Don't Blink...
"Ugh... I HATE reshelving day..."
"Aww, come on, Spike! It's not that bad..."
Spike glared at the back of Twilight's head while she levitated a row of books to the growing pile in the center of the room. He didn't mind reshelving day, honestly. He just wished it didn't come around every two weeks--not counting when his purple roommate decided she was bored, and that a 'quick' reorganization of anything with the written word on it in the library would make an effective use of her time while waiting for her next homework assignment from Princess Celestia. Of course, Twilight being the overachiever that she is, made sure to complete any assignments she was given mere days after they had been assigned, rather than the expected two months for the average student, leaving plenty of extra time for the activities she considered fun.
Like reshelving the entire library.
Spike wistfully remembered when both he and Twilight had lived in the palace, when he had been able to excuse himself from helping out with this chore by claiming that the Princess needed to see him for something. Failing that, calling in a few of the servants to help would significantly speed up the process, and reduce the workload of all involved. Lacking both, the process was both tedious and exhausting to reach Twilight's level of exacting literary reorganization perfection.
Waddling over to one of the stacks for reorganization, Spike slowly started picking through the titles.
'How to train your parasprite, 1001 creative ways to prank your friends, The Evil Overlord's guide to cooking... Sheesh, I wonder where we got that one...'
Picking up a faded red book, Spike flipped it over a few times while looking for a title.
'What's this?'
Opening it to the first page, he discovered that it appeared to be some sort of Journal.
"Oh, that's where that went to."
Spike turned to see Twilight looking over his shoulder. She had a vague look of interest as she quickly scanned over the first page.
"What is it?" Spike asked as his sudo-mother returned to creating literary chaos in the middle of the floor.
"It's something that Time Turner dropped off a while ago. I think it's suppose to be some sort of fantasy adventure he wrote about a crazy pony with a box."
Setting another stack down in the pile, she continued.
"It kinda comes off as a self-insert wish fulfillment story, as the main character is described looking the same way as Turner. The way he runs around with a herd of mares as his 'companions' doesn't really help to put off that image."
Another stack of books added.
"I was actually planning on putting it into storage in the basement. Nopony has checked it out, and only Ditzy and Roseluck seems to find it interesting."
Spike flipped through the pages until the book seemed to stop at one particularly set of well-worn pages. The first thing that caught his eye on the page was the phrase 'Don't Blink!'
Spike looked up at Twilight as she grabbed one of the last few rows of books, and set them on the ground. He shrugged, and decided to continue reading.
Don't blink! Don't even wink! Blink, and you're dead!
Interest peaked, he flipped back a bit to try and get some context. The book was kinda large, so he took a seat to balance it on his legs.
Spike! For the love of Celestia, whatever you do, keep reading!
Spike stared at the book in confusion, but kept reading.
Alright, now that I've got your attention, let me first start by saying that they are alive, and they're in the basement.
Spike raised an eyebrow.
Now, I know that sounds strange, but believe me! I'm a time traveler!
Spike raised his other eyebrow.
Okay, right now you're staring at the book skeptically. I know it sounds strange, but it's true. I can even prove it.
Spike glared at the book.
And now you're glaring. And in a second, Twilight will say: "Can you move for a second?"
"Hey Spike, can you move for a second? I want to get that book you're sitting on."
Spike stood up without thinking about it, and then realized what he had just done. He quickly looked back at the book with an expression of disbelief.
Now she's going to say: "Spike, are you going to keep reading that or are you going to help me?"
"Spike, are you going to keep reading that or are you going to--Spike, why are you looking at me like that?"
Spike found himself staring at Twilight with an expression akin to panic, before returning to reading the book.
Now that you believe me, it is imperative that you keep everypony away from the basement until I can solve the problem! They can--and will--kill you and everypony you hold dear.
"Fine, you can keep reading it. Just put it away in the basement when you're done, or you won't get any gems with lunch."
Spike's expression changed to one of horror, but he continued reading the book.
If you do have to go down there, for ANY reason, just remember:
Spike leaned closer to the book.
Don't Blink! Don't even wink! Blink, and you're dead.
They’re faster than you can imagine, but they're quantum locked. If you stare at them, they can't move. If you're desperate, you can trick them by--
Spike stared at the page. The sentence just stopped without warning, cutting off the dire warning from the future. Slowly, Spike turned to look at the basement door. He saw it slightly open...
And had an eye looking through the crack, staring right back at him.
"AHHHHH!"
"Spike?! Spike! Are you okay?!"
"Number four, what's going on up there?"
"I have no idea, sir." Number four, one of Xeno's clones, slowly closed the door while the purple mare tended to her purple lizard thing. "The lizard looked in my direction, and then just started freaking out."
The progenitor looked up from the book that he was reading in confusion before returning to it.
"...He might have seen you. Best we all put on our disguises, just in case."
The clone nodded, and equipped a piece of decorated card stock that bore his own likeness.
"...Why does this work again?" The clone eventually asked.
"I have no idea." Came the reply from the villain in white.
It was after lunch. Spike had missed out on his gems because he had sanely refused to go into the basement. He had even discouraged Twilight from going down a few times.
Twilight, finding that her number one assistant had inexplicably contracted a fear of the basement for reasons beyond her comprehension, tried to help him get over it the best way she knew how.
"Spike, I'm telling you that there is nothing to be afraid of! If you see something scary, just laugh it off!"
"Twilight, I'm telling you that there's something in the basement!"
"Spiiiiike!" The lavender mare groaned, and picked up the young drake with her magic. "Here, I'll show you."
"Wait! Twilight, no!"
Twilight carried the protesting purple prepubescent to the basement door, and opened it. Flicking the light on, she walked down the stairs, and soon found herself in the basement proper. Surrounding her was the various pieces of scientific equipment that she used for the multitude of scientific experiments she found herself performing. For science.
In a corner, a bookshelf and a desk sat, awaiting some scholar of the sciences to make use of them. Nearby that, was a pile of boxes that contained all the books that weren't currently in use in the library above--all enchanted with a plethora of preservation spells, of course. Finally, there was her growing collection of life-size Xenolance cardboard cutouts by an open space near the wall.
'Actually, where did they all come from?' Twilight thought to herself. 'I thought I only had the one...'
Twilight shrugged, before calmly setting the not-so-calm drake on the floor.
"See, Spike? Nothing to be afraid of."
Spike was swinging his head around while hyperventilating, seemingly trying to keep as much of the room in view as possible.
"...Spike?"
Spike ignored her in favor of his paranoid delusions.
"Spike..."
Spike found himself resisting the urge to blink in his self-tasked quest of room observation.
"SPIKE!"
"GAH! Twilight!" Spike rubbed the ear-fin-thing that the studious purple pony had yelled into. "You could be a bit nicer to somepony trying to save your life!"
Twilight stared at her assistant in confusion.
"Wha?"
Returning to his scanning, Spike let his gaze linger on a particularly dark corner of the room.
"Time Turner's journal said he was a time traveler, and that he sent the book back in time to warn us. It even quoted what you were going to say before you said it!"
Twilight continued to stare at her assistant. Fortunately, her stare was no longer one of confusion. Sadly, it was now the stare that somepony would give when confronted with a crazy pony--one that she had been on the receiving end of more than a few times during her tenure in Ponyville.
"Spike, I told you that book was fictitious, right?"
"But Twilight, it matched what you were going to say word for word!"
Twilight sighed, but Spike continued with his rant.
"The book said that they can't move when you're staring at them--whatever they are--and that they'll kill us if they can!"
"Spike," Twilight said with a facehoof, "which comic book did you read this time?"
"Twi, I'm being serious here!"
"Spike, there's nothing down here."
"But Twi--"
"Spike!" The mare stomped her hoof, her voice tinged with exasperation. "There. Is. Nothing. Down. Here!"
There was silence for a few moments, before Spike sighed.
"Okay..."
The mare nodded, and moved to escort her charge back to the stairs.
"Come on. I'll get you a--"
Twilight found herself staring at one of the cardboard cutouts. Somehow, it had moved to right in front of the stairs. She glanced back over at where the rest of the cutouts were, and saw all of them now missing.
Spike was quick to mirror his caretaker’s observations.
“Twi…”
Looking back to the stairs, the duo saw that the cardboard cutout had moved, and had been joined by another. Both were looking at the pony-dragon pair with Xeno’s normally cheerful smile, seemingly euphoric in their ability to move.
“S-Spike?” The mare licked her inexplicably dry lips. “What did that book say about ‘Them’, again?”
Quickly looking behind her, Twilight spotted a cutout not two feet away from her. Its placement only served to add emphasis to Spike’s response.
“I-it said they can’t move if we’re looking at them.”
The studious mare noticed that the cutout was pointing at the only light source in the basement. Of course, looking at the lightsource meant she wasn’t looking at the cutout, and the small instance it took her to look at the light was enough time for another to join the first. Oddly, this new one seemed to have one of its hands placed over its mouth, as though in laughter. It only took Twilight a second to figure out what the first was implying.
“Did the book say anything else about how to stop them?”
The light flickered, and Spike looked up at the light-gem. He quickly looked back down at the stairs, and saw the cutouts had advanced towards him. He tried to fight the dryness in his mouth by swallowing, and responded.
“It stopped before it got to that part.”
The light flickered twice more. Both members of the party avoided looking at it, but the darkness still allowed the cutouts to get closer. To both, it seemed only a matter of time before the cutouts succeeded in their diabolical task...
Faced with unwinnable odds, Twilight used the tried and true plan that had never failed her…
Running away!
“Spike, hold on to my leg.”
Feeling the dragon grab her appendage, she quickly gathered magic into her horn, and teleported both her and her charge outside of the library. Seconds later, the strongest force field known to ponydom was erected around the library as the young dragon was sent to retrieve a certain amber colored stallion.
Of course, as the dragon left, he made sure to yell over his shoulder.
“Nopony ever listens to the Dragon!”
“...Yup, she put a forcefield around the library.”
“Good!” Yelled the progenitor as his clone returned from checking a window. “Maybe now I can actually get some work done!”
As the majority of the clones returned to organizing the basement, the returning clone looked over Xeno’s shoulder.
“The history of the Bluebloods? Boss, isn’t that a little out of left field, even for you?”
The villain in white simply chuckled.
“Just wait and see, my dear clone...”
He smiled down at the page showing the Blueblood’s family tree.
“Just wait and see…”
“...And that’s why Time Turner isn’t allowed to write fanfics anymore!”
The twins looked up from the strange toy that the stallion in question had given them. The blue box was filled with so much clockwork, that the cakes had commented multiple times that it had to be bigger on the inside to fit it all.
Pinkie took note of them quickly returning their attentions to the box, and sighed.
“Maybe I should have tried the story about the wizard monkey with a lightning shaped scar…”