Fear of the Dark
"And what do you think of all this?"
This was the question Nightshade received from Shining Edge as they were leaving the town of Lagüiña, he looked at the reports he, and the rest of his three fellow soldiers, were gathering up and tried to comprehend what they found.
It was supposed to be a simple investigation, a group of ponies came back from their vacation and they reported the guards of how their friends were murdered. What made this reports interesting, compared to others, was the part of their friends being killed by alleged ghosts. The surviving friends were asking the princesses to vanquish the ghost, a claim found absurd by most of the Royal Guard. Naturally, since this was a murder case, the princesses asked the guards to investigate the murders.
The Royal Guard, in the end, decided to send a group revolving of two night and solar guards to gather information on the murders, thinking that it would be an easy investigation, thinking that the culprits were using ghost as a disguise to hide their identity.
They all thought that, with a simple investigation, they would be able to discover the real culprits and bring them to justice. Sadly, the more they investigated into this, the harder it became to find the murderer. Mainly, the problem seemed to be that there was more than one murderer.
Here, in Lagüiña, they found a case of a young stallion who was disappeared by a an alleged ghoul. Somewhere in the west, a mare was attracting stallions to, apparently, eat them. There was a town with an unknown figure which targeted young foals and drowned them, there were even some cases of extremely violent animals causing chaos on the plains that they discovered as the investigations went on, clearly monsters escaped from Tartarus.
If this investigations were real, that meant the western side of Equestria was ravaged with high cases of crime and the guards supposed to protect the innocent were none the wiser.
So Nightshade turned to Shining Edge, his unicorn face showing no doubt on following him and, after giving some more thought on the matter, Nightshade replied.
"We'll have to train and deploy a lot more guards if we're going to try and fight all this crimes, but, for now, we'll have to focus on the two cases revolving the young stallions, let's see how long it would take us to reach Morochita and gather more information on the stallion that was hanged to death."
Shining Edge nodded and went to inform his partners. Leaving Nightshade alone to think about what was transpiring right now.
"You should be more careful with the territory you're treading on, young guard"
Nightshade turned around and saw an old mare sitting on the street, intensely looking at him, she had a clairvoyant look that was just enough reason for Nightshade to ignore her, but she could still know something of worth, so he decided to listen to her.
"What do you mean by that, citizen?" - Asked Nightshade to the old mare as respectful as he could. - "Do you know something we do not around all these killings?"
The old mare chuckled as she looked in the direction of the train station, her gaze looking both reflexive and worried.
"By this point you should know the report of that young stallion, right? The one taken by The Whisperer."
Nightshade sighed and rolled his eyes upwards as he responded in an exasperated tone of voice.
"Lady, I've heard multiple times that story and I'll give you the same answer: ghost aren't real, it's impossible for the stallion to have been taken by a ghost. He was probably murdered and his body was hidden by the culprit."
The old mare looked at Nightshade with complete calm before answering on a cryptic tone of voice.
"You are partially correct on one thing, sir: this wasn't a ghost. A ghost would imply that the deceased had something tying it to this world and it would move on once it had solved all its problems, but the ones in these lands have preferred to stay with us" -. Nightshade raised his eyebrow at the comment, wondering for what the mare was trying to convey. - "The same way" -, she continued, - "you are wrong on the second part, everypony knows each other on this town and had the poor stallion been murdered by one of us, his body would've been found long ago and justice would've been given to him. Whatever the Whisperer is, by this point, is no longer a ghost and we know it well enough to be as far away from it as possible."
She, then, gave Nightshade a worried face as she finished her response.
"Not all the entities living on this lands are from the living, sir, but that doesn't mean they are ghost, only that they are something better to be left undisturbed."
There was something on the way the old mare said it that sent a shiver down Nightshade's spine, making his bat wings tense as his mind tried to remain calm. If he ever showed any sign of worry, the mare didn't show to have noticed it, rather, she kept on giving her warning.
"Should you try to travel to other towns by land, avoid the main roads on the rains, avoid the plains on the sunset or dawn, camp far away from the woods, never enter a house hosted by a lone red mare and, under any circumstance, never try to search for ponies covered by the dark of the late night, for they love to hide from the Sun and Moon and approach any poor fellow too unaware of the dangers they are facing, whenever they encounter this entities."
Nightshade was going to ask more when Shining Edge got back to him.
"Sir, Private Nova Blade and Private Sky Soarer are ready to move, all we need now is your order."
Nightshade turned back and saw the old mare looking at him expectantly, as if hoping he would heed her advice. There was nothing on her voice or speech that made her suspicious but Nightshade was sent to investigate murders on the western side of Equestria and there was a great chance for the murderer of to be hiding on the plains, so he couldn't avoid them by fear of something he have never seen.
"We'll leave right away, we'll go to the town of Nice View and investigate the rumors of missing fillies, from there onwards, we'll go to the coastal town of Mane Port and investigate the mysterious cart that drives at night. From there, we'll move to Morochita and investigate the case of pony who got hung and, finally, we'll see what we can gather about the giant rat moving through the plains. After all that, depending on what we get, we may go back to Canterlot and report our findings."
Shining Edge saluted him and went to tell the order to the others as Nightshade gave a look at the sun, noticing how it was just a few hours before sunset, hoping they would cover some good distance before it was too dark to keep advancing.
As they moved through the land, Nightshade could still hear the rumors the other guards were talking about.
"Do you think there are ghost in this lands?"
"Impossible, ghost have never been found."
"I've heard some of this aren't even ghost, but monster from Tartarus."
"That's a good one, but we won't know for sure until we meet one."
It was partially annoying to Nightshade but it did leave him thinking, what if there were actual ghost or spirits? He could fight another pony, changelings, manticores, heck, he wouldn't even mind a dragon, but he wasn't sure if he had any chance against ghosts.
That also lead to more questions. If this were ghost, how would he be able to prove it? Maybe the princesses would believe them, but the other guards?
And, even if the princesses and the guards believed him, then what? Would they try to find and fight this creatures or would they ignore all of this?
The more he thought about it, the more he could feel his heart shaken with doubt and fear.
"Alright, enough!"
Nightshade turned towards Shining Edge, determined expression on his face, as he looked at the guards.
"There's no point in arguing if there are actually ghost or not, what matters is that we investigate and report what we find. It doesn't matter what did it. Even still, we have the protection of Princess Celestia during the day" -, he said as he pointed up towards the sun, - "and Princess Luna during the night. So stop thinking about possibilities and start searching for something suspicious."
The guards nodded and started to look around as Nightshade looked at Shining Edge and gave him a mental thank you, taking his time to look around and search for a proper place to camp. As he looked around, he found a nice spot that wasn't too close to the road, but it also was far away enough from it to make a camp with enough space to sleep. It even had some trees they could climb in case of a predator attacking them.
He pointed at the place, as he looked at the Sun, already getting close to twilight, and made the order to prepare the camp. It was during this time when everypony looked up and saw something they didn't predict, storm clouds.
"That's strange" -. Said Shining Edge. - "Private Nova Blade, was there any type of weather storm advised by pegasi on this region?"
The private took a weather guide from his saddle bag, looking for any indication of near storm clouds, and his eyes widen as he found the information they were looking for.
"No, sir, this area is supposed to be on a dry state for, at the very least, two more weeks."
Nightshade looked at the cloud, thinking on all the problems it could create, as he simply shrugged.
"It's probably a cloud that escaped from the pegasi's watch, nothing to worry about."
"Sir!"
Nightshade turned around and saw, to his dismay, a bunch of storm clouds gathering where they were about to camp. For a brief moment, he considered moving their camp, or try to use the pegasi on his squad to dissolve the clouds, but the amount of clouds gathering, enough to cover miles of land, told him right away that such endeavor would be fruitless. So, he, along the other pegasi on the squadron, went up and, at the very least, moved the clouds just enough so their fire wouldn't get hit by the rain, and then continued making their fire as the sun started to set, allowing the moon to glow what little of the night sky it could illuminate.
Under normal circumstances, with a clear sky, the guards would've been on a state of partial alert, switching turns to keep watching the plains and ensure nobody tried to ambush them. Under normal circumstances, with the rain blocking the natural lights from the moon, the guards would've been trying to keep a watch while the ones sleeping would've been sleeping soundly as the raindrops touching their tents would've soothe them.
None of that was happening here.
Despite having a clearing on the clouds, allowing the moonlight to touch their graces and a bonfire giving them warmth, none of the guards felt safe, sleep evaded them as they could feel something in the plains watching them. They weren't exactly sure of what, but just the feeling of being watched put them on high alert, hoping that, whatever it was spying on them, would either leave or make its appearence soon.
Nightshade, as he was watching the plains and ensuring everything was fine, he was trying to find whatever, or whoever, was hiding on the middle of the rain, watching them but, no matter how hard he tried to watch, neither on the plains or the road, not even the trees, he couldn't find whatever was hiding among the plains.
Meanwhile, he could hear his fellow guards talking.
"...at least we can see the moon."
That was the smooth voice belonging to Nova Blade, it was then followed by the rough voice of Sky Soarer.
"Yeah, in moments like this, when I feel lonely or surrounded by my enemies, just looking at Princess Luna's moon always give me relief. It makes me feel safe."
A feeling shared by Nightshade.
"I know that feeling" -, added Shining Edge with his humbly confident voice, - "Everytime I feel this work gets hard, just knowing that Princess Celestia is there, with the sun watching over us, I always feel safe. I may not have the same feeling for the moon, but I can at least share the feeling you have."
"Well" -, responded Sky Soarer, - "at least you understand."
"Do you have any plans after this?"
All the ponies, except Nightshade, looked at Nova Blade, as lightning started to grace the plains, briefly illuminating the plains, showing how the plants to the trees were being moved by the storming rain.
"I mean" -, he added, blushing at the small piece of attention he was being given, - "After investigating all this murders, I would like to have some time to recover on Canterlot" -. His eyes then got softer, and said in a lower tone of voice. - "I know this kind of things can be seen on the job, but there's something on this cases that are getting to me on the wrong way. I mean, just hearing about the mare eating other ponies, that feels just too wrong for me, do you understand me?"
Nightshade didn't see if anyone nodded, but, despite the heavy storm, he heard Shining Edge response:
"Yeah, I get you. I've investigated some burglars and violent crimes, I've even read some reports on murder cases, but there's a level of malice on this ones that makes me feel sick."
"It's almost like if we were discovering a side of Equestria that we weren't aware it even existed until very recently."
Everyone nodded to Sky Soarer's claim, as Nightshade decided to finally give his piece.
"I, too, don't feel well on this cases, but as long I know the princesses are there, I got nothing to fear. If it's for them, I'll work until the very end of my life."
Nightshade didn't know if any of them agreed or not, but, if any of his partners were going to answer to him, it never happened, Nova Blade focused on something else.
"Hey, is it me or does it feel like the rain is closing in on us?"
All the stallions, turned to him, and then the clouds, as they realized that, effectively, the clouds were starting to close in on them, covering the moonlight and soaking their bonfire on water. Shining Edge tried to keep the bonfire alive with his magic, Sky Soarer and his bat wings tried to move the clouds, but it was for naught, the clouds were too many and, whenever one cloud was moved apart, the others followed soon and covered what little moonlight they could find.
"Come on, stay lit!" - Shouted Shining Edge as the storm was soaking them all in water, even as Edge's magic managed to keep a light flame, as the water poured on them, the flame became smaller and smaller until the wood became drowned with water. - "Sir! We lost the fire!"
"Try to light a new one!" - Shouted Nightshade as he tried to find a way to keep the camp alive. - "Private, try to keep those clouds away from the camp!"
"I'm trying sir!" - Shouted Sky Soarer as the rainclouds were about to surround him effortlessly. - "This clouds are too heavy and numerous, I would need a weather team to move them!"
"Sir!" - Shouted Nova Blade - "I need help to keep the tent-"
He couldn't even finish the sentence before the tent was taken by the storming wind, freezing them all with the cold water dropped by the storm clouds, the cold seeping to their very bones.
In the end, after much trying, it became clear that it was impossible to keep the clouds away as well, so they gave up and, instead, decided to gather together as they tried to look around, Shining Edge using an illumination spell to give them as much vision as possible, while the only natural light was coming from the lightning which belonged to the storm clouds.
All the while, the mysterious gaze watching them was still there. They could all feel it penetrating them, scrutinizing them and giving them a look of a predator measuring its prey before attacking.
The guards were ready, Shining Edge was already preparing as many attack spells as he could, Sky Soarer and Nightshade were preparing to evade or jump at any enemy that could jump at them and Nova Blade had his steel blade ready to cut whatever they could find. But whatever was watching them never came, instead, they started to hear something else.
At the beginning, it was distant, making them question if they were really hearing something, but as time went on, the sound started to be heard louder and louder at the same time the storm started to subside.
It came from the road, the only thing showing its presence being the lightning from the storm clouds. They were many, as Nightshade and Sky Soarer could count them, and they were at the very least twenty, perhaps more. They were all going in line, one behind the other, and, from what they could gather by seeing the body shape, it looked like most of them were donkeys, with the some ponies being on the front or back of the line, as if to ensure they wouldn't try to escape.
But what disturbed Nightshade, and the other guards, the most, weren't the equines themselves, but rather what they couldn't see. As their only source of natural light coming from the lightning, it was hard to tell, but Nightshade could swear none of the equines on that line had a head. It looked like they were all headless, but they moved as if they had a head and nothing outside the ordinery was wrong.
And then the sound became much clearer to listen, and all the guards felt a shiver climbing down their spines.
It sounded like the laugh normally coming from donkeys, the typical "Hee-Ha!" But, unlike the normal sound from a donkey, it was cut at half, the only the last part being heard.
"HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!"
And as the guards waited, the more the line of equines got closer to them, passing through the road as it belonged to them, all the while that laugh started to scare the group of royal guards.
"HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!"
For a brief moment, Nightshade wondered if he had to do something, if he could harm those criatures but he then remembered the warning coming from the old mare.
"Not all the entities living on this lands are from the living, sir, but that doesn't mean they are ghost, only that they are something better to be left undisturbed."
And, as tempting it felt to lash out in fear, he preferred to remain calm and not attack. He then looked at his fellow guards, their faces showing how they were ready to attack, at which he simply took their attention with one movement from his hoof and motioned his head on a negative way, his order being quickly understood and followed.
As the seconds passed, the line of equines keep their procession, slowly leaving the place, much to the relief of the guards and, before they knew it, the laughs from the donkeys started to be less and less heard, until they were no longer heard. The relief was so big that they almost forgot they were still being watched.
"What the Tartarus was that!?"
Despite the question coming from Nova Blade, all the guard were looking at Nightshade, hoping he had an explanation, who was already tried to comprehend what he just saw.
"I think" -, his mind tried to process, - "that we found something that is better to be kept alone."
"But" -, interrupted Sky Soarer, - "sir-"
"No" -. Almost shout Nightshade, his body too shaken to properly respond. - "It doesn't even fit any of the alleged ghost we have registerd so far, and I'm not even sure we have the means to do anything to it, so it will be better to leave it alone."
It took the guards some moments to comprehend his position, realizing what he meant, and nodded.
"Alright" -. Responded Nightshade. - "Let's see if we can restart the bonfire and wait until the dawn, then we'll go back to-"
"Hey! Who are you!?"
Nightshade turned around and saw Shining Edge trotting towards the trees, much to his worry.
"Shining Edge! Get back here!"
He then looked at Nova Blade and Sky Soarer, - "you stay here and dont do anything reckless, wait for me and Shining Edge" -, and went after Shining Edge. He saw him entering the woods and Nightshade followed through, quickly trying to find his fellow guard before he could find something he would regret finding.
Thankfully, Nightshade found Shining Edge, horn glowing with his illumination spell, and looking around.
"Corporal Shining Edge!" - Shouted Nightshade with anger. - "What are you doing? You were ordered to stay in camp, why did you run into this woods?"
Shining Edge looked at Nightshade and, confusion on his face, answered.
"It's just that, for a brief moment, it felt like I saw somepony watching over us. I followed suit hoping I could find our potential spy sir."
"It doesn't matter what you saw, corporal" -. Responded Nightshade. - "By coming here alone, you left yourself open to be ambushed by enemy forces, don't you ever do that again, understood?"
Shining Edge nodded, shame on his face, as Nightshade then ordered him to follow back into camp. It wasn't supposed to be a hard journey, but they soon noticed something strange on the woods.
"Captain" -, said Shining Edge, - "I don't remember so many trees before we entered here."
Nightshade looked around and, to his dismay, he realized that it was true. From the outside, there were a good amount of trees, but they weren't many, it was even possible to see the end if your eyes were sharp enough, due to how little there were. So how come it was impossible to leave the place?
No matter how long they moved, or how far Nightshade tried to see, they couldn't find the end of the treeline; they looked up and hoped to see some semblance of the sky but, to their fear, only waterdroplets fell into them. It was as if they were suddenly transported to a forest, it didn't make sense at all.
Yet again, it was becoming clear they weren't in a normal side of Equestria anymore.
Nightshade looked up, seeing how the treetops didn't allow the sky to be seen and, for a brief moment, he considered going upwards to see in which direction they could find the exit, but he preferred to remain besides Shining Edge, hoping that they would find the exit together.
"Come with me Edge" - Ordered Nightshade,, but by this point he felt it wasn't necessary to keep the formalities. - "Let's move and, hopefully, find the exit."
How long they moved through the trees, they were not sure, but one thing was a certain for them, whatever was watching them on the bonfire, was with them in the trees. They could feel its gaze, looking at them, like a predator waiting for its prey to make a false move and attack.
And Nightshade could feel how, whatever it was, it was trying to take them.
"Shining Edge" -, Nightshade said, with his voice showing no fear, despite being very nervous right now, - "can you put more light on your spell or are you illuminating as much as you can?"
"Sir, I'm illuminating as much as I can, why?"
Nightshade looked around and saw how it started to become harder and harder to look on his surroundings.
"Because I feel it's no longer going to keep us safe from whatever is watching us."
As they moved around the trees, never surrendering on finding the exit to their woody prison, they could feel how the illumination spell was failing them more and more, as the light was now covering only 3 meters of terrain, but it wasn't enough to stop them.
All the while, they could feel how whatever was watching them was getting closer, as the darkness started to creep up on them, they could feel it getting closer, 2 meters of light now being the only thing keeping them away from their espectator.
"Sir, what should we do if it get us?"
Nightshade tried to fight the fear creeping up on him and gathered enough forces to comfort Shining Edge.
"Whatever you do, don't fight. There's nothing we can do and I doubt it will harm us if we don't attack it."
They were now only being able to see one meter away and despite their watcher now getting closer, they could not hear its breath, they could not hear its steps, they could not see anything beyond the vail of darkness surrounding them, now at 90cm away from them.
They could feel its gaze, they could feel it getting closer, they could feel it pushing the light away now at 50cm. They could feel how it was sucking out the sound itself as it was now at 30cm away from them.
"Sir?"
Nightshade could feel Shining Edge's fear and he was unable to keep it hidden from his voice either.
"Do-don't worry corporal, just remember that we must not show fear at all cost."
In that moment, the light from Shining Edge's horn disappeared.
"Corporal, try to push for more light."
No response.
"Corporal?"
Nightshade tried to look around and, to his dismay, he found nothing. He couldn't see anything, he moved his hoof around the direction where he knew Shining Edge must've been, but he felt nothing. He tried to look up, but he couldn't see Princess Luna's moon, not even a silver lining from the trees, and he couldn't hear anything.
Nightshade was completely alone in the dark.
Well, not completely alone.
It was with him.
He couldn't see It, but Nightshade knew It was with him. He could feel its watch around him, it was as if the darkness itself was watching him from all angles and all the while he was wondering, why?
What did he do to get something like this? Why was this thing interested on him? How did Nightshade disturbed It?
Despite It being so close to him, Nightshade didn't feel any breath on him, no steps or signs of movement and, yet again, he could feel its movement. Going from one side to the other, measuring him, assessing him, laughing at him.
Even though Nightshade couldn't hear anything, he could still hear his own mind, he could hear the laughes from the headless donkeys, mocking him for falling into this trap.
"HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!"
He could feel the seclusion getting to his head, his body unable to move, but still shaking, due to the fear of It waiting for him to do anything, like a hunter waiting for its prey to run before chasing it, just to bring thrill to the hunt.
The darkness became so thick that, despite his own nightvision as a Night Guard, Nightshade was unable to see anything, not even his own hoof, touching his face, and yet, he could feel It watching him perfectly with no restriction.
In the end, Nightshade closed his eyes and started to chant on his head the oath from the Night Guard. Or, at least, the best he could remember of it.
"I swear to serve Princess Luna and protect Equestria, I swear to protect the innocent that wanders in the night... I... swear... t-to never fal-f-falter at the presence of danger.. I... I..."
How long did Nightshade try to make the oath, he'll never know for sure. All he knows is how, suddenly, he felt the presence leaving him alone, its gaze dissapearing completely, prompting Nightshade to open his eyes, just to see the camp just ahead, still in the middle of the night, as a bonfire was being started once more.
NIghtshade ran towards the bonfire, joy filling his heart as he saw Nova Blade and Sky Soarer close to it. Once they looked at their capatain, they almost jump as they stated.
"Dear Celestia, captain!" - Stated Nova Blade. - "What happened to you? You look so pale."
Nightshade, still shaking from the fear, moved close to the bonfire and waited for the fire to fill his body.
"Sir?" - Nova Blade continued. - "Where is Shining Edge?"
Nightshade quickly opened his eyes, looking back at the trees, and seeing that there was no sign of Shining Edge.
"That makes no sense" -. Said Nightshade. - "He was right besides me, we were together for hours-"
"Hours?" - Interrupted Sky Soarer with concern on his voice. - "Sir, you only went inside for about, two minutes or so."
Nightshade started to shake again, fearing to understand the implications of what his fellow Night Guard said.
"No" -. Said Nightshade. - "We were there for hours, we lost our way and-"
"But, sir, how could you lose your way if there are barely trees in there?"
Nightshade tried to find a comprehensible explanation, but nothing came to mind.
"Did you found that lady?"
Nightshade turned towards Sky Soarer, worry painted on his face, as he had to ask.
"Lady?"
"Yes sir, about two seconds after you entered, to look for Shining Edge, I saw a mare entering in there as well. I considered to get in there and search for both of you, but I remembered your order and, instead, focused on restarting the bonfire."
Nightshade's mind was already at its limit. All he knew is that, whatever was inhabiting these lands, it was something outside of his scope. There was nothing he could do to it and, with one guard less, he wasn't sure he could finish the investigation intact, so, as the moon started to reappear on the night sky, Nightshade gave his next order.
"We're going back to Lagüiña and, from there, back to Canterlot. We got a lot to report and not enough guards to deal with this."