//------------------------------//
// 2. Seeing in the Dark 
// Story: The Shadow Over Seagift 
// by Monsignor Gabriel 
//------------------------------//


2. Seeing in the Dark


By the time I had reached the outskirts of the village, I was exhausted. I used Fluttershy's cabin at the edge of town as a reference, and landed right next to it. I collapsed on my behind, gasping for air and wiping quite a bit of sweat from my brow with my hood. Breathing deep one last time, I wondered whether Fluttershy had seen me arrive. She wasn't outside. Only her little critter condo was, and she wasn't around it. I creeped up to her window and peered in. She wasn't inside. I could see her pet bunny, Angel, asleep on the floor in the kitchen, probably trying to cool himself in the noon. I decided she wasn't home. This was odd, considering she only does so occassionally, only when she needs to. Most of the time, she prefers to keep to herself and the critters she keeps and feeds and helps on their way. But maybe I was underestimating her. She'd grown more... Normal, as of recently. I wonder now if she was only lonely.

I started to go through a list in my head of where she could have gone as I walked back into town, an exercise at trying to make myself look normally busy. I removed my coat and put it in my saddle bag, and realized the listing was making me feel natural again. I relaxed for once in a few hours, trying not to look as though I'd just been in a secret meeting with the regent of Equestria, given a secret mission to a far away place and then jumped from a moving train. Nopony else seemed to pay much attention as I made my way back home. Back to Spike, to my things. I wondered where my friends were.

I froze dead in my tracks. Through the window, I thought I'd heard a scream. I was right.

"NO PLEASE... DON'T DO THIS!" Spike's voice echoed out.

"Sorry, kid. You forced our hand," said another voice.

"NO! PLEASE! YOU CAN'T!" Spike cried out.

I ran for the door of my house and kicked it open. I remember now the kick wasn't hard enough to slam the door, which is what I was probably going for; it only gave a slight tap; a weak kick I thought strong.

"Twilight! Dagnabbit, girl, we's all been lookin' for ya," said Applejack.

"Good morning, Twilight. So good to see you," said Fluttershy.

"Hi Twilight!" said Pinkie Pie.

"Good near-noon, my marefriend," said Rarity.

"Twilight... 'Sup?" said Rainbow Dash.

"Um... Hi, girls," I said, both pleasantly and unpleasantly surprised.

"Twilight... They made me do it," I heard a familiar voice say from behind them.

"Made you do WHAT? Tell the truth? I oughta..." began Rainbow Dash, annoyed.

"You girls were looking for me?" I asked.

"Eeyup," said Applejack. "Ah was th' first one that made it to yer house, I reckon. Granny Smith made a great big apple parfait for breakfast, but there was leftovers, so ah reckoned I'd give all y'all some. I knocked on th' door and Spike said ya'll wasn't home, that ya'll'd gone over ta Fluttershy's house."

"But you never did. I would have remembered you come, Twilight," cooed Fluttershy.

"I think I was second," said Rainbow Dash. "I was gonna come over to see if you had kept up your flying lesson homework. Spike said you were at Pinkie Pie's."

"But I woulda remembered you, Twilight. Even if I was face-deep in frosting," said Pinkie Pie.

"And that's where I entered the drama," said Rarity. "Spikey-Wikey said you had gone to MY place. And that's when everyone arrived and we swapped the stories Spikey-Wikey told us."

"Ah figured he was lying. And ah was right," said Applejack, looking at Spike and frowning as though she had smelled something stinky. "But it took a little persuadin'."

"What kind of persuading? Were you torturing him? It sounded like it," I said. 

"Yup. I was tickling him to death," said Pinkie Pie, waving a feather around.

"Twilight... It was horrible... I'm sorry... They made me tell you were going away..." started Spike.

"That's alright, Spike," I said, giggling. "There's been a change in plans."

"Plans? What plans?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"Celestia has an important mission for me. I need to go to a town on a diplomatic envoy and meet the mayor. It's a big boom town and she said I should take you guys along. You know, for extra security," I explained.

The girls began to chatter, excited at the prospect of being an entourage for a princess on official business. 

"So... That's it?" said Spike, obviously dissapointed and confused at the hubbub.

"Actually... I need to talk to you about that, Spike," I said, leading him away.

We went up to my room, where we could talk in private. "So, what's up?" he said.

"Spike... The princess thought it would be better if you stayed behind," I said.

"... You're leaving me here," said Spike, looking at his feet as he realized what I said.

"It's for the best. She's executing a ploy. Apparently, someone's been trying to follow me."

"Who?" he said, suddenly very interested. I guess political intrigue can be exciting sometimes.

"I don't know. But in order to convincingly make whoever it is believe I'm still here, there needs to be signs I'm still here," I explained.

"And that'll help you?" he said.

"Yes. If whoever's following me thinks I never left, they'll get confused. I can't be in two places at once, can I? It'll take them a while to figure it out, and by that time I'll be gone from the town," I concluded.

"Well... Alright. I'll get food from the Apples or something... I'll miss you and Rarity, though."

"I'll miss you too, Spike. Besides, by my calculations, the trip shouldn't take more than a week or two. It won't be for too long. You won't have time to miss me."

"OK... I'll do it. This is... Kinda cool," said Spike, his voice lowering furtively, conspiratorially.

"Attaboy," I said. 

We hugged. He can be a great friend sometimes, too. 

I returned back to where the girls were chattering.

"Alright, girls. We'll be gone as soon as you're ready. Tie up your loose ends and try to be ready by tomorrow morning, OK?" I talked over them.

"Eh, I been thinkin' about a vacation anyway," said Applejack, apparently needing convincing.

"Yeah, same here. I was getting sick of working the skies every day," said Rainbow Dash.

"So many new friends I could meet... I'll throw a great party!" Pinkie Pie thought aloud.

"My animal friends have always said I babied them too much. I think they'll be happy that I'm taking a little break. I hope they can fend for themselves while I'm gone..." worried Fluttershy.

"Animals take care of themselves every day, my dear Fluttershy. I don't see why they won't be able to. How about we talk about REAL problems for once. Like how I don't know how much clothing I'll need. One set of luggage? Two? Three? We'll look DREADFUL for the party Pinkie Pie'll throw. I don't want you all or me to look like commoners when we get there! That mayor of the town will probably be a handsome chap and what if he doesn't like..." ranted Rarity.

Rarity's rant went on uninterrupted for nearly 5 minutes. I didn't really catch most of it, I must confess.

"Um... Rarity, I think it'll be fine" I said, finally. "Celestia gave me a sack of bits for the time we're there. Considering how many, we could splurge and still be under budget. So don't worry. Bring as many as you want, I guess. I'm certain we could help you pack for the trip once we're ready."

Somewhat relieved for the excuse to interrupt Rarity, the other girls pushed Rarity out and filed out of my house one by one. My guess was, their loose ends would be minor details compared to the help Rarity would need. Me and Spike were alone again. While I gathered some things from my closet into a steamer trunk under my bed along with my books and papers, I could feel Spike watching me from behind. I could tell he was anxious about asking me about my trip, about the town I was going, and whether he could still come along. It broke my heart to leave him, knowing he wanted to come. I even riled him up by suggesting that it would actually be entertaining and not, you know, serious diplomatic business involving bizarre incidents on a border town. But, like Celestia said, he would most certainly stand out among a host of ponies. Plus, most ponies in Equestria hadn't really seen a dragon, and baby or not, Spike would probably bring too much attention, maybe even more than an alicorn would, and even then, the fact I'm an alicorn isn't immediately obvious if I hide either my horn or my wings or both. 

"Something on your mind, Spike?" I finally asked.

"Just what you can't tell me," he said.

"Oh, just that, eh?" I said, trying to drop the subject.

"Can you at least tell me where you're going?" he pleaded.

"I'm kind of afraid to tell you." I meant it.

"Aren't you afraid of leaving me here, then?" he said, though I think he already knew my answer.

"Ponyville is safe. Everypony here is good and kind. Where I'm going, I'm not sure that's the case."

Spike sighed. "And if you told me, someone might come after me, right?" he said, almost like he knew I was going to say exactly that.

"You got it" I said.

"Well... They already know you're going where you're going, right? So why would they ask me where you're going. If they come to me, they obviously figured out you're not here, so..."

"I said NO, Spike." I cringed at my own harshness. "I'm... Sorry... I can't tell you, Spike."

"... You're not just a little scared, then," said Spike, frowning. "Twi... What's going on?"

"All I know is someone is stalking me and I don't know why. That scares me enough. I haven't even done anything yet. I've only been a princess a few months. I even denied Celestia when she wanted me to go to Canterlot. I couldn't. I couldn't leave my friends, leave you, leave Ponyville, leave my life."

"Well... Maybe they knew Celestia wanted to give this job to you?" theorized Spike.

"Maybe... Maybe they expected it. But that doesn't explain the 'why'. Why do they want to watch me? What are they hiding?" I thought out loud.

"Maybe... If you told me, I could have heard something somewhere and remember..." started Spike.

"Spike..." I said, slightly loosing my patience again. But... Maybe if he was ignorant about it, it would make it better. Just in case they came to see him anyway.

"If I tell you where I'm going... Will you promise to drop it and never speak about it to anypony?"

"I promise" he said. He sat down, eager to listen. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, skip... A loo... I forget. I promise though."

"Fine... Celestia is sending me to a town called Seagift in the north-east" I forced myself to say.

"Wait... Seagift..." said Spike. I could tell he recognized the name.

"You've heard of it before. Where?" I said.

"From Pinkie Pie," he said.

"Pinkie Pie?" I said, smirking, incredulous to the point of doubting it's where he heard it from.

"Yeah. Pinkie Pie told me a story once about a town that was built next to the coast... She said it was haunted," said Spike, voice lowered, eyes bright and wide.

"Haunted by what?" I said. For a second, I thought maybe he had found something I never could... That Celestia never could...

"By a zombie changeling sea cucumber," he said, genuinely terrified by the thought of it.

I could only stare at him for a while. "Sea cucumber, eh?" I said, trying and failing to sound interested.

"Yeah. Is that what Celestia sent you to take care of?" said Spike, sounding as though he thought he'd figured it out.

"Sure," I said, hoping very much he'd latch onto that thought. 

"That's so cool!" he said. "And the guys following you are the sea cucumber's zombie slaves?"

"Yup. Probably. Maybe it's somepony it bribed or something," I said, humoring him.

"Nah. Sea cucumbers don't have pockets."

He trailed off along that same line of thought for the rest of the day, which I welcomed very much. And for the rest of the day, I tried to examine him, to see whether he really believed it. If he did, I was happy because he was still a kid and would be benign in the light of the things that could come for him; keep him safe from the things that came for me in the night. And if he didn't, I was even happier, knowing he was smart, and smart enough to know to act ignorant. And I figured I should at least begin to act accordingly as well. I did take to mind, however, for how long I could keep things to my friends. My calculations on the time the trip would take included the week I would have to stay there to be thorough in my investigation of Seagift plus the two or three days I would spend on the train to get there in the first place. That's 3 days I would be with them where they could pick apart and analyze anything I lied to them about and force me to talk. What horrifying tortures would they have in store for me? 

I stared off into the darkness in disbelief at my own sillyness as I thought about these things while trying to sleep. But I did worry about how I should tell them, because it was inevitable that I would have to tell them if I didn't want to hurt their feelings or make them uncomfortable or scared like I almost did to Spike, and thankfully he was either lost in fantasy or understood the idea that if I told him, he could be in danger of, at best, severe harassment. I couldn't use that excuse with the girls, and even if I could, NOT telling them could actually put them in danger. They wouldn't be mentally prepared for the possible situations that might arise. They wouldn't know to stay alert, to notice if someone is following them on the way home, to write some things down, to help me as much as they could. In hindsight, I was already ashamed for deceiving them with the guarantee of fun in the sun. It was inevitable. I have to tell them. But when? And how?

My drowsyness soon overpowered my worries, and they melted away with my slumber.

I had a dream that night. The first dream I ever remembered for weeks, now that I think about it, though that wasn't the reason I remembered it afterwards and it's not the reason I remember it now.

I was standing at the foot of a great ruin, a city, older than anything I could possibly comprehend, maybe even older than Celestia or Luna could comprehend, but with none of the characteristics or markers or signs or clues that would indicate it as such except for a skyline, but the skyline itself was strange, uninhabitable, not designed for living things: buildings bereft of windows or entrances, whereas others only had one of the two; streets narrow and jagged, zigzagging and circling before ending abruptly; statues of creatures I couldn't identify loomed large, imposing, oppressive, occupying the empty spaces in the sky. The buildings, the statues, their designs blocked out the sun, or the muddy haze of my dreams made it appear so, because I was almost entirely devoured by darkness, capable of sight only a few feet in front of me, and even then tinged with a greenish hue of reflected, refracted, weakened, recycled light. I wondered whether these designs were a feature or a fluke, designed by hooves or by wind and water and time. I slowly realized as I stumbled through the ruins, the buildings and streets blending into each other, that this couldn't be a habitable city. This was a farce, a facade, an imperfect recreation of a city, never intended as such.

I bumped into a wall, and I realized as I regained balance that I was covered in freezing dew, and eroded, liquified stone that had turned into slime. The more I advanced into the city, the more I found the ground beneath me equally aqueous and slippery. My breath puffed in a cloud before me as I struggled, and the freezing humidity in this mask of a city began to make icycles on the hairs of my muzzle. I could only walk further. I could only knock around here and there, blind and lost. I came upon a street greater and larger than any of the others, lined by colossal statues of the same creature, repeating all the way down, like guardians or trees; this city's equivalent of a boulevard or main street? The creatures depicted in plaster and stone were unlike any I had ever seen. Even now, I can't describe what they look like because I can't find words to describe them without making sense. They were alien and monstrous. Their faces drooped and cascaded into strings and strips of flesh, like a waterfall of skin. They were winged, like pegasi, but they were built haphazardly, as though they were broken and reset. I wondered if they could hold any weight at all. I couldn't find any eyes on them. Their hooves were stringy in the same way. They looked as though they could reach and grab, and were probably made for that purpose. I walked down the street, my heart leaping at the creatures depicted by the statues, until I saw something. 

I saw, through the fog, a building greater and more featureless than any I had ever seen in this dead city. It was longer than it was wider, with a great hole that most likely substituted for an entrance symmetrically at it's center, meeting the road with some restraint, judging from the rubble and debris at it's feet. The thought finally hit me, as random as any of them at this time, and incomprehensible to me at the time and hard to form into words at this time: this wasn't just a fake city. It was a monument. It was a temple. It was a graveyard. And this great building before me, it was a mausoleum. It was a Sarcophagus. I climbed the fallen stones that once composed the walls of the Sarcophagus. And I saw, in the dark, great eyes staring back at me.

I woke up at that point. It was morning. My bags were still packed from the night before. Spike was making me a portable breakfast. I kissed him on the cheek goodbye and I sprinted to the train station, dragging my steamer and my saddle bag behind me haphazardly. The girls asked me why I was so pale. I allowed myself to forget it, but my mind never did. I can still see them in here, with me, in the absence of the moonlight; eyes staring back at me in the darkest part of a dead city.