Another day, another ghost attack. Another ghost attack meant another appearance by Inviso-Bill, or Star Phantom as per his insistance. An appearance of Star Phantom meant more headaches for Twilight because it meant his adoring fans would come cheer him on. If there was one thing Twilight hated besides ghosts and disorganized books, it was the ever increasing amount of Phans who supported an evil entity.

Only she and a select few saw through his ruse. It was too bad only one of them was a friend. Her other friends were either Phans or becoming one. AppleJack was an open Phan, always supporting Phantom no matter what he did and even helping him in fight; though she could never figure out who was giving her the equipment. Rarity was obviously a closet Phan, if the secret shrine she found in her Boutique was any indication. Fluttershy didn't really have an opinion on the matter, but Rainbow Dash was more than willing to 'take that spook down' as she put it; and Pinkie was just… Pinkie.

Twilight groaned as she realized just how outnumbered she was, if she didn’t capture him soon, his influence might spread across all of Equestria! She had to put a stop to it.

Star Phantom in:
Million Bit Ghost
Money Money… MONEY!

Star Phantom flew through the streets of Ponyville, his thermos clung to him via a sling. Ponies waved hello as he flew by, an action he was still not used to. News spread about how he was the one who beat Discord, no doubt thanks to AppleJack telling everypony who went by her stand. More ponies waved and cheered as he flew back to Sweet Apple Acres, making the halfa’s cheeks glow with a green hue.

It didn’t take long for him to reach the Acres, where he flew into the barn to transform back into StarShine Apple.

Another day, another ghost attack, another easy fight. Too easy. Star looked down as he thought about everything that happened since Discord. He was getting stronger, faster, and was more high alert. All because of that… thing.

The stallion shuddered at the thought of what he became that day, what he did, and how he swore to never become that thing again. “Not going to think about him anymore, I’m just going to have a nice dinner with my family, and go to bed.” With a deep breath, Star walked out of the barn and into the house.

On the mountain above Canterlot, Prince Blueblood sat alone at his country estate.

“Meow.” Well, almost alone. His cat, Galatea, jumped onto the sofa he was sitting on, brushing up against his side.

“Ah, Galatea, while I’m thankful for the comfort, it’s still not enough.” Blueblood stood and walked over to the window. Through the window, he could see the city of Canterlot in the distance as the moon rises over the horizon. “I was humiliated at the Gala and my plans were once again foiled. All because of that Star Phantom.” He growled. “I need a way to get rid of him, but how?”

Galatea got up from her seat, heading over to the newspaper. Blueblood watched with interest as his cat grabbed the paper, and began scratching away some of the papers. The dark halfa sighed as he picked her up with his magic.

“Galatea, while I hate the news as much as you, this is not…” he stared down at the shredded paper, an eyebrow raised. Certain words were displayed on the torn paper: Bounty, Rewarded, Phantom. Then he got an idea, a nasty idea.

“Galatea, you are a genius!” He placed the cat gently on the ground, summoned quill and paper, and began to write. “Star Phantom, your days are numbered.”

Morning came again to Ponyville, and the Apple Family was hard at work in the orchard. The three siblings brought buckets of apples to the barn while Apple Bloom loaded then onto the cart. Star gave the youngest Apple the last bucket before sluggishly moving around toward the front. AppleBloom took notice, and jumped down from the cart to join him.

“Star, are ya okay?” She asked sweetly. Star sighed as he hooked himself up to the harness.

“I’m fine, AB.” He said stoically. AppleBloom gave him a look that stated just how much she didn’t believe him. “Really, I am.” An eyebrow was raised. Star shuddered. “We’ll talk later.” The halfa said quickly as he pulled the cart out of the barn and down the road.

“I swear, that filly is becoming more like AJ everyday.” He made his way to Ponyville, unaware of the mailmare flying frantically through the town, knocking on each pony’s door.

*Knock Knock KnockKnockKnockKnock*

Twilight yanked her door open, feeling so much relief when the knocking finally ended. With a deep breath, she composed herself to greet “Ditzy?”

“Twilight, I have terrible news!” Twilight had to resist a groan. If Ditzy managed to destroy another sign during her morning runs, she was going to scream. “There was a bounty placed on Star Phantom!”

“What?!” A bounty?! But how? Why? And most importantly, who? A large poster was presented to the purple unicorn, who used her magic to take it.

“I have to warn the rest of the town, Bounty Hunters are already on their way!” With that, the mare flew off, surprisingly missing everything in her path. Twilight stared at the poster.

WANTED
Dead or Destroyed
Star Phantom

Bounty: 1,000,000Bs

Warning: Subject is a known spirit and is a fierce fighter. All precautions must be taken to ensure success.

Bounty has been placed by Blau Sango

Why? Why?! WHY?!! It was hard enough for Twilight and the Huntress to capture the phantom on their own, now she had to compete with Celestia knows how many hunters. She had to alert Rainbow. She slammed her door closed, locked it, and teleported to Rainbow’s House.

Star sat calmly at the Apple Cart, continuing on with his business as usual. It was quiet, but the halfa was welcoming that at this point. He could think about some new fighting techniques, or new ways of using his powers to make the fights easier. Maybe he could ask Doc to make some new tools for the others.

Vinyl and Octavia expressed an interest in helping with his fights. If this were a few weeks ago, Star would be dead set against it. But now he was actually considering it. AJ and Big Mac were helping more, and he saw how great it worked out. They gained experience, and were able to cover for him when he had to make deliveries outside of town. Having a couple of extra members, one of them being a unicorn, would be great.

It would be easy to train them, being a ghost that could take a hit certainly helped.

“Star!” Came a voice. The white stallion looked up to see Doctor Whooves running toward him, a large rolled up poster clinging to his saddle bag. The brown earth pony came to a quick stop as he approached the cart. He took a few deep breaths before pulling out the poster.

“You need to see this.” He rolled the poster out across the counter, revealing the Wanted Poster for Him!

Star’s eyes widened as he read the contents of the poster, his breath quickening. He looked at the name of the pony who posted the bounty, and glared. “BlueBlood.”

The Doc raised an eyebrow. “Wait, you can read that name?”

Star’s anger turned to confusion. ‘You can’t?” Whooves shook his head.

“No, Star, this is Esperanto. It’s a dead language. No pony has spoken it in thousands of years.” Star thought for a moment, then shrugged. He could dwell on that revelation later; right now, he had bigger trees to buck.

“Anyway, why would BlueBlood post a bounty on me?”

“Yes, why indeed, and how is he able to write esperanto? It’s impossible to learn unless you’re an archeologist, and I doubt the Prince took time out of his life to try and learn.”

“Oh right, we never told you.” Star said, rolling his eyes a little at how they never explained it. So he did, he told the Doc through whispers about BlueBlood, and his halfa status. To say the scientist was speechless was an understatement.

"So… the Prince is a halfa, and he's just put out a bounty on your head." The two were silent again until the Doc had an idea. "I could get the others-"

"No." Star rebuttals sternly. "I'm not involving them in something like this."

"But they could help you, Star."

"Low level ghosts, sure. Dangerous ghosts I need help with, fine. But experienced bounty hunters, no, not gonna happen!" The halfa noticed his friend flinch and took a deep breath to calm down.

"Just give everypony a heads up, and see if we can find a way to get rid of the bounty. Until then, I stay low. Alright?" Dr. Whooves nodded, and ran off to warn the others, leaving Star alone to think of a way to deal with this.

“Awe sweet, one million bits!” Rainbow cheered as she read the wanted poster. Twilight angrily ripped it from her hooves with magic, and threw onto a table. The two were in the basement, with Rainbow wearing her Huntress outfit.

“This is serious, Rainbow. Blau Sango doesn’t trust us anymore to get the job done, now he’s hiring bounty hunters to do it!”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “But… isn’t it a good thing other hunters are showing up? Cause he’s hard to catch on our own.”

“Bounty hunters don’t care about science. We need to capture him so that we can understand how he functions, if we do, then we can figure out how to stop ghosts for good!” The unicorn trotted over to the container holding the Dragon Amulet. It shone brightly within the magical glass surrounding it.

“The Amulet only has so much energy, barely enough to power our equipment, and now we’re racing against crazed hunters who only care for the bits!” Rainbow flew over and placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.

“Easy there, egghead. We got this. I’m faster than any old bounty hunter, and you’re way~ smarter than a whole army of hunters. So let’s get to it!” Twilight smiled and took a calming breath.

“Okay, let’s do it.” She used her magic to summon a map of Ponyville, several of its locations were marked on the map. “Patrol these spots, it’s where Phantom has been sighted the most.” Rainbow saluted, placed her mask over her head, and flew out the door on her hoverboard. “And be careful of the phans!” Twilight called out as the Huntress flew out of sight.

On the main road heading to Ponyville, a massive earth pony marched with a purpose. His body was covered in leather, a spiked stetson rested on his head, and his eyes were blocked out by shades. As he approached the town, he lifted the bandana from his snout to sniff the air.

“Hmm.” The bounty hunter hummed, then smiled as he lowered the cloth over his face. “Well, this should be interesting.”

Flying down from Canterlot on jetpacks were Agents M and A. They held their massive ecto-rifles and a small tracker in magic and hoof. As they approached Ponyville, the tracker beeped to life, grabbing M’s attention.

“Ecto-signature located, moving to intercept.”

“Understood.” The two banked down, diving toward the center of town.

Two pegasi flew at top speed toward Ponyville, dodging the Everfree creatures with ease.

“Radical!” The first one, with aquamarine fur, shouted.

“Totally dude!” The other, a dark blue furred one, agreed. The first one frowned.

“I’m a mare, dude!”

The stallion blinked. “Oh yeah.” They landed on the edge of the forest, hoof bumping each other before walking into town.

A group of ponies and their dog got off the train from Fillydelphia. The group consisted of two stallions and two mares.

The hunky stallion looked around. “Alright, gang, let’s split up and look for clues.”

The other stallion, who was much skinnier, sighed. “Like we just got off the train, man. Can’t we, like, go get something to eat first.”

“Reah.” The dog agreed, licking his lips. The lead pony sighed.

“Alright, fine. Let’s grab some hayburgers, then split up to search for clues.” The skinny stallion and dog high-hooved before running off toward the nearest Hayburger joint.

Star sighed as he pulled the cart into the barn. It had been a long day, and ponies from all over the country were arriving to get a chance at the reward money. Thankfully, their equipment hadn’t been able to scan him, and it certainly helped that they were all idiots.

AJ watched him pull in, and sighed. She then turned to AppleBloom and Big Mac. “Star should not be dealin’ with this, right now.” The Apple siblings nodded in agreement. “Ah’ll take over the cart tomorrow. Keep Star away from town until the hunters go away.”

“The Doc is givin’ Octavia and Vinyl their gear tomorrow, too. Se we got extra eyes on town.” Big Mac added.

“Plus, Cheerilee doesn’t want us out and about with the hunters around, so ah got the day off tomorrow.” AB said cheerfully. “Ah can hang with Star all day tomorrow.” AppleJack nodded.

“Alright, so the plan’s all set.” The three hoof bumped as Star came in the door. They smiled suspiciously at him, but he seemed too tired to notice. The Apple Family watched as their busiest member ignored dinner, and go straight to bed.

AJ’s frown deepened as she watched her twin become more depressed with each passing day. It all started with Discord. Star wouldn’t tell them what happened, but whatever it was clearly affected him in the worst way possible. Could Discord have done something to him, like he did to her and her friends? If so, what did he do? What did he see? AppleJack intended to find out, but first, she had to deal with the hunters.

The next day, Star Apple worked the orchard, bucking apple trees along the south field, the one furthest from town. AppleBloom was helping out by carrying the buckets toward a pile nearby. Star sighed as he finished bucking another tree. He thought hard about why AppleJack suddenly wanted to take the cart to the market, and he didn’t have to think long as he quickly realized what was happening. His family was keeping him away from the hunters.

They don’t trust you. He said. Star growled back. “That’s not true.”

They don’t think you’re strong enough to take them on, and they’re right. I can make you stronger. He continued. “No, you’re keeping quiet.”

“Star?” The halfa blinked as his little sister walked up to him, concerned. “Are ya okay? Yer talkin’ to yourself.” Star couldn’t help smiling, even when AB was trying to help, she was blunt, just like AppleJack.

He sighed as he kneeled down to her level. “Honestly, I’ve had better days.” The little filly immediately pulled her older brother into a back breaking hug, but Star returned it in kind. The halfa felt tears slowly slipping through the dam he built up over the years. He needed a hug more than anything. After Discord, and the hunters, and him, Star needed this.

As the hug broke, Star had an idea. “Why don’t we take a break, and take a flight.” AppleBloom didn’t seem so sure.

“But what about the hunters?”

“We’re in the South Field, they can’t see us here from town.” He transformed into Star Phantom, and offered a hoof to his sister. She thought for a moment before happily rushing passing the hoof and jumping onto his back. Star smiled before taking off into the air, AppleBloom cheering loudly as he did so.

At the same time, the Huntress was patrolling the field of Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight’s map revealed that this was where Phantom was seen the most, and she intended to catch him off guard. Her tracker suddenly bleeped as an ecto-signature appeared. She looked at it as it revealed the signature was rapidly approaching her.

She readied her blaster as her target approached, then turned left, then right, then back a bit. What? Was Phantom messing with her? Why was he going in random directions?

A shrill scream filled her ears as her target came into range. Phantom was flying erratically with a filly on his back, and not just any filly. It was AppleBloom! That was it, time for this punk to go down!

The Huntress charged forward, her weapon hot and ready as she aimed at the ghost stallion.

Star and Bloom laughed as he stopped to take a break. AppleBloom held her brother tightly. “One more time, please?”

Star gave a nod, and was about to fly around one more time, when a flash of light caught his attention. Instinct took over, and he dove to avoid the ecto-blast that whizzed by. He turned toward the blast’s origin point to see the Huntress coming toward him. He quickly landed on the ground, allowing AppleBloom to jump off his back.

“AB, head for the barn!”

“But-”

“Now!” Star pushed the filly away from the second blast that came their way. However, he was unable to avoid it, and received a nasty burn on his back. He screamed in pain before taking off again toward the forest. The Huntress took pursuit, gliding through the air on her hoverboard. Star swayed from side to side to avoid the blasts. He saw the blasts hit the trees and ground, leaving burns and craters in their wake.

Star had to get away from the Acres or she could do more damage than the family could handle. He turned to face the Huntress, who readied another blast. The halfa shot past her, nearly knocking her off the board. She managed to use her wings to keep balance, and swiftly turned to follow.

AppleBloom ran down the busy street toward the market area, where she could see AppleJack, Octavia, and Vinyl Scratch talking. The earth pony and the unicorn were carrying ghost hunting weapons, making the filly stop in her tracks. Unfortunately, AJ spotted her, and waved her over.

“AppleBloom, what are ya doin’ here?” AppleBloom took some moments to breathe, and look at the two hunters sitting at the stand. AJ followed her gaze, and nearly facehoofed.

“It’s fine, Bloom, they’re Phantom’s friends.” She whispered.

“Star’s in trouble!” AB immediately hissed into her sister’s ears. AppleJack shot up and ran back to the stand. With a kick, she opened the secret compartment in the cart and pulled out her ecto-lasso. She then turned back to AppleBloom.

“Who?”

“The Huntress, she’s at the Acres!” AJ growled, then looked to the two mares readying their weapons.

“Let’s go, we gotta stop her!” A loud blast drew their attention. One of the buildings near town hall was smoking as a massive scorch mark formed on the wall from the blast. The ponies ran for cover as Star Phantom flew into view with the Huntress on his tail.

Star ducked to avoid another blast. “Can’t I catch a break?!” Another blast across his front told him no. He turned to see Agents M and A aiming their blasters at him. He dove to avoid the crossfire from the three hunters. The blasts missed and instead impacted several buildings destroying chunks of the structures. Citizens dove for new cover as their old cover was burned away by ecto-energy.

As Star flew low to the ground, two pegasi flanked him. He watched as the two readied ecto-nets.

“Ready, dude?” The mare asked.

“Totally, brah.” The stallion responded. The mare glared.

“I’m a mare, brah!”

“Oh yeah.” They readied the nets, but Star simply stopped. The two extreme pegasi flew on, until their nets caught onto a pole. They swiveled around several times until the nets length shrunk, and they slammed head on into each other.

Star swerved to the right to avoid the blasts from the airborne hunters. He flew straight into the nearby Hayburgers, where the Mystery Gang was eating. They all stared at the Halfa as he landed inside the joint. A few seconds later, the skinny stallion and his dog screamed before the dog jumped into the hooves of the stallion. Star raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“Uh, hi?”

“Like, zoinks!” The stallion ran off with the dog still in his hooves. The four remaining ponies watch in both confusion and shame as the two ran into the kitchen, knocking employees out of the way as they did.

“Uh, do they do that oft-”

“Yes!” The three ponies answered in annoyance.

“O~kay then, bye.” Star turned to leave, but a wall of blasters blocked his way. The Huntress, Agents M and A, the Extreme Pegasi, and a fourth hunter had all of their blasters aimed at the halfa, who raised his hooves in surrender, then smirked and disappeared. The hunters’ eyes widened before they turned to their trackers. But there was a problem with that.

“He’s gone!” The trackers could not find an ecto-signature. The group of hunters ran out of the Hayburgers, spreading out through the town in an attempt to find the elusive Phantom.

They never realized that he was still in the Hayburgers. He never moved. Once he was visible again, Star flew off back toward the Acres before the hunters could find him again. He wasn’t aware of the stallion that watched him leave.

----

The hunters turned the whole town upside down. Blasting away at anything they thought was a ghost, which was everything. Market carts were destroyed, buildings had their windows blown out, and almost every surface in Ponyville was scorched.

The Huntress flew around the town, glaring at everything. This was all Phantom’s fault. If he just let himself be caught, none of this would happen. The pegasus sighed as she saw the sun setting over the horizon; it was time to call it quits. So she flew back toward the meeting point, where she knew an angry Twilight Sparkle would be waiting. She did her best to ignore the glares from the towns ponies as she flew by.

Star landed at the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres, tired and anxious. That was too close, and now the Huntress knew where he hid most of the time. It wouldn’t take long for her to find him again, so he readied himself to transform.

An ecto-blast made sure he wouldn’t. Star dropped to the ground when the blast slammed into his back. The pain was unbearable, his back felt like it was on fire, and he suddenly felt nauseous. He tried to get up, but his body refused to move. A dark laugh hovered over him, along with the shadow of the hunter who fired his blaster.

“Don’t like that too much, do ya?” Star glared at the hunter, who pulled out a blood red flower from a pocket in his leather jacket. “Blood Blossoms, courtesy of Blue Blood.” The halfa’s eyes widened. He could feel his blood boil. His whole body was on fire. His heart was racing, and the core in his chest was crying out for help.

Let me out! He cried. Let me out so I can kill him and BlueBlood!

“He taught me how to mix ecto-energy with the flower’s pollen, and I must say, it works like a charm. I get to capture you alive, and you get to writhe in agony as I take you to collect.” Star watched the hunter throw the flower next to him, and screamed as the burning increased tenfold. The hunter just laughed louder.

“I love this job!”

Let me out! I can fight!

“You’re coming with me, fool.” Star tried to move again as the hunter reached down to grab him. An ecto-rope flew through the air, wrapping itself around the stallion. The hunter looked over to see AppleJack tugging on the rope. He screamed as he was dragged over to the group of mares pointing blasters at him. He didn’t feel so tough now.

“So, about attacking Phantom.” The orange mare growled. “Here’s your new plan.” At the same time, Big Mac ran over to Star, picked him up and took him to the house. “Yur gonna leave him alone, and never come back.”

The hunter’s eyes narrowed. “Not likely.” With a roar, he ripped through the rope. Before Octavia and Vinyl could fire, he jumped up and knocked the blasters away. He reached for his blaster, and aimed. The three mares dove behind the trees as the hunter opened fire, the energy bolts blood red from the blossom pollen.

Big Mac gently placed Star on the table. His younger brother continued to writhe in pain. The stallion could only was as his brother suffered in front of him, and his sister was fighting for her life behind her. He didn’t know what to do.

Typical, Big Macintosh. Typical.

Star screamed in agony as the blossom worked its way through his bloodstream. Big Mac did his best to him still, but a halfa in pain is a lot stronger than a big stallion like him. He was knocked back away by a flailing leg to his chest.

“Big Mac.” An elderly voice called out. The red stallion turned to see Granny Smith. The elderly mare walked up Star, and began gently rubbing her hoof along his chest. Big Mac watched in amazement as his brother began to calm down, but it was obvious he was still in great pain.

“Go git Zecora.” Granny ordered, never taking her eyes off her hurting grandson. “Ah’ll keep Star calm.” Big Mac stood there, shocked. Granny Smith sighed. “Ah’ve known fur a while, now git!” That made the big stallion move. He ran from the house and down the road of the Everfree. His ecto-gauntlets charged up with energy should he run into any wolves.

Granny continued to do what she could to keep him calm, but there wasn’t much she could do to keep the pain at bay.

“Let me out.” Star muttered. “Let me out and I can fight.” Granny leaned in.

“Ya don’t need tah fight, Star.” She whispered. “Yur family is gonna take care of it. Y’all can rest fur once.”

AppleJack jumped clear from the blast that destroyed her cover. She tried to aim her blaster, but the hunter was quicker to the draw, forcing her to dodge once more. Octavia attempted a shot, but the hunter shimmied left to avoid it. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the unicorn preparing another weapon. He turned just in time to see Vinyl readying her bazooka.

“Boom Baby!” She shouted as she pulled the trigger. A massive ecto-blast launched from the bazooka, sailing right for the hunter. His eyes widened before he dove for cover. The energy flew past him, scorching the fur on his back.

With a growl, the hunter aimed his blaster at the unicorn. A smaller blast knocked the weapon from his hoof. He turned to see a mint colored unicorn holding a sleek, scoped blaster in her magic. Her glare could be seen through the scope.

“Next one’s going between your eyes, pal.” Three sets of hooves filled his vision, followed by the glow of ecto-blasters. AppleJack stepped up.

“Last chance. Leave mah farm and mah family alone.” The hunter lowered his gaze before nodding. “And be sure tah let yur hunter friends know that the bounty is null and void.” The stallion got up and began walking away from the farm, a blast from the ecto-rifle made his move a bit faster.

The four mares watched him go back to Ponyville, where the Night Guards were waiting to arrest any hunters still in town.

Twilight walked into the center of town, where an entire army of Night Guards were making arrests. The ghost hunters were thrown into the back of the prison carts before being dragged off to Canterlot. The unicorn marched past the guards, marching up to one of the officers.

“Who’s in charge here?” She demanded.

“That would be me, Twilight Sparkle.” The student of Celestia turned around, shocked to see Princess Luna walking up to her.

“P-princess Luna, what’s going on?”

“I’m arresting the hunters, Miss Sparkle.” The alicorn said, stating the obvious.

“But why?”

“The bounty was declared by me as a deliberate target on a citizen of Equestria, by a pony who is not registered on any legal document. Therefore, this is an illegal posting, and all those involved will be taken to Canterlot for questioning.”

Twilight was confused. What bounty? She couldn’t mean Phantom, could she? He wasn’t a citizen, he was a ghost! They were monsters that needed to be stopped. She wanted to speak out against her, but didn’t think it would be smart. Luna was obviously not in the mood to talk.

“Now if you excuse me, Twilight Sparkle.” The Princess said, pulling her from her musings. “I must go. I have a friend to visit.” Before Twilight could ask, Luna and two guards took off into the air, leaving the rest of the guard to finish their arrest. A few of the townsponies cheered as the destructive hunters were taken away, happy that their town and its protector are safe once more.

But Twilight couldn’t cheer. Her mind was running rampant with conspiracies about Luna and Phantom. She did this to defend him, which meant the two knew each other. She called him a friend, so they met often. But how often, and what do they meet for? She had to investigate. But she’s a Princess of Equestria. To investigate a princess required an order from another princess, and there was only one princess who could give her that authority.

Princess Celestia. She had a letter to write.

When Princess Luna arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, the scene before her was devastating. Trees were destroyed, crops were scorched, and screams could be heard from inside the house. The alicorn and her guards rushed towards the building, slamming through the door to find Star Phantom surrounded by his family and friends. Granny Smith did his best to keep the halfa calm while Zecora rubbed a cream all over his body. No pony noticed her until she was next to the table, at Star’s side.

None of them bowed, as she was a friend to them and friends do not bow when alone. Zecora finished applying the ointment, and sighed.

“The remedy should extract the blossom, true, but the pain he will still have to suffer through.” Star’s pain filled scream proved her point. Luna held Star’s hoof in a vain attempt to hold him steady. With a glare, she turned to one of her guards, a familiar thestral mare.

“Sergeant Shadow Swirl, was the hunter responsible for this arrested?”

The mare nodded. “Yes ma’am. Squad Three grabbed him as soon as he entered town.”

“Good, then prepare a detail to scour all flower shops. If you find blood blossoms, I want them removed from the shelves.”

“Roseluck has a whole section of them in her shop.” Lyra Heartstrings said, gaining the Princess’ attention. “She buys them from Canterlot Premium Flowers. It’s the only shop in Equestria that sells them.” Luna nodded in thanks, and Shadow Swirl went off to perform her task.

With that business done, she could focus on being there for her friend. His screams wouldn’t die down for several hours.

BlueBlood sighed. He made a mistake. He never thought to include Phantom’s allies into the equation. Now he was paying the price. Blau Sango could no longer be used in public, as he was not registered on any legal documents. Damn that Luna and her eye for detail.

Oh well, he would just have to be satisfied with the fact that Star has been introduced to the “joy” of Blood Blossoms.

Celestia read the letter from Twilight Sparkle. Not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times. She needed to know this wasn’t real. She couldn’t believe what her student was insinuating. Her sister, being friends with that spirit. The one who has caused chaos, the one who attacked her, the one who nearly ruined the Gala. She refuses to believe it, and she was going to make sure her student understood that.

“My Dear Student Twilight Sparkle…”

Author's Note

Another chapter done! The ball is rolling now! Who is He? Where did he come from? Who is Galatea? Did you catch the reference?

Check the Star Phantom Short in the First Season to get the reference to Galatea.