The Phantom Pegasus

Danny floated out into the Ghost Zone from a portal. He momentarily paused and looked himself over- he didn't have a pony body. He sighed, relieved. "Man, it feels good to be back to normal, if only for a little bit..." he muttered to himself. He smiled softly and turned invisible. He, like his parents, soon realized that the zone seemed empty. Not a single ghost present- and not a sound was present either. He frowned. "I...don't like the looks of this." he muttered. "Something's wrong."

Someone tapped his shoulder. Turning around, he saw a ghost floating behind him with a frown. "What are you doing out in the open, ghost child? Come hide! She cannot know that there are ghosts afoot without her knowledge. Come!" It grabbed him and flew off. The ghost took him behind one of the many floating rock islands of the Zone. Both turned visible again. Danny frowned.

"Who are we hiding from?" he asked. The ghost shuddered.

"You don't know? The...the unicorn ghost. It's been taking ghosts and using its horn to hypnotize them. She's building some sort of army. I'm not sure how many ghosts she's taken so far, but she does groups one by one. We live in fear in this zone right now. One false movement could get us captured. We don't want to fight. We want to just be left alone in our zone." it explained. Danny groaned.

"Oh, her. Figures. I just came to rescue my sister."

"Fat chance. If your ghost sister is under her control, you can't do a thing unless you overthrow the unicorn herself."

Danny shook his head. "No, no...my sister's a human. She's taken her hostage. I'm going to sneak her away."

"That human is your sister, ghost child? Danny Phantom, I don't know if this job is even a job you could handle." the ghost said mournfully. Danny chuckled.

"Wow. You're the first ghost to not point out who I am the minute you met me."

"It doesn't matter who is who right now in this time of despair. You're going to need more than just yourself to take her down."

"I have more than just myself. This is just a quick solo mission." he said. The ghost gasped.

"There are people working to save us all?"

"Yes." Danny couldn't help but love the look of joy that came on the ghost's face.

"Oh! Please save us, Danny Phantom! You and whomever your group is, please!" it pleaded. Danny nodded.

"You can count on us. Just keep hiding and you'll be fine. I promise." With that, Danny turned invisible and flew off, leaving a hopeful ghost behind him.

Flying around for a bit longer, he spied a large group of ghosts- some he knew and some he didn't- all bunched together. Danny flew forward, still invisible, and saw that they were all staring off at something. Danny poked one, and it didn't even budge. It seemed like its mind was gone. He frowned. "Okay...this is definitely not natural. At all." Continuing on, he observed them. Not a word or even a 'boo' came from them, not a single one moved an inch. He flew up to another one. "Hello? Anyone home there?" he asked it. It didn't seem to hear him. The boy frowned. "You guys are all..." A bad feeling rose in his gut.

He continued onwards and found the suspected source- Lady Pravus. She was speaking. "All of you will do what I tell you, come when I tell you, and never think of anything else but doing my will. Understand?" she said. The ghosts all simultaneously nodded. She went on, but Danny began to ignore her- for he saw Jazz floating unconscious right behind her, tied up and gagged. Slowly looking back and forth between her and Pravus, carefully he went behind her. He almost didn't breath. He touched his sister's ropes and the minute he did, a cage sprung up around him and Jazz. Pravus turned around, grinning cockily. "Did you really think it would be that easy to grab your sister and waltz out of here?" She turned to the group. "Begone, slaves!" she snapped. All the ghosts flew away, still in the group. Danny turned visible, scowling and glaring at her. Pravus gasped and then chuckled.

"Even better- you don't have the necklace. Now I have two hostages. How about that?"

Danny did his best to continue acting. "Oh, shoot! I'm doomed!" He feigned fear. She didn't notice a thing.

"Of course you are. Now..." Her horn began to glow again. Before she did what she was going to intend to do, Danny lifted his hand and froze her. That bought enough time to form a portal and skedaddle out of danger. Quickly Pravus thawed herself out, but when she did, she saw that both hostages were gone. Her jaw became loose for a second before she let out an infuriated scream.

Back in Ponyville, everypony was uneasily waiting, worrying about all sorts of possibilities as to what happened. But all stopped when a portal formed. Danny came out, pegasus once more, and Jazz with him, one of her ropes in his mouth to carry her. He placed her down and smiled.

"Yay." Fluttershy was first to squeak. Everypony let out a cheer, and Danny was quickly attacked with hugs from his parents.

"Thank you so much! We're so..." Jack began to sniffle and then sobbed. Twilight Sparkle wasted no time using her magic to take off the ropes and gag, dropping it all on the floor. Everyone looked at Jazz- she was a light pink unicorn pony with a thought bubble cutie mark. She moaned, but didn't wake up. Rarity smiled.

"I say the darling deserves to rest a bit. She's been through enough in one day."

"No kidding." Twilight Sparkle gestured to Jazz, and Jack picked her up. She led him to a bed to place Jazz in. Maddie came up and pulled the blanket over her daughter. Sam and Tucker came up to Danny, grinning. They shared a three-way hoof-bump. Pinkie Pie was jumping up and down.

"Oh! Oh! I can't wait to really meet Jazz! Oh! I should throw a party for all the new ponies when she wakes up!"

"Pinkie, not yet. Let's wait until this is all over and everyone is safe. Then you can throw a huge, enormous party for all." Twilight said as she came back. Pinkie at first looked disappointed, but then grinned.

"Hey, you're right! Imagine the huge party and cake and balloons and...eee!" she squealed. Danny changed back to normal. A few minutes later, the necklace became visible. Danny looked around.

"Where did Celestia go?"

"She went back to go start forming the royal army of the strongest and best magicians. Did you hear anything from Pravus?" Sam asked. Danny shrugged.

"Not much other than what my mom and dad said. But...I encountered a ghost who pulled me over, thinking I was in danger- I guess I kind of was. But anyhow, the ghost asked for us to save them. I said of course."

"That's what I'm talkin' about!" Rainbow Dash said cheerfully. Fluttershy looked out the window.

"Oh, it's getting late. I should get going." she said. Twilight nodded.

"Good idea. We're gonna need sleep if we're going to brave tomorrow." she said. The ponies left, leaving Twilight Sparkle, Spike- who was busy writing a letter to Celestia- the Fenton family, and Sam and Tucker. By this point, there were so many ponies that some slept on the floor in sleeping bags. Soon everypony went to sleep after Spike sent the letter. A few hours before the sun came up, everyone woke up to a shriek that was Jazz's.

"What the heck happened to me? I'm a unicorn!"