The Journeys of C

Chapter VII

[color=cornflowerblue

]Sounds

                       Somewhere in the woods between Manehattan and Midnight-Snow Town lies a big villa with two floors, one of them being the ground floor. The place where this big building is situated is quite beautiful.

                     In front of the house there’s a small garden with a bench that stand in front of the dining room’s window wall. The bench has on two columns on the sides with two pictures of a young filly.

                       The climate of this forest is a bit strange seeing how in Manehattan and Midnight-Snow Town there’s snow and quite cold. But, here things are different, maybe because of the war wind coming from the south east.

                       It was quite clouded and it seemed it would start raining at any moment. In front of the house a carriage pulled by four strong colts arrived from the dirt road and from inside the carriage a colt wearing a black coat and a top hat came out.

“Greetings, milord!” A sturdy light brown unicorn came out of the villa and approached the elegant unicorn.

“Ah, mister Nail Bark, it’s been quite a while now. How’s the redecoration going?” He asked him after shaking his right hoof.

“Very well sir. You can expect to move in here next week without any problems.” The unicorn responded escorting the elegant pony towards the building.

“How comes that? I expected it would be ready by tomorrow.” He looked at him waiting for a response after stopping in front of the door.

“That’s what we thought too, but yesterday there was an accident and we have to work once more on the eastern wall.” He replied looking at his employer.

“I see. Well, I expected I could see what you’ve done to my villa, but I guess I’ll have to wait another week.” He replied moving back to the carriage.

“I’m sorry sir, but there’s a bright side. Does milord remember that room on the first floor that didn’t want to open?” He looked at his employer that stopped moving and turned his head to look at the unicorn.

“Yes I do. What about it?” He asked him with a curios look on his face.

“Somehow thanks to the accident it opened. One of my workers is waiting for me right now for milord’s order.” The elegant pony turned around to look better at him.

“What did you find inside exactly?” He asked the unicorn.

“We found two paintings inside. One represented the hallway leading to the room, but it wasn’t lit and the other was simply scribbled, like somepony wanted to hide something.” He replied making the elegant pony curios.

“Interesting. Well here are my orders, I want the painting of the hallway to remain inside that room, but I want the tapestry changed. I presume it’s quite ruined anyway.” He looked at mister Nail Bark.

“I understand milord. I’ll be going then. I don’t want to keep milord outside seeing how a storm might begin any second now.”

                  The two bid farewell and the elegant unicorn went inside the carriage to be taken back to Manehattan, while the other colt went inside and called this a day for his workers except for the one that was waiting for him upstairs. He went then upstairs and met his worker in front of the door leading to the small room.

“What did he order us to do?” The worker asked looking at his boss.

“Take down the tapestry and replace it, as expected. Leave the dark hallway inside, I’ll take the scribbled painting to the cellar. So, I’ll leave you to work, after you finish you are free for today.” Nail took the scribbled painting and took it to the cellar then he went home leaving the earth pony alone in the villa to work.

                       The pony entered the room and turned on a lamp he had with him. Above him was and old chandelier with melted candles still waiting to be taken out from their supports. It’s hard to say how long has it been since anypony entered that place, but now that it was finally bought by somepony, they had to redecorate it.

                         Indeed, the room was very small. You could only put a chair in the middle of it and paintings on the walls surrounding the chair. Maybe that was its purpose from the very beginning. Nonetheless it was redecorating day and the old, torn tapestry had to be taken down.

                        The worker took down the tapestry as fast as he could. After all he wanted to go home that night and not spend it in that creepy villa. When he took down the tapestry to the left side of the hallway painting he saw something written in red beneath it.

                      The worker took down the painting to see what could possibly be behind it. When he took it down he saw the complete writing, it was in blood. The worker was shocked, but tried to understand what it was saying no matter how unintelligible it was.

“Get… sound… paintings… doomed…” That all you could understand, the rest was too badly erased, but you could also see that whatever the message was, it ended abruptly, too abruptly for one’s liking.

                     The worker didn’t think too much about it and put the painting back on the wall and decided to leave the room and finally call this a day. But, when he was about to exit the room, his lamp turned off all of a sudden and so did the candles that illuminated the hallway a few seconds ago.

                   He looked at the lamp trying to see why did it turn off. If he wanted to get outside this villa, he had to turn the lamp back on. At first look, there was enough oil inside, it was strange, but he decided to try and turn it on. After ten attempts he finally succeeded, but when he rose up from the ground he failed to notice that in the painting of the dark hallway, a white dressed filly with her back turned appeared out of nowhere.

“Damn!” The worker said when his lamp turned off again. He tried to lit it up once more, but this time he couldn’t manage to succeed.

“Damn! You piece of cra…”

                   His last word was stopped by a cry, you could barely hear the cry, but it was inside the room. The room was filled by light once more, but it came from the chandelier’s old candles. The light wasn’t very strong and it also flickered. There was something strange going on in there and the cry was heard again.

                  The worker looked around the room, even though it was small, the sound seemed to come from every direction. It was only when he turned towards the right corner from behind him that he saw a filly around fourteen years old with her head turned towards the wall. She was crying and she wore a white dress that seemed to be torn apart at places.

“Are you alright? How did you get in here?” The pony approached her a bit, although he was shocked how she could ever get inside, maybe even a little scared.

“Is that you?” The filly said after she moaned.

“Uhm… It’s okay, I won’t hurt you.”

                         He stretched his right front hoof towards her to help her up, but he made a sudden movement and turned around making the colt fall down and the light flickering faster and faster. The colt opened his eyes and saw the face of the filly.

“Is that you my love?”

                          She said after the colt opened his eyes and saw her. He screamed as hard as he could, the sound echoing throughout the villa, but there was nopony inside. The candles from the hallway turned back on and so did the lamp that was now stopping from its roll on the floor, the room was now empty. There was no sign of the worker, neither of the white dressed filly.

[1 week later]

                      It was quite a clouded day in the forest one week later. Another storm was ready to be unleashed upon the forest. You could have seen the pegasi two days back preparing this storm. There was no dirt road, just trees between which C, Inky and Tenebris showed.

“Did I ever mention how much I love a stormy weather?” C said moving through the trees.

“I just can’t believe the weather in this region. Two weeks ago we were deep into snow with C sneezing like a god.” Inky said to Tenebris as the two went after C.

“God?! Who said god?! I don’t sneez like a god… He, he, he. That’s absurd! There’s no such thing as…” Right at that moment, C wasn’t paying any attention to the surrounding and hit a branch of a small tree.

“Ouch! Did I ever mention how trees were always my natural enemies, although I value them for the oxygen they provide and the aesthetics. They hate meeeeee... I’m watching you tree! I’m… watching… you!” C stared at the tree as the two mares stopped behind him.

“Uhm… I don’t see why you’d be so mad on trees C, if you don’t mind me saying this. But, if you’d pay more attention towards your surroundings maybe you wouldn’t have these problems?” She told the white changeling with a respectful voice, she still felt bad for throwing him into that pit three weeks ago.

“Ha! Please Teni, you are so sweet when you speak like that. I’m as cautious as I can, but trees hate me. In my childhood, I was hit by so many tree branches that I once had a nightmare with a tree… It did stuff with me… So many dirty stuff…” He stood still and looked at a tree..

“I’m sorry, but I really do not know how to respond to that C.” Teni said with a forced smile and scared look on her face because she thought about what could’ve happened in that dream.

“It’s good you don’t Teni. It’s good you don’t. Now where were we? Ah, yes! How far are we from Manehattan?” C looked towards Inky with a big smile.

“Well, if we kept going on the road instead of running in the forest, we’d already be there.” Inky replied staring back at C.

“I didn’t want those guards to cut me open any time soon.” He replied approaching the white-furred mare.

“Ki!” A sound was heard coming from Teni’s direction.

“Teni can you please stop making those sounds? I try to see where are we.” C replied looking at the map.

“You’re holding it upside down.” Inky told him looking at the map.

“Ow! Much better… Teni seriously now, stop saying ki already.” C stared at her.

“I’m not saying ki C. I’m just as confused as you. That seems to be my voice though.”

                                 Teni turned around to see from where was that sound coming from. When she turned around, a small critter jumped in front of her making the purple mare fall down on her back after letting a small scream.

                                   The mare opened her eye and saw the small fur-ball, the size of her hoof, standing on her snout. She rose up on her back side and felt how the critter moved on her neck. She tried to catch it, but she couldn’t manage it because its fur tickled the mare. But, Inky came at Teni and caught it for her.

“T-t-thank you Inky.” The purple mare said calming down from her laugh.

“I’ve never seen anything like it.” Inky said looking at the critter she caught and it said ki again.

“It’s so cute!” Both C and Teni jumped in front of Inky looking at the small fur-ball.

“Ki!” It said again letting a bit of its tongue outside its cat-like mouth.

“It’s so adorable! It gives me glucose only by looking at it!” C said looking at it.

“Uuuu! You are so right C! Just look at it!” Tenebris replied.

“Uhm… guys. Can we please stop? And is it only me or doesn’t it look too much as you Teni?” C moved next to Inky and kept swapping his sight from Teni to the small critter.

“Yes, I can see the resemblance.” C replied looking towards Teni.

                                  At that moment the small critter jumped on Teni and went inside her scarf, but this time it settled in instead of running around tickling the poor purple mare. She took her out from her scarf and looked better at her and was surprised to see her hair and scarf on it. The critter also had the brown hair clip, the same colour as her hair, on its hair.

“Ki!” It said then jumped on Teni’s snout and started petting itself on her.

“Can I keep it?” Teni asked the two after it went back into her scarf.

“I don’t see why not.” C replied looking at Teni.

“How are you going to call it?” Inky asked looking at the purple mare.

“Uhm… I know! I’ll call her Ti!” She replied with a smile and closing her eyes.

“How do you know it’s a she? And why Ti?” C asked her with a curious look upon his face.

“Uhm… I don’t know. I had this feeling in my mind to call her Ti and I knew she was a girls because she has eyelashes.” Teni replied to C while looking at Ti which seemed to be sleeping inside her scarf.

“Seems fair enough. Now back to the map! According to the map, we are here… and if we go through here we’re supposed to reach Manehattan in about a week.” C replied pointing on places on the map.

                        The three then continued their journey towards the city of Manehattan, but little did they knew that they were approaching the now renovated villa where the stylish pony from a week ago just moved in and had some friends over for dinner that day.

“Silver my friend! It has been a while.” A sturdy pony earth-pony said approaching the owner of the villa.

“Indeed it was my friend. I’m glad you could come. And just in time, it seems the storm won’t wait for much longer.”

                         He said to the pony, but little did he know that he’d have three more guests this night. Our three travelers didn’t manage to set their camp in time and the storm caught up with them. It was pouring real hard that night and from the three, Inky suffered the most thanks to her fur. But, they were in luck for that Ti saw the light coming from the villa.

“Guys! I think Ti found something!” Teni yelled holding to her scarf seeing how hard the wind was blowing.

“Quick, follow the light!” C yelled running towards the light.

“C, slow down! I don’t think we are that far!” Inky shouted at him trying to make him more cautious to the road.

“Of course we ai… !” He hit the windows of the kitchen belonging to the villa scaring the cook inside.

“U! Pancakes.” C said looking inside.

“C are you alright?” Teni helped the white changeling rise from the ground while Inky looked at the villa.

“Of course I am not dear Teni! I want those pancakes!” He put his head on the glass and smiled widely glaring at the pancakes.

“I think he wants the pancakes…” A scared pony said staring at C.

“Go give it to him if you are so sure.” Another pony pushed him in front of the window making C glare at him instead.

“Pancakes?” The pony trembled while showing the plate full of pancakes to a starving C.

“Why yes, thank you.” C opened the window and took a pancake off the plate and ate it.

“C what are you eating?” Inky approached and asked him.

“Pancakes my dear Inky and they are delicious. Hey mind if I get some for my friends?” C moved his head in front of the scared pony holding the plate of pancakes.

“N-n-no, take them all!” He put the plate on the table then ran outside the kitchen pretty scared.

“Pfft, chicken.” The pony who pushed him in front of the window said.

                              C gave the two mares the pancakes he took and ate them while sheltering from the rain in front of the kitchen window. The scared pony alerted Mister Silver of C then ran into the bathroom to calm down.

“Calm down Sweet… It’s your first day and look what you did. ”

                                  He washed his face, but when he rose his head up from the sink, he thought he saw in the mirror a filly with her face covered standing behind him. But, when he turned around, there was nopony to be seen, but the door as half opened and seemed that somepony just used it.

“Hello?”

                                      He said after coming out of the bathroom and heard a low giggle coming from upstairs, the stairs being close to the bathroom. Although he was scared, he slowly moved up the stairs curious about the filly he thought he saw in the bathroom while our three travelers were about to have a surprise.

“I feel bad we took them like that.” Tenebris replied looking at the pancakes.

“Come on Teni, I asked kindly for them.” C replied taking a bite out from another pancake.

“I don’t feel right eating them. I don’t say they are not delicious, the one I ate was quite great and so soft and…” C held a pancake in front of her.

“Come on eat it.” He said still holding the pancake in his hoof.

“Uhm… sorry C, but you can have this one I’ll take another one.” She replied taking a pancake from the plate.

“Suit yourself.” C threw the pancake in his mouth and swallowed it without chewing it.

“How can you swallow something full without choking?” Inky asked him after taking a bite from her treat.

“I have a very longue tongue.” C opened his mouth ready to put his mouth outside.

“Please no! I think I saw enough times by now.” Inky replied to him closing his mouth, Teni giggled a bit while Ti looked behind her and made noise like warning them about something.

“What is it Ti?” Teni looked at her pet which kept staring behind her and making her specific sound.

“Uhm, Teni? You might want to turn around.” C said pointing his right front hoof behind Teni which turned around and saw two sturdy colts in front of her.

“Cupcake?”

                           Teni smiled forcefully and showed the two a cupcake she held in her front two hooves. The two colts grabbed the three travelers and took them inside the villa only to throw them in the middle of the hallway where they were surrounded by the owner of the villa, his family and his friends.

“Uuuu! Fancy!” C said rising up from the beautiful carpet his muddy hooves just stained.

“A changeling!” One of the guests shouted making the others tense.

“Yes and I am here to accomplish my evil agenda of making you tremble and maybe eating some more cupcake, speaking of which. Can I have some more?” C said staring at the ponies while looking deep into the owner’s eyes with a big smile.

“Are you sure he is a changeling?” A mare asked from the ponies that gathered around to see the three.

“Well, I’ve never seen a white one before and I’m pretty sure I didn’t see a hornless one either. I believe he isn’t a changeling after all.” He replied looking at the mare, at the floor then at C.

“Wow, you sir are the greatest genius I’ve ever met in my entire life and believe me I had a long life. Now back to the subject… ahem, of course I’m a changeling you flishing pony! What else could I be, a princess?!” C yelled standing on his back hooves and pointed at his chest and went back on his fours.

“With some eyelashes and another hairstyle might as well be!” A young colt from the crowd replied then laughed.

“Okay, I think I was insulted enough for one night! Look into my eyes you flishing brat! Do I look like a princess?!” He stared into the young colt’s eyes and shouted at him.

“My sister has a dress that fits you.” The young pony replied making C angry, but Inky and Tenebris rose up and caught him by his two front legs and stopped him from jumping at the pony.

“Let me at him! I’ll show that flishing brat who’s a flishing princess!” C yelled trying to escape his friend’s grip.

“At least this night can’t get worse.” Inky said looking at Teni.

What’s the matter? Did the princess get angry?” The young pony teased C making him even angrier and laughed at him as he struggled to get free from his friend’s grip.

“Copper! Stop this right now or you are grounded for a month!” Mister Silver shouted at his son then approached the three travelers.

“Please excuse my son sir. You don’t seem to be dangerous even though you are a changeling.” He said looking at C which calmed down.

“Why did it sound like an insult?” C replied staring at the unicorn.

“I’m sorry if it did sound. My name is Silver White and this is my villa, you’re welcome to stay over the night, as long as you don’t make any trouble… Seeing your heritage.” He replied to C which rose up on his legs.

“My heritage has nothing to do with who I am. I am proud for what I am and I will not take such an insult lightly! Say sorry that you insulted my kind!” C replied, his head touching the unicorns head and the two staring into each other’s eyes.

“Very well. I’m sorry if that sounded like an insult. Now, be kind and go take a shower, you’re quite dirty. And, might I ask? Why is a normal pony with you?” He asked approaching Tenebris then he stared at C.

“That’s because she ain’t a normal pony. She is a sort of ghoul, formerly an unicorn.” C replied moving next to her and putting his right front hoof over her neck.

“And what are you exactly?” Silver stared at Inky trying to understand what she is.

                        Just as Inky was explaining to the ponies, the colt C scared in the kitchen was upstairs looking for the filly he thought he saw in the bathroom mirror. He followed what seemed to be the giggles of a filly up to the hallway where he saw the small room’s door half opened. The colt looked better at it and saw the end of a white dress, but it entered the room.

                       He gulped slowly and went towards the room, although the hallway, filled with all its creepy statues scared him. He finally arrived in front of the room and after he inhaled deeply, then he opened the door and saw the painting which had a filly in a white dressed that covered her face with her hooves like crying.

“I thought I saw something…” He closed the door to the room, but failed to notice the filly in the picture disappeared.

“Is that you my love?” The voice of a filly was heard coming from the corner to his left.

“Hello? Are you okay?”

                            The poor colt said and approached the filly which was sitting in the corner crying. He stretched his right front hoof to touch her shoulder while assuring her he won’t harm her. He touched her shoulder, but when he did, the filly turned around and let out a shriek. She had no eyes and blood was pouring out of her empty sockets. The colt screamed while downstairs the candles and all the lamps turned off.

“What’s going on?” One of Mister Silver’s friends asked.

“Please don’t panic I’m sure it was only the wind.” He reassured his guests.

“If it was the wind, why did all the lamps and candles turn off?” C said staring through the dark at Mister Silver.

“What are you implying changeling?” The host said staring back at C through the dark.

“Maybe it’s nothing! I say we go and eat something.” C replied with a smile, but nopony saw it.

“What is it Ti?” Teni looked at her tiny friend that lived in her scarf.

“Use my staff to make light? Would it even work?” She asked her tiny friend.

“Teni please don’t tell me you’re talking to Ti.” C said, but Teni took her staff and the crystal ball at the top lit up creating a light blue light.

“It worked! Uhm… I’m sorry for yelling.” Teni replied while her staff levitated at her right.

“What are you?!” One of the guests yelled staring at Teni.

“I-I-I’m…” Teni was scared because the guest yelled at her.

“She’s a ghoul, formerly an unicorn which means she still possesses her magic powers. And don’t you dare scream at her again!” C punched the colt which fell on the ground, then he went next to Teni.

“That wasn’t necessary!” Mister Silver shouted at C.

“Teni is my friend and she’s very sensitive. I don’t like to see my friends crying or suffering. Do you understand me?” C glared into his eyes.

“I understand.” He replied to the white changeling with a sad, but understanding look.

“My snout.” The punched colt replied touching his snout.

“Go to the bathroom Mister White. We’ll be waiting in the dining room.”

                             Mr Silver told the colt which went to the bathroom while the three travelers alongside the ponies went to the dining room. In the bathroom, the colt tried to light up the lamp, but to no avail. He gave up after a few tries then washed his face.

                              He then turned around sighed closing his eyes. When he opened them and approached the painting on the wall opposing the door. It was the painting of a boat and at a close look, there was a filly with her back turned on the boat.

                               There was a fisherpony in the painting as well, but he didn’t seem to have anything to do with the filly, it was like two separate painting met in that one. The colt thought it was stupid to think about it. Maybe the painter wanted it to look like this. He sighed then left the room, but when he did, the filly in the painting disappeared.

“Stupid changeling, stupid Silver! Letting those three stay at his villa. What is this, an inn for freaks?” The colt sopped when he heard what seemed to be a faint cry.

“Hello? Is anypony there?”

                                He asked, but nopony replied back, instead he went towards the cry curious about the one making them. Mister White doesn’t really care about ponies, but he can be quite curious at time, maybe that’s why he went towards the cries instead of going to the dining room and telling somepony else to go.

“Huh? What the buck?” The colt said as he entered the living room where the young colt was sitting in the middle of it, trembling and crying.

“Hey, are you okay boy?” He moved to the back of the colt which stopped trembling.

“I… I…” He barely said.

“You what boy?! Mister White shouted at him.

“I can’t see!”

                                The colt turned around to look at Mister White, but he had no eyes and blood was pouring out of his empty sockets. The older colt fell on the floor shocked of what he saw before him, the boy’s eyes seemed to be pulled out by force seeing how injured his eye sockets and surroundings were.

“No! No!” The younger colt shouted crawling backwards staring behind Mister White like he could see.

“Do you remember me my love?”

                                 The voice of a young filly was heard coming from the older colt’s back. He leaned his head backwards and saw the blind filly staring at him as though she had eyes. The colt let out a scream as she jumped on him.

“Did you hear that?” Inky said quickly putting down her glass of tea.

“That sounded like Mister White.” The host replied looking towards the hallway leading to the bathroom.

“Oh well! Let’s goi and seey what has happened!” C replied jumping out of his seat.

“Why did you speak like that?” Mister Silver asked him.

“Don’t bother, he’s just C.” Inky replied looking at him.

“Indeed I ami! Inky, Teni let’s go, the rest of you wait here.” He said looking at the fourteen ponies.

“No way! Mister White was my guest and I want to see what happened.” The host said staring into C’s eyes.

“Okay, but the rest of you wait for us here.” C said then the four went towards the bathroom, but when they arrived, there was no Mister White.

“I don’t get it. Where is he?” Silver asked as he looked inside the bathroom.

“Wait! The sound was too faint to come from here.” Inky told the three.

“What do you mean?” Silver looked at her confused.

“Shape-shifter hearing, it’s very developed.” C said pointing at his ears with a smile.

“If I’m right, the sound came from deeper into the hallway.” Inky said exiting the bathroom alongside the three then pointed towards the direction where the living room was.

“This leads to the living room. What could that fool be doing there?” The host said looking in front of him, where Inky pointed.

“Living maybe?” C replied with a bid smile looking at the colt.

“Are you serious?” The colt asked him.

“Of course I am. Now what are you three waiting for? Andale, to the living room!”

                    He then ran towards the room, the three following him. When they arrived in the room, they saw a trail of blood leading to the body of the younger colt. As C approached and turned him around, he saw the empty sockets and the blood that surrounded them. It was clear that he died because he lost too much blood.

“Who could’ve done this?” Silver asked staring at the body.

“The more important question is, where’s your guest?” Inky said looking at Silver.

“You don’t think he could’ve done this, do you?” The unicorn said with a confused look upon his face.

“If he did this…” C turned around to look at the unicorn.

“Why isn’t there any other trail of blood?”

                          He looked into the unicorn’s eyes, but a scream was heard coming from the staircase next to the bathroom. The four didn’t waste time and ran towards the bathroom, but as they did, Teni saw something strange in one of the paintings on the hallway.

“Teni why did you stop?” C turned around after he stopped as well and looked at his friend.

“I’m sorry C, but I don’t remember seeing that filly in the painting before.” She said pointing at the painting.

“What filly?”

                               He approached the painting to give it a better look, but when he gave it a better look he wanted to touch it. When his hoof was only centimeters away from the canvas, the filly turned around and jumped outside the painting grabbing the unicorn and making Teni fall on the floor scared of her.

“Help me!” Silver yelled trying to free himself from her grip.

“Inky!” C yelled as he grabbed the unicorn and tried to pull him out of her grip, but the blind filly seemed to be too strong for him.

“Help me!” He yelled again struggling to get free.

“Hold still!” The white changeling shouted at him as he and Inky tried to pull him away from her.

“Let my love go!” The filly yelled at the two.

“Love?” C asked with a confused face, but after he said it, the filly let out a loud shriek making him and Inky hold their ears.

“No! Don’t let her take me! No!”

                         He yelled as she seemed to go back into the painting dragging him with her. Inky recovered from the shock of that loud shriek and rushed to grab the colt’s back left leg, but it was to no avail. The blind filly was somehow stronger than her and pulled him inside the painting.

“Where did they go?” C said looking at Inky.

“They went inside the painting, but they don’t appear in it.” Inky replied looking at the painting.

“Damn!... Teni are you alright?” He helped the purple mare rise up from the floor.

“Yes, thank you C… I… uhm… am sorry for not helping, but I was scared.” She looked at the floor while she made her staff levitate again.

“Don’t worry Teni… it happens.” He said looking at his friend, but that moment Inky moved away from the painting.

“Uhm, I think we should run.”

                                Inky said staring at the painting, the filly reappeared, this time covering her eyes and looked like crying. But, after she said it, the filly jumped out from the painting trying to grab Inky, but failed, Inky jumping to her left.

                              C grabbed Teni’s right front hoof and the two ran away from the eyeless pony which glared at them and started chasing the three. The three were running as fast as they could, but she seemed to get faster and faster, so C decided to throw the several pots of flowers at her. But, they didn’t slow her down, instead made her angry.

“Run you fools!” C shouted at the sight of a mare and a colt standing my Mister White’s body.

“Huh? Why are you running, where is Silver?!” The colt yelled staring at the three as they passed them.

“We can’t leave them behind.” Teni said to C after the three ran pass them.

“We can’t do anything for them now. Just keep running.” He said looking in front of him.

“I can hear you my love.” The filly’s voice was heard by the two guests the three left behind.

“What?”

                         The colt turned to look at the hallway from where the three ran from and saw the blind filly which jumped in the air. She fell, grabbing him, the two disappearing into the floor as the colt fell down because of her. The mare screamed and looked at the floor in which the two vanished.

“Why are you screaming my love?”

                     The terrified mare turned her head to her right only to see another blind filly standing in front of a painting, staring at her with her empty eye sockets from where blood was pouring out instead of tears. She screamed, C and the two mares heard it as they entered the dining room and closed the big doors.

“What are you three doing?!” An old colt asked staring at them as they barricaded the door.

“Where’s my husband?” Silver’s wife asked the three.

“Uhm…” Teni tried to say what happened, but couldn’t do it.

“What happened to him?” She asked being more worried for her husband’s safety.

“I-I… I’m sorry, but…” The purple mare tried to say, but she still couldn’t manage to do it.

“It’s okay Teni, I’ll say it. Ahem… Your husband’s dead.” C said with a smile.

“Si-Silver’s… dead?” The mare started to cry.

“Good job C.” Inky said looking at her friend.

“Why are you so sarcastic towards me?” He said looking at her.

“That’s not how you give this type of news.” She replied moving in front of him.

“But, give it with a smile and things aren’t so bad.” He smiled and closed his eyes.

“Why do I even bother?” She said going to the crying mare.

“Meh! Anyways, are there any paintings in here?” He asked the ponies looking around.

“No, but why?” One of the cooks said looking at the white changeling.

“It doesn’t matter.” He went at the table and sat down on a chair.

“It’s only my fault Ti. I was too scared to help C and Inky save Mister Silver.” She sat down near the door and looked at her friend which she held in her two front hooves.

“Of course it was my fault Ti. I could have used my staff.” She looked to her right at the floor for a few second while Ti was saying something to her.

“How did he die exactly?” the crying mare looked at Inky.

“He was… taken into a painting by a filly without eyes.” She replied looking into her eyes with a sad look.

“What are you talking about? This is absurd!” One of the colts asked.

“I’m telling the truth, she came out of a painting and took him with her.” She replied to the colt as C started coughing and after looking at his hoof he got scared.

“Can I use the kitchen sink?!” C yelled from across the table.

“Yes, but why?” After he said this to him, the white changeling rushed into the kitchen without responding.

“What happened to C?” Teni asked Ti as she looked at the kitchen door.

“Red, go and see what he’s up to.” The cook whom replied to C told to his apprentice.

                                Teni kept backing the wall and looked at the rain drops which hit the glass while Ti was looking at her master from inside her scarf. Inky tried to calm down Silver’s wife while the guests were getting suspicious about the three and were ready to hurt them at any moment.

                              Inside the kitchen, C had his head bent at the sink and was coughing badly keeping his eyes closed. When he felt he finished, he opened his eyes and was shocked of what he saw in the sink. He was breathing heavily and tried to calm down. But, the young apprentice came next to C and saw what was inside the sink. The white changeling wasn’t very pleased and put his right front hoof over his mouth before he could anything.

“If dare mention what you saw in this sink I’m going to cut your throat and skin you alive. Do you understand?”

                                   C threatened him them coughed once more in the sink then turned the water on. Flushing whatever was inside the sink. The young pegasi was scared of C and didn’t want to rise up from the floor. He stared at the white changeling that went back into the dining room like nothing happened.

“Where’s Red?” The cook asked the white changeling as he entered the room.

“He needed to do something cookish I think.” He said sitting down at the table.

“That isn’t even a real word.” One of the guests said to him.

“That’s the beauty of a language, you can create new words. Take my pen for example, I call it pix, although in my language that literally means pen.” He said showing the pix in his right front hoof.

“I never heard of a pen before.” The colt replied staring at the pen.

“Whatever.” He said looking at the pen.

                                 Silver’s son tried not to cry while his sister couldn’t stop from it. He went to his sister and the two on their chairs and he tried to calm her down. Teni was still looking at the big window as the rain kept hitting its glass.

“What a night huh?” A colt around the age of seventeen sat next to Teni.

“Uhm… I think… “ Teni looked at him with a sad face.

“Oh! Sorry for not introducing myself. My name is Orange Ball.” The pony said smiling at her.

“I’m Tenebris Astrum… Uhm… Nice to meet you.” She replied looking at the colt with a smile.

“Nice to meet you too Tenebris. What a strange name for a pony you have.” He said to her.

“It is?” She looked at him with a confused face.

“I didn’t mean to say it isn’t nice or anything. I just didn’t hear anypony with such a strange name before.” He replied looking at her.

“Well, I guess I too didn’t hear.” She looked at the ceiling.

“Why do you cover your right eye Tenebris? I mean if it isn’t a problem.” He put his right front hoof behind his head.

“Uhm… No it isn’t, but I don’t want to say why… Let’s just say I like to cover it, if that is okay.” She looked at him with a small smile.

“It’s okay Tenebris. This rain reminds me of home. Do you want to see a photo of the lake near my house?” He looked at her.

“I’d like to Orange.” She replied with a smile closing her eyes as Orange took out of one of his suit’s pockets a photo of a beautiful lake surrounded by tall trees.

“Wait a second. This wasn’t here before.”

                               Tenebris looked at the part of the photo Orange said he didn’t see before and she saw the blind filly there with her eyes covered by her hooves. As Teni wanted to warn him and throw the photo away, the filly jumped out of the photo and grabbed the colt pulling him inside.

                               The ponies at the table saw the scene and were scared of it. C jumped out of his seat and ran towards the photo taking it and ripping it apart as fast as he could. He then helped Tenebris rise up, but when she rose up he saw she was very sad.

“Teni are you okay?” He looked at her with a worried look on his face.

“He was next to me and I couldn’t save him…” She looked at the floor not wanting to look at him.

“What was that?!” A colt shouted from the other side of the table.

“That was the filly that took Silver.” Inky told him.

“That’s not possible… What is she?” A scared mare asked her.

“I think she is a ghost.” C said from, him and Teni sitting down at the other end of the table.

“A ghost? That’s impossible!” A colt said staring at him.

“Then how do you explain how she came out of the photo?” Inky stared at him.

“Even if it were true, how do we get rid of her?” He asked the three.

“I have no idea. I never faced a ghost before. Teni what do you think? You’re our expert.” C looked at her.

“I…? But… I’m no expert, I couldn’t even save Orange.” She looked at the table.

“What an expert. I say we break the window and go away from here.” A mare said.

“Outside is a storm and we’re a week away from Manehattan and I didn’t see any carriage outside when we were brought inside.

“What do you suggest then? To stay here and be killed one by one?!” A colt shouted at C.

“I knew I’d find you here.” A filly came from inside the kitchen scaring the ponies, but she didn’t attack them.

“Where have you gone my love?” She said without moving her lips, only keeping her mouth open and moved a bit from the kitchen trying to find them.

“Of course!” C yelled making her turn her head towards him and moved closer to him.

“Are you there my love? Please say something so I can find you.” She said, her empty eye sockets staring at C’s face.

“I won’t take it anymore!”

                                     The mare which suggested they should break the window and go outside ran towards the big window Teni was staring at a few minutes ago. But, she didn’t manage to reach it, for that the blind filly jumped on her, both disappearing into the floor.

“Rose!” Her husband yelled running at the spot the two disappeared.

“One, silence! Two, did that young pony have a photo at him?” C stared at the ponies.

“He had a photo of his mother he liked to look at when he was scared.” The cook replied looking at him.

“Okay. Let’s see, we’re eleven left in here. Okay! One, close the kitchen door. Two, she can’t see us, only hear us, so we can get out of here.” He replied staring at the ponies.

“How exactly?” A colt asked him.

“Easy in fact. We open that door and slowly move towards the entrance. We open the door slowly without making any noise then you slowly sneak out of here.” He said mimicking what they have to do with his hooves.

“We? What about you?” A mare asked looking at him.

“I, Inky and Teni will stay behind and try to stop this ghost.” He said with a big smile.

“Are you insane? She’ll get you.” A colt said.

“Of course I am insane. And after you get away from here you won’t even care anyways, am I right?” He stared at the nine ponies.

“No use trying to lie I guess. Just take us to safety.” A mare said staring at him.

“It will be my pleasure getting rid of you so that we can do our job.”

                                He didn’t say anything else and together with his two companions, they took down the barricade and opened the door and the ponies slowly went outside the dining room, the three being the last to exit the dining room.

                                   When they exited the dining room, the ponies were ahead of the, they didn’t want to waste any time waiting for the three. This made C want to shout at them to stop, but it was better not to, the storm outside was causing enough noise already.

                                 The ponies didn’t even care to look at the paintings, they only watched out not to make any noise, thing which made them move faster than the three. C, Inky and Teni were looking at the paintings carefully and saw that after a thunder, all the paintings in the hallway filled with a filly that was either covering her eyes or was turned around.

                                 There was more than one filly in that house, but how could that be? C wondered, but seeing that ghosts aren’t his strong point he decided not to think any more at this and moved on. Tendion was in the air, the three being careful not to make any noise and look closely at the paintings so that the fillies wouldn’t come out of them.

                                They eventually reached the entrance and saw the ponies trying to open the door without paying any attention to the paintings surrounding them, which had fillies inside of them waiting for a sound so that they could come out and take the ponies with them.

                             The ponies managed to finally open the door, but as they did, they foolishly rushed and the sound the door made when it opened made the fillies come out of the painting. The ponies ran outside as fast as they could, but a mare, the cook and a colt were caught.

                            C, Inky and Teni decided to make noise to attract the fillies towards them, giving enough time to the ponies to escape. They succeeded and ran upstairs, the main staircase opposing the entrance. But, even so, they didn’t manage to save Silver’s wife and son. The foolish boy being caught as they ran outside and his mother rad back to save him.

                         The ponies that survived alongside Silver’s daughter were now outside, in the rain, but they were now safe and decided to seek shelter underneath a big tree away from the villa. Inside, the three ran into Mister Silver’s study and barricaded the door and destroyed the paintings and put the photo’s inside a small chest.

“Okay, now that that’s taken care of. We need to find a way to stop them.” He said sitting down on the floor backing the beautifully decorated desk.

“That was exciting.” Inky said sitting down on Silver’s chair.

“Indeed it was, but back to the plan! Teni you are our expert, what can we do?” He looked at her with a smile.

“I’m sorry C, but I am no expert…“ She said looking at the two.

“Teni, stop being so remorseful and help us. You are what you are after all, you know more about these things than any of us.” He approached her looking into her eye.

“I… don’t know. Huh? What is it Ti?” She looked at her and seemed like she told her something important.

“What did she say? Instead of ki I don’t hear anything else.” C asked her looking t Ti.

“I hear ki too C, but she somehow tells me. I’m sorry, but I don’t know how she does it.” She replied looking at C while Ti was standing on her head.

“Maybe she uses telepathy? My uncle told me stories of creatures doing that, but I can’t remember anything else than this. I guess I wasn’t paying enough attention.” Inky said looking at her.

“Okay, let’s stop this right now and back to the subject. What did she tell you?” He stood up on his back legs and looked at Teni.

“She told me that she feels a curse being at work in here and that I should use my staff to find the location of the curse.” She said putting the staff in her hoves.

“Then do it Teni, what are you waiting for.” He said moving back leaving her space.

“I don’t know how, but here goes nothing… “

                             Teni made her staff levitate and closed her eye. She was concentrating and as she did that, the staff’s light got brighter and brighter until Teni opened her eye from which a light the same color as the staff’s was coming out. She kept concentrating until she fell on the floor and C went to hold her while Inky didn’t seem to like that picture.

“Teni are you alright?” C looked at her as she opened her eye.

“Yes I am. Thank you C… I saw from where the curse is coming.” She said looking at him.

“Where is it?” He looked at her.

“From the basement, that’s all I could see.” She said then rose up back on her legs.

“Then we’re going to the basement.” Inky said moving to the door.

“No. I’m going.” C said moving towards the door.

“C are you crazy? I mean crazier than usual?” She looked at him and went in front of the door stopping him from taking down the barricade and going in the basement.

“You know I am Inky. Now step away and let me go.” He said staring into Inky’s eyes.

“I’m sorry, but no C. I… uhm… want go and end this curse.” She said moving towards the white changeling.

“I’m sorry too Teni, but I can’t risk anything happening to the both of you.” He said looking at the two.

“C please let us come with you. I know you don’t want any harm to come to us, but you also need us.” She said looking into his eyes.

“Okay Teni… okay, listen here. I believe the door to the basement is that door next to staircase we just come from.” He said looking at the two.

“You aren’t mistaking C.” Teni replied with a smile.

“Okay… Now seeing that we settled that... Once we reach the basement I believe there are no paintings or photos in there so we won’t have any problems reaching the painting.” C said looking at them.

“And after we do?” Inky asked him.

“When we do reach the painting we tore it apart and then we can eat the food in the kitchen and sleep peacefully in here.” He smiled with his eyes closed.

“I’m afraid the curse is too strong for that. While I was seeing from where the curse was coming, I also felt that tearing it won’t be enough, we need to burn it.” Teni looked at the two.

“I can use my flints to create a spark that’ll lit the painting.” Inky said taking out Seth and James from her leather bag.

“So we have a plan. Are you two ready?”

                             The two mares shook their heads in confirmation then the three moved the barricade away and slowly moved towards the basement. It wasn’t easy, it took them about half an hour to reach the bottom of the staircase thanks to the sound the storm was making. From time to time a blind filly would come out of a painting and the three had to stop moving until it went back in.

                             When they finally managed to reach the bottom of the staircase, they saw Silver’s wife and son laying on the floor, with their eyes missing, inside a pool of blood. The three didn’t look too much and went directly to the basement door which was closed.

                            Ti jumped off Teni and went through the door leading to the basement. It was strange to them how Ti did that, but she came back with the spare key of the door. Teni took Ti and petted her with her snout while Inky opened the door.

                             The three went inside the basement and closed the door behind them, Inky made sure to put the key in her leather backpack before moving any further. Teni sensed the basement wasn’t very big and if the three moved forwards they’d find the painting.

                         To their luck there was no painting inside and they could easily run towards their goal. Indeed, the basement wasn’t big. They shortly arrived where the painting was held and saw a blind mare instead of a filly guarding it.

“What do we do now?” Inky asked the two.

“I have an idea.” C said rising his right front hoof up.

“Let’s hear it then C.” Inky said, but after she did, C ran into the room where the blind mare was guarding the painting and yelled making her chase him.

“I guess that’s good enough.” Teni said looking at C that was distracting the blind mare.

“Let’s do this then!”

                               Inky ran towards the painting, Teni followed her and the white-furred mare started hitting the flints together to create a spark, but the mare heard the two and jumped at them, pushing the two to the wall.

“No!”

                         C yelled making the mare turn towards him. He tried to run and get Seth and James and try to improvise, but the mare caught his back legs was dragging him into the painting. He tried to resist, but she was too strong for him to succeed.

                         Teni opened her eye at the sound of her friend struggling not to be dragged into the painting. She saw that the torches on the other side of the room had lit up. Maybe it was because of the mare struggling to drag C into her painting. Teni looked above her and saw a torch. She forced herself up and took the torch into her mouth.

“Hey you! Let my friend go!” Teni shouted as she threw the torch at the painting setting it on fire and making the blind mare scream in pain.

“Good job Teni!”

                             The white changeling said, but the fire seemed to somehow get bigger and the two decided to run from there. Teni used her staff to make Inky levitate and the three ran outside the basement. In the villa, the blind fillies were screaming in pain as they were burning.

“Don’t stop! Go!”

                               C yelled and the three ran outside in the storm, but at least they were now safe. When they arrived outside, Inky woke up and was surprised to see herself levitating. The three looked as the villa was burning down to the ground and the fillies screaming in pain as they burned.

“It seems you two did it, but can you please put me down now?” Inky said and Teni put her down.

“You know what I hate about ghost stories?” C said looking at the burning villa.

“What?” Inky asked him.

“There is never a happy ending. We lost a warm place to sleep and we also lost the pancakes!” He shouted at the sky.

“At least we are alive and look at the bright side. In a week we’ll reach Manehattan and we can rest in an Inn there.” Inky said looking at C which was looking at the ground.

“You know what?! You are right Inky. Now how about we find a place to hide from the storm before I sta… sta…” He sneezed.

“Sneeze.”

                         The two mares laughed a bit then with Inky shaking her head, from left to right, with her eyes closed and a small smile, the three went to find a place where they could hide from the storm and rest for the night. Manehattan was close and in a week they’ll be there. But, the Moon Crater Village is getting restless and what once rested under its surface will soon wake up and start… the harvest.

Next Chapter

“It keeps happening! It comes!” A pony which kept leaning front and back said.

“Each night for the past two months I kept waking up at night.” A brown unicorn said sitting on his bed.

“I’ve experienced the greatest terror! I’ve experienced the greatest terror! I’ve experienced the greatest terror!” The pony said yelling louder and louder from his corner behind the door.

“I keep hearing his voice, each passing night. I’m scared to open my eyes in the middle of the night.” A blue earth-pony with a rope around his neck said.

“Please stop, tell me what are you scared of?” Inky asked him.

“The stalker!” He jumped of the chair the rope choking him.