Drowned In Secrets

by Darkie 09

Chapter 2: Déjà Vu and Secrets Too

Author's Note:

so I decided to post this 5 days earlier because my awesome editor BrickBrock24 was finished with it and I couldn't wait to post it!! Enjoy! Tell me what you think! Also my friend Nightshade14 helped me come up with the title for this chapter!

"Sit down Midnight, we need to talk about something." My mom looked at me in a way that made me not eager to sit down right away, so I didn't. I looked at Dad.
"That something being?" I asked while walking cautiously around the table. Mom asked me to sit down again, but I refused. I wasn’t entirely sure that I wanted to hear what my parents had to say. I had a hunch of what this meeting was about, but I was in no rush to see if I was right.
"Midnight, your father and I have something we need to talk you about. Please sit down." My mother was practically begging for me to sit down at this point, but I wouldn’t budge. I did not want to be there.
"I'm- uh, I'm not going to sit down Mom. I-I think I might just take a walk and-" Before I finished my sentence, I was interrupted by my father.
"Midnight, you need to hear this. We both agreed that we'd tell you and Aqua today." My father got up and walked towards me.
"Dad, please- I-" I walk backward as he approaches me. "I don't care what you need to tell me, I-I-"
"Midnight Strike! Sit down!" My father's voice was thunderous and powerful. I froze in terror at the way he was yelling at me. When he raised his voice like that, I knew he meant business. "Midnight Strike! I will count to three! One.... Two.... Don't make me get to three, Midnight! Two and a half..." My father's voice got stronger and stronger as he counted, which made me walk back further and further. I was almost at the door. I took one more step back and reached for the doorknob.
"Wha- Ahh!" I fell on my back and quickly picked myself up, "Dad! I-" He gives me a stern, reprimanding glare.
"Midnight! The table!" He practically screamed in my face. I could tell he was fed up with my crap. I ran past him and got to the back door, I tried to open it up but found that it was locked. I felt like that unlucky victim in a slasher movie. I undid the locks as quickly as I could and swing open the door. "Midnight, do not go through that door or you will be grounded!" As he came charging at the door, I slipped through and began to fly as fast as my wings would take me. I looked back and saw him catching up to me.
"Ah!" I flapped my wings faster and flew up towards the clouds in an attempt to lose him. I soon found myself within a sea of clouds and couldn’t see head nor tail of him anywhere. I assumed he lost me in his failed attempt to catch me. As I flew back down to the surface, I decided to enter the Hayseed Swamps. I looked back behind me for moment, which I immediately regretted as I ended up crashing into a large, solid object. I fell like a stone and let out a groan of pain as I sat beneath the tree I had collided with. Although the sun wasn’t shining and it wasn’t particularly hot outside, the shade of the tree still felt nice and refreshing. I leaned against the tree and closed my eyes. A white light shined brightly in my eyes, blinding me temporarily. I squinted, and through the brightness I saw the unmistakable silhouette of an alicorn.
"Huh?" I rubbed my eyes, "Luna?" I looked up again. It was indeed Princess Luna.
"Midnight Strike!" Her voice boomed across the Swamps. "I am thy Night."
"Princess Luna-"
"Midnight, I cannot stay long, but there is something I must show you. Something you cannot stop." A screen showed up, seemingly out of thin air, and a video came on.
Wait... I… I recognize that video! I thought to myself.
"Wha- wait! I- that was in my dream! Was that real?" I looked at her and then back at the screen still playing the video.
"No- not yet. It will be, though. Soon..." She looked down at me with a worried facial expression. I looked back at the screen. The video changed. I took another glance at Luna and found that she was gone... I turned back to the video and I saw my old friend Swift Wing and I playing up in Cloudsdale. We were jumping on the clouds, and I went too far to the edge of the cloud. I took a tumble off the cloud and heard the filly version of myself screaming her head off. I ran towards it.
“Wait, this is... It's a video." I slowed to a trot and eventually stopped myself in my tracks. The video stopped and the screen, as well as everything around me, faded to a lifeless, sinister black color. "Wh- Princess Luna?!" A voice echoed through the air,
"Sometimes in life, the hunted must become the hunter." I walked around the dark eerie void, trying to find the where the voice was coming from. I bumped into something hard. I look up a pair of eyes glow.
"Wah!" I stumble back and the floor opened up beneath me. I soon found myself falling. I tried to flap my wings, but found myself unable to move them. It was as if my wings had been turned to stone. "Princess Luna! Help!!" I screamed as I continued to fall faster and faster to my impending doom. "Princess Luna, can you hear me?! Where are you?! Please help me!" I then landed on something soft (which was a relief considering my record with my other crash landings…) and stood up. I was once again in the swamps. "Wait, why- Wasn't I just here?"
"That is correct, you were." I heard a voice say. It startled me and felt myself jump.
"Wait, am I in a dream?"
"Yes. Déjà vu, actually." She looked at me. The scene changed to Aqua and I running into the swamp.
"What's it supposed to mean?" I asked.
"That-" She hesitated before saying more, "-That is for you to figure out. But I will tell you this, Midnight."
"What?"
"It is beyond your power to stop it." She looked at me, "Oh, and by the way..."
"Yes?" I kept my eyes transfixed on the ground.
"You might want to get home."
"What? Why?"
"I'm sorry, I must go now." She began to fly upwards. The bright light came again and all I could see was her silhouette.
"Wait! Princess Luna!" I chased after her, hoping I could get to her before she leaves. "Luna!! Please! What does this mean?!" I, unsurprisingly, couldn’t catch her, and saw her disappear in a flash of blue light.
"PRINCESS LUNA?!" I wake up with a start. "Huh?" I look around, I feel the ground beneath me. "Am I? Omigosh! I am. That's what she meant!" I dash out from under the tree, "What time is it?!" I rushed out of the swamp and into town. Ponies were walking around on the streets. Most of them were coming home from the train station. I walked up to a stallion.
"Excuse me, sir?” I said in the most polite tone I could muster, Could you by any chance-"
"Look, kid, I can't help you. I need to get home. I'm sorry,” he said without even so much as batting an eye at me.
Geez, you couldn’t take two seconds of your time to look at your watch and tell me the time? Jerk! I grumbled in my head as I watched the pony walk out of sight. Once he was gone, I walked up to another pony and tried again. "Excuse me?" I asked. He looked at me and kneeled down.
"Yes?"
"Do you know what time it is?"
"It's a quarter to one."
"Oh shi- Uh, thank you!" I ran up the street and turn to a dead end, I ran faster hoping the guy's watch was wrong, but there was no point in denying it. The starry sky and the light of Luna that shone from that big circle in the sky gave me all the hints I needed. No lights were on in the houses. "Omigosh, they're going to be pissed!" I ran to my house and up the porch stairs. Out of breath, I opened the door. I walked inside the house. "Crap!" I whisper to myself.
The air was dead with an eerie silence. My eyes could not see through the thick coat of darkness that filled every room. Luckily, I’m pretty good at feeling my way around through such darkness. Too bad I don’t have echolocation like a bat, because that would have been perfect for this situation. I started to walk around, feeling my way around the house. I thought I was in the kitchen when I heard a click go on in one of the other rooms. I turned around and saw a light turn on around the bend of the wall from the living room.
Horsefeathers! I thought to myself. I walked to the cabinet and grabbed the broom beside it. I walked to the wall and peeked around the edge. Is that... No, it can’t be! I shook the thought out of my head and leaned against the wall. When I looked around the corner and saw something that made me gasp and look away. Did I just see a Changeling in our living room? I turned to get another glance, but only saw Dad in there, writing something in a notepad.
"Midnight! I know you're there,” he said in an emotionless, dull tone. Oops! He must have heard me gasp behind the wall. I walked out from behind the wall and into the living room.
"Hey, Dad..." I said to him. After what happened today, it was very awkward to talk to him now. I knew that the second I had stepped into the living room.
"Don't talk to me, Midnight!” He said with a grimace that made me feel a little bit guilty on the inside, “Just go to bed. I'm very, VERY disappointed in you." He didn't bother looking up from what his notepad. I carefully slinked upstairs like a thief in the night and, with great care, opened up my door ever so slowly to minimize the creaking sound that the doors in the house made when they were opened. Dad was already pissed at me, and I didn’t want Mom to feel the same way by waking her up. I was pretty sure she was already ticked off when I ran away back in the kitchen.
"Well, I was beginning to believe you really did leave." I heard a voice say that scared the living daylights out of me and made my heart pound against my chest like a savage beast against the bars of a cage. I turned on the lamp in my room and saw my sister sitting on the bed with her arms folded.
"Ah, Aqua?” I stammered, “I- I didn't leave, I, um. I j-just-"
She flew over to the door, closed it, then sat back down on my bed. "You just what, huh? You just didn’t want to hear it? You weren't prepared?"
"Wha- I-" She glared at me.
"You know what, I just learned some very disturbing news that was not only about you, but it was about me too as well as our entire family! And not only that if you had been there you would know!!" She started to throw a tantrum and I tried to calm her down.
"Calm-"
"No! I won't calm down! You'll know why I can’t calm down when you find out! You should've been there when they told me! But no! You had to go on your own selfish terms and leave me in the dust!"
"I didn't leave you in the dust, Aqua! What's going on? I'm here now!" I stomped my hooves on the ground in frustration.
"Well, being here now isn't helping!! You know what, Mom and Dad can tell you!" Tears welled up in her eyes and began to trickle down her face. "I'm not telling you! You should've been there, Midnight!"
"I'm sorry. Look, I know it must not have been an easy thing without me there. Again, I’m really sorry that I couldn’t be there with you."
"No, you're not! You’re just saying that so when you need me, you can have me there!" She looked at me with a hurt look. Tears are pouring from her eyes.
"Okay, you know what? Screw this! What’s it going to take to convince that my apology is genuine?! You’re just being a huge brat about it and calling me a liar! So goodnight! If you don't want to accept my apology, fine! But do not come looking for me when you need me again, okay?!" I ran over to my dresser and grabbed a bag out of the closet. I shoved clothes into it and grabbed a small blanket. I ran downstairs at a brisk pace.
"Where are you-"
"Don't talk to me!” I snapped at her, “Just shut up and don't follow me!" I heard the sound of Mom's voice. Better get out while I still can… I ran downstairs and rushed right past my father, who was still sitting in the living room reading his newspaper.
"Midnight?" I opened the door and slammed it closed. I didn't listen to my father and ignored the fact that my mom was coming down the stairs. I ran around to the backyard and started to climb up the tree. I would have just flown to the top if my I wasn’t so exhausted. I climbed up the tree and got into the treehouse. I place my stuff in the corner and took out the blanket. I spread it out on the floor and made myself comfortable. As I stared at the ceiling of the treehouse, thoughts began to race through my mind. Was that a changeling in our living room? Or was I going crazy? I closed my eyes and began to drift away, but not before I heard a soft voice outside.
"Midnight? Midnight?" I looked up to see a silhouette of a mare in the darkness. I stood completely still, not daring to even so much as breathe. "Midnight, I know you're there." I recognized the voice. It was my Mother. I sat up and blinked at her.
"Mom? What are you doing here?" I asked her while sitting myself up.
"Midnight, why was your sister screaming and crying?" She asked. I laid back down and ignored her. Why should I care? She may be my sister, but she can seriously be such a pain in the butt!
"Mom, I want to go to bed, if that's alright." I told her.
"Midnight, you can't ignore this forever." I heard her hoof steps as she got up and went back to the house. About a minute later, I heard screaming coming from the open window in the living room. I looked out the window of the treehouse and saw that all the lights were on in the house.
"She can't avoid this forever! You think she can! She can't!"
"I know she can't! But she won't let anypony say anything to her!"
“You know what, no! I’ve had enough games! She can't hide from it forever and we can't hide it from her forever!" I hear the door open and slam shut. I thought Dad was coming to the treehouse, I held my breath and prayed to Celestia that he wasn't. I waited for a few minutes, but he never showed up. I peeked outside.
He's down the street?! I thought. I flew out the window and followed him. I saw that he was heading for Hayseed Swamp. As I trailed him, I saw him walk down and stop right in front of the opening in the trees. He sat down and stood as still as a statue. I heard him muttering something to himself. Suddenly, he yelled out the series of curse words that would definitely get a bar of soap shoved into my mouth if I ever said any of them. Geez, mad much? I stayed concealed within the shrubbery. I began to feel frightened when I saw something creep over him as he began to walk back towards town. He looked back at the figure and gasped. I wanted to jump out of the bushes, but I pulled myself together and remained hidden. The creature lurked over Dad. I could hear its dark whispers,
"When will you tell her?!" The voice scolded at him.
"I'm-I'm sorry! Please, don't-" He fell to the ground with a loud thud. I winced and watched in terror as the thing dragged my father back onto the forest.
“You worthless sack of piss! It’s time to face the music for your incompetence, Silver Stream!”
"Please! Anyone?! HELP!!" My father disappears into the forest with that thing still dragging him back. I watched as he ran back out of the forest and tripped over a rock or something. I didn’t care what punishment he had in store for me stalking him, I had to help him!
"Dad?!" He looked at me, gripping the ground hard. "Dad!!" I run over to him despite his desperate calls telling me to stay back. I didn’t care, he needed me!
"Get your Moth-" he stammered. I couldn’t fathom what was wrong with his voice. He couldn't finish a single sentence, it was almost like he was choking.
"Dad?!" I screamed out once more. I freak out, "Dad? What's happening? Tell me!" He looks at me, gasping for air.
“Get- Mom- Hel- Help- P-Plea-" He stopped, gasping for air. I leaned over him and tried to help him get up.
“Trying to be a heroine, eh little filly?” I heard the creature shout as it emerged from the swamp, “I think not!” As I turned my head to look at the thing, it picked me up and hurled me away from the clearing. As I dealt with the intense pain that was coursing through my body after landing on the cold, hard ground, I looked at Dad. He glanced back at me and shouted,
"Go!" He was then dragged into the into the forest again, and he didn’t come back out. I sprinted back home as fast as my legs could go. I burst through the door, gasping for breath. I galloped up the stairs, trying not to faint or throw up from exhaustion.
"M-Mom! Help! Dad's- Dad's gone!" She looked up at me.
"What- Midnight, sit down. What happened?" I sit down on the edge of the bed.
"He’s gone! I saw it! He was dragged back by this freaking demon!” I shouted hysterically to her, “Mom, you have to come, and Aqua needs to come too!” I jumped onto Aqua's bed and woke her up. "Come on!" I dragged her and Mom out the house and down to the swamps, right where I saw Dad last. "H-he was dragged back! I tried to help, but he said that I should go get you!" My mom just stared... "Mom? Are-"
"Get back to the house! Let's go! Your Father will be fine." She pushed us along back home.
"Hang on, I'll be there in a second." I walked back to where my Father was last and shouted into the swamp, "Hey! Who the heck do you think you are taking my Father like that?! Whoever you are, I will find you, kill you, and get my Fa-" A hoof clamped over my mouth, "I wasn't done Mom!"
"I know you weren't, okay! That was rude!" She said as she looked at me with a grimace on her face.
"But it’s true!!" I told her with aggressiveness in my voice. "I will find them, kill them, and avenge Dad! If we don't find him, I'll find the pony that took him and take the ones that THEY love! How would you like that?!" My mom covered my mouth once more.
"Midnight! Shh." We walked back home and stayed up for the rest of the night figuring out what to do. Well, almost everyone. Technically, I was the only one who actually did anything to try and find Dad. Aqua was bawling her eyes out about Dad. I'll admit I wanted to cry, but I didn't. While Mom was comforting Aqua, I filed a missing pony report, did the dishes, calmed down, went back to the swamp, cursed a hurtful string of curse words, came home, and finally, at five o’clock in the morning, went to bed.

Comments

[grey mane]

7105515 You're welcome.

[grey mane]

“Anyone can plot a course with a map or compass; but without a sense of who you are, you will never know if you're already home.”
― Shannon L. Alder

“You’re so eager to jump into something you’ve barely begun to understand. Things don’t just get handed to you. You have to fight. Prove that you are worthy and then maybe the answers will be found." - Mr. Creepy”
― Candace Knoebel

I feel sorry that she lost her father, but she must understand that to take on evil she doesn't understand will only cause more harm.

[Darkie 09]

7124355
Very cool quotes. Although, to see how this unravels you'll have to wait till chapter 3 I'll probably have it up on the 19th

[grey mane]

7126788 I look forward to it.