Midnight took a step back. The mysterious mare simply stared back at him.
“Who are you?” he asked her.
She smiled and shrugged. “Oh, I'm nobody.” Her snout straightened. “No pun intended.”
“But I know you...” He shook his head. “Your face...”
She shook her head. “It's not worth remembering anymore.” She crooked her head. “But why come back here anyways?”
“Come back where?”
She smiled. “Where do you think?”
“We needed some place to stay,” he explained.
“You should have stayed in your little pony town.” She scoffed and got up off the bed. “You should have stayed in your little pony town, Masquerade.” She trotted toward him. He trotted backwards in step. She smiled. “Don't look up.”
Midnight looked up. A large crystal stalactite fell from the ceiling. He barely jumped out from under it in time, launching himself back out the door as the spike shattered into tiny pieces on the floor. Her sinister laugh echoed through the threshold as a sudden, chilly breeze slammed the door shut.
Midnight blinked a few times and tried to catch his breath. He shook himself out of it and galloped back to the couch.
Elly writhed under the covers. She felt the blanket’s embrace and pulled her snout out from under it. She locked eyes with a smiling Midnight.
The dust shifted behind him, latching to the wall and forming a message:
“Use the fear.”
It disappeared as he turned to see what she was looking at.
She inhaled through her nose. Fear reeked off his unsettled form. She smiled. “Thanks for the blanket.” She let out a yawn as he turned back to her.
“Yeah, I know how it feels to not want to go up stairs.” He tried to laugh.
Elegiac chuckled along. She pulled herself upright, keeping the blanket around her as she sat up on the couch. She patted the seat next to her and extended the opening of the blanket.
“You look like you could use some relaxation.” She smiled harder.
Midnight felt a cold chill down his spine. He trotted over and joined the kelpie on the couch. He didn't want to mention the strange happenings in the house.
She put the blanket around them both, pushing her body up against his in the process. Her warmth was a welcome change to the manor’s atmosphere, and he instinctively nuzzled into her.
She put her foreleg around him. Her claws rubbed his cold head and caressed his fluffy ears.
“I don't know if I'll be able to sleep in this house again,” Midnight whispered.
“Shh...” Elegiac patted the back of head. “You'll be fine.”
He poked his head up from the couch and looked around the room. There was nothing but dust.
“What did you expect to see?” she asked him.
“I don't know and I don't want to stick around to find out...” He went to move away from her, but her claw grabbed his hoof.
“Midnight,” she said calmly, getting him to turn back toward her. She smiled with a mouth full of fangs. “You’re afraid of something else and it’s starting to make me jealous.”
The ghost mare rolled her eyes. She shook her head at the kelpie before vanishing as Midnight turned back.
“Listen, Elly,” Midnight explained as he scanned the room. “The worst you can do is kill me. But this ghost seems familiar... Like a faded nightmare.” He shook his head. “I'd rather not lose my head again.”
Elegiac rolled her eyes. “A ghost? Really? That is what this is about?” She giggled. “Midnight, you know there's no such thing!”
Midnight turned back toward with a look of disbelief.
She shrugged it off. “What? I'm a soul eater, not a poltergeist.”
Midnight shook his head. “So you know that a consciousness can stick around after the body is gone! You're helping the case for ghosts!”
The ghost mare appeared behind him.
“You're worrying about nothing!” Elly said, matching his tone. “This is just a soul eater thing!”
“But I am not a soul eater!” He pulled his hoof from her claw. “And even if I was, don't you think I'd remember my victims?” He scoffed. “I mean, I'm not you.”
The room spun around Elegiac for a moment. When she regained her composure, she was off the couch, her blanket had landed on the floor and her claws had stopped just short of Midnight’s neck. A crystal white hoof held her foreleg back.
The ghost glared at her. “Bubbles! We talked about this!” The mare turned to check on Midnight. The unicorn was on the ground in shock. The mare sighed and picked him up, giving Elly her misplaced claws back. “You know better than to provoke her,” the ghost chastised. Her crystal hooves helped turn Midnight the right side up. “It's hardly her fault as it is!”
Midnight stood up and caught his breath. “Who... Who are you?”
The ghost scoffed. “Pony life has made you thick, hasn't it?” She smiled. “Well, good. Because once I'm named, all the fear will be gone.”
“Why do I need to be scared?!”
“Because like all beings who think themselves above consequences,” she smirked. “Mortal peril brings out the best in you.”
“And you think you know what's best for me?!” he snarled at her.
She patted his head. She disappeared.
Elegiac smiled stupidly at him. “See?”
Midnight’s brow furrowed. “See what?”
“Midnight, you were talking to nobody.” She scoffed and gestured around. “There is no one here!”
“She... She stopped your hoof!” He shook his head. “Your claws from getting me!” He realized. “Wait, you just tried to...”
“I stopped myself!” Elegiac insisted.
“She called you ‘Bubbles,’” he added.
“Only Advantage calls me that.” She smiled and crooked her head. “You must really miss them to be imagining all that up!”
“Elly, I swear, I'm not--”
“And frankly I could not care less.” She shook her head. “You don't think I can stop myself from hurting you, do you?” She took a step back. “You think I need Advantage to be able to care about you...r safety!” She took another step back and fell onto the couch. “You don't even trust me.” She put her snout into her claws.
Midnight sighed. “Elly, I'm sorry...”
She looked up at him. “Don't lie to me. You don't even know what's going on here.” She looked over toward the wall.
Midnight turned as well. “So alone” was written in gray.
“Midnight.” Elegiac sighed. “There's been enough suffering in this house from the past.” She shook her head. “Why are we adding to it?”
Midnight took a step back. “And you're sure this house isn't haunted?”
Elegiac smiled. “You know when something just spills out of your mouth and you're not sure how it got there?” She exhaled through her nose. “This house makes me feel that a lot...”
Midnight looked up toward the hallway. “Maybe we should step outside and take a breath of fresh air.”
Scratching in the walls pulled their snouts toward the wall near the stairs. “Can't leave” was written in gray. “Can't leave” appeared on the wall behind the couch. It plastered itself on every visible surface.
In a blink of their eyes, the words disappeared.
Midnight took a deep breath. “Well, maybe not just yet...”
Elegiac had yet to blink. She kept reading the words. Everywhere she looked, “tell him” appeared. Midnight’s voice was a blur. She blinked and the fuzziness in her hearing was gone, and the words on the walls with it.
“Yeah, sure...” she nodded. “We should figure this house thing out.”
Midnight smiled and looked toward the hallway and then to the stairs. “Any idea where to start?”
“How about the basement?”
Midnight turned to Elly, confused. “There's a basement?”
She shrugged. “This house makes me say things. So... Probably.”
A cold breeze chilled Midnight’s spine.
“Can't even order a soft drink!” Mirage said as he placed the pizza boxes on the bed.
“Excuse me?” Gravity asked from the bed, unsure of what was confusing her more.
“The pizza place’s soda machine was ‘out of order...’ Like, how does that even happen?!” He hopped onto the bed with the pies.
Gravity blinked a couple times. “You lost me.”
“Don't you know what a soda is?”
She crooked her head. “It has something to do with pizza?”
Desert smiled and shook his head. “Heh, no. It's just a fizzy drink.”
“And I'm guessing that's better than a non-fizzy drink?”
“With something like pizza?” He opened the box and pulled out a slice with his magic. “Definitely.” He put the slice to his lips.
“Just one question...”
He pulled the slice away from his lips. “What's up?”
“What is a fizzy drink?”
“Well, a fizzy drink has what they call ‘fizz,’ which when dranken fills your mouth with a thousand tiny, popping bubbles.” He smiled. “It's what they call ‘refreshing.” He took a bite of the pizza.
“So, Elly, why does Advantage call you ‘Bubbles?’” Midnight asked her as they descended the stairs to the house’s basement. “I mean... Beside the obvious.”
“What's ‘obvious’ supposed to mean here?” She asked.
Midnight shrugged. “You know...”
Elegiac shrugged back, aggressively. “What?”
He sighed. “You know... The whole ‘last few breaths on the surface’ thing.”
She shook her head and scoffed. “Just can't get over the whole Drooling Oasis thing, can you?”
They reached the bottom of the stairs. The entire room was pitch black. Midnight and Elegiac shined magical flashlights around to check it out, but the conversation persisted.
“So are you telling there's more to your name?” Midnight asked.
“See, the problem is you literally take names at face value,” the ghost’s voice echoed from inside the room. The tones bounced inside the changeling’s skulls, frolicking like nostalgia. “Look at me! Do I look like a two-faced liar to you?”
Midnight’s light focused on the source of the voice. A changeling sat in a chair, writing something in a book. Midnight’s curiosity guided his hooves toward the chair while his fears guided the shaking light. The changeling stopped writing. It turned toward him. Its lower jaw was missing.
A series of sounds that Elegiac couldn't understand or recognize sounded off from the other side of the room. She quickly turned her light to find Midnight shaking next to a sheet-covered chair and desk.
“I take it you heard that too?”
Midnight caught his breath in her light. “I take it you didn't just see a freaky changeling?”
She smiled. “Sure it wasn't a mirror?”
“Elly, please don't start.”
Midnight trotted up to the desk and pulled the sheet off. The desk had only dust, which formed a square outline of what could only be left by a book.
“Saw something there?” Elegiac asked him.
“Yeah... It's like they sat right here.” He gestured to the chair.
“Like a memory, right?”
“What?”
Elegiac shrugged. “Ghosts are just those ‘last few breaths’ of whoever lived here last, right? So it shouldn't be too different from soul eating.”
“But souls in a soul eater have their host to keep them around,” Midnight explained. “Houses are inanimate. Ghosts can't be real.”
Lights flickered on by themselves. The crystals shined onto the walls, revealing another message written in dust.
We took them with us. He took the rest.
Elegiac put a claw on the shaking bat pony’s shoulder. “Alright!” she cried out in rage to the empty space. “Whatever is doing this needs to show itself right now!”
The ghost mare appeared to her, smiling just as she did six years ago.
“Duplicity.” The kelpie nodded. “Of course, it's you...”
“You know this... Thing?” Midnight asked.
“One of the Dream Guardians of the wretched hive.” Elly smiled. “They would help us at night, when Advantage slept.” She looked at Midnight. “You rejected their help all that time ago.” She looked around the room before turning back to the mare. “Where's your husband Silence?”
Duplicity smiled. “You know us better than we know ourselves.”
“What's that supposed to mean?” Midnight asked.
“Not you.” Duplicity answered. She turned to the kelpie. “And you've already seen him.” She smiled. “He's hard to miss.”
The lights in the room dimmed back down. By the time Midnight had his flashlight up, Duplicity was gone.
Sharp claws pinched Midnight’s hide. He screeched out, making a bizarre sound. He slowly turned to the kelpie.
She smiled back at him. “You alright?”
“What did you do that for?!”
“Just making sure you were awake.” She chuckled. “Didn't know you had such a vocal range.”
He shook his head and sighed. “If Luna is any indication, dream guardians often have waking lives.” He shrugged. “Then again, I don't remember any crystal ponies in the wretched hive.”
A cold draft pulled Midnight’s gaze to a wall. The dust had settled into a new message:
Only through breaking ourselves do we grow. There is no reason to fear pain or death, except to fear our own growth.
Midnight crooked his head. “I can't tell if it's profound or just stupid...”
“Definitely something Advantage wouldn't agree with,” Elegiac noted. “They absolutely hate death.”
Midnight nodded. “Yeah. If they actually believed this I might have stuck with their hive instead.” He chuckled and shook his head. “Man, I was out of it back then...”
“You weren't that bad.” Elly giggled.
Midnight looked at her. “Yeah, I suppose it's hard to compete with your record.” He chuckled awkwardly. His gaze went back to the wall.
“Break me.” was all that was written now.
“Did a draft change it?” Midnight asked, desperate for a subject change.
Elly shook her head. “No... It just... shifted.” She took a step back. “How much do you know about this Empire?”
“I mean, I lived here for what feels like a year...” He shrugged. “Why do you ask?”
“Because I just stopped some words from pouring from my mouth.” She grinned nervously. “I'm hoping it's not correct.”
“What were you about to say?”
“Crystal ponies don't make dust...”
Midnight's eyes widened. He looked at the bottom of his hoof; there was no sign of dust. Memories flooded back to confirm that this is the first time he's
ever seen dust in the Empire.
Words welled up in his throat. They weren't his own. He opened his mouth.
“But changelings will... When they are killed.”
Duplicity clapped slowly. The dust blew off of the wall with a draft. The lights flickered back on as the dust all fell into a single spot on the floor, right next to the ghost mare.
“Well, well, well...” The lights flickered around the ghost. Fangs protruded from her snout. “Looks like you two know too much.”
The lights went out.
Two days later...
Thunder stood at the train platform. The morning air sent a chill down his spine. He looked at the clock and then to the gate. Finally, Desert and Gravity appeared, rushing to join him with just minutes before the train would leave.
“You know, if I wouldn't have to answer to the Colonel, I'd’ve just left you two behind,” Thunder explained as they boarded the crowded train to the Empire.
“Har har.” Gravity rolled her eyes. “Did you get any word from Midnight?”
Thunder looked back at her for a brief moment. “No. You?” He scanned car after car for empty seats.
“I'm worried.” She shrugged. “I guess I shouldn't be, though... I mean, he did survive two Gormans and two changeling queens now.” Her eyes widened. “How are we going to tell him about Advantage?”
Desert Mirage put a hoof on her shoulder with a smirk.
“Don't you dare!” she said before he could even imply something.
“Let's just focus on finding a seat, alright?” Thunder reasoned. “We have a full overnight trip to figure this out!”
“Excuse me!” a blue earth pony beckoned to the team. He gestured to the empty bench on the other side of himself and his own companion, a skinny, orange pegasus. “I think this might be enough seats for you three?” He smiled. “If you don't mind sitting next to a couple of strangers...”
“Not at all!” Thunder sat down and scooched to the window seat, allowing Gravity and Desert plenty of room to squeeze in. “Crowded, isn't it?”
“But quite exciting!” the earth nodded. “My friend and--oh... Where are my manners? We haven't been introduced yet!”
Desert turned to stare off into space, his hooves bored without his spear. Gravity rolled her eyes and sighed before lowering her head. Thunder smiled.
“The name’s Thunder Sword.” He glanced at his friends. “Don't mind them. I don't think they got enough sleep last night.”
The blue pony nodded. “It's fine. My friends call me Brucie!” Gravity picked her head up, her eyes wide. “And this is my friend, Squee!”
The skinny, orange thing waved at the three of them. Gravity smiled.
She crossed her arms and crooked her head as she looked over them. “Brucie and Squee, huh?”
Brucie smiled smugly. “Heard of us?”
The two parties inhaled through their noses to confirm each other’s changeling scent.
“After some of the trouble you've two have gotten into...” She shrugged. “I guess it's no surprise that the Queen left you two behind.”
“Changelings?!” Desert and Thunder asked almost simultaneously.
“Keep up, boys...” Gravity smiled at Brucie. “So, one question, and I promise it'll be quick.”
“Go for it,” Brucie nodded.
“Does the term ‘wretcher’ or the name ‘Advantage’ mean anything to either of you?”
Brucie and Squee looked to each other and back. They shook their heads. “Can't say that we have any clue.” Brucie crooked his head. “Should we know?”
Gravity shook her head. “Just making sure that we really are done with those freaks for good is all.” She chuckled. “Well, for the most part... We're on our way to meet our friend, who's taking care of a monster in the Empire.”
Brucie nodded. “Don't suppose you'd be willing to answer a couple questions for us now?”
Gravity reluctantly nodded. “That would depend on what it is...”
“Well, you never told us your name.”
The griffin chuckled awkwardly. “Of course. My name is Gravity.” Brucie and Squee crooked their heads. She sighed. “But I believe you knew me by that disgraceful name: Vertigo.”
Brucie and Squee’s eyes widened. Squee screeched. “You're Verti--!”
The first two syllables alone had the griffin giving him a death stare.
Squee’s mood deflated like a balloon. “...bird?” He crooked his head. “What was your new name again?”
“Gravity.”
Squee nodded with forced enthusiasm. “Alright. I'll definitely remember that!”
Brucie cleared his throat. “We haven't seen you since before the hive fell... What have you been up to this whole time?”
Gravity smiled and leaned back. “I should ask you two the same question.” She exhaled through her nose. “I've been working with changeling immigration here, and trying to survive some rather... Unsavory applicants.” She shrugged. “What have you been doing with your freedom?”
“Traveling. Seeing the sights.” Brucie chuckled. “Understanding better why they call them ‘tourist traps.’” He shrugged. “Equestria Games are just our next stop...”
Gravity smiled and leaned forward. “Well... Why don't you join us here in Equestria? Get yourselves an actual home?”
Brucie rubbed his chin in thought. Squee bounced up and down.
“Anyone else that's immigrated that we know?” Squee chirped.
Gravity half-shrugged. “Well, you would have known him as Foresight.”
The pair of changelings turned their widened eyes to her, stilling their bodies.
Brucie shook his head and leaned back. “There's no way we're being a part of the same kingdom with that freak again!”
“He killed Dreary!” Squee added. “You remember Dreary, right?”
Gravity put a claw up to Brucie and turned to Squee. “What happened?”
“After you left, Chrysalis sent Dreary and some others to take Foresight down... But he just killed them all!”
Gravity tried to pace her breathing. “It sounds like self-defense to me...”
“Foresight ran into the desert!” Brucie added. “They followed. Foresight came back alone.”
“Were there missing ponies involved in all this nonsense?” the yellow unicorn asked.
“Who are you?” Squee screeched at him.
“Desert Mirage.”
Squee nodded. Brucie thought for a moment before answering. “Yes, actually...” He shrugged. “But that's hardly here nor there; Foresight sabotaged the whole operation in the first place, plus the prior changeling disappearances...”
“Oasis,” Desert whispered to her.
“And what he did to Compass!” Squee added to Brucie’s list.
“What did he do?”
“Ripped his leg off and tossed him out of the hive!” Squee screeched.
Brucie smirked. “He got better.”
Squee crooked his head. “Yeah, still not sure what happened there...”
A leg mysteriously reattached? Gravity smiled. “Oh, I think I have an idea...”