Project DYES

by Shadow Beast

Chapter 8: The Dying

Celestia's Sun crept up on the changeling at his desk. Midnight stared at his desk. It lay barren of anything helpful to the rescue cause. Daybreak was soon upon him but he kept his back to it. He continued to stare at the pointless papers. A knock on his door broke his concentration. Desert Mirage, in full armor, stepped through with his eyes red from a lack of sleep.

"So I'm not the only one trying to think of something..." Desert observed. He yawned and fell into a seat across the room. "We need a couch in here," he said as he sprawled uncomfortably onto the undersized chair.

"We've been so busy chasing Gorman that we never saw this new threat," Midnight said, shaking his head. "Advantage would have warned us if we weren't so far away..."

"We should have let them in," Desert said, trying another position on the chair.

"That would have led to disaster. Wretchers have an aspect of fear that often intimidates other species and changelings." He sighed. "We need to find Disadvantage and get some answers... But with the mansion off the map, I have no leads here in Canterlot."

"Guess we'll have to go back there and look for clues. Again." He sat on the chair backwards and stretched. "When are we leaving?"

"Not for a while yet," a voice called from the door. Thunder Sword, also in armor, trotted into the room. "Just got word from the Colonel. He wants us to go check on Advantage and make sure our troops are okay."

"Now?!" Desert jumped off the chair. "We have to find Gravity! I'm not spending another two days on some twins when my gal's being hostage to some pegasus!" He calmly turned to Thunder. "...No offense." He shrugged and snapped back into loudness. "We have to rescue her!"

Midnight sighed. "Desert, I hate to say it but this is probably for the best. If we find Advantage we can ask them about Disadvantage."

"Two days," the unicorn said in an annoyed voice. "Two days she's stuck with that guy. We have to find her now!"

"Are you feeling alright, Mirage?" asked Midnight.

"I'm fine! I'm just tired!"

"You wouldn't know it, but you're showing a lot of symptoms of a withdrawal," the unicorn behind the desk said. "I fear Gravity may have been feeding off of you. As much as I'd hate to admit, getting away from her will do you good."

Desert glared at him and shook his head. "I. Don't. Care." A smirk creased half of his snout as he relaxed and took a step toward Midnight. "Remember when I saved your life?" He pointed his hoof at him. "You would be dead if I hadn't gone rogue."

Midnight shook his head. "I won't deny you. But it won't sway my judgment. If the Colonel ordered this operation then our careers are all at stake."

"If it's so important then why didn't he come here in person and tell you!" Desert slammed his front hooves on the desk.

"It's very early morning," Thunder explained. "He probably didn't think you guys were awake."

Midnight glanced toward the clock. "So it is..."

"You gonna be alright without sleep?" Thunder asked.

He smiled. "Changelings don't need sleep. It certainly helps our minds, but we don't need it."

Thunder shrugged. "If you're alright with it."

"I usually choose sleep, but one night off won't hurt."

"That's fair enough."

"So what's the plan?" Desert interjected.

"I think seeing Advantage does the most good and that's what I think we should do," Midnight replied.

"Yeah?" Desert put a hoof on Thunder's shoulder. "Thunder and I would rather hunt a black and red pegasus!"

Their argument was interrupted by a loud knock on the door. "Midnight!" the Colonel called from the hall as the changeling opened the door from his desk. "Your team is to go keep an eye on Advantage. We've had to move more troops to the border, so we didn't actually get around to sending a squad out there."

"Knew it!" Desert excitedly whispered.

"Sir," Midnight pleaded. "One of our members went MIA."

"He means she got kidnapped by a black and red pegasus with a magic carrot," Desert explained. "We need to get her back!"

"Go check on Advantage or I will liquidate all of you," the Colonel commanded without blinking. "I expect a dragon fire report by the end of the week." He turned from the three and disappeared back into the hallway.

"Well, that's that," Midnight said in a sadder tone than the others had expected.

"Guess I'll go try to get some sleep," Mirage said.

"Don't bother. Let's just get our tickets and board the next train. You can sleep on the way there."

"As long as I get an entire seat..." Desert stretched his back and jaw. "No need to waste anymore time then."

The three made their way into the morning light and then to the station. Thunder stopped at a nearby stand and picked up a newspaper to read while Midnight ordered the tickets.

Thunder read the headline story. "Huh, apparently we're getting a new princess."

Desert chuckled, his eyes half closed. Midnight just nodded, his mind on other things.

"Equestria Games are coming up." He flipped through the pages. "They'll be hosted by the Crystal Empire."

"Neat," said Midnight.

Desert was taking a light snooze.

Thunder sighed and skimmed more articles. "You hear that Discord got reformed?"

"What?!" Midnight said loud enough to wake up Desert, who promptly looked around before shutting his eyes again.

Thunder smiled. "Yeah, apparently he's sworn to not use his powers for evil anymore."

Midnight crooked his head. "You sure you picked up an actual newspaper?"

"Yeah, apparently the six heroes did it." Thunder turned the paper around to show the article. He turned the paper back around. "Huh. This might just be the first picture of Discord not in a stony prison."

"Well, I still don't trust him," the purple unicorn said, turning back to the station in time to see the train pull in. He nudged the pale yellow unicorn next to him. "C'mon, Desert... Train's here."

Desert rubbed his eyes and trotted behind his teammates as they approached the station. From the train disembarked a single Appleloosan: a smiling, one-eyed, brown stallion who stayed between them and the train.

"Isn't that...?" Thunder's voice trailed off as he squinted toward the familiar pony.

"I don't like this," Midnight said.

"He's just standing there," Desert said. Midnight turned to him. "Menacingly!" the unicorn added before the changeling could say anything.

"Oh, shush..." Midnight held back a smile. "I'll handle this." He trotted up to the wretcher cowpony while his team stayed back and observed from afar.

"The Perfect One has requested your presence," the wretcher said in an unfitting accent.

"That's funny, because my boss just told me I need to keep an eye on Advantage..."

"Don't give our secret plans away!" Mirage yelled into the night.

Midnight tried to ignore him. The wretcher was more successful. "I've been sent here to retrieve you. We're running out of allies since a strange pony started luring them all away with their seeds of doubt."

"So they want me back?"

The wretcher shook his head. "They are afraid somebody is behind this. They want your help figuring out who; they don't want you to rejoin their hive."

"I was about to say..." Midnight chuckled. He beckoned his troops over. "Give me a sec, and I'm all theirs." He turned to the ponies. "Kernel here is taking me back to Advantage and we'll see what we can do about Disadvantage from there." He smiled. "I want you guys to go back to that mansion and find out what you can here. Track down Gravity; that's your mission."

"And, you're just going back to those twins alone?" Thunder asked.

"I'll admit, I have no idea who has the most dangerous job here." Midnight sighed. "I guess it really depends on whatever you find in the mansion." He winked and turned from them. He put a foreleg around Kernel and trotted with him back onto the train. "Good luck, ponies!"

They waved goodbye from the platform as the conductor called for the last time into the morning light. Desert and Thunder stood there for a few extra minutes. One contemplated their mission, the other just leaned on a pole with their eyes closed. The pegasus nudged the tired unicorn and trotted back toward the city. Desert picked up the pace to catch up to him.

"You need some sleep first?" Thunder asked.

Desert shook his head. "Even if I find a good couch, I just can't rest knowing that my girlfriend is being held by some carrot-loving pegasus..."

The pegasus chuckled. "I know how you feel. Let's get back to that mansion."

They hurried along the street, as if racing the morning light. Desert's lack of sleep did nothing to slow him down, and Thunder's well-rested sprint was more than enough to shave time off their trip.

"You know," Desert started in between breaths as he panted outside the mansion. "I think this is our first mission together... Like, just us ponies."

"I think you're right." Thunder smiled. "And since we're going for wretchers, neither of us have much to worry about."

Desert crooked his head. "What do you mean?"

"Well, wretchers don't eat love, they eat other changelings."

Frowns creased both of their snouts in realization.

"Let's hurry," Thunder added.

"Yeah," Desert said, his tone revealing more worry than Thunder had heard yet.

The two rushed into the familiar hallway. Thunder took some time to check for extra "Lacunas" on the wall. Desert found the red marker and underlined his "No." before galloping up the stairs to the room where they lost Gravity.

Finding nothing out of place in the hall, Thunder galloped up after him. The sunlight only showed that the room was even more empty than before; the ashes that once covered the ground were gone and not a thing seemed out of place.

"It's like we didn't have an awesome fight up here!" Desert called, thumping the closed window with his hoof. "This is the worst."

"Keep looking!" Thunder called back. "There's gotta be something they missed..."

Desert looked over the room, paying extra attention to the couches. Thunder looked all over the floor for even a speck of changeling ash. Neither found anything suiting their interests. Thunder opened the door to the next room, only to find the original escape window closed as well. But the light shined onto circles of ash on the ground.

"Mirage!" Thunder called. "Hoofprints!"

The two followed the prints down a set of stairs that were invisible in the darkness of the fight. They found themselves in a familiar room, with the ashes leading to the door recognized by both the ponies to be the basement. They hurriedly trotted down the steps to see the large door firmly shut and the ashes leading beyond it.

"Alright, they've nowhere to go," Thunder noted. "Let's take a quiet--"

Desert slammed his body into the door, forcing it open. Thunder joined in the threshold, and they both stared in horror at what awaited them. Inside was Gravity, her limbs and wings taped together and her eyes and beak taped shut. Gorman the Tenth stood behind the shaking prisoner with a large sword, which he promptly set to her neck the moment the door was opened.

"Yell louder next time you find a trail of hoofprints," Gorman taunted. "I almost didn't hear you coming!"

"Don't you even dare--" Mirage growled.

Gorman pushed the blade into Gravity's neck just enough to shut him up. "Dares are for playground delinquents with no backbone to do what they want. I'm no fledgling, and this blade digs deeper into her neck with each word you waste." He smiled and looked over the ponies while Gravity whimpered under the tape.

Desert aimed his spear. "Just let her go, bird-brain!"

Gorman shook his head with a smirk. "Why do I even bother to try reason with a yellow child. Perhaps you need a taste of the adult world?" His grin grew wider as his blade dug deep enough into Gravity's neck to make her body scream out in pain as best it could.

Before Desert or Thunder could react, the blade cut even deeper to silence Gravity. Gorman pushed her limp body aside and it turned to green, glowing goop as it hit the cement.

"She dies scared and alone. Welcome to the real world!"

Desert charged at Gorman with his spear glowing. Gorman simply laughed, the gem in his headdress glowing until he vanished into a green smoke.

Desert swung his head around in all directions looking for Gorman, but the griffin was gone. Finally his gaze rested on Gravity's remains, which only sent his head spinning around the room once more, but much more violently.

Mirage stabbed at everything around him. "I... I'm gonna kill him!"

Thunder backed up, trotting out of the room and making sure the large door closed behind him. Despite the thickness of the walls and door, Thunder could still hear Desert inside the room... Breaking everything.

---

Midnight and Kernel were probably the only passengers on the train. It impressed the unicorn how friendly the conductor was despite the circumstances. The two changelings sat in a car that would be empty without them. For the first few hours of the trip, they simply glanced at each other while enjoying the view outside. Then, with a raspy, changeling voice from its brown snout, Kernel broke the silence.

"Mask, what is wrong with me?"

Midnight crooked his head. "What... What do you mean?"

"I have nightmares every night. It's a different one each night yet... Every single vision has a bizarre familiarity. It's like memories... But none of them are mine."

"Have you talked to Advantage about this?"

Kernel sighed. "I... I don't remember. They tell me that I should already know how, as if I've talked to them before about it."

Midnight smiled. "Well, that I can certainly remind you of! I overheard that conversation long ago... Basically they told you to face your fears. Or in this case, whoever's fears."

"And they couldn't just say that?"

"If Advantage were straightforward there wouldn't be two of them."

Kernel shrugged and grinned for just that long. "I guess that's true."

"Something else bothering you?" the concerned unicorn asked.

"Why..." He hesitated. "Why did you leave?"

Midnight shrugged. "Destiny, I suppose. There are things that need done for Equestria and I can do them."

"Like turn down your own mentors?" He squinted at the unicorn across from him. "Do you really prefer ponies to your own family?"

"Family," Midnight scoffed. "The ponies are as much my family as Advantage or Gravity."

"And the wretchers?"

"What about them? It's evident that most of them don't even truly follow Advantage. They seek power and they are willing to follow it from place to place!"

A smirk creased Kernel's snout for a fleeting moment. "And you killed them instead of trying to help them."

"You just got here! How could you know--"

"Mask," Kernel interrupted. "Why do you think I was sent to get you?"

Midnight froze in his seat. In his mind echoed his own words from the night before: The pair have the patience of two Celestias. They always try diplomacy first... The only exceptions involve the murder of one of their wretchers. And that didn't happen.
But what if it did?

He shook himself out of it. "That was self defense! Advantage would understand!"

Kernel crooked his head. "For whose sake are you questioning their understanding?"

Midnight crossed his forelegs. "You tell me. They haven't tried to reach me with their telepathy yet..."

The smirk reappeared on the Appleloosan snout. "And you haven't figured out why that could be yet?"

Midnight got up from his seat. "No. I think I'll sleep on it." He trotted to the door. "Good night, Carnal," he growled.

Kernel chuckled to himself in silence as Midnight left the car. He lay down on the seat and looked up at the roof. Faded memories of Midnight from back in Advantage's hive bounced around in his head. "Who was this guy?" he whispered to himself. "Wonder how much time the boss'll take to slit his throat." His eyes brightened. "Perfect timing." He chuckled to himself quietly and turned over.

He shut his eyes to wait for the conductor's call, ready for the nightmares to come.

Kernel woke to find Midnight sitting across from him again. He yawned and stretched from his makeshift bed.

"Have a good rest?" the purple unicorn asked.

Kernel shook his head. "Not in almost a year." His eyes widened and he blinked until they were back to normal. "I already told you about the nightmares..."

Midnight smiled. "Funny how you're willing to trust someone who's going to be executed."

"How long until we get there?" The tires on the train came to a screeching halt. "Nevermind," he said after a quick glance at Appleloosa outside the window.

The two changelings disembarked and headed to those strange woods. In the familiar clearing, the zebra twins stepped forward. Behind them was a spring full of shiny, fresh water.

"Welcome back, Midnight," Lesser said with a smile.

Midnight grew skeptical. "Carnal tells me I'm to be executed?"

"Well isn't someone eager?" Superior said with the same smile.

"Won't you have a drink?" Lesser said in a more ominous tone than usual. The twins pointed Midnight to the spring behind them.

He trotted up to it. "When did this even get here?" he asked no one in particular as his hoof tapped the surface.

The ripples and feel were that of jelly rather than water. Beneath the murky yet shiny surface, two glowing eyes watched him from below. A strange, female voice sang through the trees around him, calming Midnight as he felt beckoned to trot onto the strange pool. He gave into temptation and delighted in the sensation of standing on water without sinking. The eyes continued to watch him as the song went on, distracting him from the other glowing orbs on the perimeter of the spring. Nine green, glowing orbs wrapped in the blue substance rose into the air around him, stretching the jelly and forming what looked like tentacles.

The song stopped.

Before Midnight realized what had happened, the tentacles fell on him and the substance yielded to his weight. His attempt to scream only saw the pool's contents inside of his lungs. Under the surface, he came snout to snout with a creature that seemed to be half-fish and half-pony. It smiled, using its webbed hooves to take his glasses and try them on. It giggled in the voice of the song.

From the surface, Advantage and Kernel watched the bubbles stop. The blue pond turned green, glowed brightly, and disappeared in a flash. Kernel laughed as Advantage's smile slowly disappeared from their face.

"Why are you laughing?" Lesser asked without either head turning around.

"I... I..." Kernel stopped to catch a breath. "I didn't expect you to just kill him so easily!"

Advantage turned to him, and the look on their faces exiled his laughter. "Who are you and where is he?!" Superior growled, pointing at Kernel.

The changeling just shook his head. "I have no idea what you're asking."

"Are you not afraid?" Lesser asked the subtly shaking pony.

Kernel tried to compose himself. "Well, when you look at me like that... Who isn't afraid?!"

A sinister smile creased both their snouts.

"Our friends are not scared."

"So what are you shaking for?" Superior asked.

"Take it off, stranger!" Lesser commanded.

A terrified frown was all the impostor could do, aside from shaking his head and the rest of his body with it. Advantage let out a deep growl, resounding from both their throats as changeling horns grew from their foreheads. Superior's was longer and more twisted, befitting a Queen. Slowly, the zebras disappeared behind a pillar of green flame twice their size, and Kernel was too shocked by their forms to move. With a combined effort, the two horns pulled the two-eyed creature out from under Kernel's usual disguise. They took a step back, surprised at how many feathers this creature had.

"What are you... pony?" Lesser asked in a wretched yet very deep voice.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

7581837 Witch episode?

[Starlight Nova]

"Midnight Masquerade"? Don't you mean Thorax?

[Shadow Beast]

7640298

This story (or at least the second draft of it) was written before Thorax came along (and takes place well before Thorax comes along, for that matter). That episode basically destroyed any semblance of canon that this story had in it. Thorax and Midnight are two very different characters, and if I decide to write a sequel you can bet I'll be coming up with some crazy excuse as to why Thorax's "Changeling Kingdom" is so very different from Midnight's "Hive." It can be difficult to finesse around my own story arcs to favor the show's canon, and I feel like sometime here soon (depending on how much of a coup-de-grace the finale gives it) I might just have to cut off this whole world I've made and start fresh when I go to write my next story.