That’s it, Silver thought, I’m dead. I’ve gone and broken rule number one. I’ve died, I’m dead, it’s over.
This complete, encompassing darkness is death. This utter silence is death. The cold floor beneath him...was death? Probably? It did suck the warmth out of him with incredible speed, and left him feeling alone and desperate.
Then again, he was feeling stuff, and feeling stuff was typically a sign of being alive.
A moan escaped his lips.
No, not his lips, someone else's.
His guard training kicked in before anything else. “Sound off,” he moaned.
“Still here…” Neon groaned.
“Ow…” another voice called. “It feels like I crashed into a mountain.”
“Sniper?” Silver said. “What are you doing here? You were behind us.”
“Sir, saving your flank, sir,” Silk grumbled, as Silver heard the shifting of a pony behind him.
Silver grunted as he got to his hooves. “Well, that’s what you get for doing the medic’s job.”
Neon gave a short, hollow laugh, quickly followed by the sound of a horn ringing with magic. A light appeared, a ball of soft, ever changing light. It danced from orange to red, purple to green, and green to orange once more, throwing the room into long shadows against the multi-colored walls. “So where the heck are we, Boss?”
“Well,” Silver said, grunting, “it’s dark, it’s cold, and we’re surrounded by stone. So, probably the basement, if I had to guess.”
Neon groaned. “Why?”
“Well,” Silver said, “Siren said that the whole spatial manipulation thing was supposed to get us panicked. It could also be used to split us up, for the same reason, I guess.”
Neon groaned.
“Sniper,” Silver called, getting Silk’s attention.
“Sir?” she asked.
“Contact the rest of the team, try to let them know where we are while you follow behind me, Support keep the light ahead,” Silver ordered, before he began walking down the hallways. “Come on.”
“Come in, Alpha Team, come in,” Silk called on her headset.
No answer came.
“Um...Assault, I’m not getting anything.”
Silver nodded. “I was afraid of that. What about you, Support?”
Neon quickly checked. “Nothing.”
Silver tried once on his own, just to be sure.
Silence.
He sighed. “Well, it looks like communications are down for us, team.”
“Great,” Neon groaned. “Well, at least we’re closer to the crypt now.”
“Not necessarily,” Silver replied. “With the whole spatial manipulation thing, the basement could be in the attic for all we know.”
“Thanks, Assualt, you really know how to inspire confidence,” Neon said, rolling his eyes.
“It could be worse,” Silk offered.
“How?” Neon asked.
“Have you not watched a horror movie?” she asked. “The fact that we haven’t seen the ghost yet is a great sign. You always see the monster by this point, so we’re doing great.”
“That’s an odd take on it…” Neon said.
“Nah,” Silk said, “we’re going to be fine. Just remember, no sex, no drugs, no alcohol, and no going off on your own.”
Neon gave her a look. “It sounds like you’ve watched a lot of horror movies,” he said, sarcastically.
Silk beamed with her biggest, proudest smile. “Nightmare Moon Movie Marathon! Every Nightmare Night, haven’t missed a single one!”
Neon shook his head.
Silver nodded. “Can’t say the same.”
“It’s okay, it’s not an easy thing to do,” she answered with a smile.
“No, I’ve never watched a horror movie.”
“What?” Silk all but screamed.
“Not a one,” he said.
“What do you mean you haven’t seen a horror movie?” Silk asked aghast.
“Never watched one. I didn’t want nightmares as a foal, so I didn’t watch them.”
“Not even the old ones?” Silk asked. “Nightmare Moon on Elm Street? Camp Crystal Plains? The Ritualist? Seance?”
“Nope,” Silver said.
“Changeling? Changelings?” she continued. “Look, I’ll forgive you as long as you don’t tell me that you watched Changeling vs. Hunter.”
“Is that the one where changelings come from space?”
“You need some serious re-education,” Silk sighed.
“You…” a hoarse voice whispered, and all three ponies turned.
A mare floated behind them. Her skin seemed to glow a pale blue-green, and almost appeared to be made of tattered rags. She bounced before them, hovering like a buoy on the wind. The only part of her that seemed alive were her eyes, both shimmering a beautiful shade of hazel. “You should not be here...now you have to die.”
“We’re with the D.S.P.I.,” Silver immediately said.
“The...department?” the ghost asked. “Then...maybe you won’t die.”
Silver nodded. “We’re here to find your body and lay it to rest once more.”
The ghost nodded. “Good...Commander Spike was always so nice to me…but...I don’t know the way to my body…”
Silver nodded. “Don’t worry ma’am, we’ll take care of it.”
She nodded, before her body began to fade from view. “Thank you...Please...don’t die.”
Once she was gone, however, the three ponies turned back once more. “So…” Silk began again, “what about newer stuff, like Hacksaw?”
“Nope, never seen that one either,” Silver said, leading his team of three deeper into the basement.
===ᐁ===
Chestnut bust into the room beyond the study, his cannon whirring to life. “Assault! Support! Sniper!”
No answer, simply a lounge with a dusty pool table, and worn furniture.
The rest of the team ran in, with Lemon in the doorway, wedging it open. The ponies ran in, spreading out in the fan-like pattern their Commander had taught them.
“Where are they?” Chestnut asked.
“Somewhere else in the house,” Sweetie Belle told him, hovering behind the team as she did her best to shepherd them inside. “I can’t tell where.”
“I’m not reaching them on comms,” Amber said.
“Oh, no...they must be dead, what a shame,” Mandible said, snarkily.
Chestnut kicked the next door, sending it flying off its hinges. A short hallway met him, and he roared into it. “Assault! Support! Sniper!”
“Heavy!” Sweetie Belle cried after him. “Heavy, stop!”
He ran down the hall, and was about to hit the next door, when Sweetie Belle appeared ahead of him. She stood before him, mouth open wide, and screamed.
The sheer force of the cry halted the heavy in his tracks, and every pony behind them all covered their ears as the piercing wail washed over them. It shook them to the bone, and it sent shivers in their souls.
When the cry ended, the ponies finally began to recover, and they immediately faced the stern face of Siren.
“Stay together!” she growled. “If you go charging in like that, the house will kill you. If you stay together, you will be able cover, if you split, you die. Am I getting through to you?”
“B-but…” Chestnut said, standing, “but Assault, Sniper, and Support are alone!”
“They have each other,” Sweetie Belle said, “and that’s the best they have right now.”
“But what if they die?” Chestnut cried.
“If they die, it’ll be sad,” Sweetie Belle said, “but if all of you die? That’s a failure, and then more ponies will die. I need you to live, understand?”
Chestnut sighed. “Yes, Ma’am…”
The ghost nodded. “Alright, collect yourselves, and we’ll move on. Move into the same room all at the same time, and don’t get separated.”
The group gathered themselves once more, and Chestnut sighed.
He hoped the others didn’t die. He liked the new boss.
He just wished he could remember their names.
The filed into the next room, a dining room with a massive table. The plates were piled high with food, and decorated with enough silverware that the table top glistened. Fruit pies, oat dishes, fried grain patties, all sat, oozing oils and sugar so that it shone in the oddly beautiful light.
No one made a move for it.
At this point they knew better.
“Which door?” Lemon asked as she unbarred the door they just came through, and let it close behind them.
“I’m hesitant about using the double doors,” Sweetie said. “Double doors should only lead to double doors, even with spatial manipulation.”
“So we’re looking for another single door?” Sparky asked, taking lead again.
Sweetie Belle nodded. “That only leaves us with one option…” The door opposite them, on the other side of the table.
“Looks like it,” Sparky said, as the team began to move around the giant feast. They quickly bunched together, getting ready to enter the next room, when Sparky turned the knob.
The door did not open.
He tried again, still nothing. “It’s locked,” he said.
“Keep trying,” Sweetie told him.
“Uh...guys?” Amber said.
“Have you tried pushing it?” Mandible asked.
“No,” Sparky said, turning to the changeling with all the sarcasm he could muster, “I’ve never opened a door before. Please, tell me how!”
“Guys?” Amber called again.
They turned.
The food had spoiled since they turned around, or perhaps it had always been spoiled, and simply revealed itself to them after all this time. What’s more, it began to move. The mush of old, maggot-ridden fruit began to undulate and shake.
“Um…” Mandible said, as the food began to coalesce.
The mush began to rise, a terrifying mass of grey ooze stood on the table, forming pseudopod legs, eager to swallow the ponies alive.
“Heavy…” Sweetie Belle said as the creature rose before them. “Why don’t you work on the door.”
===ᐁ===
“What about The Wabalook?” Silk asked.
“Now I know you’re making that up,” Silver said.
“No, that one is a thing,” Neon said. “Monster from a children’s book comes out of the children's book and haunts a single mother and..what was, her nephew?”
“Something like that,” Silk said.
The discussion of horror movies had continued on for the past half hour. In all honesty, Silver was getting tired of it, but he did his best to add to the conversation, if for no other reason that to steady his nerves. Something in this house was pricking at his will, poking into her side, and shaking his resolve. Talking about movies he had never seen was certainly a distraction from it. That, and Silver was sure the others felt the same. “And it was called the Wabalook? That is the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Well, it certainly isn’t the weirdest movie out there…” Silk said. “There was that one that was about STDs…”
“It Chases?” Neon asked.
“That’s the one,” she agreed.
“What now?” Silver asked.
“It was weird…” Neon said.
“It kinda was…” Silk said. “I mean, I liked it, but it was weird.”
Silver nodded, before he took the corner, and froze. The other two were quick to follow, and likewise stopped at the sight before them.
A door.
A heavy, peaked, wooden door with a massive chain sealing it shut. Gigantic locks held the chains in place, and an arcane symbol, written in blood decorated it’s face.
“Support?” Silver said.
“Well…” he replied. “In my limited experience, that’s definitely a blood seal.”
He dropped his bag, and quickly searched his kit. It took him a moment or two, but he finally pulled a manual from his bag. “Blood seal, blood seal…” he muttered, flipping through the pages. “Ah, here we go. Alright, this looks like it is something called a four-element blood seal.”
“Does it it tell you how to break it?” Silver asked.
“Yeah, and it’s not an easy process,” he answered. “We’re going to need some of the four classical elements.”
“Of course we are,” Silk grumbled. “Why is it always the four elements? What’s so special about them?”
“It could be worse,” Neon said, flipping through the manual. “There’s one here where we would have to find a fresh blood sample that matches the seal.”
“Alright, so...I guess air is easy enough…” Silver said.
“My thermal crystal will probably get us our fire,” Silk offered, motioning to the longrifle on her back.
“I guess that leaves earth and water,” Neon finished.
“Do you think we can throw a rock at it?” Silk asked.
Both Silver and Neon gave her a look.
“What? I’m not a unicorn,” she huffed.
Neon flipped through the manual again. “Hang on, let me...just...check…” He flipped through a few pages. Then a few more. “It...says...it...says…”
He closed the notebook. “We...we throw a rock it…”
A beat.
Two.
“We what?” Silver said.
Silk began to smile.
“We...we throw a rock at it…” Neon repeated. “It’s...it’s in the the manual.”
“I…” Silver said, “I’m not sure how to…”
Silk smiled.
Silver sighed. “Support, go find us a rock.”
===ᐁ===
The monstrous ooze of moldy food was not going to go quietly. It roared, a giant maw of tarnished silverware drooling yet more ooze onto the floor beneath it.
Chestnut slammed into the door, throwing his shoulder into it again and again as the monster began to move for them.
Mandible was swearing up a storm, firing his light pneumatic crossbow ineffectively as the bolts slapped into beast, piercing it’s hide, but little else.
“Why does he have steak knives?” Sparky yelled. “We’re herbivores!”
Sweetie Belle, being dead, did not feel as pressed by the danger of the situation, and watched for a bit. “Well, there were rumors of Mr. Moonlight being a cannibal. We never managed to confirm those, however.”
“Help us!”Amber screamed, while Lemon stood to the side, trying to pick one of her potion grenades.
“Is mold acidic, or basic in nature?” She asked, even though she knew she would receive no answer.
Sweetie, however, took another second or two, before acting. Another wail tore into the monster, forcing its membrane to shake and wiggle at an amazing speed, but still, it did not stop, nor slow.
“What are you talking about?” Chestnut asked, punctuating each word with a slam into the door.
“You can clean mold with bleach!” Lemon said, before she grabbed one of the potions. “I just can’t remember if bleach acts like an acid or base!”
Chestnut slammed into door, and still it did not give. “Just shoot it with one, and if it doesn’t work, use the other!”
“What do you think I’m doing?” she asked, before aiming her Portable Potion Cannon. A satisfying thwump sounded as the glass canister fired directly into the ooze. The canister smashed open on contact, and a clear liquid splashed harmlessly against its body.
The ooze still did not slow.
“Buck! It needs the acid!” Lemon yelled, loading her next potion.
Chestnut slammed into the door again. “Anytime now!”
A long arm of ooze grabbed mandible by the gut. He screamed as the grey slime streaked cross his chitin. “It’s got me! Ugh! It’s disgusting!”
Thwump!
Lemon’s second canister flew forward, smashing into the ooze, this time followed by a hiss as the acid began to work. The ooze screeched, screaming with a voice it should not hear, a voice that made everypony present oddly aware of their teeth.
Mandible fell to the ground, dropped as the pseudopod writhed and curled in on itself. The changeling’s mouth hung open and it looked like he might say something, before he ran behind Chestnut, slamming into the door with the earth pony. “Get you fat flank moving!”
“Call me fat flank again, and you’re going to be guts on a windshield!” Chestnut grunted, before he threw his shoulder into the door once more.
The ooze still screamed, shaking the table and rattling the dusty, crystal chandelier above them, but they all knew it would recover quickly through some sixth sense they could not explain.
“If you would like to remain alive, I would suggest you move,” Sweetie Belle said, hovering above them.
“Really!” Mandible screamed. “Because I was totally planning to just stand here and let it eat me!”
The door still did not give.
The monstrous mold gnashed it’s sharp, silverware teeth, before it drew itself up, like a massive sentinel of goo. Lemon fired again, and another acid bottle smashed against the ooze’s skin.
It writhed again as the acid began to eat away at its flesh curdled.
Chestnut slammed into the door again.
Again.
Again.
Finally there was the sound of splitting wood, and the door came off it’s hinges.
“Move! Move!” Chestnut yelled, before he turned, firing his mini cannon as he stood in the doorway. Bullets made from both silver and cold iron screeched through the air as the team began to rush for the door.
Sparky flew in, followed by Amber, Lemon, and Mandible. Chestnut fired one last burst before he dived in, throwing the now free door back into the doorway, closing off the ooze.
And then, almost as if the door had never been torn from its hinges, it clicked shut.
There was a scream.
“Medic?” Chestnut cried, answering the scream as his world transformed to darkness in the blink of an eye.
No answer.
“Medic? Where are you?”
Nothing.
“Scout?”
Silence.
“Demo? Agent? Siren?”
And then he realized, he was alone.
===ᐁ===
“Okay,” Silver said, as he stood over his small fraction of a team, “we have a rock, a shot from the longrifle for fire, and we’re using the atmosphere for air.”
Both Silk and Neon nodded.
“That means we still need water.”
Neon nodded again. “It’s a shame Lem-er...Demo isn’t here. I know she carries Sun-blessed water.”
“That would be an expensive key,” Silk noted.
“Still, it would probably save us.”
“Yes, but she’s not, so there’s no point discussing it,” the pegasus said.
“So, brainstorming,” Silver interjected, trying to get them back on track.
Neon opened his mouth to speak, when a scream echoed behind them. All three ponies turned their heads and stared into the darkness.
“That...that sounded like our demolition’s pony,” Neon said.
“Get your kit,” Silver ordered, as he drew his silver and obsidian sword.
The others obeyed, shouldering packs, and prepping weapons.
“Support, grab the rock.”
“Seriously?”
Silver looked back at him. “We fell down through a door, I’m not taking chances, here.”
Neon shrugged, conceding the point, before he grabbed their little stone, and began following Silver back down the hallway.
Another scream, this time more masculine.
“That sounds like Scout,” Silk said.
“So it does,” Silver said. “Come on, let’s move out.”
===ᐁ===
Absolute darkness.
Chestnut stumbled in the darkness. His flashlight wasn’t working, his weapon provided no light. All there was was darkness.
Screams, all far away, echoed against unseen walls, and those faint, bone-chilling cries were the only reminders that he was lost in this void that surrounded him.
It was so, incredibly dark…
When the screams went silent, all he was left with was the ragged sound of his own breathing, which sounded far too loud, and the thud of his heartbeat ringing in his ears.
Why was it so dark?
Why?
Where was…
Was there…
It…
So dark.
His hooves were shaking around his mini cannon’s handle, and he quickly began to regret never praying late in his life.
He should have known better, growing up in a Celestrian school. He could still remember his his morning classes beginning with the same morning prayer over and over and over again until he almost swore he would never say that prayer again.
“Celestia is sunlight, warm and nurturing. Celestia is fire, severe and judging. Celestia is hope, everlasting and abundant.
“Kind Celestia, grant me mercy. Mighty Celestia, give me strength. Watchful Celestia, walk with me always.
“Grant me the warmth of dawn, the cheer of noon, and the serenity of twilight.”
He tried reciting the prayer aloud, but the words sounded far too loud for to actually speak those words.
Nonetheless, he prayed them, if only in his head, for the first time in years. The tiny prayer repeated in his mind in a tiny circle of mantras, turning over and over until he wasn’t sure which end he started from.
And then he heard a noise like booming thunder.
“Alpha Team! Alpha Team! Are you out there?” the words roared passed him, but he knew that voice.
“Assault?” he answered back, the sound nearly making him deaf. “Assault?”
“Heavy?” came back an answer.
“Assault!” Chestnut cried again, before a shaft of light shot into his eyes.
“Heavy!” Silver said, before he ran up to the great earth pony. “Where is everyone?”
Chestnut blinked wildly as the light stung his eyes, but he spoke nonetheless. “We ran into a doorway to escape this...ooze thing...and we lost each other.”
Silver nodded. “I was afraid of that, I think the house is getting harder on us…”
More light flooded around the heavy weapons pony as the support and sniper ponies came up around him.
“Do you know where the others are?”
Chestnut shook his head, before he set down his cannon. “Man, boss, am I glad to see you!” he said, taking out a flask and taking a swig. “I was getting worried I wasn’t gonna make it.”
All eyes went to the flask in his hooves.
“Heavy…” Silver asked. “What’s in your flask?”
Chestnut blinked. “Oh! Oh! No! No! It’s not what you think it is! It’s water! I sweat a lot! I need to drink a lot! It’s not alcoholic, I swear!”
The other ponies all looked at each other.
“Heavy,” Silver said, “when we get out of here, I’m putting you in for a medal.”
===ᐁ===
Amber swam in the darkness.
It was a complete and total darkness.
Or, at least, she had been.
She blinked as she stared up at the rough stone above her, and wrestled with the nagging sensation that too much time had passed.
Finally, she groaned, sitting up to find the others all surrounding her. They too were slowly recovering, as if from a dream.
She held her head, groaning.
And that’s when Chestnut, Silver, Silk, and Neon all turned the corner.
“What…” she asked, her mind in a haze. “Assault? What happened?”
“We got through,” Silver explained. “Heavy here got us through, we were able to put Primrose to rest.”
She nodded. “Oh, okay then…”
“There you are!” Sweetie Belle said, appearing through a wall. “Are you all alright?”
“Medic?” Silver asked.
“Give me...give me a couple of seconds, I’ll check everyone once the room stops spinning.”
===ᐁ===
The mission was a success.
When Commander Spike was notified, he was impressed that no one had died, and that they managed put Miss Primrose to rest in record time. Chestnut did not get a medal, but the idea to permanently add water bottles to all kit certainly was considered.
Silver was just happy to be home, where ponies would call him by his actual name. Dropping his kit down in the corner of his room, Silver climbed back up on his bed, with every intent to sleep.
This was then quickly interrupted by a knock on his door. “Silver! Silver! You in there?”
The unicorn sighed, and rolled back off the bed, moving to his door. “What is it?”
The door opened, and Silk stood on the other side, smiling. “Guess what I have?” she asked in a sing-song voice.
Silver remained unamused.
Silk still smiled, before she shifted her wings to reveal a film reel. “This is the original, uncut, unrated Changeling Movie!” she said with a squee. “Can you believe this? Apparently Miss Storm can get her hooves on any movie ever produced in Equestria for the past hundred years! I can catch you up!”
Silver blinked.
Silk kept smiling.
Silver stared.
Silk kept smiling.
“You’re not going to leave me alone unless I watch this.”
“It’s necessary!” she said, her smile finally breaking. “It’s like never seeing Star Mares.”
“Never seen those either.”
She stared at him, eyes wide. “You need serious re-education,” she said, grabbing him with her hooves and dragging him to the movie theater in the rec-room. “You’re coming with me!”