The Ghost, The Spectre, and The Skullby Shade shadowfeederChaptersPrologueChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3PrologueIt was a dark day over Virginia as the rain down poured over the ruins of buildings that had once stood tall but now were nothing more than crumbling shells, devoid of the life they once held. The things that resided in the buildings were either wild animals looking for nests and prey or the living dead that wandered slowly looking for more victims to devour or add to the their numbers. The day that this started was dubbed by any and all survivors as 'The Day of Anarchy', the day the dead roamed the earth, and the day when humanity fought and lost. Since the that day humanity's ugly side started to show more and more as numerous gangs and raider groups began to form and soon the value of friendship seemed to be gone as betrayal, and murder became common while trust and loyalty became the most sacred and rarest thing that one could acquire. There is one thing that all scum of the newly appointed 'Wasteland' have come to fear however, and that fear is known by many names. Some call them monsters, or demons others call them heroes, and protectors and they have received many titles such as 'The Angels of death', 'The Spirits of Justice', and 'The Ghosts of the Apocalypse' but they simply go by the name 'Phantoms of Anarchy'. As the rain still poured down all was silent except the sound of a running car engine, a large black jeep drove down the road that lead to what was left of Virginia going deep into the ruins and heading in the direction of Potomac River. The jeep itself was heavily modified as thick and heavy plates of metal looked to be welded to the outside to make a reinforced tank out of the vehicle, the front had reinforced windows and sharp scraps of metal welded in the front if anything stood in the way it would be severely wounded and killed shortly afterwards. The jeep housed three men that looked to be in their late teens, the driver was fairly tall at least six feet, he had buzz cut blond hair and green eyes, his body build was somewhat above average and had a tan tone to it, he wore a green T-shirt, regular jeans, and black combat boots as well as the rest of the men. The man that sat next to him in the passenger seat was slightly shorter than the driver being as tall as five foot nine, he had brown hair that wasn't too long or too short as well as light tan skin, he also had a five o'clock shadow that grew all around his face and had teal eyes, he had a somewhat better build than the driver, he wore a red long sleeve shirt and khaki pants that were stained with blood splotches. Finally the man in the back looked younger than both of the men sitting in front of him, he had short black hair with amber eyes,he had a somewhat slim build to his body compared to the other men, he was the same height as the passenger in front of him but was a bit paler than the others, he wore a grey T-shirt with a black hoodie with the hood up, he wore black jeans as well as a gas mask that covered his face. The group sat in silence for a majority of the drive and the drive seemed to prefer it that way. The silence continued until they stopped in front of the building that they traveled so far to get to. The jeep stopped in front of a very large building and all three of the men got out and proceeded to the back of the car. When all of them meet at the back the driver addressed them "alright guys we made it to our destination, Spectre are you sure about this? I don't want to take any unnecessary risks here" the man with the gas mask, now known as Spectre, nodded his head. "Yes Ghost, but we must have extreme caution I don't know how many of the infected are in the Pentagon and getting to the sub-levels may involve getting past surviving military personnel if there's any left." Ghost nodded and opened up the back of the jeep inside were a multitude of weapons he grabbed a SPAS-12 shotgun and tossed it towards the third man of the group "heads up Skull" he said as the shotgun was caught by the man, now known as Skull, and proceeded to grab himself a weapon. Spectre pulled out a silenced semi-automatic sniper rifle, a revolver magnum, and a black karambit knife he looked at ghost who inturn just nodded to scout ahead as the sniper of the group went on ahead Skull pulled out a machete that was still in its sheath and strapped it to his side. Ghost pulled out a Type 95 assault rifle, a 10mm pistol and a sharp kukri knife. "Hey Ghost, what do you think we'll find in there?" "Don't know, but Spectre thinks there's a large cache of weapons located inside if there is that's more than enough reason to go digging around." Ghost understood that Skull was on edge, hell even he was they were going to break into the Pentagon or what was left of it after The Day of Anarchy. The two made it through the front entrance and saw that the military here were easily overrun and if there were any survivors then chances were they fell back further into the complex. Spectre was searching some of the bodies nearby when he noticed that he had company he turned to see Ghost and Skull looking around the past carnage that stained the inside of the building and proceeded to walk over to them and held out his hand. In his hand were three earpiece communicators "found these on some of the dead soldiers figure we could use these when separated take one and switch it to channel seven thats what we'll use" the other two teammates each took one, and set it to the channel before putting them in their ears. "Testing, testing 1,2,3...guess it works" Skull said in a humorous tone. The team went further and further into the ruins of the Pentagon and the more they traveled the more dead they saw, some of which were still walking but were put down from knives in the neck or a machete decapitating them entirely. They eventually came across a hallway that looked more empty than the rest and even more suspicious completely clean of blood unlike the rest of the facility. Spectre found this to be very weird and decided to address this to the rest of the team. "Is it me or are these walls a bit too clean." The group stopped to give a look around to find that Spectre was right. There was no blood stains anywhere or bodies, it made little to no sense as to why this place was clean while the rest was covered in some sort of damage. "Ya know Spectre has a point Ghost, everywhere else has been covered head to toe in blood but this are is just fine" Spectre started to examine the area a bit more and noticed a potted plant sitting right against the wall and by looking closer he saw that there was something inside of the plant, a little red button. Spectre pushed the button and immediately jumped back when the wall opened up to reveal a large elevator that looked like it could hold a dozen people inside at once. "Good job Spectre, hopefully this will lead us down to the lower levels" Ghost said as he made his way into the elevator Skull was the last one to go in watching the rear before backing into the elevator. As the group descended they prepared themselves for whatever waited for them down below Spectre strapped his sniper to his back and pulled out the revolver along with his karambit knife since using a sniper in close quarters was as smart as firing an RPG point-blank. The elevator stopped and opened to reveal a large armory room that had almost been picked clean but had a few things left over. "Well Spectre looks like your theory was right there is still stuff left let grab what we can carry" ordered Ghost. The team spread out and searched the armory for anything useful there wasn't much unfortunately but enough to last them a little while longer. All three grabbed a duffel bag and began to fill up as Ghost was cleaning out a locker he found a set of black riot S.W.A.T gear and decided to go put it on he turned to leave but noticed Skull was not in the room. He then heard loud foot steps from one of the changing rooms and raised his rifle, the foot steps got louder and out came Skull wearing a full juggernaut suit with a skull carved into the helmet. "Damn it Skull next time let us know before you go off somewhere I thought you were some new infected." "Sorry Ghost I found this armor along with a M249 LMG thought it would fit me better than yo or Spectre." Ghost sighed "its fine just let us know net time alright" Skull nodded before going back to filling his duffel. Ghost took this moment to put the riot armor on, it fit perfectly but it felt weird. Ghost shrugged it off before going back to see Spectre had found some sort of light recon armor on with his hoodie, Ghost knew how much Spectre loved to wear that damned thing and he couldn't blame him if you were walking and out of nowhere you saw a guy in a black hoodie with gas mask with a gun and a knife standing in front of you, you would probably piss your pants and run screaming like a little bitch. Ghost saw that he was wearing a different gas mask it was black with scarlet red lenses and looked like it had some futuristic armor, he also had a weird wrist computer on him and looked to be searching through it's contents. "What do you have there Spectre?" The sniper looked up before answering "its a tactical wrist pad it has a bunch of data on this place and a lot of memory left over but it turns out the stuff we just found was experimental armor, the juggernaut suit increases strength and durability making Skull a walking tank, your new armor gives you a speed enhancement unit and has a healing unit, while my armor has an active camouflage unit, and lets me fire snipers and other weapons with no recoil which will be easier for me to use my sniper since it uses 50. caliber rounds, and the mask gives me a motion tracker as well as heat, and night vision." "Damn, sounds like all this stuff could be useful I think we should look around for anymore of this high tech military equipment" Skull got up and proceeded down the hallway with Ghost and Spectre behind him. After a while they came across more tacpads, which were given to Skull and Ghost, as well as some more food, they then came across a big room with what appeared to be a large reactor. "This must be whats been powering the pentagon no wonder why this place survived the EMP blast" Ghost continued to inspect the reactor and take key notes of how it operated. Skull was looking around with his new machine gun making sure there were no hostiles in the area, and Spectre went to one of the main consoles in the room and began to download important data to his tacpad. While the team was busy they didn't notice a man with pistol and in military uniform aiming at Ghost fortunate for Ghost, Spectre saw movement on his motion tracker, took his revolver, and fired. The bullet hit the man in the head killing him but not before he fired and hit the reactor causing it to fizzle and explode blinding all who were in the room before the teams vision faded to black. Author's Note So what do you think by the way voting is up for who is in their harems comment who you want with who and we'll see what happens afterwards. Ghost: None Spectre: None Skull: None Chapter 1Ghost's vision was black and he felt numb waking up, his head hurt like hell but he fought through the pain and got up. The first thing he noticed was that Spectre and Skull were with him knocked out, second they still had their gear and duffels, and third that they were in a forest in font of what looked like a ruined castle, he quickly got to his feet grabbed his rifle and went to wake his teammates up. Spectre and Skull woke up from Ghost constantly shaking and screaming at them, once they got to their feet they realized what situation they were in. "What the hell happened? why are we in the middle of the forest? and what the hell is that" Skull asked looking at the old castle, it looked like no one has been it in a long time. The structure itself looked crumbling with vines clinging and constricting the walls. "I say, we scout it out and make it our home for now" Spectre said while examining it closer before looking out into the forest. Even though he couldn't see them Spectre could feel alot of things watching them, some with hunger. "Really Spectre? you want to have this place as our temporary home?" "Its better than sleeping out here where anything could attack us I don't know about you guys but I'm going in." With that said Spectre proceeded to walk into the old ruins and into a throne room. The place had alot of dust and a bit of the ceiling had fell in but other than that it was nice it had a large red carpet that led to two thrones one was gold with orange cushions and above it was a banner with the sun on it, the other one was the complete opposite it was made of blue sapphire with dark blue cushions and had a banner with a crescent moon hanging above it. "Whoever owned this place originally must have been one rich sonofabitch" Spectre continued down one of the hallways that lead further into the ruins. He came across what appeared to be a personal library, there was a large table in the middle of the room and on it was a journal that looked like it was strait from heaven. The cover was a bright shiny white with golden trims he picked it up and opened it to find who it belonged to. The Brightlight Tome By: Starswirl The Bearded "Who the hell has 'the Bearded' in their name was he either got that from having a giant neck beard or a serious pubic growth spurt." He put the book in his duffel and left the room as he left he heard a yelp from down the hall followed by a small whimper. He followed the sound to a large chamber where he saw two things that made stopped and thought 'am I fucking high' one was a large white fox with three tails that had a large gnash on it's left foreleg. He knew what this was, this was kitsune he had heard of them in legends but never thought he would see one. The thing that attacked was what made him question his sanity, the thing attacking the kitsune was a wolf made of wood and it looked pissed. Pulling out his revolver he aimed at the wolf's head before pulling the trigger. *BANG* The wooden wolf's head exploded into a sower of splinters and green goop, Spectre lowered the weapon and began to walk over to the kitsune, but the fox backed up and growled at him. Spectre stopped and proceeded to crouch down, he had done this for many animals back in the Wasteland for whatever reason animals couldn't be affected by the virus it only worked on humans so Spectre on occasion he would treat animals that he would find. He had a soft spot for animals ever since he was a kid he just loved them, he raised his hands so to show the kitsune that he didn't mean harm, the fox saw this and slowly calmed down and walked over to Spectre when he held his hand out another step was to let the kitsune get his scent to get its trust. The kitsune sniffed his hand and started to lick it, step two done now step three Spectre went to put his hand on the kitsune's head slowly his hand inched closer and finally his hand made contact. The fox didn't thrash or try to get his hand off he had bonded with it successfully he then proceeded to treat the wound with some medical supplies he had and covered the wound with some bandages. "Now are you a boy or a girl?" he wondered out loud the kitsune responded by going to the bathroom on the dead wooden wolf. It was a boy. "Well now that thats established what should I call you?" Spectre looked at the kitsune and his snow white fur. He then thought of a name that would work well. "What do you think about Frost?" the kitsune yipped in approval. "Alright Frost it is then come on I got some friends you'll want to meet and they're probably worried about me." Spectre and Frost both made their why back to the throne room where Skull and Ghost would probably be waiting. While walking Spectre just now noticed how tall Frost was he was up to Spectre's knees and walked fine despite the injury when they both got to the throne room Ghost and Skull were there talking to each other until they noticed Spectre and Frost. Ghost was the first one to speak "where the hell were you we heard a gunshot and came in to see if you were hurt" he had absolute worry in his voice which worried Spectre because he never saw Ghost this worried before. "Sorry sir, I went to do recon and found Frost here being attacked and decided to help by killing his attacker and treat his wound" Ghost looked at the kitsune before looking back at Spectre. "Okay, I'm sorry for snapping at you but we're a team we go in together next time got it?" "Got it sir." The group traveled with their new member to what looked like a large bedroom with a very big bed. Spectre decided to be on watch for the night but Ghost shot that idea down quick. "The bed is big enough for all of us, but if one of you tries to cuddle you're a dead man." They then got comfortable before doing off in a peaceful sleep they haven't had in two years. Author's Note Second one done if you're wondering about my old outro I stopped doing for a while. so the voting is still up no votes yet (probably because I released two chapters on the same day) but its anyone's fair game Ghost: None Spectre: None Skull: None comment on who you want paired with who and we'll see the results net chapter Chapter 2Ghost awoke to sunlight in his face, groaning, he got up to see everyone else was not in the room he left the room and went down to the throne room and saw the team waiting for him "enjoy your nap sleeping beauty" Skull asked him chuckling. "I slept fine, but now that we are awake we need to figure out were we are Spectre I want you to head out scout out the forest and see if you can find a town or settlement." "Roger that sir" Spectre then looked at Frost and told him to stay in the castle before heading out. Frost's wounds were still fresh and Spectre didn't want him out there if they got attacked by something alot bigger than both of them could handle. "Skull, you and I are staying here to guard this place and keep any unwanted visitors out." "You got it boss" the hulking juggernaut got to his feet with his machine gun and headed towards the entrance to stand guard. Ghost decided to head to the library and look for books that could tell him a bit more about where they were and the history of the castle, Ghost walked into the large and only thought of one thing. "Great, just like studying at college all over again." Spectre was looking for the edge of the forest if he could get out of this forest he would have a better chance at finding a town if he got out of the foliage. After maneuvering through the forest for a few minutes he finally got to the edge where he could see nothing but apple trees with fresh apples. He looked to the sky whispering a 'thank you' before pulling out an empty sack and climbed up one of the trees. He collected just enough to where the bag was almost full, unfortunately for him lady luck must've been piss drunk mad at him because as soon as he closed and tightened the sack he felt the tree get hit by something and then shake causing him to fall flat on his ass. "Son of a bitch" he groaned as he got up to see two HUGE green eyes staring at him. "What in the hay!?" came a female voice with a very thick southern accent. Spectre immediately got to his feet and saw a little orange pony with freckles and blonde mane and tail, both of which were tied in pony tails, she also had what looked like an ass tattoo of three apples but that wasn't caught Spectre's attention, what caught his attention was the big stetson on its head. "Aw...how cute" he said but failed to see the pony blush an intense red on its face. 'Now where did that voice come from I don't see anyone around and the voice sounded a bit too close for my liking' he thought he continued to look but couldn't see anyone. 'Ah well..' he turned to the pony who continued to stare at him with a scared expression. He walked over to it and pet it behind the ears and the effect was instant one of it's hind legs started thumping up and down with it's eyes closed and what appeared to be a smile on it's muzzle. When he stopped it gave him a look of confusion "you better head back home little pony" and with that he walked off towards the trail Spectre walked for about seven minutes before he heard the silent clopping of hooves following him he turned around and saw the orange pony from earlier, trying to and failing, hiding behind a tree watching him. He stared for a couple more minutes before continuing down the path when he got to the end of the trail where a wooden fence line and a big sign held up by wooden poles which were connected to the fence he turned to read it. "Sweet Apple Acres...huh creative" he continued ahead but went off to the side when he saw a town ahead to avoid being seen by anyone he wasn't sure if the in inhabitants were hostile or not. As he was about to head back into the forest and make his way around he heard more clopping behind him he turned around to see the same orange pony once again still trying be stealthy and once again failing terribly. "What a weird pony" Spectre continued into the forest and went as fast as he could to lose the pony following him. When he thought he was far enough he started to slow down and began walking at a normal pace again. After an hour he was able to get a good view over the town, he got to a crouch, pulled out his sniper and began to look at a welcome sign on the outskirts of town. "Ponyville, seriously what could've possessed people to name it tha-" just then he saw that walking around and greeting each other were ponies of all shapes and colors. Spectre just sat there, watching all of the ponies conversing with one another when he realized something that the voice back at the apple orchard most likely came from that orange one with the stetson, the same one that he had called cute out loud. "Well, this just got awkward" he moved to his feet and strapped the sniper to his back before heading back to the castle until he heard a scream. His adrenaline kicked in as he raced to the sound of the noise he ended up in a clearing and saw the orange pony getting attacked by a weird hybrid creature. The creature had the body of a lion but had a scorpion tail and bat wings, Spectre remembered from his study in mythology that this was a manticore, a top creature in the food chain and it looked like it was about to enjoy some pony hide. Spectre quickly aimed his sniper before getting the manticore's attention "hey, come fight someone your own size you big, dumb animal." That did the trick and manticore was now charging at him Spectre waited, and waited and- *BANG* The might manticore fell with it's head blown completely off, Spectre got to his feet and looked at the now dead predator before going to check on the pony. "Hey, you alright?" he asked crouching down to see if it was hurt, after his inspection he looked back at the pony. "You mind telling me what you were doing out here." The pony looked down at the ground before 'she' spoke in the same accent he heard when he fell "w-well I came in here because I was following you." "And why were you trying to follow me." "I was curious when i went to buck some apples off a tree and collect them I was expecting to see apples fall from it but instead I see a big creature with red eyes that calls me cute, pets me behind the ears, and then wonders off leaving me to follow you into the Everfree Forest only to come back later to save me from becoming a manticore meal." Spectre just continued to look at her before looking up and seeing the sky darken a bit he then looked back to the mare "whats your name?" The mare stood up with pride and answered "Applejack of the Apple family and owner of Sweet Apple Acres." Spectre flinched a bit before pulling out the bag filled with apples and giving it to her "then these are yours, I thought they were wild apples but since they were on your land they belong to you." If there was one thing that Spectre wasn't it was a thief, to him stealing from others especially if they worked hard to earn it was the most scummiest thing you could do. Applejack looked at the bag before pushing it back "no, you keep it, you earned after saving me." Spectre put the bag back and looked at the sky again, it had gotten darker. "Com'on I'll escort you home, who knows what else is out here at night" Spectre lead the way activating his night vision with Applejack following behind him. After a couple of hours they finally made to the edge of the orchard Applejack told him thanks before turning and leaving to go home. Spectre turned as well and went back to the castle to give a full report to Ghost, however as he was on his way back he didn't notice a pair of blue, snake like eyes watching him. Author's Note Well another one done, and some friendship between Spectre and Applejack this going to be good. The voting is still up and here are the results. Ghost: none Spectre: none Skull: none still nothing but ah well. Chapter 3To say that Ghost was stressed would've been an understatement, not only did he finish reading through only HALF of the library but now the fact that what Spectre had reported confirmed what was in those books were true, but he was pissed because Spectre had been seen. They had been in this 'Equestria' for a good three weeks and Ghost was still not happy in the slightest from hearing that Spectre was spotted by a local which could have jeopardized the objective to stay hidden and now the possibility of these ponies come hunting for them have increased. Spectre was sleeping in one of the bedrooms and was ordered to stay in the castle until further notice while both Ghost and Skull were now on high alert, and Frost was with Spectre resting. He swore that fox was like a loyal dog, ever since Spectre rescued and treated his wounds they became better friends and would rarely ever leave without one another. Even though Ghost was still mad at him he was a bit proud that Spectre sacrificed the mission to save an innocent life, back in the Wasteland Spectre would always focus n the mission and nothing else but his teams safety, as well as stray animals they found out on their travels. Ghost was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard someone enter the room and turned to see Spectre without his armor which left him in a T-shirt and boxers. "You better not be here to ask to go back out to scout the town" Ghost had been keeping and eye on Spectre ever since the incident and noticed that at night while he was sleeping he would toss and turn as if he was having a nightmare but would show no signs of sleep deprivation. This was another reason Ghost didn't want Spectre out and about, as he feared that he would collapse from exhaustion in the middle of the forest or worse. "I'm fine Ghost, and I'm more than ready to head out and continue observation" Ghost sighed 'here we go again' he thought bitterly as he could tell there would be another argument between the two. "Spectre, while I respect that you want to head back out there and continue the objective, but you have to understand that I'm doing this for your own good you need to stay here and rest." "I have had enough rest it's time to continue the objective" maybe Ghost's theory of him changing away from his mission focused attitude was way off, Ghost was about to counter but Spectre cut him off. "If it makes you feel better I'll bring Frost with me his wounds have healed and he seems eager for action" Ghost could say no, again, but Chances are Spectre would sneak out and do it anyway and he felt somewhat more at ease knowing that Frost would be with him to help keep him out of trouble. "Fine, I'll let you loose but Frost stays with you got it I don't need him wondering off and attracting attention" Spectre gave a nod before heading back to his 'new' room. He recently changed to a new room and unlike the one that they all stayed in on the first night, the one they stayed in last night was faded white and gold while this one was black and dark blue which was more his style. He of course was responsible for cleaning it and damn was it messy, the mattress had dust and grime which he was able to wash off, he also cleaned the walls and floors but the most challenging was fixing some of the old furniture it was a pain in the ASS but he was able to get the night stand, the bed frame, and most important, in his opinion, was the toilet. After living in the Wasteland the team rarely had time for luxuries such as a working toilet in fact it was a miracle to find one most of the times the closest thing they could get was a porta potty, but now he finally had his own private bathroom one of the many things that would make a man say 'hallelujah'. There was another one but Skull had already fixed it and Ghost did say everything in the room was Spectre's now, too bad he didn't look more carefully. Sleeping on the bed was Frost who, unfortunately, was awakened by the sound of Spectre coming in and getting his gear on. "Wake up boy, you get to come along with me on this scouting assignment" Spectre said while he put his mask on. The kitsune immediately jumped up and ran out the door, Spectre just shook his head amusingly before grabbing his weapons and following his furry companion out the door. Spectre wondered what Applejack was up to, the last time they had talked was after the manticore fight which was weeks ago and with him being on lock down for three weeks he wasn't able to talk with her. He decided to head back to check up on her and see how she was doing, he was able to remember the way to the edge of the apple farm, after about fifteen minutes he was able to make out the tree line that separated the forest and the orchard. Spectre and Frost stealthily made their way through the orchard but found no sign of the farm pony until they came across a house and a barn, both surrounded by ponies. "Well flip fucking tastic, now what" he could make out at least twenty ponies but couldn't see Applejack anywhere. Spectre pulled out his rifle and looked down the sight to see if he could find Applejack in the crowd and he did she was currently dragging a purple pony with a horn on it's head and a dragon on it's back around the farm and introducing it to the others. Spectre smiled at the sight as it was quite amusing but he had to get Applejack's attention somehow. "Well, I guess now is the best time to test out the active camouflage unit" he tapped away on his tacpad after telling Frost to follow him stealthily. As he finished his body began to fade away as well as his equipment, he was now completely invisible. "Ah hell yeah! now this is cool" Spectre made his way through the crowd of ponies and eventually to the back of the house where Applejack was currently. "Whats with the large crowd if you don't mind me asking?" Applejack jumped and looked around to see nothing until Spectre dropped the camouflage "I didn't scare you that bad did I?" Applejack's face went from scared to relieved "its good to see you again partner, how have you been haven't seen you in a while." "I've been fine, so whats up with all the commotion and ponies." "Well today is the Summer Sunset Celebration and the whole Apple family is here for it." Spectre remembered hearing about it from Ghost while he was reading in the old library back at the castle. This could be bad the ruler of Equestria was going to be in town which means she would have a large escort of soldiers which could equal to him and his friends being found and captured he needed to get back and report this to Ghost. "Well I let you get back to the family, just wanted to stop by to see how you were doing." Applejack smiled "well thank you for stopping by, and take care of yourself...uh?" "Spectre, my names Spectre" with that he activated his active camouflage and proceeded back with Frost. He had one hell of a report to make. It was midnight when Spectre got back to the castle and he still was on edge from the news of the princess coming to the town. As long as no guards came into the forest and stayed away from the castle they would be okay, but if they are discovered then they would have to hide somewhere else probably deeper in the forest and further away from the town. Ghost wanted both Spectre and Skull on watch tonight and then he would relieved in the morning around 6 A.M. "Man, this is BORING why is it that while we're out here Ghost is inside" Skull said irritated. "Look I don't like it either but we have to stay guard in case we get any unwanted visitors" Spectre said while resting against Frost's side. It was now around 4-5 A.M. and so far there was no sign of any ponies, however Skull noticed that it was still dark as midnight out when it should be around the crack of dawn, but before he could ponder it further Frost got up and started growling while facing out into the forest. "Hey Spectre whats wrong with Frost?" Spectre got to his feet and pulled out the sniper. He looked through the scope with night vision turned on and saw movement among the foliage heading towards them and fast. "Skull, get inside and tell Ghost we have company!" Skull sprinted to get Ghost while Spectre stayed and keep an eye on whatever it was that continued to move to the castle. As it got closer he expected to see some pony in guard armor but instead he saw some dark blue mist that moved on its own like it was alive whatever it was, it was fast enough to get into the castle before Spectre could shoot it. "God-fucking-dammit, Ghost this is Spectre some weird mist just entered the castle, possibly sentient." "Shit, alright lets meet up in the main chamber and regroup, we're dealing with an unknown here so it could be very dangerous i want you to-" the signal cut off and all Spectre could hear was static. He didn't stay on the roof long as he turned to see the mist come straight at him, sending him falling to the ground. Spectre fell with a loud thud with his rifle landing a few feet from him he got to his feet and pulled out his magnum and karambit knife looking around, constantly keeping his guard up, until the dark mist started to swirl around him and a dark feminine laugh could be heard taunting him. "Well, well what have we here? more creatures trying to stop MY eternal night?" "Um eternal what now?" soon the mist swirled in front of Spectre and then dissipated what stood in its place was a large pony that was a foot or two shorter than himself, she had a pitch black coat and mane that looked to be made out of the mist he saw earlier, the eyes looked vicious and catlike and instead of regular teeth that ponies normally have it had sharp fangs that gave off a 'piss me off and die' look when she smiled, but what intrigued Spectre the most was that she had both wings and a horn. Spectre was getting off track there was a pony at the place that he and his friends now called home and was possibly a threat. "Listen you need to leave if you don't do so willingly then I'll kick your ass out." The pony looked like she didn't like the answer "how dare you! I am the new queen of the night and this place belongs to me!" "Oh really? well sorry to say, but you've just been evicted so I'll ask again are you going to leave quietly or do we have to get rough." Spectre got his answer when he ducked out of the way of a magic blast from her horn. "Alright guess we're doing it the hard way." Spectre pulled out his magnum and fired three rounds at the large pony only for her body to turn into mist and slammed into him, sending him flying into the stone wall of the castle. "You can't hope to defeat me pitiful creature!" the dark pony said as she reformed in front of him. "You wanna bet bitch" he said before raising his leg and delivered a kick to the pony's face making her stumble back. Spectre used this to his advantage and lunged at her taking her down to the ground, with him on top Spectre proceeded to deliver three quick punches before jumping off of her as she fired a beam of energy from her horn. She got to her hooves and looked at Spectre with unchained fury. "How DARE YOU HIT ME, NIGHTMARE MOON, QUEEN OF THE NIGHT; YOU SHALL BE PUNISHED!!!" "Damn can you yell any louder, god and I thought my ex was loud" Spectre was knocked back by another blast from the pony and landed on his back he looked to see that she was now over him. "Any last words?" she asked. "Yeah, sick'em" Nightmare was at first confused but then heard growling,she looked up just in time to see Frost lunged at her and bite one of her wings at the base, causing severe pain to her. Nightmare managed to throw the kitsune off her but at the cost of some flesh on her wing making it impossible for her to fly. She looked back at Spectre, who was getting his rifle, and turned into her mist form, wrapped around him and dragged him back into the castle with Frost chasing her. None of the three noticed fighters noticed that there were six pairs of eyes watching them. Author's Note Welp finally done with this chapter, how you liking it so far? next chapter The Phantoms fight off Nightmare Moon and meet the Mane Six so be prepared. Also new updates on the harems Ghost: none Spectre: Applejack Skull: none I'm now accepting OCs if anyone wishes either comment or PM me their name, race, description, bio, and personality and they might be added in later chapters but right now it seems that Spectre is the only one getting any plot sucks to be Skull and Ghost right now.
PrologueIt was a dark day over Virginia as the rain down poured over the ruins of buildings that had once stood tall but now were nothing more than crumbling shells, devoid of the life they once held. The things that resided in the buildings were either wild animals looking for nests and prey or the living dead that wandered slowly looking for more victims to devour or add to the their numbers. The day that this started was dubbed by any and all survivors as 'The Day of Anarchy', the day the dead roamed the earth, and the day when humanity fought and lost. Since the that day humanity's ugly side started to show more and more as numerous gangs and raider groups began to form and soon the value of friendship seemed to be gone as betrayal, and murder became common while trust and loyalty became the most sacred and rarest thing that one could acquire. There is one thing that all scum of the newly appointed 'Wasteland' have come to fear however, and that fear is known by many names. Some call them monsters, or demons others call them heroes, and protectors and they have received many titles such as 'The Angels of death', 'The Spirits of Justice', and 'The Ghosts of the Apocalypse' but they simply go by the name 'Phantoms of Anarchy'. As the rain still poured down all was silent except the sound of a running car engine, a large black jeep drove down the road that lead to what was left of Virginia going deep into the ruins and heading in the direction of Potomac River. The jeep itself was heavily modified as thick and heavy plates of metal looked to be welded to the outside to make a reinforced tank out of the vehicle, the front had reinforced windows and sharp scraps of metal welded in the front if anything stood in the way it would be severely wounded and killed shortly afterwards. The jeep housed three men that looked to be in their late teens, the driver was fairly tall at least six feet, he had buzz cut blond hair and green eyes, his body build was somewhat above average and had a tan tone to it, he wore a green T-shirt, regular jeans, and black combat boots as well as the rest of the men. The man that sat next to him in the passenger seat was slightly shorter than the driver being as tall as five foot nine, he had brown hair that wasn't too long or too short as well as light tan skin, he also had a five o'clock shadow that grew all around his face and had teal eyes, he had a somewhat better build than the driver, he wore a red long sleeve shirt and khaki pants that were stained with blood splotches. Finally the man in the back looked younger than both of the men sitting in front of him, he had short black hair with amber eyes,he had a somewhat slim build to his body compared to the other men, he was the same height as the passenger in front of him but was a bit paler than the others, he wore a grey T-shirt with a black hoodie with the hood up, he wore black jeans as well as a gas mask that covered his face. The group sat in silence for a majority of the drive and the drive seemed to prefer it that way. The silence continued until they stopped in front of the building that they traveled so far to get to. The jeep stopped in front of a very large building and all three of the men got out and proceeded to the back of the car. When all of them meet at the back the driver addressed them "alright guys we made it to our destination, Spectre are you sure about this? I don't want to take any unnecessary risks here" the man with the gas mask, now known as Spectre, nodded his head. "Yes Ghost, but we must have extreme caution I don't know how many of the infected are in the Pentagon and getting to the sub-levels may involve getting past surviving military personnel if there's any left." Ghost nodded and opened up the back of the jeep inside were a multitude of weapons he grabbed a SPAS-12 shotgun and tossed it towards the third man of the group "heads up Skull" he said as the shotgun was caught by the man, now known as Skull, and proceeded to grab himself a weapon. Spectre pulled out a silenced semi-automatic sniper rifle, a revolver magnum, and a black karambit knife he looked at ghost who inturn just nodded to scout ahead as the sniper of the group went on ahead Skull pulled out a machete that was still in its sheath and strapped it to his side. Ghost pulled out a Type 95 assault rifle, a 10mm pistol and a sharp kukri knife. "Hey Ghost, what do you think we'll find in there?" "Don't know, but Spectre thinks there's a large cache of weapons located inside if there is that's more than enough reason to go digging around." Ghost understood that Skull was on edge, hell even he was they were going to break into the Pentagon or what was left of it after The Day of Anarchy. The two made it through the front entrance and saw that the military here were easily overrun and if there were any survivors then chances were they fell back further into the complex. Spectre was searching some of the bodies nearby when he noticed that he had company he turned to see Ghost and Skull looking around the past carnage that stained the inside of the building and proceeded to walk over to them and held out his hand. In his hand were three earpiece communicators "found these on some of the dead soldiers figure we could use these when separated take one and switch it to channel seven thats what we'll use" the other two teammates each took one, and set it to the channel before putting them in their ears. "Testing, testing 1,2,3...guess it works" Skull said in a humorous tone. The team went further and further into the ruins of the Pentagon and the more they traveled the more dead they saw, some of which were still walking but were put down from knives in the neck or a machete decapitating them entirely. They eventually came across a hallway that looked more empty than the rest and even more suspicious completely clean of blood unlike the rest of the facility. Spectre found this to be very weird and decided to address this to the rest of the team. "Is it me or are these walls a bit too clean." The group stopped to give a look around to find that Spectre was right. There was no blood stains anywhere or bodies, it made little to no sense as to why this place was clean while the rest was covered in some sort of damage. "Ya know Spectre has a point Ghost, everywhere else has been covered head to toe in blood but this are is just fine" Spectre started to examine the area a bit more and noticed a potted plant sitting right against the wall and by looking closer he saw that there was something inside of the plant, a little red button. Spectre pushed the button and immediately jumped back when the wall opened up to reveal a large elevator that looked like it could hold a dozen people inside at once. "Good job Spectre, hopefully this will lead us down to the lower levels" Ghost said as he made his way into the elevator Skull was the last one to go in watching the rear before backing into the elevator. As the group descended they prepared themselves for whatever waited for them down below Spectre strapped his sniper to his back and pulled out the revolver along with his karambit knife since using a sniper in close quarters was as smart as firing an RPG point-blank. The elevator stopped and opened to reveal a large armory room that had almost been picked clean but had a few things left over. "Well Spectre looks like your theory was right there is still stuff left let grab what we can carry" ordered Ghost. The team spread out and searched the armory for anything useful there wasn't much unfortunately but enough to last them a little while longer. All three grabbed a duffel bag and began to fill up as Ghost was cleaning out a locker he found a set of black riot S.W.A.T gear and decided to go put it on he turned to leave but noticed Skull was not in the room. He then heard loud foot steps from one of the changing rooms and raised his rifle, the foot steps got louder and out came Skull wearing a full juggernaut suit with a skull carved into the helmet. "Damn it Skull next time let us know before you go off somewhere I thought you were some new infected." "Sorry Ghost I found this armor along with a M249 LMG thought it would fit me better than yo or Spectre." Ghost sighed "its fine just let us know net time alright" Skull nodded before going back to filling his duffel. Ghost took this moment to put the riot armor on, it fit perfectly but it felt weird. Ghost shrugged it off before going back to see Spectre had found some sort of light recon armor on with his hoodie, Ghost knew how much Spectre loved to wear that damned thing and he couldn't blame him if you were walking and out of nowhere you saw a guy in a black hoodie with gas mask with a gun and a knife standing in front of you, you would probably piss your pants and run screaming like a little bitch. Ghost saw that he was wearing a different gas mask it was black with scarlet red lenses and looked like it had some futuristic armor, he also had a weird wrist computer on him and looked to be searching through it's contents. "What do you have there Spectre?" The sniper looked up before answering "its a tactical wrist pad it has a bunch of data on this place and a lot of memory left over but it turns out the stuff we just found was experimental armor, the juggernaut suit increases strength and durability making Skull a walking tank, your new armor gives you a speed enhancement unit and has a healing unit, while my armor has an active camouflage unit, and lets me fire snipers and other weapons with no recoil which will be easier for me to use my sniper since it uses 50. caliber rounds, and the mask gives me a motion tracker as well as heat, and night vision." "Damn, sounds like all this stuff could be useful I think we should look around for anymore of this high tech military equipment" Skull got up and proceeded down the hallway with Ghost and Spectre behind him. After a while they came across more tacpads, which were given to Skull and Ghost, as well as some more food, they then came across a big room with what appeared to be a large reactor. "This must be whats been powering the pentagon no wonder why this place survived the EMP blast" Ghost continued to inspect the reactor and take key notes of how it operated. Skull was looking around with his new machine gun making sure there were no hostiles in the area, and Spectre went to one of the main consoles in the room and began to download important data to his tacpad. While the team was busy they didn't notice a man with pistol and in military uniform aiming at Ghost fortunate for Ghost, Spectre saw movement on his motion tracker, took his revolver, and fired. The bullet hit the man in the head killing him but not before he fired and hit the reactor causing it to fizzle and explode blinding all who were in the room before the teams vision faded to black. Author's Note So what do you think by the way voting is up for who is in their harems comment who you want with who and we'll see what happens afterwards. Ghost: None Spectre: None Skull: None
Chapter 1Ghost's vision was black and he felt numb waking up, his head hurt like hell but he fought through the pain and got up. The first thing he noticed was that Spectre and Skull were with him knocked out, second they still had their gear and duffels, and third that they were in a forest in font of what looked like a ruined castle, he quickly got to his feet grabbed his rifle and went to wake his teammates up. Spectre and Skull woke up from Ghost constantly shaking and screaming at them, once they got to their feet they realized what situation they were in. "What the hell happened? why are we in the middle of the forest? and what the hell is that" Skull asked looking at the old castle, it looked like no one has been it in a long time. The structure itself looked crumbling with vines clinging and constricting the walls. "I say, we scout it out and make it our home for now" Spectre said while examining it closer before looking out into the forest. Even though he couldn't see them Spectre could feel alot of things watching them, some with hunger. "Really Spectre? you want to have this place as our temporary home?" "Its better than sleeping out here where anything could attack us I don't know about you guys but I'm going in." With that said Spectre proceeded to walk into the old ruins and into a throne room. The place had alot of dust and a bit of the ceiling had fell in but other than that it was nice it had a large red carpet that led to two thrones one was gold with orange cushions and above it was a banner with the sun on it, the other one was the complete opposite it was made of blue sapphire with dark blue cushions and had a banner with a crescent moon hanging above it. "Whoever owned this place originally must have been one rich sonofabitch" Spectre continued down one of the hallways that lead further into the ruins. He came across what appeared to be a personal library, there was a large table in the middle of the room and on it was a journal that looked like it was strait from heaven. The cover was a bright shiny white with golden trims he picked it up and opened it to find who it belonged to. The Brightlight Tome By: Starswirl The Bearded "Who the hell has 'the Bearded' in their name was he either got that from having a giant neck beard or a serious pubic growth spurt." He put the book in his duffel and left the room as he left he heard a yelp from down the hall followed by a small whimper. He followed the sound to a large chamber where he saw two things that made stopped and thought 'am I fucking high' one was a large white fox with three tails that had a large gnash on it's left foreleg. He knew what this was, this was kitsune he had heard of them in legends but never thought he would see one. The thing that attacked was what made him question his sanity, the thing attacking the kitsune was a wolf made of wood and it looked pissed. Pulling out his revolver he aimed at the wolf's head before pulling the trigger. *BANG* The wooden wolf's head exploded into a sower of splinters and green goop, Spectre lowered the weapon and began to walk over to the kitsune, but the fox backed up and growled at him. Spectre stopped and proceeded to crouch down, he had done this for many animals back in the Wasteland for whatever reason animals couldn't be affected by the virus it only worked on humans so Spectre on occasion he would treat animals that he would find. He had a soft spot for animals ever since he was a kid he just loved them, he raised his hands so to show the kitsune that he didn't mean harm, the fox saw this and slowly calmed down and walked over to Spectre when he held his hand out another step was to let the kitsune get his scent to get its trust. The kitsune sniffed his hand and started to lick it, step two done now step three Spectre went to put his hand on the kitsune's head slowly his hand inched closer and finally his hand made contact. The fox didn't thrash or try to get his hand off he had bonded with it successfully he then proceeded to treat the wound with some medical supplies he had and covered the wound with some bandages. "Now are you a boy or a girl?" he wondered out loud the kitsune responded by going to the bathroom on the dead wooden wolf. It was a boy. "Well now that thats established what should I call you?" Spectre looked at the kitsune and his snow white fur. He then thought of a name that would work well. "What do you think about Frost?" the kitsune yipped in approval. "Alright Frost it is then come on I got some friends you'll want to meet and they're probably worried about me." Spectre and Frost both made their why back to the throne room where Skull and Ghost would probably be waiting. While walking Spectre just now noticed how tall Frost was he was up to Spectre's knees and walked fine despite the injury when they both got to the throne room Ghost and Skull were there talking to each other until they noticed Spectre and Frost. Ghost was the first one to speak "where the hell were you we heard a gunshot and came in to see if you were hurt" he had absolute worry in his voice which worried Spectre because he never saw Ghost this worried before. "Sorry sir, I went to do recon and found Frost here being attacked and decided to help by killing his attacker and treat his wound" Ghost looked at the kitsune before looking back at Spectre. "Okay, I'm sorry for snapping at you but we're a team we go in together next time got it?" "Got it sir." The group traveled with their new member to what looked like a large bedroom with a very big bed. Spectre decided to be on watch for the night but Ghost shot that idea down quick. "The bed is big enough for all of us, but if one of you tries to cuddle you're a dead man." They then got comfortable before doing off in a peaceful sleep they haven't had in two years. Author's Note Second one done if you're wondering about my old outro I stopped doing for a while. so the voting is still up no votes yet (probably because I released two chapters on the same day) but its anyone's fair game Ghost: None Spectre: None Skull: None comment on who you want paired with who and we'll see the results net chapter
Chapter 2Ghost awoke to sunlight in his face, groaning, he got up to see everyone else was not in the room he left the room and went down to the throne room and saw the team waiting for him "enjoy your nap sleeping beauty" Skull asked him chuckling. "I slept fine, but now that we are awake we need to figure out were we are Spectre I want you to head out scout out the forest and see if you can find a town or settlement." "Roger that sir" Spectre then looked at Frost and told him to stay in the castle before heading out. Frost's wounds were still fresh and Spectre didn't want him out there if they got attacked by something alot bigger than both of them could handle. "Skull, you and I are staying here to guard this place and keep any unwanted visitors out." "You got it boss" the hulking juggernaut got to his feet with his machine gun and headed towards the entrance to stand guard. Ghost decided to head to the library and look for books that could tell him a bit more about where they were and the history of the castle, Ghost walked into the large and only thought of one thing. "Great, just like studying at college all over again." Spectre was looking for the edge of the forest if he could get out of this forest he would have a better chance at finding a town if he got out of the foliage. After maneuvering through the forest for a few minutes he finally got to the edge where he could see nothing but apple trees with fresh apples. He looked to the sky whispering a 'thank you' before pulling out an empty sack and climbed up one of the trees. He collected just enough to where the bag was almost full, unfortunately for him lady luck must've been piss drunk mad at him because as soon as he closed and tightened the sack he felt the tree get hit by something and then shake causing him to fall flat on his ass. "Son of a bitch" he groaned as he got up to see two HUGE green eyes staring at him. "What in the hay!?" came a female voice with a very thick southern accent. Spectre immediately got to his feet and saw a little orange pony with freckles and blonde mane and tail, both of which were tied in pony tails, she also had what looked like an ass tattoo of three apples but that wasn't caught Spectre's attention, what caught his attention was the big stetson on its head. "Aw...how cute" he said but failed to see the pony blush an intense red on its face. 'Now where did that voice come from I don't see anyone around and the voice sounded a bit too close for my liking' he thought he continued to look but couldn't see anyone. 'Ah well..' he turned to the pony who continued to stare at him with a scared expression. He walked over to it and pet it behind the ears and the effect was instant one of it's hind legs started thumping up and down with it's eyes closed and what appeared to be a smile on it's muzzle. When he stopped it gave him a look of confusion "you better head back home little pony" and with that he walked off towards the trail Spectre walked for about seven minutes before he heard the silent clopping of hooves following him he turned around and saw the orange pony from earlier, trying to and failing, hiding behind a tree watching him. He stared for a couple more minutes before continuing down the path when he got to the end of the trail where a wooden fence line and a big sign held up by wooden poles which were connected to the fence he turned to read it. "Sweet Apple Acres...huh creative" he continued ahead but went off to the side when he saw a town ahead to avoid being seen by anyone he wasn't sure if the in inhabitants were hostile or not. As he was about to head back into the forest and make his way around he heard more clopping behind him he turned around to see the same orange pony once again still trying be stealthy and once again failing terribly. "What a weird pony" Spectre continued into the forest and went as fast as he could to lose the pony following him. When he thought he was far enough he started to slow down and began walking at a normal pace again. After an hour he was able to get a good view over the town, he got to a crouch, pulled out his sniper and began to look at a welcome sign on the outskirts of town. "Ponyville, seriously what could've possessed people to name it tha-" just then he saw that walking around and greeting each other were ponies of all shapes and colors. Spectre just sat there, watching all of the ponies conversing with one another when he realized something that the voice back at the apple orchard most likely came from that orange one with the stetson, the same one that he had called cute out loud. "Well, this just got awkward" he moved to his feet and strapped the sniper to his back before heading back to the castle until he heard a scream. His adrenaline kicked in as he raced to the sound of the noise he ended up in a clearing and saw the orange pony getting attacked by a weird hybrid creature. The creature had the body of a lion but had a scorpion tail and bat wings, Spectre remembered from his study in mythology that this was a manticore, a top creature in the food chain and it looked like it was about to enjoy some pony hide. Spectre quickly aimed his sniper before getting the manticore's attention "hey, come fight someone your own size you big, dumb animal." That did the trick and manticore was now charging at him Spectre waited, and waited and- *BANG* The might manticore fell with it's head blown completely off, Spectre got to his feet and looked at the now dead predator before going to check on the pony. "Hey, you alright?" he asked crouching down to see if it was hurt, after his inspection he looked back at the pony. "You mind telling me what you were doing out here." The pony looked down at the ground before 'she' spoke in the same accent he heard when he fell "w-well I came in here because I was following you." "And why were you trying to follow me." "I was curious when i went to buck some apples off a tree and collect them I was expecting to see apples fall from it but instead I see a big creature with red eyes that calls me cute, pets me behind the ears, and then wonders off leaving me to follow you into the Everfree Forest only to come back later to save me from becoming a manticore meal." Spectre just continued to look at her before looking up and seeing the sky darken a bit he then looked back to the mare "whats your name?" The mare stood up with pride and answered "Applejack of the Apple family and owner of Sweet Apple Acres." Spectre flinched a bit before pulling out the bag filled with apples and giving it to her "then these are yours, I thought they were wild apples but since they were on your land they belong to you." If there was one thing that Spectre wasn't it was a thief, to him stealing from others especially if they worked hard to earn it was the most scummiest thing you could do. Applejack looked at the bag before pushing it back "no, you keep it, you earned after saving me." Spectre put the bag back and looked at the sky again, it had gotten darker. "Com'on I'll escort you home, who knows what else is out here at night" Spectre lead the way activating his night vision with Applejack following behind him. After a couple of hours they finally made to the edge of the orchard Applejack told him thanks before turning and leaving to go home. Spectre turned as well and went back to the castle to give a full report to Ghost, however as he was on his way back he didn't notice a pair of blue, snake like eyes watching him. Author's Note Well another one done, and some friendship between Spectre and Applejack this going to be good. The voting is still up and here are the results. Ghost: none Spectre: none Skull: none still nothing but ah well.
Chapter 3To say that Ghost was stressed would've been an understatement, not only did he finish reading through only HALF of the library but now the fact that what Spectre had reported confirmed what was in those books were true, but he was pissed because Spectre had been seen. They had been in this 'Equestria' for a good three weeks and Ghost was still not happy in the slightest from hearing that Spectre was spotted by a local which could have jeopardized the objective to stay hidden and now the possibility of these ponies come hunting for them have increased. Spectre was sleeping in one of the bedrooms and was ordered to stay in the castle until further notice while both Ghost and Skull were now on high alert, and Frost was with Spectre resting. He swore that fox was like a loyal dog, ever since Spectre rescued and treated his wounds they became better friends and would rarely ever leave without one another. Even though Ghost was still mad at him he was a bit proud that Spectre sacrificed the mission to save an innocent life, back in the Wasteland Spectre would always focus n the mission and nothing else but his teams safety, as well as stray animals they found out on their travels. Ghost was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard someone enter the room and turned to see Spectre without his armor which left him in a T-shirt and boxers. "You better not be here to ask to go back out to scout the town" Ghost had been keeping and eye on Spectre ever since the incident and noticed that at night while he was sleeping he would toss and turn as if he was having a nightmare but would show no signs of sleep deprivation. This was another reason Ghost didn't want Spectre out and about, as he feared that he would collapse from exhaustion in the middle of the forest or worse. "I'm fine Ghost, and I'm more than ready to head out and continue observation" Ghost sighed 'here we go again' he thought bitterly as he could tell there would be another argument between the two. "Spectre, while I respect that you want to head back out there and continue the objective, but you have to understand that I'm doing this for your own good you need to stay here and rest." "I have had enough rest it's time to continue the objective" maybe Ghost's theory of him changing away from his mission focused attitude was way off, Ghost was about to counter but Spectre cut him off. "If it makes you feel better I'll bring Frost with me his wounds have healed and he seems eager for action" Ghost could say no, again, but Chances are Spectre would sneak out and do it anyway and he felt somewhat more at ease knowing that Frost would be with him to help keep him out of trouble. "Fine, I'll let you loose but Frost stays with you got it I don't need him wondering off and attracting attention" Spectre gave a nod before heading back to his 'new' room. He recently changed to a new room and unlike the one that they all stayed in on the first night, the one they stayed in last night was faded white and gold while this one was black and dark blue which was more his style. He of course was responsible for cleaning it and damn was it messy, the mattress had dust and grime which he was able to wash off, he also cleaned the walls and floors but the most challenging was fixing some of the old furniture it was a pain in the ASS but he was able to get the night stand, the bed frame, and most important, in his opinion, was the toilet. After living in the Wasteland the team rarely had time for luxuries such as a working toilet in fact it was a miracle to find one most of the times the closest thing they could get was a porta potty, but now he finally had his own private bathroom one of the many things that would make a man say 'hallelujah'. There was another one but Skull had already fixed it and Ghost did say everything in the room was Spectre's now, too bad he didn't look more carefully. Sleeping on the bed was Frost who, unfortunately, was awakened by the sound of Spectre coming in and getting his gear on. "Wake up boy, you get to come along with me on this scouting assignment" Spectre said while he put his mask on. The kitsune immediately jumped up and ran out the door, Spectre just shook his head amusingly before grabbing his weapons and following his furry companion out the door. Spectre wondered what Applejack was up to, the last time they had talked was after the manticore fight which was weeks ago and with him being on lock down for three weeks he wasn't able to talk with her. He decided to head back to check up on her and see how she was doing, he was able to remember the way to the edge of the apple farm, after about fifteen minutes he was able to make out the tree line that separated the forest and the orchard. Spectre and Frost stealthily made their way through the orchard but found no sign of the farm pony until they came across a house and a barn, both surrounded by ponies. "Well flip fucking tastic, now what" he could make out at least twenty ponies but couldn't see Applejack anywhere. Spectre pulled out his rifle and looked down the sight to see if he could find Applejack in the crowd and he did she was currently dragging a purple pony with a horn on it's head and a dragon on it's back around the farm and introducing it to the others. Spectre smiled at the sight as it was quite amusing but he had to get Applejack's attention somehow. "Well, I guess now is the best time to test out the active camouflage unit" he tapped away on his tacpad after telling Frost to follow him stealthily. As he finished his body began to fade away as well as his equipment, he was now completely invisible. "Ah hell yeah! now this is cool" Spectre made his way through the crowd of ponies and eventually to the back of the house where Applejack was currently. "Whats with the large crowd if you don't mind me asking?" Applejack jumped and looked around to see nothing until Spectre dropped the camouflage "I didn't scare you that bad did I?" Applejack's face went from scared to relieved "its good to see you again partner, how have you been haven't seen you in a while." "I've been fine, so whats up with all the commotion and ponies." "Well today is the Summer Sunset Celebration and the whole Apple family is here for it." Spectre remembered hearing about it from Ghost while he was reading in the old library back at the castle. This could be bad the ruler of Equestria was going to be in town which means she would have a large escort of soldiers which could equal to him and his friends being found and captured he needed to get back and report this to Ghost. "Well I let you get back to the family, just wanted to stop by to see how you were doing." Applejack smiled "well thank you for stopping by, and take care of yourself...uh?" "Spectre, my names Spectre" with that he activated his active camouflage and proceeded back with Frost. He had one hell of a report to make. It was midnight when Spectre got back to the castle and he still was on edge from the news of the princess coming to the town. As long as no guards came into the forest and stayed away from the castle they would be okay, but if they are discovered then they would have to hide somewhere else probably deeper in the forest and further away from the town. Ghost wanted both Spectre and Skull on watch tonight and then he would relieved in the morning around 6 A.M. "Man, this is BORING why is it that while we're out here Ghost is inside" Skull said irritated. "Look I don't like it either but we have to stay guard in case we get any unwanted visitors" Spectre said while resting against Frost's side. It was now around 4-5 A.M. and so far there was no sign of any ponies, however Skull noticed that it was still dark as midnight out when it should be around the crack of dawn, but before he could ponder it further Frost got up and started growling while facing out into the forest. "Hey Spectre whats wrong with Frost?" Spectre got to his feet and pulled out the sniper. He looked through the scope with night vision turned on and saw movement among the foliage heading towards them and fast. "Skull, get inside and tell Ghost we have company!" Skull sprinted to get Ghost while Spectre stayed and keep an eye on whatever it was that continued to move to the castle. As it got closer he expected to see some pony in guard armor but instead he saw some dark blue mist that moved on its own like it was alive whatever it was, it was fast enough to get into the castle before Spectre could shoot it. "God-fucking-dammit, Ghost this is Spectre some weird mist just entered the castle, possibly sentient." "Shit, alright lets meet up in the main chamber and regroup, we're dealing with an unknown here so it could be very dangerous i want you to-" the signal cut off and all Spectre could hear was static. He didn't stay on the roof long as he turned to see the mist come straight at him, sending him falling to the ground. Spectre fell with a loud thud with his rifle landing a few feet from him he got to his feet and pulled out his magnum and karambit knife looking around, constantly keeping his guard up, until the dark mist started to swirl around him and a dark feminine laugh could be heard taunting him. "Well, well what have we here? more creatures trying to stop MY eternal night?" "Um eternal what now?" soon the mist swirled in front of Spectre and then dissipated what stood in its place was a large pony that was a foot or two shorter than himself, she had a pitch black coat and mane that looked to be made out of the mist he saw earlier, the eyes looked vicious and catlike and instead of regular teeth that ponies normally have it had sharp fangs that gave off a 'piss me off and die' look when she smiled, but what intrigued Spectre the most was that she had both wings and a horn. Spectre was getting off track there was a pony at the place that he and his friends now called home and was possibly a threat. "Listen you need to leave if you don't do so willingly then I'll kick your ass out." The pony looked like she didn't like the answer "how dare you! I am the new queen of the night and this place belongs to me!" "Oh really? well sorry to say, but you've just been evicted so I'll ask again are you going to leave quietly or do we have to get rough." Spectre got his answer when he ducked out of the way of a magic blast from her horn. "Alright guess we're doing it the hard way." Spectre pulled out his magnum and fired three rounds at the large pony only for her body to turn into mist and slammed into him, sending him flying into the stone wall of the castle. "You can't hope to defeat me pitiful creature!" the dark pony said as she reformed in front of him. "You wanna bet bitch" he said before raising his leg and delivered a kick to the pony's face making her stumble back. Spectre used this to his advantage and lunged at her taking her down to the ground, with him on top Spectre proceeded to deliver three quick punches before jumping off of her as she fired a beam of energy from her horn. She got to her hooves and looked at Spectre with unchained fury. "How DARE YOU HIT ME, NIGHTMARE MOON, QUEEN OF THE NIGHT; YOU SHALL BE PUNISHED!!!" "Damn can you yell any louder, god and I thought my ex was loud" Spectre was knocked back by another blast from the pony and landed on his back he looked to see that she was now over him. "Any last words?" she asked. "Yeah, sick'em" Nightmare was at first confused but then heard growling,she looked up just in time to see Frost lunged at her and bite one of her wings at the base, causing severe pain to her. Nightmare managed to throw the kitsune off her but at the cost of some flesh on her wing making it impossible for her to fly. She looked back at Spectre, who was getting his rifle, and turned into her mist form, wrapped around him and dragged him back into the castle with Frost chasing her. None of the three noticed fighters noticed that there were six pairs of eyes watching them. Author's Note Welp finally done with this chapter, how you liking it so far? next chapter The Phantoms fight off Nightmare Moon and meet the Mane Six so be prepared. Also new updates on the harems Ghost: none Spectre: Applejack Skull: none I'm now accepting OCs if anyone wishes either comment or PM me their name, race, description, bio, and personality and they might be added in later chapters but right now it seems that Spectre is the only one getting any plot sucks to be Skull and Ghost right now.
