Heart Souls: The Loss of Harmony

Slam! A mare busted through a wooden door and entered a dusty old room. Dust would puff and fog the room as the place was quite stagnant.

" I said, we didn't need to do that! Now you just made a mess!" Quilt clobbered Bluebell for her antics.

The mare, in tears, rubbed her clobbered head.

Now, the rest would try to traverse the dust-ridden room.

It was an average cottage filled with nick nacks and cages. The designs of the cages were clean and nicely made, but the abundance of them and their stacking was quite eerie and weird.

Bluebell would be the first to start touching stuff, as her curiosity is one of her weaknesses.

"Touch, touch, touch." She hummed.

" Cross!" Quilt yelled.

" Why me?" Quilt would just glare at him, forcing him to take care of the youthful mare.

Crash!

A disturbance occurred. Everyone looked at Bluebell, but it seems she was not the cause. "Don't look at me." She quickly defended herself.

Following the noise, it led them to another room. Everything inside was covered by a white sheet of cloth.

" Everyone, draw your swords."

Bright would see a slight shake and hesitation in Bubbles. He'd grab a hold of her hoof. " Can i count on you?" He asked.

Bubbles gave a deep breath and adjusted herself. "Yes, you can. Sorry for making you worry."

" Good." Although they struck up a conversation, a tinge in her heart was felt. It wasn't the same anymore—the way they talked to each other.

Meanwhile, the rest was on alert, except for Bluebell, who kept on touching the white clothes. She'd peek inside and be disappointed that nothing was inside it. " There's nothing in here."

Everyone got curious and began pulling the nearest curtains, and one by one, nothing was inside them.

This boggled everyone until Quilt pointed out something out of the ordinary. "Then what's keeping them up?"

The clothes began to drop and sag on the ground. Bluebell panicked and was about to set the clothes on fire; luckily Cross was near to stop her. He'd grab her hooves and place them down, distracting her and canceling her fireballs.

" Bluebell! A little detection magic would be nice right about now," Quilt commanded.

" Oh! Yes!" As soon as she did, she yelped and went pail. She hid behind Cross, afraid of something.

" G--ghostss-s," she murmured.

Everyone quickly ran towards Cross and used him as their shield.

" Hey what the!? Why are you all suddenly hiding behind me!?" He protested.

" You're technically a priest; isn't this your specialty?" Treasure answered, and everyone nodded.

" You guys have a point." He began casting a spell, and a circle of light would surround him.

" Ouch, ouch, ouch, oh holy light, ouch, please guide these wayward soles, ouch!" The room was blasted by light, and everyone except by Apple was singed and burned.

" AAA MY EYES!" Bluebell rolled at the ground as her body felt hot and burning.

The rest would also be afflicted by this and distracted everyone.

" Dear Celestia, what did you do!?" Tapper yelled.

Meanwhile, Treasure would flinch and fall to the ground., while Quilt, Bright, and Bubbles easily endured the blast of light.

" Everyone focus! " Quilt yells in command.

Ghosts of animals started to materialize out of thin air, and they were not happy about it.

Cross couldn't believe his eyes. "Wait! This shouldn't happen! They should've crossed to the other side!"

But Bright and Quilt quickly took action and began stabbing the ghosts with their burning sword. Giving the ghost no time to completely materialize, a stab here and there quickly turned the lagging ghosts into white essence.

Bubbles mustered some courage before trying to give it a go and followed Bright and Quilt's lead, but her sword would only phase through the ghosts. Her miss would greatly confuse her as she is lost on how to fight these creatures, but the siblings would not have the time to explain and continued the slaughter—to not miss this chance they've got.

The rest would watch as the two finished up the wayward spirits inside the room.

As the last ghost was slaughtered, they invited the others a share of the white essence.

" Hey Apple, have you ever experienced
Having one of these?" Treasure introduced the white essence.

" I-I'm but a common folk, only a select few are allowed to eat the remains of our loved ones," she humbly refused.

Hearing her say that, he didn't push her on consuming one. But Quilt would push it on to her. "Are you refusing our generosity?"

" Oh, no, sir... It's just... too much." She graciously bowed down.

Quilt did not agree to this. "No! You should have some; in fact, you should have more. The rest of you give your half to her; we don't intend to keep you as you are; weak and useless. Eat up the essence we give you and get stronger," she ordered.

" I agree," Bright supported her command.

The rest would look at each other and think about it; they'd soon agree to this as it is more beneficial that Apple could hold her own.

Bluebell, Tapper, Cross, and Treasure began absorbing half of the essence they got into their bodies, while Bubbles ate hers, which Bright and Quilt noticed. The others began giving their share to Apple, which flustered the poor mare. "This is too much, my lord."

Bright would just glare at her, like a father forcing his child to eat her vegetables. She could only comply with his demand, and she too ate it. Her body was noticeably healthier, and her small and sickly nature got better.

" Why is the effect on her greater or somewhat different?" Treasure questioned.

"It's probably because she's alive," Quilt answered. Bright would look at her, which in turn would flicker her ears. Bright would not contest her explanation.

" And what is this white essence anyway? Why didn't the witch tell us about it? Hey, I know that she's like your mom and all, but can we really trust er?" Treasure asked Bright.

" Do not doubt her, for she is wise and loving; she cares deeply for us and especially for the princess. I wouldn't have devoted myself to become a royal knight if it wasn't for her." Bright would've continued on, but Treasure knows that this'll just drag on and cut him off.

" Right! Right. Sorry I asked, mah bad. I trust you, so i trust her too." He gave a pat on his shoulder.

" So now what?" Bluebell asked. " Should we hunt some more ghosts? And how?"

" Just put magic on your weapon, and that'll do it."

" Then why didn't my spell work?" Cross asked.

"Well, that's on you, i guess; I don't know how healing magics or exorcising works." Quilt has a point which made Cross ponder hard. "True..."

" So when did you get magic powers?" Bubbles asked.

Bright glared a bit at Bubbles before answering, "Since I have purple flames as part of my body, you too can easily do this technique where you shift the flames to your weapon; i mean, you just did that last night, remember?" His face displeased, while she blushed.

"Anyway, we're burning daylight; we should quickly explore this house; clearly something's not right here.

And so they continued to explore and headed to another room.