The Phantom Pegasus

After walking a bit longer, Applejack finally led them to a small clearing among all the trees. She smiled and everyone was still unaware that, behind some of the trees, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were hiding and watching everything with interest. "This little place I've been meaning to plant more trees in- good thing I didn't do it yet. No one can see us out here, too. Everything is good t' go." With a smile, she turned to Danny. "You're free t' transform."

"Alright...going ghost!" Danny said. The rings formed again and changed him.

All the watching fillies had their jaws drop.

He floated innocently enough in the air. Rainbow Dash frowned. "Hey! You can fly without even flapping your wings! Not fair!" Danny laughed a little.

"If it makes it seem more natural, I can flap 'em a little." he said, doing as such. "Now...what's first..."

"Intangibility." Sam said. Danny nodded and went transparent. He dashed through some of the trees and back.

"Invisibility." Tucker said, smirking. His best friend, currently floating in the air, disappeared before everyone's eyes. Pinkie Pie giggled.

"Where did he go?"

"I'm right here, Pinkie." Danny became visible right next to her. She merely giggled further.

"Ectoblasts!" Sam announced. Her friend's hoof glowed green and shot at the ground.

"Ice powers!"

Danny froze part of the ground. Pinkie Pie quickly jumped on it and slid across it. "It's an ice skating rink in spring! Yaaay!" she squealed. Danny and his friends grinned. Danny finally decided to try out a certain power.

"Duplication?" he asked. Sam and Tucker frowned.

"Sure that's a good idea? You haven't completely mastered it." Sam asked, worried. Rarity scoffed.

"I'm sure it shall be fine. Now might be a good time for him to practice. Besides, we won't laugh."

"Promise that?" Danny inquired, raising an eyebrow. Everyone nodded.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly! Stick a cupcake in my eye!" Pinkie Pie shouted, still playing on the ice. Danny grinned.

"Alright. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't. So..." He closed his eyes tight and concentrated. A glow surrounded his body and then split into two- two half ghost ponies, both with two heads. Both Dannys blushed immensely, and then went back into one with haste in humiliation. All the ponies except for Pinkie Pie- even Sam and Tucker- burst out loud into laughter. Danny scowled. "You guys promised you weren't going to laugh!"

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie said, rushing up next to Danny. "Lying to a friend can make you lose them for-everrr!" she declared. Twilight Sparkled continued chuckling.

"I'm- I'm sorry, Danny, but that was a pretty funny failure."

Pinkie Pie moved up to Twilight Sparkle in a flash. "For-ever...!" she said, putting extra emphasis on her words. Twilight sighed, but couldn't stop smiling.

"Fair enough. We're sorry, Danny."

"I'm not." Rainbow Dash said, snickering. Danny rolled his eyes, but was able to laugh in spite of himself. He smiled lightly.

"Also, guys, there's one power I can't show you because it could completely destroy Applejack's orchard. So let me explain it." He cleared his throat. "This power I got from a very dark, scary adventure I had to go through, but managed to save the day. It's called a Ghostly Wail. I basically scream out and it breaks the sound barrier and can visibly decimate a landscape. I rarely use it- it also drains so much energy that it can make me faint." he said. All the ponies gave out a 'woah'- the watching Cutie Mark Crusaders were in awe. It was then Sam smirked.

"Oh, Danny? You forgot one power." she said. Danny turned to her.

"Really? Which one?" he asked. Sam looked towards Tucker, who began to uncomfortably shift. He didn't like where this was going.

"Overshadowing." she said. Danny quickly darted into his friend before the unicorn had a chance to react. His eyes turned green and his voice was replaced by Danny's.

"Hi, I'm Tucker! I'm the biggest stallion you ever met! Don't let anything fool you." Danny didn't even finish before the rest began to laugh. He smiled and came out of Tucker, not seeing any need to continue. Tucker shook his head to clear it, and then pouted at Danny. But everypony stopped short when they heard three little fillies laughing. Everypony turned to where the sound was coming, Danny nearly paralyzed in fear. He looked for somewhere to hide and finally transformed back to normal behind his friends.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders stopped. They had been caught. They walked out from behind the trees they were. Apple Bloom weakly waved. "I'm sorry we came along, guys, but..."

"That."

"Was."

"Awesome!" The three squealed. Danny almost began to panic, but Applejack and Rarity took charge.

"What did we tell you to do?" Applejack asked. The girls frowned and nervously looked up at them. "We told you to stay put!"

"Poor Danny's going to worry nonstop about his secret now! What do you have to say for yourselves?" Rarity demanded. All three wilted under their glares.

"We're sorry." they all said. Rarity shook her head. "No, don't say it to us. Say it to Danny." she said, turning her head to the timid boy and his friends. They muttered a 'sorry' again, embarrassed. Fluttershy spoke up.

"Girls, you can't say anything. This is a...a big...secret for Danny...no one can know about it." she said. All the fillies looked up again when Danny and his friends approached. Danny sighed.

"Look, just- just keep it a secret. No one, not anypony, can ever hear about this."

"For-ever!" Pinkie Pie said, staring intensely.

"Just please, keep what you saw here to yourselves." Sam put in. The girls all grinned.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly! Stick a cupcake in my eye!" they all chorused. Scootaloo nodded her head.

"This is a secret, and secrets should be upheld. Cutie Mark Crusader's oath!" she promised. There was still an air of unease. But Danny and his friends would just have to trust the crusaders. Twilight Sparkle gasped.

"Oh! We should be heading back soon! Celestia might come at any minute!" she cried. With that, all the ponies ran off, leaving the CMC to themselves. They proudly grinned.

"We can't let them down. We must uphold the secret, just as asked!" Apple Bloom declared. The others nodded.

"Of course. Just as Scootaloo said, Cutie Mark Crusader's oath!" Sweetie Belle said.

"Not just oath, honor!" Scootaloo put in. All of them shared a high hoof once more.

Back with the others, they had finally arrived at Twilight Sparkle's library again. Celestia was there.Twilight Sparkle gasped and spoke. "Did we keep you waiting, Princess Celestia? I'm sorry."

"Not at all, my faithful student; I just got here. Are these three here the ponies you described and need help?" she asked. Twilight smiled.

"Yes, your majesty."

"Pleasure to meet you all. Which one of you is which?" The trio quickly answered her. "I see. Wonderful to meet you, Danny, Sam, and Tucker. Come inside and we shall discuss this matter." Celestia said, everypony going inside the library.

Maddie and Jack were scouring the Ghost Zone- they had been searching for a few hours, wondering where all the ghosts were- it seemed dead, no pun intended. Finally they came to who they were looking for. A mysterious unicorn ghost with her horn glowing was talking to a large group of ghosts who appeared to be there with no will. They listened for a moment to hear her plans.

"...And you will all be in my army and stop at nothing, even if it means your afterlives. I am almost complete taking over the minds of most of the ghosts from this place, thus making it mine to rule. Then with you all I will attack Earth, and when that is complete, we will storm Equestria and topple Celestia and Luna from power. I will be the supreme ruler of all, and none of you will ever have any objections."

"Yes, Lady Pravus." they all said, blank in tone. Maddie and Jack shared a look of horror. Jack went for a Fenton Thermos, then dropped something in it. He shook it up, then aimed it out the window and pulled in the villain with gusto. All the ghosts seemed to snap out of a trance and then fled without a word. The thermos didn't shake- whatever Jack put in had knocked her out cold for the moment. Maddie turned the speeder around and headed back for the lab.