//------------------------------// // 26: Into the spooky house! // Story: An Exercise In Management // by Nameless Narrator //------------------------------// Day four since we arrived in Canterlot. Things are going… mixedly. Is that even a word? I mean ponies have loads of words, so it might be. First, the good things. Three has been relentlessly mapping the mine tunnels, and it turns out the complex is HUUUUGE! By now, we’ve managed to gain access to upper Canterlot sewers, a bunch of lower Canterlot houses, and… ...the castle. No, I’m not kidding. Midway through the mountain there are crystal veins ponies seemingly left so fast they didn’t even stop to pick up their equipment. Three was pretty shocked when he stuck his head up a hatch, and ended up facing a wooden pony wearing Royal Guard armor. The poor guy almost had a heart attack when he turned his head and saw another twenty. Yep, that route leads to Canterlot castle armory. Three quickly put one armor on, entered a long, crystalline hallway disguised as a Royal Guard, and looked out of a big ornate window down at upper Canterlot and loads of Royal Guards running around the lawns surrounding the castle. Needless to say, Three nearly gooped himself when I sent him back there after he got back and he had to run away from “Shuffles” again. To my complete surprise, he wasn’t actually scared of the abomination itself, but more of the Royal Guards he might potentially meet. On the bright side, now we’ve got a set of Royal Guard armor for everyone. Eight is still mad at me, or maybe even more, as if it’s festering inside her. I’m mad at her too for showing her true colours. Hive mind’s constant pushing her forward isn’t helping matters. Now that I think of it, she really is what a Queen should be - driven, powerful, ruthless if need be… I’m now sure that if she was in charge, all the nice ponies from Wet Soil would just be feeding a fresh army of changelings. The thing is… her submissive desire doesn’t fit the bill. Although ever since Ten’s words she hasn’t shown even the slightest hint of it. Am I missing something? Anyway, I thought about it, and I think she overheard what Ten said, her senses are top notch after all, and put two and two together when I started acting more careful around her. I don’t know how to fix things. I liked it when she was happy playing my little pet while being my best source of advice. On the bright side, if there is any, the time she’s not wasting talking to me she spends relentlessly hunting for love all over lower Canterlot. The network of contacts she’s made in such a short time is astounding, and since she’s never focusing on one particular area, she’s minimizing the risk of being noticed by guards. Well, that’s Ten’s experience talking. Speaking of which, Four has been doing the same, although on much smaller scale but with far crazier results. She’s still on edge whenever she’s outside, and likes it when I’m riding inside her for comfort, but she doesn’t let her nerves stop her. Unlike Eight who is focused and methodical when hunting, Four feels looser when chatting up ponies, throwing out a smile here, a friendly nod there, and a wave or two even when she’s not going for the target. By now, Four has met the middle-aged policepony who saved her from the drunkard twice, once even spending some time with him on patrol. We learned few important things from those encounters. One, only unicorns can scan changelings. Two, the police is separated from the Royal Guard, albeit they go through the same training initially, which means they are focusing more on crime than on changeling hunting. Three, they are still ponies, and Ground Brew. the policepony, was more than flattered by Four’s attention. Four, while she can’t hold nowhere enough love as Eight, it’s extremely easy for her to absorb and store it. Where it took Eight a wild night with two ponies to bring back a proper ‘chunk’ of lust capable of sustaining all of us for few days, Four’s gentle and friendly approach grants her genuine affection which tastes delicious. I’ve… never had anything like it before, not in the hive, nor from Eight’s hunts in Wet Soil. In short, we’re in as good shape as we can be, I think, and it’s up to me to think of the next step. *** My mental link flares up. "King, we’ve got visitors." “Whuh, what?” I mumble to myself, shoving saddlebags off of myself. Don’t ask, for some reason whenever I fall asleep either Three or Four cover me with them for warmth. I’m not sure why the two do that, but I guess it helps when I tend to lie on the ground most of the time. I get all my legs under control while trying to answer the mental message from someone who has never talked to me like that before. ”Eight? How? You can talk to me now?” "I have enough love to experiment. It’s tiring, but convenient. Just get upstairs fast, we need you moving. We might have to get out fast." I trot up the stairs, and immediately drop on the floor when I spot Three crawling, Four hiding under a windowsil, and Eight quickly peeking through the drawn curtains. It’s dark outside, so the beam of light immediately cast at the spot she’s been looking out from can’t be missed. Eight immediately whispers: “Three potential hostiles outside. They have been peeking through the windows and walking around the house since the sunset.” “Are three a problem?” I whisper back, “We can always catch them and scramble their heads.” “We don’t know if there isn’t anyone else outside waiting for their return. We don’t have any story prepared so that their memories would match, and Four and I would take hours to remake the memories of three ponies. My idea is to get out immediately despite it being obvious that someone has been in this house recently with all the disrupted layers of dust. What does your precious Ten say about situations like these?” Aaaand here it is. Actually, I’m not going to indulge her paranoia. What DOES Ten’s experience say about a situation like this? “Ehm...” Four raises a hoof. I grin at Eight. “SHE is my Ten’s experience. Let’s hear it.” Four withers a little with three pairs of eyes on her, Eight’s stare trying to burn new holes in her chitin. Keeping her voice low, she explains: “If we can’t change their memories without leaving physical bite marks or other proof we’re behind it, then, if they are normal ponies, we can make them LIVE it. Ten knew a lot about pony culture, even what he calls ‘low culture’ and I’ve got an idea. Let’s start with the simple things, and if that fails, we’ll try the… stranger stuff. King, I’ll need you to coordinate us, I can’t speak to others directly via the mind links. Miss Eight, you’re first. Can you grab one more Royal Guard armor, please?” Alright, let’s do this. *** Quick Scoop, a white unicorn with simple brown mane and a cutie mark of a camera, stopped observing the supposedly haunted house and slunk back to a nearby alley. Searchlight and Folded Paper, his companions - a blue-maned, yellow unicorn and an overall grey pegasus respectively, were already waiting there, eager to plunge into what could easily be a scoop, heh, of the year… aside from the changeling invasion itself, of course. The crew, as they called themselves, were scouring lower Canterlot for haunted houses, paranormal activity, and magical anomalies for months, and they have found many - abandoned research labs, tentacles in the sewers under the pipes leading from upper Canterlot mage quarters, but nothing EXTREMELY unusual considering Canterlot was a city positively humming with magic. However, no real ghosts or spirits. That was about to change. The house they had in their sighs was known in the right circles for night lights, disappearances, strange noises, everything an aspiring ghost hunter needs, and the crew were finally ready to pull the trigger when over the past few days they actually saw some ponies go in and completely different ponies come out. They weren’t stupid. It was either ghosts, or those… changeling things from the invasion. Either way, just a picture of two was all they needed for fame. “Alright, boys,” whispered Quick Scoop, “this will be our crowning achievement. Ghosts or changelings. Either we’ll get to meet princess Celestia herself and get a royal reward for finding rogue changelings endangering Canterlot, or we’ll be in the news for capturing footage of real ghosts.” “I don’t know,” Folded Paper hesitated, “If it’s really changelings, shouldn’t we get some muscle with us? Those things were terrifying.” “Do you want some mudpony to take your glory, Folded? And that’s the best case scenario, because this is lower Canterlot and the dimwits have considered this place haunted for months and refuse to even go near it. If we got some superstitious idiot, he would leave us hanging anyway. Better not share the fame, boys.” Reassured for a second, Folded Paper and Searchlight turned towards the house and- “A-HEM!” “EEP!” they both squeaked like little fillies. Behind the trio stood a Royal Guard mare, carefully watching them. “One would think you three checking out a house like that was the first step of a robbery,” she left the ‘question’ open-ended. “Oh, definitely not, milady,” said Quick Scoop quickly, believing himself to be a smooth talker, especially with mares, “That house doesn’t belong to anypony, according to the property registry. It shouldn’t even be locked. We recently saw some ponies go in and out, and we think it could be-” “Changelings!” Folded Paper burst out. The guardsmare’s eyes narrowed. “Changelings? That’s a serious allegation,” she readied her spear, “I have to check it out. You stay out here. This is my duty, and I can’t let civilians get hurt.” Practically radiating readiness, the mare quickly cleared the distance towards the house, carefully opened the main door, and went inside. “Celestia damn it,” cursed Quick Scoop, “Folded! Now she’s gonna get the credit if there really is something inside.” “Eeeh,” Searchlight interrupted the pegasus opening his mouth to object, “Guys… do you see any light?” He was right. Royal Guards always worked with their helmet light on at night. However, there was no light moving inside the house at all. They waited five minutes, ten, twenty... “Oh stars...” whispered Folded Paper, backing away, “She wasn’t a batpony. There’s no way she can see in the dark. We sent a Royal Guard to-” “Shut up! This is perfect,” interrupted his lamentation Quick Scoop, “On top of everything, we now have a chance to save a Royal Guard mare. A hot one on top of that. Look, have your cameras and light spells ready. If there’s anything in the darkness inside, it sure as hay won’t like bright flashes. Let’s go!” Clearly torn between the promise of fame and the threat of disappearing forever, Searchlight and Folded Paper followed him. When standing by the building’s facade, Searchlight shone a bright beam from his horn into the windows. He could swear some of the curtains on the ground floor moved. When the trio entered the dusty main room, they heard a faint hiss as if the entire building took a deep breath. Searchlight’s and Quick Scoop’s horns lit up with faint glow, the unicorns keeping their power flowing so that they were ready to unleash a burst of light in case they had to flee. The door closed behind them on its own. *Click.* “Oh stars, oh stars, oh stars, oh stars!” Folded Paper started muttering. Quick Scoop smacked the back of his head. “Gather yourself, Folded. This place is drafty as heck.” Taking control of his breathing, Folded Paper had to admit Quick Scoop was right. Eventually he calmed down. In the meantime, Searchlight was examining the main room, and returned with the result. “Guys, the entire ground floor is just this room, a kitchen in the back, and the bathroom. There are stairs down to the cellar, and one staircase up. Dust is everywhere, but the floor is full of hoofmarks.” “The guardsmare?” asked Quick Scoop. “Unless she ran around like a maniac, then no.” *Clink.* *Clink.* *Clink.* *Thud.* They all looked towards the staircase leading up. Two beams of light reflected off of… ...a golden Royal Guard helmet still rolling after the drop. Folded Paper rushed towards the main door, fruitlessly tugging at the handle. “It’s locked, it’s LOCKED!” “Calm down, Folded!” Quick Scoop’s commanding voice didn’t work this time. The pegasus was hyperventilating an barely listening, “Ah screw him. That should teach us not to take non-unicorns with us. Searchlight, stay here with him and check out the kitchen and the bathroom. Keep an eye on the coward, alright? I’m going upstairs.” “Y-You sure about that?” “I know combat spells, bud. Don’t worry. When I get back, we’ll go down into the cellar. This place isn’t that big. Don’t forget - deep breaths, and steady aim,” Quick Scoop patted Searchlight’s back. Searchlight took a long, slow breath, smiled back at Scoop, watched him levitate the Royal Guard helmet to Folded rocking back and forth by the door who hugged it as if his life depended on it, and kept watching until the light of Scoop’s horn disappeared upstairs. Searchlight decided to check the bathroom first. The room was fairly small, containing only a toilet, a sink, and a bathtub with a curtain drawn around it. Something was off. He stood stock still, thinking what could cause the tiny pang of panic. There was a minty hint in the air. Why? There shouldn’t be anything other than dust or maybe mold, since there were wooden panels all over the walls everywhere. Slowly, he shoved the shower curtain aside. The bathtub was covered with a faint layer of green… goop. “Ectoplasm, or changeling goo?” Searchlight mumbled to himself. “...play with us...” His head snapped towards the bathroom door from where the quiet, high-pitched voices came from, then he heard the pitter-patter of tiny hooves. ”...be our new daddy...” “D… daddy?” ”...our last one hurt us...” “Oh stars...” Searchlight crept out of the bathroom, accompanied by quiet laughter and more soft hoofsteps. In the main room, he rushed towards Folded Paper who was still cradling the helmet. His eyes were glassy, and he didn’t seem to register Searchlight’s presence at all no matter how much he shook him. ”Ring around the rosie...” Searchlight jumped up from Folded Paper, scanning the room for the voices. ”Pocket full of posies...” The quiet singing seemed to be coming from the kitchen. “Ghost foals,” Searchlight chuckled uncertainly to himself, “What’s the worst they can do?” As he walked to the doorway, he desperately tried to forget all the movies he saw where the curious ponies were the ones who were never seen again. “Fame, fame, fame, fame...” he kept repeating. ”Ashes, ashes, we all fall-” the voice changed into a low growl, “down!” He peeked inside. Two pairs of eyes looked back. Two identical, white-eyed fillies stared at him, unblinking. He levitated his camera. ”Ring around the rosie,” the spoke in perfect sync, ”the evil thing it knows me. Lost souls surround me-” They took a perfect uniform step towards him. ”-the darkness, in which we drown?” He bolted outside, tossing the camera at the apparitions. ”...I don’t know more lyyyyrics...” Folded Paper was nowhere to be found, only the solitary helmet was still there, the only silent witness of what happened to his pegasus friend. ”...scary scary hmmm hmmm...” Searchlight slammed into the door, too far gone to react to the strange change of lyrics. Despite the building looking in disrepair, the door was sturdy and barely shook when his weight slammed into it. ”...boo boo boo so spooky-” “...be quiet, Three, you’ll ruin it...” ”...evil, needles, taxes- okay!” Searchlight took one look over his shoulder, and saw the fillies glaring at him. With their next synchronized step, he screamed, and lunged through the closest window. Cut and bleeding, he rolled on the street, crying, and when he got back on all fours, he fled as fast as he could. Meanwhile, Quick Scoop pressed on in his search of the upper floor. He had heard the stomping hoofsteps downstairs, but he was also following a trail of disrupted dust, horn ready to blind or blast any threat. The trail led to a bedroom, and when he opened the door, he saw the Royal Guard mare lying unconscious on the bed, armor still on. Damn, she was hot! Fit, long-legged mare like that… Quick Scoop could barely stop himself from rushing inside and having an innocent grope under the guise of wanting to sling her over his back to carry her outside. That, in itself, would make this entire trip worth it. However, Scoop still went inside with utmost care. There was nothing much inside. The old bed, the mare, a wardrobe, a bedside table, nothing out of ordinary, so why did he feel so on edge? Taking a deep breath, he tip-hoofed over to the Royal Guard, and put a hoof on her toned backside. No reaction. He kneaded the amazing mix of muscles and a thin layer of fat. Just the touch of such perfect body... she felt better than any mare before her. He spread her hind legs, and rubbed her lower belly, feeling the soft hair of her coat and the tight abs underneath. “Having fun?” “AH?!” Quick Scoop jumped backwards, blushing and stumbling when faced with the guardsmare’s dark green eyes… ...with strangely slit pupils. Not like a batpony, but similar. The bedroom door closed behind Quick Scoop, revealing a second Royal Guard, this one a unicorn male. “W-What’s going on?” he asked, head turning from one guard to the other. “I guess you caught us,” the mare giggled, slowly and seductively standing up from the bed. She took her helmet off, and with a green telekinetic glow of her horn unbuckled the rest of her armor. When the golden greaves clinked on the floor, the mare changed. White coat was replaced by black chitin, unicorn horn shifted into a jagged one, only the eyes and long legs stayed the same. She stuck out her long tongue, letting it drop over halfway down the length of her neck, “Now, I’ll give you one chance to forget everything and just enjoy yourself.” Scoop backed off, gathering energy into his horn. Damn changelings! He had to warn everypony. “The Royal Guards will be looking for me if something happens.” “Royal Guards?” the second guardspony laughed, “You still don’t get it, do you? There are no Royal Guards. This isn’t even real, pony,” he took his helmet and armor off as well, turning into a big changeling, this one adorned with dark blue belly plate on top of all other markings of the same colour, “We won. The invasion was a success. You’re inside a cocoon and we’re sucking love out of you already. My friend here,” the changeling nodded towards the mare, “just wants to make sure you enjoy it a little bit more, to soften you up, and make your love and lust that more… delicious.” “You’re LYING, bugs!” Scoop shuffled backwards towards the door. Stupid flies, they didn’t even bother closing the door, they… ...as if they knew there was nowhere to run. “Oh puh-lease,” the mare walked over to him, rubbing his muzzle with her hoof, “go and tell the guards. Or better yet, tell the princesses, I’m certain the queen could use a snack too. We’ve got almost every single one of you ponies cocooned and connected already. This is OUR world. Once we get the few pesky members of the resistance left, we’ll connect everypony in Equestria to the hive mind.” “The Maretrix...” left Quick Scoop’s lips. He let out a burst of light, successfully blinding the changelings. Charging up his horn again, he slammed the door open, hitting the male changeling square in the nose, and ran as fast as he could. Away, downstairs. There was nopony there. No Searchlight, no Folded Paper. Were they even real? He’d known them for so long, but were those memories real or were the implanted? He had to run, he knew the truth, he was alone, but he WAS the resistance, the chosen one, and he would destroy them from the inside. *** “What do we do with the last one?” asks Eight after Three simply leads completely catatonic Folded Paper out of the cellar. “Four, messing with only one head can’t take that long, can it?” “Depends on the level of detail, but this shouldn’t take more than few hours.” “Alright, get on it. Then Eight will drop him off in the alley where she found them.” Damn, my little infiltrator definitely deserves a reward for this one.