EntiQuest [OLD]

by Sputniik

CHAPTER 15

The remainder of the late afternoon was silent. It may as well have been hours before either of the two could catch a breath of fresh air at the top again. But for a decent time, Dipper hadn't as much as shifted in the corner, and waited. There couldn't have been a better sense of relief once Danny had finally regained consciousness and pulled them both up, out of the hole.

They didn't speak a word after they both touched the surface of the outside again, and the hole mysteriously vanished before they could look back again. The eldest of the two stood up, observing the area that now reflected a world of night. Although the trees tied and entangled with each other at the roof of the wood, hiding the color of the sky, no sun slipped through the cracks of the trees. Besides, it'd been a while.

A cup of tea with Twilight and Ivor sounded like heaven, compared to the chill of night. So Danny hauled the boy over his back, and headed back home.

The walk was silent, and Dipper fell asleep over his shoulder. His sleep was silent; so the only sounds really were the crickets chirping and the crunching of late autumn leaves under his feet. Danny took his time, though; The silence was nice every once in a while.

After finding the way back to the main path that lead behind Ivor's house, a strange glow emitted from... somewhere, Danny couldn't place. He sped up his pace a bit, hoping to catch a sight of whatever was just around the corner, but as he neared, the more it seemed to fade. And soon, it'd vanished. Maybe something had run by.

After a brief glance around, he shrugged to himself, and pushed further through the brush. The sense of something being there, hadn't left at all. And Danny still couldn't shake the feeling.

"Ha ha, you're so gullible..."

Danny flickered around, widening his eyes when nothing was ever even behind him. At least it didn't seem so. Dipper grumbled in his sleep, but didn't open an eye. He was still asleep. It had only now occurred to him that he was carrying his injured friend through the forest, while something had been watching them. It wasn't the most pleasant thought.

He held tighter onto the boy's arms, and headed further down the path.

"Hey, kid. If you're gonna walk right through my haunt, you might as well say hello,"

Something brushed past, and the only thing that stood out from the dreary, pale night-shade of the woods was a bright white feline.

It might as well have been glowing; it cast a bit of a light where it stood, smiling to itself. And it didn't have eyes, either. Only lifeless, black circles with bags. It almost looked... human.

Danny breathed, staggering past the ghostly cat, dragging Dipper along with him as before. Only he held his hands tighter, and his fingers were growing cold.

The slight chance of the cat not following him was obviously not large enough not to hear the creature creep up behind. There wasn't a crunching of leaves under it's paws, though. Just the strange sense of another spirit trailing behind.

She sprinted up ahead, matching the teen's pace. She glanced over the trail.
"Tired of carrying that dead body around?"

Danny rolled his eyes, under his hoodie. There obviously wasn't going to be another moment of silence tonight. Especially once he got back home. And now this ghost cat was trying to strike up a conversation with him. There's no getting out of this, is there?

"He's not dead," Danny grumbled in reply, "He's... asleep."

"Hah, that's funny..." She mewed a laugh, "You sound familiar. What you said.

"Because he's definitely sleeping." Her eyes flickered a dangerous white that matched her coat. It vanished in a second-- as fast as it came. "Did you kill him?"

For a second, Danny was almost sure she was kidding. She even laughed along with her question, as if it was just some sort of cruel joke. But it unfortunately didn't take long to realize she was looking him over, almost in a suspicious manner. She still had some sort of smile over her muzzle, as if she was hinting at something.

When Danny didn't respond and only picked up his pace in the process, the cat scampered along.

"I mean, you are a werewolf," she stated a matter-of-factly. "And you're glowing. Like a ghost... and I can feel that you are, I just know it.

"So you're like me? Did you die at like, a party or something?"

"What?"

The ghost cat laughed, "I mean, you look young. Or maybe you're one of... those... guys. Honest to goodness, they should be like, incarcerated or something. Ha, I was close enough. My last drink was a milkshake. Pathetic. You'd think it'd be like, a nice beer, or something. But nah, it was a milkshake in a wine glass. Shared it with my friend until our time was up, if you wanna sugar coat it. Don't think you're old enough to hear that story."

Then she hissed, shielding her eyes with a paw. A golden light touched the trees, and coated the leaves. There was a light up ahead-- Ivor's house was just around the corner. Danny sighed in relief. Finally...

"What is that light?" she grumbled, peeking under her paw. "Do you live in that place? It's burning my eye-sockets."

"Awesome, which means you'll leave now?"

"My thoughts exactly." The cat hissed, showing her fangs at no one in particular. "I'll find you again, ghost-wolf. If any other kitty passes by, tell them Midnight owns this pathetic piece of territory. Else they'll get both their ears chewed off."

She graced the ground with her tail before flicking around and scampering off. Soon as she disappeared around the corner, her glow had vanished.

---

A couple hours previously::

---

"Some tea do you any good?" Ivor offered, staring albeit concerned at the mare. Twilight shook her head, glancing out the window once more. It was pitch black out, and still not a sign from either of the boys. Ivor had wanted to go out and search for them, but Twilight had convinced him not to. He only nodded, realizing he'd end up leaving Twilight on her own, anyway. And both of them going along would leave the house alone, plus that chance they might not be able to track them down. Neither wanted another mix up again.

Plus everything she'd run over in her mind, hoping to think about anything else put more stress over her shoulders. She thought back to Fluttershy, and the dram she'd had... however long ago. And Spike. All she could do was hope for their safety, and wait until the problem had been resolved. She was not going back empty-hooved again. She'd come back just once a year, and she never brought anything along with her besides a basket of cold bread, coated in snow.

"You know what? I'll take what you've got." Ivor nodded, heading back over to the kitchen, leaving the alicorn to her thoughts. "Tea does sound nice..."

She waited for the half-deer to join her, which he did, bringing along two mugs of tea. They talked just a bit, hoping to pass the time, or rather just think of anything else. The subject did come up a few times here and there-- it probably wasn't as avoidable as they'd thought.

Only a couple hours later had Ivor finally decided to clean the mugs that piled in the sink, and the sticky dishes Danny hadn't finished that morning, and the glass cup that Dipper never drank out of.

Twilight groaned, massaging her temples. "I.. probably just need to take a shower or something..." She leapt off the beds and dashed into the bathroom record time.

Sure, a nice shower would take her mind off of...

"Nope. Not thinking about that." Twilight announced to herself, turning the knob on the shower. There was a creak before a thin dribble of water touched the bottom of the tub. The other dial didn't seem to even do anything.

Don't you just hate dead showers?

"Shut it." Twilight hissed, before the Parasite's presence had vanished. It must have been as bored as she was. After all, nothing eventful had really happened all day. Was she starving the Parasite?

She decided to dwell on it further, turning her back on the bath, glad to have found something else to distract her tired mind with. And sleep was certainly not a realistic enough option.

But somehow, Equestria continued to flicker in the back of her mind. Even once she'd found herself engaged in staring at the stars, she heard that same echo of her pegasus friend in the depths of her mind. The same voice from her dream-- or her vision, if that's what it was. Maybe she just wanted answers, and her mind was just not... satisfied yet? It seemed plausible enough. In fact, anything did, at a time like this.

But it still felt off. Like something was forcing the thought to return to her. Twilight furrowed her brows at the new idea. Was Parasite trying to remind her of something?

Her train of thought didn't go much further, though, until Ivor had exclaimed something her brain hadn't had the time to process. She glanced over at the deer-man, and he motioned towards the front door, face clear of any real emotions she could see from the other end of the room.

He raised a brow, "Danny-- he's outside."

"What?" She had to see this for herself.
Flickering around to face the window again, she could barely make out the moving silhouette nearing the house. Twilight had to squint, but true to his word she did spot Daniel just a few paces away from the porch. And now the dim golden lights of the lanterns cast a brighter shade over the teen and the grass, and the younger boy draped over his shoulders.

Did you really think they BOTH made it out alive, Princess?

Twilight snarled, shaking her head to rid the voice-- or perhaps, put the parasite to rest. Just for a moment. She would've been convinced Dipper hadn't come back alive if she didn't catch a glimpse of the off rise-and-fall of his chest, or the fiddling of his fingers in his sleep. Just before she heard a loud knocking on the door that startled her back into the beds.

Ivor had reached out to the doorknob, glancing outside at Danny who seemed more than out of it.

"Uh, I'm back."

Ivor seemed to snap immediately back into reality, and wrapped his arms around both Danny, and Dipper draped over him.

"Thank goodness," Ivor breathed, "Where on earth were you...? And Dipper--"

"That's kind of complicated," Danny mumbled, and Ivor released them both from the embrace. "I just... need to go to bed. And he's fine. Just... tired."

Ivor breathed a laugh of relief, urging the boy inside. "Understandable. I might as well be heading to bed, as well. You're not hungry or anything?"

Danny waved it off, "No, I'm good. I'll make sure to make up for it in the morning." It sounded like he was joking-- he may as well have been. Oblivious or not, Ivor replied with a warm smile and headed off to his room.

He hadn't payed any mind to Twilight, who sat by the window, eyes focused on seemingly nothing. She wasn't staring out the window anymore, her eyes just traced the sky, almost as if her eyes were never even open, she looked dazed. But it was better than closing her eyes.

Twilight wasn't sure how long she'd been staring outside, or if she'd ever thought to blink; her eyes felt dry. She didn't notice when the lights were turned off, or when the silence grew even more silent once everyone had hit the bed and drifted off to sleep.

She sighed, shaking her head, blinking her eyes.

Ah, Princess. Whatever is the matter this time?

"I'm not in the mood, Parasite." Twilight hissed under her breath. "I have enough on my plate without you in my head every second of the day!"

Every second? Parasite sounded taken aback. Why, Princess, I'm only always here! You should be glad I've been a good little... Parasite, and stayed quiet almost all day!

"Stop playing these games with me. If you wanted to leave so badly, then be my guest!"

You're really that much of an idiot, huh? I think you may have forgotten I'm stuck here with you for my survival!

"Selfish," Twilight hissed, shaking her head once again, "You're nothing but a selfish creature. A selfish, disgusting monster..."

Oh, clamp that running muzzle of yours or everything inside you will trail right out. You know nothing about me. And you never will if you don't live to see the light of day.

Do not make me angry, Princess. Don't ever forget who's given you a chance of life until you've decided to answer my question. And if you fail me, you won't be seeing your precious Hearth's Warming this year. You won't be carrying your basket of disappointment to your family, either. You won't step a single hoof onto your land again.

Twilight shot up instantly. "H-How in Equestria do you know about that?"

"Hello?"

"Parasite!"

Nothing.

Twilight growled in frustration. The one time she needed Parasite to speak, had it decided to suddenly shut up. Coward.

And for a moment too short had Twilight almost forgotten her train of thought a while ago. She huffed, turning to face the window to her left again. The moon was high; and just the bottom tip of the crescent shape was visible from behind the light velvet clouds, and from her view inside.

Was it growing morning, or just touching night? Twilight furrowed her brows, laying on her stomach to glance better at the moon. But she couldn't really catch sight of much anything that the clouds didn't cover. And she couldn't tell if it was morning or night.
There wasn't much to see, anyway. The porch room from outside blocked too much of the view.

The mare shook her head to herself, and spun around, first spotting Danny sound asleep, a bed or two distance away. And he was turned to his right, so the bit of moonlight that shine through the window left a sparkling shadow right over his sleeping form.

Twilight narrowed her eyes. Was he really asleep?

She shuffled over silently, the mattresses creaking under her hooves. She only placed her face just above Daniel's, hoping to catch any sign of...

Is he actually asleep...? Twilight thought in disbelief. No, that's not likely... not enough.

She felt curiosity fall over her like a blanket. Whatever Daniel and Dipper had endured out there that night had more than worn him out. Daniel was never really one for sleeping-- at least as far as Twilight knew.

She inched back over to her corner and fell under the sheets instead. Maybe none of this was worth the thought over. That seemed atleast about right. Although not nearly satisfied, Twilight allowed herself to drift off to sleep. Only new thoughts began to enter her mind before she realized she wasn't in bed anymore.

The sight-- or there being no sight at all-- was familiar enough. Twilight spun around, narrowing her eyes through the vast shade of black, but this time, something caught her eye.

As if it had never been there before, a blotch of white formed in the distance behind her. She gasped, backing away from the intrusion, only until she felt some sort of force behind her interrupt her path. And glancing back, there was nothing there.

"P-Parasite!" Twilight yelled through a chill that ran down her back. The presence of the creature was still there, only it remained silent. Twilight bristled, scurrying away from the luminescent white closing in on her, too much like a magnet.

"Stop this!" Twilight cried, the bleeding white mass creeping up from under her. "Show yourself!"

The color vanished as if by command, leaving nothing behind except faint trails of color her eyes tricked her into seeing.

Oh, Princess, you're no fun! Parasite mocked, it's voice echoing off every corner of the space. I only wanted to show you something.... a little reminder.

"What reminder..?" Twilight whispered, still glancing around to survey her surroundings. "What did you bring me here for? I'm not asking for answers, I'm demanding them,"

You're still that much of an idiot, are you princess? You don't demand answers from me; I do have full control over you, after all.

And you best remember our little deal. How many hints had I left around for you to realize this? The Cold season grows nearer every breath you take, Precious Stone. Take too many and you just might run out.

On cue, Twilight gasped, collapsing onto her stomach as the air seemed to vanish. She couldn't yell; she couldn't breathe, either. The Parasite only buzzed in her ears, what sounded like laughter. But she couldn't hear anything, either. The entire plain seemed to fall apart before her eyes. Twilight only struggled for air, tears of panic trailing down her face until she felt the world fall from under her, and the cold air was back again.

Twilight blinked awake, abruptly sitting up and leaving the blankets behind as she flailed for the outside, desperate to feel the wind through her fur again.

Author's Note:

Really late update; but I finally managed to get back to this. Internet was down, and any other device I had made editing more than difficult, but It was certainly helpful when adding in small parts of the story every now and then.

I'm hoping to get at least another chapter done and posted before the summer ends. I didn't really update to my 'schedule' this month, after all.