It was another sunny day in Ponyville. The townsfolk were out enjoying their day. Just outside of town was a huge farm with acres upon acres of apple trees, run by the Apple family, who christened it, Sweet Apple Acres. In the acres, a trio of ponies were working on the trees.

An orange earth pony mare with a cowboy hat slammed her back legs against the tree, causing it to shake and drop it’s assortment of apples. She watched as the apples fell perfectly into the baskets waiting below. She wiped some sweat off her forehead and looked over at the two stallions working on the opposite trees. A bright red stallion with a harness attached to his back bucked his tree with one hoof, getting the same result. The other stallion, however, was a different story.

His fur was white with a black mane, he looked slightly less muscular than his two siblings, but he still had some meat on those bones. His cutie mark was a group of black stars surrounding a planet, signifying his talent of astronomy. He looked at the tree nervously, then reared up his back legs and thrust them toward the tree. But he didn’t hit the tree, instead he missed, being a few inches off the mark for the kick.

“Ah!” He fell flat on his stomach hard. The two other ponies immediately ran over to him, worried.

“Star! Are ya alright?!” The orange pony shouted as he pulled himself up from the ground. He looked back to see his legs were missing. He screamed again right before his legs reappeared.

“I’m fine Applejack.” He sighed “Darnit! I’m used to this, what is wrong with me today?!” He shouted, slamming his front hooves on the ground with anger.

“Yur just havin’ an off day, Star.” AJ said, wrapping a hoof around his neck. “Maybe ya shouldn’t stay up so late tah look at the stars.” Star blushed and nodded.

“Fine, I’ll try not to.” He groaned.

Big Mac chuckled. “You say that now.” His younger sibling rolled his eyes, and hefted the apple bucket onto his back. The stallion struggled a little bit, as he was not as strong as his older brother, but Star managed.

Big Mac went back to his tree, however AppleJack stood there for a moment. She looked deep in thought. Her older brother noticed the distant look in her eyes.

“AJ.” The orange mare blinked and looked at him. “Y’all okay?” AJ thought for a moment, then nodded.

“Yeah, just… feels like we’ve been over this before.” She said. Big Mac thought for a moment, but shrugged it off. They had work to do. Neither sibling heard the dark chuckle coming from the trees.

Star Phantom in:
Normal
The W@ll h@$ N339 br<00>n. 0N3$ H(e)1P11

It was busy in Ponyville, which was good for the pony vendors of the Ponyville Market, since they would be able to sell a lot more than usual. Star stood at the Apple Family Cart, the small chest on the counter was overflowing with bits. Everything was perfect so far. A little too perfect.

The stallion looked around, seemingly on edge. He wasn’t sure why, but something didn’t feel right. It was a feeling he had been getting for the past couple of weeks, starting from when he…

“Morning, Star.” his train of thought was derailed by the voice. Standing in front of him was Rainbow Dash. He smiled at the sight of his marefriend, who had a smile equal to his.

“Morning, Dash. Here for your usual?” He immediately reached over to grab the two crispy apples that he kept under the counter when the pegasus’ hoof stopped.

“Not this time, stud.” She said sultry. “I was thinking… maybe a little ‘stargazing’ tonight, whaddaya say?” Star didn’t even need to think about it. He nodded before leaning in to kiss.

“Rainbow Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaash!” The loving couple stopped to groan as a pink blur approached. Rainbow sighed before flapping her wings.

“I gotta go, see you at my place tonight?”

“Of course.” Rainbow smiled, and flew off, the pink blur that was Pinkie Pie chasing after her. Star shook his head at the sight, slightly amused and peeved by the bubbly mare’s interruption. Oh well, at least he would have tonight to make up for it.

Now what was Star thinking about? Eh, probably nothing important. He didn’t hear the dark chuckle from one of his apples.

As the day drew to a close, Star pulled the cart back into the barn. The stallion unhooked the cart from his haunches, and stood in the barn. He felt a strange sense of deja vu. Why, he didn’t know. He went into this barn, at least, twice a day.

What was in this barn that made him feel this way? Like he was missing something, like something wasn’t right with the world. It was a feeling he couldn’t shake.

There was a loud thud that scared him out of his self-reflection. Star looked toward the source of the noise, his cart. Something was in his cart. The earth pony grabbed the pitchfork that was hanging on the wall. He aimed the prongs at the cart as he slowly approached. He looked inside the small cart to see…

A book. That was it, a small, unmarked book. He put the pitchfork down and sighed. “Come on, Star, get a grip.” He reached down to grab the book, but a loud barking stopped him. His gaze turned to see Winona standing in the door, the family dog wagging her tail at an alarming rate. Star walked over and kneeled down to pet her head. Before he could, however, the dog ran over to the cart and grabbed the book with her mouth.

“Hey, wait!” Winona paid no heed, and simply ran past him into the orchard. Star immediately gave chase. He tried to keep up with the family dog, who was a lot faster than he remembered her being.

The chase went all the way through the orchard toward the Everfree Forest. Star hesitated when he reached the border.

His mind flashed back to the last time he was in that forest.

He was a lot younger then, only a small colt. However, the situation he was in was definitely not one a little colt should be in. He was running for his life from a small pack of Timberwolves. He was playing in the orchard, near the border, when they jumped out of nowhere. Star tried to run toward the barn, where he knew he would be safe, but the wolves blocked his path. He then ran into the only other place he could hide, the Everfree Forest.

Star shook himself from the memory, one he did not want to remember. He ran into the woods, quickly catching up to Winona.

That dog was too fast for her own good. The stallion was having a hard time keeping up with her, it didn’t help that the forest seemed to be doing everything in its power to separate the two of them.

“Winona, stop!” He called out, but the dog just ignored him and kept running. At this point, Star was running out of breath. He was not used to running this much.

‘If only I could just fly!’ Star thought to himself as he jumped over a large tree root. The chase lasted for who knows how long until they approached a clearing. Star stopped in his tracks, shocked at the sight before him. In front of his was a large, elderly stallion in a dark purple cloak. A large staff with a clock at the top was held by his magic. His pure white beard ran down to the ground.

Winona stopped in front of the cloaked stallion, dropping the book at his hooves. He grabbed the book, and gave her a soft pat on the head.

“Good girl, Winona.” He said. She yipped in response. Star just stood there, completely perplexed. That stallion’s gaze turned to him. “Hello, StarShine.”

“How… how do you know my name?”

The elderly stallion chuckled. “I know everything.”

“I know your past.” In an instant, the elderly stallion changed into a small foal. Star reeled back in shock.

“Your present.” He then became a young adult, much like Star.

“And future.” And he was back to an elder. Star could only stare, his brain was struggling to process everything he had just heard and witnessed.

“I am Clockwork, Master of Time.” The ghostly stallion continued. “And you, are so much more than you realize.”

“What?”

Clockwork sighed, then raised his staff. “I’m sure you’ve noticed how strange everything is, correct?”

“Strange, how?” Star shrugged. “Everything seems normal to me.”

“Precisely.” A black swirling void appeared behind the Master. “Your life is not meant to be normal.” Star looked into the void, as gestured by the other stallion, and what he saw amazed him.

It was an earth pony, with black fur and a white mane, flying through the air, chasing ghosts, walking through walls, and lazing around Sweet Apple Acres.

“You see, Star, this is you.” Wait, what? “Your alternate persona, Star Phantom.” Again, what? “You are something truly remarkable. A bridge between two worlds, one living, the other dead. The Halfa.”

“Okay, hold up!” Star exclaimed. “What in the hell are you talking about?!”

“Keep looking, and you’ll see.” Star glared at Clockwork, then did as he was told. He looked back, and the itching that was at the back of his skull became almost unbearable.

Star clutched his head as memories came back.

Star walked through the Apple Acres, carrying three baskets of apples on his back.
~
He gripped his little sister tightly before taking off toward pony, much to the excitement of the pony in his forelegs.
“Woo hoo!”
~
Star watched a concert by Octavia and her Orchestra from atop the same hill they had used as a stage the night before. It was a really well done performance, Star couldn't wait for them to perform at the Gala.
~
Star and Luna slowly tango’d in a circle as the song began, their hooves stepped in line with the beat.

Star blinked, and looked at his hooves. They went from the bright white he had always known to the glowing midnight black he had come to accept. He stood up, looking at the Master of Time, who only stood there with a small smile.

“Welcome back, Star Phantom.”

Star chuckled. “I’d say it feels good to be back, but my headache makes a pretty good argument against it.”

“Indeed, but now you have work to do.” Star raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, but my recent memory is a bit… fuzzy, mind filling me in?”

Clockwork hummed. “I don’t see why not.” With a tilt of his staff, a new image appeared, one of a creature that looked like a mishmash of everything but the kitchen sink.

“This is Discord, the Spirit Master of Chaos. After a thousand years of imprisonment, he has escaped and was reeking havoc on Equestria. You attempted to stop him, but he erased your memories, rewrote your story, and has been hiding in the background ever since. Every time your memories tried to come back, he threw something at you to distract you.”

‘Rainbow Dash’ Star thought back to. He knew it was weird how he couldn’t remember when he started going out with her.

“And now he’s no doubt planning on how to stop you now that your memory has come back.”

Star nodded in understanding, a plan of his own already formulating. “I need my friends, plus the Elements.” Clockwork nodded in return. “Agreed, you simply need to give remind your family and friends and theirs will return.”

Star blinked. “Wow, that’s… kinda easy.”

The Master of Time shrugged. “Trust me, you don’t want the longer version, it’s rough.” Star smiled, then motioned for Winona to follow him. He had to make one stop before leaving the Everfree.

Clockwork watched him go, fully aware of the eyes watching him from within the Spirit Realm. “Good Luck, Star Phantom.” With that final wish, the Master of Time disappeared back into the Spirit Realm.

It didn’t take long to find Zecora’s Hut, he knew its location by heart at this point. He flew down to the ground, transforming back into Star Apple, Winona stood at his side. He marched up to the door of the hut and knocked. Within a few seconds, Zecora answered the door.

“Oh, who might it be, is that StarShine Apple I see?” She rhymed. Star smiled, same old Zecora.

“Mind if we come in?” He asked gently. The zebra nodded and opened the door wider to allow them entry. Once inside, she quickly slammed the door and rushed toward Star. The stallion had no time to react before Zecora forced him to drink something. Winona barked angrily at the aggressive move, but a look from the potion maker made her cease.

Star managed to push her off, coughing heavily from the force drinking. “What… what the hell, Zecora?!”

“A simple test for you, to make sure your answers are true.” Star looked at her, completely confused.

“Uh, okay, ask away.”

“When we first met, to what did I owe a debt?”

Star thought back to the “debt,” which is strange, since he never gave her one.

“There wasn’t one. I gave you those apples to make up for Ponyville being scared of you.” Zecora said nothing, only nodding.

“After our friendship came to be, what secret did you reveal to me?” Star said nothing, he only transformed back into Star Phantom. Zecora’s eyes widened, and a smile grew on her face.

“Last question, to fixing this problem, what is your suggestion?”

Star smiled, then told the zebra his plan. “If memories we need to relay, I’ll have potions ready before the end of the day.” The halfa shook his head.

“I don’t know if I can wait that long, Zecora. I need another way of doing it and fast.” Zecora pondered for a moment before an idea flew through her mind.

“If you need to reveal memories true, I have the solution for you.” Star motioned for her to continue. She turned and grabbed a wind chime. “Make them remember their most memorable times, to clear their minds, use these chimes.” Star grabbed the small brass instrument, completely confused.

“The chimes soothe the mind, to allow you access to the memories you must find.” The halfa nodded in understanding.

“Alright, hopefully, this works, but just in case, start working on those potions.” Zecora nodded and went to work immediately. Star watched her work for a moment before flying off, Winona chased after him. Once he was gone, the zebra stopped her work, and began to laugh, a deep masculine laugh. In a flash, Zecora was replaced by the Spirit of Chaos himself: Discord.

“Ha ha, he actually thought it would be that easy.” He wiped a false tear from his eyes. “Oh this is going to be fun.” He then turned to the audience. “As if I wasn’t going to be smart this time, and who knew I could spit a sick rhyme.” With a snap of his fingers, the Draconeques disappeared.

To Be Continued...

Right Now

It was getting dark when Star returned to Ponyville. He clutched the chime tightly in his grip as he transformed back into Star Apple. “Alright, let’s hope this works Winona. Thank goodness, AppleBloom is in Canterlot on that overnight trip.” The dog yipped in agreement. They made their way back toward the house, where he could smell dinner being cooked.

Star Phantom in:
Normal
Help Me, Discord is…. The Gr3@+3$+ Wr1+=r 3v3r…. (He’s taking over!)

Dinner was normal, which put Star on edge. If Discord was truly a spirit of chaos, he would’ve known that Star got his memories back and would try to stop him. But nothing. Maybe his luck was turning around. The stallion decided to worry about it after he ate his apple cobbler pie.

“Well, ah’m off tah bed, make sure tah clean up, Star.” Granny Smith said as she slowly got up and trotted upstairs to her room.

“No problem, Granny.” He called back. “But first…” He pulled out the chime and watched as his siblings gathered the dishes into the sink. The halfa grabbed a spoon from the table, and gently tapped the instrument. The note echoed through the room, all three siblings freezing in place.

“Alright, first step done and now I just have to-” Something licking the side of his face made the stallion freeze. Star slowly turned to see Big Mac, although a bit grayer than before, panting with his tongue hanging out. His older sibling barked before going outside. Star watched in amazement as the massive stallion dug deep into the ground with little effort.

“Wait, what?” He turned to look back into the house to see AppleJack, herself turning a new shade of gray, sitting casually in a chair with her legs on the table. She picked up an apple core and spat out pieces of the apple, rebuilding it into an uneaten apple.

“Um, ew. What the heck is…” Star blinked, then facehoofed as he realized what had just happened. “Discord.” Chocolate rain poured from the cotton candy clouds as a maniacal laugh echoes like thunder. In a flash, the Spirit of Chaos himself arrives. Star stares at the dunce cap that also appeared on his head.

“You just got prank’d, boy!” The draconequus laughed while Star threw the dunce cap off his head. “Haha, the look on your face was priceless!” The halfa glared at him, his hooves glowing with ecto-energy. “Oh come now, Star, did you really expect me to do nothing while you foiled my plan.”

“But everything was normal, how was that your plan?!”

“Oh please, it wasn’t my idea, Star Phantom.” That made Star raise an eyebrow. “It was yours.” With a snap of his fingers, a pink cloud appeared and swirled into Star’s vision.

It was in the Palace Labyrinth, and AJ’s friends were already going at each other while searching for Rainbow Dash. Star was by himself on the other side of the maze. He was tracking Discord, hoping to maybe slow him down until AJ can find the Elements. His Ghost Sense went off, alerting him to a spirit nearby. The halfa flew down the path and quickly reached a clearing in the maze. He stopped when he saw Discord simply sitting there, reading from some strange black box thing.

“I must say Star Phantom. You’re stories are a fun read, not as amazing as some other works by bronies, but it’s decent.” Star raised both of his hooves, preparing his ecto-blasts. A snap of Discord’s fingers ended that move.

“I’m shocked, I’m simply here to have a nice conversation with you and you want to blast me into a thermos.” Star growled before lowering his hooves.

“Fine, let’s talk.”

“Splendid!” In a flash, (I keep saying this a lot, but dammit it works!) Star and Discord are sitting at a table. Star looked around, completely confused as Discord spoke.

“So, tell me all about yourself.” Star stared at him, unsure of what to say. “Oh nevermind, I read the first fanfic, I know all about you, I just have to ask…”

“How does it feel knowing your life won’t ever be normal?”

Star looked at the draconequus as if he had just grown a second head, which he did before the head popped like a balloon. “What? I learned to accept myself a long time ago.”

“Did you?” Discord asked with a eeeevil grin. “Was it before you burnt down Ponyville, or after?” Star’s eyes widened. “Was it after Big Mac broke his spine trying to compete with you, or AJ nearly killing herself from exhaustion just to make up for the work you don’t do.”

“Stop.” Star muttered.

“Perhaps when Luna is forced to hide her actions from her dear older sister, or when you attempted to kiss her when she didn’t love you back?”

“Stop it!” Memories of those events played out in his mind in rapid succession, all of the horrible things that have happened since he received his powers.

“Embarrassing Rainbow Dash, making Twilight become obsessed with catching you, the Buffalo preparing to fight wars for you, or perhaps, little AppleBloom, having to live her life waiting for ghosts to break into her home and take her older brother away.”

“Quiet!” Star screamed to the high heavens. Discord put a calming claw on his back.

“Shh, it’s okay, I can help.” Star’s form began to gray out.

“How?”

“Just say the word, wish for it all to have never happened and I can make it so. Whaddya say?” Star thought for only a moment, the horrible memories never stopped playing.

“End it, please, rewrite it.” The halfa begged, tears fell from his face as he got on his knees. Discord grinned.

“Very well.” There was a snap and everything went white.

Star’s breathing was heavy. Now he remembered, and he realized how big of a mistake he made. “Dammit.” He muttered.

“So… what to do now, Star Phantom?” discord mocked. “Care to try again?” An ecto-blast to the face was his answer.

“Fine, perhaps the past wasn’t the best way to help you understand.”

“Understand what?!” Star demanded, preparing another blast.

“Understand what you will become.” Another cloud appeared, swirling. Star looked away, but his ears filled with voices.

“Star, stop!” AppleJack shouted.

“Star, don’t do this!” Luna begged.

“She suffers because of you Phantom!” Celestia roared.

Star laughed darkly as several voices screamed in terror. Ecto-blasts rang until the screams died out. “You unleashed the beast.”

“What did you say?” Discord asked, curious. Star stood there, colors swirling in his eyes.

“You unleashed the beast.” Star repeated. His fur grayed out. His messy mane morphed into a permanent flame, his once green eyes turned blood red. The stallion’s teeth sharpened into large fangs, his new snake-like tongue hissed between them. Star Phantom grinned.

“Ooh, big mistake Discord, you unleashed the beast.” Discord screamed as the new Star Phantom lunged at him.

AJ blinked as her memories returned. “Twilight?” She muttered as she rubbed her aching head. “What?” The purple unicorn gave the earth pony a bear hug that could rival her older brother.

“I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Twilight.” AppleJack said plainly. “What happened?”

Twilight broke the hug and explained everything. How Discord tricked them, how he used their strengths against them, how he nearly won, and how he was now begging to be put back in stone.

“Wait wait wait. Discord, want to be put back into stone.” The Spirit of Chaos appeared in her vision.

“Yes, yes, please put me back, I can’t spend another minute knowing that freak is ready to kill me!”

AppleJack just stared at him. The draconequus leaned in. “Your brother is crazy, keep an eye on-” A punch to his jaw shut him up. The farmer violently shoved the spirit away and grabbed her Element. The six mares readied their magic. Discord never felt so happy to see a rainbow in his life as he laughed in relief as his body turned to stone.

The Apple Family didn’t say anything, they ate in silence after the day’s events. Star was the quietest, the stallion who used to eat like a pig barely touched his food. Everypony saw it, and were worried.

“Star, are ya okay?” AJ asked. Star looked up and gave a tired smile.

“Yeah, just a long day.”

“Amen tah that.” Granny smith muttered, rubbing her hips as she said so. The halfa stood up.

“Sorry, guys. I’m going to bed early.” He didn’t wait for a response as he heads up to his room. The stallion quickly closed his door and locked it. His room was dark and quiet. Star sighed, and looked at the tall mirror attached to the door.

He stared at the halfa before him, and it stared back with blood red eyes.

Author's Note

Ha! Cliffhangers! I love them so much! Ha ha! What a great way to start off a season, am I right? He he… he... Please don't kill me, the Season just started.

Hope you all are ready for another exciting season of Star Phantom!