was doing. They were in the middle of discussing how to handle the next few editions of the school newspaper when they arrived at the front gate. Applejack reached out, pressed the call button, and then waited.

“Who is it?” a male voice came from the intercom.

“It’s Applejack, and friends. Dani invited us over.”

“Ah, I’ll buzz you in,“ he called back, and after a moment the gate buzzed and moved to the side.

Applejack slowly pulled the car through the sea of vehicles and found the parking area near the hangar. Once she was parked everyone started to get out. Sunset began looking around, she immediately spotted an old motorcycle that was in the middle of being worked on.

“You think he could fix my bike?” Sunset asked aloud.

“Probably, I mean look over there, he works on helicopters,” Rainbow pointed, over to a helicopter that was half-stripped for parts.

Sunset took one additional glance around before joining the others at approaching the door. Before they knocked the door unlocked and another intercom said “Enter.” passin through the door they were greeted with a plethora of even more partially finished projects. The largest of which was an old airplane she had only seen in history books.

Atop the plane’s wing was Paladin. He seemed to be rewiring something, he looked up from what he was doing to address the group of girls, “She’s in her apartment, been moving boxes all afternoon. Elevator behind you will take you up.” he pointed to each.

“She has her own apartment?” Rarity asked, astonished as she boarded the elevator. “I’m gonna need some more fabric samples,” she continued to rummage through her purse which contained a mixture of makeup and fabric samples and a measuring tape.

“I think you’ll be fine Rarity.” Sunset said to her while silently laughing to herself.

As they stepped out onto the catwalk Dani appeared from the apartment to their right, and waved them over. "Hey girls, I got refreshments in the fridge, and some snacks on the counter. Both healthy and not."

Entering Sunset got a good look around. The place was modern. Square edges, and bland, as far as decoration went. Sunset could sense Rarity cringing even though she held it together to be polite. There were boxes of stuff all stacked in areas of the apartment. In the living room there were boxes labeled as “gaming consoles” or “throw blankets”. In the kitchen there were only a few boxes, Dani started to ask for help with certain areas..

“AJ would you mind unpacking the living room?” Dani asked. “Everything is labeled.”

“Sure thing.” AJ responded. Applejack got to work, starting with the throw blankets.

“Pinkie could you handle the kitchen? And Sunset could you help me in my room?” Dani asked kindly as she put a box in that seemed to be the linen closet.

Pinkie didn't say anything as she got to unpacking. Sunset joined Dani in the master bedroom, "So how is it you have so much stuff for someone who used to live with their aunt and uncle?" she asked.

"Well, my dad was rich, then he got in trouble... Serious trouble. So when they locked him away for good he requested that I get all his holdings.” Dani said.

The casual manner in which Dani said that caught Sunset off guard, “But he was still your dad right?”

Dani shrugged. “It never felt like it. My dad was insane, obsessed with the wrong things. My Aunt and Uncle while they are eccentric in their chosen profession, not only raised my cousins, but then me.” Dani stopped and looked over at a picture of her with a family. “They are more family than my dad ever was.”

Sunset stepped up to Dani and placed a hand on her shoulder. “So why move away?”

Dani looked up and went back to unpacking. “Well my cousin is kinda famous in my town. Trying to go to school there became… overwhelming. So I spoke to him, my aunt and uncle and they understood and even supported me.”

“I can understand that.” Sunset said, unpacking a box of figurines, they were small and ceramic. Each resembling a city or country. “Where’d you get all these?”

“From places I've visited.” Dani said it like it was normal.

“You've been to Paris, France. Rome, Venice, and a place called Tuvalu? I don't even know where that is.” Sunet said, amazed.

Dani got excited, “Tuvalu actually was a great trip, I went with my cousin and his family. The people there are so nice! Totally recommend it.”

“Yeah maybe after graduation,” Sunset said, placing the figure of a small island surrounded by ocean on the shelf. Sunset stepped up to Dani. “Say if you ever need company I’m sure the rest of us wouldn't mind having you over for dinner from time to time.”

“Thank’s Sunset,” Dani smiled at her.

Sunset whent to touch her shoulder in a comforting manner but got an instant rush of emotions and memories. One was of Dani hanging out with a group of friends. Another memory of what felt like Dani’s father shouting at her to go away. One of what seemed like her aunt and uncle saying that they were proud of her and supported her choice to move away. Another, featuring a ghost boy and Dani calling him cousin as they fought a ghostly robot of sorts.

Just as soon as the rush of emotion and memories started they had ended. Sunset had to pretend to be alright when really a scry like that always made her feel a little dizzy. “I’m feeling a little hungry, mind if I join the others for a bit?”

“Sure no problem, I’ll join you in a bit,” Dani said, unaware of what just happened.

Sunset went out into the living room/kitchen. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had just finished unpacking the living room, Twilight was connecting Dani’s gaming console. Rarity was discussing the drapes with Jenny. Fluttershy and Pinkie were unpacking the last box of dishes in the kitchen.

Sunset moved quickly into the kitchen and got a hold of a plastic cup and got some water from the tap. As she drank it in a single go it drew the attention of Fluttershy and Pinkie. Leaning against the counter she tried to process the emotional info she had just received on accident.

Sunset deciphered what each memory meant in her head: Dani missed her friends, that much was obvious. She was still sad and angry with her father that she did not get the attention she had deserved, again obvious. She missed her aunt and uncle’s supportive nature, she felt alone here. The last memory she received from Dani was the one that puzzled Sunset the most. There was the ghost boy who looked an awful lot like the ghost girl that was in town yesterday, and Dani had called him “cousin”. Dani had mentioned that she had a cousin that she was close with. Sunset had a hunch: Is Dani the ghost girl? Sunset thought.

Fluttershy pulled Sunset out of her head. “Sunset are you okay?” she asked with another cup of water at the ready.

“I think…” Sunset started in a whisper. “I think Dani is that ghost girl we saw with the robot girl fighting the ghost mummy.”

“What makes you say that?” Pinkie asked a little loud but she was trying to whisper at the same time.

“I accidentally scryed her memories.”

“Sunset, we talked about this, you said we shouldn't use our powers all the time.” Pinkie said, reminding her of one of the rules that they had all agreed upon returning from camp everfree.

“I didn't do it on purpose,” Sunset defended.

Just as Dani was walking into the room, Jenny spoke up, apparently hearing the conversation Sunset Fluttershy and Pinkie were having. “You can see people’s thoughts?” she said, and It killed all other sounds in the room.

Dani was looking at Sunset. Sunset and her friends were all looking at Jenny, and Jenny was looking around the room. Even Spike the dog was looking surprised. Sunset quickly tried to quell the situation, “I dont know what-”

“Now hold on.” Applejack interrupted. “I reckon they would have found out from the other students sooner or later about the eight of us. Best we tell them straight.”

“I agree with AJ.” Twilight said. Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow all gave additional murmurs of agreement. The dog gave a nod of approval as well.

Finally Sunset accepted the census of her friends. “We all have magic powers.”

“And I can talk.” Spike said suddenly.

Dani looked confused. “Believe it or not a talking dog is not the strangest thing i've seen.” She rubbed her eyes. “You all have powers?” Dani asked.

“I have telekinesis.” Twilight demonstrated by levitating Spike over to her.

“I’m strong.” Aj admitted.

“I’m fast.” Rainbow said posing proudly.

“I can make gems appear out of thin air.” Rarity demonstrated by creating one in her hand.

Fluttershy pulled back her bangs to look at Dani “I can talk to animals.”

Pinkie smiled and just said. “Sprinkles go boom.”

“And I can see either what people are thinking about or recent memories when I touch them. Although not always on purpose.” Sunset admitted.

There was an awkward silence as Dani was seemingly processing this information. That is until Jenny spoke up again. “I have something to admit too.”

“What, do you have powers too?” Rainbow asked jokingly.

Jenny shrugged “Sort of.” Jenny shifted her skin to create the armor plating of the battle ready robotic form of X-J9, but leaving her human-like head unchanged. “I am an Android.”

Twilight’s eyes lit up with excitement. “You're an android!” she squeaked excitedly.

“Twilight, calm down. You can ask your thousand questions later.” Spike said to Twilight as soon as she got excited.

Dani was looking around at all of them. “Well I guess it’s my turn. You all trusted me, so I’ll trust you.” Dani focused her mind and triggered her DNA change. In a flash of light she appeared in her pale skin, snow white hair, glowing green eyes, and black and white jumpsuit. “I’m half ghost.”

Author's Note:

This chapter was a little different to write since I wasn't really establishing a character like the last two. From here on out I'll be jumping around POV's from time to time.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, hit that thumbs up if you did. If you have a positive comment I'd love to hear it. Please stay tuned for updates they are on the way.

Comments

[Luke Wijen]

Looking forward to more