I sighed, steeling my nerves for what I was about to do. The Changeling's fear was palpable, permeating the air around it. It smelled bitter, yet... intoxicating. Like pure ambrosia. As Andromeda's magic worked its way through the Changeling's consciousness, I could almost... feel the intense cocktail of emotions swimming around in its head...
And that terrified me.
I could feel the love, the hate, and everything in between. It felt wrong, so, so wrong, to be able to peel away the curtain of a creature's mind and see everything laid bare for me to see, practically gift-wrapped for me to pick apart and analyze. Normal ponies weren't meant to have this kind of power, not in a million years.
"I'm sorry." I said gruffly, a faint feeling of pity washing over me. the whimpers and cries of the creature whose life I had clutched in my hooves almost made me regret my actions, and for that matter, the one I was about to take.
I relaxed my grip on the Changeling and brought my hoof back. Its eyes were still screwed tightly shut in anticipation of its impending demise. Only...
I never let my hoof fall.
"Apologies for the trouble." I swiftly pulled away from the Changeling and quietly slid out of the booth, Andromeda making sure to grab the tarts off of the table as we walked away. I wrapped my scarf tighter around my neck, as if that would lessen the impact of what I had almost done, or temper the residual bloodlust that was still coursing through every fiber of my being. I knew I could never kill a pony... but Andromeda certainly could. I didn't know if what I was feeling was my own anger and hatred, or simply her playing around in my head.
I mentally huffed, keeping my gaze level and proceeding to exit the train.
The sobs of the insect were replaced with the chirping of crickets and the cacophony of birdsong that permeated Hollow Shades at every hour of every single day. It felt... comforting, to say the least. I hadn't been home in quite some time, and hearing the ambient background noise of my fillyhood home felt soothing and invigorating, like a day at the spa, or having a warm blanket draped over you in the middle of winter. My earliest memories flooded back into my mind, filling me with the sweet, sweet feeling of nostalgia, as well as the softest touch of melancholy.
I was home now. And I wouldn't let the sinking feeling of guilt in my gut stop me from enjoying it while I could.
Hollow Shades is what could best be described as a rural, almost medieval village nestled firmly in its namesake. The large, leafy canopy shrouded it from the sun for most hours of the day, and the houses were built into the trees themselves. Overall? It was... cozy, I think would be the best word I could use to sum up my home town.
"Interesting, indeed. I had not expected you to part ways with it so soon, nor as peacefully as you did." Andromeda noted, dragging the veil of illusory magic over my form once more, giving me the appearance of a unicorn, as well as shoving a custard tart into my mouth.
I snorted, quickly swallowing the treat. "Mmh, killing it would have caused more problems than it solved. Plus, you said these things are supposed to be long gone and extinct, and one popping up here would get Princess Sunbutt and her golden goons so far up our flanks we'd be puking up Sunny D. Better to just let the bug go and hope it doesn't cause us any trouble." I tried to look at it pragmatically, but I think she and I both knew I was just blowing hot air.
She let out a bout of laughter, and if she had a physical body I had no doubt that she'd be choking on her tart. "That is... certainly a way to put it! But alas, I am proud of you all the same, even if I had originally wished harm upon it. You conducted yourself appropriately, and measured the ramifications and consequences of your actions accordingly. It took quite some time for Luna to think before she acted... ah, that brings back such lovely memories."
I chuckled to myself, allowing her to feed me another tart. "Sounds like a fun story." I stopped, noticing something... odd as I walked into town.
There was nopony outside. Nopony going about their day, no colts or fillies playing together or flitting about, nothing. In the absence of the usually jovial nature of the town, trash and balled up paper tumbled around in the noiseless breeze, and the only sound that dared to shatter the pensive silence was the grating sound of crickets chirping their telltale song.
Hollow Shades was never a ghost town. Not like this.
"Uh... where the hay is everypony?" I asked, frozen in place. Posters littered the ground beneath the tree houses, rolling around in the wind. I could still see ponies moving about through their windows, a shivering sensation rolling down my spine as their silhouettes watched me from their windows.
Andromeda made no comment, but lifted up one of the posters and brought it to my face. I didn't want to believe what I saw, but it gave me a sobering realization of why the townsfolk were acting so oddly.
It was a poster of a missing foal, asking for his safe return.
Andromeda swiftly retrieved more of the posters, and they all bore similar fruit. Missing foals. Dozens of them, gone missing over the last few weeks.
Hay, Hollow Shades was a village of a few hundred, there couldn't have been many more foals left.
Not after this.
"Oh dear... that isn't very good, now is it?" Andromeda asked, concern apparent in her voice.
I chewed the inside of my cheek, divining any and all detail I could from the posters. "None of the foals were above the age of ten... not a cutie mark to speak of on any of them... aaaaand they were all stolen away in the middle of the night. Lovely combination we have here, isn't it?" The sinking feeling of fear and concern set in, but I compartmentalized those emotions away. In my line of work, you couldn't afford to let things like this bother you. All that mattered was the truth, and nothing but the truth. A few dead ponies didn't change that. You couldn't allow it to.
I let my shoulders slump a bit as I began trotting away, Andromeda swiftly stuffing a few of the posters into my saddlebags. "So. We are off to see your parents?"
I sighed, scanning my surroundings. I remembered Hollow Shades as a happy place, not whatever it had become in my absence. The lovely, happy village of my youth had been replaced by a dreary, gloomy shadow of its former self.
And that crushed me.
"Yeah. It's been a hot minute since I've seen 'em. Maybe they'll know somethin' about whatever the buck is going on."
The short trek to my parent's house was nothing to write home about. Just more trash rolling around in the wind, a silence too thick for its own good, and the all-encompassing feeling of dread that fell over the sleepy, downtrodden town. Y'know... the usual trio of cliches that you'd find in every cheap mystery flick on the market.
I paused as the large, dark and gnarled oak tree of my youth came in to view. It was... sobering, to say the least. I could vaguely see the form of my mother through the kitchen window, hunched over from a combination of arthritis and old age, her frayed and graying mane held loosely in a bun. I imagined that 'Pa was comfortably resting in his chair, prolly' reading some news article from the week before, quietly sipping on his bottle of liquor as Mom cooked some form of casserole or fruit lasagna.
"Faust, I can smell it from all the way out here..."
I slowly approached the door, my heart racing faster and faster with every step I took, my nerves choosing to fail me when I, arguably, needed them the most. I raised my hoof to the door, the traitorous appendage deciding to shake violently.
Andromeda sighed, mentally rolling her eyes at me. "Oh for... Must I do everything for you?!" She let out an exasperated snort, taking control of my hoof and rapping it upon the door, as well as dropping my disguise.
There was a brief moment of silence, before I heard my father's heavy hoofsteps clomp against the polished wooden floor and mosey over to the door. My ear flicked attentively as the deadbolt was undone with a heavy CLUNK, and the wrought iron door squeaked with the intensity of hinges that hadn't been oiled in at least a decade.
And there, standing in front of me, was my father. Old age had certainly done a number on his looks, but he was still the same stout wall of a pony I remembered from my youth. The faintest hints of a beard were beginning to form across his face, and I could tell from both the scraggly mess of mane he was sporting, as well as the dark bags under his eyes.
"He's been up for a while, hasn't he?"
I smiled bashfully, avoiding his shocked gaze.
"H-Hey Dad."