Bashing came from the door.
She knew what it was, but it was still frightening every time those heavy hooves battered on the wooden frame.
“Just a minute!” she yelled. She was never prepared for the spot checks, despite them going on for weeks now. Nobody knew what they were for yet, she'd asked every batpony in Hollow Shades for an answer but nobody seemed capable of giving her one. It was like the whole town was running blind.
“Hurry up, or we'll be forced to break your door in,” one of the guards called. “That'll be the second time this week, Miss Echo. We don't want to have to do that.”
She didn't have to be told again. They said they wouldn't pay for damages next time. Rushing downstairs, she flung open the door in a hurry.
“Thank you. Now, may we come in?” the other guard asked.
“Shuh… sure. But can't you tell us what these checks are for?” she panted out. They both shook their heads again. Those two weren't even batponies.

After a few minutes of rummaging around her house, one of the guards approached her.
“Everything seems to check out, but...”
A bead of sweat began to drip past her tufted ear. He cupped his hoof around her ear and started whispering.
“Be vigilant. You can never be too cautious. That's all I can say.”
He nodded at her, then called to his partner to leave.
That bead of sweat became multiple.
The blue-maned batpony's hyper-sensitive ears listened for anything else around the house but she heard only silence. She wasn't sure if it was comforting or disconcerting.
“Well… How dangerous can my own house be?” Echo thought aloud to herself.

Throughout the rest of the night, the batpony tried to distance her thoughts from what the guard had told her. Initially, she had tried to read one of the books in her To-Read-List, but her over-active imagination had caused her to fear her own toaster. The book was called The Fear Of Yeast.

Afterwards she had went to a friend's house, but the walk there in the gloom brought panic to her. The sounds of small animals scurrying close to her sent a shiver down each vertebrae in her spine. Trees rustling their leaves wildly seemed to point. Not in the direction she was going, towards the gates of Hollow Shades.

When she finally came upon Lullaby's small cottage, she started hammering on that door as hard as the guards did to her own.
“Let me in. Let me in! LET ME IN!” she screamed, all the while her hooves were pounding on the door. A click and she leapt away from the door. As soon as she saw the purple of Lullaby's unkempt mane, she sprang into the house.

“Wha-” the green-eyed professional sleeper said, before she was interrupted by her own yawn.
“Why are you thumping down my door? I just had to replace one of the bolts in it after I slept through a spot check.”

Trying to compose herself, Echo took in a gulp of oxygen. She realised she was being irrational. Apologising, she explained to her friend what the guard had whispered to her. Lullaby didn't seem impressed.
“So you've got yourself in a nervous wreck over general street smarts? Echo, you're a silly pony,” she scolded. “I don't know what goes on in your head but you have to sit and think: What could there be out there?”

Facing her friend, Echo's eyes shrunk.
“That's precisely what I'm afraid of! The things you can't see, what could be lurking out there? Exactly, you don't know! No-one knows! I bet the guards don't even know!”
Lullaby sat there with a coy smirk on her face.
“I don't think it could be as bad as all that, Echo. You just need to calm down before you think yourself into a coma or something just as silly.”
Echo groaned, agitated by her friend's lack of belief. Whether or not she was being irrational, she still felt a horrid feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something was not right in Hollow Shades. Echo knew it.

For the rest of the night, Lullaby and Echo stayed in the living room and tried to work out what the spot checks could be for. Treating themselves to tea and biscuits, the pair slowly but surely got over the earlier fiasco. As the sun softly began to sing in light to Lullaby's candle-lit abode, they knew it was time to go to bed before their eyes got too weary from the glare. They would stay up for dawn though. It was an awesome sight, wondrous and beautiful. Despite being creatures of night, they could both appreciate the work Celestia put into raising the sun every morning. With that, they both went to sleep. Echo on the couch, Lullaby in her own bedroom.
Dusk greeted Echo's sleepy orange eyes. Accompanying her yawn was a satisfying stretch, the quilt from last night still hugging her physique in cosy embrace. She didn't know what time it was, but it was no doubt that Lullaby would still be asleep. Into the cramped kitchen, she poured herself a cup of pineapple juice. In her daze, about half of the carton went onto the table but she didn't even notice til she put her hoof in it. A sigh erupted from her throat, as Lullaby stomped clumsily down the stairs.
She went to speak but before she started, she let out a very loud yawn.
“Whatime izzit?” her friend asked.
“Beats me. You got any tissue paper? I, uh. Spilled this. Everywhere.”
Lullaby didn't look pleased.
“Over there,” she groaned, pointing with her hoof. “I swear, you have to be the clumsiest pony I've ever met.”
Echo chuckled quietly to herself, cleaning up.
“I'm sorry. I'm a bit sleepy, is all,” she replied. “Oh, and I think it's just past 2am.”
Lullaby batted her leaf green eyes and sighed.
“It's okay, but jeez, we slept for that long?”
 A timid knock made its way through the house. Baffled at how late it was, Echo answered it. Greeting her was Night Watch, one of the batpony guards in the town.
“This isn't a spot check. The mayor's requested a meeting for everyone at the town hall,” she sternly said. “Get you and your friend over there as soon as possible.”
Slightly befuddled, she turned over to Lullaby and explained the situation.
“Wonder what it could be?”
“I bet you it's linked to what the guard told me!”
“Echo, I thought we'd been through this! He was just giving you advice!”
“Hmph!”
With that, the pair exited, not saying a word for the whole walk.

---

Inside the spacious hall, dozens of batponies flapped around while another few dozen were sat down. Calamity was the only word to describe it. The mayor was nowhere to be seen, the panel at the far end of the hall was empty of a body. As they entered, Echo and Lullaby clutched at their ears, trying to drown out the din of the bats around them. They took some seats in the middle of the hall, seemingly everyone had avoided that space or was flying above it. Within a few moments, they noticed the curtain behind the panel reveal the mayor of Hollow Shades, Dusk Barron. The stallion was calm and collected amongst his kind despite the eruptions of curiosity from the townsponies. He flipped back his short white mane and batted his cold, violet eyes. As he tapped the microphone, he said only a single word with a soothing voice, like a mother calming her wailing child.
“Settle.”
Every batpony who had been yelling and clamouring before calmed down almost immediately. The hall became eerily quiet save for the buzzing of the microphone. Dusk shook his light blue coat, and proceeded.
“It's come to my attention that many of us in Hollow Shades are quite concerned with the royal guards doing random spot checks at all hours of the day. So I have gathered you all here to help you understand why this is happening.”
Echo nudged Lullaby and stuck her tongue out at her. She ignored her friend.
“In one of the neighbouring towns surrounding Canterlot, personal items have been disappearing without warning. In some cases, entire houses have been taken without a trace. Now, obviously these aren't simple robberies. When entire houses disappear, that's a cause for concern.”
He paused, gently taking a short breath and gazed across the crowd for a moment. Echo's pupils narrowed in realisation.
“So far this is contained only to that segment of Equestria, but alas Princess Celestia instructed the guard to be spread around the kingdom.”
Bats turned around to each other in confusion. Once more, the cacophonous uproar returned. Dusk Barron's hairs stood on the back of his neck.
“Please, everypony! Calm down for a moment! If you have any questions, I will relay you answers as soon as you all quieten down!”
Again, he commanded the crowd and they did as told. One batpony called out.
“What the hay is causing this?”
Then another.
“What kind of stuff is being taken?”
And once again.
“What if it starts happening here?!”
Echo sat there, quieter than Lullaby had ever seen her before. She had her head hung in deep thought. Lullaby whispered to her friend.
“What are you daydreaming about, oh great Starswirl the Bearded?”
Echo turned her head towards Lullaby and shook it slowly, then quickly. Echo's expression was that of complete terror.
“It's not just the homes.”
Lullaby raised a doubtful brow at her.
“I am telling you now!” she yelled. In her fear and anger, Echo got out of her seat and galloped out of the long hall. She knew the guard was talking about something completely different. Lullaby wouldn't have it though. Echo knew she had to find that guard again. Get him somehow to tell her everything he knows. If the mayor was going to keep everyone else in the dark, she wouldn't let him keep her in the same place. If Lullaby wasn't going to believe her, she'd have to prove it to her friend. And that's exactly what she'd do.

---

After that wholly pointless gathering, Dusk Barron returned to his quarters in the upper levels of the town hall. He couldn't tell them outright, just reveal a smaller part of the whole picture to satisfy those who would restlessly press for an answer. And so far, it had seemed to have worked. He couldn't help but notice one single mare though, who quickly rushed out of the building after he had finished speaking. Perhaps she was of a nervous disposition, desperate to protect her belongings. Not many batponies knew him personally, and so he was not concerned with whoever it was. Satisfied with his own conclusion, he started on an overdue letter to Princess Celestia. It contained few words.
'We can't hide the truth away for much longer.'

---

Much to the librarian's disdain, Echo had been up and down shelves upon shelves of books looking for something possibly related to these shady events. The library seemed a decent enough place to look for evidence, with piles of information she would surely find something. She was now at F in authors surnames, and peered at the title of one book by a Hearty Flora. The book was called Mysteries Of Equestria.
“Perfect!” she exclaimed.
The librarian glared at her, intense displease on her countenance. Echo had been there for almost the whole day after the meeting.
“Shh.”
She quickly silenced herself, batting her wings slowly to help her reach the ground. Approaching the librarian, she meekly asked if she could borrow it.
“Um... Sorry about earlier but, I'd like to take this one please.”
The librarian completely ignored her. Echo repeated herself, slightly louder.
“Shh!”
The librarian snatched the item from her hooves, stamped it and handed it back to her in one swift gesture. Echo was baffled at how quickly it happened.
“Th-thanks.”
“SHH!”
Echo left as quickly as she could. Fortunately for her, the library was not far from her own abode. The trot home took very little time luckily, the book tucked under her wing was incredibly thick and heavy. If she'd had to have carried it for much longer there'd be no doubt of her dropping the thing.  Upon entering the house, Echo lit a candle. The air felt... cool. She hadn't been home in a short while, but it seemed odd how chilly the house had been. It had only been one day and she didn't remember the house cooling like this before. Clambering up the stairs, she entered her bedroom with the book. She froze still at the sight.

---

Lullaby, for once, could not sleep. She had been puzzling over and over in her head what Mayor Barron had said. Her mind was restless. If Princess Celestia was concerned about small villages in her immediate area, fair enough. But Hollow Shades was so far displaced from the kingdom's capital that it almost seemed a waste of resources to send guards here. Especially when nothing had actually happened in any other settlement past there.
Abruptly, a loud slam came from downstairs and the clip-clops of hooves were getting closer to Lullaby's room and she screamed out of fear and shut her eyes tight.
“Who are you?! Get out of my house!” she bellowed as loud as she could.
“Lullaby.”
In front of her was Echo, her face white as a sheet.
“My entire bedroom is gone.”
“What?”
Her slitted pupils had shrunk to sizes Echo had never seen before. They were almost invisible to her.
“It's gone. There's nothing there. The room looks like an unfinished mess of construction.”
Lullaby was struggling to process it. She couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. Echo had been right the whole time, there really was something going on in the quaintness of Hollow Shades.
“Just… what?!” she yelped in stark disbelief.
“If you don't believe me, I will not hesitate to drag you there,” Echo retorted, in deathly seriousness. Lullaby decided to listen to her.
“I've borrowed a book called Mysteries Of Equestria. But I'm not reading it at home. I don't feel safe there anymore.”
“Shouldn't you report it, Echo? After all, maybe the guards can do something about it.”
“All they'll do is note it down. How are they supposed to do ANYTHING about it?”
Lullaby pondered for a moment. She knew Echo was right, again.
“I think the book is the only way we'll find any information on whatever is happening. The guards don't have a clue, neither does Dusk Barron it'd seem.”
The purple-maned pony dropped her head for a moment.
“He might be the best bet we have, actually. Think about it, he was the one who put out that announcement. Maybe he knows more.”
Echo pondered this for a minute. It could be that case, yet Echo wasn't sure if her friend was thinking down the right path.
“If we can't find anything in the book, we could request a meeting with him soon.”
Lullaby nodded and smiled at Echo. For once her friend had listened to her suggestions.
“Shall we get to looking, then?”

---

A few hours later, and the two ponies were still none the wiser about whatever was happening in the town. They'd scrolled through lots of pages and went through each page they'd read at least twice now. Still, nothing. The only thing resembling a piece of information was one small side entry about a case quite a few decades ago where a few ponies disappeared in an old, now-abandoned settlement to the south by the badlands. The population there was so small that after only 5 of them disappeared, over half the population was gone. The remaining four promptly left and nobody had returned there since.

Echo read out all of this to Lullaby, while she listened intently. Echo had a feeling she was just waiting for her to finish so that she could get in a word about speaking to Dusk Barron, and her intuition proved herself correct.
“Well, I guess it's off to the mayor's office?”
Echo sighed, smiling at herself.
“You can go tomorrow, I'm going to stay up and see if I can find anything else.”
Lullaby nodded gingerly. She would have hoped Echo wanted to come with her, given that her interests were obviously higher than Lullaby's own. She shuffled her hooves around.
“Why aren't you coming?”
Echo looked puzzled.
“Huh?”
“I mean, you were so keen on finding out the answer, it seems a little strange you wouldn't want to be there if we find out anything.”
Echo smiled at her friend.
“If we both do independent tasks then we'll be able to find an answer quicker, don't you think?”
Lullaby was still confused, making a face at her.
“If you find anything though, surely you can come along?”
Echo stood up.
“You scared to go alone or something?”
She didn't want to admit it, but Lullaby was a little intimidated by the thought of speaking to the authority of Hollow Shades.
“N-no, don't be silly.”
“Then why can't you go without me?”
Lullaby had to scramble for reasons at this point.
“Because, i-if both of us are there, if one of us forgets anything he says then the other will surely remember, right?”
Echo, pondering this, looked a little irritated.
“I suppose you're right. Well, if I find nothing in the book, we can both go tomorrow.”
Lullaby sighed in relief and wiped her brow.
“Well, that's that then.”
“Yeah...”
Echo looked around the room, looking for a clock.
“I feel tired. We should get some rest.”
Lullaby offered Echo her room, opting to sleep on the couch.
“Goodnight.”
“Yeah. Night.”

---

The morning came suddenly for Echo. She felt as if she hadn't slept at all. Her neck was achy, and she clicked her back when she got out of bed.
“Oww!” she exclaimed. She missed her own bed, comfiest in Equestria. It was gone now, and the thought only added to her frustration that her entire bedroom was gone.
At least we can get some answers today, she thought to herself.
Sluggishly she made her way down the stairs, sleep in the corners of her eyes. Right there was Lullaby, sleeping peacefully on the couch. She was envious.
Walking down into the sitting room, she noticed her mane in the mirror. What a mess it was. She'd have to sort that before leaving. Behind her, she heard her friend stirring.
“Morning,” she called through.
“Whuh- oh, morning Echo. You're up?” she slurred back. It was typical of her, always able to startle herself when she woke up.
“Yeah, not for long though. Sleep well?”
“As always,” her friend called through. “You?”
“Like a baby,” she lied. No point in telling Lullaby her bed sucked, seeing as she could sleep in it fine.
The purple-maned pony appeared in the kitchen, smiling at her friend.
“That's good. You ready for today?”
Echo nodded. Neither of them seemed particularly excited about the prospect of meeting Dusk Barron, a figure who always seemed elusive to most of Hollow Shades. His appearances were bi-monthly at best, unlike past mayors who would hold meetings bi-weekly at worst. In her heart, Echo felt conflicted about visiting the illusory mayor.
“When do we leave?” she asked.
“I imagine the mayor's offices won't be open for a little while. We should go at midnight,” Lullaby said, flicking her mane out of her face.
“Sure,” Echo replied.
The pair didn't say much for a time, only going about their business to themselves. Echo kept going through the book, Lullaby tried to busy herself with anything she could think of.

---

Later, the two ponies flew the distance to the mayor's offices. Hollow Shades had a distinct lack of citizens in the streets, as though they were all on holiday. Or something more sinister.
“Nobody's out today...” Lullaby remarked quietly.
“Wonder why,” Echo answered.
Upon arrival, they both looked at each other with an awkward stare.
“Ready?”
“Yeah. Open the door.”
Lullaby pushed at the wooden frame. It gave away without much effort.
“We go in together,” Echo said.
Lullaby nodded, taking a step with her friend. Inside, the building smelt strongly of dust and wormwood. The entrance was a long hallway, dimly lit and leading to a single door. A voice snaked its way around the room to their ears.
“Hello, citizens.”