Danny Fenton finds himself at Canterlot High School after a mishap with the ghost portal.
After a mishap with the ghost portal, Danny Fenton finds himself stuck in the strange world of Equestria. The worst part? He's got enemies here, too.
Part 2 onwards will be written with the help of MissytheAngle!
Part 1 going through re-edits by Curify. This dude is awesome, I seriously can't say enough about his greatness as both an editor and a friend. Thanks, man.
The scene was a familiar one. Danny Phantom and Ember McLain were facing each other, eyes glowing with determination. It had been a fierce battle up to this point, and there were no signs of either one of them letting up. “As if, dipstick! I’m just gettin’ warmed up!”
Bolting into the air, Ember changed her guitar to the lightning setting and strummed a few notes, sending a bolt of lightning right at her enemy. With no time to dodge, he simply turned intangible, an act that only fueled the rock diva’s anger further.
Leaving his intangible form, Danny crossed his arms and looked his enemy dead in the eyes. He smirked, eliciting a growl from her. “Looks like your newest single was a bust.”
“Then I’ll just have to release a killer comeback,” she grinned, shifting her pick between her fingers and flicking the tone knob. Dragging her hand back, she gave the chords one long strum. A bright orange light traveled up the neck of her guitar, peaking into a fireball at the very top. With a tilt of the guitar and a quick power-chord, that fireball was sent towards her foe.
Danny’s vision went white, his fight or flight instincts kicking into gear. He shifted left at the last moment, twisting around the inferno as it whizzed by. Behind him, the explosion generated shockwaves that shattered the windows of nearby buildings and nearly knocked him to the ground. Aside from a few singe marks on his outfit, he was alright. Shaken and still trying to regain his balance, but alright.
Taking advantage of his confusion, Ember’s guitar screeched as she ran her fingers down the neck, a volley of fireballs launching one after another at her rival. To her dismay, the little punk somehow managed to dodge each and every one of them, though it was becoming apparent that he was growing tired. Finally, one of them hit its mark, grazing his arm and sending him spiralling to the ground below.
Danny’s body rebounded off the piping hot asphalt, and he skidded to a halt on the sidewalk. Summoning what little strength he had to lift his upper body, he was quickly met by yet another attack. A scorching heat on his chest marked a direct hit, sending his body tumbling backwards and into a building. This time, getting back up wasn’t really an option as more fireballs slammed into the ground all around him.
Cackling, Ember strummed a few more notes which formed a large fireball on the head of her guitar. “Get ready, because you’re about to become part of my hottest track yet!”
Danny’s eyes widened. ‘Crap, if that attack hits me, I’ll fade away like a one-hit wonder.’
A boom resounded as Ember finally shot off her monster of an attack. Danny had little time to think as the raging inferno shot towards him like a speeding bullet. He settled on a method of defense that, unfortunately, wasn’t something he’d wanted to resort to. He took a massive breath, his body glowing a faint green. The attack was mere inches away when he let out a bellow. Rings of green light, representative of the supersonic sound he was producing, immediately dissipated the attack before slamming into the source.
“N-no, that’s impossible!” Ember cried out, waves of pain crashing over her, causing her to writhe about. This time it was her that was sent tumbling to the ground, unable to move. Her fate was sealed as he unlatched the Fenton Thermos and pointed it at her. “Next time, the critics won’t be the only ones I’ll blow away!”
That was the last thing Ember could manage to say before being sucked into the thermos. Danny wiped the sweat off his head, placing the cap back on the thermos. The faint glow around his body faded away, his transformation back into a human complete.
‘It’s weird, Ember seems to get stronger every time I face her,’ Danny thought. It was true, this fight was one of the most difficult for him since becoming half-ghost. He resolved to find out what made the rock star ghost tick another time. For now, he just needed to release her back into the Ghost Zone.
It was just a short fly back home, and Danny’s parents were there to greet him when he arrived. “Off fighting ghosts again, son?”
“Yeah, dad.” It was still strange to him that his parents, heck, everyone on Earth knew his secret now. It had been almost two months since he had saved the planet from total destruction, but not much had changed since then. Ghosts came through the portal, he kicked their butts right back into it. Truth be told, he was grateful his parents didn’t treat him differently. To them, he was still just their son, not the savior of the world.
“One of these days, you should let us study one of the ghosts you capture!” his mom chimed in, and he nodded.
“Sure! Just… not this one. She’s a bit of a hot head,” he chuckled. “Anyways, I need to go release her back into the Ghost Zone.” He ran down the stairs leading to the basement. He approached the portal, ready to send her back, but a slight pulse emanating from within distracted him.
‘That’s weird… I’ve never seen the portal do that.’
The portal pulsed once more, this time much brighter. The glowing began to grow in strength and speed, flares of green energy shooting out and causing the many electronics around to go haywire. Danny recoiled, a flare whipping past and cracking the wall behind him.
Danny’s feet dragged forward, his mind struggling to keep up with what was happening. If he didn’t return Ember back to the Ghost Zone, she could break out of the thermos and cause even more trouble than before. But with the portal acting the way it was, was going towards it really the best—
The portal shook violently, sparks flying about. He kicked an arm back in an attempt to brace himself as the tremor knocked him from his feet. Unfortunately, another shockwave ripped his arm out from under him, leaving him flat on his back. There was nary a thing he could do but watch as the green glow of the portal dissipated into a little white circle. With a thunderous boom, the circle blew outwards and engulfed him in a blinding light.
“Hey, are you uh… okay?”
“Wha-huh?”
Danny’s eyes shot open, but his brain was lagging behind. A palette of greens filled his vision, smeared across the landscape in a blur. His back ached, grooves being pressed into it by… something. He craned his head up, clarity slowly returning to his eyes. Apparently, he was sprawled out across a bench, with a figure looming over him.
“I said, ‘are you okay’?” the silhouette repeated. When he finally took in its appearance, he was flabbergasted, to say the least. It was some sort of blue-skinned girl with… rainbow hair?
Off the bench he tumbled in shock, though he was swift to get back on his feet. Practically ripping the thermos from his belt, he pointed it right at her. “S-stay back, I’ll use this!”
“Um… like, what’s your problem, man?”
“What’s my problem!? Aren’t you a ghost?” If her eyebrow was raised before, now it was simply flying off her head.
“A ‘ghost’? What are you, eight?” The ‘ghost’ asked incredulously.
“Sixteen…” came his embarrassed reply. He sat back down on the bench dejectedly.
“There’s no such thing as ghosts, weirdo. You’re sixteen and your parents still haven’t told you that?”
“Heh, right. Of course. Guess I was dreaming or something,” he covered. “So do you mind telling me where on Earth I am?” He latched the thermos back onto his belt.
“I can’t tell you where on ‘Earth’ you are, but I can tell you where in Equestria you are, and that’s my spot. The bus is going to be here soon, so scooch over.”
“Bus?” He inquired. Then it hit him. ‘Wait, did she say Equestria?’
“Um, duh, for school? Isn’t that why you’re here?”
‘Okay, so I’m in some place called Equestria, and I’m sitting at a school bus stop? Alright, just gotta blend in and see what’s up. I’m clearly not in Amity Park anymore.’
“Yeah, sorry, I’m just pretty tired…” he responded, moving over to give the girl room to sit down. “So what’s your name?”
“You can just call me Dash. What about you?” Well, at least she seemed nicer than the Dash he knew back home.
“Danny,” he smiled.
“Heh, that’s a weird name,” she chuckled.
Grinning, he replied, “You’re one to talk, ‘Dash’.”
“Hey, they don’t call me Dash for nothin’, I’m the fastest runner in Equestria!”
“I dunno, I bet I could beat you in a footrace,” Danny replied, having no clue what he had just done.
“What!? That’s it! You, me, race, right now!” Dash shoved herself so close their noses were touching, causing him to put his arms up as a shield.
“Um… I was just joking,” he replied, scooching away from her.
“Nuh-uh, buster! Nobody jokes about my speed and gets away with it, we’re racing!”
“Uh…” Danny tried his best to find an excuse. Thankfully, the squealing of brakes pulled her attention away from him. “Oh look, the bus is here!”
Indeed it was, rounding the corner towards their location. Dash looked rather miffed, while Danny was simply relieved. “You got lucky, punk.”
The bus screeched to a halt in front of them, and they boarded. Danny made sure to follow behind Dash so that he could at least try and sit next to her. He still had some questions for her, and he was hoping she could answer them. The two arrived at the back of the bus and took a seat next to each other. Much to his dismay, it didn’t take long for Earth to catch up with him.
“Hey, look guys, Dash has a new boy toy!”
While Danny blushed from embarrassment, Dash simply told off the source of the taunt. “Shut up, Amethyst, he’s not my boyfriend! You’re just jealous that I can actually make friends!”
‘Well, that could have gone worse,’ he mused to himself.
“Sorry about Amethyst. She thinks she’s all that because she’s part of the cheer squad,” Dash explained, her eyes nearly rolling right off her head. She raised her voice a bit, looking at the prissy girl in question. “But she’s not, she’s totally lame and stupid!”
“No, you!” Amethyst shouted back, giving a loud harumph.
A simple “whatever” was Dash’s only response before she began reading what Danny assumed were notes, and they rode out the rest of their trip in silence. When they eventually arrived at school, everyone fought to leave the bus. Once he had escaped its confines, he took a moment to inspect the school. It was decently sized, a bit bigger than Casper High to be sure.
‘So this is where I’ll be spending the next few… huh. How long will it be before I get back home?’ He wondered. It wouldn’t be long until he was found, hopefully, but he knew from experience that it was better to maintain a glass half empty type of mentality.
Before he knew it, he had already reached the front doors to the school with Dash right by his side. “So where do I go to sign up for classes?”
“Just go to the main office and ask for Vice Principal Luna. She’ll help you out!” she yelled back at him before she ran off to her locker.
“Um… okay,” he replied, even though she was out of earshot. Pushing through the front doors, he noticed that aside from the coloration, the inside of this school was pretty similar to that of his own. Thankfully, the front office was directly to his right, adjacent to the school’s entrance. He swung open the big double doors, and walked in.
There wasn’t much to the office. A couple seats to his right, and the front desk directly ahead. A few doors to his left led to the school’s staff offices, so he’d likely be headed there next. Walking up to the desk, he gave the woman seated on the other side a smile. In exchange, she gave him a strange look, as if he had something on his face.
“New student?” She asked bluntly.
“I was told I need to speak to Vice Principal… Luna? I think that’s what Dash said, to schedule my classes?”
“I’ll decide when you get to schedule your classes,” she replied curtly. The silence that followed afterwards made Danny uncomfortable, and he inwardly thanked the stars once she continued on. “So you’re transferring from another school, then?”
“Yeah, I’m from… out of town,” he settled on that excuse. Her raised eyebrow told Danny that she wasn’t buying it, so he settled on elaborating further. “Out of country, actually.”
“Strange. For someone from another country, you certainly aren’t showing any signs of a foreign accent,” she noted. “What country might that be?”
“Um…”
“And how do you know Miss Dash?” She grilled him further.
“I met her at the bus stop,” he answered, this time truthfully. “Look, can I just get my classes scheduled?”
Finally, she seemed to relent and pushed a button her phone. “Vice Principal Luna, a student is here to see you.”
“Send him in, Miss Harshwinny.”
“Alright,” she replied, taking her finger off the phone. “Head into the hall to our left, and take the third door on the right back there,” she pointed. Danny nodded, heading off to his destination and arriving at the noted door. When he opened it, his eyes dropped to the dark blue-skinned woman sitting behind a desk.
“Hello, young one! Take a seat…” she paused and tilted her head.
“Danny,” he finished with a smile. Hopefully one that she deserved this time around.
“Take a seat then, Danny. I’ve never seen you around here before, so I assume you’re here to create a schedule?” Luna guessed, Danny nodding in affirmation. “Alright, well since you’re new here, I’ll start you off with some basic classes. You’ll be taking algebra first period, biology second, literature third, and history for the last period of the day. Does that sound acceptable?”
“I guess so,” he shrugged. He found no issue with taking such easy classes, now it was just a matter of hoping he had nice teachers.
“Excellent! I’m going to go ahead and print out a schedule for you. If you have any issues finding one of the rooms, simply check the map at the front of the school.”
“Thank you, Miss Luna,” he smiled. A few moments later, she returned with his newly printed schedule. Once it had been handed to him, he gave it a good once-over. “Hey, a forty-five minute lunch period? That’s pretty long.”
“We believe that one of the keys to developing a young person’s mind is giving that mind time to rest and recharge,” Luna replied chippily.
“Well I’ll be sure not to waste that time. Thanks again!”
Luna nodded. “You’re very welcome. I hope you enjoy your time at Canterlot High School, Danny.”
“I hope so, too,” he smiled back, before hopping out his seat. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m off to my first class.”
“Of course. Be sure to come by if you need any help adjusting,” Luna offered. “My office hours are two to five every day after classes are dismissed.”
Danny nodded, finally leaving the office. What the rest of the day would hold for him, he had no clue, but one thing was certain. Without any ghosts, this was gonna be a breeze.
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.”
Fleeing from the sirens had been easy, Danny had to admit. He probably could have defeated them right then and there, but he couldn’t risk the thermos being destroyed. Then again, it had proven to be pretty useless just then, unless…
‘Maybe they’re not ghosts?’
That would certainly help explain why it hadn’t even reacted to their presence, but then why did his ghost sense go off? Spying on them had left many questions unanswered, but he had an idea where he could get those answers. He just needed to be careful. If he let his identity slip, the sirens could easily use it against him.
The sound of the lunch bell ringing broke him out of his thoughts. ‘Guess I’ll have to talk to her after school.’
Quickly finding a place to change back to his human self, he hurried to his final class of the day. He had always hated history class. It was so pointless! Learning about things that happened hundreds of years ago definitely wasn’t his idea of interesting, and now he had to learn about things that happened hundreds of years ago in a world that wasn’t even his!
Letting out a sigh, he pushed open the door leading to his classroom and walked inside. “I presume you’re the new student Ms. Harshwinny informed me about?” The teacher guessed, and Danny nodded.
“Uh, yeah. Danny Fenton.”
“Well, Danny, you can have a seat in the back next to Fluttershy.” Looking back where she pointed, he noticed that the girl he’d be sitting next to had her head down, avoiding eye contact with him. “Don’t mind her, Mr. Fenton, she just dislikes attention.”
‘Well that explains her name,’ Danny joked to himself as he walked over and took his seat. Well in any event, it wasn’t like he would have to talk with her or anything. All he had to do was pretend to listen to what the teacher was saying.
“Alright class, today we’ll be working in pairs. Go ahead and move your desks together with the person seated next to you.”
Well that threw that thought out the window. Sensing that Fluttershy wasn’t going to make the first move anytime soon, Danny slowly slid his desk towards hers. “So, uh, I guess we’ll be working together?”
A simple ‘meep’ was the girl’s only response, and Danny slammed his head down to the desk. ‘This is going to suck...’
“I’m sorry.”
“Huh?” Actually hearing her voice threw him off a bit, and he raised his head up slightly to look at her.
“I’m just so…”
“Shy?” Danny ventured a guess, chuckling. Fluttershy giggled in response, a good sign. “It’s fine, I get it. Meeting new people can be pretty intimidating.”
“Well… Dashie actually told me about you already.”
“Oh, did she now? And what exactly did she say?” He grinned.
“She said you were ‘cool, but a big doofus too’.” The answer made him titter. That certainly sounded like something that, well, anyone who knew him would say. As he was about to respond, their conversation was cut off by the teacher clearing her throat. All eyes were on the front of the room, even Danny’s.
“Now that I have your attention, the focus of today’s lesson plan will be on the founding of Equestria. Does anyone here know why Equestria was founded?”
A few students raised their hands, and the teacher settled on one near the back. The girl looked fairly smart, but the way she answered threw off Danny. “Trixie thinks it was because of an agreement based on mutual help.”
“Did she just refer to herself in the third person?” Danny whispered to Fluttershy. Her only response was a giggle and a nod.
“Very good, Trixie. As everyone knows, Equestria was founded by three tribes. Alone, each tribe was only proficient at select things, hunting for the Eastern Tribe or farming for the Southern Tribe. Combined, however, the tribes were able to share their skill sets with one another and prosper.”
“Is it true that there’s never been a war in our history?” A voice on the other side of the class piped up. If that were true, Danny thought, then they were lucky. War was something no civilization should have to be put through.
“Don’t be silly, of course not. While we may have never been involved in any full-scale wars, we have had a couple…”
Deciding that this topic didn’t interest him, Danny tuned out the teacher’s voice. It sounded strange to say, but he kind of wished that something involving the sirens would happen soon. At least then he’d have something to do. Sadly, the rest of the class passed uneventfully. Aside from meeting another member of Dash’s band, it had been just as boring as his other classes.
‘Well, at least the day is finally over...’ He mused, walking towards the school’s exit.
That’s when a thought suddenly hit him like a bag of bricks. “Aw crap, where am I gonna stay tonight?”
“I can help with that.” Without even having to turn around, Danny knew who that was.
“How’s that, Dash? Gonna let me crash with you?”
“Not exactly,” she grinned. “I have a friend who’s been living by herself for the past few months. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind having someone to keep her company.”
“By herself? Is she rich or something?”
“Not…”
“‘Exactly’?” Danny guessed.
“Exactly,” Dash laughed. “Why didn’t you say you didn’t have a place to stay, though?” She inquired as the two shuffled outside. The light from the sun was almost blinding after having been inside all day, and the two shielded their eyes.
“I’m not going to be here long, so it’s not too big of a deal,” Danny shrugged, but Rainbow wasn’t buying it. Before she could ask any more questions, he asked one of his own. “Why are you so sure this girl will let me stay with her?”
“Well… she kind of doesn’t have any friends aside from my band.”
“Wow, that’s pretty sad.” And certainly not a feeling unknown to the teenager. He had been an outcast for most of his natural life, not to mention his ghost life. “What’s, uh, what’s wrong with her?” he asked her with some hesitation, hoping that didn’t come across as an insult.
“She was... pretty mean in the past, especially to us,” she replied bluntly, Danny’s jaw dropping as far as it could.
“And now you're friends with her?”
“It’s a long story, but that’s not what’s important. What’s important is making new friends, and that goes for both of you,” Dash finished off her sentence by poking him in the chest, and he winced a bit.
“Ow. Okay, I get your point. Where is this mystery girl, anyways?”
“She’ll be here any second, I always walk her home after school.”
“She lives near here?” That was lucky. It meant she didn’t have to take the bane of all human existence. ‘Public transportation…’
“Yeah, just a couple blocks away. You should see her house, it’s huge!”
“It’s not that big,” replied a voice Danny hadn’t heard before. Turning his head back towards the entrance to the school, he laid his eyes on an unfamiliar girl. The girl, in response, pointed at him lazily. “Who’s this?”
“This is Danny, he’s the one I told you about in third period.”
A look of realization popped on to the girl’s face, and she smiled widely. “Oh! You’re Danny?”
Lunch time. Danny’s favorite time of the day, bar none. Taking his place in line behind the other students, he let his mind drift back to the prior night. Sunset wasn’t just a good host; she had also been very personable. It wasn’t often that Danny had extended conversations with people he had just met, but something about Sunset felt comforting to him. Still, there was plenty about her that felt mysterious. Much like Danny himself, she hadn’t been very open about where she came from.
That was small fry though, and ultimately wasn’t what was important. What was important was finding out as much as he could about the Dazzlings, and putting a stop to their plan before it had the chance to be set in motion. As the line moved forward and he disappeared into the cafeteria’s kitchen, he grabbed a tray. It wouldn’t be long before he had his daily intake of greasy food and carbonated drinks, and then he could really do some thinking. For now, he was content to just get his meal and sit down with Sunset and the others for lunch.
The line was constantly moving forward, and it wasn’t long before Danny reached the front. His eyes met the lunch lady’s, and he relayed his order.
“Uh, I’ll have the cheeseburger with a side of tater tots and mac n’ cheese.”
The woman across from him gathered up the food he had requested and placed it onto his tray. “And to drink?”
Danny thought for a moment. Would this place even have the sodas he was used to? From what he had seen, the girls only ever drank juice. Eh, it was worth a shot. “Do you have any soda?”
“Diet or regular?”
“Definitely regular,” Danny answered.
With the exchange done, and the soda in his possession, Danny finally made his way over to where Sunset and the other girls were seated. Plopping down next to the girl in question, he set his food tray down and quickly cracked open that soda. Taking a small sip, he listened in on the ongoing conversation.
“I’m telling you, she definitely stole that make-up!”
Ah. So nothing important. Taking hold of the fork he had been given, Danny picked up a scoop of his macaroni and took a bite. It was actually… good? That was a shocker. The food at Casper High had always looked and tasted like mush. This had flavor.
His thoughts were ripped away from food when he felt a tap on his arm from Sunset. “What about you, Danny?”
Taking another bite of his macaroni, Danny spoke around his food. “What about me?”
“Ugh,” Sunset groaned. Her friends giggled, causing Danny’s eyebrow to raise. “I said, what do you think we should do about Adagio and her friends?”
“Oh!” Danny exclaimed. “Yeah. What did you guys call them? The Dazzlings?”
“Well, that’s what they call themselves,” Rarity answered. “I suppose it’s the name of their band?”
“Regardless of what their name is,” Twilight said, “they’re definitely bad news. I tried to talk to Vice Principal Luna about them earlier this morning, and she basically laughed me out of the room.”
“So you think she’s under their spell?” Danny asked. “I suppose that would make sense. If you’re going to attempt a hostile takeover, it’s best to start at the top.”
“That’s true,” Sunset said. “If we assume they’re not at their full power, then it would be in their best interest to eliminate any chance for their opponents to have them disqualified from the competition.”
“Yeah, this is definitely their best chance to get people to listen to their music,” Rainbow Dash agreed. “So if we want to put a stop to them, we’re gonna have to put on one rad show.”
Danny thought for a moment about their prospects of winning said competition. In his experience, it was pretty much impossible to out-duel a siren. But three of them? With odds like those, you’d be better off buying a lottery ticket. Of course, there was always another option. One that he hadn’t even considered. Glancing down at the thermos strapped to his waistband, his thoughts shifted to his old foe, Ember McLain.
Defeating her had taken everything out of him. If not for Tucker’s horrible singing, it was possible she would be ruling Earth at this very moment with her zombie-like fanbase. It couldn’t come to that, though. Not yet.
Finally deciding on what to say, Danny re-entered the conversation, which had kept going without his input. “I don’t think you can beat them.”
That certainly grabbed everyone’s attention back, and they gave him a collectively incredulous look. “So you think they’re just destined to win?” Twilight asked.
“No,” Danny replied with a shake of his head.
“Then what?” Applejack said.
Danny sighed, his eyes scanning around the cafeteria for a brief moment. Once he was assured Adagio and her cohorts were nowhere to be seen, he elaborated. “It’s not always about beating your opponent outright. Sometimes just forcing a draw is enough to crush someone’s spirit. The Dazzlings think the battle is won already and it hasn’t even begun.”
“Are you suggesting some sort of mutually assured destruction?” Sunset asked. “Because Twilight and the girls can stop them, I truly believe that,” she said, eliciting smiles from the group.
“What I’m suggesting is that you guys just focus on putting on a good show. Something tells me that they aren’t exactly used to competitions. They strike me as the kind that would throw a fit if the going got tough.”
“Now that I can believe,” Rainbow Dash said, chuckling. “Would you be down to help us out if we need it, Danny?”
Danny smirked. “You know it.”
“That stupid boy is going to throw a wrench in our plans.” Adagio found herself pacing around an empty classroom, something that was growing to be a rather concerning pattern. If her comrades were concerned, they certainly weren’t letting it show. Aria was sitting on a nearby desk, her legs waving back and forth idly as she listened to their de facto leader. “I don’t like it. Not one bit.”
Aria groaned, finally deciding to speak up. “I really don’t think this is as big of a deal as you’re making it.”
“Not a big deal? Not a big deal?” Adagio growled through her teeth, turning to glare at Aria. “Do you not realize what’s going on here?”
Aria sighed, looking back at Sonata, who seemed content to simply stare at the lab equipment on the other side of the classroom with a series of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’. Turning her attention back to Adagio, Aria rolled her eyes. “Alright, try me. What’s going on?”
“That boy is not just a boy,” Adagio said, her glare slowly diminishing in strength. Leaning back, she continued. “I’m confident that he is our mystery ghost.”
Aria’s eyebrow rose at that proclamation. “Hold on. You think that kid Danny is a ghost?”
“Not think,” Adagio corrected her, turning heel to face the blackboard. “Know.”
“But how could a living creature possibly be a ghost!?” Sonata shouted from her spot at the back of the room. “I mean, that, like, totally doesn’t make any sense!”
“Noted.” It was Adagio’s turn to let out a sigh. Grabbing a bit of chalk, she drew up a rather crude looking explanation. “Look,” she said, pointing to the chalk Danny’s hair, then to the ghost’s. “It’s the same. Not to mention the jawline, nose, and even his eyes.”
“Alright, so… what do you expect us to do?” Aria asked. “It’s not like he’s a threat anyways.”
“… I don’t know,” the poofy-haired leader admitted. “But if they have someone with those sorts of powers on their side, who knows what could happen?”
“I think I could wager a guess,” came a voice from above. “Although I don’t think you’d like the answer very much.”
The sirens all shot their gazes at the ceiling, springing into action as they watched Danny float through the ceiling and into view.
“My, my,” Adagio said with a smile. “Look who’s back. Are you here to get another beating at the hands of Aria?”
“Not gonna happen, Carrot Top,” Danny quipped, earning a snicker from Aria. A quick glare from Adagio shut that down, and Danny continued. “I’m here to talk.”
This was a long shot, Danny knew that. But it was also his best chance to learn how these sirens operated. Much to his surprise, Adagio seemed surprised herself.
That look of surprise didn’t last long, and her expression smoothed out. “And what, pray tell, do you want to talk about?”
“I want some info. In exchange…” he sighed. It was now or never. “I’ll give you some info about myself.”
“Hm…” Adagio put her hand to her chin in thought. “You’re proposing a trade?”
Danny nodded. “That’s right. If you answer my questions, I’ll answer some of yours.”
The leader of the Dazzlings seemed to be lost in thought, giving Danny the chance to finally get a good look at the group. The blue girl, Sonata, appeared to be the meekest of the three. While Aria and Adagio had taken the chance to surround Danny, she had remained at the back of the room twiddling her thumbs around her ponytail. Aria, meanwhile, was about as close he was comfortable with. She was staring daggers, so he got the feeling she was the brute of the group. Adagio was certainly the leader of the trio, and she showed a level of confidence that he actually found slightly intimidating. Altogether, they were definitely going to be a formidable foe.
“Alright,” she said, pulling his attention back. “I’ll take you up on this offer, on the condition that I get to ask the first question.”
Danny kicked himself mentally for not seeing that one coming. “Okay, shoot.”
“You…” With a smirk, Adagio walked up to Danny and poked him in the chest. “Are a half-breed. Part human, part ghost. We’ve run into your kind before, but never in the living realm. How is it that you’re here?”
Danny sighed. This was going to be difficult to explain, and likely too telling, but he’d have to make that sacrifice in order to get the info that he was looking for.
“I can sense your frustration,” Adagio continued with a smirk. “And it’s wonderful.”
“Alright, fine. Since I doubt I’ll be here much longer, I’ll tell you,” Danny said. “When I was younger, my parents created a portal that led to a place beyond Earth, where ghosts live. It didn’t work, so I went inside to see if I could figure something out. I accidentally pressed the power button and, well, this was the result.”
“No doubt you condensed what happened, but very well, I’ll accept that answer. Now, what do y—”
“Whoa, whoa, wait a second,” Sonata spoke up, finally making her way to the rest of the group. “You parents put the button inside the spooky ghost portal? That doesn’t seem very smart.”
“Huh.” Danny thought for a moment, and couldn’t come up with any reason why Sonata was wrong. “I never actually thought about that.”
“Anyways,” Adagio said, trying to redirect their attention back to the topic at hand, “I believe it’s your turn. What would you like to know?”
“What’s your plan?” Danny asked.
“To take over the school. Or are you too stupid to understand that concept?” Adagio smirked at him.
“Trust me, I know the concept. What I mean is, what’s the point in doing that?” Danny questioned her with a chuckle. “Your plan doesn’t even go past taking over the school? Weak.”
“Shut it, you. Our plan is ever-evolving. This stupid school is just the start,” Adagio said with a scoff. “I believe it’s my turn to ask a question. Why are you living with that bacon haired monstrosity?”
“‘Bacon haired monstrosity’…?”
“She…” Aria sighed. “She means Sunset Shimmer.”
“Oh. Well, I don’t have a place to stay, and she was nice enough to offer.”
It seemed as if Adagio had more to say, but she settled on, “That’s certainly nice of her, especially after what she did not even a year ago.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, you haven’t heard? Shocking,” Adagio said, chuckling. ”You see, Sunset Shimmer stole the crown of the Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Equestria. When the Baconator put it on, she was transformed into a raging she-demon.”
Danny remained quiet for a few moments, trying to process what he’d just heard. Sunset and Twilight were friends, weren’t they? And wasn’t Twilight just a common high school girl?
“I can see that you’re having trouble understanding. Well, allow us to explain through song. After all, that is our specialty,” Adagio said, grinning.
“Ugh.” Aria slowly walked, taking a spot next to Adagio. “Fine, whatever. Let’s just get this over with.”
Sonata, on the other hand, seemed all too happy, bounding into place at Adagio’s side.
With a quiet hum, the group collectively raised their arms upwards. As their humming grew in volume, the gems adorning their neck began to glow a dim red. Without even hearing them sing, Danny could tell that their voices were absolutely divine, something the Rainbooms were going to have a tough time competing against. Still, he didn’t see how this was supposed to make things clearer. “I don’t get it, all you’re doing is hu—”
Danny was interrupted not by the Sirens, whose harmony rose in both pitch and sound, but by a feeling of shock coursing through him, as a ripple of a magical glow washed across the room like a cool ocean wave. Once the entire area was cast in an almost heavenly glow, the room itself changed.
No longer were they standing in a typical classroom, with desks and chairs and science equipment. Rather, in the blink of an eye, Danny found himself outside the school in the dark of night. A large group of students crowded by the door, but a few familiar faces stood apart from their terrified classmates. Each and every teenagers’ eyes were all focused on something above, as a heavy gust assaulted the sky.
Danny looked up, and he gasped.
A gargantuan demon towered over the school, a looming shadow over an innocent town. Shark-like teeth glinted in a malicious smile. Dark red leathery wings stretched nearly a mile each, and when they folded, another violent blast of wind sank down against the school. Sharp red claws gripped the roof of the school, leaving deep marks in the stone. This demon looked beyond anything he had ever seen before, blood red eyes scouring the school grounds.
Then he noticed the yellow and red colored hair and tail that rose into the air, billowing like a blazing fire, and the glistening crown with a sparkling gemstone rested over her flaming head. Despite the demon’s unnatural look, Adagio’s words echoed through his mind, and a horrific feeling of recognition dropped like stones in his stomach.
“No… there’s no way!” he exclaimed.
None of the students that were part of the vision, of course, reacted to his revelation. They continued staring at this ‘raging she-demon’, terror flickering in their eyes as the demon released a bloodcurling screech that shook the earth itself. The Dazzlings gave him a knowing look.
“Oh, yes way,” said Adagio, a hand placed at her hip.
Before the vision could progress, as Twilight stepped forward, a determined look in her eyes, another magical glow swallowed the ground. Bright lights nearly blinded him, and he had to look away for a moment. When he opened his eyes, they had returned to the science class. It was now just the four of them once more.
Still reeling from the horrifying images they had presented to him, Danny fumbled with all the questions he wanted to ask. Finally, he settled on, “Was that really true?”
Adagio’s demented grin told him that she took sick pleasure in watching his expression break. “Why do you think the other students are afraid of her?” she said. “They live in constant fear that Sunset Shimmer will take out her rage on them.”
Danny frowned. ‘Great, now I don’t even know if I can trust the girl I live with…’
Before he could press further, he stopped. Seeing as Twilight and Sunset were the most prominent figures in the vision, he figured he might as well have them further elaborate on this. He had too many other questions regarding the Dazzlings, after all. “Why can’t you control me? Or the others?”
With a smile, Adagio replied, “Sirens can’t control beings of immense magical prowess. Did you see what Sunset looked like?”
Danny let out a long sigh. He had gotten the answer he had wanted from the Dazzlings, but they had only served to raise further questions. Was Sunset truly someone he could trust? And what of the others? Were they simply pawns in her game, or was it all a misunderstanding? Deciding these questions would be answered in due time, he focused his energy on making his body incorporeal.
“Well, I’m sure this won’t be the last time we meet, so until then, see ya,” Danny said, sinking into the floor. Once he was finally out of sight, and a few moments had passed, Adagio let out a wild cackle.
“What’s so funny, ‘Dagi?” Sonata asked.
“That foolish boy thinks he can stop us,” she said, her laughter beginning to die down. “But he’s fallen right into our trap.”
“What are you talking about?” Aria groaned before Adagio could ramble on more.
“Our song has given us a power over him, though not in the… conventional sense. The seeds of mistrust have been sown, girls. It’s only a matter of time before we can make our next move.”
“But what if something we said helps him?” Sonata questioned quietly, flinching away from the hot-tempered leader.
“If that were the case, he would have done something just now. There’s nothing he can do to stop us. Not yet. So let’s not worry about him. Let’s worry about what we’re going to do with Sunset Shimmer...”
After leaving the sirens and floating through several rooms, Danny made his way to the basement of the school. Lucky for him, it appeared to be empty when he arrived. The last thing he needed was for someone to see what he was about to do.
With a long, drawn out sigh, he looked down at the thermos attached to his belt. After wrapping it in his hand, he used his other to twist the cap off. With his thumb hovering over the button, he let out another sigh.
“So those sirens don’t get along with ghosts, huh? Well let’s see how they handle their own worst nightmare.”
With a quick click, he pressed the button, and the inside of the thermos began to glow a bright blue. In a few seconds, he’d have one of two things on his hands: either a solution, or an even bigger problem than before. The blue glow shot through the air and toward the ground, and the energy created the form of an all too familiar… acquaintance.
“I know you hate me, but you might be this school’s only chance,” Danny spoke slowly. Unsurely. “... Ember.”
“Oh, there she is!” Sonata shouted. From their spot around the corner, the sirens had a clear view of their target. The school hallways at Canterlot High were vast, and finding her has taken some effort on the sirens' parts. She didn’t seem to notice them, however. As Adagio was preparing to make her presence known, Aria spoke up.
“Are you sure about this, Adagio?”
“Now is our best chance to strike, while her friends aren’t around,” Adagio smiled, looking in the direction Sonata had pointed. “We’ll have her wrapped around our fingers in no time, girls. Wait here.”
The girl in question, Sunset Shimmer, was rummaging through her locker. “Darn it, I know I left that textbook in here! I am not going to share with Starlight again.”
“Perhaps I can assist you, Sunset Shimmer?”
“Huh?” As Sunset turned around, she accidentally slammer her locker shut. Letting out a groan, she narrowed her eyes at the girl in front of her. “What do you want, Adagio?”
“Oh, nothing at all,” Adagio smirked. “We simply have some… news, for you.”
“N-news?”
“Oh my, yes. In my professional opinion, it’s quite… delectable,” Adagio stroked her adversary’s cheek to emphasize her statement. Recoiling in revulsion, Sunset smacked her hand away, an act that only served to make Adagio giggle. “My, someone has quite a temper.”
“Whatever you wanna tell me, just spit it out, you freak.”
“Oh, nothing too interesting. Just a little smidget of information I’ve discovered about the boy you’re living with,” Adagio began to walk away, waving her hand dismissively. “But I’m sure you’re not interested in learning his dark secret. Oh well, I guess you’ll never know!”
As she watched Adagio walk away, Sunset was filled with conflicting emotions. On the one hand, what Danny wanted to keep secret was his business, not hers. On the other, she did say it was dark…
“... Wait.”
Adagio stopped in her tracks, and looked back over her shoulder with a sinister chuckle. She had Sunset right where she wanted her…
If there was anyone who could go head to head with the sirens, it was Ember. Danny knew that. What he didn’t know was if she’d even be willing to help him. Of course, if she wasn’t, he could just beat her again. He didn’t want it to come to that, though. All that mattered right now was talking to her. She came flying out of the thermos after what felt like minutes, cackling wildly.
She didn’t seem to notice him, and as she landed on the ground, she started to look around. “So… the twerp’s thermos failed, huh?”
“... Not exactly.”
Hearing his voice got her attention, and she swiftly swiveled around. The look in her eyes said it all. She was confused, and rightly so. “Alright, what gives?”
“I… need your help,” he admitted lamely.
Her laughter was all the answer he needed, but she spoke anyways. “Me? Help you? Ha! Did you hit your head during our last fight or what?”
He had an ace up his sleeve, sure, but it would be best to save it for later. For now, he took on a defensive stance. “Look, Ember, do you think I’d be asking you for help if I didn’t need it? There’s three sirens, and they mean business.”
“Sirens, huh? Sounds like you’re in trouble. Oh well...” Ember faux-yawned with a grin.
“Yeah, I am. I don’t expect you to help me, but I’ll make you if I have to,” he answered confidently. Screw it, it was time to reveal his trap card.
“I’d like to see y--”
“You’ll be trapped if you don’t,” he cut her off. Ember raised an eyebrow at that, and he knew he had her attention.
“Trapped? What do you mean?”
“We’re not on Earth anymore. Truth be told, I have no clue where in the heck we are, but it sure isn’t home.”
“And you think that matters to me? I’ll just go back to the Ghost Zone.” She smirked. A smirk that didn’t last very long.
“Don’t you get it, Ember? There isn’t a Ghost Zone. You and I?” He gestured at her, then himself. “We’re the only ghosts in existence here.”
Her eyes went unnaturally wide at that revelation, and she shook her head back and forth. “No… There’s no way! You’re lying!”
“I wish I was. But if we’re going to get back home, we’re going to have to do it together.”
He could tell Ember was struggling with her emotions, something he himself had gone through in the past. Working with your enemies was certainly something nobody wanted to do, but in this case, they would make a great team. “How do I know you’re not lying, kid?”
“You don’t. But you know me, so ask yourself. Would I lie about this?”
“... Alright, fine,” Ember begrudgingly replied, but quickly adding, “but after this, we’re back to being enemies!”
“Deal,” Danny stuck his hand out, expecting a handshake. What he got instead was a slap to his cheek, which he began rubbing to ease the pain. “Ow.”
“That’s for keeping me in that thermos for so long, punk. Do you know how cramped it is in there?”
“Yes,” he replied bluntly, recalling the time his own sister had trapped him in it. Neither one of them spoke for a short period of time after that. Instead, they simply stared at one another, as if trying to figure out what the other was thinking. From the look on her face, it was evident that Ember was thinking of something to say. After a few more moments, she broke the silence, but not before turning away from Danny.
“So these sirens, how do they control people?”
“By singing, just like you.” He couldn’t tell, but he was sure she had a look of contempt on her face.
“A trio of singers, huh? Well…” Ember reached back and touched the guitar case on her back, “I’m sure I can steal a few of their followers.”
“They’re competing in a battle of the bands in just a couple of days, actually. Some girls I met here are planning on taking them on, but--”
“But you don’t think they have a chance,” Ember finished his sentence for him. “You’re right. They don’t know what they’re going up against.”
“That’s right, and with your help, I think I ca--”
“‘My help’?” Ember chuckled, turning her head back a bit. “You must have forgotten, baby pop. I don’t do duets.”
“But you can’t possibly take them on by yourself, you overrated diva!” Danny shouted, silencing them both. He hadn’t meant to say it like that, and he knew he was about to regret it. As she turned around, he could see the anger in her eyes. Literally. They were on fire. Before he could react, she grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled him close.
“Listen, you little punk. If you think I’m doing this for you, then you’re even dumber than I thought. I’m going to be the one that defeats you, and I’m not gonna let some stupid sirens take that pleasure away from me. You got that?”
With a gulp, Danny quietly responded, “Uh, yeah, sure.”
Gently patting his cheek with her free hand, Ember replied, “Good.” She released him and he fell to the floor with a thud. He had to hand it to her, she certainly still had that threatening presence about her. “So where are we staying?”
“Huh?”
“Where are we going to live for the time being?” Ember elaborated.
“No, I got that. What I’m wondering is why you want to stay with me.”
“Where else am I gonna stay, you idiot?”
Okay, she had him there. “I’m staying with a friend. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind another guest if we, heh, made something up,” he rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling nervously. He knew it wouldn’t feel right to lie to someone he’d just met, but she was hiding secrets from him, too. At least, if the sirens were to be believed...
“What do you mean, ‘Danny’s a ghost’?” Sunset asked Adagio incredulously. “There’s no such thing as ghosts.”
“Oh, so ghosts are far fetched, but sirens aren’t?” Her rival laughed. “That’s quite a strange way of thinking.”
“Even if he is a ghost, what difference does it make? At least he’s not trying to take over the school.”
“Right now,” Adagio finished for her, running her hand down Sunset’s arm as she did so. “How do you know he’s not waiting until we’re out of the picture?”
“Because I just know he isn’t!” Sunset yelled, smacking her foe’s hand away. “Besides, I know what your game is. You’re not going to turn me against my friends, Adagio. And if you think petty lies are going to work, then you’re as dumb as you are evil.” Sunset could have kept arguing with Adagio, but she had better things to do. Namely walking away. When she was out of earshot, Aria and Sonata made their way over to their comrade.
“So much for your plan, Adagio.”
“Not to worry, Aria. Everything is going according to plan.”
“You say that all the time, but I don’t think you know what it means,” Aria shot back. “So far, we’ve made enemies with a ghost and failed to corrupt the one girl who could really help us.”
“Don’t you get it, you numbskull?” Adagio frowned at her friend. “She’s going to confront him about being a ghost, and he won’t be honest with her.”
“Oh! Oh! And him not telling her the truth will make her not trust him?” Sonata guessed, making Adagio smile and chuckle darkly.
“Exactly...”
“Except he will tell her. If he told us, what’s keeping him from telling her too, especially if she calls him out?” Aria knew she was right, and she didn’t let the glare Adagio shot in her direction affect her. “He’s up to something, Adagio, and we need to find out what.”
For a few moments, Adagio didn’t speak. She had known Aria for over a thousand years, and if she had learned anything in that time, it was that she was impossible to intimidate. So when she finally did speak, she did so calmly. “Alright. If you’re that worried, we can have Sonata spy on him.”
Well, that had certainly gone better than Danny had expected. He was expecting Sunset to yell at him about bringing over a guest, but she had reacted quite the opposite, welcoming Ember into her home just as readily as she’d invited him. Of course, that didn’t mean she had no questions for the two. As the two sat on a couch opposite Sunset, Ember’s feet resting on the coffee table, she began asking some.
“So how did you two meet?”
Before Danny had a chance to formulate a response, Ember piped up. “He wrecked a concert I was playing, and we got into a fight.”
“Ember!”
“What? I’m not the type to lie,” came the nonchalant reply, and Danny facepalmed. She was going to be the death of him, he was sure of it. Sunset didn’t seem fazed in the slightest, though.
“So you’re in a band?”
“Hah, more like I am the band. I play guitar, I sing, and most importantly, I rock.”
She wasn’t exactly wrong, her bandmates were just fellow ghosts that she had summoned. That begged the question of whether or not they were even real, like she was, but he could easily ask her that some other time.
“I play a little guitar myself,” Sunset smiled.
“Yeah, the dipstick here told me you play pop rock, is that right?”
Sunset smiled and nodded. “My friends and I are actually competing in a battle of the bands in a few days.”
“Well you’ll have a tough time winning if I enter,” Ember chuckled.
‘Okay, she’s doing a good job of being friendly, hopefully she can keep it up for a while,’ Danny mused. While it was true that she was being courteous right now, he knew she could just as easily show her true colors at any moment.
“Heh, you sound just like my friend Rainbow Dash,” Sunset giggled. “So are you entering?”
“She is, yeah,” Danny answered for her. “We just have to get her a schedule tomorrow and she’ll officially be a student.”
“Well, just make sure you don’t get stuck with Ms. Hayworth,” Sunset laughed.
“I’ll keep that in mind, thanks,” Ember smirked. Sunset didn’t know it, but if anything, she’d be the one making her teachers’ lives harder during the short time she was here.
“So what kind of music do you play?” Danny raised an eyebrow at Sunset’s question. Was it not obvious by Ember’s appearance?
“Mostly punk rock. I listened to a lot of Dead Kennedys as a kid, so I guess they rubbed off on me.”
“Dead… Kennedys? I’ve never heard of that band before.”
A quick jab to the ribs from Danny’s elbow got the message across to Ember that she needed to remember where she was.
“I guess they’re just an underground band,” Ember tried to cover up her mistake. Sunset seemed to buy it, but then turned to Danny.
“Danny, can I speak with you for a moment? Alone?”
“Uh… sure.” He wasn’t sure what she could possibly want, but followed her out of the living room and into her kitchen. For a few moments, Sunset didn’t say anything. Instead, she opened the fridge, grabbing out a few bottles of what looked like soda. She tossed him one, and “So what’s up?”
“Does your friend have a place to stay?” She unscrewed her soda as she asked, and took a swig.
“Heh, not really, no…”
“Well, I’d be happy to let her stay, but I need to ask you something first, Danny.”
“Sure, anything.”
“I need you to be honest with me. Are you a… you know?” The confused look he gave her said it all. He definitely didn’t know. The look on his face told her that, if she did ask, he certainly wouldn’t try to hide it from her. With that in mind, she decided to simply drop it, looking away from him as she did so. “... Nothing, nevermind.”
“Alright, if you’re sure. Now what do you say we get back to Ember? I’m sure she’s dying of boredom by now,” he joked. Sunset chuckled along with him, and led the way.
As the two reentered the living room, they saw that his assumption was indeed correct. Lying back on the couch was Ember, her guitar out of its case and in her arms. The song she was absentmindedly plucking out of the strings was one Danny certainly recognized. Sunset, meanwhile, seemed absolutely enraptured by the song. “This song is beautiful, did you write it?”
“Yep, a long time ago,” Ember replied, continuing to strum for a couple more seconds When her song concluded, she sat back up and perched her arms on the end of her guitar’s neck. “I was thinking of playing it at the battle.”
“You girls would certainly have a tough time beating that,” Danny chuckled, reclaiming his seat next to Ember and opening the soda he’d been given. “Trust me.”
“Are you going to be performing with her, Danny?”
“I don’t do duets, ‘hun,” Ember interjected. “‘Sides, I don’t need any help to beat those sirens.”
“You know about them?” Sunset raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, I told her. Figured we could use all the help we could get to beat them,” he reasoned, taking a sip of his drink. The look Sunset gave him showed that she was a bit unsure, but he did his best to assure her that everything would be fine as Ember began looking around the room.
Sunset’s home was quaint, a quality she certainly liked. On the stage, she was all about living in the spotlight. At her home in the Ghost Zone, it was just the opposite. She, like Sunset, enjoyed some peace and quiet when she wasn’t rocking out. She could definite get used to crashing here for the time being, but one thought lingered on her mind. She had tuned out the conversation between Danny and Sunset, but it was time to bring it to an end.
“So when do I get to meet these sirens?”
The two looked at her, dumbfounded. Sunset was the first to put her thought into words. “You want to meet them?”
“Heck yeah! I wanna know just whose dreams I’ll be stomping into dust,” she grinned, brimming with confidence. That confidence seemed to rub off on Danny, who simply looked to Sunset as if waiting for her confirmation to go ahead and meet up with the sirens.
“I… guess we could go see them right now? They’ve been staying late at the school to watch the other bands practice. We’ll need to be very careful not to let you fall under their influence, though.”
“Let’s go,” Ember ignored what Sunset had said, getting up from the couch and stretching her legs. It wasn’t like it would matter since she was essentially immune to all forms of siren magic, being a siren herself. She just wanted to know what kind of challenge she could expect from fellow creatures of the influence.
The trip to the school was mostly quiet, aside from the occasional question from Sunset. They ranged from where Ember came from to how she had gotten into playing the guitar. With each answer she gave, it seemed that Sunset had twice as many questions to ask. The seemingly never-ending stream of questions was finally halted when they arrived at the front of the school. The battle of the bands was only two days away, and the parking lot was still brimming with cars belonging to the participants.
“So how come you went straight home today?” Danny inquired, pushing the doors to the school open and walking in, Sunset and Ember right behind him.
“I’m helping the girls out, but I’m not part of their band,” Sunset shrugged. “Not much point in being here if there’s nothing for me to practice.”
“I guess. Still, are you sure the sirens will be here?”
“Positive. They’ll be in the gymnasium with the other students.”
The walk to said gymnasium remained quiet, so Ember took the chance to look around at what she would soon be calling her school. It was just a matter of signing up for classes, something Danny had let her know was incredibly easy. It didn’t take too long for the trio to reach the main doors leading into the gym. As Danny was about to push them open, he felt Sunset grab his wrist, and she pulled him away.
“You go ahead, Ember, I need to talk to Danny for a minute.”
“Whatever,” the ghostly siren shrugged. It wouldn’t be too hard for her to spot the sirens, having already had them described to her by Danny. Sunset waited for the gym doors to slam shut before turning back to Danny.
“Alright, who is she?”
“I told you, she’s a friend,” Danny pulled his wrist out of her grasp. “Do you not trust me?”
“I do trust you, but I know you’re not being entirely honest with me.”
“Is this about earlier?”
“... Yes. I wanted to talk to you about this earlier, but I just couldn’t bring myself to,” Sunset admitted. “I’m going to ask you something, and I want you to be completely honest with me, alright?”
There wasn’t much to lose, so Danny nodded his head in affirmation. “I promise.”
“Are you a ghost?”
For a moment, Danny remained quiet, but his expression didn’t change. ‘Come on, Danny, you can do this. You promised her you wouldn’t lie…’
“How did you find out?”
Sunset smiled, chuckling to herself. She was right about him after all. “The sirens told me. So does that mean you’re… you know? Dead?”
“Not, uh, not exactly. Do you want the long version or the short version?” Danny asked, lowering himself to the ground and leaning back against some lockers. Sunset took a place next to him, and her voice took on a hopeful tone.
“The short version couldn’t hurt.”
“Well, it all started when my parents built a portal to the ghost world,” Danny began regaling her with his tale, leaning his head back to look up at the ceiling. “My friends convinced me to step inside while it was turned off.”
“I’m guessing that didn’t go too well, huh?”
“Yeah… I kinda turned it on from the inside,” he replied, laughing nervously. Looking back, his clumsiness had actually helped the world in the end. “Next thing I know, I’m a half-ghost.”
“Are you able to transform at will?”
Deciding to give his new friend a demonstration, he forced his right arm to become incorporeal and reached into the locker behind him. When he pulled it back out, he had what looked like a love letter in his hand. “My dearest Derpy, how I long for your--”
“Haha, that’s fine, thanks,” Sunset cut him off, giggling. “How come you didn’t just tell us?”
“Well, Twilight almost caught me in the cafeteria a few days ago. Whenever a ghost, or anything supernatural, shows up, my breath turns blue for a second. It’s kind of a--”
“Ghost sense?”
“Exactly. She saw that, but I guess she forgot about it once the sirens came in.”
“Lucky for you,” Sunset smirked. Glancing over to him, she smiled. “I’m glad I can trust you, Danny. The sirens had me thinking that you were just trying to trick us all. I’m glad to see I was wrong.”
“Heck, I’m glad you girls were so quick to befriend me. I don’t know what I’d do if I were stuck in this world without any friends.”
“Trust me when I say I understand. So I’m guessing Ember is a ghost, too?”
“Yeah. She and I have fought a few times, but we have to work together to get back home.”
Ember was right. It hadn’t taken long at all to find the sirens. They were seated all the way across from the entrance, right at the bottom of the bleachers. Wading her way through the many bands that were practicing, she eventually found herself right in front of them. “‘Sup.”
“Mm, what do we have here?” The one she could only assume to be the leader of the troupe basically cooed out. “I haven’t seen you around.”
“Well you’re about to be seeing a lot more of me,” Ember grinned. “And you’re not gonna like what you see, Adagio.”
“So you know who we are? Interesting… You’re quite the specimen, aren’t you?” Adagio slowly rose up, moving to inspect Ember. Unfazed by the siren’s advances, she simply let her have her look. “You’re a ghost, are you not?”
“And yet I’m still not as dead as your chances of winning this contest,” Ember replied coolly. She heard the purple one, who she knew to be Aria, laugh. Adagio made her way back over to her friends and sat down as Aria spoke up.
“Now that I’d love to see. You and that dumb boy don’t know what you’re up against.”
“I know full well what I’m up against, Aria, and let me tell you. I’m not impressed by what I see.”
“Well then why don’t you pull that guitar out of its case and show us what you’ve got,” Aria goaded her, pointing to the case she’d brought with her. At this point, most of the students in the gym had their gaze set on the confrontation. To her credit, Ember just laughed grimly and took the case off of her back. Opening it up, she lifted out her guitar to a cacophony of oohs and ah’s at its appearance from the students. Once it was in her hands, she locked her eyes with the girl who had dared to challenge her.
“Whatever you say, idiot.” Angling herself so that the top of the guitar’s neck was facing the three girls, she began strumming a few notes. They didn’t have much of a set rhythm to start off, but slowly and surely, they began to morph into a very coherent riff. It was a song that she had been practicing in the Ghost Zone to use against her rival for the past few months. She hadn’t gotten the chance, but now would be a great time to show it off.
For the next few minutes, she wowed both the students slowly surrounding her, and the sirens. Her guitar playing was out of this world, and even Danny and Sunset had made their way inside to listen to her play. By the time she reached the solo, every single eye in the room was on her, and she basked in the spotlight.
“Wow, she's pretty good, huh Aria?”
“Shut up, Sonata!” Aria pushed her companion away. Ember laughed, but it didn't affect her playing in the slightest. It wasn’t long before the song had to come to an end, but she was going to go out with a bang. Literally. As she reached the final notes of the song, she quickly turned the tone knob and fired off a green wave of energy at the Dazzlings. With barely any time to react, they were thrown backwards by the power of it and tumbled into a pile at the top of the bleachers.
“That’s what I’ve got,” Ember laughed and began walking back to Danny and Sunset as the students around her began to cheer. “See you girls at the battle.”
It was finally time. For Danny and Ember, it was time to end this threat once and for all and get back home. For the girls, it was time to prove to everyone that Sunset Shimmer had changed. Of course, neither of those tasks were going to be a cakewalk. On the bright side, they’d have plenty of time to rehearse since their band was going up last.
The rehearsal hall was quite a large area, and the many bands that had entered had plenty of room to themselves to practice their music.
“So… Ember… You know what song you’re gonna play first?”
“Yep,” she replied with a yawn, clearly tired of waiting. “Got a favor to ask, though.”
“You? Asking a favor from your worst enemy? I never thought I’d see the day,” Danny chuckled, much to the ghostly siren’s chagrin. She did her best to ignore it, but the look in her eyes let him know not to do it again.
“Mm, it makes me sick just thinking about it,” she hummed. “I can’t summon my band while I’m here,” she began explaining, a small frown making its way onto her face, “so I need a drummer.”
“And you think I can drum?”
“Hah! Don’t make me laugh, twerp. No, I’ve seen that pink girl play, and she’s better than anyone I’ve ever heard,” Ember smiled. A small smile, but it let Danny know that she was confident. “I want you to ask her if she’ll help me.”
“Um, I don’t think you’re allowed to be in two bands for this tournament, Ember…”
“Just do it.”
Danny sighed and left his spot to go look for Pinkie Pie. At this point, he just didn’t want to do anything to tick off Ember. Luckily for him, finding his new friends didn’t take long, and he spotted her through the crowded hall. She was with Rainbow Dash and Twilight, seemingly discussing what songs they’d be playing during the show. “Hey!”
“Oh, hey Danny!” Pinkie shouted, waving in his direction. As he made his way through the crowd, he waved back. By the time he reached her, Rainbow Dash and Twilight were staring at him as well.
“Hey, girls. I had a question.”
“What is it?” Twilight smiled.
“Are students allowed to be in more than one band?” He asked. Ready for any questions they may have had, he continued, “Ember needs a drummer, and she wanted to know if Pinkie Pie could help her.”
“Oh. Hm…”
Twilight put her hand to her chin, deep in thought. She was about to reply, but found herself cut off by Rainbow Dash. “No offense, but why does she even need a drummer? I heard her playing earlier, and I doubt even a full band could outshine her.”
“She wouldn’t tell me, but I’m guessing it’s important to whatever song she wants to play first,” Danny reasoned. It certainly made sense in theory, but what Rainbow Dash had said was also true. But hey, he came here to find answers, not contemplate what Ember may or may not be planning. “Well, Twilight?”
“It doesn’t say in the rules that you can’t, but I’d ask Principal Celestia if I were you. After all, we wouldn’t want Ember to go up on stage and then be told it’s against the rules.”
“Right,” Danny nodded, turning to look at Pinkie. “What do you think, Pinkie?”
“I’d love to help Ember, let’s go ask the principal!” she exclaimed with a grin so wide he was surprised it didn’t tear her cheeks off. With speed quicker than he could process, she took off towards the principal, and Danny laughed.
“Heh, guess I oughta follow her. Thanks for not putting up a fuss, Rainbow Dash,” he chuckled. The rocker just gave him a thumbs up and a smirk as he ran off. By the time he finally caught up to her, she was already talking to the principal, but her smile seemed to be wavering. ‘Uh oh, that’s not a good sign…’
As the two came within earshot, he could just make out a bit of what Celestia was saying. “I’m surprised you would ask, Pinkie Pie. You know how strict my sister is when it comes to events like these.”
“But she really, really, really wants my help!”
“I’m sorry, Pinkie Pie, but she’ll just have to find another--”
“Wait!” Danny shouted, grabbing Celestia’s attention.
“Ah, the new student. Danny, right?”
“Yeah,” he replied curtly. “Listen, I know you said Vice Principal Luna is strict about this sort of stuff, but can you please make an exception? You see, Ember’s new here, so she doesn’t really have any friends. Pinkie Pie is the only one that’s willing to help her out,” he bluffed, hoping she’d buy it.
For a few moments, Celestia looked entirely unmoved by his plea. Eventually, a smile made its way onto her face, and she looked back to Pinkie Pie. “Alright, I’ll make an exception just this once.”
“Yay!” Pinkie shouted, throwing her arms around Celestia in a hug. To her credit, the principal didn’t seem too fazed, and simply pushed her back a bit.
“Now go. Ember’s set is about to begin, and she’ll need you there,” Celestia smiled. As the two gave their thanks and walked off, she muttered, “Luna’s going to kill me…”
“She said it’s alright.”
From her spot against the wall, Ember pumped her fist in celebration. “Awesome. I’ve only seen you play a few songs, but I noticed you didn’t use sheet music,” Ember raised an eyebrow in Pinkie’s direction. “Why is that?”
“I guess I just don’t need it,” she giggled. “My dad taught me to play with my ears when I was a little girl!”
“What’s that mean?” Danny asked, looking to Ember for his answer.
“It means she hears the music and reacts. She's a virtuoso.”
“So you hear what the other members of the band play and react to it?” Danny looked back to Pinkie for confirmation. She gave a quick nod, and his eyes went wide. “Wow, that’s pretty darn impressive!”
“It’s also why I needed her,” Ember revealed. “My set starts in a couple minutes, and there isn’t any time to learn the song I’m going to play. Think you can follow my lead, Pinkie Pie?”
“Yep! All I need to know is how many measures the first part of the song lasts so I can prepare!”
“Four, and the drums don’t pick up until the middle of the second measure,” Ember replied. The music they could hear through the wall finally seemed to be coming to a stop, and Ember gestured in the direction of Pinkie’s drum kit. “Let’s go get your drums set up on stage, the band we’re facing is finishing up their song.”
Danny couldn’t do much but watch as the two rolled Pinkie’s drums towards the doorway leading on stage. At this point, the curtains had closed on the other band’s performance, and the lead singer sneered at Ember as they walked by one another. “What are you looking at, kid?”
“Just wanted to get a nice look at the loser,” he grinned. “I seriously hope you’re not expecting to win with that guitar. It looks like a kid’s toy.”
‘Well, he’s finished…’ Danny thought, laughing at the scene unfolding before him.
“Hmph,” was the only sound Ember made, that is until she and Pinkie made it onstage. Then he could hear her laughing outright. Not one to miss a good show, he decided to make his way backstage and get a better look at the two girls playing.
“Alright, everyone give a big hand to Lightning Strike and his band, the Thunderbolts!” Vice Principal Luna exclaimed to the many watching students. She was still hidden behind the stage’s curtain, but the applause seemed to be quite remarkable. “Next up…” Luna paused for a moment, and he heard a sigh, followed by a very quiet, “I’m going to kill her…
“Next up, we have a new student, Ember McLain. Helping her out on drums will be Pinkie Pie.” With that, the curtains flew back, and the students gave a gentle applause. “Miss McLain, what song will you be playing for us tonight?”
With a nod in Pinkie’s direction, the drummer led her off with a few taps of her cymbal. As soon as Ember started playing, all eyes were on her. Her playing was slow, and carried a faint screeching. After a few seconds, Pinkie span her drum sticks around and they came crashing down over and over, signalling that her part of the song had begun.
It was surprising. Just like she had said, it was as if she could read Ember’s mind, and she was playing the drums in a way that perfectly complimented the guitar. Danny made a mental note of telling the Rainbooms how lucky they were to have this girl as their drummer. Soon enough though, four measures had passed, just as Ember had said, and the guitarist strummed a few quick notes and paused, letting Pinkie Pie finish up the intro herself.
Ember re-entered the song with the same melody, but it was much quieter. This was clearly meant to be an emotional song, and the many students that had gathered to watch were mesmerized as the song entered its first chorus. Her hands swiftly slid down the neck of the guitar, and she began playing in a much higher octave. Then, just as quickly as the chorus had started, it was over. For the next few moments, the song simply repeated itself more, and Danny found himself wondering what was supposed to be so special about this song.
That’s when the song slowed down, and the plucking of Ember’s guitar was all that remained, along with occasional humming into the mic. This led into the chorus once more, but Ember appeared to be grinning. Shooting a look back at Pinkie Pie, the rocker ran her hand down the neck of the guitar and started playing a solo.
“Oh, that’s what’s special about it,” Danny chuckled to himself. It was just like Ember to hog the spotlight with a long, drawn out solo. As her guitar came screeching back to life, he grinned. How was anybody even going to stand a chance against this?
Meanwhile, off in the hills behind the student bleachers, another group of students were equally impressed by what they were hearing.
“Dang, that’s a really killer solo.”
“That it is, Aria,” Adagio agreed. “This girl may pose a problem for us after all.”
“I mean, how are we supposed to beat that?” Sonata shouted over the guitar’s whining. “That girl is, like, way too good at the guitar.”
“Not to mention we haven’t even heard her voice yet,” Aria groaned. “And if it’s anything like her skill with that guitar, we’re in big trouble.”
“Not to worry, I think I have a solution to our problem,” Adagio smirked. “Look at the guitar, girls.”
“What about it?” Sonata prodded, not noticing anything particularly off about it.
“Her pick is on fire,” Aria pointed out for her comrade. “What does it mean, Adagio?”
“It means,” Adagio chuckled evilly, “that her guitar is magical.”
“I think that was made obvious when she literally blew us away two days ago,” Aria facepalmed.
“Ugh, don’t you two get it?”
“Um. No?” Sonata giggled.
Adagio groaned at the stupidity of her comrades, tired of having to explain everything. “She’s a siren. Which means we can convince her to work with us.”
“Ohhhhh,” Sonata laughed. “That makes a lot more sense than what I was gonna say.”
“Not to put a damper on things, but I doubt she’ll work with us if she’s already helping the Rainbooms,” Aria spoke slowly, and Adagio considered what she had to say.
“We’ll just have to give her the right motivation, then.”
As the song came to a close, and Ember’s guitar started to fade away, the students gave a raucous applause, easily ten times louder than they’d given to the previous band. The decision was pretty easy to make, and Luna made her way over to the mic with the judges’ score cards.
“And the winner of the first round contest between the Thunderbolts and Ember McLain is, by unanimous decision, Ember McLain!” Her voice came through the loudspeakers in the rehearsal hall, and Ember’s opponent seemed none too pleased, rushing onto the stage right towards Luna.
“That’s outrageous, Vice Principal Luna! She cheated!”
“How so?” Luna asked, raising an eyebrow at the boy. “All of the playing came from the two of them.”
“Pinkie Pie is already with the Rainbooms, so she shouldn’t be allowed to help the new girl!”
“Your complaint is duly noted, Lightning Strike,” Luna replied, and Lightning stuck his tongue out at Ember, thinking he had gotten his way. She simply smirked back at him as Luna continued. “However, the fact that you waited until the battle was decided to come to me with this complaint tells me that you didn’t have a problem with it until you lost. You need to show Miss McLain and Miss Pie more respect, and stop being such a sore loser.”
At that, the entire crowd broke into a chorus of “Oooh’s”, and Danny and the Rainbooms were laughing their butts off as they watched Lightning Strike go red in the face, obviously embarrassed at having been told off by Luna in front of everyone. One of the students shouted out “You just got wrecked, kid!”, and he stormed backstage. With that taken care of, Luna turned back to the audience.
“Once again, please give a hand to Ember McLain and Pinkie Pie for their song, ‘Alive’,” Luna herself even clapped a bit as the two girls walked backstage. As soon as they were back in the rehearsal hall, Rainbow Dash was right in front of Ember.
“That. Was. AMAZING!”
“Heh, thanks. I’m sure you’ll knock ‘em dead, too,” Ember smirked at her. If there was anyone Ember respected out of the Rainbooms, aside from Pinkie Pie, it was her. “Your guitar playing is pretty good.”
“Well she better, because we’re up next,” came Applejack’s voice. “It’s a good thing Pinkie remembered that, or she woulda had to move her drums again,” she laughed. The farm girl slapped her hand on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder, and grinned. “You ready, R.D.?”
“Always.”
“Next up, we have the Rainbooms,” came Luna’s voice over the loudspeaker.
“Let’s go, girls!” Rarity squealed with excitement, running towards the stage. The rest of the band followed, except for Sunset, and Danny gave her a look, as if to ask what was up.
“I’m the backup singer.” She shrugged,wearing a small smiler. “The first song only needs one singer, but I’ll be out there next time.”
“Is it time, Adagio?”
“God, stop asking that, Sonata. You’ve only asked like twenty times in the last two minutes!”
Ignoring their bickering, Adagio rubbed her hands together as her plan played itself out in her head. “Alright, girls, I think it’s time we go have a talk with Ember McLain…”
“Sounds like the Rainbooms did pretty good.” Even from her spot against the back wall of the large hall, she could easily hear the audience’s enthusiasm.
Danny smirked at Ember, and took a sip of his punch. “Yeah, I’m starting to think maybe I didn’t even need to release you.”
The ghost girl matched his smirk. “Probably not, but I appreciate it. Maybe next time we fight, I’ll go easy on you.”
“Heh, yeah, next time…” Danny chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. He certainly wasn’t going to look forward to that. “So do you know what you’re going to play next?”
“I do,” she replied simply. After a few seconds, she noticed the look on Danny’s face, and sighed. “I’d rather not say the title, thanks.”
“Aw, come on, it can’t be that bad,” he chuckled. At that, Ember moved her head toward his and whispered something into his ear, making him lose his grip on the drink he was holding. As it crashed to the ground, sending punch flying everywhere, he couldn’t help but laugh heartily at her expense. “Okay, I knew you sang about whiny stuff, but drugs too? That is too rich.”
“Says the person who knows what I just said was a slang term for drugs,” she countered, putting an end to his laughter. “And hey, my stuff is anything but whiny,” she added, folding her arms across her chest and blowing a raspberry in his direction.
“Whatever,” he replied with a roll of his eyes. “I just don’t know if singing about drugs is a very smart idea at a high school talent show, Ember,” he argued, picking up the cup he’d dropped and tossing it into a nearby trash can.
“Pfft, I doubt drugs even exist in this world. Have you looked around lately?” She asked, raising her arm and beckoning for him to look to her left, where the rest of the bands were practicing. “This place feels like one long LSD trip. It’s way too happy for my tastes.”
“And… you’d ruin that happiness by introducing the idea of drugs to them.” He facepalmed, eliciting a laugh from her.
“You know it, babypop.” Before Danny could offer up another reply, she quickly changed the subject. “So where can I get some blank sheet music?”
Danny shrugged. “No clue, why?”
“I need to write down the drums for that pink chick.” She looked over at Pinkie Pie, who was currently lugging her drum set back inside, then back to Danny. “She can improvise pretty well, but the drums are the centerpiece of my next song.”
“Uh, I guess we could ask Twilight to show us?” he guessed, looking around for the nerdy girl. It took a few moments, but he eventually spotted her chatting with Rainbow Dash over by the punch table. “I’ll be right back, Ember.”
The walk there was quick, and it was obvious that Rainbow Dash was in the midst of celebrating the Rainbooms’ performance in their first battle. “You did great, Rainbow Dash, but remember, we need to focus on the Dazzlings.”
“I know, Twilight. I’m just saying, I doubt there’s anyone that can—”
“Hey, I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” Danny butted in. Rainbow Dash gave him a faux-glare, and he chuckled. “Sorry, I’m sure you were bragging about how awesome you are, right?”
“Hah! You know it!”
“What’s up, Danny?”
Turning to Twilight, he gestured towards Ember for her. “Ember needs some blank sheet music. You know where we can get some?”
“You’ll need to go to the band room, follow me,” she smiled, beginning to walk off. “Are you coming, Rainbow Dash?”
The rainbow-haired rocker shrugged, falling in line next to Danny. The walk to the room was mostly silent, and it didn’t take Twilight long to find a few blank sheets of sheet music. As she handed them to him, he smiled. “Thanks. I’m sure Ember will—” He stopped short, cut off by his ghost sense activating. “Oh, crap…”
“Um, Danny, your breath is blue again,” Rainbow Dash pointed, blank-faced.
“Uh, again?” He chuckled, pulling at his collar as the temperature in the room seemed to increase. “I’m, uh, not sure what you’re talking about.”
“That’s right… It happened in the cafeteria too!” Twilight exclaimed a little bit too giddily. “Is that a property of your world?”
“Um, I guess?” He replied nervously. “Listen, I’d love to talk,” he lied, closing his eyes and walking back towards the door, “but I’ve really gotta get these to Ember.”
“Nuh-uh,” Rainbow Dash replied, quickly running to the door and blocking his path. “You’re hiding something from us.”
Letting out a sigh, Danny saw no other choice. Ember’s next battle would be starting soon, and she’d probably raise hell if he didn’t get her what she wanted. “Alright, fine. But what I’m about to show you doesn’t leave this room, got it?”
Twilight and Rainbow simultaneously gulped, a bit nervous about what he was about to. He answered that question by focusing his energy. Taking his stance, a ring of light formed in the middle of his body. Rainbow Dash loosened up, her arms falling to her sides as she watched the ring split into many more and move across his body, changing it.
“‘Sup?”
Ember looked to her left, and nodded her head. “Hello.”
“Looks like we’ll be battling next round,” the unknown boy chuckled. “I’m looking forward to beating you.”
“What’s your name, kid?”
“Flash Sentry,” he replied.
Ember had to stifle a laugh at that name, and she grinned at him. Oh, she was so going to enjoy this. She didn’t even care if these students were under the Dazzlings’ spell; she was going to enjoy watching them fall one by one.
“Listen, Flash, I hate to break it to ya, but the only way you’re going to beat me is if I drop dead. I really don’t see that happening, though,” she joked. He didn’t get it, of course, but that was besides the point. “You’d best walk away.”
Flash fumed at that, but did as he was told. With a light chuckle, she looked back to the floor. ‘The dipstick better be back soon…’
“Wait. So you’re like, a real ghost?” Rainbow smiled widely. “You mean they’re not just made up!?”
“Not in my world. I should know, I fight them all the time,” he sighed. “I was kind of hoping to leave here without a fight. That blue breath is my ghost sense. It goes off whenever a ghost, or something ghostly, like the sirens, is around.”
“Why fight other ghosts?” Twilight tilted her head.
“Because aside from a few, they’re all out for world domination,” he explained. “In fact, Ember used to—”
“Wait! Ember is a ghost too!?”
“Crap.” He facepalmed, frustrated with himself. “Yeah. Look, I need to get this back to her, so if you don’t mind, I’ll explain when the world isn’t in danger of being taken over.”
He quickly became intangible, and flew straight through Rainbow Dash. He was half-expecting the two to chase after him, but all he heard was her exclaiming, “Whoa, that was way cool!”
The fly to Ember was quick, and he materialized next to her when nobody was looking. “Finally. You get the sheet music?”
Danny nodded, handing it over, along with a pen. “I think your opponent is already playing, so you might wanna hurry.”
“I’ve got it covered.” She grinned, beginning to write at an incredible speed.
Across the school, looking over the stage, the Dazzlings were still plotting their next move.
“This band suuuuucks,” Sonata said boredly. “When is that ghost girl gonna play?”
“I believe she’s up next,” Adagio answered. “Which is when we’ll enact our plan.”
“Which is…?”
“To convert her our cause, Aria.”
“Not to be a downer,” she began replying, making Adagio groan. Aria was always a downer. “But why would she just betray Danny?”
“She wouldn’t. Not unless we give her a reason to believe the opposite is going to happen.” She smirked. “If we can convince her that the ghost boy is going to turn on her when this is all over, there is no doubt in my mind she will help us.”
“Well it looks like she’s about to come out,” Aria pointed out, nodding towards the stage. Indeed, Flash’s song had just come to an end and his band was making their way offstage. At the same time, Pinkie Pie moved her drum set on stage, and Ember walked past Flash. The two appeared to exchange some words, no doubt a result of the spell they’d placed everyone under. “What do you think she’s gonna play?”
“I’unno, but look, that pink girl is actually using sheet music this time,” Sonata pointed out. The others looked, and she was right. “It must be a doozy, huh?”
“Well, we’ll have to wait and see if it’s a ‘doozy’, Sonata,” their leader replied, clasping her hands together in thought.
The students were a bit rowdier this time, Ember noticed. Likely a result of how hard she’d rocked the stage last time. As she walked up to the microphone, she beamed. “You guys having a good time tonight?”
A loud cheer was the crowd’s response, and Ember turned back to Pinkie Pie, giving her a thumbs up. The pink party girl gave one back, and Ember grabbed her pick, giving her guitar a couple strums as she tuned it. “This next song is called ‘Mr. Brownstone’.”
With a quick count of ‘one, two, three’, the two began playing. Ember did little more than scratch her pick against her guitar strings as Pinkie got down to business, slamming away at her drums to the notes Ember had written down for her. The result was a funky style of playing that no other band at the show had produced thus far. The crowd seemed to dig it, and Ember grinned as she grabbed her pick played a few prolonged notes.
By the time the song entered its main riff, she was deep in her own world, consumed by the cheering of the many students. As quickly as the riff had started, though, it came to a quick end, replaced by a funk rock style of guitar that perfectly embodied the subject of the original song. She began to sing in a somewhat monotone voice.
“I get up around seven,
Get outta bed around nine,
And I don’t worry about nothin’, no,
‘Cause worrying’s a waste of my… time.”
“She’s doing pretty well, Danny.”
“Can’t say I’m surprised, Twilight,” he replied as the song continued. The Rainbooms had gathered next to him, sans Pinkie, watching the show. “After all, she is a siren.”
“A siren that fights evil?” Applejack scratched her head. “Can’t say I find that too shocking after what Rainbow told us.”
Normally, Danny would have been pretty upset that Rainbow had simply blabbed to everyone. Of course, this wasn’t a very normal time. “Believe me, I’d rather she hadn’t told you—”
“Aw, come on, it was just too juicy to pass up!”
“Still, one must learn to respect the privacy of their friends, dearie,” Rarity scolded her friend, who simply uttered a ‘whatever’ in response.
“Anyways…” Danny continued with a roll of his eyes. “She seems to be getting stronger, and you should have seen her back on Earth. Everyone on the planet was listening to her music non-stop.”
“Wow, that’s, uh…”
“Crazy, I know,” he finished for Sunset. Looking back to Ember, he saw her hair begin to flare up as her song entered its chorus.
“We been dancin’ with,
Mr. Brownstone…
He’s been knockin’,
He won’t leave me alooooone! No, no, no oh, he won’t leave me alone!”
Ember’s hair began to flare up even higher as she belted out the chorus, something that the Dazzlings took quick notice of.
“This is bad, she looks like she’s getting pretty strong.”
“I think Aria’s right, Adagio. Maybe we should, um… leave?” She suggested. All that did was make Adagio fume and she turned to the pair with eyes full of fire that nearly matched Ember’s hair.
“Listen, the last thing we need to do is leave when victory is just within our grasp. I don’t see either of you coming up with ideas. So until you do, I suggest you keep your mouths shut unless you truly want to see me angry!”
Adagio’s outburst made Aria and Sonata shrink back. It had been years since they’d seen her so upset, and it wasn’t something they were a fan of. The two elected to remain quiet for the rest of the song, not wanting to anger her any more than they already had.
At about that time, Ember moved her hand down the guitar neck and started to strum out a solo that enraptured the crowd. It was just as funky as the rest of the song, but at a much higher pitch, and her hair grew to practically the size of her own body as she belted it out. The students, now essentially under the control of her music, didn’t even notice it.
She couldn’t explain it herself, but somehow, her guitar playing had gotten even better. Perhaps it was the fact that she had a real musician playing alongside her, and not some simple ghost doppelgangers? Of course, there was always another possibility, one she had considered during her first performance. Maybe playing for a purpose other than self-absorption was actually helping her…
Changing her pick’s position, she scratched it against the strings a few times, bringing the solo to an end. She quickly went back into the main riff, and the song arrived at its final verse. As she sang it out, she contemplated over these thoughts. It wasn’t much longer before the song ended, and the crowd’s cheering intensified as Ember drank it all in. She walked over to Pinkie Pie and gave her a quick high-five as the duo walked back to the music hall, taking their equipment with them.
Danny and the rest of the Rainbooms were waiting backstage, and all gave a quick congratulations to Ember and Pinkie. Ember beamed, and Danny couldn’t help but feel a tinge of happiness for the girl. The show was now down to eight groups left to play, and the group decided that a break over by the punch table was a good course of action. As Danny went to follow them, he felt a hand on his shoulder holding him back.
“Hold on there, dipstick.” There was something off about her tone, but Danny couldn’t place it. The aqua-haired took a seat by the entrance to the stage, patting the floor next to her. “Sit down, there’s something I wanna talk about.”
“Lay it on me,” he replied, taking a seat next to her. He was expecting some sort of insult, or even a snide remark about the Rainbooms, but the sigh she gave surprised him.
“I never told you why I do what I do, did I?”
“All I know is that you want to be famous.” He paused for a second, trying to think of a way to word his next sentence. “I just think you went about it the wrong way.”
“I know,” she agreed, stunning him. One look at his expression made her chuckle. “Heh, you seem a little shocked.”
“That’s an understatement.”
“I wasn’t always like this. I actually used to be a lot like you.”
“A hero?”
“A loser,” she retorted jokingly. “I wasn’t a very popular girl back when I was in high school.”
“Believe me, I know what that’s like. The other students only treat me nicely because they know my alternate identity.”
“It still doesn’t make you feel welcome, does it?” She asked, having noticed the sullen look on his face.
“Not really. I’m sure I’ll be old news soon enough, and then they’ll be back to bullying me again,” he responded with a huff of breath. “Why tell me about your life, though?”
“The way I died, it… It really changed me,” she frowned, clearly bothered by memories of the incident.
“What happened?”
Ember took a moment, and Danny could tell that she was conflicted about telling him. Before he could tell her it was alright not to, though, she started talking again. “Like I said, I was pretty unpopular in high school. Got picked on a lot, beaten up, the basics. I thought my life was over before it even began.
“But then my dad took me to a concert. The headliner was Aerosmith, and I got to meet Joe Perry of all people,” she beamed. “He told me I could be whatever I wanted. That I should ignore all the other kids at my school. From that day on, I decided that I was going to be the biggest rock star on the planet.”
“I’d say you accomplished your goal, even if it was pretty short-lived,” Danny smiled.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She offered up the tiniest of smiles, then continued her tale. “Anyways, I had my own guitar custom-built and everything. Saved up months of allowances to afford it,” she laughed. “Most kids begged their parents for an Atari, but I wanted something that would last me forever.
“Some boy, a guy I had a huge crush on, eventually asked me to go to the movies with him. I thought that I had finally become a popular girl, the kind other girls would be jealous of. I was wrong.” She paused for a moment, trying to gain her composure. With a deep breath, she carried on. “The boy never showed up. I stayed there all night waiting for him. I guess I was trying to convince myself that he was just running late.”
“What a jerk,” Danny replied, a hint of anger in his voice. “Why the heck do some kids have to act so mean to everyone?”
“I don’t know, but it really got to me. I ended up going home and crying myself to sleep. I guess I was pretty tired because I never even heard the alarm go off.”
“Wait. The alarm? Was your house robbed or something?” Ember said nothing more. Instead, she lifted a hand up and pointed at her hair. Almost immediately, Danny felt like a fool. “Oh…”
“Yeah. The next time I woke up, I was in the Ghost Zone,” she ended her story morosely. The two didn’t say anything for a couple minutes, and Ember grew tired of the moody atmosphere. “But hey, you were right. I did it, even if it was as a ghost.”
Danny returned the smile she bore, but still had one question left to ask her. “But still, why tell me all of this? I’m sure there was some underlying point to all of it that I’m not getting.”
Ember laughed. “Man, you really are a dipstick. I told you because I know what I want to be now, after all these years. I wanna be someone that helps people with her music. Not hurts them.”
Danny didn’t say anything, but she could see the faintest of smirks on his face.
“What’s with the smirk?”
“If what you’re saying is true, I’m just glad I won’t have to fight you anymore,” he laughed, taking off towards the punch table as she tried to take a playful swing at him. Maybe this whole adventure hadn’t been pointless.
The semi-finals. For Sunset Shimmer, it was hard to believe that her friends had all made it there. They were great, sure, but the school had had some fantastic groups competing. Of course, the fact remained that the Dazzlings had made it just as far on the wings of the spell they held the school under. She had yet to listen to any of their songs, but found herself rather curious as they took the stage, the first of the four remaining groups to do so.
Her friends were all gathered around the punch table, and appeared to be discussing what they’d do next, with Pinkie Pie imitating her drumming. Deciding that the others likely didn’t care to watch them, she turned her focus back to the stage, peeking out from the end of the curtains. A soft bassline began to resonate, and the trio smirked, beginning to sing. Something seemed… off, though.
One look at Adagio showed that the leader was focused entirely on the song, staring down the crowd as she sang. Yet the other two seemed to be looking anywhere but the crowd, mostly staring down at the ground. Their singing seemed a bit bored, as well, but the many onlookers didn’t seem to take notice. Sunset chalked it up to the spell simply doing its work, and decided to go to the others and speak with Twilight. She made her way over with a smile, and looked to Twilight.
“Twilight, I have a question.”
“Ask away, Sunset,” the alicorn turned human replied with a smile of her own. “You seem a bit troubled.”
“That’s just it. I was watching the Dazzlings play and Aria and Sonata seem…” Sunset struggled to find a word that described what she felt, and decided to settle on, “different.”
“Different?”
“Yeah, I mean, it seemed like they weren’t really—”
“Into it?” Ember guessed, earning a nod from Sunset. “I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but I saw Adagio yelling at them while I was playing.”
“Why would she do that?”
“I’m not sure, Rainbow Dash, but they must have done something to upset her,” Sunset concluded. “They almost seemed scared of her while they were singing.”
“So, what, you think she’s just forcing them to sing for her?” Applejack chuckled. “That don’t seem very likely.”
“I’m actually going to have to agree with Applejack, dearie. Are you sure you weren’t just seeing things?”
“I know what I saw, Rarity.” Sunset stared down her friend, who seemed to shrivel up under the glare she was receiving. “The fact that you’d even say that is a bit insulting.”
“What Rarity’s trying to say is that those three girls are like, all super bad and evil and stuff!” Pinkie shouted, drawing a bit of attention towards the group. Luckily it didn’t last too long, and Sunset turned back to face Twilight.
“What do you think, Twilight?” Twilight seemed to look anywhere but at Sunset, who couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “So none of you believe me?”
“I do,” Ember said, smiling a bit. That earned a “huh?” from basically the entire group, and Danny snickered as Ember stuck her tongue out at them. “I’m just saying, Sunset’s been doing her best to make up for what she did—”
“Wait, who told you about that?” Sunset asked, though she already had an idea. She narrowed her eyes at Danny, who gulped.
“Oh, wow, would you look at the time?” He raised his wrist up and looked at it, chuckling nervously. “I have to be somewhere.”
“You’re not even wearing a watch,” Ember pointed out, covering her eyes and shaking her head in disappointment.
“Well then I guess it’s time to go to the watch store and buy one!” he shouted, backing away from the group and taking off as soon as there was a few feet between him and Sunset.
“Anyways,” Ember continued with a roll of her eyes. “The least you guys could do is cut her a little slack. I’ve only been here for a few days, but you always bring up her past and are hesitant to trust her. That’s not exactly something friends do, is it?”
The first to relent was Rainbow Dash, who let out a sigh. “Alright, maybe we have been a bit hard on her. But why should we believe that something is wrong with Aria and Sonata, and more importantly, why should we care?”
“Because that’s what friends do,” the meekest member of the group finally spoke up. “When Sunset did all of those mean things, we could still tell that she needed help. What if those girls need our help and don’t even realize it?”
The rest of the group tried to come up with something to oppose that view, but couldn’t. Sunset wrapped her arms around Fluttershy, who almost immediately tensed up and tried to wriggle free. “Thank you, Fluttershy.”
“You know, I think I know just the person to find out what’s going on.” Ember grinned. She took a quick look around, satisfied that nobody was looking in her direction, instead focused on the show the Dazzlings were putting on, before turning intangible and sinking down into the floor.
Running away from Sunset had taken the wind out of Danny and he leaned down, hands on his knees, panting. He didn’t have much time for a reprieve, sadly, as he found himself being tugged underground, suddenly invisible. Looking down, he saw Ember staring right back at him, patting her foot impatiently. Danny sighed, and quickly floated down to the ground, making himself tangible again in the process. “Alright, where’d you drag me to and why?”
Ember laughed. “We’re under the stage, you dingus. And as for why I dragged you down here, I want you to go spy on the Dazzlings and see if you can find out if there’s any truth to what Sunset was saying.”
“I thought you agreed with her?”
“I do, but the others seem pretty hesitant. Not very good ‘friends’, if you ask me.”
“Coming from you, that is simply hilarious,” Danny chuckled. “Alright, I’ll do it. Where did you say they were?”
“They’ll probably be on the hill behind the bleachers, sitting against a tree. That’s where they’ve been for the past two rounds. If they’re not there, just look for them. Anyways, it’s about to be time for me to go on stage again,” she went intangible, floating into the air, but not before calling down to him. “And make sure they don’t see you this time!”
Danny didn’t have enough time to offer up a retort before she disappeared, and he grumbled to himself. Deciding not to waste any time, he followed Ember’s lead, quickly turning intangible and flying towards the location she’d described to him. As he soared through the sky, he could see her and Pinkie beginning to move some equipment on stage. In a way, he was almost sad that he wouldn’t be able to focus on her song.
It didn’t take long for him to spot the Dazzlings, exactly where she’d said they would be, and he softly landed in the tree above them as they talked. The trio seemed to be arguing about something, so they didn’t even notice his presence as he became solid once more.
“I’m telling you, Adagio, the crowd seemed to cheer a lot louder for that ghost girl.”
“Then we’ll simply have to do better!” Adagio shouted at Aria. To Danny’s surprise, the pig-tailed girl stood her ground.
“No, Adagio, I think the problem is that you won’t listen to any of our ideas!” she shot back. Sonata gasped at the anger in her friend’s voice, and Danny could tell that she didn’t even want to be there at the moment. “You always tell us you know best, but nothing has changed for us in the past thousand years!”
Adagio fumed, balling both of her hands up into fists, but managed to exhale slowly. She seemed to calm down as she regarded Aria with a voice laced with far less venom than before. “I understand where you’re coming from, I do. However, if everything doesn’t play out perfectly, then we stand no chance of ever getting our full magical power back.”
“But you haven’t even accounted for the changes going on around us,” Aria argued. “Ember clearly isn’t going to believe that Danny would betray her, and Sunset completely ignored us when we tried to lie to her about him.”
‘Heh, nice to know,’ he chuckled inwardly.
Adagio put a finger to her chin in thought, but it was Sonata who managed to reply first. “Maybe instead of making Danny look bad, we could just play and hope they like us better?”
Both Adagio and Aria groaned at that. “Ugh, she’s clearly more powerful than us, Sonata.”
“I must admit, Aria is correct. Her powers don’t seem to come through magic, so she has an advantage over us that we can’t possibly compensate for.”
“So then… what do we do?” Sonata asked, genuinely curious. For the first time, Adagio didn’t have an answer. Before she had time to think over it, though, the Dazzlings and Danny found their attention drawn to the stage as the aforementioned ghost girl began playing.
Even the Dazzlings found themselves a bit enraptured as Ember moved up close to the mic, and began singing softly into it. “Wow, she actually has a really pretty voice,” Sonata noted.
“Pretty enough to capture the attention of even other sirens,” Adagio noted. “This is bad.”
As soon as Ember started playing her guitar, she paused as she finished the first verse. As she did, Danny couldn’t help but notice that something was different about her. Had she…?
“Did she take her ponytail out?” Sonata asked his question for him, pointing at her head.
“Oh yeah, she did,” Aria said. “Why would she—” Aria was cut off by the guitar kicked back in and Ember’s hair flared directly upwards all at once. “Oh, that’s why.”
The trio remained quiet for the rest of Ember’s song, and Danny became intangible once more, taking off into the sky to watch the show from right above the stage.
“Little girl… there you are…
All the lighters lookin’ just like stars…
Sing along, feel the sound…
Take a ride on the hands of the crowd…
And here it comes! The moment when!
You know you’ll never be the same again!
Power chord! You see the light!
You found your place in the world tonight!”
It was clear to him that this song was about her own life, and he couldn’t help but bob his head a bit as she sang the chorus out just as softly as before. The crowd seemed to be doing the same, and Ember launched into a solo. It was much slower than the solos from the other songs she’d played, and he found it relaxing, closing his eyes.
After a few measures, the solo came to a swift end and Ember began playing the main riff again.
“This goes out to anyone,
Whose heart beats like a kick drum,
When an awesome riff comes!
Knows the words to every line, every time,
And you know you gotta go and get some, get pumped,
Find yourself and lose it!”
With that, Ember launched into the final chorus of the song, belting out the lyrics this time as the students cheered. It wasn’t much longer before the song ended, and the students broke into a raucous applause as the judges began conversing. It seemed as if they were conflicted, and Danny flew down a bit as Principal Celestia shuffled her way out of her seat and made her way onto the stage.
Taking the microphone from Ember, she looked down at the paper she held in her other hand. “Ahem, quiet down, please.” It took nearly a minute, but the students managed to do just that, and Danny took this quick reprieve to fly back over to the Dazzlings as Celestia continued speaking. “In an unexpected decision, the judges have given the same score to the Dazzlings and Miss McLain.”
“What does that mean?” Ember scratched her head, confused. “A rematch?”
“Quite the contrary. We’ve decided that, since both of you put on such a great show for us, you’ll both be advancing to the finals.”
“You mean a three-way final?” she asked, and Celestia nodded.
“Yes. The winner of our next matchup between the Rainbooms and Trixie and the Illusions will face off against both the Dazzlings and yourself in a winner-takes-all scenario.”
Danny was far away at this point, but he could see that the grin Ember wore on her face matched that of the rejuvenated Dazzlings’. “Well then, I can’t wait to face the Rainbooms,” she chuckled, walking off the stage.
At the same time, the Dazzlings looked back at one another, and Adagio bore a large smile. “This is perfect. Now we can take them all out in one fell swoop!”
“Yeah, but we still need to come up with a new plan, Adagio, and you need to let us help.”
Adagio paused for a moment, but conceded. “Very well, Aria. We’ll come up with a plan together.”
“Hooray, we get to be friends again!” Sonata exclaimed, pulling the two into a hug. It was just a hunch, but Danny felt like Aria and Sonata could have been friends with the Rainbooms this entire time had they not been evil. Of course, that little bit of conflict between them brought a smirk to his face. He couldn’t wait to tell the others that Sunset had been right.
The celebrations had begun for the Rainbooms. They’d yet to face off against Trixie and the Illusions, but as far as they were concerned, that battle was a forgone conclusion. They would face off against both Ember and the Dazzlings soon enough, and nobody was happier than Pinkie Pie.
“Woohoo, this means I’m gonna win no matter what!”
The girls all laughed, and Ember and Pinkie high-fived. “You know,” Ember paused, taking a gulp of her punch, slamming it down when she was done, “you might just be the best drummer I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing with.”
“Believe me, we’re all glad she’s on our side,” Rainbow Dash chuckled. “I’ve seen her win talent competitions since she was just a little girl with that drumset.”
“Speaking of talent, our spy hasn’t returned yet,” Ember pointed out. “Hopefully he didn’t get caught,” she joked.
There was no better way to put it. Danny was bored. Bored of sitting around and watching the Dazzlings try to come up with a plan, only to realize it would never work and start all over again. Not since Technus had he seen such poor strategizing. Of course, it wasn’t entirely Adagio’s fault that her plans had gone sideways. He suspected that had it not been for Ember, the Dazzlings may have already been celebrating their victory.
“Wait, I’ve got it!” He heard Aria exclaim. He perked up almost instantly, and repositioned himself in the tree to get a better look at the trio. “When Ember walked off the stage, what did she say?”
“Something about being excited to play against the Rainbooms,” Sonata recalled. “But what does that have to do with anything?”
“Ugh, don’t you get it?” Aria groaned. “I’m sure that Trixie girl heard that comment. How do you think that would have gone?”
“I would imagine that Trixie is somewhere between miffed and frothing at the mouth,” Adagio chuckled. “Though I believe I see where you’re going with this. You believe we should manipulate her, no?”
“Exactly,” Aria grinned evilly. “If Trixie were to be persuaded to join our cause, then we could rid ourselves of the Rainbooms forever.”
“I like your thinking,” Adagio complimented her friend. “What will we do to bring her to our side?”
Danny’s eyes shifted back to Aria as she spoke, and he made sure to remain quiet as she began to go over the details of her plan. The further into it she got, the more stunned Danny found himself. ‘Wow, this is actually a pretty intricate plan. I’d better get back to the Rainbooms and warn them…’
“I must admit, this plan seems foolproof, Aria. However, you’ve left one thing unaccounted for.”
“And that is…?” Aria asked boredly, seemingly sure that she hadn’t.
“Danny,” Adagio smirked. “We’ll need to take him out of the picture before any of this is possible.”
‘Well, that’s my cue to leave,’ Danny gulped, launching himself into the air and attempting to take off towards the music hall. His attempt was cut short as he felt someone grab hold of his ankle. Twisting himself backwards, he frowned at Adagio. “Let go.”
“You know, for a spy, you’re not very stealthy. Do you really think we didn’t notice you?”
“I was kinda hoping,” he retorted, punctuating the end of his reply with a kick to the siren leader’s unguarded face. She reeled back, grabbing her nose with both hands, and sent a glare his way. Sonata and Aria flanked her, and Danny quickly went ghost, prepared for a fight.
“Wait, so you don’t have to be a ghost to turn invisible?” Sonata scratched her head, confused.
“It’s not—”
“It’s quite obvious that he can use some of his abilities while in his human form,” Adagio cut him off. He looked angry, something that Adagio took a sick pleasure in seeing. “Oh, I do so love seeing my foes get all riled up.”
“Yeah, well there’s one difference between your old foes and me,” Danny replied, floating down to the ground and landing gently in front of her. He was practically oozing a confident vibe, and Adagio tilted her head.
“Oh, there is, is there?”
“Yeah, you can count me as your last!” he shouted, firing a beam of energy at her. The stunned siren fell down, but maintained her composure. That is, until she looked down to see that her clothing had become quite singed by his attack. Sonata and Aria moved to grab him, mirroring their prior encounter, but Danny was ready this time. “Sorry, I only let my girlfriend hold me,” he grinned, backing away from Aria and sweeping his leg out, pulling hers up from under her. She fell with a thud, and Danny looked up from his crouched position to see Sonata just… standing there?
That was certainly odd. Was she scared of him? Or… Danny chuckled. “Lemme guess. Scared of letting down your big bad boss?”
“She has good reason to be,” he heard to his left. Quickly looking that direction, he pushed himself off the ground and into the air, dodging Adagio’s punch.
“The only thing she should be scared of is losing,” Danny replied with a smirk. “Do you really think you can beat all of us?”
“Why, you’ve given us the key to our victory, you fool.” Sonata and Aria moved to their leader’s side as she held up just what she’d been aiming for the entire time.
‘The Fenton Thermos!’ His mind was racing at this point, but he did his best to remain calm. After all, it wasn’t like they could capture him. At least, not yet. “Fat chance capturing me. You have to weaken a ghost first,” he snickered from above the trio. “And from the looks of things, you have about as good a chance of that as you do winning this talent show.”
“Oh, believe me, we’ve come to realize that. Unfortunately for you, it won’t be us weakening you.”
“Just what is that supposed to—” Danny’s question was cut short as he felt something impact the back of his head. He didn’t have much of a chance to see what it was as everything went black. He fell to the ground with a thud, and Adagio began to laugh maniacally.
“I can’t believe that actually worked!” She exclaimed. “That fool actually believed our fighting was real?!”
“Um, you might wanna suck him into this thermos before he wakes up,” Arai suggested. Adagio quickly recomposed herself, clearing her throat, and her pig-tailed companion smirked. “Unless you’d like to pat yourself on the back some more?”
Adagio frowned, walking towards Danny and giving him a hard kick in the side. “That was for damaging my face.She smiled widely, taking the cap off of the thermos and aiming it at him. With a press of the button, a beam of light overtook his body, and his body thinned out as it began to swirl into the ghost-capturing machine. Once she was sure he was inside, she slammed the lid on top of it. “And so ends that threat. Who would have thought a simple glass bottle would be enough to knock him out?”
Adagio happily tossed the thermos up and down in her hand, only to be interrupted by their new guest clearing her throat. “Ahem. Trixie has done as you asked her to before the show began.”
“That you have,” Adagio smirked, ceasing her tossing of the thermos. She threw it over to Trixie, who caught it and looked at it curiously. “Of course, this doesn’t mark the end of your obligations to us.”
“What would you have Trixie do?” the cocky girl inquired, placing the thermos on one of her belt loops. “As long as Trixie gets to win the competition, she will do anything.”
“We need to you to take care of someone for us,” Aria answered her. “That girl, Ember?”
“Oh,” Trixie looked a bit scared at the prospect of that, but Aria was certain that she’d come around if it meant victory. As it turned out, she was right, and Trixie lowered her arms, giving a confident look. “How?”
“All you need to do is plant that thermos on her.”
“Um, won’t she notice it?” Trixie asked, looking over to the stage that she’d be playing on shortly. The girl they were asking her to frame had rocked it no less than ten minutes ago, and she doubted that a girl whose hair could actually turn into fire would be scared of losing to her.
“Don’t worry yourself with that. We’ll take care of the smaller details.” Adagio smiled. “Sonata?”
“Yeah, ‘Dagi?”
“I have a job for you.”
“It’s been a while since Danny left. Do you think he’s okay, Ember?”
“I’m sure he’s fine, Sunset,” Ember replied boredly, tuning her guitar as the other bands began to pack up their equipment and move outside. Even if he was in trouble, she had grown used to the fact that he would always find a way out of it, no matter the odds. “He’s probably off— Ach, dang it!” She shouted as she tested out the guitar, only to find it was out of tune. “I think something is wrong with my guitar. No matter what I do, it won’t stay in tune.”
“Aren’t you a siren?” Rainbow Dash asked. “You should be able to, like, play it perfectly no matter what.”
“Not always,” Ember sighed from her spot up against the wall. “You know that ghost sense Danny has?” She asked. The girls all nodded, and Ember continued. “Sometimes my guitar will go through the same sort of thing if there’s trouble nearby.”
“Are you saying we’re in danger?”
“I’m not sure, Twilight,” Ember replied calmly, attempting to tune it once more. When she plucked at the strings, she found it to be just as out of tune as before, and she gave a grunt of anger, tossing it to the ground.
“You need to calm down, Ember. I’m sure everything is fine,” Sunset spoke slowly, scared of incurring the ghost girl’s wrath.
To her surprise, Ember smiled back at her.“You’re right. But if I can’t fix my guitar, then there’s no chance of me winning this competition.”
“Not like there was much of a chance anyways,” Rainbow Dash joked, earning a glare from her newfound comrade. “Uh, hehe, just kidding?”
“I’m sure you were,” Ember chuckled, satisfied at the effect her glare had had. Placing a hand on the ground to stabilize herself, she pushed herself up to her feet and grabbed her guitar. “I’m gonna go see if I can find the dipstick.”
As she turned to walk away, she felt a bit of pressure on her right bicep, and wheeled around to see Sunset staring at her. “What’s up?”
“I want to go with you,” she replied, making everyone’s jaws drop simultaneously. “What?”
“It’s just, uh,” Ember stammered, “You don’t seem like the type of girl that actively goes out looking for danger.”
“And just what is that supposed to mean?” She laughed. “I can be just as tough as you. Besides, I’m sure the girls will do fine without me. After all, I just manage the band nowadays.”
“Sunset, don’t be silly, we need you,” Applejack pleaded. “Besides, it could get pretty dangerous out there. I think we should just let Ember handle this one.”
“That’s just my point,” Sunset replied. “Danny might need us a lot more than you need me. I’m going, and that’s final.”
“You know, I don’t mean to interrupt your little chat, but I kind of wanna get going,” Ember spoke up, a hint of frustration in her voice. Taking a look around the music hall, she was satisfied to see that the rest of the bands had finished clearing out, leaving the group of eight alone. “Alright, Sunset, you ready?”
The yellow girl nodded, and Ember let go of her guitar. To the group’s surprise, it didn’t fall to the ground, instead stopping just short and flipping over so that it was face-down. With a grin, Ember hopped on top of it. She motioned for Sunset to join her. She seemed hesitant, but ultimately did so. To her shock, she was completely stable on top of it.
“Don’t worry, you’re locked onto it now,” Ember grinned, floating her guitar up a bit and giving it a quick test run around the other girls. “Alright, it seems to work fine still.”
“Um, how fast can this thing go?” Sunset gulped.
With a grin, Ember turned the guitar nearly ninety degrees upwards. She laughed, and launched towards the ceiling. Just as they were about to hit it, she turned intangible, and Sunset and the guitar followed suit.
“Whoa! That is so cool!” Was the last thing the two heard before they flew straight through the building and into the brisk night sky. Sunset was doing her best not to hyperventilate from the sheer idea of flying on a tiny guitar nearly a hundred feet in the air. Reminding herself that this was for her friends, she managed to calm down long enough to shout a question to Ember.
“Um, can you slow down?!”
The ghost girl laughed, doing just that. Once they had slowed down to a leisurely pace, she turned back to her friend. “Having fun yet?”
The girl shook her head furiously as Ember began laughing even harder. The siren immediately picked up the pace, flying out towards the last place she’d seen the Dazzlings. To her dismay, there was nobody there, meaning the two of them would have to search for them if they wanted to locate Danny. To Sunset’s dismay, Ember quickly flew down and then back, upside down.
Luckily for her, it didn’t take long before the ride came to a grinding halt, and the guitar flipped back over. “Sunset, look down there in the crowd,” Ember pointed. Sunset did as she was told, and was shocked to see Trixie holding something that she could have sworn belonged to Danny.
“Is that…?”
“Yeah, it’s his thermos. He uses that thing to catch ghosts, so what is she doing with it?”
“You don’t think…”
It took Ember a second to realize what Sunset was getting at, and she stammered. “N-no! There’s no way that doofus would let himself get captured.”
“Well I doubt he’d just give it to Trixie,” Sunset pointed out the obvious. “Besides, look who she’s talking to.”
Ember narrowed her eyes when she saw. “Them… Ooh, I can’t wait to clobber that cocky orange one…”
“You should follow them,” Sunset suggested. Ember saw no issues with that, and rose her guitar up a bit higher, not wanting to be spotted if their intangibility wore off. “I had a question, by the way.”
“Shoot,” Ember replied, not even looking at her new friend. Her focus was entirely on the conversation that Trixie and the Dazzlings seemed to be having. The four of them were all smiling, but she could tell that something was a bit off about Trixie’s. It was more of a hesitant smile than anything, as if she didn’t want to disappoint the siren’s.
“How can we even see each other right now?”
“Anyone who’s intangible can see anyone else that is,” Ember explained. “It’s kind of like being a ghost of a ghost, get it?”
“Not really,” Sunset replied bluntly. The two remained silent for a few moments, and the exchange between Trixie and the Dazzlings came to an end. The sirens walked off towards the back of the crowd, while Trixie shifted her eyes around. After a few seconds, she began to walk in the opposite direction, back towards the stage. “It looks like Trixie is nervous.”
“She should be.” Ember looked a lot more serious, and she narrowed her eyes at Trixie. “If he’s in that thermos, she’s finished.”
Before Sunset could ask what she meant by that, she found herself flying downwards as Ember shot right towards the showgirl. Her band appeared to be setting up on stage, and Ember cackled as she ended their intangibility and came to a screeching halt in front of her.
“What’s up, Trixie?”
All eyes were now on the duo, and Sunset slowly stepped down from the guitar, landing with a soft thud on the concrete below. Meanwhile, Ember simply extended an arm out, and her guitar flew out from under her and into her waiting hand. Trixie seemed unfazed, though, even managing a small smirk. “I’m on my way towards my victory, ghost girl.”
At Trixie’s declaration, there were loads of whispers throughout the crowd, but Ember did her best to ignore them. Keeping her eyes on Trixie, she spoke out, “Sunset, go let the Rainbooms know that everything is fine.”
“But Ember, that’s not a very good id—”
“Just do it!” The ghost girl shouted.
Sunset found it better not to argue, and decided to listen to Ember. As she made her way onto the stage and towards the curtain, she turned around to see her friend get her guitar ready. With a silent wish of good luck, she disappeared behind the curtain, leaving Ember and Trixie alone.
“You know, I actually thought you were a pretty cool girl, but then you go and let yourself get manipulated by those sirens. Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Ember shook her head in disappointment.
“You have no right to presume anything about Trixie,” she shot back. At the same time, Ember noticed Principal Celestia walking towards the two of them, and chuckled to herself. This was certainly going to be good.
“Would you two mind explaining just what is going on?”
“This girl is a ghost!” Trixie shouted, “And she intends to do our school harm! Go ahead, ask everyone here, they all saw her appear out of thin air.”
“Oh, come on, do you guys seriously believe that?” Ember asked, a green glow flashing in her eyes as she did. All at once, the students shook their heads, as did Celestia and the other judges. Even Trixie’s bandmates seemed to believe Ember, and she sent a malicious smirk towards Trixie. “Just like I thought.”
Trixie let out a gulp at that. “Y-you’re a siren, too…”
Ember replied by striking a chord on her guitar. A green pulse of energy flew out and knocked Trixie off her feet. “And I’m the last one you want to mess with.”
The terrified girl seemed to cave in to the pressure, and simply threw the thermos at Ember before scrambling to her feet and scurrying off. Ember tittered as she ran off and leaned down to pick it up. The light on it was blinking red, and nothing happened as she pushed the button on the side. Chalking it up to the thermos having to recharge, she attached it to her waistband. She could free him later, after she was through with the Dazzlings.
“I’m pretty sure this means Trixie is disqualified!” she shouted back as she took to the sky, searching for any trace of the sirens. To her dismay, they were nowhere to be found, so she did the next best thing, and hastily flew backstage. She landed on the ground with a soft thunk, and was happy to hear the crowd begin talking again. “Good, they’re not totally under my control…”
Trixie’s disqualification was inevitable, but that raised the question of just where exactly the Rainbooms were. There was no trace of them in the music hall, and Ember shouted, “Hello?!”
There was no reply, of course, leading Ember to wonder just what was going on. “Okay, this is getting really weird. They couldn’t have gone outside, because I was just there,” she spoke to herself. “I wonder…”
A sound out at the stage grabbed her attention, and she slowly made her way to the curtains, pulling them back to reveal that the Dazzlings were about to perform.
‘Already? But Celestia didn’t even announce anything…’
Deciding that it was best to keep calm, she decided to simply watch and see what would happen. She seemed to have the students on her side, so it would be quite a challenge for the Dazzlings to steal them back. But to her utter horror, the students seemed to be completely enraptured as soon as they started to sing their song. Letting go of the curtain, she began to pace back and forth.
‘Okay, gotta think. If I were a group of sirens bent on world domination, where would I keep any of my threats?’ That’s when it hit her. She was a siren that used to be bent on world domination, and she knew exactly where she’d put anyone that could threaten that goal. A spot that she herself had dragged Danny to to remain hidden from everyone else. ‘Oh, the basement. Duh.’
She was quick to fly down there, and her suspicions were proven correct as she saw the Rainbooms all sitting on the ground, looking rather shaken. “You know, you look pretty glum for people who are being rescued.”
Ember floated down to them with a smile, and the girls all gathered to their feet, giving a collective shout of her name. She closed her eyes, basking in it.
“I know, I know, I’m awesome,” she laughed. Her expression quickly took a serious turn, though. “Unfortunately, those girls trapped Danny in this,” she delivered the bad news, pointing to the thermos as she did. “And until the light on it turns green, we can’t let him out.”
“Oh no, that’s terrible…” Twilight muttered. “What’s worse, those rotten sirens took our instruments when they trapped us down here.”
“We’ll deal with them, don’t worry,” Rainbow Dash said, brimming with confidence. “Right, Ember?”
“Right,” she nodded. She paused for a moment, and looked to the corner of the room to see Sunset sitting down, arms crossed around her legs. “Sunset, are you alright?”
The girl didn’t give a response for a few moments, but eventually let out a soft sigh. “They were waiting, Ember. As soon as you sent me in here to get tell the others everything was fine, they pounced on us.”
“How did they even get back here so quickly?”
“I’m not sure, but all I know is that I can’t wait to see them lose,” Sunset spoke softly.
“Well that’s gonna be tough. For some reason, they’re already playing, and—”
“Wait, they’re already playing?” Twilight interrupted, and Ember nodded again. “This is bad. If we don’t find a way to stop them, then they’re going to soak up enough magic to regain their original forms!”
“You mean that’s not what they normally look like?” Applejack spoke up, voicing what everyone else was thinking.
“No. Sirens are fearsome creatures, nearly ten times the size of the average human,” she explained, and a look of fear came across everyone’s face.
“Well then we don’t have any time to lose. How do I get you guys out of here?” Ember asked.
“There should be a manual release for the trapdoor up on the stage. Unfortunately, that means you’ll have to go near the Dazzlings,” Twilight gulped, then chuckled nervously. “But I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
“You’d better hope so, or there’s no possible way we can beat them,” Ember replied. “You guys stay safe.”
“Not much else we can do,” Pinkie Pie giggled, lightening the mood a little bit. With a sigh of unsurity, Ember took to the air and phased through the ceiling, back to the music hall. If Twilight was right, then all she’d have to do was get close enough to the Dazzlings to pull a lever. Of course, that would be far easier said than done.
Her worst fears were realized as she peered through the curtains. The Dazzlings were floating in the air, and their eyes appeared to be a pure red as they sang their tune. “Well, I hope you’ll welcome me to the show as much as you’re welcoming your fans…” Ember whispered, attempting to sneak behind the girls. The students seemed too focused on the sirens to notice her, luckily, and she kept herself against the far right wall as she began to slide towards the release switch.
She found herself stopped by a beam of red light slamming into the wall next to her, though, and the sirens beared down on her. With a small chuckle, she addressed them. “Oh, um… hello?”
She didn’t even have time to brace herself as what looked like a giant seahorse with hooves appeared behind Adagio and slammed her aside with its tail. She tumbled to the floor and grunted in pain as her adversary appeared in front of her. “Do you honestly think we weren’t prepared for you this entire time, ghost? We’ve been playing you since the beginning,” Adagio growled, kicking Ember square in the face, sending her flying back into the wall. “Trixie was just a decoy this entire time. She was always meant to be confronted by you,” Adagio cackled, floating over to her foe. “And you fell for it!” She punctuated her exclamation with another kick to Ember’s ribs.
There wasn’t much she could do in this situation, as her pain began to overcome her, and she could do little more than watch as the three began to bear down on her, ready to finish her off. The music had totally stopped at this point, yet she could still hear… something. It sounded strangely familiar, and it began to grow louder, as if it was getting closer. Then it hit her, and she smirked.
“What are you smirking about?” Adagio laughed.
“Oh, nothing,” Ember coughed a bit from her pain. “Look behind you.”
Just as Adagio did that, a giant object slammed into her, knocking her to the floor. Aria and Sonata gave a look of pure malice to Ember, but she ignored it, and used this opportunity to grab the trap door’s release switch and pull it down just before they grabbed her. The doors flew downwards, and she could hear the Rainbooms shout their approval. Her focus was entirely on the object that had slammed into Adagio, though, and the portal that it was coming out of.
“Uh, Sam, where are we?”
“I dunno, but it makes me want to puke. It just reeks of conformity.”
“Hey, isn’t that Ember?” The one she recalled as ‘Tucker’ asked, nudging his friend and pointing at her.
“Yeah, it is. Man, she looks pretty beat up. And she— Wait, what’s that on her waistband?”
“Okay, I know how it looks,” Ember finally spoke up, “but I’m not the one who captured the dipstick.”
“Well then who did?” Tucker asked confidently.
“The giant siren that’s about to crush your stupid ship!” Ember shouted, breaking free of Sonata and Aria's grasp. She jumped to her feet to try and tackle Adagio to the ground. Somehow, she managed to do it, and she turned back to Tucker and Sam. “How did you even get that thing here anyways?!”
“Oh, that was simple. I just helped his parents fix up the Ghost Portal, and then it was a simple matter of injecting some code into the—”
“Forget I asked, geekotron,” Ember taunted him, narrowly dodging a tackle from Sonata as she flew into the air. “You picked a heck of a time to show up, though,” she said, sidestepping out of another rush by Aria. “You'll have to stay put while we fight off these sirens.”
“Well the portal will only stay open for about fifteen minutes,” Tucker explained. “After that, it’ll close forever.”
“Well then,” Ember panted, watching as the Rainbooms finally climbed their way out of their hole, “we better hurry up, girls.” Unlatching the thermos from her belt, she tossed it over to Tucker. “You need to figure out a way to free him while we fight off these sirens.”
“Can do!” He beamed, hooking the thermos into the Specter Speeder’s control panel and beginning to go to work.
“Aren’t you just a little bit confused that she’s helping us?” Sam asked, but Tucker simply shook his head.
“Heck no, I just wanna hear her sing again!” He exclaimed. Sam facepalmed at that, turning to watch the battle play out. Unfortunately, the Rainbooms didn’t have any instruments, and Ember had lost a large portion of her power.
“Hey, Rarity, do you have a hair band?” Ember looked to the alabaster girl, who nodded.
“I always keep a spare!” she shouted happily, grabbing one from her hair and tossing it to Ember. The ghost girl quickly put her hair back into a ponytail and looked at the trio of sirens with a glare.
“Hey, Tucker!” She called out to him, keeping her eyes on her enemies, who were slowly closing in on the group. “Can anything go through that portal?”
“Yeah, why?” He shouted back, not looking up from the screen he was typing on.
Ember didn’t reply, instead closing her eyes and focusing. On what, nobody knew but her. With a ghostly whirring, three blob-like beings surged out of the portal, and slammed into the ground behind her, kicking up a large cloud of dust. As the dust began to fade, the group looked on in shock.
“Is that…?”
“That’s right! It’s my own personal ghost band!” She finished for her, looking at them with a wide smile on her face. That smile turned into a grin as she turned back to the sirens. “I’d move back, girls,” she warned the Rainbooms. They did just that, and she gave a quick count of “One, two, three!”.
Ember began to strum out a quick intro, getting herself into a rhythm as the Dazzlings watched with curiosity. After a few measures, her ghostly band mates joined in, and they all played out the intro together. Ember didn't seem nearly as winded as before, and the sirens took quick note of that. Noticing their looks, Ember turned the knob on her guitar and fired off a wave of pink energy at them. They were staggered a bit, and that’s when they decided to strike before she could get too powerful.
The crowd was beginning to get into it, though, and the sirens found themselves struck by an enormous bolt of lightning from the head stock of her guitar. “I will end you!” Adagio shouted over the music. The sirens all shot towards her, intent on ending her right then and there, but she began to spin around quickly, and disappeared in a spiral of green energy. When she reappeared, she was behind them.
“The only thing ending here is the threat of your three ever ruling this world!” She shot back as the first verse of her song ended. “Now say bye bye, birdie!” She laughed, turning the knob and shooting a fireball at them she she strummed out a few prolonged notes. The fireball hit Adagio dead on, and Ember began playing a bit faster. As Aria and Sonata began to close in on her, her hair grew to a colossal size, and their eyes grew to pinpricks. "Sorry girls, but this battle has made me a little hot blooded," she threw a smirk at them, and turned her hair into a makeshift flamethrower. The sirens were consumed completely, and began to writhe around as they tried to escape.
She wasn’t sure whether she was doing it for the song, or to taunt the sirens, but she was satisfied to see their pure forms fade away as they finally escaped from the fire that was her hair, leaving the three in their red-eyed state.
Meanwhile, in the Specter Speeder, Tucker had finally made some progress, and pulled the thermos free of the control panel. The light blinked red a few times before turning a solid green, and he shouted, “Eureka!”
“You gonna gloat all day, or are you gonna let him out?” Sam asked, clearly annoyed. Tucker responded with a nervous laugh, and aimed the thermos outside before pressing the button. A thick blue light shot out from the hole on the end, and Danny was freed, landing on the stage with a thud.
“What the heck happened…” He moaned, rubbing his head. He looked around, only to find that things had gotten really chaotic since he’d been knocked out. “Sam?! Tucker?! What are you guys doing here?!”
“We’re here to rescue you, you big dummy!” Sam shouted back. “You better not leave me hanging like this again, by the way…” she muttered, making him laugh.
“I promise I will, tru— Wait, is that the Dazzlings?!” He cried out, stunned by their new appearance. The red eyes were creepy enough, but the wings were just a bit too much for him.
“Yeah, and you need to help Ember out!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
Danny was about to do that, but a loud “Hold it!” Caught all of them off-guard, and everyone turned to see Trixie standing by the stage curtains.
“What are you doing here?” Sunset called her out. “You’re the reason we’re all in this mess, you know!”
“Trixie knows, and she’s sorry!” Trixie replied. “Trixie never meant for this to happen, so she would like to show her apologies by showing you where the Dazzlings hid your instruments.”
“Why should we trust you?” Rainbow Dash glared at her, and she winced.
“You have no reason to, but Trixie knows you also have no other options.”
“She’s right,” Twilight reasoned. “Even if it is a trick, it’s a risk worth taking at this point. I think we should follow her.”
“You do that!” Danny shouted, crouching to the ground and going ghost. “While I help Ember distract them!” At that, he took to the sky as Ember’s song appeared to be close to ending. As she began playing the main riff again, he decided that the best way to reintroduce himself would be through his most powerful attack. “Mind if I provide some guest vocals?” He asked, coming to a stop next to Ember.
The crowd was going wild at this point, cheering for Ember, and she turned to Danny. “Go right ahead, babypop.”
Danny grinned, and inhaled a huge amount of air, then let it all out at once in the form of a ghostly wail, which struck the sirens down to the ground, rendering them unable to move as he kept it up. It wasn’t long before he noticed the Rainbooms on the stage again, with all of their equipment in hand.
“And allow us to finish this off!” Twilight smiled as the group began to play along with Ember. Like the Dazzlings, they began to float into the air slowly, but when their eyes reopened, they were pure white. Danny and Ember watched with curiosity as a blinding beam of rainbow colored light shot out from them, and arced through the sky, right towards their prone enemies.
With no way to escape, the Dazzlings were struck by the full force of the Elements of Harmony, and their screams of terror were the only thing that could be heard until the white light faded, as did the rainbow. When it faded away, the Dazzlings remained, but their necklaces were completely shattered.
“N-no! No no no!” Adagio screamed out, her face full of horror. She gave a feeble attempt at singing, but all that came out was a voice that was so grating it made everyone cover their ears. A cacophony of boos poured down over the sirens, and they quickly got to their feet and ran off, making Danny laugh.
“All that talk about winning, and then the second they lose, they run off!”
“Let’s just be glad they did lose,” Ember panted, the battle having tired her out a bit. “They were pretty close to avoiding that, you know.”
“Yeah, but I’d love to hear about what you guys just did to them,” Danny smiled at the Rainbooms.
With the miniscule amount of time they had left, Danny and Ember were preparing to leave the world they’d stumbled into just days earlier. Trixie had even come over to apologize for everything she’d done, but they let her know not to sweat it, because she had still made the right choice in the end. The crowd of students was slowly dispersing, and it was time for the group to say their final goodbyes.
“You know, I don’t say this often, but it really sucks that I won’t be able to come back to this place.”
“Actually, that may not be entirely true,” Tucker spoke up, grabbing everyone’s attention. “If we make some modifications to the Ghost Portal, I’m sure that we can give it the ability to bring us here as well.”
“I’d rather not stay in such a happy-go-lucky place,” Sam pouted. Danny smirked, climbing into the Speeder and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. A blush poured over her face, and she relaxed a bit. “Oh, fine, but only so I can be sure nobody steals you from me.”
“What about you, Ember? Will you ever come back?” Sunset asked, walking over to give Danny a goodbye hug through the window of their machine.
“That might be within the realm of possi—” Ember was cut off by a low rumbling sound, which began to resonate louder and louder. With a ear-shattering screech, what looked like hundreds of ghosts sped out of the portal at the same time, and scattered off in several directions. The portal was consumed in a blinding white light, and everyone shielded their eyes. When the light dissipated, the portal was gone, and so was the Specter Speeder. Worse than that, the group immediately noticed that something else was missing.
“Oh my gosh, the portal just ate Sunset!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed with a scream.
Ember did little more than look up at the sky, watching as hundreds upon hundreds of ghosts began to fly through the sky. “They’ll bring her back, don’t worry,” she tried to ease her new friends’ collective consciences. “But it looks like I’m here for the long haul now…”
“What are we gonna do?” Rainbow Dash asked, a hint of panic in her voice. “She’s just gone!”
Ember grinned as she looked at the mass of ghosts soaring through the air. “You girls better start learning how to fight ghosts, because we’ve got work to do.”
Meanwhile, on Earth...
“Um… what just happened?” Danny turned to Tucker, but his friend simply shrugged.
“No clue, but we’re home, and that’s all that—”
“Uh, guys?” Sam interrupted her friend. “I think we have a problem,” she droned, pointing in front of the ship.
Danny’s eyes went wide as he finally noticed her. “Sunset?!”
“Danny? Uh, where are we?” Sunset asked. “Is this… your world?”
Danny didn’t respond, instead letting out a sigh. A sigh that turned into a scream as he slammed his head into the ship’s control panel out of frustration. “Hey, don’t worry,” Tucker smiled. “We’ve got plenty of time to figure out how to get her back to her world. Besides, what’s the worst that could have happened?”
Back in Equestria...
“Finally, I’m free of that wretched prison,” a large man said, landing on the ground with a thud. He took a look around, and frowned. “This isn’t Earth. At least, not as far as I can tell. No matter, I’ll just have to make a change to the game plan,” he smirked. “I’ll make this world mine soon, or my name isn’t Dan Phantom...”
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.
Sunset peered out of the Specter Speeder’s window, her face pressed up against the glass as she looked at the vast expanse of the Ghost Zone. Her eyes sparkled at the dazzling sight. Neon green swirls of ghostly energy lit up a sky that stretched like an endless void. Several islands floated across the vast nothingness, and Sunset’s eyes widened. “This place looks amazing.”
“Yeah, looks,” Danny replied. “But trust me, you don’t want to run into some of the ghosts that call this place home. In fact, you’d be lucky to run into one that doesn’t want to kill you.”
Sunset gulped, taking a moment to look back at the group. “What do ghosts have against humans? You and Ember make it sound like they hate anyone that isn’t a ghost.”
“Don’t worry,” Tucker said, “That’s not how it is at all.”
Sunset let out a sigh of relief. A relief that was immediately stamped out of existence by Sam’s quick follow-up. “Yeah, they hate each other, too.”
“Uh, are all of these ghosts just fueled with nothing but rage and evil?” Sunset asked, concerned with the answer she might receive. A single green ghost passed by the Specter Speeder, and she leaned away from the window. Maybe this trip wasn’t the best idea after all.
Danny nodded. “Most of the ones we know? Yes. But I guess there are a few that are more an annoyance than an actual threat.”
“Like Klemper,” Tucker laughed. “I thought he was gonna hug you to death the last time we saw him.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me. I’m pretty sure my ribs are still bruised,” Danny groaned, annoyed at the mere thought of the friend-seeking ghost. Images of all the ghosts he had battled flashed through his mind, until he eventually settled on a ghost so weak and insignificant that not even Sunset would be afraid of him. “And let’s not forget the Box Ghost, oooooh!”
“The… Box Ghost?” Sunset repeated the name. “What does he do?”
“Exactly what it sounds like,” Sam answered. “He literally uses his mind to throw around cardboard boxes, calls himself the Box Ghost, and always loses.”
“Well, hopefully we run into plenty of Box Ghosts, then,” said Sunset, peering out the window once more into the neverending green expanse of the Ghost Zone. As she watched what felt like an endless stream of ghosts zip and zoom around the void, she wondered how many of them were--or, in this case, not--as dangerous as this Box Ghost they talked about.
Her attention was once more drawn back to her companions as a high-pitched beeping began emanating from the cockpit’s control panel. She watched as Tucker finagled with the many buttons at his disposal. After a moment, she watched in awe as some of the metal above him retracted, allowing a small screen to slowly extend downwards. The windshield, which took up most of her field of vision, was suddenly covered up by a sheet of metal extending from the floor.
“Huh, that’s new,” Sam commented.
“Yeah, I figured I would make some modifications to the Specter Speeder after that whole disasteroid incident,” Tucker said, clicking away at a couple more buttons. With one final press of his finger, the alarm that had been buzzing in their ears stopped. “Fully armored shield plating, as well as a screen for us to see through.”
“What the heck was that for, anyway?” Sunset asked, panic seeping into her voice. “Did something happen? We’re not gonna die out here, are we?”
Tucker studied the screen for a moment, his eyes scanning over the message. Thankfully, he didn’t appear to seem overly concerned. “It looks like an anomaly was detected just ahead of us. The ship deployed its defense system as a precaution.”
Danny’s eyebrow rose, and he finally saw fit to re-enter the conversation. “What sort of anomaly? Are we talking some sort of huge ghost or…?”
“I don’t know,” Tucker replied, shrugging. “And even if I did, that’s not our concern right now. We need to find out who, or what, was tampering with the entrance to the Ghost Zone.”
“Speaking of that, where are all the ghosts anyways?” Sam asked, pointing at the screen. The other three were quick to huddle around the tiny monitor, jockeying for a good view. Sure enough, she was right. All they could see through it was an endless skyline.
“Weird. I swear I saw a few out there just a minute ago,” Sunset said, pointing a thumb out through the window. However, even in the spot where she saw ghosts meandering about, there was only empty space and green ghostly energy. “Where did they all go?”
“Well I’m pretty sure I found our anomaly,” Tucker announced, drawing their attention back to the viewing screen. “It looks like there’s a huge mass of ghosts huddled up in one spot just ahead.”
When they all looked up toward the center point for all the gathering ghosts, a grand tower stretched into the dark green sky, gears ticking around said tower like metallic clouds. It was Danny who broke the silence with a dreaded, “Well, this can’t be good.”
“Well, that’s a surprise,” Sunset grumbled, her fingers rubbing down her temples. “A bunch of creepy ghosts huddled by one dark, creepy tower. When would that ever lead to anything good?”
“All the more reason to check it out,” said Tucker, adjusting the Speeder’s pace and directing it toward the looming tower. The crowd of ghosts expanded out to the very edge of the small island. “Think you can give us some of that wicked intangibility to skip the line, Danny?”
“Gladly,” Danny said with an equally wicked smirk.
When Danny pressed his palms against the control panel, Sunset watched with a curious look. With an abrupt grunt, he disappeared before her eyes, and the invisibility spread like liquid across the entirety of the ship. After a few moments, the ship came back into view, but everything looked… faded. Sunset looked down at herself and gasped. She waved an invisible but not invisible hand in front of her face.
“Whoa, cool, so you can make things this big disappear, too!”
“That’s nothing,” Tucker commented. “He and all the other ghosts worked together to make the entire planet intangible once so that an asteroid wouldn’t destroy it.”
“Whoa,” was all Sunset could manage. “Glad I picked the right ghost to be friends with; you know, the one that’s not evil.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say all ghosts are evil. Mostly the ones with a grudge of some sort, which is, well, most of ‘em.” Danny chuckled awkwardly.
With the Specter Speeder now intangible, the vehicle phased through the crowd with ease. Despite being invisible, that didn’t rid them of hearing, which allowed them to catch the upset noises coming from the various ghosts surrounding the island. The group drove straight inside Clockwork’s tower, and Tucker slowly landed the speeder. Once Danny released his hands from the panel, everyone returned to their visible forms in a blink.
“Alright, guys,” said Danny, “let’s look for Clockwork.”
Tucker nodded, pushing a button and unbuckling himself. The door to the Specter Speeder opened, and he shot up from his seat. “And, make sure you stick close to us,” he said to Sunset, who nodded in return.
The group unloaded out of their ship, and Sunset couldn’t help but look around the citadel as they walked. “Wow, there uh, there sure are a lot of clocks in here.”
“I mean, his name is Clockwork,” Danny chuckled. “I’m guessing it comes with the job description.”
“All these clocks, and yet… no Clockwork,” Tucker noted. “Those ghosts outside seemed pretty angry. Do you think he’s hiding? Or worse?”
“Clockwork? No way!” Danny exclaimed without hesitation. “There’s no way any of those ghosts outside could even lay a finger on him. After all, he knows everything.”
“Everything?” Sunset asked as she scanned the interior of the grandfather clock-esque tower. She stared up at the multitude of clocks hanging in midair, becoming lost in the hypnotic tick-tocks ringing in the air.
“Yo, you good?” Sam asked.
Sunset shook her head, finally managing to break free of the trance she’d found herself in. “Y-yeah sorry,” she called back, falling back into line with the group. “Just a little overwhelmed. I’ve never seen a place like this before. Is this Clockwork guy a good ghost, or is he one of the bad ones you mentioned earlier?”
“He’s… honestly, it’s hard to really say,” Danny answered. “I want to say he’s gotten me out of a jam once or twice, but he just says it’s part of the gig.”
“I would say being the master of time is more than ‘a gig’,” a voice rang out from above, one that Danny recognized all too well, “although helping you has grown to be an all-too-common occurrence.”
“Clockwork?” Danny called out, looking around for any sign of the time-manipulating ghost. With a flash of light, the man in question popped into existence in front of the foursome. “Dude, what is going on out there?”
“I’ve been expecting you and your friends, Danny,” Clockwork replied, and in the blink of an eye, the elderly ghost transformed into a small child, and thereafter, a full-grown man. Sunset blinked at the display in awe, overwhelmed with a sudden abundance of questions, but Clockwork quickly cut off any chance she had to do so. “Come with me, we have an important matter to discuss.”
Floating over to a large pair of double doors, Clockwork waved his arms outwards, the doors mimicking the movement and slowly creaking open.
All the while, Sunset continued watching him change forms with interest and amusement. “Do you always change ages while you talk?”
Clockwork turned to Sunset with a sly grin. “Yes.”
“Why’s that?”
There was a pause. “Because it’s fun.”
The room they entered was even more marvelous looking than the rest of the tower. Sunset was enraptured by the sight of patterned gears and high arches, taking in her surroundings slowly, lest they overwhelm her. What truly grabbed her attention were the numerous phantasmal viewing screens plastered throughout the room. They appeared to be glimpses into different worlds. On one of them, she spied what looked to be Danny’s home. Eventually though, she found herself staring at one world in particular.
Clockwork floated next to her. “Seem familiar?”
“That’s… Canterlot High,” Sunset said. She looked up at Clockwork and gave him an incredulous look. This couldn’t be real… right? Rubbing her eyes, she turned her attention back to the screen. It was definitely real. “But—”
“How?” he finished for her, and she nodded. “Think of this room as an observatory. Not of the stars, or even the heavens, but of every world attached to this one.”
“Hold on,” Tucker interjected, “I thought the Ghost Zone was only connected to Earth. How the heck can you see her world, too?”
Clockwork pointed up, another window allowing them to peek at the real world appearing above him. “Watch, and see how your choices can have an impact not just on your world, but others.”
The four stared intently at the image he was displaying. In it, they could see what looked like…
“Tucker?” Danny said, eyebrow raising. There he was, piloting the Specter Speeder, with… “Sam? What is this?”
That question was answered as the foursome watched the Tucker and Sam of the past rip open a portal in front of the ship. When they phased through the portal, they appeared in a familiar high school, and a burst of memories made Sunset gasp. “This is when they came to get you back from Equestria!”
“Yes,” Clockwork confirmed. With a snap of his fingers, the presentation paused. “However, you four are only familiar with this half of the story,” he continued. With another snap, the playback continued; this time from a different perspective.
It didn’t really appear to be focused on anything in particular, only a patch of what could best be described as the sky in the Ghost Zone. Suddenly, a sound akin to fabric being torn was heard. The once-pristine black and green view was quite literally ripped open, as reality itself seemed to tear apart. Through the zig-zagging hole, the four could see that same image of Tucker and Sam arriving at Canterlot High School.
“I don’t understand,” Sunset said, walking closer to Clockwork. “What does my high school have to do with this Ghost Zone?”
“I think I know,” Danny spoke up. “When you two modified the Fenton Portal to travel to Sunset’s world, you must have ripped open a hole in reality itself.”
Clockwork nodded. “Precisely. And now your world,” he said, pointing to Sunset, “is experiencing the worst kind of leak one can.”
Sunset’s eyes widened as the gravity of the situation suddenly became clear to her. “A ghost leak.”
“So that’s why Earth has been so quiet!” Tucker exclaimed with a snap of his fingers. “After all, why go to Earth and get your butt kicked by Danny when you can go to a world that’s never dealt with a ghost infestation?”
Danny walked up, taking a place next to Sunset. As the video began to shift once more, it was his turn to be surprised. “... Is that?”
“I believe you’ve had a run-in with Spectra before.” Clockwork pointed to the woman on the screen. That wasn’t what had Danny’s attention, however.
“It looks like she’s been through the ringer,” Danny observed. The room around her was ransacked, papers and school supplies scattered haphazardly across the floor. Bruises covered the ghostly counselor’s body, her eyes fallen shut. In the corner of the screen, a pair of feet walked into focus, the owner of them standing over Spectra. “Someone’s in the room with her.”
“Yeah, but who?” Sunset asked. “Could it be another ghost?”
“I’m not sure,” Danny said as the video panned up, revealing what looked to be just an average high schooler. “It’s just a student?”
“Come now, Danny,” Clockwork said, pausing the video on a frame revealing the student’s face. “Look closer.”
Danny wasn’t sure what Clockwork meant by that, but he focused intently on the figure looming over Spectra. Their view zoomed out, and the boy on screen delivered a swift kick to her face as she began to stir on the ground. Then he spoke.
“Come on, Spectra. You’re not even trying to make this fun.”
“No, that’s not…” He trailed off, watching as Spectra’s attacker continued his vicious assault, peppering her face and arms with kick after kick. Suddenly, the student collapsed, a pair of ghostly legs remaining in his stead. Legs that went right back to work harming Spectra. Having seen enough, Danny turned back to Clockwork. “How?”
Clockwork pointed to his right, another ghostly monitor popping up. On its screen, a very familiar ghost was wandering through the halls of Clockwork’s tower. Three out of four people in the group collectively gaped at the scene unfolding, shocked at the prospect of him simply wandering the corridors of a time master’s tower, but this was merely the beginning.
The Box Ghost stumbled into the central room, the room they were presently standing in. He looked beyond lost and confused, but a twinkle glistened in his eyes as something caught his attention. He floated over to a counter where only a singular, terrifying object sat.
“You gotta be kidding me,” Danny muttered.
“There’s no way he’s that dumb!” Tucker shouted.
The Box Ghost’s hands clutched the thermos, and he turned it this way and that, observing the metallic container. “Hmmm,” he mused, scratching his chin. “It’s not box-shaped, but it does look like it contains something. Maybe it’s a cylinder shaped box.”
His other hand reached for the lid, and with another thoughtful hmm, he twisted the white lid and pulled it off the thermos. The Box Ghost peered inside the thermos, seeing nothing but black from within. For a brief second, the group managed to catch sight of a blur of black spilling out of the container.
However, the Box Ghost seemed to have missed the fact that he released the most powerful and terrifying ghost to ever exist. He leaned away and placed the lid back onto the thermos.
After giving it another long look, the Box Ghost shrugged, said, “Meh. Not boxy enough,” and threw the thermos aside as if it were mere garbage. And with that, the ghost flew away, vanishing out of the tower and from their line of sight. The screen buzzed to gray, then blanked out entirely.
“Oh, no, he’s definitely that dumb,” Sam said. “And just so you know, that’s the Box Ghost.”
“... Oh,” was all Sunset could manage at the sight she had just beheld. “Well I’d say he definitely lives up to being an annoyance.”
“Um, not to change the subject so quickly,” Tucker said, pointing back to the screen with Spectra, “but look who’s wailing on her.”
“Wait… that’s you!” Sunset yelled, turning to Danny, then back to the ghost on screen. “But how can you be here and there at the same time? And why is the other you so much bigger?”
“It’s an evil alternate future version of himself,” Tucker answered for him, only serving to raise further questions in Sunset’s already overloaded mind. Yet her questions would remain unanswered, as Tucker continued, “But how can he still exist if Danny never turned evil? I thought Danny cheating on the C.A.T. was what caused that chain of events.”
“He exists outside of the timestream now,” Clockwork said, turning back to the screen. They all followed his gaze, and gasped as the evil Danny grew a bit larger, his muscles bulging out. “And he’s growing more powerful with every ghost he takes down.”
“Can’t you go there and stop him?” Danny recalled. “I thought you could travel to any point in time.”
“No. The bridge between this world and that one is now broken. We are merely observers,” he said, and Danny’s hopes came crashing down. “And even if I could, this is not my situation to resolve.”
“Well regardless, we have to figure out a way to get there and save everyone,” Sam spoke up, poking Clockwork in the chest as she did. “Because you’re just as guilty in this as we are. After all, you let that idiot mess with the thermos.”
“Even Masters of Time need a lunch break.” Bringing their attention back to the display, he snapped his fingers once more. The view changed to one of the girls Sunset had come to call a friend, and she gulped. “Watch closely.”
The foursome did just that, watching the screen intently. None of them said a word as the scene began to unfold, the words at the bottom of it reading, Future: Five Years.
Where Canterlot High School had stood lay nothing but ruin. Rubble and debris and glass scattered across a once luscious green field. The high school flag was torn and splintered, hardly recognizable from age and abuse. The only indication that this was the high school was the fractured statue of the horse, its head long since splintered off.
Billows of black smoke rose into the sky in the background, the fires beneath them giving a dim orange glow. In the distance, one could hear the sounds of panicked people running and searching for help that will never come.
Emboldened by the dire scene around her, Ember McLain stood defiantly in front of her old school. The world had certainly seen better days, but the majority of them for her had been anything but ideal. “It never gets old,” she said, addressing a figure slowly creeping out from the debris. “Does it?”
“The only thing that’s getting old around here is me,” the mystery girl replied, finally coming into view. “How have you been, Ember?”
“As good as it gets when you’re being hunted by an evil Danny,” she answered with a smirk. “How ‘bout you, Dash?”
“Aside from the constant fear?” Rainbow Dash chuckled, but the sound lacked the life it once had. She coughed as dust settled in her throat, and she added, “I’m alive. That’s all I can really ask for.”
The Rainbow Dash of the future had clearly been through a lot. Her hair was cut shorter, akin to a buzzcut, exposing severe burn scars to her forehead. Fastened into the side of her hair was Fluttershy’s old butterfly hair clip. She ran a hand over it softly, memories of their friendship running through her mind as she looked around at the decaying remains of Canterlot.
Ember regarded her old friend with a look of sympathy. “I’m sorry. I know she meant a lot to you.”
Rainbow’s eyes welled up as she spoke. “I miss her.” She grit her teeth and clutched her hands into tightened fists. “Dang it, I miss all of them! I just…” Tears messily dripped down her chin. “I just want to see them again.”
A sudden explosion rocked the ruins of the school, rubble collapsing even more than it had at this point. Rainbow Dash and Ember braced themselves, shielding their eyes as a wicked green cloud of smoke enveloped the entrance the former had just walked out of. As the flash slowly dissipated, the two took a peek and to their abject horror, saw an all too familiar silhouette peering at them from in the smoke.
“Oh, don't you worry your pretty little head, Rainbow Dash,” it said, sauntering into view, revealing Dan Phantom. “That can be arranged.”
Pointing his palm towards the pair, a wave of energy burst forth and enveloped them as his laughter echoed through the city.
The screen disappeared as Sunset watched her friends seemingly perish, her heart beating in her chest like a vicious hammer. A rush of emotions ran through her, but she managed to collect herself before she allowed panic to overwhelm her. One question loomed more than any other. “I-Is that my world’s future?”
“Yes,” Clockwork confirmed. “But you needn’t worry. Time has a way of working itself out.”
“How can I not worry!?” Sunset yelled, tears forming in her eyes. “That evil Danny killed all of my friends!”
Danny placed a hand on her shoulder, sending a warm smile her way as she met his gaze. “It’ll be alright, Sunset. I’ve beaten my evil self before, and I can do it again. We’ll find a way to save them, I promise.”
Sunset took a long breath in, and her shoulders dropped in sync as she released an exhale. The calming presence on her shoulder kept her steady, and around the tears, she smiled back at Danny.
“Not this time,” Clockwork spoke back up, grabbing everyone’s attention back. “The burden of saving her world falls not on you, Danny, but on another.”
“Another?” Danny repeated, confused. “What do you mean another? Like someone from her world?” Much to his chagrin, Clockwork simply raised his staff, flicking the top of it and causing all of the screens they’d been viewing to vanish.
“When the time comes, you’ll know,” Clockwork replied, the world around them beginning to blur. “But for now, our meeting is at an end.”
“Wait, but I have so many—” Danny blinked, and within that moment, they had been returned to the Fenton household, right by the portal. The others stared around in confusion just as he was. He finished his sentence lamely as his thoughts remained focused on what Clockwork had said. “Questions…”
