Ghost Guardian of Harmony

by Wizardalexmix

Chapter 6: Meeting the princess part 2

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Ghost Guardian of Harmony

Chapter 6: Meeting the princess part 2

It was early morning in Equestria, the sky was a lovely orange hue as dew drops on all plant life glittered and glisten in the sun. The birds sore through the sky, singing songs to each other and for the peaceful town of Ponyville. The inhabitants go about with their morning routine, baking, sewing, feeding their beloved animal friends, kicking stray storm clouds out of the sky, or even fixing the roof of a particular red barn.

*Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!*

"We really need to rebuild this darn thing from bottoms up." Applejack mumbled, knocking another nail into another plank of wood that covered another hole in their barn house. Even before the sun went up, the Apple family are already up and about. Big Mac in the barn rearranging hay bales while Apple Bloom directed her brother with the arrangements. While Applejack was up on the roof patching up the holes.

*Thunk!* She frowned as she nailed a suspicious Pegasus shaped hole shut, wondering if Rainbow Dash had anything to do with it. Her irritation flared when she saw another Pegasus shaped hole right beside the one she just nailed. It seems like a Pegasus had somehow crashed into the barn through the roof and flew back out. And judging from the fine multicolored furs that was left behind Applejack was certain that Rainbow Dash is the culprit.

"Well that it! I'm gonna go find that speed-demon and make her help me in fixin mah roof!" Quickly covering the rest with a light layer so that it won't leak if there was a sudden downpour later in the evening, Applejack was just about to pick up her tools and climb down the ladder when…

*BOOM*

An explosion shook the earth and startled her right off the roof making her miss the ladder.

"Whoa!" Luckily hay bales are a common sight in Sweet Apple Acres, and the startled mare fell right into a pile, while her tools landed right into another.

"Wah in tarnation was that?!" She spat out the hay that went into her mouth. Looking up she was expecting Rainbow Dash to be making another one of her Sonic Boom in the air but a shock wave of blue light greeted her instead. "Wait, is that?" Well it's not as colorful as the one Rainbow Dash usually does, and the only blue shock waves that she remembers recently was…

"Omigosh! It's another one of those!" She realized, remembering the arrival of their most recent guest. Shaking off the excess hay she was about to run off when her little sister Apple Bloom suddenly appeared in front of her halting her run towards the town.

"Applejack! Did you see that?!" She was hopping in excitement. "You look like you knew what it was! Oh who am I kidding, you almost always knows what's going on in town! Can I come with you? Please? Please? Please?" By now she's already completed a full circle around her sister.

Applejack sighed, her sister can be a little too overexcited even with the smallest thing.

"Now Apple Bloom, I know you want to know what's going on but this is not something ya just poke yer muzzle in with." Applejack scolded, remembering the odd alicorn. She wasn't sure if she wanted Apple Bloom near Clockwork or his charge just yet.

Apple Bloom gave an expression of shock. "What?! But I might get my cutie mark if I follow you and do whatever it is you did! I might get an explosion cutie mark!" She exclaimed enthusiastically.

Applejack chuckled, "Well maybe, but not now Apple Bloom. You stay here and help Big Mac with the rest of the chores. They wont move by themselves ya know. I have to run, the girls might need my help." She ruffled her sister hair to distract her, and took off.

"But it gets boring after hours of doing chores!" Apple Bloom huffed at her now messed up hair, mumbling as she went to find Big Mac and continue rearranging the inside of the barn.

Applejack was already out of the farm when a blur came flying alongside her.

"Yo, Applejack! Did you see that?" A voice called from the air. "I was chasing after a storm cloud when it happened!"

Looking up, Applejack caught sight of Rainbow Dash.

"Rainbow Dash! Before that, did you crashed into mah barn recently?"

"Oh! Uh… Well.. No time for that! Ponyville is in danger!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she flew off faster so that Applejack couldn't catch her. If she's lucky, Applejack would forget all about it through the excitement. Maybe…

Startled, the earth pony gritted her teeth in agitation. "Rainbow! When this is all over you are going to help me fix mah roof, without using your wings!" She shouted, ignoring the Pegasus exclaim of why it wasn't fair.

Back at the Golden Oak Library, Clockwork chuckled softly as he watched Twilight and the Princesses run after Daniel. He knew that Daniel friends will come eventually, inseparable as they are. No matter where one ended up, the others will soon follow. A blessing it is, the arrival of his friends. With another two familiar constants Clockwork was able to have a better grasp on Equestria time stream, enabling him to see further in time. With this he was able to discern that Daniel and his friend would get into trouble, as usual, and it would be the key to unlocking the lock on Daniel ghost core. He truly hoped that Daniel would follow his advice and avoid any confrontation with the Princesses for it was not the time just yet. And Clockwork predicted that it would take a while for them to be back in the library as the boy would need to teach his two friends how to maneuver their new bodies. Unlike Daniel, they were merely mortal and unable to adapt as quickly as a ghost, or half-ghost would.

Picking up the empty glass for a refill he turned around and found himself face-to-face with the young dragon Spike who was glaring at him with his arms crossed. Clockwork blinked, it seems that his time perception could only cover around Daniel and his friends, but apparently not with the citizens of Equestria. The sensation delighted him. As being a Master of Time his ability had enabled him to know about the past, present and future without fail. So this… spontaneity of behavior was sort of exciting almost. To see how a normal being goes about life, free to choose their own actions without knowing what the future will befall them.

"Is there something the matter?" Clockwork asked, while he wasn't able to decipher the future he could take a guess of what was running inside the dragon's mind.

"You're hiding something." Spike glared at the alicorn, craning his neck upwards as Clockwork was five times higher than he is.

"So in other words it's just the regular saving the world kind of deal?" Danny said and Clockwork nodded.

"Only this time I feel it will be far more brutal then the ones you have faced before." Clockwork said.

'Impressive.' Clockwork thought, for one as young, he was able to remember and catch onto that particular detail.

"What was all that supposed to mean? You and Danny made it seem like you did this all the time! How can we be sure that we can trust you? You could be the villain for all we know and we are just playing into your hoofs!" Spike accused him. "And you even refused to help Twilight and the Princesses! It's suspicious!"

"Don't demand that things happen as you wish, but wish that they happen as they happen. Let it be if it's meant to be, and it will happen, in time." Clockwork spoke in a stern voice, making Spike gulp.

"In time? You call yourself the Master of Time, yet you won't help or even tell us how to help. Aren't you supposed to know about time more than anyone else?" The small dragon stubbornly stood his ground.

"There is a time and place for everything, and it wasn't the time for you to know just yet." With that, Clockwork's horn began to glow.

Spike took a fearful few step back, "W-what are you doing?!"

"It's nothing that would do harm. You will just forget anything regarding our conversation ever happen, at least until the time is right." Clockwork spoke truthfully. He didn't lie, as the magic will push the memory away until it was needed.

Alarmed, Spike scrambled back to run, but Clockwork easily intercepted the small dragon, tapping his horn upon the small dragon's head.

Spike stood there for a moment with a blank face before he blinked his eyes and shook his head wondering what he was doing. He looked up and saw Clockwork watching him with an almost curious expression. "Did… I fell asleep or something? Where did Danny, Twilight, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna go?" Spike asked, realizing that the others are missing.

"Perhaps you were over-thinking and missed them young Spike, Miss Twilight and the princesses went after Daniel. My apologies, but may I have a refill of a glass of water? I'm afraid I had used it all in calming Miss Celestia earlier."

"Um, sure! It can't be helped, everyone was extra stressed lately, and I guess Princess Celestia was really worried." Spike took the glass, disappearing towards the pantry for a refill.

Clockwork watched the small dragon walk off, certain that the dragon will be angry with him when the memory resurfaced in the future. He headed towards the nearest bookcase and casually sidestepped when a colorful blur swept past him through the window. The blur bounded back.

"Clockwork!" Rainbow Dash cried, stopping into a hover beside him.

"Good Day Miss Rainbow. What brings you here?" Clockwork asked the Pegasus.

"I saw the sky-explosion a while ago. Did something happen?" She asked, her voice tinged with worry.

Clockwork calmly replied, "That would be the arrival of young Phantom and his friends. Miss Twilight and the Princesses had already left to greet them."

"He's here? Already? And they left without me?! So not cool!" Rainbow Dash fumed and flew out of the window.

It wasn't a second later when she came back with a flustered face, "Uh…"

"Everfree Forest." Clockwork replied to the unasked question, and the Pegasus quickly steered towards it after mumbling a thanks. Clockwork just chuckled to himself and continued browsing the titles on the bookcase. This will be an interesting month.

"Ow!" Danny cried when Tucker somehow managed to head-butt his stomach for the fourth time. Nursing the sore spot the halfa sighed, Sam and Tucker still had not adjusted to their pony bodies. Getting head-butted or get their feet tangled is being a norm now.

"Let's take a break." He said, folding his legs inward to sit down on the floor. A headache was starting to form and his injuries from yesterday was starting to ache.

"Good idea. Oof!" Tucker agreed, falling into a sitting position a little too quickly for comfort. A scramble and he managed to follow Danny's example to fold his hooves in.

Sam stood by the side, able to keep herself stable on all four hooves but wavered every time she tried to lift a hoof forward to walk. Not wanting to sit down and lose what she had just learned she decided for a simple exercises of lifting up and letting each of her hoof down in a slow stationary jog without moving to get a better feel of things.

"So I was wondering." She started. "Why are we ponies?"

Danny shrugged, "Clockwork said that this world are mostly populated with ponies, and they need help." He was still having a hard time believing it himself. His friends just looked at him with a resigned expression, well for Sam mostly, Tucker was having trouble closing his gaping mouth.

"You're pulling my leg right? You mean we're in a different world?! Without fingers to hold my babies?!" Tucker asked, staring at his front hooves.

"We're ponies, which are ungulates mammals, that got hooves instead of fingers. What, did you think that ponies have webbed feet? What other explanation could explain our situation?" Sam nudged the shell-shocked techno-geek.

"Uh.. Desiree?"

"Not likely. Not with Clockwork here." Sam huffed, looking at Danny, Tucker and herself. Desiree wouldn't dare cast a wish spell upon the ancient Time Ghost. She didn't want to know what will happen if one do. Danny was already on the receiving end of a few of Clockwork lessons and from the sounds of it she was kinda glad the ghost was on their side. "She will probably cease to exist if she does." Sam finished, earning nods of agreement from the boys.

Staring at her leg she was reminded of the sight when they flew over the town. "What bothers me is why do these ponies have to be so darn colorful? Although, I guess I don't mind my color scheme." She nodded in approval, at least there wasn't any trace of pink on her body and that is a major plus.

"Danny? What are you doing here?" said a familiar voice that left the trio frozen. Danny slowly turned to face the owner of the voice, Applejack. She stood by the alley junction with a questioning look on her face. She had lost Rainbow Dash a while ago and was on her way towards the library when she heard a voice that suspiciously sounded like Danny.

'Well that can't be right', she thought. The colt was always with Clockwork, and the fella was really protective of the little one, everyone agreed that they would rather face a dragon than meet eye to eye with one as vigilant as Clockwork. Curious, she followed it and found three young ponies hidden by the shadows. One was Danny, but she didn't recognize the other two with him.

"Applejack!" Danny cried out with a nervous smile. Applejack eyebrow raised, something is going on here, she thought. "I… I was just getting a bit of exercise!" he said looking away to glance at the two ponies behind him.

Applejack nodded, "Uhuh, exercise." Danny paled; Applejack didn't seem to believe that. "You're still hurt from yesterday sugar cube. Ya shouldn't be doing exercises. And who are your friends?" She spoke sternly, seeing the bandages still wrapped around his abdomen before gestured towards Sam and Tucker.

Danny looked back at the bandages and was slightly thankful that they are hidden when he went Phantom just like in his own world. The last thing he wanted was for the anyone, or anypony to question him as to why he and Phantom had the same bandages if they were to ever saw him again.

"Um ..uh, these two are my friends, this is Sam," Sam nodded, "and this is Tucker." Tucker waved his hoof from the ground. "...and uh ..they just got here." Danny said quickly trying to think of something. "They um ...They came out of that light with Phantom. Yeah! And Phantom dropped them off here so he could, um … so he could go talk to the princesses in private?" Danny said trying not to fumble too much with his words, but that came up as a question than an explanation.

"So that what the light was all about." The mare took a glance towards the sky, "So you okay? The Everfree Forest is full of dangerous creatures." Applejack glanced towards Danny, remembering the standoff between Clockwork and the dragon the day before.

Tucker waved her off, "Pff, we're fine. Nothing we couldn't handle."

"Says the chicken who was screaming his head off like a girl back there." Sam rolled her eyes at Tucker's statement.

"Hey! You did too!" Tucker scrambled to stand up, not wanting to sit down on this argument.

Sam gasped in a mocking manner, "Unlike you I AM a girl. And a goth. And goth do not scream, they yowl."

"Yowl? Like a cat? How does that even make any sense?!" Tucker shot back.

"Okay, okay enough you two!" Applejack stepped in the middle of the two bickering ponies, "Now come on, lets get you back to Twilight's. Why did Clockwork even let you away from his sight in the first place?" She said as she turned around to lead the way.

Danny sighed in relief when he realized that Applejack seemed to pay no mind to his story but then that quickly faded when he realized he had two major problems. One, Sam and Tucker still couldn't walk right right and two, his ghost sense just went off. 'Oh crud. You have got to be kidding me. There are ghosts here too?! Please don't tell me they are ponies too?' Danny thought as he looked around high on guard. His friends notices him tense up and they too looked around nervously.

"What's wrong sugar cube?" Applejack asked noticing that none of them are following her. She frowned at Danny's defensive posture, but before questions are asked the colt eyes widened and jumped towards her, pushing her away from the ambush.

"LOOK OUT!" Danny yelled as he pushed Applejack away from harm, taking the brunt of the attack. Applejack stumbled and looking back she saw growling in the middle of the street with Danny in its grasp is this grotesque looking creature with green skin and glowing red eyes staring at her hungrily. Applejack stared at it in shock but was quickly snapped out of it as Sam and Tucker yelled out for Danny in fear. She assumed that they were scared judging from their trembling legs, so Applejack ran towards Danny intending to help him.

"DANNY!" Both Sam and Tucker yelled but could do nothing since they still haven't gotten the hang of walking yet.

"Tucker! That looks like the same ghosts that attacked us earlier!" Sam spoke, recognizing the ghost.

"But how did it get here? Did it follow us through the portal?" Tucker guessed.

"I don't know but this is bad. Maybe it followed us through the portal, maybe there's a natural portal that they use to come here. Either way Danny may be right about this world needing help. If that ghost is from our world then that can't mean good things." Sam said biting her lip. "I hope that ghost didn't actually follow us, because that would mean that it got past Jazz in Clockwork Tower… DUCK!" Sam screeched-yowled when a debris came flying towards where they are.

"RAAAAAARH!" The ghost screeched in pain when Danny kicked a sensitive spot on its claws, throwing the smaller pony to nurse its wound. Angry, the ghost turned its sight towards the smaller pony. Danny fell on his back gasping in pain as the thing ran into him knocking him towards a pile of crates, leaving the colt feeling numb as his recent injury reminded him that he is certainly had not healed like Applejack had said.

The ghost quickly turned away from Danny and went after Applejack again but she was not going to go down without a fight. She kicked many random things that were lying around the area, it proved to be a great distraction but she wasn't getting any solid damage onto the creature, it was clearly having the upper hand. Danny then once again placed himself in between the two, looking shaken but determined to not let a mere injury stop him from protecting his friends. Enraged, the ghost once again rammed itself towards the smaller pony, pinning him onto the ground. Danny struggled within its grip, kicking every nook and cranny he could find but the stubborn ghost kept its tight grip on him, using its obviously larger proportion to hold the small body down with its weight.

"GET… OFF… ME!" Danny grunted, arching his head further away from the ghost snapping jaws. He wasn't keen on becoming beheaded, ever.

"HEEEYAH!" A swift kick from the side from a certain mare sent the ghost flying. "TAKE ON SOMEPONY YER OWN SIZE!" Applejack shouted, huffing and grinding her hoof on the ground, glaring at the ghost who is now floating a few feet in the air. It seemed to reevaluate its next course of action, narrowing its eyes at both Applejack and Danny. Applejack turned toward Danny.

"Ya alright sugar cube? What in tarnation made you jump onto that thing like that?!" Applejack scolded the colt, worried. From her quick glance over the colt body she found several fresh cuts and scratches on him. Truthfully, most of those cuts on Danny's were from fighting those plant/bug like creatures in the forest from before, but Applejack didn't know that. "Ya could've gotten yerself really hurt! Now get behind me! Let me teach this bushwhacker a lesson. I won't let ya get hurt if I can help it!" Intending to protect the younger ponies Applejack took a fighting stance in front of the floating creature.

She was befuddled when Danny jumped in front of her instead, completely ignoring her.

"No Applejack! That is a ghost and you can't fight a ghost one-on-one because you can't directly touch them! Your attacks will just go through them! "Danny stepped besides her glaring towards the floating ghost. The ghost narrowed its eyes towards him in return, seemingly irritated that the colt is in the way of its bigger prize. Now its focus seems to be on the smaller pony instead. The younger of the two knows too much of what it was and that proved to be a more bigger threat to the ghost.

"Wha…?" Applejack confusion was obvious in her voice. Danny almost facehoofed himself when he realized what he had said. Of course, ghosts aren't an everyday occurrence in anybo-anypony regular life, unlike his town. But then again, the reason why his town was haunted with ghost was because of the artificial portal that lies right under his house basement, focusing all of the irregular natural portal into one giant dimensional hole that became the front gate between Earth and the Ghost Zone. He cursed himself for the slip but shook it off as she was going to find out what it was eventually.

He sighed realizing that no matter where he went, there are bound to be ghosts. Maybe Tucker's joke about how his presence somehow boosted the appearance of ghost is true.

"That thing is a ghost?!" Applejack asked, surprised. She would never thought that she would ever see a real life ghost, they were just old ponies tale. But then something caught her attention about what he said. "Wait just a darn second, what do you mean ah can't touch 'em? But ah clearly kicked 'em off ya!"

"That was by accident. The ghost wasn't expecting for you to do that. You can only make contact with it if it wants you to." Danny quickly said to her as both of them jumped out of the way as the ghost started to attack again. Performing a complicated maneuver Danny used the walls to jump over the ghost, smacking the ghost down onto the pavement with a well-deserved pounce from the top. Screeching, the ghost threw itself up to snap it jaws at the irritating colt.

"Danny!" Applejack yelled and ran after him. Sending a swift kick she found herself meeting empty air instead of hitting the ghost. Applejack shivered at the sight of her hooves passing through the creature body like it was just an illusion. Finding herself at a stalemate she jumped away from the ghost reach. Not even sending her powered apple-kicking bullets seem to have any effect on the creature. A lucky swipe from the angry ghost sent her tumbling on the ground, gasping for breath. She fearfully stared at the ghost eyes, out of ideas on how to handle the creature.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Danny punched the ghost in its face, making it fly a good few feet away from its latest victim. Applejack cried out in alarm when the colt ran after the irate creature.

"Don't! Stay where you are!" Danny yelled at Applejack as she stood up. He knew she was about to get back up to help again even with her trembling legs and fearful face. He kept dodging the ghost swipes, jumping and rolling out of the way, not sticking with the usual pony operandi. A moving target is a tricky target, all he need to do is time his counter-attack right and he may be able to take this ghost down without getting too much damage. Once he got a little bit more use to his pony body fighting wasn't as bad anymore.

"Its attention is on me, I'll lure it way! You just get my friends out of here!" Danny shouted over the destruction the ghost was making to the gaping Applejack.

"But!" She started.

"GO! I can handle this guy!" The colt said as he kicked the ghost head again.

Danny's right, she can't help him if all her attacks are just going to be going through that thing. Wait! Clockwork! Clockwork must know how to fight that ghost, who else would teach Danny how to fight a ghost if not his own teacher? But she really didn't want to leave Danny alone to fight off that thing. She winced as Danny narrowly missed a nasty swipe from the creature. Darn, there's no choice. The longer she stands here doing nothing there'll be more chances of Danny getting hurt again.

"Danny! I'll be back with help you hear!" She shouted with a worried voice and ran to Danny's friends. "Alright let's go!" She called towards Sam and Tucker.

"Uhh… We sort of can't." Tucker said nervously as his legs shook a bit.

"What do you mean you can't?! We don't have time for this!" Applejack said and just grabbed them both and put them on her back before she ran off. She can't afford to waste any more time. Danny can't keep that ghost distracted for long and he is sure to get himself hurt for doing something so reckless.

Danny sighed when Applejack and his two friends were out of sight. There's only so much he can do in his mortal hum- oh wait -pony form… 'oh crud' A blast hit him while he was distracted, sending him into the shadows of the alleyway. The ghost lunged, but regretted following him when his eyesight got blasted with a flash of bright light. Rubbing it's eye's the ghost failed to see glowing hooves flying straight at him.

The ground shuddered when the impact hit.

"You know, that hurt." Glowing green eyes glared at the dazed ghost. The ghost growled, realizing that facing him is not the small white earth colt anymore, but instead standing there stretching his limbs is a black and white alicorn.

"Now this should be a fairer fight." Danny smirked, only to frown in irritation when the ghost fled away through one of the split junction. "Hey! COME BACK HERE YOU STUPID MANIFESTATION OF ECTOPLASMIC ENERGY AND POST HU-" he paused, "Guh, anyway! COME BACK HERE!" Danny yelled, chasing after it. 'Man I'm starting to sound like my parents…' he thought as he flew through the walls.

"I see that your all back safely." Clockwork spoke as he flipped another page of the book he was reading, sipping from his cup of water as he sat in one of the cushions on the library floor. He didn't need to even look up to know that it was Twilight and the Princesses that had come through the door.

"Clockwork… Did… did Danny came back?" Twilight asked, a little worried of the answer. She wasn't able to find the colt anywhere on the way back. She along with the Princesses have scoured the Everfree Forest for the colt but found nothing. She was hoping that what the black and white alicorn said wad true and he had already sent Danny back to the library unharmed. Truthfully she was sure that Clockwork won't be happy that they couldn't find the colt, judging from his reaction towards anypony that came near them before she was certain Clockwork would somehow punish them. But it didn't seem that the alicorn was worried in any way at all, confusing the unicorn.

"No he did not." Was all Clockwork said. Twilight tensed, afraid of any backlash he might do to them. But nothing happened. "Clockwork, Phantom said that he already sent Danny back here but I don't see him anywhere…" She trailed, 'and you're sitting here reading like nothing happened?'

"What about Phantom? Has he not come here with two other ponies? They flew away before we could ask them any questions." Princess Celestia asked.

Clockwork flipped another page of the 'History of Equestria', the page landed on an odd looking creature that he recognized as a Chimera and the description read 'Discord', "Only miss Rainbow Dash came through here some time ago." he spoke, flipping yet another page.

"You seem awfully calm about this." Princess Luna spoke, asking what was swirling in Twilight's mind.

"With young Phantom now here I have nothing to worry about. Daniel and Phantom are very close and they look out for one another, it's unlikely you would find Danny hurt if Phantom wasn't. And vice-versa." Clockwork chuckled, earning him three confused face.

"What are you talking abou-"

Just then Applejack burst into the room with panic, carrying two protesting young ponies on her back. "Clockwork! Danny's in trouble!"

"But then again Daniel never cease to surprise me now and then. The boy never could keep himself out of trouble." Clockwork sighed and stood up. It's true; this wasn't the first time he had been off about the boy. Before with the boy alternate future self is proof itself. Just because he is the master of time it doesn't mean he was always right about everything. Although in actuality he never had the ability to mold any of the time streams, he only guided the branches. And sometimes, the stream takes a mind of its own. And in this world where he don't have a clear view of it's time stream he could probably just make guesses and sometime it's possible that he could be wrong about the branch paths.

"Why? What happened?!" Twilight questioned Applejack, helping her pull down the two pony down.

"There's no time! Just follow me!" She really didn't want to tell anypony besides Clockwork that it was a ghost because then they might stop and question her. Danny need help and now is not the time for her to be answering questions when a life is in danger! "Clockwork, come on!"

Applejack ran off followed by Twilight and the Princesses. Clockwork was about to follow when a sudden pain flared across his whole body. Gritting his teeth in pain he stumbled, bracing himself with his front knee on the floor. His stumble had caught Princess Luna's attention as she was last to run towards the door after Twilight and her sister Princess Celestia.

"Are you alright?!" she asked running back inside the library to aid the fallen alicorn.

"You didn't need to worry about me." He gave her a weak smile and stood up only to gasp as the pain again tore his senses into disarray.

"Clockwork?!" The Princess yelled in panic as she caught him from falling again.

This isn't good. His body has been disconnected from the time stream for far too long. It's literally tearing his existence apart, trying to connect with the flow again. But right now he isn't connected to this world time stream which his existence currently flow with. If this continues he will cease to exist altogether.

"Clockwork what's wrong? What do you need?" Luna asks, desperate to help the pained alicorn.

He shook his head to clear his mind off the pain and looked around to see if there was anything he could do to stop it. His eyes fell upon Sam and Tucker off the sides trying their best to not fall again after getting up.

Sam was the one who realized she was under a gaze and looked up to see Clockwork staring at her as if he was considering about something while trying his best to not collapse. Sam blinked in confusion, noticing that Clockwork is almost two times taller than her.

"Forgive me but I would need to borrow you for a moment." He said, walking up to her and tapping his glowing horn onto Sam's head. He dove into her life stream that is still connected to their world. He let her time flow in sync into his existence, making the pain subsidies. His magic flowed through the girl, and the information of her past, present and possible futures became known to him, replenishing his grip on their current time stream.

Satisfied that his existence wasn't in jeopardy anymore Clockwork pulled back, smiling, "Thank you for your help." He bowed his head.

"Uh… you're welcome?" Sam blinked, looking to Tucker silently asking what just happened. Her friend just shrugged, he didn't know either.

"What did you just do?" Princess Luna came beside him, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"It'll take too long to explain at the moment. Now don't we have a colt to tend to?" Clockwork turned towards the door, leaving a bewildered Princess following him and two protesting pony- who tried to follow but unable to -behind.

Up in the Everfree forest a multicolored blur can be seen flying in circles. It stopped at the clearing where the dragon was last seen the day before, before flying off to stop at other locations.

"Ugh, where is everypony!" Rainbow Dash yelled in frustration. She couldn't find anypony anywhere! Not Twilight, not the Princess, not even the Phantom guy that Clockwork told her about! "Maybe they went back to Ponyville without me?" She wondered. "But I flew here as fast as I could and I saw nopony!"

Huffing, she looked back towards the town wondering if they all had already made their way back.

A black and green blur flying over Ponyville caught her attention. "What the?"

As she got close she saw a black and white alicorn chasing after a strange looking green glob thing. 'Wait, it must be Phantom! Allright! I found him! Now I can… I can… What am I supposed to do when I found him again? Oh right! Take him back to Twilight's so they could finally talk to him!'

Rainbow Dash flew towards them only to yelp in surprise when the two ignored her existence by bypassing her completely and continued on with their chase. The Pegasus righted herself up, surprised at how fast the two could fly. Now that she had caught sight of him she can see that the alicorn was just a kid.

"Hey wait up! We need to talk to you!" She called out but it seems like the colt couldn't hear her.

Phantom flew even faster to catch that slippery green glob. Rainbow Dash had put herself into an overdrive so she could catch up to him. She yelped when Phantom did a sharp 90 degree turn despite of how fast he was going and Rainbow Dash, who was not expecting the maneuver crashed right into the Carousel Boutique.

Rarity was at her boutique working on a new design that morning, peacefully drawing out the blueprint for her next dress. It was going to be the best dress she had ever made just yet! She hummed as she glanced over her younger sister Sweetie Bell, drawing her own blueprint on the floor, following her example. The filly had always admired her talent for making dresses and sometimes tries too hard to follow her as she worked. When will she learn that one will not earn a cutie mark if they force themselves too hard in doing what others are doing?

Rarity smiled softly before looking back towards her work, drawing in more details when an explosion caused her to rip a horrifying hole in her precious blueprint!

"What in the name of Celestia was that!" She shouted, in both shock and anger. "Look at what it made me do! Now I have to draw them all over again!"

"You can use mine if you want." Sweetie Bell offered.

"That's sweet of you but I already cut out the base of the dress Sweetie Bell. I just need to…" She stared at her ruined blueprint. "Draw it all over again…"

And a few hours later Rarity was carefully plotting her dress again on a new paper when Rainbow Dash crashed into her house right onto her drawing table before bouncing off towards the wall and right onto a pile of clothes.

"Twice in a day?! What has the day came to- Rainbow Dash? What happened?!" Rarity forgot about her- now twice ruined -dress blueprint when she saw who just crashed in.

The Pegasus groaned as she tried pulled her face out of a skirt, failing. "I-I'm fine. I n-need to catch up with Phantom." She said in a dizzy smile before she fell over into the clothes.

Danny didn't realize that he had accidentally sent Rainbow Dash right into the Carousel Boutique, too focused in chasing the ghost. He was getting really annoyed now. Now that he's in his ghost form all the green ghost did was running away from him!

"Will you stop?!" Danny yelled in frustration. Using a wall he managed to catch it by surprise, ramming it right into Sugar Cube Corner. Both crashed right through the roof of the sweet house right towards the ground floor creating a giant crack on the ground.

"AAAAAAAH!" Yelled Mister and missus cake as they had just finished cleaning the floor from the previous morning shock wave.

"Sorry! Excuse me!" Danny apologized getting up from the floor. But then he noticed that the ghost had already fled. "Crud! Where did it go?" Taking flight Danny scanned the area.

"THERE'S A GHOSTIE IN THE HOUSE! DON'T YOU DARE COME CLOSER TO THE TWINS!" A scream rang through the first floor of the building. Danny gritted his teeth as he flew through the ceiling right into the first floor.

Pinkie Pie stood in front of the door to the baby room, determined not to let this bad creature harm the twins. Her knee had been pinchy since this morning and she had been feeling paranoid all day long. This… scary green ghost must have been why she was feeling it! The ghost roared right onto her face, making her frown as she smelt its breath. "Ew… You need a mouthwash!" She couldn't help but make a remark on that, covering her nose with her hoof.

The ghost stopped and sniffed at its own breath before realizing what it was doing.

"Raaaaaar!" It roared in anger and went for the attack.

"EEEEEEK!" The pink pony scrambled back right onto the door, tripping when the wood suddenly spun and threw her right into the room with the door still standing. The ghost ripped it off soon enough, pausing a moment to find the crumpled form of the pink pony upside down on the floor staring back.

The ghost was tackled before it could even put a foot in the room by a black and white blur.

"Huh?" Pinkie peeked out the door, looking down the hall to find the two wrestling. It was the scary monster along with a black and white alicorn. Hey! It must be that pony that they were looking for!

"Pinkie! Run! Get out of here!" Danny shouted before she could call out in excitement at finding him. He really wished- in his core, because who knows where a certain wishing ghost was -that he could levitate objects like most ghosts. Even the box ghost could do it! Because he had all his limbs full keeping the ghost down and he can't spare another to get his thermos or he'll risk it fleeing again!

"Oh yeah, OK!" The pink pony had no complaint. She needed to get the twins to safety anyway. She could always find him back later, but as for now, "Helmets up fillies!" She grabbed the twins, strapping them onto a makeshift filly-carrier wrapped around her, "We need to abandon base!" With that, she went and jumped right down the hole Danny and the ghost made.

Mister and missus Cake almost ran up the staircase, which was currently occupied- by Danny and the ghost -when Pinkie Pie landed with a perfect ten right onto the crater. "Oh Thank goodness!" Missus Cake said, hugging Pinkie and her children. The house shook and Mister Cake pushed the three of them through the door. "Hugs later, we need to get out of here!"

They all ran outside and looked back at the house to see flashes of green light here and there and crashes of stuff being broken. "Our house!" Missus Cake screamed in horror.

"Pinkie Pie!" Came Twilight voice as she ran towards her, followed by Applejack and Princess Celestia.

The pink pony went into a rant, "Girls! My knee has been pinchy since this morning and I didn't know what was going to happen because my knees always get pinchy knee when something scary is going to happen and I was worried so I build a fort in the twins room and suddenly there's this crash and a giant hole opened up in the roof and there's this scary green ghost thing trying to eat me and the twins and it roared like RAAAAAAAAAH at me and I said that it needed a mouthwash because it's breath stinks and suddenly it got angry and I tripped and I went Wheee! With the door and fell into the room and it ripped the door open because I said that it needed a mouthwash! *gasp* Oh and by the way I found the alicorn we're looking for. He's right in there fighting the bad green ghostie blob!" Pinkie Pie said, changing into a calmer demeanor after she explained the event in a very excruciating detail.

"Slow down Pinkie, I can't understand half of what you were saying." Twilight frowned, she had lost her halfway through her fast paces explanation.

"Besides that! Did you see Danny anywhere?" Applejack pushes Twilight aside worried about the colt since they couldn't find him anywhere.

Pinkie shook her head, "Nope, didn't you hear me? I was in Sugar Cube all day long until they crashed through the roof!" she explained again and Applejack got even more worried.

"Keep yourselves calm. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, look around for Danny, he mustn't be far. Twilight you come with me and help Phantom. He may be an alicorn but he is still just a colt. Mister and missus Cake, please do retreat to the Town Hall for now." Princess Celestia spoke.

"Yes Princess." They all said together but then got cut off when Phantom came crashing out of the sweet house and slammed onto another one across the street. The spectators looked out in horror at the painful impact the young colt made with the other house. Princess Celestia extended her wings and flew up there to see if he was alright.

Twilight was about to run after Princess Celestia when she notice a shiny black thermos on the ground. It must have belonged to Phantom and he must have dropped it when he crashed through the house. She remembers seeing it on him when they first met him. 'This might be important to him.' Twilight thought and ran over to get it. When twilight looked up to call for both Princess Celestia and Phantom she saw them both fly off.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Twilight yelled running after them. Man at this point she really wished she had wings to keep up with them.

Applejack watches as Princess Celestia and Twilight went after Phantom. There's no sight of Danny anywhere and it seems like Clockwork and Princess Luna didn't follow them.

"Come on Pinkie, we need to find Danny." She said running off.

They looked all over the place, every nook and cranny, every alleyway and backyard, every stones and rocks. But no sign of the colt. Did Phantom really saved him?

"Applejack, what really happened to Danny?" Pinkie Pie asked, realizing that she still didn't know what actually happened with the colt. She got swept by with the flow and just followed without even realizing it.

"He was fighting that monster that Phantom was fighting. I had to leave him behind to get help." Applejack said, feeling guilty with her action.

"What! You left him behind!?" Pinkie pie gasped in disbelief.

"Well it's not like I wanted to! I just couldn't help him and he was helping me more than I was to him." She said stopping to look at Pinkie.

"Well what are we waiting for?! We need to find him before he get even more hurt! DANNY! DANNY! DANNY!" Pinkie said yelling pulling everything she could lay her hoofs on and appearing behind, in and under out of everything looking for him. Out a mail box, a basket of flowers some pony was caring, a jar of jam, and many others. It would look comical if not for the terrified face she was making as she appeared out of everything.

"Pinkie wait more me!" Applejack said running after her.

"Lucky hit…" Danny groaned from under the rubble, rubbing his sore head. He glared up at the snarling ghost. Shaking himself out the rubble Danny flew up into the air. "You're trickier than I thought you would be. Round two." He said, narrowing his eyes to the ghost.

He was readying up a blast when Princess Celestia flew up into his line of vision.

"Phantom! Are you all right?!" She asked with concern in her voice, startling the smaller alicorn.

"What? What are you doing here?" Danny yelled surprised to suddenly see her but then looked behind her to see the ghost fleeing again. "No! Nonononono! It's getting away!" Danny said flying around The Sun Princess and after the ghost.

"Wait! Phantom let us help you!" She said flying after him.

"With all due respect Princess but you don't know how to handle something like this." Danny said back, not taking his eyes off the ghost up ahead.

"I'm sure we can handle whatever this is, this isn't something a child like you should be doing. You should been safe in a warm hearth away from monsters like this!" She pleaded.

Ticked that someone called him a child, Danny turned towards the Princess, "Lady! I'm fifteen not five!" but then as he turned back to chase the ghost he flew muzzle first onto a pole. "GAH!" Danny coughed and looked back to see that the ghost was long gone.

"Are you hurt?" Princess Celestia asked flying next to him, wincing at the pain look Danny was making.

Rubbing his throbbing nose Danny huffed more of his hurt pride than the pain, "…I'm…fine… but that ghost got away. I need to catch it before it causes even more trouble." Danny said pushing her away and hovered in the air by himself.

"But-" Princess Celestia tried to speak but got cut off by Danny.

"Look you can worry all about me later but right now we have a crisis and your peop- ponies are in trouble with that running loose." Danny said. He didn't know much about the ghost but he somewhat got a feeling that this ghost won't hesitate to do more than a mere household destruction. Judging from its behavior from its interaction with Applejack and Pinkie Pie, it didn't seem to mind hurting any others. It's just… it didn't feel right with that ghost. It didn't feel like the type of ghost he was used to fighting.

Celestia swallowed her words. She knows he's right, right now was not the time to focus on just one pony. Equestria needed her help and this monster was threatening their lives. She didn't know what it was but she has a feeling it has something to do with the evil haunting her sister's dreams.

"Very well, show me what we need to do." Celestia said nodding.

Danny nodded and turned away from the Princess to see if he could still spot the ghost anywhere. There was no sign of it, it's definitely long gone by now. Ah crud. It was going to take some time to find that ghost now. But even if he does find it he would still need to get it into the thermos. He might be a little more used to his pony body but he's still having a hard time working out the kinks of it. Not only that but that ghost was also fast, never giving him the chance to use the thermos. Looking over to his side for his thermos he gaped at the empty holster.

"Oh nonono. Where is it?!" He said in a bit of panic, looking around the ground for the container. That was the only thermos he had and without it he wouldn't be able to capture any ghost.

"What is the matter Phantom?" Princess Celestia asked. The colt seemed alarmed, searching the ground.

"I dropped my thermos! Without it I won't be able to contain the ghost!" Danny flew away from the Princess, retracing his steps in hopes of seeing that metallic glint.

The Princess watched him fly back towards Sugar Cube Corner, not taking his eye off the ground. Why would he need a thermos for? How will a soup container help catch the ghost? Was that what the creature was? A ghost?

"I don't understand how a thermos would help you capture a… ghost?" She asked as she flew side by side beside Danny.

"Yeah that back there is a ghost, but not a normal ghost one I guess, and the thermos is not just a soup container, it's a storage device to capture and contain ghosts." Danny said, rushing as he located a glint only to realize it was just a very, shiny hand shovel.

"You seem to know an awful lot about this ghost business." Princess Celestia said carefully studying Phantom. He is still just a young colt but his body and stance tells her that he has been doing this for a long time. Her trained eyes catches sight of old scares that should only litter an adult warrior covered his body. She could read them, battles of great proportions and wrath was written in wounds and scars that cut deep into his skin. Even now with the battle between him and that ghost. New fresh cuts and bruises littered his body and some went over old scars but the injury didn't seem to bother him. It seems that he was used to this type of pain and the thought of that was horrible.

It pained her to see a colt so young having to have gone through such hardships.

"You have no idea." Danny sighed. He didn't mean for it to come out as a sigh but he's already having a long day. Everything from Clockwork, talking to the Princesses to him saving his friends. Not only that but he had to teach them to walk and then avoid not getting found out by Applejack. Then to top it off he had to fight this ghost he knew nothing about and only to bump onto the Princess again! God it was such a long freaking day! And it's barely even midday!

Princess Celestia face was sullen at what he just said. He sounded very much like an older pony tired of fighting and was about ready to retire. This isn't right, she had hoped that the alicorn that her sister talked about would have been an older pony with knowledge and experience that could help them fight this evil that threaten them. She was not expecting it to be a child. Why does he do it?

"Why do you fight such dangerous things young one?" She asked.

"It's my job. If I don't then who will?" He paused for a moment before continuing his search. The Princess was shocked to hear his grim tone. Such sacrifice… The Sun Princess was left quiet for a moment contemplating what he said.

Danny was not really paying any attention to Princess Celestia as she asked questions. He wanted to keep them simple as possible and tried his best to not reveal too much without Clockwork consent. He would leave the complicated questions to him. As he thought this he caught sight of a purple mare running towards them carrying his black thermos!

"There you are!" Twilight panted, her energy spent on chasing after the two alicorn. She was running to catch up to them as she levitated the thermos. Danny frowned. He really need to learn how to do that! Danny shook his head of his thoughts and quickly flew down to her with Princess Celestia close behind.

Twilight stopped running when she saw them fly towards her. That was a really long run she had to do. "Y-you dropped this." She said as they got into ear shot.

"Thanks! I would have been screwed if I lost this!" Danny said taking the thermos from her with a sigh of relief.

"You're welcome." Twilight said smiling. She was glad that her hunch was right in it being important to him.

"Phantom what about the ghost?" Princess Celestia asked landing on the ground next to Twilight with a concerned look painted on her face.

"Well without my stuff it will be hard to track down the ghost. It's long gone by now and is most likely hiding. For now we should head back and figure out what to do once it shows up again." Danny said. He didn't like the idea of leaving with the ghost still out there but he knew he wouldn't easily find it in a place like this. This world was new and unfamiliar to him. Plus he doesn't even know what kind of ghost he's dealing with. For all he knows it could be a ghost from this world and at the moment he knew absolutely nothing about this place and it seems like Clockwork doesn't either. So for now regrouping was the best plan he had.

"Very well. If that is all we can do then let us head back so we may figure out a way to stop this evil." Princess Celestia said nodding and trotted back to the library.

"I hope Applejack already found Danny." Twilight said following.

"Oh crud!" Danny quietly muttered to himself as he realized that they are looking for him! They would get worried if they didn't find him. It's a good thing he got a hang of duplicating himself a bit. At the moment he could only hold onto one duplicate. Going on four… he was still working on that. As Twilight and the Princess had their back to him he invisibly duplicated himself and had the other turn back to Danny Fenton and run off somewhere so Applejack can find him.

He needed to be careful here, a lot more peo- ponies were going to keep an eye out for both Fenton and Phantom. Back home at least as Fenton he was mostly invisible and nobody cared as much for him but here it just seems like everyb-pony won't leave him out of their sight. It really was different from his world. God he has to get used to saying everything as something-pony more.

"Phantom is something wrong?" Celestia asked seeing that he has not moved from his spot. His face had the look of concentration.

"Huh? Oh! Sorry, I was just thinking of something." Danny said as he realized he was thinking too much and ran after them both. He really needed to be careful. This Princess was keeping an awful close eye on him.

While Phantom followed both Twilight and Princess Celestia the duplicate ran around for a while trying to find Applejack. She must be worried sick about him, after all they didn't exactly part in the most graceful ways. It didn't take Danny long to find Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Applejack asked almost everypony if they saw Danny and Pinkie Pie kept searching high and low for him and he means that literally. Pinkie Pie had this thing of just appearing out of nowhere, on the roof of a house or appearing out from under a small rock. A lot of what Pinkie does didn't seems physically possible to him.

Danny walked up to Applejack as she asked another bystander pony. "Hey Applejack." Danny said in the calmest voice he could muster. Applejack quickly turn to him and smiled with relief. She ran to him and gave him a big hug.

"Danny! Oh thank Celestia that you're alright! I was worried sick!" Applejack said as she almost crushed the colt in her tight embrace.

"Owowow! To tight!" Danny said as the air was being crushed out of him.

"Oh! Sorry about that! Got a little too carried away." Applejack said then turned away to call for pinkie. "Pinkie! It's ok! I found Danny!" Applejack yelled.

Pinkie quickly retreated back into the well she was in, "Danny!" She said suddenly appearing right next to Danny- somehow crossing over a few yard long in a split millisecond -with a big grin on her face before hugging the colt, startling him. That was going to take some time getting used to.

"Hi Pinkie." Danny said smiling a little at her.

"I see that everything is in order." Clockwork voice came over as he and Princess Luna walked up to the small group.

"Clockwork!" Danny grinned and walked over towards his mentor.

Princess Luna searched their surroundings, "Where is my sister and sir Phantom?" she asked Applejack.

What the Princess said caught Danny's attention and he stopped mid walk to look at her. 'Sir Phantom', that was written on the letter. And her cutie mark, it's the same symbol on the letter too. She must have been the one who had sent it.

"They went after Phantom princess." Applejack told her.

"Then let us head back, they must be heading back by now." Clockwork nodded towards the Library tree.

"How can you be sure?"

"Let's call it a good guess." Clockwork said glancing to Danny. The colt noticed and he just gave him a small nervous smile in return. Danny had long realized that nothing escapes the time ghost and he did make a bit of a mess while chasing that ghost. Who knows how much he had revealed while all that happened. Clockwork then turned and walked back to the library with Danny following close behind.

The girls looked between each other and back at Clockwork before following after him as well. They all knew that there was some unspoken conversations going on between the two but to what it was about they had no clue. Clockwork was very mysterious and gave no intention in revealing anything. Danny seems shy and awkward and would stick mostly to Clockwork's side to let him do the talking, and the colt seems to want to talk as little as possible.

Clockwork and Danny's group got back to the library first before Celestia's group. Danny ran inside and ran over to his friend's side where they stood in the corner of the library. They had some time to themselves to practice how to walk. They got the hang of it a little but they can only walk slowly now. Fluttershy was at the library as well, once she calmed her animals and took care of everything at home she went by to Twilight's place to see what was going on. She only found the two young ponies and Spike in the library and Spike had told her what had happened and said that she could wait there with him until the others came back. She happily agreed and proceeded to help Spike clean the library.

Clockwork and the others walked in right after Danny but headed to the opposite part of the library. Clockwork wanted to give Danny some time to explain to his friends what was going on so he led the others away from them. At this moment Fluttershy noticed them and flew to her friends to say hi and see what had happened.

"Hello clockwork." She said first to him and he nodded in return. She then walked over to her friend's side.

"Fluttershy what are you doing here?" Applejack asked.

"Well I came by to see if everything is alright." She said. She had come after she was able to calm the animals after the morning shock wave. It gave them quite a shock as the explosion had cracked her window a little and sending her animal friends into panic. She came to the library as fast as she could, worried at what was going to happen.

"Everything is like crazy bad!" Pinkie pie yelled and Fluttershy gasped in fear.

"Clockwork do you think you can clear up a few things?" Princess Luna asked.

"In due time." Was Clockwork reply. She sighed at that, she has a feeling that he was going to be saying that a lot.

"Guys!" Danny said in a hush as he ran up to them.

"Dude what happened?" Tucker asked.

"Tucker shh! Did you get the ghost?" Sam asked in an even quieter tone.

"Not quite. It got away. Right now I made a duplicate of myself so Phantom is going to come in with the other Princess." Danny said looking over to Clockwork to make sure the others were not listening. He caught sight of the Time Ghost winking at him.

"What do you need us to do then?" Tucker asked.

"Mostly just shut up." Danny said looking back at the both of them. "At the moment we know nothing about this place, it would be good if we just keep our mouths shut. Let's just let Clockwork do most of the talking."

"But what if they start talking to us?" Sam asked.

"Then keep it simple. Try not to say too much." Danny said. Just then Princess Celestia walked in with Phantom and Twilight. "Here we go. Let's just stay here and out of the way." Danny said as he backed himself and his friends to the far corner of the library.

"Sister you are back." Princess Luna said happy to see everyone alright and to see Phantom is with them as well.

"Yes but we have urgent matters to discuss." Princess Celestia said looking back at Phantom as he looked around the room and spotted his friends along with his duplicate. A sigh of relief escape his mouth and he then turned his full attention to Princess Celestia.

"Right, you all have questions." Phantom spoke. Might as well get this over with.

"Hold up! Nobody starts the party without us!" Rainbow Dash shouted flying in with Rarity following in behind her.

'Great now everyone is here!' Just what he needed, an audience.

"Where have you been Rainbow Dash?" Applejack asked since the pegasus took off way ahead of her but somehow missed everything altogether.

"I was busy trying to catch this guy!" Rainbow said pointing her hoof at Phantom, the alicorn gave her a questioning look. She was? "But then I crashed Into Rarity's boutique and I lost him." She finished.

"She made an awful mess everywhere." Rarity added as she closed the door behind her and joined the group. "I was just trying to get everything in order after that awful explosion."

"Well it looks like everyone is here. We can start planning what we need to do now." Twilight said looking around the room full of ponies.

"Then let the question party begin!" Pinkie Pie said bouncing up and down.

Then all eyes looked over towards Phantom and his ears fell back and he gulped. He was so not ready for this.

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