BIOGRAPHY - Page 2
During the Secret Wars, Moonstar was killed along with the other New Mutants after she witnessed death marks on her friends and then watched the Beyonder kill them. The alien was annoyed by the New Mutants having refused his gift to make everything perfect, and, as they no longer did fit into his world order, they had to be removed. He did not settle with killing them, but erased them from ever having existed. Neither the X-Men nor their friends and families would remember them. [New Mutants (1st series) #37]
Determined to become human himself, the Beyonder created a machine to recreate his essence. For a test run, he used the New Mutants‘ remains and, indeed, the machine recreated 
the young mutants‘ bodies. However, they were like living zombies, lacking any capacity for emotion or happiness. Once the Beyonder was defeated by the assembled heroes of Earth, Magneto was puzzled how to get his young charges out of their lethargy. Danielle’s faith was restored in herself through a visit from Thor in the guise of a frog - a form in which he had been trapped by Loki. Her animal rapport allowed communication between her and the Asgardian Avenger, though the other New Mutants could not be restored so easily. [Secret Wars (2nd series) #9, New Mutants (1st series) #38]
Despite his best efforts, Magneto found no way to reach his students and finally agreed to the New Mutants being transferred to the Massachusetts Academy, hoping that the White Queen could use her telepathy to cure the young students. Moonstar, however, refused and, angry with Magneto about giving up that easy, chose to go home to her parents in Colorado. [New Mutants (1st series) #39]
While there, Moonstar ran into a former friend, Pat Roberts. As children and teenagers, they had been close, almost in love, and, one day, while Dani was having dinner with his family they got into an argument during which her powers manifested. Accidentally, she showed everyone present Pat’s greatest desire and fear and she ran away. They never had the chance to talk it out and, now, Pat was angry at her. He insulted her in front of his friends and she had no idea what to make of it, especially as a death image hovered over him. 
When Pat was injured and stuck in a blizzard, Moonstar fought Death in the form of an old gunfighter, trying to save her childhood friend. She did the impossible and drove Death away but, the next day, Death returned in the form of an old Indian woman who convinced her to let him go. [New Mutants (1st series) #41]
During her absence, Magneto realized he had been tricked into transferring the New Mutants by Empath manipulating his emotions. He confronted Emma Frost and, through mindprobes, it was determined that the team wished to return with Magneto, though remaining friends with the Hellions. Once her teammates were back where they belonged, Dani too rejoined the school. [New Mutants (1st series) #43]
As time passed, the New Mutants and Hellions became closer after Magneto joined the Inner Circle and forged a truce between Xavier's people and the Hellfire Club. Mirage developed a bond with her fellow leader, the Apache Hellion, Thunderbird aka James Proudstar, and there were hints that their mutual admiration might've evolved into something more, in time.
However, they were only granted a few private moments, as the duties to their teams kept them on opposing sides more often them not. [New Mutants (1st series) #53-54, 56]
Whereas some members of the New Mutants left, Mirage remained a mainstay of the group and continued to co-lead with Cannonball. Eventually, the New Mutants adopted a new quasi-
teammate - the half-animal, half-sentient bird hybrid Bird-Brain on Rahne’s urging. At one point, the mutants snuck out on a mission to help their new friend, Bird-Brain, against Magneto’s express orders. They became embroiled in a battle with a mad scientist called the Ani-Mator, Bird-Brain’s creator, and the mutant-hating group called The Right. Cypher died during the fight when he saved Wolfsbane by pushing her out of the way when the Animator shot at her. Dani felt horrible afterwards, accepting full responsibility for the incident as she, as team leader, could have stopped the mission or asked Magneto for his help. [New Mutants (1st series) #59-61]
Shortly thereafter, the team learned that their former teammate, Magma, had been captured by the Purifiers, working for the High Evolutionary, who was trying to remove mutants‘ powers. The New Mutants immediately rushed to help her, once again ignoring Magneto’s orders to stay at the school while the professionals handled the situation. Fortunately, they arrived in time, just before Magma’s powers were erased by the Evolutionary's machinery. During the battle, Moonstar was grabbed by the leading scientist and thrown onto the power-removal machine. However, before the process could be completed, some other mutant that had been trapped by the Purifiers pulled a switch that reversed the machine’s calibrations. Instead of devolving Dani’s abilities, they were taken to the next stage.
She now could make her spirit images real, though only one at a time. Whenever she created a new solid illusion, the one before would disappear. It took Mirage some time to get used to this 
new aspect of her power, but finally she came up with a harmless wish. As an “inert form“ of her new gift, she manifested a 'sacred spear' necklace she was wearing all the time, unless she was using her power to create something else. [New Mutants Annual #4]
When Hela attempted to take over Asgard, she infected Dani and the other Valkyrior’s with a mystical fever, surrounding both Mirage and Brightwind in flame. 
Hela planned to use Moonstar to gather humans to her forces to defeat Thor, but Dani’s will was stronger than the Asgardian death goddess had predicted and she fought of the demonic influence for as long as she could. She even created a giant ice machine to put herself in stasis, while the New Mutants went to Dr. Strange for help. However, they were also tracked down by Freedom Force at the same time and, during the battle, the demonic fire burned away the ice from inside. Dr. Strange felt that it was only a matter of time before Mirage would do Hela’s bidding and start killing humans, so he transported her and the other New Mutants to Asgard. [New Mutants (1st series) #77-78]
Once there, Mirage fully transformed into a demonic version of herself, with red skin, fangs, furred claws and talons. Dani still was strong-willed enough to not attack her friends but, 
otherwise, was completely under Hela’s thrall.
Annoyed that she could no longer serve her on Earth, Hela used Dani for another plan. She had her kidnap Asgard’s master forger, Eitri, who she then forced to create a sword made of the mystic Uru metal. Hela enchanted the blade with her own magicks and Moonstar was to use it against Asgard’s all-father, Odin. [New Mutants (1st series) #79-80, 82]
In death, Odin’s soul would belong to Hela, giving her power over all of Asgard. The possessed Moonstar made it to Odin’s bedroom but, in the last instant, Cannonball perfectly timed his flight pattern to be hit by the stroke meant for Odin. While Sam was protected by his blast field, the impact disrupted Hela’s enchantments and the Valkyries, including Dani, returned to normal. [New Mutants (1st series) #83-85]
In the aftermath of this crisis, the New Mutants found a way to get back to Earth, though Dani 
chose to stay behind. She felt responsible for what had happened and wanted to help repairing the damages and restoring the Valkyrior’s reputation. [New Mutants (1st series) #87]
Not much is known about her time in Asgard and Dani only rarely spoke about it or the circumstances of her eventual departure from the Norse realm. As she herself put it, “I fell screaming from the skies, an angel cast out of a heaven I didn’t belong in. I’ve held life in my hands, I’ve stared death in the face. I got tired of never knowing which was the better alternative.” The change reflected in her winged horse Brightwind, who now had black instead of white fur, and was renamed Darkwind.