Star Apple checked another book, but once he saw the cover, he sighed and placed it back in its spot.

“A whole week of looking, and nothing to show for it. Maybe I should call it an early day.” A chill crawled up his spine and escaped his lips. “Or maybe not.”

In a flash, Star Apple was replaced by Star Phantom. The half ghost charged outside, scanning the surrounding trees. The first thought that came into his head was Timberwolves. But a loud yelp quickly changed that.

He looked down to see a small, green puppy. The little pup’s tongue hung from its mouth as it joyfully wagged its tail. Star couldn't help but laugh.

“Okay, this I can handle.”

As he kneeled down to grab the dog, it suddenly started growling. At first, it sounded cute, but that changed as it got suddenly grew bigger. In less than five seconds, the pup grew into a giant, growling monster of a dog.

“I really need to stop jinxing myself.”

Star Phantom in:

A Colt, His Dog, and a Hunter

Who let the dog out?!

“Alright, what have we learned?” Rainbow Dash asked as she fluttered past Fluttershy.

“Lots of control.”

“Yes, and?”

“Screaming and hollering.”

“And most importantly?”

“Passion.”

“Excellent.” The rainbow maned pegasus landed with a cocky grin on her face. “Now that you know the elements of a good cheer, let's hear one!”

Fluttershy took a deep breath.

“Yay.”

Rainbow Dash groaned and face hoofed.

“You call that a cheer? Louder.”

“Yay.”

“Louder.”

“Yay.”

“Louder!”

The shy pegasus inhaled a large amount of air.

“Yaaaay.”

Rainbow fainted from the “loud” cheer that Fluttershy gave.

“Too loud?”

Rainbow just got up and nodded before taking off into the air. Once she reached a high enough level, she landed on a nearby cloud.

“Yay.” Was the signal for the rainbow pegasus to go. She launched from the cloud like from a diving board.

In the blink of an eye, she pulled up from a nose dive, darting past the quietly cheering Fluttershy.

“Now, Phase One of my routine.” Phase 1 involved her pivoting between a long row of trees before charging toward a clump of clouds.

“Phase Two.” Phase 2 required speed and control as Rainbow quickly circled three of the clouds, spinning them like tops.

“Here we go, Phase Three. The Sonic Rainboom.” The pegasus flapped her wings hard as she quickly gained altitude. In an instant, she turned around and dove toward the ground. As she gained speed, a mach cone formed around her.

“Almost… got it.” A loud barking was all it took to disrupt her focus. Her body started to falter. Thankfully, Rainbow knew how to recover from a falter, even at high speeds.

What she didn't know was how to recover from a giant green dog ramming into her like a train. As she spun out of control, she could make out a black and white figure holding onto the dog’s leash for dear life.

“Hold on, boy! Heel!” In a flash, the dog and figure were gone, while Rainbow flew out of control toward Ponyville.

The dog carried Star all the way to Canterlot, where it landed in the middle of the busy Fashion District. Ponies immediately started panicking as the ghost rampaged through the street.

“No! Bad Boy! Heel Boy! Stop!” Star shouted out every command he could think of, but the dog refused to listen. So he decided to make them both intangible to stop breaking every item in the stores they went through.

“Wait! Let me go!” For once, the dog complied, dropping the halfa as it kept going down the street. Star rolled several feet before skidding to a stop in the stone road.

He quickly shook away the stars that circled his head, then gagged. “Ew, just what I need, ghost slop.” He phased the saliva off of him before flying after the dog.

It wasn't hard to catch up, since the dog seemed to avoid taking the quick route in favor of crashing through stores and other objects. “Where is this dog heading?”

At the Canterlot Magic Labs, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were doing a routine visit to the facility. As the manager, a unicorn named Dr. Bore Ring, explained everything going on in the facility, Luna yawned.

She didn't want to come, but Tia suggested that she should get out more, see how far magic has come in the thousand years she has been gone. She never could understand how her sister could keep that smile on her with how monotone the manager was.

“And thanks to the increase is our budget, we were able to afford better security. Which is a relief, since we could finally get rid of all those guard dogs.”

At the moment, the room turned red as a loud alarm went off across the lab. Guards readied their weapons as the Princesses took defensive poses, their magic charged up. The manager decided to do the smart thing and hide under a table.

Celestia asked the important question. “Who could break into the Magic Lab Facility?”

The answer was a ghost colt and his dog. The ghost dog blew through the sealed doors of the lab, growling at the guards that stood in his way. Star Phantom appeared behind him.

“The Magic Labs, why’d you come here boy?” An ecto blast changed his priorities. The halfa dodged several more blasts from the unicorn guards, and one massive blast from Celestia. The dog simply barged through them before charging down the hallway. The Guards were scattered all over the floor, while Celestia landed in a pile of old dog stuff.

“Oh come on!” Star immediately gave chase, followed by the remaining facility guards.

As the dog continued to run down the hall, Star ran several ideas through his head. He thought about all the times he had to calm Winona down over the years. Brain Blast!

Hr flew up next to the dog’s head, and gave him a scratch behind the old ears. The beast slowed to a stop, its tongue hanging from its mouth while its tail wagged.

“Good boy. See, calm is good. Calm gets you scratchies, oh yes it does.” The half ghost started talking playfully as the giant dog shrunk back to a tiny puppy. He quickly pulled out the thermos and sucked in the dog before leaving the destroyed facility.

Back in the other room, Celestia was fuming while Luna cringed.

“Oh this is wonderful! Now I have to increase security in the city, especially the Labs. Maybe even the schools. All Magic based areas!”

“Tia.”

“Definitely giving the GIW more funding, I need agents to guard these facilities, on the double.”

“Tia!”

“What Luna?!”

“Maybe that's a bit too much.”

Celestia scoffed. “When it comes to spirits, it's never enough. Especially Inviso-Bill.”

Luna frowned. “He's not as bad as you think, Sister.”

“He's destroyed Ponyville several times, putting my student in peril, and now he's here destroying the Labs. I understand you think he's good because he fought off Nightmare Moon. But that was simply a case of a ghost defending its territory.” Celestia explained before heading over to talk to the Head of Security. Luna growled in frustration before teleporting away to her room. She needed to talk to Star as soon as possible.

It was later that day when Star came home to Ponyville. He dumped the dog back into the Spirit Realm and was looking forward to some sleep. As he walked back through town in Apple form, he saw his sister, AppleJack, and her friends boarding a hot air balloon.

“Hey, AJ!” The orange mare turned to face him, a smile on her face.

“Howdy, Star, what's up?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” He motioned to the balloon behind him, barely noticing that Rarity was hovering slightly above the basket.

“Rainbow’s enterin’ a flyer's competition. So me and the girls are gonna go cheer her on.”

“Where, in Cloudsdale?” Star asked, remembering that Earth Ponies can't stand on clouds.

“Eeyup, Twilight put a cloud walking spell on us, so we could go.”

“Alright, tell Rainbow I said good luck.” AJ nodded before jumping into the balloon. As the balloon started to take off, Spike came running over, a scroll in his claw.

“Twilight! Wait! From Princess Celestia!” The unicorn quickly took the scroll with her magic and read it over. Star already walked away, never hearing the gasps that came from the balloon.

Some time passed as Star sat down next to one of the many trees in the orchard. He sighed as, for the first time all week, he was able to relax.

*Yip yip!*

“Winona, not now.” Star turned to see the ghost dog, thankfully in puppy form, running down the field. He quickly got up and transformed into Phantom.

“Alright, let's try this again.” He extended forward. “Stop!” This time, the dog complied, skidding stop a stop right at his hooves. This actually surprised Star.

“Ugh, sit.” The dog did as it was told. “Roll over.” It rolled around twice before sitting. “Huh, so you are trained. Who are you?” Star kneeled down to look at the collar.

“Cujo. What's that symbol?” Cujo suddenly got a whiff of a something, as he started sniffing around. He barked excitedly before darting off into the sky.

“Wait, come back!” Star immediately gave chase. Following Cujo as he flew toward Cloudsdale.

Celestia sat down on her special cloud seat at the Cloud Arena. She was doing her best to put this morning’s attack at the back of her mind. GIW agents were placed at the Lab, keeping it well protected. Two agents, in their classic white suits and shades, took positions next to her regular guards, per her request. Now all she wanted to do was enjoy the talents of her many pegasi subjects.

Most were average or slightly above it. Almost all of the competitors did flips or fly through hoops. The final two however, were very different. Celestia blinked as she watched Rarity, a unicorn if her student’s letters were to be believed, flying around with butterfly wings.

Last she checked. Unicorns were not allowed to do these types of competitions because their magic gave them an unfair advantage. If it wasn't for the fact that Rainbow Dash, another friend of her student, was messing up so badly, she would have declared a folly.

That would have to wait, as one of the GIW’s ecto-trackers went off. The agents and guards readied their weapons as Celestia readied her magic.

“M, what’s the signature?” A white unicorn GIW agent asked. M, the brown earth pony GIW agent, checked the tracker. He growled as the result was shown.

“Two entities, A. A combined signature strength of 6.” A gritted his teeth, and increased the power of his ecto-blaster. He then turned to one of the Solar Guards. “Evacuate the area, now!”

The guard saluted before heading to the announcement box.

M spoke up. “Your Highness, it’s not safe here, you need to vacate as well.”

“I will stay to defend my little ponies, thank you Agent M.”

In the arena, Rarity rose into the sky to perform her grand finale. When she reached a high enough point, she opened her wings to let the sun shine through the thin veil of colors.

“Behold, Equestria! I. Am. Rarity!” The crowd stared in awe as the array of colors shined on the stadium. The beautiful moment was interrupted by a loud bark.

Everypony turned their head to see a small green puppy flying into the stadium, colliding with Rarity’s wings. The force ripped them from her bag, making her scream in pain before she started plummeting toward the ground.

“Rarity!” Rainbow Dash dove down to catch her friend. She quickly caught the unicorn, carrying her back toward the stands, where Twilight and the others were waiting.

Twilight immediately grabbed Rarity in her magic, and checked her back. Thankfully, there was no injury that she could see. Turns out the wings might have just been attached by magic, and no real physical connection.

The purple unicorn looked up from her friend to see the ghost dog barreling toward the Princess, and not behind it was none other than Inviso-Bill himself. Rainbow followed her gaze before the two looked at each other and nodded.

Twilight handed Rainbow a small saddlebag, then the pegasus took off toward the locker rooms. AJ watched them in suspicion, while Pinkie and Fluttershy continued to check on Rarity.

Star grabbed the small puppy, who relaxed when he started getting scratched behind the ear. “See, like before. Calmness gets you scratches. Now who’s a good boy?”

Cujo never had a chance to answer before a loud bang rang out. Star looked to his right, and to his horror, saw a large missile heading right for him. He quickly dodged out of the way, the missile missing the target and slamming into a cloud pillar.

“What was that?!”

A loud whirring quickly answered his question. Slightly above him was a pony in a light blue full bodysuit. A large black visor obscured the pony’s face. The pony stood on top of a sleek hoverboard, missiles attached to the side acted as boosters. In the pony’s hoof was a massive blaster rifle.

“That, was only a taste, ghost punk!” The pony’s raspy voice stated before aiming her blaster at the halfa and his dog. Star threw Cujo out of the way as the pony fired. The shot landed dead center on his chest. The force of impact sent him flying into another cloud pillar.

“Ow! Give a stallion a warning before shooting him!”

“Fine, heads up!” The pony threw three razor discs toward Star. However, her aim wasn’t exactly the best, as the discs hit anything but their target.

Star laughed at the embarrassing moment. “Wow, what’s the matter? First day with the new tech?” A razor bounced off one of the few non cloud items in the stadium, and sliced a bit of Star’s foreleg. He grabbed it in pain.

“Ow, that hurt!” Realization suddenly dawned. “Wait a minute. That Hurt!”

“Oh, don’t worry Ghost Colt, it won’t hurt long.” The Huntress aimed her blaster. “‘Cause you are going down!” Star shut his eyes in anticipation, but opened them when a loud bark echoed in the arena.

Cujo, now huge, grabbed the Huntress with his mouth. He dragged the pony down toward the stands. Star was about to go help, when another ecto blast skimmed by his head. Agents M and A were now firing their blasters from the higher stands near the Princess. He dodged the shots with ease, apparently the Elite Ghost Hunting Unit of the Guard couldn’t hit the broadside of a castle.

He decided to tempt fate and laugh. “Seriously? Work on your aim!” Fate decided not to spare him, as yellow magic suddenly wrapped around his body.

“I need to learn to keep my mouth shut.” He concluded with a sigh. The halfa was suddenly dragged toward Celestia, her glare nearly burning Star to a crisp.

“The infamous Inviso-Bill, about time we’ve met.” The Solar Princess said with the slightest touch of venom.

“Um, hi?”

“You dare attack my subjects, destroy the labs, unleash your hound upon us, and have the gall to speak to me so casually?!” Star’s ears were ringing as the Royal Canterlot Voice was used.

“Hey, lady. Maybe you should turn it down a notch!” Normally, Star would be a bit more respectful with a princess, but with the day he’s had, all bets were off.

“You insolent spirit! I should rip you apart, molecule by molecule!” Star, in a fit of sudden panic, fired an ecto blast right into Celestia’s chest. It was a weak blast, but enough to send the regal princess to the ground.

In that moment, the magic dissipated, and Star took the opportunity to make sure Celestia was okay. He checked her over for any burns, bruises, and other such injuries. As he went to lift her head to keep it level, a small squeak sounded from her mane. Star raised an eyebrow to check inside the flowing mane, and to his surprise, he found a dog’s chew toy.

Star instantly connected the dots, and smiled slightly. The ecto blasts and shots of purple magic made him jump into the air. The GIW, Twilight, and Sor Guards all came rushing toward him. Their weapons drawn and magic ready.

He quickly took off toward the other side of the stadium, where Cujo and the Huntress were still fighting. That is, if you could call shrinking into a corner as a giant guard dog was growling at you a fight. The Huntress screamed as Cujo leaned in closer.

A shrill whistle caught their attention. Star floated toward them, the chew toy squeaking softly. “Hey boy, is this what you were after?” Cujo immediately recognized the toy, and started yipping in joy. The dog quickly shrunk into a puppy and wagged his tail as Star continued to squeak the toy.

“Is this it, do you want your squeaky, or does you?” The halfa said in a babying tone. “Go fetch, boy!” He threw the toy into the air, where Cujo jumped after it. Once he caught it, the ghost dog vanished into thin air.

Star wiped his hooves in quick celebration, before remembering what just occurred less than two minutes ago. “Oh right, should probably get outta here.” He sped off into the sky, leaving the arena devastated, and his reputation further ripped to shreds.

Later that night, Star sat in silence on his bed. A quiet knock came from the door. “Star, can we talk?” The stallion answered the door, letting AppleJack into the room. The two sat down on the bed, returning to the silence. AJ sighe before speaking.

“Look, Star. What happened today wasn’t yur fault. Just… bad luck.”

“Bad luck?! AJ, I attacked a Princess! Now not just any princess, I attacked Princess CELESTIA! I’m now officially the Most Wanted Ghost in all of Equestria! If that’s bad luck, then remind me never to gamble, ever!”

“Star-”

“And what’s worse? When Luna finds out I attacked her sister, she’ll destroy me. She might just tell Celestia the truth, send her Lunar Guard and the GIW after me. But not before trapping me in a realm of my own nightmares!” Star kicked over his nightstand, sending his picture of the family crashing to the ground. Both stared at the picture before Star groaned.

“Great, another mess from me.”

AJ put comforting hooves around her twin. “At least we can fix this in a jiffy. Ah’ll get the broom, and a fresh frame to put the photo in.” The orange mare trotted out and returned quickly with the broom. As she swept, Star asked the important question.

“Who was that mare?”

“That Huntress?” AJ thought about her before making a startling conclusion. “Ah think she might be Rainbow Dash.”

Star blinked. “Oh.”

“Oh? Ah was expecting something better than oh.”

“Honestly, I’m not surprised.” This did seem like something Rainbow Dash would do. There was only one question left to answer. “But where did she get the gear?”

“Ah saw Twilight give her a saddlebag. Could that be it?”

Star shook his head. “Twilight may be smart, but I doubt she was able to make that kind of tech in a week. We’ve seen the gear she uses, it’s crude and barely held together. That stuff was like factory made.”

“Which means it’s somepony with access to a factory tah make it!” The idea that somepony with the ability to make new deadly weapons was targeting Star definitely put the two on edge for the rest of the night.

In his private estate, BlueBlood floated in front of a massive computer monitor. On the screen was a large loading bar. The halfa grinned as the bar reached 100%.

“File Apple 1-A is ready for analysis, my Beautiful Stallion.” The holographic image of a unicorn mare with a light blue fur and black mane fizzled into existence.

“Thank you, my Sweet Galatea. Hopefully, this file, and the many more to come will give me the answers I need.” The file opened up, giving BlueBlood a chance to laugh loudly in victory.

Author's Note

The Huntress is on the prowl. Star beat the crap out of Celestia, helped Cujo, and is now the most wanted ghost in Equestria. Must be Tuesday.

But what could BlueBlood be planning? What? What?! WHAT?!