The Monster in The Bedroom
This one remained on the top deck of the ferry for the entire ride out to the clan’s compound. This one did not wish to be below deck, or anywhere with shadows. It was a bright, moonlit night and this one could see for miles across the open water. This one much preferred that over going into the cabin, where it would not be able to see an approaching Monster until it pressed its face up against the porthole.
This one’s parents remained with it the entire time. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it remained with its parents. This one did not wish to be parted with them at all. Not after what it had experienced. When Dad needed to step away for a moment to use the facilities, it could not sit still or relax until he returned.
The sun was just beginning to rise when the ferry finally arrived at Doo’s Defiance, the island upon which our clan’s central compound was built. As befit the clan’s status, it was a fairly large island with a good natural harbor. The clan’s merchant and mercenary interests did keep its port quite busy, and ships from all across the world came to Doo’s Defiance to do business.
Most of the compound’s buildings were made in the classical style of Old Pegasopolis, or at least the closest approximation that could be managed with local building materials. Architectural styles intended for clouds did not always lend themselves well to building with lumber and bricks. However, the large columned buildings remained impressive regardless of how they were made, and the many olive-clad clan soldiers marching about the compound’s training yards and barracks would impress those who had more practical concerns.
This one’s parents immediately led it towards the clanhold’s headquarters, located in an especially large and impressive structure supposedly modeled after the Ephorate’s meeting hall in Cloudsdale before the clan left Equestria. This one certainly found the wide entrance and soaring columns covered with intricate decorations most impressive, though part of that might have been because the building was so large and this one was so small.
Mom and Dad led it through the building towards a large open room decorated with old war banners, suits of armor, and trophies of the clan’s many victories. In addition to that, there were several of this one’s clanmates standing guard in the room, all fully armed, armored, and vigilant. This one’s trembling finally subsided as its parents led it to a seat in the well-lit room. There were no places here for a monster to hide, and if one tried to come in all the soldiers would stop it long before it could hurt this one. This was a safe place.
Mom spoke with one of the guards, then joined this one and Dad. This one yawned loudly and leaned against Mom’s side, closing its eyes as its cheek rested against her warm side. She gently wrapped a wing around this one. “Tired, sweetie? Go ahead and take a nap, then. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure nothing happens.”
This one nodded and tried to go to sleep, only for its eyes to snap open when it heard hooves scuffing along the carpet. The sound was only one of the guards walking across the room. This one closed its eyes and tried to relax once more, only to be disturbed by a hushed murmur of conversation which for a moment made this one fear that the Monster was speaking to it again.
After trying and failing to nap for some time, Mom gently nuzzled this one. “Sorry, sweetie, but it’s time to get up. The pater’s ready to see us.” This one reluctantly rose to its hooves and followed its parents as they led it into the paterfamilias’s office.
The Paterfamilias of the Doo clan was an elderly grey stallion, his mane nothing but a few short wisps of white hair valiantly clinging to the back his scalp. Despite that, his dark green eyes radiated a calm, reassuring strength that relaxed this one. It knew that its clan’s leader would not allow anything bad to happen to it.
The pater shuffled a large stack of paperwork to the side, holding a large mug of tea in his free hoof. He sat behind a solid, massive desk of dark brown wood set up in front of a large set of bookshelves lined with hundreds of massive tomes. The shelves themselves were subtly carved with a pattern of vines and leaves that drew this one’s eyes in, endlessly fascinating it as it traced each individual vine from beginning to end. That seemed far better to thinking about what had happened to it last night.
Mom saluted the pater while Dad nodded respectfully. As the clanpony in our family, Mom was the one who told him what happened. “Pater Vigil, something was at our house last night. It skulked around, tried to sneak in, and threatened Kukri.”
The pater groaned, slowly running his free hoof up his cheek and to the back of his neck. “Let me guess: you think it’s connected to Kunai’s current troubles?”
Dad scowled and nodded. “Nothing can be proven or even known, since the prowler got away before either of us got a good look at him. However, this one believes it is unlikely to be a coincidence that somepony was skulking about.”
“I’m afraid you’re right.” The pater sighed and grabbed a blank sheet of paper and a quill. “I was hoping Cold Striker wouldn’t cross the line from talking about revenge to doing something about it. I already sent Kunai on an out-of-Freeport contract for the next couple months to keep her out of sight until tempers have cooled and the scandal’s blown over, and Diamond Striker was planning to do the same thing with Cold. I’d hoped that would be enough, but...”
This one could not constrain itself at word of its sister. “Is she okay? Please, sir—this one does not know where she is or if she’s safe! If the Monster goes after her...” This one’s sister was very brave and very strong, but even she had to sleep.
The pater smiled gently down at this one. “It's alright, dear. Your big sister is very good at taking care of herself.” He shifted his gaze back to this one’s parents. “Tell me exactly what happened. All the details, no matter how small.”
Dad nodded. “Kunai came to see us a bit before midnight, and told us about what happened with her job, as well as warning us about Cold. She only stayed long enough for that, then left. We decided to go back to bed and take the first boat to the clanhold in the morning. Around one thirty Kukri started screaming. This one’s wife thought it was just a bad dream and went in to check on her, then heard the prowler.”
Mom took over from there. “I heard the voice quite clearly, so I thought they were either already in the room or just outside, on the roof or next to the window. As soon as I heard the intruder I got Kukri out of the room and tried to find them, but whoever it was they got away clean. I didn’t see so much as a tail hair.”
The pater scowled. “Definitely not a coincidence, then. A prowler fast enough to get away from you isn’t going to be some random troublemaker. I’ll send one of our investigators over to your place to check for any evidence your intruder might have left behind. In the meantime, you’re welcome to stay in one of our secure apartments for as long as you need. I'll have Glaive assign a security detail to you.”
Mom nodded and smiled gratefully. “Thank you very much, pater.”
“You’re family,” the pater answered matter-of-factly. “I imagine you remember where Glaive does his training. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go talk to Diamond again.”
“Very good, pater.” Mom put a wing over this one’s back. “And thank you. Again.”
This one’s parents led it out of the office and back into the main hallway of the building. As we walked, this one noticed a pair of large and well-armed stallions, one in front of us and the other behind. It was most reassured by the guardians. At least, until this one realized that its sister would not have any bodyguards. “Dad? When's Kunai coming to join us?”
Dad paused for a moment, then sighed and put his wing over this one as well. “When it's safe for her.”
This one swallowed and quickly rubbed at its eyes to prevent any frightened tears from forming. It did not like the idea that its sister was in danger.
Mom and Dad took this one out to the training yard, where dozens of its clanmates of various ages were hard at work practicing with everything from lances and spears to exotic weapons like wing blades and meteor hammers. Some of the ponies training were the same age as this one, yet they had received and would continue to receive far more martial training than this one. This one’s parents did not intend to train it in anything more than basic self-defence, as they hoped that it would grow up to be a merchant, trader or ship captain. Not a soldier like Mom, or an assassin like Kunai.
This one was uncertain if it wished to avoid the martial path. Trade was honorable, but this one wanted to grow up to be a hero who stopped pirates and monsters, like Kunai and the Shimmer-mare did. That was why this one hoped its parents would allow it to take lessons with the Shimmer-mare; even if it did become a trade captain, it might at least have opportunities to fight off villains that tried to steal its goods or sink its ships. And perhaps if it became a powerful magus like the Shimmer-mare, its parents would allow it to be a warrior instead of a merchant.
After crossing the yard, this one’s parents approached a large brown-and-white painted pegasus stallion with several battle scars which this one recognized as one of Mom’s friends. He smiled at us. “Been treating my cousin well, Codex?”
Dad nodded, while Mom smiled back and shook her head. “I keep telling you, Glaive, I’m your third cousin once removed.”
“That just makes you my baby cousin,” he returned. “Besides, do you really want me to go to all the trouble of specifying exactly what kind of cousin you are every time I call you my cousin?”
“Maybe you have a point.” Mom smirked and nudged him in the side. “Why not just call me your baby cousin who saved your sorry flank on more than half a dozen different jobs?”
“Like I never watched your back when we were working together,” he grumbled, though he was smiling while he did so. “Word around the compound is that you had some trouble last night. Somepony skulking around where they shouldn’t be.”
Dad blinked. “We just got here. Word travels fast.”
Glaive chuckled. “Oh, you know how soldiers are: a bunch of gossipy old hens whenever we don’t have something to kill.” He turned back to Mom, raising a single eyebrow. “I’m surprised you didn't carve up whoever was messing around your house. I thought Cold was supposed to be a soft little merchie. Don’t tell me retirement and motherhood made you so rusty a civilian can outrun you.”
Mom smirked and shook her head. “Whoever it was only got away because they ran for it as soon as they realized they were messing with my daughter. And it definitely wasn’t a merchant.”
He grunted and nodded. “Well, they won't get past a squad of my best. I can promise you that.”
“Good.” Mom’s wing around my shoulder tightened slightly. “If your ponies are as good as you say, I’ll mark it in our tally. Of course, that still puts me at saving your a...” She paused, glancing down at this one and grinning. “Saving your flank four more times than you’ve saved mine.”
“Two” Glaive insisted. “That mess in Gryphonstone was your fault to begin with, and we both know that you didn’t save me from that pirate—you just stole my kill.”
Mom snorted and shook her head. “You keep telling yourself that.”
“I will.” Glaive and Mom grinned at each other for a bit, then his eyes dropped down to this one. “Well look at you, little Kukri. You sure are growing up fast.”
“Yes, sir,” This one answered dutifully. While it was not part of the clan’s military, it still tried to be respectful towards those who were high-ranking soldiers. That was what its Mom and Dad taught it to do. “Sir? Could this one ask for a favor?”
Glaive smiled down at this one and pet its shoulder. “What's that?”
This one swallowed and took a deep breath. “Could this one's room have a small window? The Monster came in through it last time. And...” This one was about to ask for a night light too, but then it remembered that it was speaking to a soldier. Soldiers would probably think that only silly babies needed night lights, and this one was eleven and a half years old. “And that's ... just a small window, please.”
Glaive squeezed this one’s shoulder. “There won't be any windows in your bedroom. We’ve got you in one of our special secure apartments. No windows and only one door, which we’ll have guards on all day and all night. Nothing and nobody gets in without us checking it first.”
“This one tha—” This one yawned, cutting off its sentence. “Sorry. This one thanks you.”
Mom’s friend smiled reassuringly. “Don't you worry. You'll sleep safe and sound tonight. That’s a promise.”
Far too swiftly, it was nighttime again. This one privately wished it could speak with Celestia and ask her to keep the sun high in the sky for several days. Such a thing might even have been possible. The Shimmer-mare surely had a means of contacting the White Pony if the matter was urgent enough. Unfortunately, this one doubted that the distant ruler of Equestria would alter the movement of the sun merely to calm a single frightened changeling.
However, this one had every reason to believe it would be far safer tonight. Now it rested within the clan’s central compound in a specially secured building whose only entrance was guarded by a pair of well-armed clanponies. No monster could possibly get past them. And like Mom told this one, the Monster was in fact not a monster at all—just some goon hired by a stupid pony named Cold Striker, who would soon be captured and punished for his crimes.
And yet ... this one did not feel safe. While everything about our new living quarters was supposed to be secure, none of it felt like a home. It reminded this one of one of the hotel rooms its family had taken it to during vacations, except this place somehow felt even more barren. Even with a hotel, the staff at least made an effort to make the place seem welcoming. Our special secure quarters lacked even that touch of hospitality. They felt almost ... sterile.
This one’s room had been its room, its own personal space which it had filled with its prized possessions and treasures. A few old toys it was still fond of, a photograph of the last time its extended family had gotten together, a few books it borrowed from the library, and of course, an ice sculpture of a hammerhead shark crossed with a barracuda. A hammercuda.
Except that now this one’s room was no longer truly its place. The ... intruder had violated the sanctity of it. This one’s place of rest and safety was no longer restful or safe. It did not know if it could ever truly feel at home there again.
It would seem this one had no safe harbor anymore. Its old place of safety was gone, and the new one provided to it did not feel safe at all. If anything, all the safety just reminded this one of the danger.
Mom and Dad made this one its favorite meal, grilled shrimp and zucchini with breadfruit on the side, but this one could not truly enjoy the dinner. It knew that after dinner it would not be long before bedtime. Lying in a strange bed in a pitch black room in a strange house.
The bedroom was as stale and featureless as the rest of our new living area, though the bed itself was quite large and comfortable. Perhaps the pater had heard that this one wished to sleep with its parents, and had ensured there would be a large enough bed for all of us.
This one clambered into the bed, lying in the middle while each of its parents took one of the sides. This one wished it could find being held by Mom and Dad reassuring, but it did not. All it could think was that if Cold broke into our bedroom now, all three of us would be in one place.
Dad tucked the covers around this one, and Mom wrapped a wing around it and pulled it against her chest. This one pressed against her, comforted by her warmth and the strong muscles it could feel beneath her skin. Glaive said that this one’s mother was a mighty soldier, and Mom said that if the intruder had not fled she would have dispatched it easily. Surely this one could never be harmed while its Mom was protecting it.
Then Dad turned out the lights.
This new bedroom was dark. Very dark. In its old room, this one had a large window that let the light of the moon and stars drift in. Even after the lights went out there was a sort of gentle, silvery illumination. In this new windowless bedroom there was nothing at all. Once the lights went out, the room was pitch black.
This one did not feel safe anymore. It pressed against Mom, reassuring itself that she was still there now that it could no longer see her. The one regretted not asking one of the soldiers for a night light. It no longer cared if wanting one made it silly or a baby. This one was stuck in a dark room, and everyone knows that the darkness is where monsters hide.
It was reminded of the time when its sister told it a story one Nightmare Night about an invisible monster that hid under the bed and grabbed naughty little children if they ever misbehaved by causing trouble for their big sisters. This one suspects that Kunai had an ulterior motive in sharing that particular tale. However, this one had been younger and more gullible back then, and had believed everything that Kunai had told it. For some time afterwards, it had been nervous about going to bed, especially if it had any form of discord with its elder sister that day. Even after this one was old enough to realize that there was no invisible monster hiding under its bed, it preferred to remain covered by the bedsheet so that the monster could not grab it.
This one reluctantly rose from the bed, then after a long moment of hesitation hopped down to the floor and stumbled through the darkness to the bedroom door. After several seconds of fumbling with the knob, this one managed to open it, quietly slipping out into the hallway as one hoof blindly felt along the wall. Finally, this one found the lightswitch.
This one let out a sigh of relief as the darkness vanished. It slowly and quietly walked back into the bedroom, leaving the door cracked open so that a thin sliver of light fell into the room. It was still dark, but no longer dark enough for a monster to hide completely unseen.
This one settled back into bed, snuggling up with its parents. Mom murmured sleepily and wrapped her forelegs around this one once more. It pressed its face against her chest and tried to go to sleep once more.
It had nearly managed to do so when the reassuring blackness of this one’s closed eyelids suddenly became a light red glow. This one’s eyes slowly blinked open, and it saw that the door it had left barely cracked was now wide open.
This one swallowed and whimpered, staring at the open doorway. A quick look confirmed that this one’s mother and father were both still in bed with it. But if nopony had gotten out of bed, how could the door have been opened? The only answer this one could see was that someone ... or something else must have moved the door.
This one whimpered and pulled the covers over its head, trying to block out the very light that was supposed to reassure it. Then it tried to remain as still as possible, hoping that it would not be noticed and thus escape the danger.
It did not know how long it stayed hidden under the covers, waiting to see if the danger had passed. It had almost allowed itself to believe it was safe when the covers above it were suddenly and violently yanked away.
This one froze, too terrified to even scream. It could do nothing but wait for its doom, for the Monster to get it.
And yet ... it didn’t. The seconds ticked by, and no horrible beast snatched this one out of its bed. After a full minute passed with nothing horrible happening, this one dared to hope that perhaps it was wrong. Maybe there was no monster at all.
This one looked to side, studying its parents, and discovered a far simpler explanation for what had happened to the bedsheet. This one’s mother had stolen them from both it and Dad. It let out a nervous giggle. Mom was just hogging the covers.
This one trotted over to the bedroom door and pushed it back to being almost completely closed. Then it waited. After several seconds the hinges let out a quiet whine, and the door began to slowly open once more.
This one had just been jumping at shadows. It was being silly. There were guards outside, plus Mom and Dad were here. There were no monsters, just a single silly stallion that had probably already been scared off by this one’s mother last night.
This one went back to bed and finally went to sleep.
This one awoke early the next morning to the sound of its parents whispering above it. It slowly blinked its eyes open, its sleep-muddled mind trying to make sense of the words being spoken around it.
“...have to tell the guards right away!” Mom hissed at him.
“This one thinks we should remove Kukri first,” Dad whispered back. “It would not want her to wake up and see ... that.”
“This one is awake,” it dutifully informed its parents. “What’s going on?”
Dad hissed out a word that this one had only ever heard from some of the sailors it served with on the Venture and clamped a hoof over this one’s eyes. There was an edge of raw, barely concealed panic in his voice. “Don’t look at it, Kukri! Don’t look!”
“What is it?!” this one shrieked, instinctively struggling against the hoof blocking out its sight. “What’s happening? Is it the Monster again?!”
This one’s father refused to budge his hoof, but he was still in his natural form. This one squirmed and wriggled, and finally managed to line one of its eyes up with one of the holes in Dad’s changeling legs.
It immediately regretted that accomplishment.
The entire bedroom wall had been ... remade. Almost like some sort of sculpture. The plaster of the wall had a lifelike representation of this one etched into it. It showed this one on its side, and nestled between two lumps that were obviously Mom and Dad, but the only part of them that was more than a blur was Mom’s foreleg wrapped around this one’s chest. The carving was so intricate that it even showed small dimples in the blanket where it covered the holes in this one’s legs.
That much detail would have taken hours to carve. Hours where this one, Mom, Dad, and all the guards hadn’t known anything was there.
This one screamed.
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This one maybe? :)
Ok, that is a special level of creepy. Stalker-ninja creepy.
…Holy FUCK. What the hell is this thing?!
Is Kunai a ninja? I meant to ask before, but…she's an assassin, has a name like that, so...
Ok, no wonder this story has a dark tag, that's creepy (and appropriate for this week). Seems like this is starting to go from "just" an assassin to something supernatural maybe, considering how far they've already gone for security. Guess Sunset will be called in sooner or later? Hopefully sooner.
Could get worse. The wall art might be two-dimensional living organisms that drag ponies and three-dimensional objects into their plane of existence and dissect them for nefarious purposes.
If that be the case:
camo.derpicdn.net/c9ee72be5a9ae36a74a3b282d6d2286618f1e5c9?url=https%3A%2F%2F38.media.tumblr.com%2Ff4bfe4ddc95e82ea496ee371c3ebaf90%2Ftumblr_not33dWyCd1tq4of6o1_250.gif
That guy sure is dedicated, creepy but dedicated.
I think it's time to call Sunset. And possibly a priest. Lets make that two priests.
6579951 Sunset, 3 priests, and maybe Celestia too.
OMG! I am so freakin happy you decided to add more to this story-verse! XD Thank you!
A new Freeport story so soon?! You spoil us CQ
6579810 Dr Who reference?
6579992
Better just skip the intermediaries and douse the whole island chain in holy water.
6580125 Aye.
So... it likes to play games does it? Big bad sneak shade slipped pas the best and brightest of the Doo and right under the paters grey furred muzzle, and left a gift to tell a little girl he was thinking of her. He had play fight with mom, and left a token of appreciation to the daughter ...
Oh dear, the oldest one flew away to play with others... Who could he possibly have to play with now?
Kunais less then thrilled papa is at the board now... and you made his little girl cry. Lets see how our playful scamp deals with a real stallion then some terrified child. Oh, and the fellows bought one of them new fangled Flim and Flam tape voice thingies so he and the misses can fall asleep to the screams of a coward. And course send the Striker mater a hearthswarming gift of appreciation for her dopey clan mates attempts at their lives
A shadowman? well, Shadow pony? a creature made of shadow stuff. Anyway I have a question, is both of Kukri's parents are changeling right? As for the carving in the wall, that is very intricate psychological warfare. I love it!
6580291 I think the mom is a Pegasus. She hasn't said "this one" and is related at a normal pony.
Oh, the downsides of being a changling!
Still, that is really, really creepy after Kukri was being so sweet as well. I think they might need to being the Shimmer mare into this one, she'd probably be happy to deal with the what ever the tartarus it is to get back her sweet little bug.
Are those the normal Meteor Hammers or some pony variant? The normal one being a rock at the end of a rope.
6580769
6580291
Nailed it in one, Kukri's mother is a pegasus.
6581018 Oh ok. so there can be hybrids between ponies and changelings then? But it does make things interesting either way
I feel bad for Kukri. I mean, she seems like such a sweetheart. She doesn't deserve to be going through this all because some Strikers are heard headed lunatics. I just get a little more irritated than usual when people mess with children, and I'm sure most people understand my feelings on the matter as well.
It's obvious by now magic is involved. Carving out stuff taking hours aside, only magic could accomplish most of the feats mentioned thus far - throwing your voice over obstacles, vanishing without a trace, intricate art without making a sound (I imagine that earth ponies and pegasi can't achieve the amount of finese required to be so detailed)
And since some of the previous stories introduced demons as a thing that can be summoned, I would not put it past a wealthy merchant to pay off a demonologist to make Kunari suffer the loss of a sibling as well.
Slendermane is out there, little ling. Don't. Blink.
6579951 An old priest and a young priest?
6638239 To hell with the priests we need Sunset to burn.... everything!
Well, that's a level of creepy I'd like to never encounter in real life.
6582350 No no, do blink. SLENDER attacks you for seeing him. DON'T look at him, just run.
Now THAT is how you write a horror piece.