The Ghost: Assorted Adventures

“Never in my life have I been yelled at by a book… and his friends.”

The Ghost stepped out from behind a towering shelf of books that had been wrapped in chains and shook as he passed. Muffled screams followed him, but evaporated the farther away he walked, returning to Rarity’s side as she scanned the floor with her magic.

“I tried asking the books if they saw anything, but they don’t have much ‘shelf awareness’,” he said, hoping to draw a laugh from the otherwise frustrated Rarity. “How’s the search on your end?”

“Fruitless,” Rarity huffed. “It’s almost as if the heart just walked out of here on its own.”

“Perhaps what we need is a new vantage,” the Ghost said. Rarity began to turn her head, but was soon wrapped in his foreleg, the other gripping his cloak and snapping it out to send the dark tendril of cloth upwards. With a heave and a yelp from Rarity, the two were launched from the ground and onto one of the shelves above. The Ghost nimbly landed on the narrow structure, holding tight to Rarity’s hoof to keep her balanced.

“Darling, please! Warn me next time.”

Her shock was soon replaced with surprise as she looked over the reliquary from on high. Each individual shelf, table, and pathway was aligned in a way that stood out to Rarity. A symbol, symmetrical and reaching all corners of the room, was made from the floor of the reliquary.

“Told you,” the Ghost said with a smirk. He received a gentle push from Rarity’s hoof against his face, before joining her in scanning the new perspective before them.

“It’s a shape, a sort of hieroglyph made from the room itself.” Rarity touched her lips with a hoof. “How deliberate.”

“My guess is it’s a security system,” the Ghost stated. “With the amount of wild magic pouring through this place, I’d be surprised if Princess Luna didn’t have a fail safe in case something got loose. A magical ideogram of this size could warp everything here to the moon, if she wanted.”

“I agree, but this only makes it more improbable anypony could’ve entered undetected, let alone set to Celestia-knows-where.”

The Ghost squinted through his mask and scanned the towering peaks of the other cabinets and containers. The dim light of the reliquary just barely breached the height of their perch, appearing as little more than a soft glow from the magical lights below, but his trained eyes still searched with an uncanny focus.

“There!” The Ghost’s announcement was emphasized by his hoof, pointing off into a dark patch Rarity herself could barely see. With the force of his powerful legs he leapt from their perch and spread his cloak to glide toward his imperceptible target. He landed, noiselessly, and crouched.

“What do you see, darling?”

Below him, shimmering in the pale light, was a small puddle atop the shelves. The Ghost dipped his gloved hoof into the strange substance. It clung to him, and itself, before the lingering strand broke as the Ghost raised his hoof to examine. Under his scrutiny he found nothing notable about the substance. Its texture was thick and did not roll down his glove as he expected, and no scent came to his nostrils as he wafted towards himself. It was colorless, odorless, and the Ghost was willing to bet tasteless, as well. Yet, it struck him as familiar.

“There’s a substance here, some sort of ichor.” The Ghost leaned over the edge and spotted the heart’s pedestal. “Somepony may have been up here. The heart would’ve been just below.”

“Strange to think a thief would need to hide up here,” Rarity commented. “Any idea what it could be?”

“Perhaps a residue or potion… or bile.”

Rarity felt the urge to wretch at her friend’s suggestion. Her eyes shut as she shivered, before forcing a deep inhale to calm herself. There was a swish in the air, and when she opened her eyes the Ghost stood beside her once again.

“How ghastly,” she groaned. “I-I trust you don’t plan to tamper with that filth any further?”

“No, I’m not sure how much use it has… unless you want to smell it, too?”

Rarity quickly struck the Ghost’s muck-laden hoof as it approached. He laughed in response to the loud slap of her retaliation, lending his clean hoof to her. She took it, begrudgingly, and the two floated from the ceiling and down to the ground once more. She shot him an annoyed look.

“You’re a foal.”

“Fun, imaginative, and full of hope for the future?”

“Full of something, that’s for sure.”

The Ghost rubbed her shoulder and chuckled as he returned to the blackened pedestal, unaware of the soft smile that now crept across her face as her eyes followed him. Her vision, however, was caught by the form of something large off in the distance, behind the pedestal and looming in the dim light. Rarity took cautious steps forward. As she approached the shape took on the form of a large wooden chest, wrapped in the same chains many of the reliquary’s cabinets were. The dark wood was old, worn, and Rarity could spy jagged pieces of metal jutting out from where the chest’s lock would be. In the moment her hoof reached to touch it, the wood and metal rattled and shook violently, filling her with panic as she leapt back. The Ghost sprinted around the corner, drawn by the commotion.

“Rarity! Are you okay?” The Ghost caught the retreating unicorn in his hooves and wrapped them both in his protective cloak. “What is that thing?”

“Is there anything in this cursed room that’s not evil!” Rarity’s heart threatened to burst from her chest in fright, but instead her eyes strayed downward. Even in the dimness of the reliquary, she could still see a small abrasion on the floor, which stood out from the rest of the otherwise clean surface. Her attention was broken by the deep creak of the massive doors, once again giving both ponies another jolt of surprise.

“Dear investigators, your princess hath returned. Verily, our cohorts shall help to unravel this riddle, post haste. Hath these cursed wares revealed any clues to-” Luna’s eyes fixed on the shocked expressions of Rarity and the Ghost, wrapped in the dark cloth of the cloak. “O-Oh, many pardons. Doth thou require privacy?”

There was a pause. The Ghost locked eyes with Rarity and the two hurriedly clambered away from each other before straightening themselves. The Ghost cleared his throat.

“Princess, I take it these are the guards?”

Luna nodded and stretched a foreleg toward a quartet of guards, clad in darkened indigo armor and adorned with the motif of bat wings. They stood firm, yellow eyes focused before them. The Ghost recalled tales of Princess Luna’s fabled Night Guard from his days as a soldier, and these ponies before him embodied every terrifying aspect. He approached the row of attentive guards and scanned their persons. From the corner of his eye, though, he noticed Luna’s wing ruffle against her body. Rarity’s voice broke him from his analysis as she spoke.

“Brave guards, thank you for joining us.” Her words earned a sharp salute. “My companion and I have some questions regarding the recent break-in here at the reliquary. I trust you will all be forthcoming?”

“Yes, ma’am,” they declared in unison.

“Which of you was on guard last night, when the object in question was stolen?”

“I was,” one of the guards announced and stepped forward.

“Could you describe the evening shift for us, please?”

“Yes ma’am.” The guard took a breath. “At twenty-one-hundred hours the guard change occurred, and at twenty-one-oh-two I stood at the door to the reliquary. The shift was uneventful until approximately twenty-three-thirty-one. I heard rustling and clanging metal inside the chamber. By the time the doors opened and I had entered, spear at the ready, the sounds had stopped and the princess’ treasure was gone. I reported the incident to my captain at twenty-three-thirty-five.”

Rarity committed the answer to memory, silently impressed with the guard’s succinct response. She turned toward Princess Luna.

“Princess, could you tell us where you were when the captain alerted you?”

“Tending to the dream realm. Much to our disappointment, even the nightmares of our subjects must wait in the face of this threat.”

“After your breakfast with Princess Celestia, correct?”

Luna’s mouth opened to respond, yet hung at Rarity’s question. Rarity stepped forward, unaware of the guards’ collective gaze honing in on her. The Ghost consumed their vision as his flowing mass guarded Rarity from them. Once more, Rarity spoke.

“You informed me earlier your missive arrived this morning. Did I mishear you?”

“You must have,” Luna finally responded. “Though there was discussion with dear sister, I most assuredly-”

“‘I’?”

Her wing fluttered again as a heat rose through Luna’s body, radiating from the tips of her ears and threatening to set her mane alight. The Ghost closed the distance between himself and Rarity. She, too, pressed herself to her cloaked companion as the four guards broke formation and moved to surround them.

“I knew I recognized that ichor we found,” the Ghost whispered, gripping his cloak.

“I’m scared to ask, dear, but do you suspect what I suspect?”

“I do.”

The persistent dimness of the room was broken by five brilliant pillars of sickening green flame. The visage of Princess Luna and her stalwart guards melted away in the fire, slowly replaced by the jet black surface of their captors’ organic armor. A subtle hiss hung in the air as the circle of ill intent began to close. One, larger than the others, sported a single iridescent streak across its face, separated by pale green eyes that pierced the darkness and locked onto its prey.

“Changelings.”