[Baltimare] Mystery of the Spoooky Ghost Ship [Closed]

[MidnightMask]

*cue spooky music

Near the shores of Baltimare upon a foggy early morning, a group of sailor ponies gathering up sponges were shocked to see a large, skeletal wreck crashed upon the rocks. As they pulled closer, to see if every pony was okay, a ghostly wail emanated from the ship as glowing, ghostly shapes moved about. The sailors made a quick escape and have been spreading stories throughout Baltimare.

***
"-scariest thing I've ever seen! Ghost's flying every which way, fog, that terrible wail! Hope I never see that ship again!" the sea pony muttered over his cider.

Midnight Mask had been spellbound as she listened to the various sea ponies going on about the haunted ship crashed upon the rocks outside of town. It could be what she'd been looking for- a real haunting with real ghosts! She might get proof, or maybe better yet, find a way to bring the ghosts with her. The idea made her spine shiver, practically dancing upon her hooves.

Of course, heading out to a ship by herself, while certainly spooky, seemed like a bad idea. It could be dangerous, and even worse, if she saw a ghost by herself, no pony would believe her. Which meant assembling a crack team of paranormal investigators!

Or, putting out a few flyers and ads and seeing who would show up to join "The Baltimare Paranormal Society". The date for the expedition was immuteable, the boat already rented, floating gently in the water. All she could do now was sit by the docks with her gear and wait as she watched the sun dipping into the horizon, pacing back and forth.

Behind Midnight, a large sign in the shape of a ghost slowly began to glow in the dark, "Ghost Ship Expedition" appearing beneath.

[TwoBits]

What was one benefit to having a sailor for a dad? Getting to hang out with other sailor ponies, of course. 

 

What was another benefit? Being in a good position to overhear the latest, most exciting gossip amongst said sailor ponies. And boy, did those old gruffs have something good this time!

 

Tripp had almost been ready to forget about the "ghost ship" until so many other ponies had started talking about it, too. The tiny filly's interest had grown steadily the more she'd heard about it--and after all, why not? It wasn't every day that ghosts showed up, after all! And it was just plain fun to wonder, too! Was it still there? Could somepony board it and explore the inside, or would they just step right through it like other ghosts? Who was on the ship before it went all ghosty? Why had it shown up here? Was there treasure inside? What was there to do with a ghost ship, anyways?

 

Then the posters had shown up, calling for brave and curious souls to investigate the ship, and from there on Tripp could think of nothing else but how AWESOME it would be to brag to her friends that she'd had the guts to check out a GHOST SHIP! And to think some people cared more about sleep, or having school the next day--suckers!

 

Her parents had strongly forbidden her to, of course. Or tried, anyways. A mare and a stallion could only spare so much energy after running about all day and then coming home to eat for an hour and a half before going to bed, and it wasn't like it was hard pretending to be fast asleep when your mother came peeking in to check on you. One she felt certain her parents weren't moving anytime soon, Tripp had burst out of bed and hastily tossed whatever things she thought she might need into her saddlebags. She only wished she'd stopped to pack a helmet--okay, it was really a big cooking pot, but still--but the floorboards had creaked way too loudly for her tastes when she'd tried to head to the kitchen, and in the end she had to settle for a more stealthy but out of the way departure through her bedroom window. 

 

Now, Tripp was trotting her way eagerly to the docks, a trail of candy wrappers sprinkled in her wake as she munched through a bag of cinnamon candies to steel her nerves. It didn't take long at all to find a sign glowing eerily in the dark, and some mare hanging around next to it.

 

"Hey!" Tripp called boldly, marching her way up to the lady. "This is the trip onto the ghost ship, right? Am I on time?"

[Arcus]

Well, I'll ask you, what was one benefit of being a Guardians officer?

... Actually, I'm not sure.

Oh, wait, they get to see the deployment requests first! And be in the barracks when everypony else has gone somewhere else!

Although, combining those things...

Well, it can turn out pretty interestingly when the first word you see on the paperwork, is the word "ghosts".

"... What?" Was all Arcus managed to ask into the growing darkness of his office, reading through the paper's contents in the candlelight.

Called in by apparently, a Baltimare sailor, the request for assistance described... Oh, ghosts. Right. A ghost ship, to be exact.

Arcus' first reaction, of course, was to throw the form into the trash. This had to be a prank request, right? But... It had found it's way to his desk. Which meant that his fellow officers had confirmed, and accepted it...

And that the "Unassigned" designation of the form, combined with the fact that it was verified hours ago, meant one thing.

They were late.

Oh, boy.

And so, that was how Arcus arrived where he was now. Flying as fast as he could towards the Baltimare docks, in a hurry to answer the call for help. He didn't usually answer deployments like this himself, but...

Hell, he was the only pony left in the barracks. What was he supposed to do?

"... Remember, service, before self..." He sighed. Quickly regaining his composure, and flying at full, armored speed, Arcus managed to be in the air above the docks, just as full darkness had set in. Surveying the land below him, the pegasus' piercing orange eyes started picking out random details, like the numerous boats on the water, the few sailors left, calling home for the night...

And a large, glowing sign on the docks.

Well.

"... I don't seen to recall... that being there. Huh." Arcus tilted his head at the sign curiously, before shrugging, and deciding to investigate. He couldn't land very well at this speed, however, so he decided to loop over the sign first, his shadow casting eerie shapes in what light remained, before landing with a thump, accompanied by the loud clatter of armor. Turning...

Oh.

The sign read,

"The Baltimare Paranormal Society".

Well, looks like he was in the right place after all!

[MidnightMask]

Midnight Mask saw the first pony approaching and stood up straight, smiling, trying to look friendly, but the pony was moving very slow from far away... no, the pony was just rather small, even for her age. As the red filly moved closer, her poofy mane and tail bouncing slightly, Midnight Mask wondered if she should have put an age requirement on the posters? Well, it was too late now, by any measure.

 

"Hey!" Tripp called boldly, marching her way up to the lady. "This is the trip onto the ghost ship, right? Am I on time?"

 

"Uh, yes, and yes. We still have a little time to wait for other ponies to arrive. Uh, are you here by yourself?" Midnight Mask asked. Maybe the little filly had mistakenly thought this was a ghost ship ride, like an amusement park?

It was just then that the shadow crossed over head, eerie shadows in the light, and the sudden clatter of armor. Midnight Mask's eyes went wide at the rising shape of what must be some fell creature of the night, a tall, fiendish-

Armored pegasi of the Royal Equestrian Guard? Whoah! Had this really gained that kind of importance? Still, having somepony official around might make things smoother, having a clearly responsible pony on board.

"Greetings. Are you here for the investigation of the ghost ship I hope?" Midnight Mask asked, smiling and dragging her hoof on the ground, a little nervous. She'd never been in direct trouble with the law, exactly, but scare enough ponies and rumors start to swirl. She'd had more than a few uncomfortable conversations with a law pony, usually after a particularly frightened pony came screaming out of her haunted house, convinced her tricks had to be some kind of dark magic and demanding an investigation be done.
 

[TwoBits]

 

 

"Uh, yes, and yes. We still have a little time to wait for other ponies to arrive. Uh, are you here by yourself?"

 

"Yep! Just  me. All my friends chickened out on me when I told them I was going on the ghost ship." Tripp snorted in disdain, huffing a poofy chunk of mane out of her eyes. "So much for them. But I'm still coming along to check it out!" The filly marched herself over to sit by the sign, keeping her chin lifted and giving the mare a stubbornly defiant look as if daring her to try and keep Tripp out of a venture like this. Even if she did have that weird, spooky cutie mark, she was still just one plain old mare. How hard could it be to run circles around some old pony?

 

That confidence disappeared pretty quick, though, as the sky overhead suddenly darkened and a thump rattled the floorboards of the dock.

 

Tripp had already squeaked and skittered around behind the sign before realizing the thing that had just swooped down nearby wasn't some horrible monster, but just a pegasus in...armor...of the Royal Equestrian Guard, oh. Oh. That...that could be harder to get around. She'd never thought about what she'd do if a guard showed up. How was she supposed to charm or argue with a guard the same way she did with other ponies? Surely he'd know better than to fall for it. And...

 

Oh, buck.

 

What if he made her go home?

 

What if he told her parents she'd snuck out??

 

That'd be at LEAST a month of washing dishes!

 

Stuck for any better ideas, Tripp just went completely still, hoping the sign and her naturally small stature would help her hide from attention. Maybe if he overlooked her, she could...she could still sneak onto the boat while his back was turned, and--and hide out under some sacks or something until it was too late to go back to shore? She could still make this work. She just...needed to NOT get caught.

[LostSanity]

((Character info if it's needed or if anyone want to read it/cares: http://www.canterlot.com/topic/20549-lane-logikin-ready/))

 

The train arrived at it's location, and out stepped the detective pony.

 

A colleague of his chief's had called him about some flyers that were going around about a supposed "Ghost Ship" and "investigating it"

 

The only reason his chief asked him to do this was to see if it was just some rusty ship that had somehow found it's way to shore. Lane wasn't receiving much cases anyway, there wasn't a need for a detective for the most part as Equestria, and particularly Ponyville, which is where he was stationed, was pretty much peaceful with only arguments between ponies now and again that are mostly settled between the two ponies in question.

 

Either way, he accepted and headed out via the Friendship Express. He didn't believe in the supernatural, so he was already expecting it to have a logical explanation. Either way, he was only here to find one thing. The truth. As always.

 

He'd never been to Baltimare before. Ever. So he ended up lost rather quickly. He had to ask for directions, which made him feel like a tourist. Eventually, he found his way to the dock, which he figured would be where all the other ponies that would be meeting would be.

 

As expected, there was a small group there. One was obviously the leader and the other seemed rather young to be doing this. He wondered if the young one's parents even knew they were here. But then...

 

"An Equestrian guard? At least there might be someone else here who has common sense..." thought Lane he walked up to and spoke to the guard since the other two ponies seemed busy talking amongst themselves.

 

"This is where interested ponies are supposed to meet to investigate this supposed 'Ghost Ship' right? I've never been to this city before so it took me a while to find this place." asked Lane to the royal guard.

 

((*insert Ace Attorney music here* ))

[Arcus]

Ah, post-flight check-ups. Standard procedure for every long flight...

Well, for Arcus, anyway. Sighing in relief, he noted that none of his equipment had been lost, or worse, fallen off durning the flight, to land on some unfortunate pony's head. Still, best to list it down, right

Armor, check!

Random bits and bobs of equipment, check!

Mare who looked like she was in charge and was apparently talking to him, chec- Wait, what?

"Greetings. Are you here for the investigation of the ghost ship I hope?" Midnight Mask asked, smiling and dragging her hoof on the ground, a little nervous.

"Why, that would be correct, ma'am. Our Guardians unit received a request for help, concerning... Well, a ghost. A ghost ship to be exact." Arcus sighed, before giving off a little smile, and shaking his head, looking over at the mare who was only a few short of his height. Quite a eerie and weird request, he had thought, but a request nonetheless.

"I found the deployment request on my desk, in the middle of the night, with me being the last officer in the barracks. And we were apparently late in responding. Guess how that ended." He chuckled, glancing over at the large, glowing sign. Well, at least he wouldn't be alone, right?... Hopefully, anyway. It would really suck to investigate an apparently ghostly ship alone...

"But it seems that you're here for that reason as well, and I truly hope you won't mind having me along? It would be rather rude to wake up my recruits at this hour to create our own forces." He smiled, his orange eyes seeming to glow slightly in the soft light, as they adjusted to seeing in it.

Arcus had hardly finished speaking, however, when yet another new pony arrived! He was quite glad to see this, though. At least the citizens of Equestria had the initiative to help solve their own problems... Even with ghosts, apparently. Huh, ghosts...

"This is where interested ponies are supposed to meet to investigate this supposed 'Ghost Ship' right? I've never been to this city before so it took me a while to find this place." asked Lane to the royal guard.

Oh, wait, he was speaking to him! Snap out of it, Arcus!

"Oh, uh, yes! I think, anyway. Just arrived here myself, sir. It's not often that we get an assistance request from around here..." He chuckled, looking over at the little group that had gathered.

The mare, the new stallion, and hidden from his eyes and his knowledge, the filly hiding behind the sign...

Well...

"Now, I do believe some introductions are in order?"

[MidnightMask]

The blue silver stallion's friendly demeanor set Midnight Mask back at ease. He wasn't here to shut things down or take over the investigation, he simply wanted to help because he'd been requested to.
 

 

"But it seems that you're here for that reason as well, and I truly hope you won't mind having me along? It would be rather rude to wake up my recruits at this hour to create our own forces." He smiled, his orange eyes seeming to glow slightly in the soft light, as they adjusted to seeing in it.

"Of course not, every pony is wel-" Midnight began, but before she could finish, another pony had arrived.
 

 

"This is where interested ponies are supposed to meet to investigate this supposed 'Ghost Ship' right? I've never been to this city before so it took me a while to find this place." asked Lane to the royal guard.

The light gray pony with the badge cutie mark had immediately begun to defer to the pegasus Guard, which left Midnight a little less sure about how things were shaping up. Was her paranormal investigation turning into a criminal one?  This was supposed to be about exploring the paranormal world!
 

"Now, I do believe some introductions are in order?"

Midnight Mask cleared her throat, speaking clearly and calmly.

"Of course. My name is Midnight Mask, and I'm a professional haunter and mask maker. I've always been fascinated by things that are dark and spooky, and so when I started hearing this story making the rounds among a bunch of local sea ponies, I thought it would be a good idea to check it out with a few interested ponies. I've already made preparations. I've rented a boat and I have some equipment- some doohickies for checking out energies that ghosts supposedly give off, as well as some seance supplies, a few tools in case we need to make repairs or have trouble with structures inside the ship. Now, having mentioned being a haunter and mask maker, I've made sure to leave all my usual haunting gear behind. I want to assure you, while I know a lot about how to fake a haunting, I really want to see if this is fake or real, and I am not using this as some cheap trick to scare a bunch of ponies." She says, waving it off with her hoof, possibly creating more suspicion than she'd truly assuage. Still, it was better to get it out of the way now than be accused of it later.

"We still have a little time, so I'd love to hear all about you and what kind of skill sets you bring to the table. By the way, if any of you can pilot a boat, it might be nice to replace our current captain. He's willing, but a little nervous." Midnight says with a wince, nodding toward the water.

Just off the dock, the rental boat's captain shook in his yellow slicker, his eyes wide, as the dinghy gently bobbed in the water. "It's just a haunted fog, h-how dangerous can it be? It's not like we'll... never return!" he said to himself, shivering in his boots.

Incidentally, Midnight's supplies were already sitting on the boat, two big boxes, enough to fit some exploration gear, occult brick a brack, ghost hunting equipment, and with a little squeezing, possibly a little filly's worth of trouble.

As Midnight waited for her fellow investigator's responses, she kept one eye out for any new arrivals. After all, there was still time before the departure.

[TwoBits]

Okay. Alright. Okay. Nopony had shouted at her yet or called her out. Looked like she'd managed to dodge THAT fancily armored, royal bullet. And the new stallion joining the group didn't seem to have noticed her, either. She could still do this. She still had a chance.

 

Not daring to risk even the faintest hint of poofy mane peeking above the sign, Tripp craned her neck to peer scrutinously at the boat. Crud--it looked like there was yet another grown-up she'd have to get past. But on the other hand, he was so nervous shaking in his horseshoes, maybe it wouldn't be that hard? If she could just wiggle into one of those big, roomy-looking boxes on deck...

 

The real question, though, was when to act on her new plan. It didn't look like the older ponies were about to leave for a bit, so many she should dash now, while they were distracted talking? Or should she do a slow, stealthy crawl, in case moving too fast made them notice her? Should she even wait a little longer, in case something came along to distract them even more? What if waiting only meant she'd miss her chance by misjudging how long she had?

 

Darn it, she might as go now. This might be the only chance she had to still make it onto that ghost ship!

 

Ever so slowly, Tripp tentatively stretched a hoof out past the sign, pausing to wait for any telltale yelling or raised voices. After a few seconds passed with no change in the adults' conversation, she made as stealthy a dash as she could manage, scrabbled up onto the deck and hoisted herself up into one of the boxes. Alright, so it was a little more cramped than she thought, but she was still able to squeeze down far enough under some of the strange gizmos packed inside that a casual glance from above PROBABLY shouldn't give her away, not right away at least. 

 

Tripp REALLY felt like giving herself a hoof-bump. If only stealth and staying still weren't of utmost importance right now, perhaps she would have.

[LostSanity]

At least it seemed like he was in the right place.

 

The "leader" of this "investigation" began introducing themselves.

 

Lane couldn't help but roll his eyes when the pony started talking about equipment to detect "ghosts."

 

Then he facehooved when their "captain" was already being paranoid about them not possibly being able to come back.

 

Due to this, he didn't see the young pony stowaway into one of the boxes.

 

Since the leader was done talking, Lane spoke up to introduce himself.

 

"I'm Lane Logikin, a detective from Ponyville. I don't tend to get a lot of cases and a colleague of my chief's said something to my chief about the flyers that were going around about this supposed 'ghost ship.' Since I really don't get much work anyway, and my chief asked me to, I came here to give assistance with my investigative abilities. I'll be brutally honest with all of you... I don't believe in 'ghosts, supernatural stuff' or whatever else you want to call it. I'm only here for one reason and one reason only, to find the truth as to what this ship is and if it's really 'haunted' or not. As for my qualifications... well... let's just say that most of the investigations I take and get involved with get resolved in a nice, neat, and justified way" informed Lane.

[Arcus]

So...

A detective from Ponyville, which was quite nice, he could definitely help! And... A professional haunter and mask maker? Ooh, interesting!

I guess that made up their little group... Plus that one filly stowaway, of course, but Arcus didn't know about that!

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you both." Arcus nodded, shifting his weight slightly, and causing yet another shudder to emanate from the armor he wore. Besides the sizably large black case on his back, he really didn't look any different from any Royal Guard. Except, of course, for his weirdly-tinted eyes, but that didn't really matter much, after all.

"I'm Lieutenant Colonel Arcus of the Royal Guard Guardians, but of course, you may as well call me Arcus. I've found formalities to be... distracting." He chuckled, observing his two companions with those piercingly orange eyes of his.

"And speaking of distractions, I do hope I did not just take a long flight from Canterlot, only to come here to find an extremely elaborate prank, one which has set Baltimare's ports into shock..." He sighed, shaking his head with a smile. Leaning back for a moment to look at the moonlit sky, it's soft light filtering through the clouds, he smiled.

"... But of course, we'll soon find out..."

[MidnightMask]

“It’s nice to meet you Lane, Arcus. I think, no matter what the source of this haunting, real or fake, it should be easy to get to the bottom of it with you two along. Now the only one left who needs to introduce themselves is…” Midnight mask started, looking left and right, but finding no pony there.

“She was just… hey, did you two see a little red filly with poofy hair? She’s just a foal, and she said she wanted to go, but… maybe she went home?” Midnight Mask offered. She looked around for a moment, behind the sign and down the streets, no idea of just where she had gotten off to.

“Well, it’s probably for the best. I wouldn’t want to take a young pony along for something like this without their parent’s knowing, especially if it turns out to be something dangerous.” Midnight said.

Midnight smiled, taking a final look down the docks, down the streets, no ponies obviously on their way...

“Well, I guess we should get moving then. All aboard!... that’s what you’re supposed to say right?” She asked the captain, but he was just sort of mumbling to himself. Midnight Mask trotted to the side of the boat and entered gently, taking a seat on deck next to her gear.

 

[LostSanity]

That was... a very good question. Lane didn't see the young child anywhere either.

 

Did they loose their nerve, leave and go back home? Lane hoped so, but, couldn't shake this bad feeling he had.

 

He didn't have time to worry about something like that though. It was time for the investigation to begin.

 

He... begrudgingly got into the boat as well. Slightly worried that it wouldn't be strong enough to hold all the ponies and would topple over. But if he showed that... the captain's paranoia would just get worse.

 

He hoped for the best, took a seat, and waited for the boat to cast off and reach the ship, so the investigation could truly begin.

[TwoBits]

Well...it looked like she didn't have TOO long to wait. Tripp had just been contemplating risking her silence to try and sneak a cinnamon candy out of her saddlebags, but sure enough, the boat started rocking with hoof steps and added weight right as her good had started straying to her side. Oh, well. Maybe in a little while they'd start talking loud enough for her to open a candy wrapper without giving herself away.

...maybe she should have brought a comic, though. Something to do, at least. But then again, maybe reading by flashlight would have given her away.

What even was this stuff, anyways? Some kind of...gizmos, with...parts...and things. There was no real indication what they did, so...she wasn't going to mess around with that.

Tripp fought down an impatient sigh, that may or may not have also been a yawn trying to peek through at this late hour. It looked like it was shaping up to be a loooooong, boring ride until things got more ghostly and interesting.

[Arcus]

Following the others onto the boat as they wondered about what apparently seemed to be an overly curious or scared filly, Arcus stepped on, a little wary of his weight. He did have the armor on, after all. With every step, his armor gave off a metallic buzz of metal, answered by the floorboards of the boat as they rocked under his weight.

Managing to steady himself, however, he sighed in relief, as they waited for the boat to sail off. He noted that the captain looked quite... spooked, to say the least, but seriously, he didn't know much about boats, much less piloting them. He spent most of his time flying, after all...

As they waited, Arcus silently moved over to the boat's side, staring over the water's dark, reflective surface...

Maybe, just maybe, there was something to this ghost story...

[MidnightMask]

With all of them aboard, the boat began to slowly putter out into the moonlit waters, the night still, the water like a mirror, but as the shaking captain took them out and way from the docks, clouds seemed to gather over the waters, fog upon the waves...

***

It was a good hour's time before they had arrived, gliding through the water in a thickening fog. The mist's hung in the air like ethereal serpents, swirling and parting, a light at the front of the boat reaching a short ways before hitting a wall like blanket. Slowing speed, the soft murmur of the engine was drowned out by the chattering of the captain's teeth.

"Sh-sh-should be there any moment now." he said as the boat broke through the fog like a knife, to reveal an old, battered ship, dwarfing their tiny vessel, held upon jutting black rocks like a skeletal hand. Fog poured out over the deck of the ship and down it's sides, tattered sails laying slack in the windless calm, a slight, green translucence seeming to emanate from above. There were a few holes in the hull, but wedged on the rocks, they weren't big enough for a pony to fit through.

"Well, this definitely looks like the place everypony. I'm going to do a gear check, then we'll get ourselves up and onboard. Little bigger than I'd imagined it, but I brought a grappling hook and a pulley, just in case." Midnight Mask said with a wide grin, bopping her head back and forth and humming happily as she reached into the box and began to search for her ghost hunting doohickey...

[TwoBits]

It hadn't taken long at all for Tripp Hardy to get bored with her situation. And in that tedium, her mind had time to slow down from the rush of sneaking away and finally acknowledge that it was pretty darn late and she did feel a LITTLE bit tired. Between this, the dull drone of occasional conversation from the grown ponies, and the steady, rhythmic swaying of the boat...

 

- - -

 

She wasn't sure when she'd fallen asleep. If she'd just had a chance to wake up first and compose herself, then of course she would have argued that she'd never fallen COMPLETELY asleep--just rested her eyes for a few minutes. But as it was, Tripp did not get the opportunity to wake up at a good moment, and instead found herself jostled awake by a prodding hoof and the metallic clanging of shifting gadgets. 

 

"UhhWHA??" the bedheaded filly snorted, bolting upright. "I wasn't sleeping!" she blurted out blearily, still not fully aware of what was going on. "I never snuck out! I was in bed the whole time, mom, honest!"

[LostSanity]

Lane gave the boat a look over to see if he could determine anything from just looking at it.

 

"Hmm... well... something happened to it that's for sure. It looks like it's been through some kind of battle. But, as far as I know, Equestria isn't at war, nor does it even have a naval fleet. It's also possible that it got lost in the fog and just crashed into something. But what that is... and what happened to it to make ponies think it's haunted... I can't tell from here. I'll have to get on board and thoroughly investigate it to determine that" thought Lane.

 

That's when he heard it. A voice. A ghost? Obviously not.

 

"I wasn't sleeping!" she blurted out blearily, still not fully aware of what was going on. "I never snuck out! I was in bed the whole time, mom, honest!"

 

"You all heard that right? Before anyone starts assuming, it clearly came from that box" stated Lane as he pointed at the box with his left hoof that the leader of this investigation was currently sifting through.

[Arcus]

Throughout their journey, Arcus had stayed silent, staring off into the distant waters. Honestly, for him, this was quite peaceful! It was a nice change of pace from being stuck in his office all day, and seriously, he was on the ocean. You wouldn't expect a pegasus to love the water, but this one definitely did! If only he wasn't deployed like this, he'd probably find time to swim. If only...

... If only they didn't suddenly find a rock-impaled ship!

"Well, doesn't that look comforting." Arcus chuckled, mostly to himself, even as his eyes took on a more serious glare, running his gaze over what was visible of the vessel. Thankfully, it looked like Midnight was looking for a grappling hook, which would seriously, be of great help. Arcus really didn't want to risk carrying all of them, after all... Ghosts could be anywhere!

"UhhWHA??" the bedheaded filly snorted, bolting upright. "I wasn't sleeping!" she blurted out blearily, still not fully aware of what was going on. "I never snuck out! I was in bed the whole time, mom, honest!"

... Like on their own boat, apparently!

Oh, wait, that wasn't a ghost? Huh...

"... Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but the last time I checked, grappling hooks couldn't talk..." He stated in surprise, trotting over to the box Midnight was peering into to get a look himself...

[MidnightMask]

Midnight's eyes went wide in surprise. 'No... don't tell me...' she thought.

As Arcus moved to look, Midnight leaned in simultaneously to spot the missing foal, sleeping in the box of gear, blearily awakening.  Midnight then slunk right back down, eyes narrowed, looking miffed. This could spoil the whole investigation if they had to bring her back.

Pulling a sheet in the box up and over the little foal's head. Midnight's voice dropped several octaves, gaining a bone chilling and monstrous edge, changing pitch and effecting a little conversation with herself...

"Those foolish ponies thought to take our ship!?!"

"Annoying, but very tasty. Is there any more?"

"It looks like they wrapped up a small one just for us."

"Ahhh, a tiny snack!"

Midnight then shook the crate, laughing maniacally...

[LostSanity]

As the other ponies went to see what the voice was, Lane sighed to himself after overhearing what the Equestrian guard said.

 

"Great. Looks like I was wrong. I'M the only one with common sense in this group for this investigation..." thought Lane to himself.

 

Afterwards, he cautious got up and walked over to see what was in the box as well, trying not to capsize the boat. He arrived soon enough to see the leader of the investigation put a cover over what seemed to be a small foal. This miffed Lane.

 

"Wow. This just keeps getting better and better. If I'm accused of foalnapping... I won't allow this stowaway to get away with this" thought Lane

 

However... then... for some strange reason... the leader of the investigation's voice... changed. Then they started talking to themselves. That wasn't all either...

 

"Those foolish ponies thought to take our ship!?!"

"Annoying, but very tasty. Is there any more?"

"It looks like they wrapped up a small one just for us."

"Ahhh, a tiny snack!"

Midnight then shook the crate, laughing maniacally...

 

"Hey!! What's wrong?! Are you okay?! What the heck are you doing?!" shouted Lane at the pony

[TwoBits]

Having a sheet thrown over her face first thing didn't help any with Tripp's sleepy confusion--if anything, the little filly started to REALLY freak out upon realizing that not only could she not see, but she was suddenly having trouble moving without meeting resistance from some...THING, that had suddenly draped itself over her and was making it harder to reach out more than a few inches in front of her.

 

Oh, but it didn't stop there. Not by a long shot.

 

 

 

"Those foolish ponies thought to take our ship!?!"

"Annoying, but very tasty. Is there any more?"

"It looks like they wrapped up a small one just for us."

"Ahhh, a tiny snack!"

 

Voices! Scary, booming ones! And then, all of a sudden, the world around her--or her box anyways--was heaving and shaking worse than the back of Dad's wagon on a rocky rubble road! 

 

Oh good Celestia, wait, tiny?! Wrapped up "just for us"?! She was going to be the snack!

 

True to panicked little filly fasion, Tripp gave a shrill, high-pitched shriek like hooves against a chalkboard. The foal did her best to clamber down further beneath whatever gadgets she could move--if they couldn't see her, after all, then maybe, just maybe, she could still be saved! So frightened was the filly, she barely paused to take in the alarmed protests of one of the other stallions in the boat--or maybe she was just screaming too loud to hear anything else at the moment. Either way.

[MidnightMask]

Midnight Mask stopped shaking and laughing, raising a hoof to Lane as if to say, just give me a moment. She let the little filly scream a moment longer before pulling the sheet from Tripp's head.

 

"Now I want you to imagine that this moment happened. You were gobbled up by sea monsters and disappeared, without a trace. Would your parents even know where you were? Where you went? Did you ever think about how worried they might be?... Would you stop screaming?" Midnight Mask turned her head towards the captain, who had been shrieking ever since she'd started her fear act. The captain immediately stopped, pulling his cap down in embarrassment.

Midnight knew what she was doing could be considered cruel, but fear could be an excellent teacher when properly applied. Of course, she hadn't considered hard just how her performance might have effected her fellow investigators.

[Arcus]

Well, what do you get when you add an already-scared filly to a spooky, scary mare?

Why, a screaming, scared out of her wits filly, of course! Along with an indignant investigator, apparently. And a screaming captain. Oh, boy.

Midnight truly did... oh, a good job of scaring her. So good, in fact, that Arcus was able to identify the little stowaway as a filly, long before she even pulled the sheets. Sitting in the box, half-buried by gadgets and gizmos that Arcus really couldn't count or understand, was of course, a panicked filly.

Hey, you'd be feeling the same thing, if you were suddenly assaulted by creepy voices!

"You were gobbled up by sea monsters"

Oh, great. Speaking of creepy...

"Midnight, I'm not sure that's helping." He sighed, lowering his voice to what he hoped was a more comforting tone, along with actually lowering himself, kneeling so that his towering stature was reduced enough to look, and be seen easily from the box. This filly had certainly gone through a lot, and honestly, he couldn't really blame her for being scared...

What he could do, of course, was try to help. You never know, it might work! Or it might not. Either way...

"Hey, you okay?"

[LostSanity]

Lane was... slightly annoyed. It was a pretty good act, as it had fooled even him. He was a little angry as well. He chimed in to the small filly as well.

 

"I'm not going to get accused of foalnapping, I hope you have a good explanation for this..." stated Lane firmly