I returned to my body and took a deep breath as I stretched out some cramps I had developed while dancing in such a confined space for longer than I usually would.
"There's a big barren area out on the other side of the mountain," I explained. "There's this spot where there's this adobe town with straw houses with these weird cliffs or something shading it. The whole place looks abandoned, and it looks like it's been that way a long time— except for the straw; why is that still there? Anyway, I saw the Element Bearers, Wild Growth, Starlight Glimmer, Crystal, and Ulysses walking out towards it."
"I guess we don't have to worry about Gandalf the bloody tracking us if he's already with them," Blanche grumbled with satisfaction.
"It also means they're expecting violent trouble," Jonathan said slowly. "Not just him, but Crystal and Wild Growth as well. The Element Bearers, Starlight, Glimmer, and Wild Growth, when put together, are enough to take on an army, the bodyguards are practically extemporaneous, but they're marching off to a seemingly abandoned town, bringing every bit of help they can get."
"Abandoned town with a possibly haunted palace underneath it," Roger said in a grim tone.
"There's not supposed to be any such things as ghosts," Sunflower whimpered. "The Dreamwardens said so."
"Even the Dreamwardens work with limited information. This is Equestria; there might be things here they don't know about," I helpfully added in. "It's also a good reason why we should leave this to them. We aren't cut out for this kind of thing."
"You aren't cut out for this," Blanche corrected. "You're staying here. You've done what you're useful for."
"I'm coming; this is my mom we're talking about," Roger said in a tone that brokered no argument.
"You'll be in the way," Blanche asserted.
"All of you will be in the way of The Bearers and the others. You should stay here," I pleaded.
Roger stepped towards Blanche and glared up into her eyes. "I'm going."
Sunflower did a nervous flap of her wings. "If Roger is going, I'm going too."
Blanche rounded on the high-strung pegasus. "What possible purpose would your presence serve?!"
Sunflower cowered down. "Moral support. Plus, I'll be worried sick while you're gone. If I'm there, I could fly for help if something goes wrong."
I chewed on my lip and flattened my ears. "If you all are insisting on going, then I'm going too."
"You're even more useless than her!" Blanche yelled. "This is dangerous enough without having to babysit you three."
I couldn't believe I was doing it, but I stood my ground. "You're going into ruins. You might need someone to scout. I can do my thing and look around without causing something to collapse."
Jonathan cleared his throat. "You do remember them saying that whatever is down there can get you while you're projecting, right?"
I shook my rump. "Well, if it can touch me, I can touch it too, and I can take the form of something that can put up a fight. I can turn my projected form into anything I want. For all we know, whatever is down there can't be touched in other ways. I'm useful."
Blanche pursed her lips. "I hadn't considered that. Okay, you're going, since your ability can be weaponized in this case. I'm impressed. Way to think outside the box."
I think I would have preferred she came up with a better argument for me to stay.
It took us nearly an hour to make our way around the mountain and to the abandoned town. I hoped that by the time we got there that the Element Bearers and the others would have already be on their way back, victorious. They'd have run into us and chewed us out, but I could live with that. Unfortunately, there was no sign of them.
"Why do all these houses still have their roofs?" I asked as we trotted into town. "This place was supposed to have been abandoned for centuries. The roofs should all be gone if they're just straw."
"Maybe somepony comes out here and fixes things up from time to time; kind of a preservation thing," Sunflower suggested.
"Keep your voices down. We don't know what could be hiding here," Blanche scolded. "Stay behind me and in front of Jonathan."
"Don't know what I'm supposed to do to protect them. I don't have any weapon," Jonathan muttered.
"Just keep your eyes peeled," Blanche instructed him.
I kept looking around at the vacant buildings. The path road was broken and cracked, and some of the buildings had collapsed walls. There was no liter anywhere— no discarded pots, toys, or cloth. The place was completely empty. Those straw roofs creeped me out because everything else was in disrepair, and it seemed like those roofs would have been the first things to vanish. All it would take was a good gust of wind. There was no wind, not even the hint of a breeze. The air was as dead as the town.
"We should search the town for anything unusual," Blanche announced. "You're up, Marshmallow. You can search the whole place quickly with your projection."
I took several steps back. "I need to be calm; this place is making me nervous!"
She glared at me. "Didn't you just argue an hour ago that you could be useful because you could use your ability?"
I gave a sheepish smile. "Didn't think it all the way through."
She took a long breath and started up at the sky for a moment before looking around again. "Fine, music it is. Okay, everyone. It's time to serenade Rebecca. How about Row Row Row Your Boat? It's simple and droning."
Sunflower looked at her in disbelief. "We're going to stand around in the scary ghost town and sing?"
Blanche looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "You have a better idea that gets this search done quickly and doesn't have us going into structures that could collapse in on us at any point?"
"No," Sunflower conceded.
Blanche nodded. "Well, Row Row Row Your Boat, and keep singing until Rebecca can manage to do her thing."
Sunflower blinked and started singing. It didn't take long until the other three joined in with her and left me closing my eyes and trying to get in the song's rhythm. It might have helped if Roger didn't sound like a dying frog and Blanche like a cat in agonizing pain, but the longer they sang, the more their harmonies synched together, and I found myself swaying along.
It took about three minutes, and I could tell they were getting tired, but I found myself staring at my swaying body once again.
"That ability is weird," Jonathan said flatly.
I looked at the four of them. "I'm going to go invisible while I search, so I don't attract the notice of anything that might be out there. Don't freak out when you don't see me, and don't let my body go dancing into any holes or anything."
Blanche nodded. "Be quick, but don't rush so much you overlook something."
Roger stared at my swaying body. "Your body can just wander off and get into trouble while you are doing this?"
I shrugged. "Sometimes. It's just kind of doing its own thing. I normally am in a closed room where that can't happen."
"That's inconvenient," he muttered as he watched my body groove.
"My mind is elsewhere, so my body is kind of dumb," I said as I pointed at it. "Anyway, let me search. Be back soon."
I turned invisible, and I watched Sunflower waving a wing in front of my body's face to see if it was indeed as brainless as I implied. My body didn't notice and continued to sway in place. Yep, my body was a dumb dumb.
Time to search. I didn't have much of a strategy for how to search. I simply flew into the closest house, passing through its walls like they were the ones not there instead of me.
No ponies were present in the first house I went into, but I did see there was some scaffolding and extra bracing for the walls that indicated there were indeed restoration efforts regularly underway for the town; they were just out of sight. If the night ponies were so scared of this place, why were they taking the time to restore it? I thought about it, and the best idea I could think of was they weren't as scared as they acted, but they wanted to build up the idea that it was scary to outsiders. Mountainshade was trying to develop its tourism. The abandoned night pony capital sitting within throwing distance could be a major attraction, and if it had a reputation, that could make it an even bigger draw. It was kind of sneaky, trying to scare us away so we could go home telling about how we heard about this place.
I wanted to get a closer look at how they were restoring the buildings, given my interests. It would be cool to see the techniques in action, but there were more important things to do. I moved on to the next house.
It didn't take long to search every house in the area. There weren't that many, and they were all bunched up together. I hadn't seen any stairwell or anything like that leading down to the supposed palace underneath. I could just go down without one, but that wouldn't help the others get down there, and if it was pitch black below, I had no way of knowing if I was in the palace or in the middle of solid stone. That wasn't helpful at all.
There was one way down below; there was a well in the center of town. It didn't look that impressive from the surface, but if it was the only way down, it was the only way down. There didn't seem to be anyone or clues on the surface. I had to check the underground.
I floated over to the well, and sure enough, there was a rope for climbing going down into it. There were no walls I could see as I looked in; it went down into a large area open area.
Nothing to do but go down there and hope that the night ponies were just making things up about the ghosts that could attack me while I was projecting.
I went down, and enough light was coming through the well opening to see the immediate chamber. Tall marble pillars held up the ceiling and paths that led deeper into the complex. One of the walls had a strange design on it. The whole place was thick with dust, and I could clearly see the tracks from the Element Bearers and the others going deeper into the complex.
ANOTHER PONY COMES. SO MANY AFTER SO LONG. DO YOU DESIRE POWER? POWER BEYOND YOUR IMAGINING? JOIN WITH ME, AND YOU CAN HAVE IT!
I spun around, looking for the source of the voice, but it seemed to be coming from everywhere. The shadows in the darkest corners seemed to be moving. Worse, whatever was down here could see me while I was invisible.
Eyes lit up in the shadows, and that was enough for me. I fled back to the surface
Okay, the night ponies were not lying about ghosts!