Equestria Girls: Girl's League

Chapters

It Came From Next Door
New In Town
Hidden Heroines

It Came From Next Door

Crash!

Thunderlane looked up over the top of his sports magazine to the house next door; it was a large mansion-like house. The window on its front door was now broken. It wasn't broken when he had sat down to read. Walking past Thunderlane’s feet toward their house was Rumble, Thunderlane’s little brother, who looked as if he was trying to play something off.

“Rumble?” Thunderlane said, putting his magazine down as Rumble barely got by him. “What are you hiding behind your back?

Rumble smiled nervously. “Nothing.”

“Nothing huh? Turn around,” Thunderlane ordered.

Realizing he was gonna be caught either way, Rumble revealed the baseball bat he was hiding. “It was an accident.”

“Accident or no, come on.” Thunderlane stood and led his brother by the shoulder to the front gate of the house.

It was the Wakeman residence. The house was large, grey and old. The woman who lived there, Mrs. Wakeman, was some kind of big shot inventor. Although rumors suggested she had gone bonkers and hadn't invented anything in a long time.

“Alright, you are gonna go up there, knock on the door and apologize, and very nicely ask for your ball back,” Thunderlane ordered Rumble.

“But that’s the creepy lady's place,” Rumble argued.

“It's either this, or we tell Dad,” Thunderlane threatened.

Rumble reluctantly opened the little gate and slowly walked up to the door. Rumble knocked gently. When he looked to Thunderlane, he could see his brother urging him to knock louder. Frustrated his brother was making him do this, Rumble knocked harder.

The door must have been ajar. It swung open when Rumble knocked with a creaking sound. There, toward the back of the entryway-hallway was the baseball. Rumble decided if he could get the ball quickly enough, maybe he didn't have to apologize.

Tentatively he stepped inside. He looked around as he quietly made his way to the ball. Bits of old machinery littered the hallway. In some of the rooms that joined the hallway, bits of unfinished or seemingly failed inventions sat unattended.

It was dark, aside from the light that came from the open front door. The baseball lay at the edge. Trying to not waste any more time, Rumble went to pick up the ball, but then got the feeling of being watched.

He looked up to see the shadowy outline of a person with bright blue eyes. It was a girl. Rumble was caught. The girl reached down and picked up the baseball.

“Here you go,” she said in a kind voice offering it to him. Her hand and forearm illuminated by the light.

Before Rumble could take the ball he noticed little hexagon patterns on her skin. Looking back up at her eyes he noticed that they were not just bright, they were glowing electronically. Rumble had seen enough Syfy-Horror films to know what this thing was. This wasn't a girl, it was a robot.

“Yaaaaah!” Rumble screamed and ran out of the door. Before Rumble could get clear of the yard though, Thunderlane caught him by the collar of his shirt.

“Woah, little bro. You seem to be short a baseball. What happened?” Thunderlane asked.

“B-d-g-g-g-e,” Rumble mumbled.

“Come on, let’s try this again.” Thunderlane sighed and started to carry Rumble under his arm back to the door.

Rumble kept babbling, “G-b-n-n-m.”

“Looks like I’ll have to do all the talking,” Thunderlane sighed. He knocked firm and loud on the doorframe.

Finally, Rumble broke out of his stupor, “There’s a robot inside! A hideous bloodthirsty robot!” he shouted.

“What are you talking about?”

Mrs. Wakeman answered the door before Rumble could answer. She didn’t say anything and just glared at the boys. She was short, pale-skinned, had short spiky hair, wearing a yellowish lab jacket black pants and yellow shoes. Her glasses made her eyes seem a little bigger, but in no way did it impede that glare.

With Rumble squirming under his arm to get away, Thunderlane began to talk with Mrs. Wakeman. “Sorry to disturb you, but little Rumble here was practicing his swing for little league tryouts, and he accidentally put the baseball through the window of your front door. I will talk to our dad and see about fixing the window, but we wanted to ask for the ball back. It’s our only one.”

“Ask about the robot,” Rumble said aloud.

Thunderlane put a hand over Rumble’s mouth. “Childhood Imaginations, wild right? He probably just ran into an invention of yours, and in the dark thought, it was a robot. So about that ball?”

Mrs.Wakeman went into the house, retrieved the ball, handed it over to Thunderlane and slammed the door without a word. As they left, Thunderlane put Rumble down.

Hot on Thunderlane’s heels, Rumble started up again. “You could have at least asked if there was a robot in there.”

“There is no robot Rumble, you’ve just been watching too many sci-fi horrors lately.” Thunderlane pointed out.

Rumble growled frustratedly. “I had one nightmare, and I did too see a real robot! It was this close to me. It-”

“Look, Rumble. There is no robot, you were just imagining things. Now I don’t want to hear another word about any-” Thunderlane caught sight of a shadowy figure looking at them from the top floor of Wakeman’s place, too tall to be Wakeman. It was waving at them. “Robot.” Thunderlane mumbled.

“You were saying?” Rumble was looking at Thunderlane with his arms crossed. Thunderlane looked back up and the figure was gone.

“Xj-9!” Mrs. Wakeman shouted, opening the loft door.

There was no response from Xj-9, although her room looked a mess. Magazines and posters everywhere, clothes littered the floor, bed unmade and generally, unkempt.

“It seems you have forgotten the rules of this household...” Mrs. Wakeman started looking around the room for the hiding android. “...if you are not battling interstellar aliens...” She checked behind a wall of TV monitors. “...fighting off the abominations of evil scientists...” She looked in the android’s closet, not there either. “...or generally preventing the destruction of the earth and humanity with it…” She pulled aside a curtain that hid a three wall corner, where Xj-9 was hiding. “...you are not to leave this room. Do I make myself clear, Xj-9?”

“Jenny,” Xj-9 said irritated.

Now Mrs. Wakeman was confused. “What?”

“Jenny! I changed my name to ‘Jenny’. It's what I want to be called. Normal teenagers don't have designations for names, Mom.” Jenny stomped past her creator.

Jenny, by all accounts, appeared like a normal human, tall at six feet seven inches tall, slender at a weight of two hundred pounds, even wore a blue t-shirt and jeans like a human. Differences were that she had white skin, blue hair that she kept in a ponytail with a few strands loose to frame her face(as the fashion articles said), and glowing pale blue eyes. Oh and the ability to spawn impenetrable armor and devastating weaponry from any point of her body. Eating real food, drinking water, and sleeping was different for her as well, those were her way of recharging her energy cells.

“Xj-9, you are not a normal teenager. You are a highly advanced android artificial intelligence inhabiting a body made up of nanoparticles with the ability to mechamorph into any weapon or tool you need.” Mrs. Wakeman said matter-of-factly. “You were created with a singular purpose: Protecting the Earth.”

“What’s the big deal? So I left my room for five minutes to stretch my legs. Everything is fine!” Jenny sat down in a bean chair and picked up a magazine to read.

“Oh really?” Mrs. Wakeman reached over to a nearby monitor and turned it on, revealing a blaring alarm.

“Hehe, how’d that get turned off?” Jenny asked, hiding behind her magazine knowing she was in further trouble.

The monitor was displaying a warning alert for a meteor headed for the earth. The fourth one it had detected this week. The space proximity satellite that Mrs. Wakeman had Jenny bring into space was very effective. Too effective. It went off whenever an astronaut lost a tool or something.

“The satellite is detecting it as a Class-E meteor. You need to go intercept it,” Mrs. Wakeman ordered.

“Mom, if it is a Class-E, we have nothing to worry about. It will burn up in the atmosphere like everything that size and down. If I go up there, all I’ll be saving the earth from is a baseball-sized rock like that one.” Jenny pointed to a baseball-sized rock on display like a trophy on a shelf as she started to pace back and forth irritated.

Mrs. Wakeman tried to say something, “But, Xj9-”

“Can’t I have a day off just once? All you ever want me to do is battle aliens, or destroy a meteor, or… or… stop a volcano from erupting!” Jenny ranted.

Mrs. Wakeman sat on the end of the bed and listened. “I know nothing about the people I’m supposed to be protecting, and other than you, I’ve never even met one!” Jenny continued, pacing in frustration. “I want to hang out with teenagers, go to school, and make some friends! All I do Is watch them pass by the house day after day, trapped in here like some kind of freak!” Jenny had stopped in front of a mirror and looked at herself. “Maybe I am a freak.”

Jenny’s nanoparticle skin shifted like sentient sand around her hand and produced a sonic cannon and proceeded to blast away the mirror into dust with a single blast. As she put the cannon away, Jenny sighed and waited for her mom to take over the conversation.

“Xj-- I mean, Jenny. We still don’t know the extent of your abilities, your powers are still developing and it’s bound to be a confusing time.” She hopped off the bed and started toward the door. “When you get a little older, you’ll start seeing things my way. Now be a good android and go destroy that meteor.” And she shut the door.

“Yes ma'am, ” Jenny growled. Instead of doing as asked she laid down on her bed and yelled into a pillow.

“I wonder how much trouble I’d get into if I just sat there and did nothing,” she mused, dropping the pillow. “Humanity was just fine before I was built.”

Jenny sat up and looked to the window, her body starting to deploy her armor and boosters. But movement just outside the window caught her attention. When she looked she saw a teenage boy looking through her window. He tried to duck back out of view, but Jenny hurried to the window and opened it. It was the neighbor boy she always saw next door, the one she waved to just before hiding from her mother.

“Hey! I’ve seen you next door right?” she said excitedly, leaning out the window. Finally, someone to talk to.

“Um, yeah. Are you Mrs. Wakeman’s daughter or something? ‘Cause I didn’t know she had a daughter and I’ve also never seen you at school,” he asked.

“Definitely ‘or something,’ come in before you fall and I’ll explain.” Jenny moved back from the window.

He climbed inside the window and hesitated. “I have to say that this is a little odd. Typically when someone climbs up the side of a house to look in a window, it’s frowned upon.”

“I’m not worried.” Jenny pulled her bean chair over to an armchair so they could sit and chat. “If you were that kind of creep, I wouldn’t have waved at you from here. I’m Jenny, by the way.” She sat down in the armchair.

“I’m Thunderlane. So I gotta admit that you don’t look normal,” he stated.

“I suppose I should explain,” Jenny allowed him to sit in the bean chair before starting. “So my model designation is XJ-9, and…”

So she explained precisely what she was, an android made to protect the earth. She even explained a few of the things she could do and even demonstrated a few. She answered all his questions, and then he apologized for his little brother’s behavior.

“So Thunderlane, can I ask you a few questions now?” Jenny asked.

He nodded “Shoot.”

“What’s a school like? What are people like? What are other teenagers like?” Jenny asked excitedly.

“School is school, just something kids and teenagers have to do. People are people. Teenagers are just people desperately trying to climb the social ladder that won’t exist in adulthood.” Thunderlane explained.

Jenny frowned. “That doesn't sound fun at all. It sounds...”

“Depressing? Dumb? Pointless? Like a bunch of useless drama?” he asked.

Jenny nodded. “Yeah.”

“It’s not all bad. You can make some good friends along the way,” Thunderlane admitted. “Like at my school, there are plenty of teens that are about as different from each other as teenagers can be, but they are the best of friends anyway.”

“That sounds great! If only my mom would let me go.” Jenny slumped in her chair.

“Well, prove to her you can. Come on outside with me and I’ll introduce you to my brother, officially,” Thunderlane offered as he stood and moved toward the window.

“I don’t know, I'm supposed to-”

“Come on Jenny, a little teenage rebellion is good. It helps you grow.” Thunderlane grinned as he started his climb back down. “Look, if you want to get out a little, meet me over in my yard. If you want to continue to be cooped up in this place, stay and do what your mom asked you to do.”

He left her thinking about what she wanted to do. Thunderlane made it back to his yard where Rumble was waiting.

“So, how'd it go? Did it try to vaporize you?” Rumble asked.

“No, she didn't. We had a nice chat. I learned more science than I thought I would this summer while I talked to her, but still a good chat. I told her to meet us out here if she wanted to hang out.” Thunderlane picked up the baseball that started all of this, tossing it into the air and catching it with a smile.

“What makes you think I want to be friends with a robot?” Rumble asked.

Thunderlane shrugged, “Because she's cool. Besides, wouldn't you like to be able to tell your friends that you know a robot?”

Rumble pondered this. “That would be nice.”

“What would be nice?” Jenny said, walking up behind Rumble.

“Ah!” Rumble jumped.

“Just that it would be cool to have a friend like you,” Thunderlane told Jenny. “Decided to have some fun, eh?”

“Yeah, besides If I take care of every single meteor that goes towards the Earth, scientists are going to get bored,” Jenny shrugged.

“I hear that. So what do you wanna do first?” Thunderlane asked.

“I don't know. How about whatever that is.” She pointed to the baseball.

“Ah, unfortunately, we don't have a baseball field or enough people, but we can play catch,” Thunderlane suggested, picking up a glove.

“How do you play?” Jenny inquired.

“We just throw the ball to each other and catch it. Simple, but fun,” he smiled. Jenny still looked confused. "Just watch Rumble and I throw a few, and you just watch," Thunderlane suggested.

Jenny watched them toss the ball, observing the gloves they were wearing to catch it, how they threw it and with how much force in their ball (only enough to get it between them). Jenny looked at her hand. The gloves they were wearing weren’t weapons, she had no idea if she could form it or not. She concentrated to shift the metallic particles that her body was composed of.

It took longer than for any of her weapons, but after a moment, the nanoparticles formed around her hand and formed a replica of Rumble’s baseball glove.

Thunderlane caught the ball before noticing her glove. “Hey, look at that. You ready?” Thunderlane asked, Jenny, nodded. “Catch.” he threw it to her. Jenny caught the ball as she had learned before. “Great! Now just throw it to Rumble and we can keep going in that circle until one of us says ‘switch.’”

Jenny, staying silent, tossed the ball to Rumble. Rumble caught it and threw it to Thunderlane, the three of them did that several times. Then Rumble caught it and shouted.

"Switch!" Rumble threw the ball back to Thunderlane. Thinderlane caught off guard, almost didn't catch it. He threw it to Jenny and then she threw it back to Rumble.

Once it got back to Jenny, she said "Switch" and threw it back to Thunderlane.

This went on for several minutes. Eventually, they stopped because Rumble got distracted with the sound of an ice cream truck.

"Thunderlane, can I get a Snow Cone?" Rumble asked excitedly.

"Sure bud. Jenny, you want one?" Thunderlane asked.

"Sure," she nodded.

Thunderlane waved the truck down and it slowed to a halt. After a moment the driver climbed out of the back and stuck her head out. A big pink head of hair came out with a wide smile.

"Heya, Thunder!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"Oh hey, Pinks,” Thunderlane greeted her. “Didn't know you were working the truck this week, I thought it was next week?"

"Eh, " she shrugged "Mr. and Ms. Cake let me pull a few more hours here." She looked up and noticed Jenny. "Oh hey, I haven't seen you around before! Did you just move here?"

Jenny was about to answer when Thunderlane interrupted. "Jenny is homeschooled. She's our next-door neighbor. Her mom doesn't let her out much."

"Bummer. So what can I get you?" Pinkie asked.

"Three Snow Cones please!" Rumble said, jumping into Pinkie's view.

"Three Snow cones, Coming right up." Pinkie disappeared into the truck for a moment, before returning with three snow cones in their packages. "That'll be three dollars, please."

Thunderlane had the money already ready and gave it to Pinkie. "Thanks. See you at school!"

"See ya!" Pinkie said going back to the driver seat and continued to go on her route.

Thunderlane gave Rumble his, just before giving Jenny her's. As the brothers started into their treats, Jenny hesitated. Thunderlane licked his patiently, while Rumble tried to just bite into the ice. Jenny thought Thunderlane's approach was more along the lines of normal so she did the same.

They sat on the grass and ate the snow cones for a time. That is until Jenny received a signal from her mother indicated by a trilling beep coming from her left hand. "Oh no, it's my mom. I have to answer it."

Jenny stood up turned around and took a few steps away from her new friends. She held her palm out and a little hologram of her mother appeared in it. "XJ-9, I have some information on the asteroid you are undoubtedly on your way to destroy. It-"

"Well here's the thing, mom…" Jenny started.

"You didn't go to destroy the asteroid like I asked, did you?" Wakeman asked.

"No."

"WHY NOT?" Wakeman shouted.

"It's not a real threat, and I wanted to meet the neighbor kid. We were having fun, something you don't understand."

"Well, the asteroid is a problem now! It hit a bigger asteroid in the asteroid belt and knocked THAT one toward earth. We now have an A-Class Extinction level asteroid headed toward the earth!"

"Um, that sounds bad," Rumble commented.

"Really bad." Thunderlane agreed.

"I'm on it, mom." Jenny turned off the communicator and immediately started to form her more robotic looking armor. It was a stronger configuration than the skin-like set up she preferred. It was bulkier, and more obvious that she was a robot, with booster rocket vents on the back and lower legs. With her armor formed she activated the boosters on her back and legs. She rocketed into the air and was quickly out of sight.

Thunderlane and Rumble stood there dumbstruck as they watched. Rumble’s snowcone unknowingly dropped to the ground as he watched Jenny ascend into space..

Jenny soared out of Earth’s atmosphere quickly, undoubtedly breaking many records set by the various space programs around the world. Her scanners quickly found the incoming asteroid. It was already past the moon. She plotted an intercept course and initiated a pursuit. It took no time to get to the asteroid.

She had a great many options to destroy this thing. Cutting it up with lasers, blowing it up with explosives, proton bombs, etc. But most options required her to make smaller chunks that she could lose track of. Redirecting the rock was the safest course of action.

Jenny started placing ion boosters on one side of the asteroid, a good forty points of thrust. Then she needed it to stop spinning. She grabbed hold at a good point and fired her own boosters. It took a minute but it stopped spinning. That is when she activated the other boosters.

It started to slow. But it wasn't fast enough. Jenny got on the same side with the boosters and poured all non-essential energy into her thrusters. Soon enough it had slowed to the point where she could turn it. She changed position on the asteroid and turned it so it would miss Earth.

It was harder to turn than it seemed. There was a limit to how close it could get to earth before the gravitational pull of the earth would be too much. Jenny was getting very close to that curtain. Only a few dozen kilometers away. But when the Asteroid stopped getting closer and started to move farther from the earth, Jenny started to relax.

She guided it a few thousand miles away and got its momentum back up as she headed away from the earth with it. Once it was far enough away she collected her booster rockets and headed back to earth.

She landed on her front lawn. Thunderlane and Rumble were both waiting there with Mrs. Wakeman. Jenny returned her head to normal but since her clothes were burned off during take-off she kept the armor on.

“Did you destroy the asteroid?” Rumble asked.

Jenny nodded and shrugged. “Redirected. It was too big to destroy, smaller chunks could have fallen to the earth,” Jenny explained.

“Woah, so is this what you are supposed to look like?” Thunderlane asked.

“It is what I had originally programmed her to look like,” another voice declared.

Jenny would have gone pale if she could, as she saw her mother walking up the street. “Oh...hi, mom,” she gulped.

“But I clearly underestimated how advanced her artificial intelligence was,” Mrs. Wakeman continued.

“Mom, I’m sorry I disobeyed you,” Jenny said holding her head a little low.

“The fault is mine. I should have expected this, given your rapid progress.” Mrs. Wakeman admitted. “Boys, would you excuse us, please? Jenny will see you tomorrow.”

“Wait, you mean it?” Jenny asked.

“Yes, as much as it pains me to admit it but interacting with humans might be good for your progress,” Mrs. Wakeman admitted. “You may ‘hang out’ with these two. We can talk about you joining a school at a later date.”

“Sounds cool. See ya tomorrow Jenny,” Thunderlane said walking away with Rumble.

“See ya tomorrow!” Rumble shouted.

Jenny waved to her friends as she followed her mother inside the house. Friends. She had real friends.

Author's Note

So for those of you who watched My Life As A Teenage Robot when you were younger like me know that this chapter is very similar to the first episode of the show, it's purpose is it reestablish Jenny as an Android and not just your run of the mill Robot.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please hit the thumbs up if you did. If you got a positive comment is like to hear it.

New In Town

The bus came to a halt and opened its doors. Dani was stepping off the bus to a new town. The sun was beginning to dip down below the skyline, signaling the end of the day. It was the first day of school tomorrow, and Dani was both excited and nervous.

“I know how to take care of myself, cousin. No need to worry about me,” she said into her cellphone as she pulled her suitcase off the bus behind her.

“I know that, I just worry sometimes,” her cousin said over the phone.

“What’s to worry about? You taught me everything you know, and before I left you gave me a few of your gadgets like the Fenton Thermos, so if any of your old enemies show up I’ll be able to get rid of them,” Dani reminded him. “Besides, I came here to not be your Ghost Fighting cousin. Everyone in Amity Park and Casper High knew who I was. At Canterlot High, I’ll be normal, or as close to it I can get. Hopefully.”

“I understand. Have you met up with Paladin yet? I asked that he meet you there.” Dani’s cousin asked.

“The way you described this Paladin Pendragon guy, he doesn’t sound real. Does he even know about Ghosts?” Dani asked.

“Oh he knows, he helped me defeat Skulker and Ember when they tried to team up on me. And he even has a Ghost Portal, although I think he shut it down a while ago. Not to mention he’s Sam’s third cousin, so that helps.” Her cousin informed her.

“Ok, I’ll take your word for…" Dani lost her train of thought as a black and white muscle car drove up "Oh I think that’s him. I’ll talk to you later, cousin. Love ya.”

“Love ya too. Good luck in school.” Dani’s cousin hung up.

She put the phone away and approached the black 67’ Camaro with white racing stripes pulling into the pick-up zone of the bus station, she leaned down to speak through the open window. “Paladin Pendragon, I presume?”

“Danielle Fenton? Or do you prefer your super name?” He asked. He was tall, brown hair, an inquisitive face, he wore an old but well taken care of black leather jacket, black jeans, and a white t-shirt, there were old stains on the t-shirt. His hands had calluses and were seemingly permanently stained with who knows what, and like his cousin Sam, he wore black combat boots.

“Fenton, please. And just call me ‘Dani’. Danielle is way too formal for my taste,” She corrected him as she put her stuff in the back seat and climbed in. “So where are we going?” Dani asked.

Paladin was pulling out into the street making a right to go further toward town. "The place my parents set up for me. It's an old airstrip, with a hangar. There are a pair of apartments up in the rafters. I have one, you get the other. That way you have total privacy."

"Sounds cool," Dani said, nodding approvingly.

"It is. There is an underground laboratory where the ghost portal is set up, off the grid and secret. It's all yours if you want it. I do my other hobbies above ground anyway." Paladin turned onto a road that didn't quite head into town, more parallel to it.

"What other hobbies?" Dani asked.

"Car restoration, aviation restoration, I even tinker with robotics every now and then." He answered.

They came to a tall electronic gate. "The code is '1409' don't tell anyone. I hate changing it." Paladin said as he put in the code and opened the gate.

"No problem," Dani responded.

They drove through the gate and Dani was intrigued by what she saw: a parted sea of classic cars and old planes and helicopter wrecks that served as mechanical parts to sift through. The runway was clear though and all the cars and aircraft nearest the hangar were in good if not working condition.

"Wow, you really do know how to fix things huh?" Dani asked as they parked near the door of the hangar.

"Yeah, I try not to spend my parent's money. I'm selling a few of these. That helicopter over there I actually sold yesterday. The guy is coming to pick it up at the end of the week." Paladin pointed to a helicopter over to the side with a tarp over it.

They didn't say anything else as they made their way inside. Inside the hanger, Dani was shocked to find a large airplane in the hangar. As they were turning toward the elevator, Paladin noticed her astonishment.

"It's a Boeing B-17, a Flying Fortress. That is a pet project, I'm trying to upgrade it. Upgraded engines, extend the range. Also, insulate it so it's not so cold to fly in."

"That is one of the coolest things I've seen," Dani exclaimed. "How'd you get it?"

"A lot of hard work. Sold about four restored aircraft at auctions, and seven cars. Peiced it together from parts found around the world."

"You bought it by yourself?"

"Yup! I'm very proud." They got off the elevator and Paladin led her over to one of the apartments. “Here is your key. It works for the small door down below your apartment, and the lab with the ghost shield. I stocked your refrigerator, pantry, and put fresh linens on the bed. Our mailing address is on the refrigerator should you want to order something. There is a golf cart just outside if you need to get to the gate to accept pizza or something. We have school in the morning, good night.” He rattled off before leaving.

Dani watched him as he walked back across the catwalk. What a curious person. She opened her door and was met with a modern interior. The kitchen space looked well equipped including cookbooks and a fire extinguisher. The bathroom was a bit small but then again she was the only one there. There was no tv in the bedroom, but there was a nice skylight above the bed with a clear view of the stars.

Dani began to unpack and put her clothes up in the closet. Afterward, she got ready for bed as she was doing so she caught sight of herself in the mirror. Her jet black hair, which she usually kept in a ponytail, was hanging past her shoulders, her blue eyes almost shimmered in the light, the skin of the average caucasian girl. She was in a three extra-large t-shirt she used for bed and it fell past her hips close to her knees.

For a moment Dani focused her mind, and triggered her DNA change, in a mild flash of light she was wearing the black and white form-fitting jumpsuit, her hair had turned snow white and and her eyes were glowing green, her skin had gone pale. Dani Phantom now stood in the mirror. Dani looked herself up and down.

“Still think moving away was a good idea?” she asked herself. “I guess we’ll see won’t we?”

She focused again and reverted back to her oversized t-shirt, her messy jet-black hair, blue eyes, and normal skin. “Goodnight, eh?” she said to herself before climbing into bed and falling asleep.

School the following morning was… awkward for Dani. Homeroom was okay for her though as she was not the only new student this year. An oddly excited girl named Jenny Wakeman was also introduced to the class, she sat in front of Dani. She seemed to have the answers to every single question the teacher asked, especially in math class. Physical Education was the first class without her.

In PE, the teacher was holding tryouts for various school sports activities. Soccer, Track, Baseball, and what interested Dani was that the School offered a Mixed Martial Art team. Dani signed up and waited for her turn with the coach. In the meantime, she watched the team captain of the soccer team, volleyball team, and the softball team, a girl named Rainbow Dash, put hopefuls through their paces.

Rainbow Dash, in no way, went easy on them. She went full force for each candidate, even those who were on the team the previous year. After each tryout, she allowed the people who indeed did the best against her, kept her from getting a goal the longest or something like that. It seemed to be an effective way to pick a team.

“Danielle Fenton!” the instructor called.

Dani stood from the bleachers and began to tie her ponytail into something tighter. Standing outside the octagon the instructor started to help her with the gloves, headgear and shin guards.

The School's Mixed Martial Arts program had two sides to it, the boys and the girls. The boys had fourteen weight classes to try out for, the girls only had four. The boys were after school, they were doing warm ups at the moment. The girls' tryouts were now.

Dani was a Featherweight fighter. Her opponent: a girl who had been at this a while. A freshman like her, she was built, she was a blonde and the coach had said her name but Dani wasn't paying attention at the time. This girl had won all the previous matches by tap-out.

Dani started paying attention to her technique after this girl had taken down the first three girls trying out for the team. Dani was the last one. The girls in the other weight classes were looking anxious for Dani. This girl, who was wiping the floor with the other hopefuls' go-to was to let her inexperienced opponent try and hit her and then go in for the grapple. Also favoring the chokehold.

Luckily Dani wasn't inexperienced. Stepping into the ring the coach reminded us of the rules: Stop fighting if he says so, no hair pulling, and reminded us to say something if we can't go on anymore.

The coach made us touch gloves just before he shouted "Fight!". Immediately Dani's opponent hopped backward gaining some distance. Dani merely kept herself away from the edge of the ring rather than rush in immediately as the others did.

This was the first time the girl had to change her tactics. So she started trying to bait Dani into throwing punches by getting close and throwing some kicks at her. Dani blocked easily as Dani knew they were meant to provoke and not damage.

Halfway through round one, Dani could see the overconfidence in her opponent showing she was getting arrogant. Getting dangerously close to Dani, even taunting her. Soon enough Dani would grant her wish of throwing a punch, but not in the way she imagined.

Dani's opponent got a little too close with a minute left on the clock, and Dani threw a right hook, which missed. Dani's opponent, as expected, went in for the grapple to Dani's mid-section. Dani countered by bringing her right knee up hard into the girl's forehead. Forcing her opponent to stand back up and clutch her forehead.

Dani went on the offensive, delivering four rapid blows to the girl's stomach, and when the girl went to block that, Dani quickly stepped back and delivered a flying roundhouse heel-kick to the side of her head.

The girl went down. As she was on her hands and knees, she was shaking her head, and waving to the coach. The coach told Dani to step back, as he listened to the girl briefly she must have said she was done because he declared Dani the winner.

As Dani was the last fighter of the Featherweight tryouts, she went to go sit on the bleachers again. As she was removing the tape from her hands, someone approached her.

"Hey, that was some fancy dancing up there!" A voice said from a seat beside Dani.

Dani looked over and, to her surprise, saw it was Rainbow Dash. "Thanks. You too." Dani pointed toward the field.

"Heh, thanks. I was pretty awesome wasn't I?" Dash said.

"Yeah, I kinda felt sorry for my fellow freshman though."

"Oh some of them did better than last year's recruits. So they weren't all bad." Dash said looking over all the exhausted kids who tried out.

"Yeah, I'll have to take your word for it." Dani smiled at her as she put the bundle of hand wrappings in her bag.

"Say some of my friends are meeting after School at Sugarcube Corner, you wanna come?" Dash offered.

"Yeah, I'm game, there is just one problem though." Dani started, Dash looked curious. "I just got to town yesterday afternoon. I know where nothing is."

"Oh, okay. Just meet me out in front of the school after the bell. I'm meeting up with one of my other friends before going there."

"Yeah, sure. I'll just let my ride know I won't be riding home with him." Dani told Dash.

"Cool, I gotta test the track team now, but I'll talk to you after school, yeah?" Dash asked as she took a step down the bleachers.

"For sure." Dani nodded.

Dash just gave a thumbs-up before hurrying down to the track.

"Making friends already," Dani muttered to herself as she pulled out the book for her chemistry assignment.

After the bell, Dani made her way out to the student parking lot where Paladin would be waiting. And sure enough, he was leaning against his car poking at his phone.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked as he put his phone away.

"I was invited to a get-together by some students. I'm meeting one of them by the front of the school."

"Oh, ok that works for me. Don't get into any trouble please." He said getting into his car.

"Please, what trouble?"

"Have you met your cousin?" He asked in response.

Dani was silent for a moment. "Ok, that's fair. Don't worry I'll be home before dark."

"Ok see ya." He started his car and drove off.

Dani then went out in front of the school to meet up with Rainbow Dash. Dash was easy enough to find amidst the crowd, the rainbow hair was easy to spot. She was with another girl with red, and fire-orange hair.

"Hey, Dash," Dani said as she approached.

"Oh, there you are. Dani, this is Sunset. Sunset, this is Dani. Pretty sure she's the school's new freshman Featherweight fighter."

"Impressive," Sunset said. "If it turns out to be true i'll want a picture for the school newspaper, and an interview."

Dani looked at Dash for an explanation. "Sunset is the editor of the school newspaper."

"Ah, well I'll gladly give a picture. We can negotiate an interview." Dani said with a grin.

Sunset smiled back. "Well we should get going, the others are probably already there, and Twilight met someone in her Advanced Sciences class and is bringing them."

"Yeah, let's get going. I'm starving." Dash said leading the way.

Sugarcube Corner was… well it was accurately named, Dani thought. It was indeed on a corner, and it was pink with frilly white trim and pastries in the windows. Upon entering it was obvious that they were a popular teen hang out spot, and served a full menu, other than sugary treats.

Dash and Sunset led Dani over to a table by the window where six girls were sitting. As they approached Dash introduced Dani. "Everyone, this is Dani. Dani this is Pinkie Pie…" Dash gestured to a girl with bubblegum pink bouncy hair and a wide and welcoming smile.

"...Applejack…" The girl that looked like she belonged on a farm instead of a teen hang out. She was blonde, with a few freckles on her face. She was tall and strong.

"...Rarity…" The girl was clean, very clean. Her royal purple hair looked as if it saw a hairdresser as much as she breathed. She was currently checking herself in a pocket mirror but did stop momentarily to greet Dani.

"...Fluttershy…" This girl had pink hair and it was long, she hid behind her hair save for her right eye, she didn't say anything but gently waved at Dani.

"...Twilight and her dog Spike." Dash finished. Twilight had glasses and purple hair, with two lighter shades of purple streaked in her hair. Spike was a purple and green happy dog.

"I don't know this one." Dash pointed to the last girl. It's the same girl Dani had noticed in homeroom and her other classes.

"Jenny, right?" Dani asked. "We have a few classes together."

"Oh yeah, you're the serious girl who sits in the back."

Dani almost laughed as she sat beside Jenny. "Just call me 'Dani'."

"Ok." Jenny glanced at a table across the room quickly before looking back at the other girls at the table. Dani looked and just saw a boy sitting there minding his own business reading a textbook.

"So AJ, remember that freshman at lunch today that was gonna try out for the MMA program?"

"You mean the one that was struttn' 'round and making a fuss? Not to mention nearly pushing Fluttershy over." AJ said with a touch of bitterness.

"Yeah her, well Dani here brought her down a peg or five. A knee to the forehead, four body shots and a heel-kick to the head and she was done." Dash did some mock gestures to emphasize her point.

"Well, I wish I could've seen that!" AJ said. With a smile. "Dash and I go to all the sports events for the school, even the ones she isn't involved in. Not just ‘cause my family's farm makes the drinks for those events."

"So should I expect you to be on my side of the ring?" Dani asked.

"Sure thing!" AJ said a little loudly.

"So Dani, you are new in town, correct?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, just got here yesterday in fact. I'm staying with the cousin of my cousin's fiance."

"What about your parents?" Pinkie asked.

"No mom to speak of, Dad was a rich abusive control freak who up and disappeared one day so I was staying with family. However my cousin is sort of famous back where I come from and I needed a change. They supported my move out here and even arranged my stay with Paladin."

"Paladin? He always looks so, ugh, dirty." Rarity said, trying to sound not stuck up.

"If you've seen his place there is a good reason, he works." Dani commented.

"Stop!" Pinkie almost shouted. "I've been quiet about it but nobody has said anything about it. This is Jenny's first time in an actual school, and Dani is new in town. We should throw them a party!"

"Oh that's really not-" Dani had started to say it wasn't necessary. But Jenny suddenly got excited.

"A party? Like with lots of guests and food and music and stuff?"

"Totally! I'm gonna start planning it all! See you girls later!" Pinkie jumped out of her seat and almost ran out the door.

"Is there any sense in talking her out of that?" Dani asked.

"Not without hurting her feelings, no. We've tried before. It didn't go well," Sunset explained.

"I hope she doesn't go overboard, I really don't want-" Dani's breath was suddenly taken in, and on exhale, which under normal circumstances would indicate it was cold. For her, it meant one thing.

Ghost Attack.

Author's Note

So for those of you who don't know or didn't watch the show: Dani Phantom is a clone of Danny Phantom and they consider themselves cousins. She has ghost powers in case that wasn't clear.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, hit that thumbs up if you did. If you have a positive comment I'd love to hear it.

Hidden Heroines

Jenny noticed the drop in Dani's body temperature immediately and the look of panic on her face. Jenny was about to ask what was wrong when Dani stood abruptly.

"Sorry, girls. I don't think today's lunch is sitting well with me, I'm gonna use the ladies room. Be right back." Dani almost ran to the restroom with her bag.

"Well she may be a little rough, but pleasant company all the same," Rarity said.

Twilight started to speak. "Well she's just a calmer version of Rainbow Dash, so I don't see-"

BOOM!

A thundering crash came from outside as well as some screaming. Looking outside Jenny could see an overturned car and people running away from something that was down the street.

She stood to go have a look. "Darling if something is happening out there, it's safer here." Rarity called.

"My mom would want me to get home as soon as possible." Jenny lied. She went outside without another word and pretended to run with the crowd until she came across an alleyway. Once out of sight she changed her usually near human-like skin to her dence armored exoskeleton with afterburners and weapon deployment points. Knowing there was no time to lose she took to the skies and began looking for the source of the problem.

It wasn't hard to find. Believing in what she was seeing was another matter. A Mummy. Mostly rotted, wrapped in linen bandages, and shouting stuff in ancient Egyptian. But this wasn't scientifically possible. Jenny decided to try and get a scan of this thing.

Jenny's systems told her. Which obviously meant she couldn't scan it. So she decided on something else. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?" she shouted.

It reacted to her. Which actually creeped her out. "Leave metal creature, this does not concern you." It said in English.

"You're wrecking my town, you bet it involves me," Jenny said, deploying her particle lazer.

When she fired, this creature seemed to evaporate into thin air. Then it reappeared just to her right, floating. It somehow utilized its wrappings to grab hold of Jenny and throw her to the ground.

"Hotep Ra is not here for you!" It continued on like Jenny wasn't there.

"No, but you are here for something!" Another voice shouted, female this time.

Jenny sat up and looked to the sky, a girl, she had snow-white hair in a pony tail and glowing green eyes. A white and black jumpsuit with a "D" like logo on her chest.

"Phantom!" Hotep growled.

"Oh how nice, you remember! But enough about me. How've you been? I’d just love to know how you got out of the Ghost Zone?" She asked sarcastically like they were old buddies.

"The walls between dimensions are thin around here. Getting out was… easy." Hotep lunged at this Phantom girl. She produced a freezing blast from her hand which stopped Hotep and he fell to the ground and shattered.

The Phantom flew down to where Jenny was standing and greeted her. "Hey, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm ok. What was that thing?" Jenny asked standing and brushing some asphalt off her arm.

"A ghost. A bad one. I have the hardware to contain him but I could use a hand. The name's Dani Phantom."

"X-j9, I'm more into robots. Ghosts are a bit out of my wheelhouse." Jenny admitted.

"That's ok, I'm gonna guess you couldn't scan him right?" Dani asked, Jenny nodded. "Try scanning me, and calibrate your weapons and systems to my flux-frequencies."

Jenny, as X-j9, did just that. And to her amazement, she could now register this Hotep Ra on her targeting system. He was regenerating himself from being frozen and shattered by this Phantom.

"Get ready to hit him. I'm going to keep him from going intangible so you can hit him when he is solid. We gotta get him weak before I can use the Ghost Thermos on him."

"Understood. Let go." Jenny took off and took up a kind of orbiting position around the fight. True to her word Dani would go intangible whenever Hotep would and lay on the hurt. Then as soon as he was solid again, Jenny would fire her layers at the wrappings he was trying to use to attack with.

It was a good strategy, that is until Hotep got hold of a car and hurtled it toward some civilians. Neither Dani nor Jenny could get there in time.

Fortunately, someone was already there. Huge energy gems formed over the civilians and stopped the car in its tracks. Then a rainbow blur began to take the civilians away from danger. Some cars were even being levitated in place to create roadblocks to keep civilians from getting close.

Jenny wasn't sure who it was helping but she was glad they were. So she got back to the fight with the Ghost. Dani had gotten him close to depleted now, Hotep looked tired. Jenny's readings showed his ecto-energy was faltering.

Hotep attended to tackle Dani around her midsection, dani countered with a knee to his head followed by four quick punches to the Mummy's stomach and a roundhouse heel kick to his head. Hotep went down and was taking his time getting up. Or perhaps he was really having trouble.

"This… this isn't over whelp!" Hotep snarled. Dani didn't say anything to him, just got the thermos off her back and activated the device. Which promptly began pulling the ghostly entity inside it. “I’m not the only one out, and I’ll return. Count on it!” Dani put the lid back on the thermos, seemingly satisfied.

Jenny landed next to Dani Phantom. "Glad that's over."

"Yeah, maybe. We worked well together." Dani said.

"Maybe we should-" Jenny had started to say but was cut off. She was reviving an alert. Her mom was calling her back to the house. "I have to go. See you around."

"Yeah sure." Dani flew off in the opposite direction and turned invisible. Jenny proceeded to fly home.

When Jenny landed in her bedroom at home, her mother was waiting for her. Jenny changed back to her human-like appearance before Ms. Wakeman started asking questions.

"So, I saw you on the news today." Ms. Wakeman said in a seemingly disapproving tone.

"Yes, mom," Jenny said. She knew her mom hated it when she was on the news.

"I have just one question…" Wakeman said, stepping up to her. "Are you alright?"

Jenny was a little surprised. "You're not mad?"

"While I'm not excited that the news caught a clear glimpse of you. I'm more worried about ecto-energy affecting your systems. I wasn't exactly anticipating that you would fight ghosts when I built you."

"I'm fine. If it wasn't for that Phantom girl I probably would have sustained damage. I was able to scan her before scanning the ghost-mummy."

"So you have a data file?" Wakeman asked.

"Yes, Mom. Would you like a copy?" Jenny asked sitting on her bed.

“Indeed I would. It would seem I will have to call a few scientist friends about ghosts. Never thought that would happen. Although I suspect I will have to call upon a few experts outside my normal social zone.” Ms. Wakeman pondered, “But that can wait a bit, how was school? I did notice you didn’t come straight home.”

“I got invited to go for smoothies and shakes by a new friend I made in science class. Her name is Twilight and she is really smart, maybe smarter than you.” Jenny said excitedly. “She introduced me to her other friends, Rarity, Apple Jack, Rainbow Dash, Sunset, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. There was another girl there that Rainbow brought, Dani Fenton.”

“Fenton?” Wakeman asked.

“You know her?”

“The name, a family of scientist ghost hunters. Once to be thought as a bunch of phonies. Perhaps it is them I should call. And perhaps you should make friends with this girl, she may know something about these ghosts as well.” Ms. Wakeman instructed.

“I’ll do my best mom.”

“Dinner is in an hour, do your homework if you even have any and then get yourself cleaned up, you smell like old wood.” Ms. Wakeman said leaving the room.

Jenny suddenly got a little self conscience about how she smelled, seeing as she was an android, she had no sweat glands, and could not sweat. She wondered how she smelled to the other students. Worth investigating sutley.

The next day Jenny did her best to get a chance to talk to Dani in the first part of the school day to no success. Dani was always sitting more than two seats away from her and Jenny dared not use any of her abilities. She was supposed to be blending in, not revealing that she was an android. Jenny’s opportunity didn't come till lunch.

Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Twilight were already at the lunch table; they were all caught up in their own conversations and didn't really hear what Rarity, Rainbow, and Dani were talking about as they approached.

“I just can't believe you didn’t, at least, consult me before doing this Rainbow. I could have told you if it was in fashion this season or not.” Rarity was saying to Rainbow Dash who had come to school with a new hairstyle. The sides of her head were shaved leaving just the top and back, which she kept in a ponytail.

“It looks good Dash,” Dani said as she sat down across from Jenny. “Don't think I could pull it off though.”

“It looks cool,” Jenny piped up.

“Thanks Jen. Say, did you get home okay yesterday?” RD asked.

“Yeah, my mom had a lot of questions. She’s a scientist so she was curious about my interactions since I have never been in public school before.”

“Your mom is Dr. Noreen Wakeman, right?” Twilight asked. Jenny nodded. “She is a very respected robotics developer, and was recognized for her work on the XJ Robotics program. The XJ-3 was an interesting bit of tech, although nobody in the scientific community has heard much from her in a while. Does she still tinker?”

“A bit,” Jenny shrugged, a little surprised that someone knew who her mother was.

“Speaking of robots,” Sunset said, arriving at the table. “What was that yesterday? Not just one ghost in town but two, one of them a hero, and then that robot hero girl?”

“I don't know, but that mummy seemed to be after something.” Twilight said, seemingly thinking hard.

Jenny took this as her moment. “Say Dani, you're a Fenton right? As in Fentonworks? Ghost Hunters based out of Amity Park Minnesota? What do you think about this?”

Everyone was suddenly waiting on Dani to talk. Dani seemed shocked that Jenny seemingly knew her family ties. “I don't really talk to my Aunt and Uncle, I’m more in touch with my cousins and they don't really do the whole “Ghost Hunting” thing. To be honest I thought it was all crazy talk.”

Jenny registered on her systems that Dani’s heart rate increased as she talked and her body temperature went up, indicating she wasn't being entirely truthful. “Well, I'm glad nobody was hurt.” Fluttershy commented.

“Yeah, I heard there were other masked girls there, seven of them. One was strong, one was fast, one called upon the animals, one moved cars with her mind, and another conjured rocks out of the air.” Dani said listing off what she had heard.”

“They are gems, darling,” Rarity corrected immediately. Everyone but Jenny and Dani shot Rarity a look, even Twilight’s dog which was odd. “What? They are.”

“Anyway, I was gonna ask you all something,” Dani started. “My stuff is arriving this afternoon, I was hoping you all would like to help me settle in. I was gonna order some pizza, make an evening of it, ya know?”

“I have no plans, I’m there.” Sunset said nodding.

“Same here.” Applejack nodded.

Everyone else nodded collectively, “I’ll need to ask my mom, but I think I’ll be able to make it.”

“Cool, I’ll send you all the address and code for the gate,” Dani said, checking her watch. “Lunch is almost over and my next class is on the other side of the school,” she stood. “See you all tonight.”

One by one everyone began to disperse. Jenny had to make sure she asked her mom, making it sound like it was recon on the Fenton family. As far as she was concerned crime fighting was on hold, she was invited to a gathering with other girls.

Jenny was walking to the bus stop with Thunderlane and she had gotten done telling him about everything that had happened over her first two days of school. Thunderlane just nodded and made the occasional comment as he listened.

Jenny suddenly realized, “I’m sorry we haven't gotten to hang out at school.”

“It's fine actually. I have other friends that I can spend time with at school. We are neighbors as well as schoolmates so we’ll see each other enough. But tell me more about this Dani Fenton, she sounds interesting.”

“She is. She tried out for the School’s MMA program, and according to Rainbow Dash, she got in.” Jenny told him.

Thunderlane perked up at the mention of the MMA program. “Yeah I was there for that. She dropped last season’s champ like she was nothing, a quick one-two-three-four combo and wham! Roundhouse-kick to the side of the head.”

Jenny then recalled Rainbow describing the same thing when she brought Dani to Sugarcube Corner. Then Dani Phantom did the exact same move. Jenny was developing a hunch, but she had to do some more research before jumping to conclusions. Looking up they were now outside their houses.

“I need to get home so I can ask my mom if I can go to Dani’s housewarming, and get ready, I’ll see you tomorrow yeah?”

“Yup, See you tomorrow.”

Jenny hurried home and immediately got to work looking for her mother. Who was in the basement experimenting with mechanical bees. Jenny knocked on the wall gently to announce her presence.

“Welcome home dear, how was your day?” Ms. Wakeman asked in an autonomous tone.

“It was good. I think I made headway on learning more about Dani Fenton, I think I could learn more if I go see her at her house tonight. She is having a housewarming and asked a few of us there to keep her company as she unpacks. Was hoping I could go?”

Wakeman was looking up from her project now and was considering her android daughter. On one hand this was probably an opportunity for XJ-9 to goof off, on the other it was indeed an opportunity to learn more about ghosts if this Fenton girl really does know something. Besides, it's not like boys were a real worry with XJ-9.

“Oh very well, but be home at midnight and no later, you still need to rest.” Wakeman instructed.

“Oh, thank you mom!” Jenny hugged her mom rather suddenly and hard prompting Wakeman to gasp momentarily for air as Jenny ran upstairs to run through her closet for something to wear.

Sunset and Rarity were outside Rarity’s parents house as Sunset began living with them not long after they became friends. They were the last of the group to be picked up by Applejack and the others.

“So what do you think Dani’s place will be like?” Sunset asked Rarity.

“I don't know but I’m bringing my sample kit, just in case she wants to decorate her space with some drapes, or maybe even a tapestry.”

“A tapestry?” Sunset asked.

“Aside from wonderful decorations, they insulate in the cold, and they cut down on echo in empty rooms. They have a purpose other than decoration."

"I believe you. She said she was staying with that Pendragon guy. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he doesn't have any electives does he?" Sunset asked.

"I haven't seen him in any. Neither has Applejack." Rarity said, as she thought about it. "Haven't seen him at any school fundraisers either. He was absent for the entire Siren fiasco."

Apple jack pulled up with all the others in the back of her suburban. Rarity and Sunset got into the back passenger seats, Jenny was in the back-back with Pinkie and Fluttershy.

"Buckle-up, ya'll." Applejack said as she pulled away from the curb.

"I'm so excited! I brought snacks!" Pinkie said excitedly.

"She'll probably have snacks there, Pinks," Sunset said looking back at her.

"We told her," Rainbow said.

"Well, what if there isn't enough?" Pinkie argued. "If there isn't enough you'll be thanking me."

Applejack cut in, "Alright Pinkie you've made your point. Hey RD, open up the address on your phone again, I wanna be sure of where I'm going."

"It's the old airstrip, how do you not know where it is?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I ain't been there in a while." AJ defended.

The conversation trailed off as Applejack drove. Ranging from school dramas to how Rarity's Boutique was doing. They were in the middle of discussing how to handle the next few editions of the school newspaper when they arrived at the front gate. Applejack reached out, pressed the call button, and then waited.

“Who is it?” a male voice came from the intercom.

“It’s Applejack, and friends. Dani invited us over.”

“Ah, I’ll buzz you in,“ he called back, and after a moment the gate buzzed and moved to the side.

Applejack slowly pulled the car through the sea of vehicles and found the parking area near the hangar. Once she was parked everyone started to get out. Sunset began looking around, she immediately spotted an old motorcycle that was in the middle of being worked on.

“You think he could fix my bike?” Sunset asked aloud.

“Probably, I mean look over there, he works on helicopters,” Rainbow pointed, over to a helicopter that was half-stripped for parts.

Sunset took one additional glance around before joining the others at approaching the door. Before they knocked the door unlocked and another intercom said “Enter.” passin through the door they were greeted with a plethora of even more partially finished projects. The largest of which was an old airplane she had only seen in history books.

Atop the plane’s wing was Paladin. He seemed to be rewiring something, he looked up from what he was doing to address the group of girls, “She’s in her apartment, been moving boxes all afternoon. Elevator behind you will take you up.” he pointed to each.

“She has her own apartment?” Rarity asked, astonished as she boarded the elevator. “I’m gonna need some more fabric samples,” she continued to rummage through her purse which contained a mixture of makeup and fabric samples and a measuring tape.

“I think you’ll be fine Rarity.” Sunset said to her while silently laughing to herself.

As they stepped out onto the catwalk Dani appeared from the apartment to their right, and waved them over. "Hey girls, I got refreshments in the fridge, and some snacks on the counter. Both healthy and not."

Entering Sunset got a good look around. The place was modern. Square edges, and bland, as far as decoration went. Sunset could sense Rarity cringing even though she held it together to be polite. There were boxes of stuff all stacked in areas of the apartment. In the living room there were boxes labeled as “gaming consoles” or “throw blankets”. In the kitchen there were only a few boxes, Dani started to ask for help with certain areas..

“AJ would you mind unpacking the living room?” Dani asked. “Everything is labeled.”

“Sure thing.” AJ responded. Applejack got to work, starting with the throw blankets.

“Pinkie could you handle the kitchen? And Sunset could you help me in my room?” Dani asked kindly as she put a box in that seemed to be the linen closet.

Pinkie didn't say anything as she got to unpacking. Sunset joined Dani in the master bedroom, "So how is it you have so much stuff for someone who used to live with their aunt and uncle?" she asked.

"Well, my dad was rich, then he got in trouble... Serious trouble. So when they locked him away for good he requested that I get all his holdings.” Dani said.

The casual manner in which Dani said that caught Sunset off guard, “But he was still your dad right?”

Dani shrugged. “It never felt like it. My dad was insane, obsessed with the wrong things. My Aunt and Uncle while they are eccentric in their chosen profession, not only raised my cousins, but then me.” Dani stopped and looked over at a picture of her with a family. “They are more family than my dad ever was.”

Sunset stepped up to Dani and placed a hand on her shoulder. “So why move away?”

Dani looked up and went back to unpacking. “Well my cousin is kinda famous in my town. Trying to go to school there became… overwhelming. So I spoke to him, my aunt and uncle and they understood and even supported me.”

“I can understand that.” Sunset said, unpacking a box of figurines, they were small and ceramic. Each resembling a city or country. “Where’d you get all these?”

“From places I've visited.” Dani said it like it was normal.

“You've been to Paris, France. Rome, Venice, and a place called Tuvalu? I don't even know where that is.” Sunet said, amazed.

Dani got excited, “Tuvalu actually was a great trip, I went with my cousin and his family. The people there are so nice! Totally recommend it.”

“Yeah maybe after graduation,” Sunset said, placing the figure of a small island surrounded by ocean on the shelf. Sunset stepped up to Dani. “Say if you ever need company I’m sure the rest of us wouldn't mind having you over for dinner from time to time.”

“Thank’s Sunset,” Dani smiled at her.

Sunset whent to touch her shoulder in a comforting manner but got an instant rush of emotions and memories. One was of Dani hanging out with a group of friends. Another memory of what felt like Dani’s father shouting at her to go away. One of what seemed like her aunt and uncle saying that they were proud of her and supported her choice to move away. Another, featuring a ghost boy and Dani calling him cousin as they fought a ghostly robot of sorts.

Just as soon as the rush of emotion and memories started they had ended. Sunset had to pretend to be alright when really a scry like that always made her feel a little dizzy. “I’m feeling a little hungry, mind if I join the others for a bit?”

“Sure no problem, I’ll join you in a bit,” Dani said, unaware of what just happened.

Sunset went out into the living room/kitchen. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had just finished unpacking the living room, Twilight was connecting Dani’s gaming console. Rarity was discussing the drapes with Jenny. Fluttershy and Pinkie were unpacking the last box of dishes in the kitchen.

Sunset moved quickly into the kitchen and got a hold of a plastic cup and got some water from the tap. As she drank it in a single go it drew the attention of Fluttershy and Pinkie. Leaning against the counter she tried to process the emotional info she had just received on accident.

Sunset deciphered what each memory meant in her head: Dani missed her friends, that much was obvious. She was still sad and angry with her father that she did not get the attention she had deserved, again obvious. She missed her aunt and uncle’s supportive nature, she felt alone here. The last memory she received from Dani was the one that puzzled Sunset the most. There was the ghost boy who looked an awful lot like the ghost girl that was in town yesterday, and Dani had called him “cousin”. Dani had mentioned that she had a cousin that she was close with. Sunset had a hunch: Is Dani the ghost girl? Sunset thought.

Fluttershy pulled Sunset out of her head. “Sunset are you okay?” she asked with another cup of water at the ready.

“I think…” Sunset started in a whisper. “I think Dani is that ghost girl we saw with the robot girl fighting the ghost mummy.”

“What makes you say that?” Pinkie asked a little loud but she was trying to whisper at the same time.

“I accidentally scryed her memories.”

“Sunset, we talked about this, you said we shouldn't use our powers all the time.” Pinkie said, reminding her of one of the rules that they had all agreed upon returning from camp everfree.

“I didn't do it on purpose,” Sunset defended.

Just as Dani was walking into the room, Jenny spoke up, apparently hearing the conversation Sunset Fluttershy and Pinkie were having. “You can see people’s thoughts?” she said, and It killed all other sounds in the room.

Dani was looking at Sunset. Sunset and her friends were all looking at Jenny, and Jenny was looking around the room. Even Spike the dog was looking surprised. Sunset quickly tried to quell the situation, “I dont know what-”

“Now hold on.” Applejack interrupted. “I reckon they would have found out from the other students sooner or later about the eight of us. Best we tell them straight.”

“I agree with AJ.” Twilight said. Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow all gave additional murmurs of agreement. The dog gave a nod of approval as well.

Finally Sunset accepted the census of her friends. “We all have magic powers.”

“And I can talk.” Spike said suddenly.

Dani looked confused. “Believe it or not a talking dog is not the strangest thing i've seen.” She rubbed her eyes. “You all have powers?” Dani asked.

“I have telekinesis.” Twilight demonstrated by levitating Spike over to her.

“I’m strong.” Aj admitted.

“I’m fast.” Rainbow said posing proudly.

“I can make gems appear out of thin air.” Rarity demonstrated by creating one in her hand.

Fluttershy pulled back her bangs to look at Dani “I can talk to animals.”

Pinkie smiled and just said. “Sprinkles go boom.”

“And I can see either what people are thinking about or recent memories when I touch them. Although not always on purpose.” Sunset admitted.

There was an awkward silence as Dani was seemingly processing this information. That is until Jenny spoke up again. “I have something to admit too.”

“What, do you have powers too?” Rainbow asked jokingly.

Jenny shrugged “Sort of.” Jenny shifted her skin to create the armor plating of the battle ready robotic form of X-J9, but leaving her human-like head unchanged. “I am an Android.”

Twilight’s eyes lit up with excitement. “You're an android!” she squeaked excitedly.

“Twilight, calm down. You can ask your thousand questions later.” Spike said to Twilight as soon as she got excited.

Dani was looking around at all of them. “Well I guess it’s my turn. You all trusted me, so I’ll trust you.” Dani focused her mind and triggered her DNA change. In a flash of light she appeared in her pale skin, snow white hair, glowing green eyes, and black and white jumpsuit. “I’m half ghost.”

Author's Note

This chapter was a little different to write since I wasn't really establishing a character like the last two. From here on out I'll be jumping around POV's from time to time.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, hit that thumbs up if you did. If you have a positive comment I'd love to hear it. Please stay tuned for updates they are on the way.