> Loosened Screw
>  by RealityWarper
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This freaking blows." I was just fired from my job, along with my good friend Drew. It really sucks because it was an extremely well paying job, 32k every month that passed. Of course most of that was going to go on the bills, the house, and my gaming systems.

Here I was, walking down the street after getting fired from work when I hear a honk. I turn to my left, and suddenly...

Darkness.


***



"Oh Celestia, what did you do!? What are we going to do?" I could hear someone hyperventilating, their heavy breaths were pretty hard to make out through the sound of rain and thunder though. "We're going to go to jail, the moon, or Tartatus! No, ALL THREE! Why'd you have to hit her? She's just a little girl! What the buck were you thinking? Oh goddess we killed a bucking child! Oh goddess I'm going to be sick..." I heard the sound of the woman throwing up her lunch all over the wet ground. Gross.

"Calm down! Look, we'll take the body to the hospital! What else could I have done!? You saw her! She came out of nowhere! I couldn't see during this storm!" His words didn't sound as sure as he did, he sounded like he was going to have a nervous break down at any moment. I could practically see the guy committing suicide out of guilt. I know I would. That sick fuck just killed a small girl, accident or not. As soon as I can move my limbs, I'm going directly to the police to report this guy! I felt a seething rage from the sheer thought.

"You don't know that!  You couldn't see- IN THE RAIN! Oh dear Celestia, what are we going to do...Oh goddess, oh goddess, oh goddess..." I heard a splash, followed by deep sobbing from the woman. Clearly she was crying in a puddle. She was chanting that mantra at this point, I could hear her moving back and forth in the puddle.

"...I don't know." The guy was simply at a lost. I have to say, since his immediate thought wasn't 'we have to bury the body' he clearly wasn't as bad as I previously thought he was. He was sitting there, in the rain with his wife probably staring at the little girl they just ran over. "M-Maybe she's still alive?"

"FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE, DID YOU SEE HOW HARD HER HEAD HIT THE GROUND? AT THE SPEED YOU WERE GOING? WHY WERE YOU EVEN SPEEDING IN THE RAIN YOU JACKASS?" The guy was at a loss of words, it seemed. Damn right he should be, what the fuck was this idiot thinking speeding in the rain. I do have to wonder why the girl was out by herself in the middle of the road, but that's irrelevant now.

"But... There's no blood... She doesn't look injured..." It seemed that was his only defense. I could practically feel the burning glare that the woman was giving him in return for his dumbassery. Though it was a pretty good question, if she hit her head like he said she'd be bleeding. Maybe she managed to dodge and just knocked herself out on the pavement? It'd be a miracle, but possible given the circumstances. "Look, we'll take her to the hospital to see if we can maybe save her..." It wasn't spoken, but I could practically hear the 'She's already dead though' an the end of it. I hear steps coming toward me, and then...

I got lifted? Wait, what the hell? Now, I'm a grown ass man- two hundred pounds, 6'3. How the hell did this guy just lift me, and why did I feel no hands to do it? Wait these assholes just hit me? How on earth do I look ANYTHING like a little girl? Some weird ass shit going on right now. Everything is not as it seems.

"She... looks fine."  The male spoke again, only to get snapped at by his girl.

"Shut the buck up, Honey Mustard! Stop trying to put it off! Put her in the carriage! We're not magically powering it again! We're doing it manually before you hit ANOTHER little girl!" 

"I didn't mean to..." He defended pitifully, but put me in the carriage as I felt utterly dripping with with rain water but was against something warm. I'm not a little girl to begin with, what are they talking about? "And we can't navigate in the rain to begin with. That's why we were using the magic to navigate..." Wait, carriage? Magic? What the fuck is going on? Did I just get hit by two psychos? Oh shit, they might not even take me to the hospital! I've got to get out of here?

"Nnnnghhh..." I could vaguely move my limbs, I didn't even mean to make that sound that sounded oddly cute. Almost like...

A little gi- BLARGH. Nopenopenope. Innocent until proven guilty.

"...D-Did... Did she just make a sound?" The whisper was spoken with great hesitation, as if they'd tempted fate. I decided try to take to their delusions, if they thought I was a little girl then maybe they'd take me to the hospital and be through with this whole ordeal. 

I'd still report them for being nuts though.

"H-Help me... P-Please..." My words were oddly high pitched, just like they were earlier. Instantly, I felt like a complete dick and I felt my heart break in two when I heard that voice. Hearing a child like that, was too much for me to take. No child should ever have to plead for help. The woman apparently agreed because she began sniffling, if I died she'd be scarred so terribly she'd be going to the asylum. It was becoming hard for me to not believe what was going on. I'm not an idiot. When I'm asleep, I know when I'm dreaming. This is not a dream. If you can't tell when you're awake, you're not very smart. Or you're in denial. I'm neither dumb, not in denial. So I'm clearly awake. I feel smaller. What the hell happened in the time I got hit with a truck? Either way, these guys would be complete sick fucks if they didn't give help to a 'small girl'.

"Oh dear Celestia she's alive, SPEED THE BUCK UP TO THE HOPSITAL!" The guy didn't need any prompting to begin with, he immediately began to foot on it— the whole carriage suddenly accelerated, with the woman right next to me and stroking my... hair? The whole cart was rocking and I felt sorta sick just from being in the damnable thing. "Shhh, shhh it'll be alright sweetie we're going to get you to a hospital, and you're going to be perfectly fine, okay? How much pain are you in?" I heard her motherly nature just seeping through her words sweetly, she sounded greatly concerned. Oddly enough, I can't feel a thing. I can't even move my body.

"I- I can't move... I can't feel anything...I'm cold though..."  I respond. I paused, wondering exactly what was going on. Nothing was making sense, and there's  no real logical explanation. The only thing I could think of was I died and I'm in another life or something similar. It's odd because I remember seeing that car hit me. That's the only way my voice could be like this, it's otherwise impossible. I snap out my internal musings as I hear the woman call out to her man.

"Honey Mustard, turn the heat all the way up. I'll get a blanket." I heard her turn to my direction, she leaned in and brushed my wet hair gently. "Open you eyes sweetie, don't go to sleep. Falling asleep is a bad thing right now, I need you to stay conscious. Okay? Stay awake for me, I need you to do that. I'll be gone for just a moment..." She then shuffled over somewhere else, apparently getting that blanket. I took that moment to open my eyes, which were blurry and not very easy to see from as I squinted to get the squiggly lines to go away. Eventually, they did. I sat there and stared at the carriage ceiling. It's very dark, as it IS raining outside. It was cloudy, very depressing. But now also very warm with the blanket covering me, as she put it on me while I had been pondering. "There you go de-"

In a single moment, my perspective of the world was shifted. I locked on to two amber colored eyes that belonged to a freaking pony. Time slowed down as we both stared at each other at that moment, her eyes seemed to contain awe, and some slight fear. Mines?

My eyes were full of terror. And overwhelming amount of fear, for some strange reason I couldn't get a grip of my emotions.

She seemed to see this though, as I had prepared to inhale as deep as I could. She seemed to see the impending scream that was ready to come. She immediately jumped into action. 

"Nonononono, shhh shhh. Please! Please don't cry! Please!" She begged me, her own eyes widening with fear of me apparently crying. I was ready to scream, but that still works. 

...Okay, so I might have been prepared to cry a little too. These emotions were intense.

I wanted to flip out, but I knew now wasn't the time. I metaphorically stuffed my mouth after she had pleaded with me not to scream. I was in their mercy, so my freak out could wait. She let out a sigh of relief but that didn't stop me from being terrified out of my wits. She bit her lip, looking for anything to distract me.

"...Honey, what's the nearest hospital and how far is it?" The woman- No, mare asked. Her unusually expressive face was marred by a frown, she was taking small looks between myself and her husband. Her husband slash boyfriend was just trying to speed as fast as he could while watching out for things in the rain with full attention now.

"Look, Ponyville's hosptial is the closest." He stressed, sounding... stressed. "We can't go to Canterlot, that's a train ride away." He began tapping impatiently on the wheel with his other hoof. "'We've got about three minutes until we arrive at this pace. I'll make sure to slow down on the road when we're almost there." The Mare bit her lip once more, and turned to me.

"How are you feeling now?" She once again gave my hair, a small brush with her hoof. She gives me an encouraging smile, full of hope.

"I can't... I can't feel my legs..." The mare winced, and I could feel the stallion wince too. 

"It'll be alright, the Doctors will heal you..." She then perks up, like she remembered something. "Erm, have your eyes... Always looked like that?" Like what? I've never even seen this body, so I have no idea. I'll just assume yes, but I can't tell them I'm an alien or a ghost haunting the body of a kid they hit. Technically, they still killed a little girl I think. I'm just in this body now. Something tells me that's not the case though. 

"I can't... remember..." I whisper out, I can't help but speak lowly. You see, I have an issue to whenever I hear someone speak I stop speaking. Even when I have headphones on and I can hear myself talking at the same time through he microphone I pause to let whoever say what they're gonna say talk, and since I have a different voice the same applies. I'm talking low to try to get used to the voice, and also so I could talk. I honestly would probably never get used to it.

I don't know how it's possible, but I could just see her coat get lighter by a few shades when I said that. She looked like she was a few seconds away from having a heart attack.

"Oh crap, oh crap oh crap oh crap...." She muttered under her breath, not being able to meet my eyes anymore. Her eyes were filled with panic, and guilt. She looked back at me and gave me a strained smile. "Do you remember your name, maybe?" I shook my head silently. She looked even further dejected. "Oh buck... " She mutters once more. I yawn a little. How the hell can I think about sleeping at a time like this, I do not know. Sure enough, I felt tired. I was close to just closing my eyes and going to sleep. Which I was just about to do, until the pony lady shook me, startling me awake. "No sleeping sweetie! We're almost there, just try to stay awake a little bit longer!" She nervously glances at her boyfriend. "We're almost there, right?"

"I'm slowing down now because we're almost into the city, I'm going to park it here and then we need to teleport to the hospital." The guy explained, slowly pulling the carriage to a stop and unbuckling his seat belt.

"We can't teleport in her condition! She could get hurt!" The guy face hoofed for not thinking about that, which was quite painful if the wince he did was anything to go by. "Do you know where exactly the hospital is?" She asked anxiously, to which the stallion had to pause to think about. A pause too long because I was beginning to dose off, even if I was about to head into the cold wet rain. "Hurry up, damn it!"

Suddenly two large shadows came over us, they landed outside the carriage with an audible thump. One began beating on the door with vigor. With a flash of lightning I could see that it was a rainbow maned cyan blue pony, along with a pink maned butter colored pony- The former looked annoyed, and the latter looked worried.

"WHAT. IN THE HAY. ARE YOU PONIES DOING IN ONE OF THE BIGGEST STORMS WE'VE HAD IN MONTHS? AND WHAT'S THAT YOU'RE RIDING? A MAGICAL CART? YOU KNOW WHAT? DOESN'T MATTER. YOU PONIES GOTTA GET INSIDE, IT'S DANGEROUS OUT HERE!" I heard her completely managing to yell over the storm with that scratchy voice of hers, it was kind of funny. And not.

"WE DON'T HAVE A CHOICE!" The Mare from the carriage got out, with me on her back. She yelled over the storm with her own set of impressive lungs. "THIS FOAL WAS HIT BY OUR CART! SHE'S GOING TO DIE WITHOUT HELP!"

"YOU WHAT!?" Surprisingly, that was the worried looking butter Pegasus who looked pale as a ghost with their words, but just equally enraged as she was horrified. "T-This is..." I saw recognition in her eyes, which is impossible because I've never seen her before. She instantly shuffled forward, taking me by the scruff of my neck- which doesn't hurt surprisingly- And freaking took off the ground! You heard that right, she took off at speeds in the air that I didn't even know something with flesh could go! She made sure her grip was tight, and sure enough I was being rushed to the hospital. Everything was a blur.

Suddenly, we'd arrived outside of the large building with a cross on it I'd assume was a hospital. The door was kicked, but it wouldn't seem to open for the butter pony. It was apparently electronically activated, as proven by it opening by itself with a bunch of ponies scrambling to the scene.

"HELP! We need help! This foal needs immediate attention!" She frantically began looking for the people who would help me, and within a few seconds I was on a stretcher and being pulled off to God knows where. 

"Open up the Emergency Room! We need a quick diagnosis for everything, she looks fine but anything could be wrong! Have a medic prepare an X-ray, some-pony get the morphine!" The Mare in charge looked at me in my eyes, and looked startled. "I can't tell her state by her pupils, they seem to have some... magical effect... Is this some sort of magical mishap!?" I really hate when people pretend like I'm not here, if you weren't saving my life I'd deck you in the snotch. 

"We don't really know ma'am... I can't see anything immediately wrong beside that." One of the stallions wearing a operation mask muttered, he had a horn and it was glowing blue. Strangely, like the color of his eyes. This place was filled with all sorts of freaks. Not we got Rudolph over here, eye and horn edition.

Soon, we arrived in a room full of equipment and I was laid on an operation table. A Pony flipped on a machine, which then began to scan my small body. After about a minute of frantic waiting, the results apparently came back. Most were just hoping this was an elaborate prank. Sadly, it was not to be when the Doctor's eyes bulged out almost comically. 

"Every single bone in her body is broken! Ruptured organs, punctured lungs... Even her spine is snapped... What the hell could have hit her so hard!?  GET A MEDIC OVER HERE!" He called out, to the person who was going to impossibly heal me from my soon to be paraplegic status. I could no longer stay awake, confident I'm in somewhat decent hands I decide to fall asleep.

Hopefully I don't pass in my slumber.


***


I began opening my eyes after what felt like forever, and boy did I feel off. After clearing my eyes, they were rewarded with a bright blast of light that I could honestly say I now knew what it was like to be solar flared. I clenched my eyes shut, then blink them open, clearing the spots in my vision while gazing to my left. I sleepingly begin gazing to my right.

I freeze.

That wasn't a dream?

Instead of a being in a hospital, I was surprised to find the same butter pastel pony with a pink mane from before. She was dozing off, just sitting in the chair beside me. I've never had anyone come visit me in the hospital before, so it was kind of nice that she was here. It also meant that this wasn't a dream. This was real, and now I was living this. I decided not to disturb the soon to be sleeping pony, and gazed out the bright window with the sun shining. Looking outside, there wasn't even a dampness on the window from the rain.

How long had I been out?

Beep!

I looked over, finally in my attention was the life support I was on. Wow, I must be in bad condition. Or was. I have a heart rate monitor announcing my existence to everyone. I sat there for awhile, just taking in everything around me. It was so colorful. I swear I've seen this all before, but I'm not sure where. I sat there for awhile, for the fear of waking up Butter next to me. Yes, her name is now butter. I don't have a better name, so she'll have to deal with it. Just sitting there, I began looking at all the tiles on the ceiling. Waiting for Butter to awaken, I began counting all of them.


***


Fifty tiles in, I'm now tired of sitting around, counting the tiles on the walls I try to sit up, which I do manage in this strange body. It felt strange, and I was slightly uncomfortable with how it stretched my spine slightly. With a grimace, I look down to note that I don't have any hands as I hold up my newly dubbed nubs. Glancing up, I was startled to notice how long my hair had gotten. My new purple and white hair covers the front of my vision, which would let me hide behind it easily enough. I was never good with eye contact. Would come handy. Realizing she wasn't going to wake up- and that I didn't want to stick around for when she would wake up- I pull myself off the bed, my body was aching with protest from long periods of rest. I have the worse cramp at the moment. I slide completely off the bed, my new hooves clicking on the ground marginally but not enough to actually awaken Butter.

Groggily, I gaze around the room- before deciding that I was tired of hearing the heart monitor. Instead of taking them off of my chest first, I walk over to the wall, and attempt unplug the cord in the wall that would make noise if anything went wrong.

...

I failed immediately, because I didn't grab anything with my nubs. Nothing happened. I stared at my hands. No, my hooves. I couldn't grab anything, but I sure as hell wasn't gonna grab it with my mouth. I'd like to not be turned into horse barbecue. I use the sides my hooves, pressing the two of them together on top of the cable and pull out the cord. 

This proved to be a great idea, because it was completely off now. Success! Though, that's an odd first step.

Usually it's "Turn the power on!", this time is was turning the power off. Irony, I never seem to lack any when I don't need it. 

Next, I took off the respirator, which was extremely complicated when you don't have hands.

You never know what you have, until it's gone.

Last, the heart monitor plugs that were attached to me went as well. Good riddance, thanks for saving me technology, but I don't need your help anymore! Speaking of which, I silently salute to the Butter Colored Pegasus. Your watching was appreciated, but now it was time for me to branch out on my own. It seemed lady luck was on my side, as the door was already cracked open. I peer out said crack to see if  the coast was clear. It was a long corridor with quite a few doors, one of which was already open widely. I could see a few brows and other cleaning supplies poking out of there so it looked like the custodian must have been in there recently. The only being there was a nurse sitting at the main desk, with an exit sign on the wall pointing adjacent to the way she was facing.

So yup, not a soul in the hall besides a single nurse.

...Who happened to be blocking my way to the exit as she was sitting at the help desk. 

"Damn it." I swear my breath, but began looking for any other way out. Why was I trying to leave you ask? Well, I had no idea about this place. I needed information before I started trusting everyone here. The only way was to gather that information, was to go out and leave. You know, study. But how was I going to get out of this room without alerting the nurse, who would call for back up? My eye's led over to a lone vase in the room sitting across from me. I instantly began looking around for something to lug at the vase, which was found in the form of a bar of soap sitting on the counter. Unfortunately, I realized two things; 

A: It was way too high for me to reach. 

B: Even if I managed to get the damn soap I couldn't throw it because I don't know how with this body, I can barely walk.

C: Even if I did manage to throw it, after climbing to impossible heights and getting down without alerting Butter, the soap I threw that would hit the vase sure as hell would. Which would immediately cause a panic, and even if I hid she'd alert everyone and the element of surprise is gone- I'd surely be caught because they know the place, and I don't. The nurse wouldn't even come down in enough time before Butter did. That plan was botched before it was even fully made. This is just not my day. 

I realize something, as long as I can get across without getting seen I can see what's in the other room to help my escape. I immediately set to the task, silently peeking out the crack of the door to make sure the coast was clear. I take another glance at Butter to make sure she's asleep, I can't believe I forgot to look at her. Luckily, she was out like a light. I need to be more careful in the future, what if she was awake and looking at me? I shrugged off the feeling internally, and check the door once more- praying no one was outside of it. Luckily for me, there wasn't and the nurse at the counter was reading through what I could only assume to be a catalog of some sort. I quickly dived across the waxed floor and slid on my belly across the hall, even managing to spin in 360 degree angle while doing such. On my stomach, mind you. It reminded me of a doll being tossed against the floor while their limbs were spread out in all directions, managing to spin only because of the force applied along with the recently mopped and waxed floor.  It caused a slight squeaking sound as I slid across, but nothing too major.

Plus, that was kind of fun. 

I'd say I hope I'd do it again, but I honestly don't plan on ever being sent back to a hospital anytime soon. I could always just super wax the floor to my own house once I got there, and then slide to my heart's content. For now though, I have to focus up. Now in the room where I had slid into, I manage to struggle to my hooves, though I couldn't see anything really with the exception of a few tools and a table far off into the room. Doesn't look like a patient's room if you ask me. 

The room was dark, with the only light being a dim light bulb that was flickering in it. It was a decently sized square of a room, with the shelves being covered with an assortment of tools. There was a mop scattered here and there, as well as a put out lantern on the table. A few batteries strewn about the messy room. Nope, no patient room I've ever seen. The cold, dark room has a lack of ponies on the inside, once again I had lady luck smiling at me. I immediately began my search for anything to help me get out of this place. Actually, I thought this room was like another hospital room. Nope, it's a large Janitor closet. 

Neat. 

I began scouring the room, seeing a lot of useful tools of escape if I could just use my freaking hands. Until then I'll just have to use my mouth. 

Blegh.

As I looked at the floor, I found the item satchel! It didn't have anything in it, just seemed to be laying on the floor. I pick up by my teeth and swing it up and around my neck.  I found something else on the floor, it was a list of current patients in the building. Actually, there only seemed to be me and one other. She luckily, wasn't on life support like I was.

I notice a blue layout sheet on the table, which made me grin. I knew exactly what that was, a blueprint! Sure enough, after climbing the chair— with a bit of effort —I began glancing up and down the sheet and noted the layout in my head. Beside it was a single key. I could only wonder what it went to.

There were five floors, actually there seemed to be a discontinued floor underneath that was marked as sealed off for some strange reason. I don't know why, but it's down there. The bottom floor is actually where the electric room is. According to the notes, there should be a camera room, as well as a power room. Honestly, I probably wouldn't need any of this crap, I just needed to get out. 

Or so I thought, before glancing down in some of the notes. Apparently this building was operated off of power, the doors were electronically shut. That means the power had to go off, for me to get out. But it seemed the hospital door also used a regular key to get out as well. Since there's a camera room, I probably don't have that much time before they figure I'm gone. I have to act quick. I took a quick glance around, no cameras. 

"She's gone! Everyone search the building!" I heard who I assumed to be one of the patrolling guards, crap. I was right! "Alert all staff! One of the patients have escaped!"  I quickly run over to the door, shut it and then lock it silently with a button pressing lock. Thank god I don't need a key. I need another way out of here, there had to be some way!

Glancing under the desk where the blueprint was, I can see an air vent that was old and rusted! Success! I could easily kick it in, or pry it off with the tools in here! I was small enough to fit comfortably in it too!  I went about the room, putting different tools that could help me just in  case I needed it, into my new satchel.

Knock knock knock.

Huh? 

"Um, please open up, Screwball." I hear the soft voice of someone awfully timid. Who the heck is Screwball? "I know you're afraid, but we're not going to hurt you..." Like I was going to fall for that! There's no way she'd know I was in here!

"The um, cameras showed you going in there." —Crap.

—Unless they used the cameras... Right. I quickly pried off the rest of the old vent with my hooves and threw it aside. I then crawled my way into the vent. I then fixed it back into place as much as possible to make it look like it had never been taken off.

"She's in there, right?"


***


As I crawled through the vent, I I looked down and noticed a lavender pony with a horn and wings on her prancing through the hallways metaphorically. Follow by her were other ponies, including Butter.

"So, can anyone explain to me exactly why we had to break down the door, and why Screwball isn't here?" Purple was the one who spoke, prompting the others to speak. Apparently my name is Screwball.

"Turns out Twilight, that the Janitor left the keys in the room. Wasn't locked before, so it really wasn't an issue. Well, until today that is." The Rainbow maned pony spoke, saying the last part more as an after note than anything else.  "I have no idea where the kid could have gone, there's no way to leave the room I don't think. I didn't think she was actually coherent enough to even do anything beside making sounds."

"How could he be so irresponsible!? Those are a pair of master keys used to access all around the building! If Screwball has them she could be anywhere!" 

A pink pony bounced over somehow defying gravity's laws, which was disorienting in itself. "Relax Twilight! There's no way that she'd know that they're master keys, right? So we should be fine! She has to be somewhere still in the building!" Everyone paused to look surprised at the Pink One's logic.  

"You're right, Pinkie Pie. She has to still be here somewhere! Let's split up and see if we can find her quicker, she must be hiding somewhere!" Just then, they all split up- And I continued along my way in the vents, now fully aware of the master key in my bag.


***


The vents were quite spacious, leaving me plenty of room to climb through them. It was a bit chilly, with the air flowing through them and what not. All around me I can hear the muffled sounds of conversations, most of them aimed toward finding me. This only makes me speed up my pace, but I made sure to keep quiet. Too much sound would attract attention. I was rolling off of adrenaline, I could tell. Fear was coursing through my veins like the blood that that pumping through my body. Fear of being caught, fear of being rejected. Fear of finding out why I was here on someone else's terms.

Eventually, the sounds stop all together. The lights in the vent become more and more bleak as time went by. The vents were also dusty in this area. Glancing down from the vent into a nearby room, I could see I just passed a locked and bolted door from the air vent passage. Not too far up I can see an entrance I could use to get down. I could keep maybe using the vents, but as I reached here, I noticed just how tight the vents were getting. It was almost as if they were closing in. Deciding this would be my place to drop, I stop right before the vent.

I kick open the vent and fall down hard on my bottom with an audible thump. Wincing, I rub my sensitive tush and stand on my hooves. The room I was in now was quite barren. And creepy. There lights were flickering off and on. There were a few motivational pictures scattered about the white painted walls. I was only exploring it to figure out exactly where I am. Glancing at the sign, I now know where I am.

This is the abandoned section of the hospital riddled with age and not clean in the slightest. It's actually gross, and terrifying. It was silent, and there were no cameras in this area. There was only one door, and it was chained up. I trot over with the master key to the door, and stand on my back hooves. As I lean against the door, I try to review why I was doing something this utterly scary- Only to realize that I needed to get through here to the emergency power switch that was down there. I have no idea why it's barred off, but it is. There are two emergency switches to turn the power on or off, one is in the camera room, which I can't currently get to due to someone watching everything on the monitors they have. There's even cameras in the vent in that area so they'd know I was coming before I even got there and would get me. And the other is beyond this room, and in the abandoned basement. I'd need to get down there to turn off the power, so I could leave through the front door since it was electrically held shut. This in mind, I placed the key into the chain lock, and turned. It came off with ease, falling loudly on the ground which scared the hell out of me since I'm so jumpy. I opened the door, and immediately realized I was seriously in need of a light. Luckily, in the bag there was in fact a flash light I'd gotten from the Janitor's room. 

Entering the dark tunnel, I peered down the stair way. Holy hell, it went on for what seemed to be forever. I couldn't even see the bottom. Well, it was either that or wait around. Thinking logically though, I had to wonder.

What if this was all in my head?

What if what this represented was me going down a very dark metaphorical hole, which would drive me to complete insanity? But I have take the chance, it's either freedom, or no freedom. I have to turn off the power. Journeying into the center of the earth with my flashlight in mouth, I took on the challenge of braving the horrors of the world. 

The journey down was eerily quiet, the chill was setting into my bones making me shudder with both anxiety and coldness at the sudden temperature drop. As I advanced downward, the walls became less and less inviting, and more and more disturbing, seeming to form faces, and seemed to be dried with blood. I stopped for a moment, pondered turning back right now. But I shook it off, I was already this far in. Without a further word I continues my journey down.

It took me about two minutes before I reached the bottom. It was the most longest unnerving moment of my life. When I got down there, there were three doors. Two of which handle's were broken. One of which was completely chained, boarded, and blocked with dozens of heavy objects and a what looked to be some strange demonic— I say demonic because that's the only thing I can think of— array complete with ugly looked words in another language. The ceiling was leaky, leaving the floor filled to the my ankle in height with water. It smelled musty in here, and coppery. I began to look around for the power switch I came here to find. I took a deep inhale to calm myself down, a horrible mistake as the scent filled my nose. I doubled forward, holding in my insides from being puked up by the foul stench. Blinking the tears of disgust away, I began searching around for my target so I could just get the hell out of here.

There was a single machine that was completely untouched by water. That's what I was looking for. It was the power box! I quickly flipped it off.

Click!

The startlingly loud noise that made me flinch, made me realize that this place was overly silent. It was downright oppressing, I could feel the coldness seeping into my fur and giving me further goosebumps. I sat there for some time, wondering if anything would change. It didn't seem like anything happened, but I knew it did. 

AHgahagAHAgHAGh

It was then from behind the Demon Door that I began to hear sickening screams of terror and pain- the lights began to flicker on and off.

On and off. On and off. On and off. On and off.

Finally, it subsided.

I immediately ran back up the stairs, not even bothering to look back at the obviously sealed off for a reason door. After two more minutes I made it back upstairs. Only it was completely dark in here too now. I knew my way, I didn't need to use the vents anymore because I was camouflaged by the darkness if I ran into someone and the cameras were too busy being turned off to see me. This let me go completely uncontested. 


***


There was a flickering of lights, and for a second Twilight could have sworn she saw something in the corner of the room with them. The light flickering suddenly stopped, the lights turned off, and suddenly Twilight didn't feel so safe anymore.

As soon as the power went out, Pinkie Pie— who happened to be bouncing— ran into an object. This caused much collateral damage, but luckily nothing important was broken, and Pinkie was relatively unharmed. "Ouchie!"

"Are you okay Pinkie Pie?" Twilight lit up her horn, allowing everyone to see in the dark as she casted a lamp spell.

"M'okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie picked herself up, and righted herself on the floor. "What happened to all the power?"

"I reckon' it's a power outage. Maybe from that there storm that's rollin' in?" Applejack moved a little closer, not quite liking the ominous dark of the hospital. Sure enough most of the light from outside was becoming dark from the weather team pulling in the cloud for some due rain. It had been a week or two without it. "That sometimes happens on 'ma farm too."

"No Applejack, the power comes from the power generator in the Control Room that we're currently standing in." She trotted up to the machine, flicking the power switch back on and off. Nothing happened. "It's magically guarded so such an event couldn't happen. Could you imagine the devastation it could cause if dozens of ponies were on life support? Dozens could..." She didn't say it, but it was implied by the grim look that every pony in the room shared. "The only way for the power to turn off, is right here. And it's magically powered so it doesn't run out of energy. That literally makes this phenomenon impossible. Yet, here it is. Happening. I don't like it, but it's happening anyway."

Rarity pursed her lips, looking through the darkness with some apprehension. "This is, the only way? Are you sure, darling?" Twilight only had a few seconds to think over it before nodding. 

"It's the only one I'm aware of. We should ask the Janitor if there's some way to turn off the power without it being in this room. If there was another, it could possibly override the power command if it was say... An older model." Twilight frowned, guiding them out the room with her light.

If they would have looked back they would have saw a small figure dart into the room they'd only just came from.

And the shadow that Twilight had seen.


***


Sweepy was playing Flappy Ducks, almost at his new high score.

"He ha'! M'gonna win this time! So close!" His tongue came out the side of his mouth in concentration. Suddenly, the door burst open in fractiousness— In Sweepy's opinion— manner. 

"Sweepy! Do you—" Twilight paused, seeing the janitor was supposed to be working, was instead playing a video game. Sweepy scrambled to hide the device behind him and giving Twilight a sheepish grin.

"Ahem, what can I help you with Ms. Sparkle?" The effect was dampened by the fact music was still blaring very high. Sweepy gradually shifted the volume to zero.

"...Right. Sweepy, is there another way to turn the power off besides the generator upstairs?" Twilight sometimes wished she was still human, if only so she could fold her arms. That was a gesture she missed doing, and didn't need to fly to do it.

"Another way to turn off the power you say?"  Sweepy ran his hoof across his whitened mustache. "Why I say, I say I say! There ain't no possible way." Twilight stomped a hoof in annoyance.

"There has to be! It's the only logical explanation for it being turned off!" Twilight gained a look of annoyance on her face, it seemed this dark place had her on edge.

"Easy! Well Ms. Sparkle. Let's say it did exist. Why would any pony want to turn the power off in the first place? Kinda useless, don'tcha 'dink?" That made Twilight pause, it took Sweepy to get that point across, but it was still there. Why would anypony turn off the power? It was completely useless. 

"I'm not quite sure..."

"Well Ms. Sparkle, I think there is one other place in the hospital to turn off the power, but it was discontinued years ago after a series of unexplained... accidents. 'fraid I don't really know where it is, because only the blue prints have where it could be." Sweepy tilted his Janitor's hat over his head. Twilight felt a pit of dread and sorrow for the ponies who died. They were gone, and they were never coming back to life. All the fun times, all the times you hugged them, all gone.

"Well, what happened to the blue prints?" Sweepy shrugged just a little. 

"Well, they were here. But like the key, a bunch of my tools, a list of patients, and my flash light they're gone. My only guess is that the little tyke took them, for some reason. 'Dunno why." Sweepy tapped his chin with his hoof, a look of wonder plastered on his face. "When you find 'er, can you bring 'em back?"

"Sure thing Sweepy," Twilight turned flank, trotting away from Sweepy and preparing shutting the door behind her using he magic. "I'll be sure to do that." She then shut the door. Sweepy was left alone, but that was alright. He had a lamp he turned on.

"Finally! She's gone! Back to muh' important work!" Sweepy pulled out a hand held gaming device and began playing loudly. 

"We can still hear you, y'know!" Came the scratchy voice of Rainbow Dash.

Sweepy didn't care.


***


"Can you believe the audacity of that Stallion? How unrefined!" Rarity gave a huff of annoyance, while Twilight and Rainbow Dash rolled their eyes since they were used to the antics of Sweepy.

"Well, he is a Janitor, Rarity. Not much finesse comes from that." Twilight shook her head, but her didn't say much else. Rarity had half a mind to continue on to a rant about how unsanitary his office likely was when Twilight interrupted that whole thought process. "So, we need to find out where there's another power switch, and who turned it off." Pinkie, was actually for once walking in the creepy corridors of the hospital, keeping a wary eye out for anything that may jump out from the shadows.

"Why do you say that Twilight? Why would anyone turn off the power?" Twilight could feel the other's eyes burning into the back of her head with question.

"Well Pinkie Pie, I've come to the conclusion that Screwball did it." Fluttershy was the first to speak up, surprisingly.

"Umm..." Even if it was a low noise of hesitation, Twilight could hear it clearly. Another indication that this hospital was eerily quiet. Twilight would never look at the hospital the same way again. Fluttershy seemed to be thinking along the same lines, with how her eyes were darting all around her. Twilight had no doubt Fluttershy would either faint, or bolt off if something caused trouble. "Why do you think she would? I know Screwball, and she's... Not exactly, the... sharpest." She squeaked out. "The custody battle between myself and Filthy Rich is still going on, and she hasn't been able to form any coherent words and was sent to the insanity ward..." Twilight knowing Fluttershy had said her amount, decided to explain herself.

"Sweepy mentioned that the only pony in the Janitor's closet was Screwball. He said that she grabbed several tools out the room, including a pair of keys, and a blueprint. She must have gone through the vents, and ended up where ever she managed to turn the power off. But why would she want the power off, and why would she take the vents?" 

Twilight and the others were left baffled by the question, and couldn't come up with an answer for at least a minute of traveling right before they got on the stairs to the upstairs. Suddenly, Twilight was struck with a thesis. 

"She's got the blue prints! She knew all about the cameras! She knew she'd get caught in no time if she went by hoof, and went where the cameras could see her! But why would she use the abandoned part of the hospital's power generator instead of the one in the camera room? Did she know we were there? No, wait in the camera room there's always some pony there. Plus there are cameras in that area of the vents! But how did she—" Twilight face-hoofed. "Of course! The blueprints! She saw where the camera outlays would be! She also knew there were no patients on life support because of the patient list! So that's why she used that area to turn off the power! But there's no way she would know about any of that! She's a walking vegetable..." Fluttershy frowned at the comparison, to which Twilight felt ashamed for her outburst. "Sorry, Fluttershy..."

"Hate to burst your bubble Twilight, but why would she turn off the power in the first place? To cause a panic? Plus, like you just said she'd need to be smart enough. And last we saw her, she was laughing not like she's crazy, but because she is. With whatever Discord did to her."  Rainbow Dash interjected. Twilight briefly fell silent, having no idea how to answer that. But something in Fluttershy's mind clicked.

"Um, Twilight?" Twilight turned her attention toward the butter colored Pegasus.  "Aren't the doors to get outside here electronically sealed shut? When I brought her here to the hospital, the doors wouldn't open until Nurse Redheart did from the inside..." Twilight's gears in her head instantly spun and landed at a conclusion.

"...She's a little genius. She's nowhere even close to a low intelligence level that we thought!" Twilight gasped out, finally putting all the pieces together in the puzzle. "She found the Janitor's room, got the tools she needed, learned all about the lay out of the hospital, learned where the cameras were and figured out that the doors were electronically shut! She must have overheard us talking in the vents about the key she has being the master key! Then she knew about ponies looking for her in the camera room and went to the one place where no camera would find her! The abandoned wing of the hospital! By turning off the power..."

"She'd be able to get out the front door." Rainbow finished for her, looking quite impressed— infact, everypony in the every was impressed by the genius of the filly. The fact that she came up with it on her own, and no less in the time she woke up, it spoke highly of her intelligence. "But Twi', that door is still locked unless it's electronically opened! Even the master key doesn't go to that door, it needs a completely separate key! But that key is in the Camera Room!" Twilight paused, thinking about the brief figure she saw in there.

"Something tells me she's not in there anymore. We'd be better off waiting at the front door! Come on girls!" Sure enough, she turned away from the stairs they had been about to climb to rush to the front door to wait for the filly to get there.

Unfortunately, when they arrived that found a single key in front of the glass door it went to.


***


By the time they'd figure out I was gone, I would already be in town running for the hills. It was raining, but that's fine. I just knew I needed to get away, away to where I could think. In this unfamiliar situation, I had been panicking, I hadn't once stopped to think about how they helped me survive. All I felt was panic, panic about these creatures and their distorted ways. This isn't a dream, but is this a coma? 

I'd stop, on the edge of town where a sign said "You are now leaving Ponyville.", looking down into a puddle of water. A pinkish purple filly with a white and purple mane, and two insanity filled crazy ominous swirls for eyes. Supposedly, a crazy looking tiny little girl.

Is this really me now?

Am I really in a coma? Or did I die?

I don't feel in control, and that makes me feel even worse. I don't even have my own identity to help me.

Why is this happening?
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy felt a mix of emotions. At first is was relief, relief that the child partially under her care was fine. Even if she couldn't speak well, was barely coherent and drooled all the time, she had been getting better over time. Discord wouldn't tell her, or Filthy Rich how exactly Screwball came into the world, but it was already known by the two of them that she looked exactly like Diamond Tiara, and Discord admitted that Screwball was Filthy Rich's flesh and blood. She was Filthy's second, albeit unexpected, daughter. But with Discord currently under locks due to his nature, Fluttershy felt responsible for the child- She was Discord's only piece of him left besides the statue inside of Celestia's garden. Discord was her friend, and she knew she had to take the child despite her mental afflictions. Unfortunately, Filthy Rich also felt the need to take the child, and Fluttershy could say that technically, it was his child. The problem for Filthy, lied with the fact she also showed signs of being Fluttershy's child as well. She was a few shades lighter than Diamond Tiara, and had many fur patches that showed the baby yellow color blending through. Diamond Tiara didn't like being seen in public with her sister, but when they were alone she was much softer and tried not to hurt her sister's feelings. 

Despite being a few lighter shades, the child services weren't sure if she was Fluttershy's spawn. A D.N.A spell confirmed, that she was indeed Fluttershy's child as well as Filthy's and his wife's despite not bearing the child who was made out of magic.

Magic from Discord, no less. Which is proven by the swirls for her eyes, and her goofy behavior. Filthy Rich and her had been going back and forth for awhile over the custody of one Screwball. While Filthy Rich's wife didn't look like she had much to say, she could see the slight hints of trepidation and disgust whenever she so much as glanced in Screwball's direction. 

Screwball had never been the smartest, nor the most sane. Most of the time, she was in her room. Which happened to be in an asylum,  due to the fact Screwball kept hurting herself and others around her without meaning to. The fact is, Fluttershy wasn't even sure if Screwball had a soul to begin with. Chaos magic wasn't well known, and Discord really just wanted an assistant that reminded him of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. She had been showing signs of slight improvement. Improvements that allowed her to briefly let the mentally unstable girl out the asylum to stay for a few weeks before she would go to Filthy where the custody battle would continue. She wasn't sure though, if that was a good or bad sign. 

The more time she spent in that hospital, the more... unstable she seemed to become when she came back. It bared looking in to, as it was honestly strange. Along with the history of accidents occurring within the building that took ponies's lives- It was quite strange to put a child in the same building as that. Not to mention, said child is a product of chaos and could cause something terrible to happen which her magic.

Said magic was very rarely used, but when it was Fluttershy liked to think of it as a secret power. Whenever somepony was in some sort of danger and Screwball was near enough to at least see it, impossible things would happen to save that pony. Whether it be them suddenly becoming intangible, teleporting, or even on one occasion- completely utterly unharmed by a building falling on them. Nopony knew it was Screwball's limited doing, but Fluttershy knew.

Screwball had been staying for a few days at Fluttershy's place, and she could honestly say Screwball was a sweet-heart. She was always willing to help, always kind, polite, and always avoided altercations with the animals and never even bothered them. Unfortunately, a few nights in Screwball broke out the house and escaped Ponyville since Fluttershy lived on the outskirts of town. She had gone missing for two days, she had been frantically looking for Screwball, dreadfully worried about her. On several occasions during the search she'd broken down and just cried her heart out for a few minutes before getting back up to look for her. She had been avidly avoiding Filthy up until that point. Finally, she had found the child. She had found her at the cost of her dying, that is. Nearly, anyway. Those reckless ponies had almost killed Screwball, and she wasn't letting them off with a warning. Regrettably, the two had escaped after hearing about the Filly's stable condition. 

Unfortunately, that brought her to today.

It was Filthy's turn to take Screwball, and she didn't have her again. She had cried herself to sleep that day when visiting Screwball. It had been a few weeks since she had been unconscious, and she just knew this would count as two strikes to her. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to keep Screwball now. 

The strange thing, was Screwball's sudden ingenuity. Where had it come from? Before, she had been struggling with elementary leveled math due to her magical condition as well as her mental one. Out of nowhere, she was capable of complicated plans that only a grown pony with escape experience should know. She had no idea what to expect. But regardless of what she excepted, it was Filthy Rich's turn, and she would have to tell him she had no idea where Screwball is. Anxiety was an understatement of what she was feeling. She was downright terrified. There would be no avoiding it, as a search team from both Ponyville and Canterlot had been sent out to investigate.

There were some really good perks that came with being one of the famous Elements of Harmony. 

But she could only get away with so much, she was not above the law. She would have to inform Filthy Rich of her irresponsibility, who would undoubtedly use that in the court case against her. She just couldn't lose Screwball, she refused to. She had to come up with something, just until they found the filly. And they would find her.

Knock knock knock

It's show time.


***


Filthy Rich and his Daughter stood in front the Element of Kindness, though in Diamond Tiara's opinion if she was really the Element of Kindness she'd just let her have her sister. They didn't get along very well often, but she was the only friend besides Silver Spoon. She was too embarrassed to be seen with her out in public, and it was never released that they were family. Expectantly, Spoiled Rich didn't approve of her being in the family, going so far as to call Screwball a "retard". Never had she seen Screwball so rejected in all the time she knew her. Her sorrow was palpable. Diamond hadn't had the courage to stand up for her sister, but she wish she did. She didn't even tell her Father about the incident, nor Fluttershy. She had a feeling that either Screwball couldn't convey her displeasure through words to her other caretaker due to her mental defection, or that Screwball was too ashamed to tell Fluttershy or Filthy Rich about that. And in that way, it made Diamond Tiara feel ten times worse because she was the only one who could tell about the incident and she didn't have the backbone to snitch about it. She wanted to apologize to Screwball, in hopes that it would make the both of them feel better. Regrettably, it would seem that had to wait.

"Um, there was... An accident." Fluttershy said hesitantly, and Filthy honestly could feel some dread creeping into the pit of his gut as Fluttershy avoided his gaze.  Filthy became all business, and threw all pleasantries aside. 

"'Accident'?" He sent a smoldering glare at Fluttershy, which caused her to wilt, flinch, and step back. She looked like she was a few seconds away from shutting the door in Filthy's face, but he quickly calmed down, reminding himself exactly who he was dealing with. He had to tread carefully, otherwise he'd have all the Elements breathing down his back. "Apologies, Ms. Shy. But, what... 'accident'?" Fluttershy, seeing Filthy's calmed state allowed herself to open the door a few more inches, but was still hunched over in hesitation.

"Somepony from out of town came in on a strange device, and Screwball was hit with it. Um... Hard." Fluttershy wilted again at Filthy's enraged look. But this time, she knew not all of it was aimed at her. Diamond Tiara looked sorta angry too, but she was much more worried about the grown much larger stallion that could bring serious harm to her, and her animals.

"What!? When!" Filthy demanded, giving an intimidating snort of anger causing Fluttershy to flinch once more. She stood her ground, however.

"Um... About two weeks ago?" Fluttershy squeaked out lamely, not really being able to lie to him in his face. After seeing his dismayed expression, she decided lying was not the best course of option and that she should tell the truth to avoid any further trouble. "She awoke from her coma," She briefly paused, seeing Filthy's eyes bulge out of his head in rage. She could practically see him about to yet 'COMA!?' but continued anyway. "And she made her escape from the hospital, no one knew she would awake." She didn't have to tell him she was there when Screwball escaped, and she sure wasn't going to. Less trouble for her. Now Filthy Rich looked between miffed, and confused. Diamond Tiara too, wore the same expression of puzzlement. 

"I think we're going to need to have a talk over what's happened in the past two weeks." Filthy said, seriously and dead calm. 

Fluttershy squeaked.


***


Ponyville was where I'd have to stay, I had been about to travel out the town to journey the world to see if I could find my way home. Or find someone to help me. Even, find out the how I'd gotten here. Immediately, I realized the errors in this plan:

A: Even if I were to get outside the town, found food and water the journey would be too tiring. I didn't know what was in this world to begin with, and I don't know the dangers. My body is much too weak and small as a very tiny little girl pony. I was slightly smaller than those trio of girls I saw, and around the same height as that small pony aptly named "Pipsqueak". Here in lied the problem, I'm just as small. I can't do any major travelling. At least not by hoof. I also would need a weapon, which I couldn't carry due to the fact I don't have hands.

B: I'd have to survive off the fat of the land, because I don't have any food. I wouldn't be able to do that, due to the fact I don't know what fruits and vegetables are edible here. I could be eating a highly explosive fruit, or and instant poison one without knowing it until I was a little corpse on the floor. Gross thought.

C: I have no idea where I'm going, and I'd be a wanted pony all of this land since I'm barely out of toddler years, if still not in it, and I'm running away from home with no clue what I'm doing. 

D: I don't want to run into a Pony Pedophile. 

Conclusion? Stay in this town, and hidden until I can find a suitable way to hold a weapon, save up enough edible food and water for the trip, maybe find a ride to hitch, and preferably stay with a non-pedophile adult pony who would understand my plight. I have no plans on telling anyone I'm an alien from another planet though, that's just the quickest way back to the asylum. 

Wait, back to the asylum? I'd never been in one to begin with! But there it was in my memories, me in an asylum. Well, pony me. Was I a mental patient escapee? It would explain how I'd gotten hit on the road. I wonder if they arrested those ponies who hit me, I feel bad for the mare. But not so much for the stallion. Speaking of arresting, those damn golden wearing prancing ponies were swarming the town up and down looking for me.

I-I think... I think I even saw one look under a rock...

I don't think I'm going to be able to hide for very long...

I had been gone for a few hours, and I was starting to get kind of hungry. Kind of, being an understatement. I was getting seriously hungry, and I needed some food stat. Hunting was out of the spectrum, I don't have any weapons, I'm too small, and I'll get tired too often. This body sucks! What the hell could it do that was useful? There had to be something. I had these creepy swirling eyes that when I looked in them for too long, seem to suck my soul out. Luckily, my soul was already in this body so nothing would be getting absorbed. 

That was another thing that terrifies me, something I always had took comfort in back at home. The idea of religion. I'm an agnostic atheist, I don't believe in God but I can't disprove of there being a higher power. I could get behind that, yeah. The idea that my soul, me, couldn't be messed with until I died was one of my true comforts in life. Nothing from horror videos games could happen, my soul couldn't be crushed or destroyed and I'd cease to exist.

That was no longer the case.

I'm here, in another body. Should these guys catch me, and find out I'm not who they think I am they can crush my soul, wipe me from existence in only which time travel could undo likely. I'd do whatever it takes to survive, so that I won't fade away. So getting off that topic before I commit suicide so that no one could grab my soul before I could go to the afterlife...

My original topic was "Can this body do something else?". That's a pretty good question, to which I can only say I don't know. The swirly eyes indicated, yes, I can. But I don't know how to do that. What could I even do? That's also, yet another thing. From what I've seen, there are four types of ponies.

Normal ponies, who appeared to be slightly stronger than the other ponies. And could last a lot longer too.

Pegasi, who were capable of moving freaking clouds, flying, and speed.

Unicorns, who seem to be second master race because I'm pretty sure I can fly if I sit in a chair and levitate it because they can do fucking magic! Not the shitty but cool magic you see on stages, actual magic! 

Then there were, uh... Unisus? Pegacorn? Though I'm willing to bet they have that Normal Pony strength too. But I'm not that either.

Unfortunately, I don't have a horn, nor do I have wings. This seems to put me in the 'Normal Ponies' category. Which would totally suck, but that's questionable because a single thing.

My eyes.

I'd been secretly watching a lot of the ponies from the town, and not one of them had my eyes. Plus there was what the Doctor said back before my magical operation. Obviously, they'd never seen eyes like mines so that must means I'm in a special pony category. I'm hoping that means I can do magic.  All I could do was theorize. But for now, I had the very real serious option of starving to death. I guess that means heading into town to see what I could scavenge. 


***


Sneaking through the town while it was full of guards, is not my best idea. But it was the only option, because I'm damn sure as hell am not going into the creepiest looking forest I'd ever seen. When a forest has faces, it's a sign you need to stay away. I'm sure as hell not going to challenge a tree with a face, fuck that shit. I'm more afraid of ghost at this moment than I am these guards after what I saw back in that hospital. Luckily, I had found some stands! Unluckily, somebody was at it. Actually, it was an apple stand and that same pony from earlier was at it! I don't think I actually got her name, for now though let's just call her Apple Butt.

Apple Butt was currently lounging on the stand, but she seemed to be searching for something or someone. She was making sure that no spot was un-swept, except the area I was at. Which was...

In a barrel of apples. 

Don't ask me how I got there, because I really do not know. I blinked, and suddenly I was here. That was positive right? That means I can teleport. That sort of counts. And I wasn't craving an apple anyway. I was craving flesh. I need meat! Fish! Anything! But I refuse to eat a bunch of apples and grass for the rest of my time here! Beggars can't be choosers though, but I just didn't feel right taking from this mare from some reason.

What is this? My daughter actually is having coherent thoughts now? It's a miracle!

What the hell? 

I look around, gazing frantically trying not moving a muscles besides my eyes to see what the hell just spoke. Apparently I failed, I hadn't been paying enough attention to what I was doing because I shook the barrel some and Apple Butt was looking directly at the barrel I was in with some suspicion. If I didn't know any better, I say she was looking at me. She rose up from her spot, slowly stalking toward the barrel. I held my hoof to my mouth in attempts to muffle my breath. If it wasn't so cold out from the light drizzle of rain that was matting my fur down, I'd say I'd be sweating. 

"Is' that you in there, Lil' Filly?..." For a moment, she didn't speak. I was hoping she'd just go away. She just stopped right before the barrel, and pressed her stomach against the ground in a placating manner. "Now, we don't want no trouble okay? Your family, they're worried about you. Y'know. We're all worried about 'ya." I said nothing, in hopes that she'd think that she didn't see a thing. Maybe she'd think she'd just imagined it. "As an Apple, I know what it's like to be worried about mah' family. We got strong bonds, after all." As an Apple? What are you, a fruit now?

"You're not a fruit." I snort. I then freeze as I realize what I'd done. Fuck! Why couldn't I control that urge!? I bet it has something to do with how I got in this damn apple barrel!

At first, Apple Butt looked dumbfounded at me talking, but then right after- Apple Butt gave a small smug smile, but also slightly sheepish. "Well, no. Ah'm not. It's just a family name, and I wouldn't change it for the world. Come on out 'lil filly... We jus' wanna help..." I'd already fucked up, time to go with the flow, just until I could escape again anyway. I crawled my way to the top of the barrel of apples, and pulled myself out. I slid down the side of the barrel, and felt a splash of wetness on the ground as my limbs were spread out in every different direction. I gave a grunt of discomfort. Or, at least that's what it was supposed to be. It came out as a whimper. Apple Butt quickly lifted herself up and wrapped a towel that she had on her back around me with her mouth. How did she do that? And was she prepared to find me?   Since I was already caught, I'd let her bring me to wherever they'd take me. I hope it wasn't the hospital. I'd just have to see how this played out, hopefully she wouldn't bring me to a Unicorn, who would immediately soul snatch me.


***


The cute little filly came crawling pitifully out the barrel of Apples. She'd have to wash them off, but that was fine. What was more important, was at the moment the tiny filly had been found and seemed to want to willingly cooperate with her. It seemed she only ran because she was scared. Applejack and been briefly startled by the fact Screwball had actually said something to her! 

She spoke! That was something she very rarely did, hearing Screwball talk was as rare as a fire ruby is. One times out of ten, even when you saw it you wouldn't believe it. The poor tiny girl was absolutely slathered with water and sopping wet, she was shivering and even Applejack could see she was soaked to the core and going to catch a cold very soon if she stayed out here. It broke the Farmer's heart to see such a tiny girl in a pitiful state of disrepair. She would need to work quick. After wrapping the towel around her in record time, she picked the filly up by the towel that was wrapped around her and walked over to her stand and flipped the sign to "Closed" while she went and did some work to help the filly. She wasn't sure how the filly got into the barrel, but she wasn't going to question her luck.  Bundle in mouth, she quickly ran to the nearest place she would get some help until Fluttershy, The Guard, or Filthy Rich could arrive. 


***



After a few moments they finally arrived at the Sugar Cube corner, to her immediate delight the sight of her four friends with the exception of Rarity, and Spike.  All of them were sitting around in a tense atmosphere, as Fluttershy looked quite down. Rainbow Dash on the other hand looked absolutely livid, which while it wasn't quite surprising was a little alarming. Twilight held a simple thoughtful frown, as she'd expect from her, while Pinkie was devoid of her usual smile, it was replaced with the same thoughtful from Twilight was baring. Now that was more than surprising, and alarming in itself. All four of them had turned over as soon as they saw her, she had the filly covered up head to toe with the exception of a small crack so she could see where they were going.

"Did 'Ah arrive at a bad time?" She spoke through a mouthful, but it wasn't uncommon to hear any pony speaking with something in their mouth since they'd all done it since they were children. The gang shook their heads, Rainbow Dash though, gave a huff of displeasure.

"No, it's just that jerk Filthy gave Fluttershy a chewing out, for something out of her control! I have half'a mind to sock'em in the face!" To punctuate that, she gave her hoof a firm slam on the counter which startled Fluttershy, causing her to jump. "The Guards have searched the whole town for the kid and haven't found a single thing!" Applejack suddenly gained a smug smile, which caused the others to perk up as they knew that was a challenging smile. It meant Applejack knew where they could find Screwball. They all huddled closer to the farmer. Suddenly, she lowered the cloth in her mouth to the ground very gently. After laying it down, she undid the wraps of the cloth, which revealed a wide swirly eyed seeming Earth Pony filly that was shivering.

Screwball squeaked.

> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have no idea how I got here either, but here I am. Sitting in the middle of nowhere, with a single ray of light from the void around me. It was actually like one of those interrogation scenes, you know. The lamp, the person in front of the victim, questioning them profusely. The whole shebang. 

Well, except for the fact my 'interrogator' was a pair of two strangely colored red irides and golden colored scleras.  Those eyes watch me from the darkness with sadistic delight. I can't begin to explain how surreal this whole situation feels like, but it's absurd. It felt like I was doped up on acid or something similar, but I knew for a fact I wasn't. 

"Ah! So good to see you! I was wondering when you'd get here," The voice paused, "If you ever even got here, that is."

"...Who are you? What exactly do you want?" It's not that I don't approve of the whole mystery thing, it's just I don't approve of this situation. You know, since I'm actually the one in it. This guy could be here for something nefarious after all. The eyes rolled themselves, which showed me the exact nature of this being, who might I add is likely some sort of super natural demon jester, or something of the sort.

"I do hope I didn't get a serious soul," The voice muttered to itself, "That would be quite... Unfortunate." 

"Serious? I'm a little serious, when I need to be. But at the current moment, my life is probably on the line." Better not say sanity, offering out my life was much more than enough. The being actually manifested a pair of sharpened teeth that formed a malicious grin. 

"Perfect! For the both of us, you see... I require someone with a set of morals, as well as someone who can be serious when the time came."

"But, who are you?" I inquire, once again. Gravely suspicious of who this weird creep is, being all mysterious and what not. "A poltergeist? Please don't haunt me, I swear I haven't done anything to you."

"That's the spirit!"

"No, you're the spirit."

"A real kidder, aren't you!?"

"I want to go home." I stress now, as I'm already tired of playing chicken and running around for every little thing that happens to me.

"Are you feeling it?" I pause, my mouth stretching into a thin line of displeasure as I hear him completely duck my request, or demand depending on how you look at it. "That adrenaline you've been using? That's not adrenaline. You've been feeling magic. And now that you're here," Without making a motion, I can tell the voice wanted to make one. "a place where your magic cannot flourish, your own subconscious, you're starting to feel the effects of terror, from your displaced situation."

I wanted to deny this creature's words, tell him to shut up, punch him in his stupid sharp pointy teeth and vanish back to where ever I came from. But I can't, I can't deny his very true words. Slowly creeping in was the fear I'd felt after escaping the hospital, and the same one I felt in the basement. The fear of the unknown. Here, I'm powerless. I don't have a house, not even an apartment to my name or even a single dollar. I don't have any friends, and nothing but possible enemies. I have no protection, no safety, and no one to teach me right or wrong. 

"But," The voice paused, "I can help you. I am your friend, and I am the closest one to helping you find your way home, if you'll even want to go home after awhile." Awhile?

"...Awhile?" I carefully voice out hesitantly, not wanting any tricks. I know this thing is playing me, but I can't help but feel like I should trust it. It's the only one that knows my situation, somehow. But from his earlier words, wasn't he the one who brought me here? "Didn't you bring me here? Can't you send me back?"

"Actually," The voice began, "While it was my spell that caught your nearby soul, it is not I who brought you from wherever you once came from. You see, my spell was designed to only capture the souls of the recently dead that were floating around in the aether of the other world. But the spirits in the aether come from different plains, so how you would have got there from a place supposedly with no magic... I do not know." 

Baffled, I could only stare at the strange sight of the two floating eyes and a mouth. My brain eventually caught up with what he'd said when I realized something.

"Wait, you know about my world?" The voice grew silent for a moment, as if pondering something before eventually speaking.

"No, I just know that it doesn't have any magic in it. Your soul was void of any magic, which every creature of Equestria should have. Even those not of Equestria have some small form of magic in their souls, but not you. No, your soul is COMPLETELY barren of any magic. Or, was I should say." I felt a cold pit of dread at the word "was".

"Was?" I hesitantly voice out, half not wanting an answer but knowing I would need one. The voice did not disappoint.

"Indeed, was. Your soul was an anomaly in itself. A creature with no magic cannot exist by magic law, it is simply impossible. It would be like an Earth Pony suddenly flying without wings or without the assistance of magic. It's that same impossibility that brought my attention to your undying soul." Undying soul? "You see, your soul began absorbing the magic of everything in the aether. Remember as I said, all souls have magic. The moment your soul suddenly came into existence, it began eating ALL the magic in the aether simultaneously. All the souls awaiting their time to move into the next life, to reincarnate or otherwise live in the aether. Wait, did that mean I became Shang Tsung briefly? Oh god I hope I didn't end souls, I couldn't live with that on my conscious. 

"Keep in mind, I said that you came into existence. Not teleported in. You suddenly arrived, as if you had always been there. Fearing the worst had yet to come, the guardians of the Aether tore open a hole into the world of the living and tossed you in so you couldn't absorb any of the souls. What they didn't predict, was that the world of the living wouldn't react very well to your soul either. The moment your soul existed within the reaches of the world of the living, you began to eat EVERY bit of magic in it. All the magic began to slowly be absorbed, and I believe you would have eaten all of the world's magic within but a year. That's quite a bit of magic, Equestria has far more magic than I've seen in any realm thus far. I could take hundreds, no thousands of realms and they still wouldn't have as much magic. With all that magic, you'd be unstoppable to any force... If you could use that magic, that is . Which I doubt you could have, as you are just a fledgling soul. You're not even older than the elements of harmony, younger actually. I did the only thing I could have possibly done to save our universe. I gave you a body." The intake of information was far too much for me.

"Whoa, I... That's kind of a hard pill to swallow don't you think? There's no way I'm... But I did, I guess... How did this happen?" I sat down on the 'floor' that consisted of absolutely nothing.

"Your guess is as good as mines, I suppose. There's much more to the story than that. However, I'll spare that information for another time. You need my help, and I need your help." Help? What could he possibly help me with? I'm pretty sure he can't get me home, from anything he's told me. "I will help you learn the secrets of magic, and you will acknowledge yourself as my child truly." What. 

"What?" I express vocally this time, my eyes widening some in disbelief. "Why? I don't think a pair of eyes and some teeth can replace my parents." 

Then it hit me.

I had to get home, I didn't tell my parents goodbye, or my siblings, or my best friends. I just suddenly vanished, and supposedly I'm dead. Did they even discover my body?

"Hello? Equestria to Screwball? I understand all this information is likely giving you an internal crises, but we need to sort this deal. Yes?"

"Why? Why would you want to be my Father? Who ARE you? What the heck is going on right now?" I stomp my hoof on the floor for good measure to show my pending frustration.

"Let's start with the, technically third question." A luminescent green swirl of magic suddenly shatters the illusion of the black void and illuminates the darkness. "Hello, I'm Discord. It's nice to meet you, my child."
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Home. 

That's where I want to go. But where is home? A whole universe away? I might as well just be dead if that's the case. It's impossible to go back, and no amount of positive energy will save that. I mock the world all the time. I say how horrible and ugly it is, how evil the world is, and how everything on it is so stupid. But that stupid way of life was my way of life. Those things I knew, that others knew. I could relate to them all. The memes, the memories, the celebrities, learning new things that seem to come out every year. Or maybe things that I just hadn't ever known. 

These ponies don't have those memories, these ponies have only ever known peace. A quick search of my body's brain easily showed me a few things about Equestrian history. I am thoroughly, and utterly alone in this universe without a way of returning. 

Alone...

There is no one here that can relate to me, in any shape form or way that I'm used to. My family, my friends, my life, all gone. In the single time span of a vehicle hitting me. This is it. This is the equivalent of dying.

"What's wrong with her?"

"She's in shock, she can't even hear us I don't think." A purple hoof waved in front of my face, clearly trying to grasp my attention. "I'm not quite sure what could have put her in shock other than... the memory of being hit by that cart. She only survived due to Discord's magic after all, such a near death experience would be more than enough to hurt a frail pony's mind, let alone a child for that matter. Ponies aren't built for things like that." What?

"Well, how do we get her out of 'shock' then?" That impatient scratchy female voice, that sounded suspiciously familiar...

"Well, there are a few ways of doing that. Mostly these issues work themselves out, but I think I might have a spell or two..."

ZZZTT

OW!

I reel back in shock from the sudden zap that jolted me out of my internal pity party, not that is wasn't justified. I turn my head to gape at the offender, who in turn was also getting glares from everyone around her. One Lavender pony.

"Uh, well... You asked... I just delivered..." Said lavender pony's cheeks tinge red from embarrassment. I sluggishly turn away from the ponies to look at my hooves. This is all real, all of it. Either I've gone insane, or I'm in another dimension with ponies being sentient. Both aren't good options. And about Discord... can I really serve a magical being I know nothing about to get home?

"Screwball... Are you okay?" The pink maned, butter colored pony from before gave me a look of concern. I look over her features.

...

My eyes widen a fraction. Tears roll down this mare's- No... FLUTTERSHY'S face. She's crying, not just for herself, but for me. I can feel her emotions, I can feel her sadness, her anger at herself, and her regret for letting me get away. It makes me want to cry, but I won't cry. Because if I lose myself in her emotions, I'll lose control of my own actions, and I'll be dragged into the darkness.

I gave her a smile, no matter how half-hearted it was. In response, she grew a small half hearted smile herself. She reaches, wrapping her hooves around me in a hug.

I then knew that I was cared for, even if I'm not the pony who she thinks I am. I hug her back.


* * * * *


As I pace in my padded room, I contemplate my next action. I have no place to go, I can't travel, heck, even if I could travel I wouldn't last a week. But of all my fears, the biggest one was wondering if I all of these ponies would figure me out. 

Will they still care for me like they apparently claim they do? How long will I be stuck here? Who is Discord? Whose body does this belong to? So many questions, which only bring even more questions. Not knowing what to do, I decide that I'm over thinking things, a bad habit I've never been able to rid myself of.  Why am I here? What am I doing? Can I get back?

"Look there she is!" WHAT!?

I jump back against the wall, gasping as I'd heard the dark malicious male voiced whisper followed by a choir of echoing dark and demonic giggles and snickers. The door's knob twisted rapidly hard in succession, but failed to actually open the door because it was locked-- But that didn't stop them from yanking on the door knob and try to kick and push the door in. 

"Did you hear her?" Followed by the one whisper, came more laughter as the door was tugged on relentlessly-- 

TOOMANYVOICEWHOIAMIWHEREISTHISPLACEIWILLKILLEVERYTHINGPLEASEMAKEITSTOPI'LLKILLEVERYTHINGTAKETOTHEDEADTAKETOTHEDEADTAKETOTHEDEADTAKETOTHEDEAD--

I manage to tug my head away from the vast godly connection on intelligent I couldn't even begin to explain with words-- Who's thought became mines as theirs dominated my mind with billions of souls in one vessel. I don't know where I managed to find the power to do it, but I did it.

My brain was burning with pain as it began to overload from so many voices in my head driving me to madness to free myself from the hive of malicious intent. The monster yanked at the door, I could see through the window-- 

It's... It's... hundreds... hundreds of s-shadowy ghost hands!

"She's in there..." I heard the sound of a female whisper with hostility, the door got slammed against twice- but it did not buckle under the assailants attempts to knock it off it's hinges. Suddenly, the door was being tugged at from tendril shadow hands that slid from under it, a static audio beamed in my ears, it was like I couldn't hear anything other than their voices, this empty sound.

"W-Who's out there?" It's all I can pitifully do as I didn't really know how to work this body well enough to run from such a thing long enough for help, and I don't know how to do magic well enough to not do anything but be scared! This has to be some type of nightmare, I can't handle this...

"The Chosen One... wE HavE foUnD You, aNd We have returned for you..." One voice whispered in a hushed tone, I couldn't distinguish a gender because it sounded like hundreds of people speaking at once... "CoMe wiTH Us GoD..."


W-What'd they just say? Did... they just call me--

Suddenly the door's bolt that protected the door from being opened slid out it's position and into the air. My heart plummeted as the handles pulled back under the door, and the doorway went dead silent. Slowly, the door knob turned...

The door slowly opened, and a dark specter of a tall pony, taller than Discord even, stepped in. It's body was riddled with eyes, EVERYWHERE, it's a humanoid shaped blob! All of it's eyes gazed at me in their dead hyper realistic manner, the lack of souls present and pestering my mind with it's elder creature presence.

"♬ Where are you going?♬

Questions began swirling in my head in a nightmarish manner, my world began distorted and my vision began to swim. I began to back peddle, hitting the cushioned wall behind me as I began hyperventilating. I couldn't get myself to calm down, I'm scared! The only people I could ever trust were all gone! I placed my hooves over my head, shutting my eyes as they began to assault my consciousness with visions of nightmares.

Mommy, I'll miss your smiles...

Daddy... You could have loved me... Please...

Mommy, Daddy help me!





"Say kiddo, what're you doing back here already?"  Discord?





I blinked, my reality distorted as I felt like someone completely different, a monster in sheep's clothing. I sat with a large crooked grin on my face, my swirled iris shifted and began to spin slowly, and I felt the overwhelming power and a taste for blood. I could picture the dark vivid life of pure animal instinct with a form of raw intelligence, it gave me a feeling... A raw form of ill intent, and I could do nothing but sit back as it felt like my soul was under the control of whatever super intelligent supreme being that had my very consciousness and shifted it to something sinister. Vivid cartoon distorted images pooled my mind as I knew only existence in the form of evil-

"KID! WAKE UP!" 





Discord? I can't see... Oh, my eyes are closed...  Already?

I slowly pry open my eye lids, in front of me were blurred ponies who surrounded me with worried expressions, each varying. It's strange being in the cartoon world of ponies... They were liked squiggly lining cartoons when I see them through tears... Wait, tears? I'm crying!? What's going on? Why can't I get control of my emotions anymore? What's with this place?

"Who's idea was it to leave this little filly by herself after she's only just had a panic attack? She needs comfort and loving ponies around her to let her know that no pony is out to get her! She doesn't need 'space' right now!" A stern Nurse pony sat on her haunches over me, holding me to her chest with both hooves. "You're going to be okay sweetie, nopony is going to hurt you, not here, not anywhere... I promise you on my life, that no harm will come to a single hair on your coat..." The sweet pony brushed my mane as I slowly uncurled from fetal position, laying against the wall with terror still coursing through my body. "Let it out, go ahead... It's okay to cry, crying makes you stronger..." 

I began to realize what was going on, somehow, in some form I'm schizophrenic, I'm seeing hallucinations! But, how? Why? Was this body's brain damaged? Wait, of course! It's why I can't talk!  "There's... some form of magic around her..." I glanced up to see Twilight, looking at me with abject terror. "It's... It's wrong, this isn't anything like dark magic... It's too sinister, too evil..."

So... not hallucinations? What's going on here?