It's Hero Time

In a rather small city, known as Concord, there was a teenage colt. This colt was an earth pony that had gray fur, blue mane, blue eyes, and had stacks of wooden blocks for a cutie mark. This colt’s name was Wood Cutter, though some ponies just called him Woody, specifically his mother, Rare Jewel, and his father, Tough Stone.

Woody was a typical average teenaged colt. A little geeky, a little awkward, except there was one interesting thing about him; his parents had picked up a very unique hobby: hunting ghosts. In Concord City, there were a lot of rumors of ghosts roaming and haunting around the block.

With this information, Woody’s parents did their best to research everything ponies knew about ghosts. Woody didn’t think anything about this, until one day, the young colt was just returning home after getting a new comic book he bought. He looked around for his parents, who didn’t seem to be there.

“Mom? Dad?” Woody called.

“Downstairs, honey!” called a voice. The colt placed his new comic book on the coffee table and raced downstairs to find his parents drawing some figures on the wall with a white chalk.

“What are you doing?”

“Making a portal,” Rare Jewel responded.

“Pretty soon we’ll be able to bring the battle right to those ghosts,” Tough Stone spoke with pride.

It wasn’t just chalk they were using. Woody could see his parents had a couple of gemstones, tools, and some gadgets with them.

“What are those for?” he asked.

“This will help keep the portal stable,” Stone explained. “We have to be able to close the portal or else those ghosts will get out. Help us set this up.”

Woody just sighed and did as he was told. From prior experience, he knew that arguing with them was pointless.

After what seemed to feel like hours, everything was finally set up. The chalk drawing was surrounded by some gates that could open and close thanks to a lever that was powered by a crystal.

“You sure this is going to work?” Woody asked.

“Oh, it’ll be fine,” Jewel said. Jewel was a unicorn, so she used her magic to make a forcefield around her and the boys.

“BONZAI!” Stone cried before pulling the lever. The chalk markings started glowing before the gem powering the device started out and fizzled out. Now filled with disappointment, Jewel lowered her forcefield. “Drat.”

“I guess it’s back to the drawing board.” The two disappointed adults walked back upstairs, leaving Woody with the failed experiment. While he did find his parents’ fascination with ghosts rather annoying, he did feel sorry for their experiment failing.

Woody decided to get a look at the crystal that was supposed to power the portal. He also noticed some boxes filled with glass bottles.

“What the heck are these for?” His answer would come when the bottle would vibrate and have it fall from his hoof. The bottle landed with the top facing the failed portal.

The chalk started glowing again as some sort of magic started getting sucked into the bottle. Then things started getting strange when the bottle started cracking. Before Woody could react, the bottle shattered and the magic dispersed all around the room until it all surrounded him.

His scream could be heard all the way upstairs. Jewel and Stone raced downstairs to find a colt lying on the floor. Instead of an earth pony, this colt was a pegasus that had jet black fur, a snow-white mane, had a ghost for a cutie mark, and some scars on his forehead.

“What in the spooks happened here?” Stone questioned. Jewel bent down to get a better look at the colt. The strange new pony opened its eyes, which were blood red and looked around.

“What just happened?” the colt questioned in a familiar voice.

“Woody, is that you?” Jewel questioned.

“What do you mean?” The mother quickly got a mirror and showed her son what he looked like now. He was in shock as he saw his different face in the mirror. “What... What happened to me?”

Stone looked at the glass shards and then could see the portal was actually functioning. “You think that’s got something to do with this kid?” he asked.

“I don’t know what happened,” Woody explained. “I just picked up one of those bottles over there.” He pointed to the box and his mother gasped.

“Those bottles were meant to capture ghosts,” Jewel explained. “What did they suck up?”

“Something from the portal,” Woody explained. “Why do I look like this?”

“...Well,” Stone spoke.

“Don’t you say it,” Jewel said to him, in a stern tone.

“Hey, you never said no to this.”

“This was your idea.” Suddenly, a ring appeared around Woody’s neck. It split into two and each went up and down his body. After passing parts of it, the strange pegasus changed back to the ordinary earth pony.

“Okay, I guess I’m back to normal now,” Woody commented in relief, looking over at his body.

“Okay, Woody, don’t panic,” Jewel said, “We’re going to run a couple of tests on you.”

“Once we had the equipment set up,” Stone said. “...Which might take a while.” Woody just sighed and walked back upstairs.

He picked up his comic and tried to go to his room to forget everything that had just happened a while ago. However, his comic just dropped out of his hooves. Woody picked it back up, but his hoof just went right through not just the book, but the floor as well, much to his shock. Woody picked his comic book up and ran to his bedroom. He set the book on his nightstand and took a breath.

“Okay, Woody,” he said to himself. “Don’t panic. You’ve got hit by one of your parents' experiments and now you’re losing your grip on reality.”

Woody sighed and tried to lie on his bed, but he ended up just phasing right through it and landed on the floor below it. The colt let out an annoyed sigh.

Jewel and Stone spend hours working on their research. They wanted to understand what was going on. Woody, on the other hand, refused to come out of his room. No matter what his parents called for, dinner, research, or even one of his favorite board games, the colt stayed in his bedroom all day.

He wasn’t bored. Woody managed to keep himself occupied with his comic and his strange intangibility. He did his best to keep himself from phasing through things, though this was harder than he thought it would be.

Eventually, the next day came around. Jewel and Stone woke up early and finally got into Woody’s room.

“Good news, son,” Stone announced, “We've got something...” He paused when he saw that his son wasn’t there. Running downstairs, they could see some cereal had been left out on the kitchen table. The parents had come to the conclusion that their son had gotten up earlier than them.

Woody had already made his way to school to avoid anything his parents had planned for him. Although the school wasn’t his favorite place to be at, given how some of the older students treated him, it would still be better than being a guinea pig for his parents' ghost hobby.

Walking through the school's entrance, he could see some jocks right around. He was about to run off but he tripped over his own hooves. The jocks heard the thud, they looked surprised and confused.

“You heard that thud too, right?” an earth pony asked.

“Yeah,” a pegasus replied, “Some geek made it away before they could get caught.” They walked off as two mares walked to where Woody was just at.

One mare was a unicorn with orange fur and a cream-colored mane that was quite spiky. Her eyes were purple and she appeared to have a teacup with fire coming out of the top as a cutie mark. The other mare was an earth pony that had blue fur and an emerald green mane and pink eyes. As for her cutie mark, he had a ladybug.

“You really think they’ll leave us alone?” the earth mare asked.

“They’ve got to,” the unicorn stated. “Once I’ve mastered a few spELLLS!” The two had tripped over...…something. They both looked and saw Woody, who had appeared out of nowhere.

“Are you two are okay?” the colt asked.

“Um... Yeah,” the unicorn replied. They were both helped up by the colt but were still confused.

“What did we hit?” the earth pony mare asked.

“Um... I think that might’ve been me,” Woody explained.

“What?” the mares asked.

“Hey, Wood Gutter,” called a voice. Woody didn’t have time to react as an orange colt, who was a little bigger than him, managed to nab him.

“Let me go!” Woody cried.

“Okay. Right after this.” The jock opened a locker and shoved Woody inside, locking him in it.

“You can’t do that!” the unicorn stated.

“Just did,” the jock smirked.

“We’ll... We’ll tell the principal about this.”

“Is there a problem here?” asked a voice. Looking behind them, they could see a young mare who was a pegasus that had pink fur and a blue mane that was in a ponytail. Her eyes were red and her cutie mark was a red crown.

“Scarlet,” the jock said. He smiled at the mare while the unicorn and earth pony tried to get out of this.

“No, don’t move. I wanna know what’s going on.”

“Just these two freshmen who want to be snitches.”

Thanks to his intangibility, Woody found he could phase right out of the locker. Right now, he was invisible, which he wasn’t questioning at the moment, he just wanted to teach this jock a lesson. He tried to throw a punch at him, but instead, he ended up phasing into him.

“Not to mention I...” The jock paused as somebody else had taken over by some else as his eyes turned red. He looked at himself, rather confused. “In Bolt’s body?”

“What?” the mares asked.

“Oh, uh...” Then he had an idea. “Nothing, I just remember I need to get a file to help clean my mom’s hooves. She gets a lot of dirt in them. You want me to show you how I do it?” He tried lifting up one of Scarlet’s hooves, who immediately backed off.

“Ew! Get away from me.” She ran back and came as the jock, who was known as Bolt, was given back control and was also left confused.

“Ugh. Why do I feel like cleaning my mom’s hooves?” Bolt questioned. Looking at the other two mares, who were holding back their laughter. Feeling embarrassed, the jock ran off. “Scarlet, wait!”

Now that their laughter was replaced with suspicion, the earth pony mare let Woody out of the locker. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Woody answered. “Where did Bolt go?”

“His conversation just turned on a dime,” the unicorn explained. “It’s like he became somepony else.”

“Really? That’s weird.”

“Yeah, it happened as soon as he locked you in the locker.” The mares glanced at each other before at Woody. “What did you do?”

“What?”

“It seems a little suspicious,” the earth pony replied.

“Why should I tell you? I don’t even know who you are.”

“My name is Hot Tea,” the unicorn said. “This is Ladybug Beauty. Now you can tell us yours.”

“I’m Wood Cutter. And how are you going to explain anything to...” Woody paused when he heard something. It sounded like wind chimes, even though he hadn’t seen one in the school before. He quickly raced off and found a unicorn crying while holding up shreds of paper to a mare looking down at her.

“It... It was just fine when I left it here,” the nerdy-looking unicorn said. “My l... My locker was closed.”

“Now, don’t cry,” the mare said. “I’m sure there’s an explanation to this.”

Woody heard the sound of wind chime again, which brought him to a locked door. Since Woody couldn’t open it, he looked around to see nobody was nearby, and he phased through the door and was surprised at what he saw. There was a pegasus that was completely grey with his fur and eyes, jet black hair, but what was most interesting was he had a ghostly tail that had a hammer for a cutie mark.

“Now, where is she?” the ghost asked.

“Where’s who?” Woody asked. The ghost turned around and saw the colt.

“How did you get in here?!”

“What are you doing here?”

“I’ve got some business here. I don’t need you getting in the way.”

“What kind of business?” Woody’s answer soon came from when the ghost summoned a sledgehammer, which he threw at him. The colt barely had enough time to dodge before he could get hit. “Watch it!”

“She said no witnesses.” The ghost spatted up, picked up his sledgehammer and charged towards the frightened colt.

Woody kept running as he looked like he was trying to do something.

“Come on,” he groaned. “Change.”

He tried to phase through the door, only to smack into it.

“What do you think was going to happen?”

“Just... I’ve gotta go ghost!” Suddenly, a ring appeared around Woody’s neck. Just like before, it split into two and started changing his body. His gray fur turned jet black. He gained a set of wings on his back, allowing him flight as well as a scar on his forehead. His mane and tail both turned white as snow. His cutie mark was swapped from wooden blocks to a ghost. When he opened his eyes, they were now blood red.

“Whoa. Didn’t see that coming.” Woody jumped up to the ghost and grabbed him by his tail before throwing onto the floor. Before he could stomp on him, the mysterious ghost phased seemed to vanish. Woody was a little confused until he was smacked in the side of his body, sending him crashing through the door.

He tumbled for a couple of feet before he could recover. “Did he just turn invisible?”

Woody questioned. He soon found he was able to control his wings, thanks to him reacting in time before he could get hit by the ghost’s sledgehammer again. Many students and teachers stopped when they saw the two ghosts fighting each other.

Some were able to take pictures, while a good amount of them got away as fast as they could. “I’ve had enough of you!”

“Who even are you!?”

“My name is Crash Smash. I break everything I’m told to break.”

“Do you really enjoy that?”

“Quite. It helps relieve stress.” He smacked the teenager hard enough to send him all the way across the hall. “Just like that. I feel better now.”

Woody was barely able to recover and phase through the wall before he could crash into it. This made him fly into a classroom, where Hot Tea and Ladybug Beauty were surprised to see him.

“Um...…You might want to get out of here,” Woody explained.

Crash then broke right through the wall, scaring a couple of the students. Woody grabbed the opponent's hammer to help buy the students and teacher some time to escape. Eventually, all the students had escaped the school before Woody was thrown right out the window. He was starting to feel a little weak. He could see Crash was right above him just before he got stuck in a net that appeared to electrocute him.

“Stand down you amalgamation of magic and pony soul!” ordered a voice. Woody looked to see his parents, who were in jumpsuits that had anti-ghost cutie marks on them, with some technology with them. Figuring it was their turn to tag in, Woody turned himself invisible and sneaked away.

“Fire in the hole!” Tough Stone shouted.

He placed a helmet on his head that would make him an artificial unicorn. The helmet was powered by a battery that was carried on his back. This helmet fired off a laser beam that did hit Crash, though it did cut his net.

“Stone!” Rare Jewel cried.

“Sorry honey,” Stone apologized. “First time testing this out.” Crash wasted no time flying away, much to the hunters’ frustration. “Okay, that one’s on me.”

The students all gathered at the front of the school by order of the principal. “Okay, please explain to me what’s going on,” he asked the new hunters.

“Well, you’ve heard of several theories about ghosts,” Jewel explained. “Stone and I have been researching them and found they seem to be coming from another dimension.”

“Seriously?”

“Leave this to the professional,” Stone spoke.

“We’ve only been doing this for...” Jewel was quickly shushed by her husband.

Hot Tea and Ladybug Beauty were standing beside each other as Woody, who had changed back into an earth pony, sneaked his way into the crowd.

“What did I miss?” he asked.

“Just a ghost attack,” Ladybug shivered.

“Why would that ghost even attack the school?” Hot Tea questioned.

“He said it relieves stress,” Woody explained.

“How would you know that?”

“...He seemed pretty calm when he smacked that ghost with his hammer.” The colt rubbed the side of his body that got hit, cringing a bit.

“Alright,” the principal said. “Everypony, until further notice, school is closed for now.” The students all cheered for this. “Oh, don’t get too excited. You’re still being given homework.” The students’ cheers soon turned to sighs of disappointment.

“If there are any volunteers to help hunt down this ghost,” Tough Stone said, “Come to our residence.”

After all the students went home, Woody and his parents were finally having a minute to calm down. “I can’t believe we’re actually in business,” Rare Jewel stated.

“It’s a dream come true,” Stone said proudly.

“Um, mom, dad,” Woody said, “I think I can help get some information about the ghost.”

“How?” both parents asked.

“Well, you know that explosion that turned me into that pegasus?” They both nodded. Not knowing how to explain it, Woody decided to show his parents by turning himself invisible.

“Woody? Woody, where did you go?” Jewel questioned. Her son soon reappeared behind them, starling them a bit.

“Hold on. Are you a ghost now?” Stone questioned.

“Seems like it,” Woody replied.

“Hmm,” Jewel pondered. “I guess that portal has something to do with it.”

“I did see it was sucking up some sort of magic.”

“And when it shattered, it must’ve blown some of the ecto-energy into you.”

“You mean magic?”

“No, ecto-energy. It’s what ghosts appear to be made out of.”

“And the few ghosts that have been appearing have shown what they’ve been able to do with it,” Stone added.

“So, how do you trap them in those bottles?” Woody asked.

“We heard that a couple of ponies managed to trap spirits with a magical touch to them.”

“Of course.” There was a knock on the door, which Stone almost immediately answered.

“Yes, are you here to volunteer?”

“Um, no,” the stallion at the door replied. “My daughter, Scarlet, is having a tutor at our home for History. We were wondering if you wanted your son to get some help.”

“I’m up for that,” Woody called.

“Okay,” Stone said. “Just remember, we’re here too.” Woody brushed past his dad while carrying his saddlebags.

“Woody, do you need us to go with you?” Jewel asked.

“No, I’m good,” the colt responded. He walked down the street with the stallion, leaving his parents behind.

“You think he’s mad at us?” Stone asked.

“...Maybe,” Jewel sighed.

Woody didn’t say much on the way to Scarlet’s home. When he finally arrived, he was speechless as her home was a mansion. The stallion led the colt inside, where a few students were at.

“Hey, what’s Wood Gutter doing here?” Bolt questioned, scaring the colt a little bit.

“He’s here because he needs to study,” the stallion explained. “Just like you.” Bolt just growled before walking away.

“So, where’s this tutor?” Woody asked.

“She should’ve been here by now,” the stallion stated. “Anyways, please wait with the other students.” Woody did as he was told and looked around for a place for him to sit.

Eventually, he came across Hot Tea and Ladybug Beauty again. “Are you following us or something?”

“No. I was here because I heard I could get some help in history.”

“I thought I’d give some help,” Ladybug said.

“Really?” Woody asked.

“That, and some of the girls asked me for help.”

“Hey, Lady,” said a teenage mare. The young mare flinched when one of the other girls walked over to her.

“Oh, hi. I’m...nearly finished.”

“That’s what you said yesterday.”

“Am I missing something here?” Woody asked.

“Stay out of this,” the other mare spoke. “I need that project by tomorrow.”

“But I...” Ladybug spoke.

“Leave her alone,” Hot Tea ordered. Seeing how this was going to get ugly fast, Woody slipped away to an area where he couldn’t be seen.

“And another thing,” the rude mare said, “I...” She suddenly grunted as her eyes turned red.

“...Yes,” Hot Tea said, waiting for her to continue.

“Never mind me,” the mare said. “I’m going to see if the boys are up for a belching contest.” She let out a few burps, surprising and confusing Tea and Ladybug. “Ooh, that was a good one. Later ladies.” She then walked backward, tripping over a stepping stool.

After that pratfall, Woody left her body to leave for some karma. He flew back to his hiding spot until he could hear the wind chimes in his ears again.

“Now what?” he questioned. He was in his ghost form, so he decided to investigate. He flew outside and could see a tall mare walking towards the building. For some reason, her eyes were completely green. She was about to walk inside until Woody landed in front of her.

“Gah! Who are you?”

“Not caring to answer. What’s with your eyes?”

“Oh, let me show you.” The mare fainted as a ghost phased out of her body. The ghost was mostly blue and appeared to be a unicorn with glowing green eyes and also had a set of clouds for a cutie mark. She tried to possess Woody, but his intangibility countered hers.

“Okay, that’s interesting.” The two started their fight by the new ghost punching Woody and taking him off into the air just as the mare started getting up.

“Whoa. That trip really flew by,” she said to herself. She walked inside to introduce herself.

“Ms. Count,” Scarlet said. “What took you……? You... Look... Just fine.”

“Thank you, Scarlet,” Ms. Count replied. Scarlet was the one that seemed confused as Ms. Count went to help with the students' work.

Meanwhile, the colt flew up and while he did get caught in his opponent's grasp, he was able to give her a swift headbutt. “Ow!” she cried. “How dare you hit a lady.”

“Technically, this is self-defense,” Woody stated. “You attacked me!”

He rammed into the mysterious ghost into the roof, only for them to phase through it. “Wait, I can’t be in here.” He was punched in the face by the ghost and was force through the floor.

They didn’t do any damage thanks to her intangibility. Once Woody was able to escape the hold of the ghost he turned himself invisible. “Great. Now, where’d he go?”

Before the ghost could start looking around, she was decked in the face right before she got thrown into a wall.

“You’re the second ghost I’ve fought today, and I’m already sick of your species.” Then, the colt ghost noticed something. There were chalk marks on the wall that was similar to the ones at his parents' house. This one didn’t seem to have the tech hooked up to it, however.

“How long has this been here?”

Without warning, Woody was smacked in the head with a blunt object knocking him out. “You couldn’t have done that sooner?” the ghost mare asked.

“Lour, cut me a break,” Crash said. “I’ve already dealt with this kid once today. You just get the boss, I’ll keep an eye on him.” The mare, known as Lour, nodded before flying away. Since Woody was knocked out, his form was changed back into an earth pony.

A little while later, there was a knock on the door and a maid answered it. Rare Jewel and Tough Stone were standing outside. The stallion was hooked up to a cart filled with their hunting equipment.

“Hello madam,” Jewel said, “Have you seen our son, Wood Cutter?”

“Sorry, haven’t seen him,” the maid replied. “You can look around if you like. Just don’t make much of a mess.” Both parents nodded and walked inside the mansion.

“Wowsers, look at this place,” Stone commented. “It’s hard to believe they only have one kid and her parents living here.”

“I know,” Jewel agreed, then started calling out for their son. “Woody? Woody!”

“Can we help you?” Ladybug Beauty asked. She and Hot Tea walked over to the worried parents.

“Have you seen a gray and blue colt wandering around?” Stone asked. “Or a black and white pegasus?”

“We have seen an earth pony fitting your first description,” Hot Tea explained. “Haven’t seen him, some mare bothered us before making a fool of herself. It was kind of nice to watch.”

“When was the last time you saw him?” Jewel asked, feeling concerned.

“Follow us.” As Woody’s parents followed the mares, Woody was in a heap of trouble.

The colt slowly woke up to find he was strapped down on a table. He tried to phase through it, but for some reason that didn’t work. “What’s going on?” he questioned.

“I’m glad you asked,” came a voice. Walking towards him was an alicorn that was almost as tall as Celestia. This alicorn had wings like Nightmare Moon, and her fur was dark red. Her eyes were slit and her eyes were yellow and her teeth were razor sharp. Her mane was long and purple as she had some shoes, a necklace, and a crown that someone royal would wear.

“Who are you?”

“You may simply call me, Fayde,” she said. “Soon, you’ll be fading soon.”

“What?”

“My workers have told me about your little secret, Woody. You like playing a superhero?”

“Hey, I only got these powers yesterday. Give me some slack! Somepony get me out of here!”

“Don’t waste your breath. This entire room is soundproof. If it wasn’t, my parents and the staff would’ve heard me doing my work.” Woody looked around the room. It was the one that had been knocked out in, and there weren’t any doors or wings. “Phasing through walls can be quite handy if you want to have a secret room.”

“What are you going to do with me?”

“Simple. I’m going to keep you here until some scientist, or me, dissects you for research.”

“WHAT?!”

“I know. Don’t worry, you won’t feel a thing.”

“Boss,” said Lour.

“What is it now?”

“Your father is calling for you,” the ghost assistant explained.

“Can’t it...”

“No, he can’t.”

“Ugh.” Fayde flew upwards through the ceiling, leaving Lour, Crash, and Woody alone in the room.

“So, you haven’t seen him?” Jewel questioned.

“I’m sorry,” the stallion replied. “I haven’t seen your son since he arrived here.”

“Daddy,” Scarlet called. The young mare walked over to her father to give him a hug.

“Oh, Scarlet, there you are. Your tutor is requesting that you get in groups.”

“Um... Are you sure about that?”

“Is something wrong?”

“No. I...”

“You said you needed a tutor, so find some partners.” The young mare groaned as she walked off.

“Aren’t you afraid you’re spoiling her?” Jewel asked.

“A little,” Scarlet’s father responded. He walked off, leaving two worried parents and two mares by themselves.

“Oh, where is Woody?”

“Don’t worry,” Stone reassured. “I have an idea.”

Digging through the cart, Stone pulled out a set of goggles. He placed them on his head and glanced around. Looking down, he could see two figures on a lower floor. “There are ghosts in the basement!”

“What?” Hot Tea and Ladybug questioned.

“Lead the way,” Jewel requested. After grabbing some gear to assist them, the two parents walked downstairs to find their son.

When they got to the basement, they could still see that the ghosts were below them. “Where’s that other staircase?” Stone questioned.

“This... It doesn’t make any sense. Unless there’s another room we’re not aware of.”

“So, how do we get there?” Ladybug asked.

“Be right back,” Stone said. He quickly ran upstairs and brought back a pickaxe. Without hesitation, he started digging away at the floor.

Lour, Crash, and Woody could hear the digging sound from above. “What now?” Lour groaned.

“You check it out,” Crash said.

“No, you're the one with the weapon. I’ll keep an eye on this twerp.” Crash just rolled his eyes as the female ghost flew away.

As Stone kept digging away, he still had his goggles on, so he could see Lour flying towards them. “Oh, no you don’t,” Stone said. He jumped back and quickly placed his unicorn styled helmet on. The generator on his back started powering it and the second Lour came out of the floor, she was promptly blasted.

“What?”

“Where is our son?” Jewel questioned.

“That was your kid?” Lour promptly realized her mistake as Stone quickly started firing at her. In order to get away, she took Hot Tea and Ladybug Beaufity down to the lower floor.

“Stone, you keep digging,” Jewel said, “I’m going to get the ponies out of here.” Jewel ran back upstairs as her husband started digging again.

As the two mares were brought into the secret room, Lour let them go, letting them tumble a few inches. They both saw Woody strapped down. “Where are we?” Tea asked.

“A room where we’re now prisoners,” Woody explained.

“Not bad, kid,” Crash said. He soon summoned his hammer and slowly floated towards Tea and Ladybug. Lour smirked at this as Woody kept trying to get himself free.

“I thought you only wanted me. Leave them alone.” The ghosts weren’t willing to listen and just picked the mares up. “Tea, help get me out of these straps.”

“And then what?”

“Just trust me.” Hot Tea worked her magic and loosened the straps holding Woody down.

“Woody, what are you going to do?” Ladybug asked.

“Basically, I’ve gotta go ghost!” Woody’s ring appeared around his neck, split into two, and transformed him into his pegasi form. Tea and Ladybug were shocked at what they saw. Woody picked them both up and phased them through the wall as Lour and Crash gave chase.

Woody placed the mares down and flew away with the ghosts on his tail.

“What exactly is that mare paying you?” Woody questioned. “Do you even take money?” Crash wasn’t giving him an answer as he just threw his sledgehammer at the ghost colt.

Jewel was just helping the ponies out of the mansion as Woody crashed into the dining table. “Oh no,” the mare cried.

“I’m fine,” Woody groaned. “Just help fight these guys.” Crash flew up to him and tried to snatch back his sledgehammer and fought Woody for it. The colt’s enemy was suddenly shot by Stone’s helmet, who had seen the ghosts flying off from the secret room.

As ponies left the mansion, a battle ensued with the hunters and the ghosts. It seemed to be an easy fight given that it was three against two when all of a sudden, a blast came up from the floor sending Woody right through the ceiling, without the aid of intangibility. Fayde had returned.

“Great ghosts, look at that!” Stone gasped. Fayde paid no attention to them and flew after Woody.

The colt and the alicorn flew out of the mansion. “You couldn’t stay still, could you?” Fayde questioned. Woody didn’t say anything and just turned invisible. He tried to sneak up on Fayde when she suddenly duplicated herself.

“What the...?” This shock caused Woody to make himself visible and get smacked around by the multiple Faydes.

“Do you really think you can compete with me?” the ghostly alicorn asked. It was now like a game of volleyball as the colt kept getting smacked back and forth.

Hot Tea and Ladybug Beauty managed to get away from the ghost as they got to the mansion balcony to see Fayde playing with her opponent. “We have to help him!” Tea said.

“You think we can use his parents’ gear?” Ladybug asked.

“That could work.” After a quick run to get the gear, the mares had returned with what looked to be a bazooka and a bottle.

“Okay, now how do you work these?” Just then, both girls screamed as Lour had appeared, taking them into the air, making them drop the gear.

Woody could see the mares being lifted into the air as he kept getting kicked around. He gritted his teeth in anger.

“They have nothing to do with this,” he growled. “Leave. Them. ALONE!” Suddenly, from his hooves, a green laser beam shot out, slaying one of Fayde’s duplicates.

Looking at his hooves, Woody got an idea. He turned invisible to slip past the multiple Faydes and flew over to Lour to snatch Tea and Ladybug back. While it was a bit of a struggle, and Ladybug free fell for a little bit, he did manage to bring her and Tea back to the balcony safely.

“Okay, take my parents’ gear, and keep your distance with them,” the ghost colt explained.

“Got it,” the mares replied.

“Oh, by the way, you have a magnifying glass?” A little confused by this, Ladybug provided Woody what he asked for before she and Tea raced towards the mansion exit.

Woody flew up to the sky with the magnifying glass in his grasp and flew up to Lour and the multiple Faydes. Using the magnifying glass, he turned his new layer beam into a spread shot, engulfing the ghosts. Fayde’s duplicates dissipated and Lour fell to the ground. However, the remaining Fayde wouldn’t go down without a fight.

She rammed into Woody, making him drop the magnifying glass, as they flew back into the mansion. “Get off of me!” Woody cried.

His punch was given a boost thanks to his new laser abilities, knocking Fayde a few feet back. He fired a charged beam that Fayde countered with her own.

“Is this the best you can do?” Fayde made two more duplicates to pin Woody down just as Tea and Ladybug entered the room.

“Darn it, wrong way,” Tea groaned.

“Hold on,” Ladybug said, “We can’t just leave Woody here.” They both looked at the bazooka there were carrying.

“Welp. Time to see what this does.” Tea aimed at one of the Faydes and fired a net that covered the ghostly alicorn up. Suddenly, she was electrocuted by some sort of shock. Seeing his chance, Woody zapped the duplicates with his energy rays before turning to the main alicorn ghost. He charged up one last blast before hitting Fayde with it point-blank.

This ended up knocking the alicorn out and then a black ring appeared around her neck. Like Woody, the ring split into two and changed the alicorn’s form, making the colt and mares gasp at who it was.

“Is that... Scarlet?” Ladybug asked.

“Seems like it,” Woody said.

“Okay, how about we do what she was going to do to you?” Tea asked. “Give her to some scientists for research.”

“But then she could tell everpony about my secret.” Woody looked down at the unconscious unicorn. “You two find out how to make this look like this is a dream.” He then noticed a notepad and a pencil. He quickly wrote a note and gave it and Scarlet to the two mares. “Now, I’ve got something to take care of.” He flew away as the mares looked at his note.

”I won’t tell anypony if you don’t tell anypony,” it read.

Meanwhile, Crash landed outside as Stone and Jewel stood over them. Jewel held up a bottle and took its top off. “Please, work,” she begged.

She aimed it at the ghost who slowly started getting sucked up. Before he could figure out what was happening, Crash got trapped in the bottle. With him trapped, Jewel placed the top back on it.

The ponies cheered for the two hunters after completing their jobs. “Phew,” Stone sighed. “I’m glad that’s over. This help is giving me a headache.” Suddenly, both hunters were forced down to the ground.

“Enough of this,” said a voice. Looking up, the ponies could see Lour floating in the air, glaring down at the hunters. Using her levitation, she picked up a nearby cart loaded with some heavy cargo before launching it Jewel and Stone. However, before it could hit them, the cart not only just phased through the ponies and the mansion entrance, but it also landed on the ground safely nearby.

Before she could question what happened, she could feel like she was being sucked into something. Lour was helpless as she was sucked into a bottle that was being held by Woody. He landed next to the ghost hunters to help them up and give them the bottle.

“Are you two okay?” he asked.

“Yes, we are... You mysterious ghost,” Jewel said trying to act like she didn’t know who this pony was. “Do you mind telling us who you are?”

Woody thought for a moment before he responded. “You can call me Shade. Shade Spirit.”

He could hear some cheering, which was coming from the ponies that had escaped the mansion. “Well, I’ll leave these ghosts to you.” The ghost colt known as Shade Spirit flew away.

At the end of the day, Woody, who was back in his earth pony form was resting in his room before he got called. “Woody, we’re back,” Jewel called. “We’ve got some friends over.”

The colt walked downstairs and soon found his parents had returned with Hot Tea and Ladybug Beauty. “Oh, girls, what are you doing here?” he asked.

“We were just letting you know that Scarlet is going to keep your secret if we keep hers,” Tea explained.

“And...”

“And we’re not telling anypony that you’re Shade Spirit,” Ladybug added.

“So, Woody,” Jewel said. “Are you wanting to remove your ghost form?”

“Actually, no,” Woody replied. “It feels like if we’re dealing with ghosts now, it’ll be a good idea to fight fire with fire.”

“So, you’re not mad about you being part ghost now?” Stone asked.

“Not really. That accident was partly my fault. What did you do with those two ghosts?”

“They’re in another dimension. One inhabited only by ghosts.”

“Really?” Ladybug asked.

“Oh, yeah. We can explain everything you want to know."

"Do you have anything to help with ghosts?" Tea asked.

"I didn't know you'd ask."

"You might've made a mistake," Woody whispered.

"You ponies are just what we need for a safe future," Stone said. "With ponies like you, no ghost will stand a chance. No offence, Woody."

"...None taken," the colt responded.

"Are you sure you want to keep your powers?" Jewel asked.

"Honestly, if there's anypony who should help you with these ghosts, that pony is me." Suddenly, he could hear wind chimes in his ears again. Looking out the window, he could see some ghostly speed demons causing havoc in the streets.

"You go ahead," Stone said, "We'll catch up."

"Right." Woody had his ring appear again, transforming him into Shade Spirit. WIth that, he took off after the ghostly figures.

As Sandbar finished his story, Discord and the students clapped for him. "That was pretty cool," Tanzanite commented. "I especially like your combining technology with magic."

"Yeah, I want a bazooka like that," Sulcus added. "I'd like to see any ghost catch me."

"Hey, Sandbar," Kelpie said, "Did you base those ponies off of anyone?"

"Well, I kind of base Shade on me. He gets more powers once he fights a couple more ghosts.”

“Like Fayde’s duplication?” Pearl asked.

“Yeah. Also, Hot Tea and Ladybug were based on Smolder and Ocellus respectively."

"Nice," Gallus commented. "Did you also base Scarlet off of Cozy Glow?"

"Yeah."

"Who's that?" Kelpie asked.

"Let's see who's next," Discord interrupted.

Not wanting to explain who should not be named was, he pulled his horn again and the same thing happened. The glow went around in a circle until it landed on Pate. “Ooh, this should be interesting. Pate, what do you have?”

“Oh, ugh,” the changeling was a little surprised he was chosen. After digging through the paper until he found a mare and a colt who were both around the same age.

The mare was an earth pony that had golden fur with an orange mane that reached past her chin and her eyes were green and she had a hoop with two pom-poms flying through it. The colt, on the other hand, was a pegasus that had blue fur a blonde mane that was quite short that matched the color of his eyes and had some fish for a cutie mark.

“Interesting,” Discord commented. “And who are they?”

“This is Sun Regional and Sea Blend,” Pate replied.

“Those are the names you gave them?” Moss questioned.

“Well, ponies do have unique names, and all griffon names start with the letter G,” Sulcus commented.

“Yeah, why is that?” Kelpie asked.

“You think we know?” Gallus asked.

“I’m more confused about why changelings are named after body parts,” Pyther admitted. Sulcus simply shrugged.

“Yeah,” Pearl agreed. “Also, how does Sulcus sound not too fitting for a girl?”

“Actually, I’m a boy,” Sulcus stated.

“What?” the dragoness and hippogriff questioned.

“That’s enough. We’re getting off-topic,” Gallus spoke.

“Yes, thank you, Gallus,” Discord said. “Pate, please tell us about your heroes.” And so, the changeling did.