Spike wrapped his woven scarf around his neck three times, enjoying the warmth that it gave. The mint and white patterned fabric was his favorite gift from Twilight, seeing that it was the first gift that wasn’t a book.

The dragon quickly followed after Shinning. The white stallion was trotting around anxiously, his amour clattering against each other. It was clear that he still didn’t want Spike on the expedition, but let the dragon onto the team.

At least the Royal Guards seemed happy with the decision.

“Hello Spike,” one of them greeted, and Spike waved at him.

“Hey...um...what’s your name?” He asked awkwardly, and the butter-yellow stallion chuckled.

“The names Fletcher, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he smiled, and Spike made a mental note. The sound of approaching steps caught his attention, and Spike turned towards the captain.

“Alright soldiers,” he began, his voice rang loudly for the group to hear. “The creature likes to scream, so if you hear it, report back to me. I’ll be passing out flashlights, as it’s too dark to see clearly. Any clues should be noted before continuing, everyone got that?”

“Yes sir!” The guards said in unison, putting a hoof to their head as they saluted. In an attempt to copy, Spike also saluted, which got a chuckle from the white unicorn.

“Okay, everyone will be split into pairs. Arrowhead, you are with Sky Stream,” a pair of pegasus’s nodded.

“Autumn Fire, you will be with Lance,” a unicorn nodded, turning towards his earth pony partner.

“Tether Rope, you are with me, and Fletcher you are with Spike.”

Spike high-fived the yellow pegasus, mostly because he was paired with someone he knew the name of. Anyone else and he’d probably get confused. As Shinning passed out the flashlight, Spike tapped his claws together.

“What do you think the creature would look like?” He asked his partner, to which the yellow earth pony shrugged.

“No idea, but I expect a big giant monster. What else would make a scream so loud?”

“Shinning said that some of the crystal ponies fear a ghost...why would they think that?”

“Oh, my wife believes that one actually,” he laughed, his chest heaving. They trotted across the street, Shining Armor and his partner in the lead. Metal clinked as they moved towards the outskirts of the Crystal Empire. “She said that as a filly, she heard ghost stories about lost souls that come back from the dead and scream into the night. Started telling them to my daughter, had to calm her down the other night...”

“Hm...” Spike muttered, tapping his chin. He never really believed in ghosts, but he did remember Twilight’s mom loving paranormal activity and horror in her genre of books. Never really caught his attention, but really? When has any book had?

Lost in thought, he realized that Fletcher was still going on about his wife. “-I love my wife but...she’s a bit a stressor. Always paranoid...”

As they approached the border between the Crystal Empire and the Frozen North, Captain Shining Armor stopped in his tracks. “We are approaching the snowy wastelands, everyone stays together. If things get too dangerous, send a signal. Meet back here in an hour.”

The guards saluted, before going off into their assigned routes. Spike treading along the snow, his inner fire leaking into his scales as he adjusted to the change in temperature.

Fletcher peered across the snowy wasteland, wrinkling his snout. “How could any creature live out here...? No food... no water...”

Spike realized what the stallion said was true, no one should be able to live out here for long. The cold would kill you with hypothermia, and if you managed to survive that then you would starve to death out here!

Unless....sweet Celestia, what if the paranoia of a ghost was right?

The wind began to pick up, and Spike began to worry. What if the creature is lurking around to eat us? What if it is a ghost and it’ll haunt me for the rest of my life? What if-

Lost in thought, Spike tripped over something in the snow. Staggering, he looked back towards Fletcher, realizing that the stallion stood in horror.

Warily, he looked down, before shrieking. What he had tripped on, what he thought was a rock, was a body. A...cold...dead body.

Standing up, he pressed up against the guard, who looked over the dead pony. He surveyed the body that was half-buried in the snow, covered in weird, black ink.

“Looks the be a mare,” he muttered, taking a step back. “Her body is still giving off a slight heat, she must’ve died a few hours ago...”

Spike gulped, looking around. Snow-covered the ground beneath him, and he could barely tell where they had come from. Pacing around, he panicked.

A set of hoof prints caught his eyes.

“There’s tracks in the snow!” The dragon called towards Fletcher, who hurried over. They looked like pony tracks, heading the opposite way where the mare laid. Something seemed...off...

“Odd, surely this pony must’ve seen the body because they just walked right over it...”

“There is also a trail of black ink, too,” then a thought came to mind, and Spike breathed in sharply. “Wait...these tracks...seem a little too uneven to a pony’s...”

Fletcher bit his lip but shook his head. “Should...I think we should follow them...send a message and we’ll keep going.”

Spike fumbled with the flashlight, flipping the switch so that the light shined brightly against the blackened sky. The stars were fading from view as the snow picked up, tossed the light source from his claws. It shattered as it hit the ground, rendering the flashlight useless.

“Uh...oh...” he winced, tightening the scarf around his neck. Fletcher's face drained, unsure of what to do.

“Perhaps we should try and find Captain Shining Armor,” he offered. “Tell him what we found before the storm kicks in...”

“Yeah...that’s a good idea-“

“Do not go back that way...” a quiet voice said from behind. The pony and the dragon whipped around, trying to find the source of the voice.

With wasn’t long before he spotted it. A creature of shadows appeared through the snow, its dark color contrasting with the white snow. Its dark eyes watched them both as it hissed.

The translucent wings buzzed against it’s back, and hole-ridden hooves stepped towards the two. Spike’s fear raised beyond its limits as he realized what creature they were dealing with.

Fletcher was the one who growled. “Changeling!”

Author's Note

Oooooo who is the changeling?

Um...by the story tags I think you guys know who.