A full day had passed since Gorman killed Gravity. Thunder Sword and Desert Mirage found themselves back at the base with nothing to do. Desert sat in the corner, rubbing and whispering to his precious jar. The jar glowed more subtly with each passing hour, the dead changeling inside fading away as her remains stagnated. Thunder shook his head and trotted down the hall toward Midnight's office. Assuming he could get in, Thunder believed he could find something that might just bring Gravity back again, or at least delay stagnation long enough for Midnight to return. He turned slowly to the door to the office and was knocked out of his contemplation by the sound of papers rustling inside.
"Midnight?" he asked, pushing the unlatched door open with his hoof. Sure enough, the purple unicorn was home, rummaging through some drawers such that his two furry bat ears stuck up from behind the desk.
"What do you want?" he snarled, picking his head up to glare at Thunder.
"You're... You're back already!? What happened with Advantage?"
Midnight rolled his eyes behind his glasses. "Well, they apparently didn't want me around, so they threw me into a lake."
"A lake?"
He shrugged. "All I know is that I woke up in Canterlot with a bad headache and a worse song stuck in my head." He turned from the pegasus back toward the drawers. "I'm just trying to remember where I put my medicines... You go do whatever it is you're doing," he said, twirling his hoof around as his head was now obscured by the desk.
"Oh, right!" Thunder turned to gallop away, but hesitated. "Stay here; I need to show you something."
"This better be good," Midnight grumbled to himself as the pegasus galloped away. "No, I don't think he suspects anything," he whispered in a lighter tone of voice to himself. "We just have to find that evidence..."
Before he knew it, Thunder was back at the desk with a green jar. He placed the jar on the unicorn's desk. "Midnight... We found Gravity." He sighed and averted his eyes from the other's. "She's... She's dead. We were investigating that mansion and Gorman was in the basement with her. He slit her throat right in front of us."
Despite the full explanation, Midnight maintained a straight face.
"Please!" Thunder begged. "You've got to save her! I know you don't like that she's Desert's girlfriend but Desert's become a complete psychopath since she died!"
Midnight finally sighed, then smiled. He sniffed at the jar. "Girlfriend, huh? Fine. I'll bring her back, but you need to go." He gestured to the door while his eyes focused on the jar. "This is going to take all my concentration and I can't have you breathing down my neck."
Thunder left Midnight alone with the jar, the door slamming shut behind him. The changeling looked over the green light and grinned, baring its fangs. "Dead changeling girlfriend, huh?" His tone was softer again as he unscrewed the lid. "O come on... Not one of these lids..." he remarked before carefully removing the thin piece of metal from the top with his hoof. "So much easier to do with claws," he murmured, placing it carefully with the rest of the lid.
Finally, the jar was open. The changeling lifted some of the goop from the jar with his horn. "I haven't fed on love-enriched flesh in years..." He said in anticipation. His fangs bit into the green. His eyes and cheeks widened as his gag reflex saw him spit the goop back into the jar. He continued to cough and spit for several more seconds in a futile attempt to get the taste out of his mouth.
"You alright, Midnight?" Thunder called from the hallway.
"Fine... Fine..." the changeling said, with coughs and gags breaking up his speech. "Could you get me a..." More coughing covered up Midnight's lack of a word. "Could you... Get..."
"A glass of water?" Thunder finished.
"Yes!" Midnight exclaimed. "Yes! Do that!"
The changeling glared down at the jar as the sounds of Thunder's hooves escaped his range of hearing. He spat one last time. "Of all the store brand ripoffs..." He paused, letting the anger come to a boil. "You are a wretcher! You're a complete wretcher! No love in there at all." His hoof reached out in anger to push the jar off the desk, but it hesitated. "No... No..." he whispered to himself. "Respect for the dead. As you always say... Respect for the dead." He stretched his hooves while his eyes stayed fixed on the jar. "Well, only one way to solve this," Midnight said in his soft voice.
A green glow pulled his eyes to the floor, where an orb-shaped light lied trapped in a transparent, blue tentacle. He crooked his head toward it.
"What do you mean, 'not important?'" he asked the light. "Sure we don't know who this is, but finding out could make all the difference." Midnight paused and listened to the silence of his solitude. "Because his subordinates care. We can see exactly what company they keep!" He looked up at the door for a moment and his ear twitched. "Shhh... Quiet. I just need your help identifying this lost soul..."
The tentacle lifted itself off the ground. A glance behind him revealed the tentacle shared its base with his tail. The blue wrapped around the jar and the green orb moved around within its oozy cage as it scanned the other green light. The blue reached over the top of the jar and squeezed into the opening; the orb soon followed its trail.
The door slammed open as pegasus entered briskly with a glass in tow.
"Would it kill you to knock!?" Midnight screamed at him in shock.
"How's Gravity doing?" he asked, ignoring the purple unicorn's concern as he placed the glass of water on the desk.
Midnight sighed. "Are you sure this is her? I'm not smelling a whole lot of love..."
"Wha-?" Thunder said in bewilderment. "I saw her die..."
"Did she say or do anything that assured you she was really herself?"
Thunder shook his head. "She didn't have a chance. She couldn't move and there was a blade at her neck..."
Midnight sighed again. "Listen... You. I'm thinking that this isn't actually any girlfriend." He shook his head. "The evidence just isn't happening."
The pegasus squinted at the changeling for a brief moment before turning away. "Then who is it? Who did Gorman kill?"
Masquerade shrugged. "Beats me. But it wasn't a girlfriend." Thunder turned back to him and Midnight waved him away. "Go tell the boyfriend. Now."
Midnight looked down at his tentacle still stuck in the jar. Thunder turned away again and trotted out without even a second glance.
"Have you finished yet?" Midnight whispered.
The tentacle retreated from the jar's opening. It slithered back into obscurity, disappearing into thin air and leaving the green light to fade out.
"It doesn't remember what it is?" Midnight asked the empty room. "Really?" His eyes widened and he paused to listen to nothing. "So it's true then... They wouldn't want to fix what Gorman intentionally broke if they were on the same side." Midnight sighed deeply.
The white pegasus reappeared at the door. He knocked twice before stepping inside. "Everything alright?"
Midnight shook his head. "Now what do you want?"
Thunder closed the door gently behind before drawing his knife. "Where is Midnight? The real one."
"I already told you that." The purple unicorn looked into his eyes, grinning with a mouthful of sharp teeth. "Advantage had him thrown into my waters. It's what you might call a 'death sentence.'" A giggle shook his face subtly. "Would you like to join him?"
Thunder took a step back. "Mirage!" he called back to the hall without taking his eyes off the imposter. "Get in here!"
"What's going on now?" the unicorn called back before trotting into view with his spear. "Can't a guy polish his--" The sight of Midnight so soon caught him off guard.
"Desert, this is another changeling posing as Midnight and telling us we can't save Gravity." Thunder took a couple steps to get completely out of the way.
"WHAT?!" Desert screamed in rage.
The monster behind the desk flinched as Desert's glowing spear discharged a blast of magic at him. The eight tentacles that lied in the creature's subconscious, each an extension of its power, took a more solid form. Splitting off from the tail, they quickly wrapped over the front of the unicorn to block the blast. The impact briefly blinded the ponies and managed to rip the monster from its form.
Standing before them now was neither pony nor changeling. It had webbed hooves that sported small spikes that seemed to function like claws. The beast's head had discolored Midnight's ears, but kept their fluffy bat form. Its entire body was a sparkling black, as though someone had spilt glitter on a changeling. Its eyes were strangely reptilian and green. Its snout was thin and elongated, and filled with sharp fangs. Its body was adorned with fins where most ponies had tufts of hair, with exception only to its familiar ears.
Mirage charged his spear. The monster twisted its semi-transparent tentacles into an opaque single form: a fish-like tail, and bolted past the ponies and out of the room. Desert chased after it with his spear aglow, and Thunder chased after Desert with his knife sheathed. The pursuit spilled out of the doors and into the streets, where the fish-monster believed it could lose the ponies as it hopped fences. Thunder spread his wings and flew over the obstacles; Desert charged through. The imposter headed in a straight line, making it easy for Thunder and Desert to make up lost time. Then the creature skittered into the familiar mansion.
The sight of the broken door frame only made the unicorn faster and angrier. The ponies followed the sound of the monster's steps and anxious breath. It took them through winding hallways they had never traveled. Then it disappeared. The sounds had stopped and there was no sign of the fishy tail around any corners. The only door in this room was a windowed screen that looked out upon the mansion's backyard. Vines and weeds cluttering the view and the door, especially around the rusty locks and latches, had the ponies look everywhere else for the fugitive. It took them a few minutes to realize that it may not have needed to use the door.
Beyond the green that covered the door, there stood a dry fountain covered in more vines. The shapeshifter sat on its edge and watched the overgrown door carefully. Its tail split into the eight tentacles and flopped around the dry pool, slowly filling it with water of their own.
"C'mon..." the snout muttered in a feminine tone. "I know you're there..." She took her eyes off the door for a moment to check the water's conditions. "I need your help here..." she whispered anxiously. "Please..."
The vines on the door shook. The door itself was too rusted and overgrown to work, but the changeling knew the unicorn would find a way through.
The fountain waters bubbled. She sharply exhaled and reached into the sparkly yet murky waters with her hooves. Her webbed hooves pulled Midnight from the depths of the shallow fountain. She hugged him. She kissed him over and over. Midnight pushed her away. She waited for him to catch his breath and try to talk. Her snout went straight for his open mouth. Her claws massaged his belly as he gagged on her mouth within his. Finally, she removed her face from his, a long blue tentacle between her teeth. Midnight coughed at the sights.
"I... I don't believe we've formally met," he said, out of breath and hiding his disgust of what she pulled out of him.
The other changeling placed the tentacle with the others, and they quickly blended into the fish tail. "Less talky..." she whispered, cutting him off as she cowered behind him. "More saving me from a crazed lunatic!"
The vines and rust gave way to Mirage and Thunder's strength as they broke through the glass to make it outside. Desert galloped up to the pair, his spear glowing brighter and brighter.
"Stand down, Mirage!" Midnight commanded. "It's me! What's wrong with you?"
Desert stood there. He glared at the two changelings. His spear did not lower in brightness or readiness.
"Midnight?" Thunder called from behind the enraged unicorn. "Midnight, you're alive!"
"Thunder!" Midnight smiled for a brief moment. "What's going on?"
"I was kind of hoping you could tell me." Thunder replied. Midnight glanced at the stoic and angry Desert looming over them. "Oh right... Yeah..." Thunder's voice trailed off. "Midnight... I'm not sure how to say this, but Gravity is... Dead."
"Dead?!" the purple unicorn asked in shock. "You're sure?"
Thunder nodded. "Gorman slit her throat in front of us."
"When?!"
"Last night. We saved her remains, but your changeling friend insisted it isn't her," Thunder explained, gesturing toward the fish-like changeling behind Midnight.
The purple unicorn turned to her. "Is this true?"
"Which part?" she asked. "That I told him that or the thing itself."
"The one that doesn't run my patience out."
She nodded. "It's all true." She forced a grin, trying to keep her lips covering the rows of sharp teeth. "Those remains did not have a trace of love in them. It tasted like pure wretcher and my soul manipulation didn't pull up anything."
Midnight turned back to the ponies. "Alright, let's go back to my office. I want to see these remains for myself. And my glasses." He rubbed his bare snout with his hoof. "I can barely see anything right now."
"What about her?" Desert asked in an ominous tone.
Midnight looked at the fish then back to the unicorn. "She'll come along with us." He looked at her. "I have a few questions for you, if you don't mind."
The changeling looked at him, then to Mirage and his spear, then back to him. She leaned in to whisper something while her tentacles slipped into the fountain behind her.
"I really like your ears," she whispered. She quickly jumped into the pool behind her and disappeared into the shallow depths.
Desert's lasers did nothing to the water in the fountain except turn it green. With a flash, it was dry. The sea creature was gone.
"Forget her!" Midnight shouted over the sound of Mirage's spear shooting the fountain. "Let's just get back to the office!"
They galloped back into the comfort of their headquarters. The jar sat on the desk, barely glowing at all now. Midnight looked around it and finally found his glasses on the floor.
"Shame about that changeling," he said, rubbing his glasses on his chest. "She could have been reformed. Probably." He placed the glasses on his snout. "So, what do we have here?" He opened the jar and put his snout in it. He quickly removed it and shook his head. "Nope."
Thunder crooked his head. "Nope?"
"I know Gravity's remains," Midnight explained. "This isn't her."
Desert's jaw dropped. "But we saw..."
"A wretcher. A decoy." Midnight rubbed the side of the jar.
"So where is she?!" the unicorn almost screamed.
Midnight sighed. "That is what I intend to find out." He picked up the jar and trotted past them. "Come on! We've got a train to catch!"
Gorman the Tenth slowly removed his armor and placed it against the wall. He looked down at the wound the spear blast had left him with days before. The bleeding had stopped for the most part; it was the strange mucus that the infection had produced that worried him the most. He patted the spot with a white cloth; it came back light red. He sighed and looked to the door on the far side of the room.
There was a knock on the door.
"Enter!" he commanded.
A diseased changeling trotted through. This one's main problem was the tiny third eye in the center of its forehead, at the base of its horn. It smiled at the griffin and kneeled.
"I thought I told Disadvantage to not sent his wretchlings to me..."
"Your highness," it spoke with its high pitched voice. "Disadvantage has been captured by the twins!"
"What?!"
"I flew here as quick as I could, sir!" the wretcher pleaded. "I'm afraid there's not much hope for him..."
"There's always hope, soldier," Gorman said without making eye contact. "The Advantages don't kill quickly."
"Sir... They've summoned the Drooling Oasis!" the wretcher warned in a panicked voice.
Cryptic warnings were his least favorite. "And I'm supposed to know what that is?"
"It's a being of pure darkness, sir. A body that can command the water, a voice that can control the soul, and a thirst for blood that never ends."
Gorman plucked at a feather near his wound. The wretcher just stared at him for a moment. "Oh," the griffin said as he realized. "That all?"
"She used to be a heartless souleater. Now Advantage holds the reins, but she's been away for too long for me to know if anything else is true anymore..."
"Noted," Gorman replied. "Do continue, and don't leave out a single detail."
"Well... She used to be friends with Redemption before she had him killed. She has claws that can pierce exoskeletons. Advantage tamed her after forcing her to rip herself apart... Her nine tails are now only used for self defense, nothing else." It paused to take a breath. "Then there's the water. She can make pools of sparkly water out of thin air and use it to teleport farther than any changelings... She eats anything lured into her pools, and I mean anything. Her endless hunger is what earned her the title 'the Drooling Oasis.'"
"Now is that all?" Gorman asked his scout.
"All that I know, sir, except for one detail."
"Spit it out!"
"She... She killed Midnight, sir. No one comes out of her waters alive." It shook its head.
Gorman turned from the wretch, looking at the armor next to the wall. "So, it is done." He looked toward his sword, and its clean, shiny blade. "And you say that Disadvantage is dead already then?"
"Well, with Advantage controlling the Oasis now I can't say for sure."
"Then go find out." Gorman pointed to the door.
"Sir?!" the distressed triclops pleaded. "You can't... You can't just spy on the Oasis!"
"I know." Gorman smiled. "That's why you're doing it." He turned from the scout. "I want whatever's left of Midnight. Just something that tells us he's really dead. But getting your leader back should have top priority, even over your life!"
"Under..." It gulped. "Understood, sir."
It reluctantly scampered out the door. It looked over its shoulder in the threshold in hopes that Gorman might reconsider. The griffin was silent. The door slammed shut behind the wretcher.
"Fools." Gorman sighed and looked back to his blade. "Gunter is in trouble and they're scared of a ghost story. Advantage's are so superstitious it's ridiculous!" He looked to the third party, trapped in the corner of the room in a cage. "We can't make a pilgrimage by ourselves." He shook his head. "I can't carry you all the way back to the Kingdom."
The silhouette in the cage curled up as if it was going to sleep.
"Sure. Ignore me while you can. But if Midnight is gone, then your friends will never discover the ruse." Gorman chuckled. "They'll never come looking for you, Gravity. And soon enough, they'll stop looking for me as well."
Movement in his peripheral turned the griffin's head to the corner of the room. A strange, spiked vine was reaching out from a crack in the floor. Gorman smiled.
"Yes. Very soon."