//------------------------------// // Sleepwalk // Story: Ever Watching // by Redback Spino //------------------------------// “This is ridiculous!” Twilight shouted aloud for the third time that morning. She and Spike had been busy clearing up after the events of the previous night. As Twilight scrubbed away at the inkstained carpet, Spike grumbled from behind a stack of books: “Got that right! I was busy all week tidying this place up! Now it’s even worse than before! If I find out who this was…” “My question is what did they want?” Twilight replied, spraying more cleaning foam on the carpet. “I mean, there’s no sign of who it could have been, and apart from everything being messed up and rearranged, nothing’s missing, so it wasn’t a burglar” “Yeah. Whoever it was, they must’ve had some really serious studying to do!” Spike said with a slight chuckle. Twilight frowned at her assistant, trying her best to look disapproving of Spike’s quip, while inwardly grinning at his remark. Her horn glowed a gentle purple as she levitated a stack of books back onto their shelf. Spike may have meant it as a joke, but who knows? Maybe he was right, and somepony really did break into the library for a midnight read. But there weren’t any signs of breaking in on the door, or the windows! Either their prowler was incredibly skilled in forced entry, or they ha some other way of getting. Twilight blanched as sudden fearful thought came over her. What if they hadn’t broken in at night at all? What if they had been in the library beforehand, and just didn’t leave when it closed?! She shuddered at the thought, quickly putting it out of her mind. “Well, that’s all of the books.” She said, dusting her hooves on the carpet. “Spike, could you finish off cleaning the ink out of the carpets for me?” Spike nodded, reluctantly grabbing a brush and bucket of water. “I guess so, but why can’t you?” Twilight slipped her saddlebag round her waist, making sure her purse was inside. “I’m heading into town to get some supplies. If our prowling friend makes another appearance tomorrow night, I at least want to know who it is.” Spike thought this over in his mind, then nodded “Sure thing.” With that, Twilight opened the door and headed out, leaving Spike alone. The dragon brandished the scrubbing-brush like a sword, dunking it with great flourish and pizzazz into the bucket of water. “Alright, inkstains. You’ve met yer match!” _________________________________________________________________________________________________ “There ya go, missy!” Said Mr. Snapshot jovially as he helped slip a pair of small boxes into Twilight’s saddlebag. “You need any help with the tripod?” The unicorn shook her head. “Ooh, if you would, thanks. Just slip it on my back, under the strap. The friendly colt did just that. A small bag of coins levitated from Twilight’s saddlebag and landed on the counter as she headed out of the shop. “Thanks again, Mr Snapshot!” she called as she closed the door behind her and headed back to the library. Now we’ll see who our mysterious prowler really is! The cameras in their neat little boxes were a relatively cheap model, but she wasn’t worried. As long as they took pictures, she’d be satisfied. That afternoon, Twilight spent the majority of the day placing a clever little enchantment on the cameras. After many attempts, she sat down, sweat dripping down her face. “That…that oughtta do it.” She muttered to herself. “Now to test it.” She levitated one of the cameras onto a nearby table, unscrewing the lens-cap and pointing it at the doorway to the library. Standing to one side, she walked slowly past the porch, passing the door and heading towards the bookshelves. Her hard work was rewarded as she heard the gentle Click of the camera. She smiled; finally, she got it! Trotting over to the camera, she waited patiently as a small sheet emerged from a slot on the bottom of the camera. She gently pulled the photograph free and held it suspended in front of her face. It clearly showed her walking past the door to the library. “Perfect.” She muttered o herself, just as Spike emerged from the next room. “Hey Twi. What’cha got there?” “Oh , hi Spike. Just setting us up for tonight.” She replied, beckoning him to join her. Spike stood by her side, looking at the photo “Uh huh… so what does this have to do with the prowler?” “Well Spike, those supplies I mentioned earlier… It was these little cameras I just bought. I put a spell on them so that they’ll take a picture if anything goes through their line of sight. It wasn’t easy, but I think I got it right.” Twilight’s horn glowed again as she stood the tripod up in the middle of the room, screwing one of the cameras onto the top, facing the doorway. The other camera, she deposited on her bedside table, with a small book holding one end up, so that it faced the window. “What’s that one for?” Spike asked, pointing up to Twilight’s bedroom. Twilight hesitated for a moment. She hadn’t told Spike about the shadow that passed by her window the other night, worrying that he might freak out more if he found out. She innocently smiled, shrugging. “Er… Extra security. Just in case he came in through there. You never know…” Hours later, the moon was high in the sky, gazing down on Ponyville. Twilight lay awake in her bed, tossing and turning. She was confident that if anything happened, if their mysterious caller returned tonight, all the evidence they need would be there. But she was still apprehensive, nervous. Even a little excited. It’d almost be a waste, she thought, if they don’t come back… A sudden sound reached her ears. Her eyes snapped open. They were here! She made to get up, her ears perked up, ready to hear the telltale clicks of the camera downstairs. Click! And there it was. Whoever it was, she had their face now! Click! Twilight froze. That click was definitely closer. Her gaze slowly turned to the small camera that lay perched on her bedside table. A shadow had fallen across the table, from the window. There, framed in the window was the silhouette of a strange figure. Twilight froze with fear. It was coming in the window! She shrunk back in terror as her eyes remained fixed on the strange pony, who stood motionless, staring back at her through unseen eyes. Her heart was pounding. She wanted to scream, but her voice wouldn’t work. He wanted to run, but she could not will herself to get up and flee from the terrifying sight. But it did nothing. It didn’t grab her, it didn’t run away. It just stood there, occasionally shifting its balance on its unseen legs Twilight remained stock still. What did this pony want?! Who was it?! She watched as something appeared to grow from the back of the mysterious pony. At first a lump. Then it grew, stretching out, like some bizarre tentacle. Twitching and wriggling slowly, the tendril felt its way through the night air, before turning to point directly at Twilight. Cold swat poured down the unicorn’s face and body. Never mind who this pony was! WHAT was it?! The tendril slithered over the windowsill, snaking its way down the bed . No. NO, get away! Get away! Twilight pulled the covers over her head, quivering with terror. Don’t come any closer! Get away! The covers were whipped back by some unseen force. GET AWAY!!! Twilight opened her mouth to scream, just as the tentacle wrapped itself around her head, shrouding her vision in darkness. “NO!” The bright morning sun beat down on Twilight’s face as her eyes snapped open. All she could see was a blurry haze of colour, with a piercing white light above her. Blinking a few times, the haze cleared and she looked around. How in Equestria did I wind up in the town square?! “…Wha..?” was all she could muster as she looked at her surroundings. She held her head in her hooves as a sharp twinge throbbed through her skull. She had never had a hangover in her life, but Twilight was certain that this must be what it feels like to have one. Her limbs shaking with exhaustion, she stood up, holding her had low to ease the pain. Looking about more, she was relieved to see that the town square was empty. The last thing she’d need right now was other ponies asking what she was doing asleep in the middle of the street. The sun was still relatively low in the sky. Mustn’t be much later than dawn. As she headed home towards the library, a myriad of questions and puzzles ran through her head. Why was she in the town square? How did she get there? Why was she so exhausted that she felt like she would pass out at any moment? The last thing she could remember, she was lying in her bed, trying to get to sleep at around midnight. Then that sound disturbed her dozing, and she saw… Her stomach clenched over as the memory returned to her. Last night, when she had heard that noise, and saw that…thing in the window. That strange figure, which had just stood there, framed by the moonlight. Who reached out with some sort of extra limb to… wrap around her… Further speculation and rumination was cut off as she suddenly succumbed to a fit of coughing. Hacking and wheezing, she staggered a few paces more before collapsing. But as soon as it had begun, it passed. Twilight got to her hooves; her ears drooped in a mix of fatigue and utter bafflement. Hardly like her to suddenly collapse in a fit of coughing. It hadn’t been like she had swallowed something or she was choking; more like the sort of cough one gets with a bad cold, trying to hack up phlegm or mucus. And yet, for all that coughing, she felt fine! “That’s it!” she muttered irritably to herself “I have to figure out what’s going on here. And I know the perfect place to start!” The door of the library swung open and Twilight staggered in. The hollowed-out tree seemed ominously quiet, even for a library, at this early hour. Even given the circumstances, she couldn’t help but smile as she heard the gentle snores of Spike in the next room. He’d be up and about preparing breakfast in about an hour, completely oblivious to anything that happened. Twilight then hurried to the camera she had left perched in the hall, facing the doorway, eagerly casting her eye about the floor, hoping to see a pile of photos from last night. “Nothing?” The word echoed gently through the library. The camera hadn’t taken a single photo all night. The other camera! She scurried up the ladder to the landing where she slept, pausing in surprise as she clambered onto the ledge. Below the camera were piled dozens upon dozens of photos. So it wasn’t a dream after all. The unicorn levitated the heap of photos, neatly sorting them into a stack. She flipped through the photos one by one. At first, it appeared that several of the first photos had merely caught animals outside the window, detecting their movement and snapping a photo. Many were very impressive, and could be worth much to a nature photographer, but Twilight callously tossed them aside. They weren’t what she was after. As she flipped through them, she saw in one, a strange shadow emerged from the bottom of her window frame. With every photo it moved further upwards, until it filled the window. As soon as the figure came into full view in the photos, the images began to take a strange turn. Several looked distorted or fuzzy, as if something was interfering with the camera. Many still had visual tears or appeared too dark or too bright to make anything out. Equally many were clear, perhaps a little blurry. But from what Twilight could make out of the figure, some little part of her mind wished that they had been distorted too. This was probably the last thing she would have wanted to see looking in her window. It was like something from a very strange dream. Clearly some sort of pony, it seemed to have no semblance of a mane or tail. With fur a pale off-white colour, it stood out like a sore hoof in the darkness. What gender the pony was, Twilight had no idea. Its shape hinted at neither mare nor stallion; too angular and sharp to be female, but too thin to be male. It appeared to be wearing some sort of jacket, almost like a black suit. And was that a red tie hanging loosely from its neck? Or was it something else? But what unnerved Twilight the most was its face. Or rather, its lack thereof. In every picture of the strange pony, only a blurry haze could be seen where its face should be. As she flipped through these disturbing images, she watched the clouds in the sky behind the pony float past, as it remained motionless. Then, a small black lump sprouted from its back. Twilight began to flip faster through the photos, as the lump grew into an appendage, like a fifth limb. It extended, projecting from its back, snaking through the air and out of the shot. She was reminded of some sort of monster of the deep, like the giant squids and octopi she had seen in old illustrations, reaching from the murky depths of the sea, grabbing poor sailor ponies from their ships, dragging them down to their doom. As she flipped through the photos faster and faster, the static images came to some mimicry of hideous, animated life as Twilight frantically watched the image of the tendril retracting back towards its host, pulling something with it. Twilight dropped the stack of photos as the tip of the tendril came into view, wrapped around her. Silence in the library, save for the echo outside of ponies going about their lives as the town slowly woke up. She slumped to the floor in a state of complete shock. With a gentle glow, she slowly gathered the fallen photographs up from the ground, placing them slowly on a nearby desk. There were many more photos, but she didn’t want to see them. Part of her mind disagreed, but she did not want to know what It had done to her after dragging her, unconscious, from her room. “What w-w-was that?” she whispered to herself, her voice quivering with terror. “Wh-what was that th-th-th-thing?” “What was what thing, Twilight?” She squealed in fright as a voice rang out from behind her. She spun round, her frazzled mane whipping about her face as she turned to see Rarity standing in the doorway. Twilight breathed a great sigh of relief as every muscle of her aching limbs relaxed “Oh Rarity…phew, you scared me half to death!” “Sorry, darling.” Rarity replied as she dusted her hooves off on the mat. “But I saw you through the window, and then I heard you talking to yourself about something…Good heavens, look at you! You look a complete fright!!” The young unicorn stealthily placed herself between Rarity and the desk where the photos lay in a stack. She looked at her mane which hung frazzled and unkempt from her head, “Yeah, I…I had a bit of a… a strange night.” Rarity trotted over to her friend “Oh, I know, I know. I saw you last night, and I thought to myself...” “Wait, what?” Rarity saw the confused look on Twilight’s face. “Don’t you remember, Twilight? You were out walking about late last night.” The colour drained from her face as Twilight heard this. Had Rarity seen all this? Had she seen…it? “I must say, you certainly were acting strange. I was dusting off a dress out the window- I was finishing for the night, y’know- and I see you walking down the street, like you were off to visit somepony! I called down to you, but I guess you didn’t hear me, because you just kept going down the street…” “And… was there anypony, you know…else?” Twilight asked, dreading the answer. But Rarity shook her head, “No, you were on your own, which certainly seemed odd to me. Of all the ponies in Ponyville, I can’t say you were one I expected to see waltzing down the street alone at night! Don’t you know how dangerous that could be?!” Twilight one again felt her legs give way beneath her, and she sat down hard on the floor. This had long since passed ridiculous; we were in downright dangerous territory now! “Although, not long after, I did see this other pony…” Rarity was amazed at how quickly Twilight moved over to her, standing almost snout to snout. “What other pony? Did you see somepony else?! What did he look like? Was he wearing a black suit?” Gently pushing Twilight out of her personal space, Rarity cleared her throat and carried on “Ahem, yes, I saw another pony, trotting the same direction as you, not long after you passed my house…wait, pardon? Black suit, did you say?” Twilight blushed. Had she said too much? “Oh, er…it’s nothing…” The white unicorn sniffed “Well, they certainly weren’t wearing a suit, but they were wearing some sort of black coat, but it was too dark to see them clearly… Twilight, darling, are you sure you feel alright? You don’t seem yourself today.” She sighed “It’s nothing…Like I said, I’ve…I’ve had a strange night.” That afternoon, Mr Snapshot got one of the strangest requests of his time selling cameras. Twilight Sparkle, that charming young unicorn who worked at the library, came in and asked if he sold any video cameras, less than a day after she had visited last, buying two cameras and a tripod. Of course he did, he told her, and showed her the range of fine camcorders he sold at his shop. That was when she made a strange query. Was there any way she could carry a camcorder with her at all times, and film everything she does? Now getting truly suspicious, Snapshot showed her a clever contraption that had just come in from the manufacturers. It incorporated a tiny video camera into a harness worn over the shoulders, with the camera held over the front, filming everything from the pony’s point of view. Twilight immediately bought this specialist camera, depositing a large bag of money on his counter. With that, as quickly as she had entered, the young unicorn exited. Mr Snapshot stood in his shop, watching her go, now deeply confused about what she might be up to. Fillies these days. Not far away, on the fringe of the Everfree Forest, a young squirrel skittered along the bough of a gigantic chestnut tree. Drat! No chestnuts in this one either. His mother had told him it was the wrong season, but that didn’t stop the young animal searching anyway. But he paused as he felt the hackles on the back of his neck rise. Turning his gaze behind him, he saw the dense, dark trees of Everfree. His mother had warned him to never go in there, at least, never alone. It was an unnatural place in Equestria, where nothing worked the same way as the rest of the land. The little squirrel shuddered briefly before heading down the trunk of the tree, in search of some other snacks to round off the day. Deep in amongst those dark, twisted trees, something awoke, ready for another busy night. Still Hungry.