The Edge of Madness

by SaltyJustice

Chapter 17

It was an uncharacteristically hot day as I laid down on a cloud, relaxing and soaking up the sun. This was one of the few remaining hot days before the winter came, but in Los Pegasus, it's always hot, or at least warm. It doesn't snow, even on the ground, but the cloud layer always stays balmy and warm due to some moisture lensing effect the twins would probably know about. Fluttershy, Labamba, and Rainbow were playing with one another in the small lot in front of our house while I lounged and watched, left alone to my thoughts. I saw a grey-colored mare wearing a mailpony's outfit swoop down from the sky and land just across from us, checking something on a clipboard. She walked around the fillies and over to me as I eyed her.

"Package for Miamore?" she said. I couldn't see her face too well under the huge sunglasses she wore, but she seemed to be looking past me.

"I'll sign for it," I said.

"Sign here," she said, extending out the clipboard with a pen hanging from a string. I grabbed it and signed, then she flipped a page on the board.

"And here," she said. I signed it.

"And here," she said, pointing further down the page. I signed that too.

"And here," she said again. I signed the damn thing again.

She paused.

"And here," she said. I signed it and she dropped the package in my lap, flying off without another word.

The package had been sent from one Victoria Petalfeather, though Tia hadn't told me to be expecting anything in a letter recently. I went inside before opening it up for privacy reasons, with the door closed firmly behind me, I tore it open to reveal a box with a letter attached.

The letter revealed everything she had learned from an investigation in Stalliongrad, nothing particularly different except the age of the victim and the fact that the body wasn't recovered. That had been our last lead.

I sighed and opened the box to reveal the same Ziristone artifact I had sent to Celestia some time ago. It looked the same as ever, that curious black shape with green trim that changed should you glance away, even for a moment.

Her letter explained that she hadn't figured out anything more about it, and that she was sending it back to me, as she was at a total loss for what to do. That didn't encourage me at all, for I was in the same sinking boat. I left it in the box for a moment and tried to gather my thoughts, I wasn't going to get any more evidence, and I had to do something before the monster struck again.

I had figured at least a few parts out, but there was something crucial missing: the motive. Why? The faceless ones had always just brutally attacked everything they came in contact with, and through sheer strength overcame us. These new ones were every bit as powerful but no longer willing to attack except against the vulnerable and defenseless. Why? It made no sense, to have power and not to use it.

My gaze shifted over to the artifact again, a haze surrounded it as the green substance danced over its surface. It must be related, after all, I had pulled it from the body of one of these villains, but it seemed insane to shove a magic-absorbing rock inside them. Then again, according to Celestia, the rock was 'full' and couldn't absorb any more magic, so what was the point? Was it like a kidney stone?

As Squeaky would always say, if you know what you have, think about what you don't have. But that only left me with motive, and I couldn't guess at that. Then she'd laugh at me and tell me to stop thinking so narrowly, and that it's not meant to be taken literally. So I thought about what I didn't have.

Reports, that was one thing. I didn't know how long the attacks had been going on, and we had a total of three official reports and one unofficial one, with the body count at seven. In addition, there was some correlation of outbreaks and attacks, so I could presume there were more bodies out there, undiscovered. Imagine that, lurking out in some dark corner of Equestria was a mutilated corpse, ready to attack an unfortunate traveler.

Except the reports of that hadn't happened, that would be something we'd know about. Instead, it was like these walking bodies fell of the face of the earth. They must be going somewhere, but where?

Wait.

Oh my.

I felt like whacking myself on the head for my idiocy, why hadn't I seen it sooner? Ten-thousand years ago, we defeated the greatest threat the universe has ever known, and bound it deep within the earth. We felt that the binding was not enough by itself, and also encased it with as much magic-absorbing Ziristone rock as we could, to prevent its influence from leaking out, yet leak it did. That this artifact was probably from that same seal was very likely, given the rarity of the rock, but some random miner who didn't care about his personal safety could have extracted it. What I hadn't thought of was what would happen to an absorptive rock if you left it for ten-thousand years, absorbing something. Eventually, it was going to fill up.

The green markings now made more sense, as this rock was probably filled to the brim with magical energy derived from our ancestral enemy, corrupting it so utterly as to make it dangerous even for a pony to touch. Evidently I was immune, or perhaps just lucky, but that was besides the point. The faceless ones could still not breach the seal, but now they didn't have to, there was a way for their influence to spread beyond it in the form of these rocks.

I didn't know what the Boogeypony was, but if I was right, then - well, I did not want to be right. I reasoned that, lacking bodies of their own, they had sent out a creature to get them bodies. To bring them back and implant them with these rocks, and then to shape and twist them into the familiar nightmares I had faced so many times. For all I knew there was an army of these things, a new and more powerful breed of nightmare that I could not sense and could not see with my vision, waiting somewhere in Equestria for its chance to overrun us.

Correct.

"Who said that?" I asked, looking around. The room was empty. I looked outside to see Fluttershy riding Labamba around while Rainbow practiced aerial somersaults, clearly they had not said anything.

I went back inside, believing I had imagined it, and put my face close to the rock. I couldn't feel any disturbance, something about the rock itself must have been disrupting my senses, but I could still think, I could still outsmart these things. I held the rock up. Who the hell are you?

Fear.

The voice came again, deep and from everywhere at once. It was not a spoken word, it was felt, like the bones of your body vibrating to create the tone. Was it the rock? Was it talking to me?

Despair.

I wanted to slap myself for the second time that day, for being so stupid. The answer was right here, because if this rock could absorb evil thoughts, it could absorb good ones too. It could hear me as I thought next to it, and I hadn't had the presence of mind to even try that earlier. If only I had relied on myself instead of getting Celestia to do it, maybe I could have saved those fillies.

The rock didn't say anything this time, but I swear I heard something giggling nearby. I spun around quickly, but the room was still quiet, the occasional laugh coming from the three friends playing outside. It was not them I heard, because I had heard that laugh before.

It came again, louder, but I could see nothing around me that would be causing it. I ran into my room and grabbed my blade before barging back into the living room. I wasn't sure how this worked, but I wasn't going to be unprepared like Gazzo had. I owed him that honor for his sacrifice.

No sooner had I thought that then the laughing got louder, responding to my confidence by mocking me. It had no body, but it didn't need one, because why would it? It could destroy me through cruel mockery, I was incompetent and foolish and I knew it, and the guilt was mine alone.

No! Listen you stupid rock, I'm going to make you wish you had never crawled out of that dank pit you called home. I'll drag you back to hell myself and cast you in with your creator to rot for the rest of eternity, you hear me? I'm not afraid of you!

The laughter stopped, replaced by silence.
Come to the water treatment plant. You'll see.

The rock sat on the floor, I had not touched it, yet I could see it start to vibrate. It shook and shuddered in place, practically bouncing off the ground as I stepped back, unsure. The green covering retreated within and then the rock stopped, sitting in place as a black ball. I saw the top of the rock form a crack that propagated in and all around, an the rock disassembled itself before my eyes. It left only a few shards of black clay on the floor.

The door flung open and Minty and Squeaky came charging through.

"Cadence! Time to go, are you ready?" Squeaky asked me, as I turned around, bewildered.

"Time to go where? Ready for what?" I asked. Minty sighed.

"We have to go pick up Gabby at the depot and then head to the science fair," she said, shaking her head, "don't tell me you forgot."

"That's today?" I had forgotten.

They walked past me into their rooms and emerged a moment later with thick white lab coats on. Minty was wearing goggles by Squeaky wasn't.

"Most of my stuff is already there, we can just take the luggage with us," Minty said, and the two walked side by side, forcing me out the door by giving me no room to go around them.

"Are you coming to the science fair?" Squeaky asked the fillies out in the yard. Rainbow kept on flying around, ignoring them, but Fluttershy seemed able to speak.

"Mister Labamba says he's busy," she said.

I decided to not wonder what else a flamingo would have to do that day.

"And what about you two?" I asked.

"A science fair? Puh-lease, I wouldn't be caught dead there," Rainbow said, taking a break from her stunts.

"I'm gonna show off the rocket you know, this is the big day," Minty said with a wink. Rainbow grabbed Fluttershy by the tail and carried her up in the air, nodding at us with pink hair stuck in her mouth. Fluttershy let out a peep but didn't say anything, so I guessed they were going.

While I needed to check out the water treatment plant, and badly, I also would never lose the twins since they'd just assume I was shirking on bag carrying duty. We made it to the air-bus depot in record time and stood around for about ten minutes waiting for Gabby's taxi to show up.

At first, I thought the six-seater cart was empty when it arrived, carried by a very disinterested looking mare, but after it landed, Gabby stuck her head up and looked around for us. She then whacked something next to her and one of her band members looked up as well.

She looked just like she had last I had seen her, still tall, still imposing, but some of her edge was dulled by the oversized parachute she had strapped to her back and the ill-fitting shoes she was wearing. Minty stifled a giggle as Squeaky threatened her with her hoof, a warning not to make fun of Gabby.

"Can you guys make it to the set by yourselves?" she asked as she disembarked, a suitcase plopped onto the cloud as another pony stood up.

"Yeah yeah, we're cool. Cool," he said, though he seemed dizzy from the way he was slurring and repeating himself.

"Are they okay?" I asked as our party approached Gabby.

"They stayed up all last night partying, I'm amazed he can form words at this point," she said, turning to us. She closed the distance and gave me a big hug, out of nowhere, and whispered in my ear, "Don't let me fall or I'll kill you."

"Missed you too Gabs," I said.

"So, science fair, parade, concert, home? Is that the plan?" she said, picking up her suitcase in her mouth. Squeaky walked over and took it, placing it on her back to carry, as Gabby's was occupied by a parachute.

"Yeah that's the plan, I think," I said.

"She forgot all about it," Minty said, doing her best to taunt me. Evidently Minty couldn't tell I had other things on my mind.

"Whatever, what's with the kids?" Gabby asked.

"We're not kids!" Rainbow protested, but given that Gabby was ten times her size, she quieted down as Gabby puffed out her chest.

"Don't mess with me and we'll get along great, shorty," Gabby said to Rainbow. I couldn't tell if that slighted her or not, as Rainbow was trying to size up the giantess standing before her. Gabby was probably the tallest pony she'd ever seen, after all. Wait 'til she gets a load of my sister.

We started off after Gabby pulled out a guitar and an amplifier from the luggage compartment and dumped them on our backs. The guitar fit snugly under my scabbard, I was still carrying my sword openly in public, but I had a cadet's badge on the strap so nopony really cared.

Gabby regaled us with the tales of her exploits with this band of hers, Neon Bludgeon, and how they were constantly getting into trouble with the law, skipping town without paying debts, and getting into drunken fights all the time. It was her job to at least keep the guard from hunting them down, and to get them safely between events. Her face told the rest of the story, wrinkles and crow's feet had started to creep in.

"So I've noticed you're not scared of heights anymore, what happened?" Minty asked as we walked along. Rainbow was hovering while the rest of us walked, I don't think she felt all right if she wasn't airborne.

"First, you shut up about that, yeah? Second, I had to help with a concert in Cloudsdale last month," she answered, "Terrible city, full of awful ponies."

"What's so terrible about it?" I asked.

"They don't give a fig about easy access laws, I had to get a friend to carry me just to get between our hotel and the concert venue two blocks away. Ridiculous," she said.

"Well you'll love the science center, it's all stone, right downtown. It's like being in Canterlot," Squeaky said.

"Oh crap!" Minty suddenly shouted, and we all stopped and looked at her.

She quickly looked at the rest of us before settling on me, the least heavily weighed down.

"Cadence, I left some, uh, tags back at the house. Can you go grab them for me and meet us down town?" she asked quickly.

"Sure sure, what do they look like?" I asked.

"They're these little brown things with strings on them, in my room. You gotta get them before they cut the ribbon or I'm totally screwed," she said.

"Parade doesn't start for two hours, Minty, you'll be fine," Squeaky said, but Minty still looked like a panic was inches away.

I let the rest of them keep on walking towards the center of town while I flew off back to our house, moving at twenty times the speed. Gabby could probably keep up if she was running, but walking was so much slower than flying otherwise. Then again, it's hard to chat when you're flying, so it's not all good.

When I arrived at the house, I found Midnight standing in front of the door, looking awkward. She looked up as I arrived, then back to the house, then back to me.

"Wait, you're out here? Then who's in there?" she asked as I approached.

"A burglar probably," I said jokingly, but Midnight looked ready for a fight. I unlocked the door and walked inside.

A pink flamingo sat in the living room, surrounded by ducks. In front of each duck was a set of playing cards, and there were poker chips scattered about. As I entered, every set of eyes in the room turned to me, and for a moment, we simply met each other's gaze, before hell broke loose.

Midnight had walked in behind me, wearing her recently-acquired private's badge. For all those arrayed before us, she must have looked exactly like an off duty guardspony, and the jig was now officially up. Labamba stood up abruptly, and as soon as he did, every duck decided it was time to make a run for it.

Feathers flew, quacking became deafening, and I learned exactly what it looks like when a flock of birds all panic at once. The ducks ran in every direction, bumping into walls, each other, and a few bumped into me. One or two made for the door during the chaos, another genius figured out there was a window in the kitchen and flew out of it, but most of them just ran around scattering poker chips and cards all over the house. Labamba stood motionless in the center, looking at me as I looked at him, as the crowd of ducks thinned itself as they slowly made their way out of the house.

Finally, it was just him and me.

"Were you... hustling ducks at cards?" I asked him. He squawked.

"I don't care what you do in your spare time, just have this cleaned up by the time we get back and I won't tell Minty," I said. Labamba squawked again and flared up his wings, while Midnight and I went into Minty's room to fetch the tags she had left on her bed. They looked a lot like tea-bags, a little brown pouch held something metallic and was attached to a small bit of carved wood by a piece of string. Evidently they were important for Minty's rocket project, but I couldn't say why.

Midnight and I left wordlessly as Labamba was cleaning up the living room.

"What was that all about? Why are you carrying a guitar?" she asked me as soon as we had left the house. I stood in the yard but I didn't want to take off quite yet.

"How about you answer my questions, namely, what are you doing here?" I asked her.

"I was gonna ask if I could skip patrol tonight," she said sheepishly.

"Going to a concert or something?" I asked her, she looked away.

"I kind of have a... date," she said.

When she said that, I got a crazy idea. She was here, right now, with me. She had her weapon with her, as she was required to carry it as long as she had her badge on. I had my weapon, and we had quite a lot of time to get these tags downtown.

"All right, we'll go on patrol now so you can go on your date later," I said. She lightened up and a smile came across her face.

"Thanks! But where are we going to sweep in the middle of the day?" she asked.

"The water treatment plant, do you know where it is?"