//------------------------------// // Book 1 ---------- Chapter 1: A Few Unexpected Visitors // Story: Blood Runs Cold // by Silence_EXE //------------------------------// Silence.EXE stared at the videotapes he had found inside a box on the top shelf of his closet. They were dusty and old, seeming to have been there for several years. He picked one up, inspecting it to see if he could find any information about it. He sighed, realizing that there was nothing to describe them. He placed the box on his desk, before turning on his television and VCR. He blew the dust gently off the videotapes, then chose one to place into the VCR. It was non-descript with no other features except for a red stripe, which wrapped around the whole tape, seeming to have no particular purpose. Before he pressed play on his VCRs' remote, he heard the doorbell ring. Giving a sound of annoyance, he walked to his front door and opened it. “Might I ask who you are?” Silence asked, giving the purple-coloured alicorn a look of confusion. He had not expected any guests this late, considering he had been tidying up his house for the whole day and had thought it would take well into the evening to finish. “Oh... My name is Twilight Sparkle. I came here looking for somepony called Silence.EXE. Is he here?” the alicorn asked, with a mediocre tone in her voice. "That would be me. What business do you have with me?" he asked, wishing that he hadn't moved so close to Ponyville. 'Too many ponies, Too much attention,' he thought, turning his attention back to the alicorn princess whom he now recognized. "I was sent here to help you with some sort of research," replied Twilight, shifting from hoof to hoof. "I knew I shouldn't have talked to Princess Celestia," he growled. When Twilight gave him a look of confusion, he realized he had spoken out loud. "Ah... I'm sorry. I've been very busy as of late, and today I just found something of dire importance." Twilight looked at him curiously. "Dire importance? What do you mean by that?" she asked him. "A box of..." he started, being cut off by somepony yelling. "TWILIGHT! I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU EVERYWHERE!" yelled the light blue pony whom had seemed to appeared out of nowhere. "Dashie!" said Twilight, clearly perturbed about the interruption of her conversation with Silence. Silence glared at the light blue pony, his face looking menacing. "Who in Equestria are YOU?" he said, attempting to speak in a calm tone and failing utterly. "Oh, me? I'm Rainbow Dash, a friend of Twilights'," said the pony, seeming to have just noticed Silence was there. "So... why are you at some random stallions' house, Twilight?" Rainbow asked, giving Twilight an amused and mischievous look. "R-Rainbow! You know quite well I'm not into that sort of thing!" said Twilight, shocked at the reference she had immediately assumed Rainbow had meant. "What? It was a serious question. What did you think I meant?" said Rainbow, an innocent expression on her face. Silence.EXE sighed inwardly, unbelieving. "Can somepony, for Celestia's sake, please explain what you both are here for? I am busy, might I remind you, trying to research VERY IMPORTANT, MOST LIKELY GROUNDBREAKING DISCOVERIES!!!!!!" he snapped, his patience gone. Twilight and Rainbow both stared at him, a surprised look on their faces. Silence glared at them, not realizing he had lost control of himself for a moment and accidentally flickered into his EXE form. Twilight calmed her emotions, then said very formally, "Both Rainbow Dash and I wish to help you research your discoveries. We were sent to do so by Princess Celestia herself." Silence.EXE looked at them, confused because of their sudden change to total seriousness. He sighed out loud, stating, "You saw my EXE form, didn't you?" Rainbow and Twilight nodded slowly, in unison. "Yes. Yes we did," Twilight said quietly. Silence put a hoof to his face, shaking his head. After a moment, he looked at them and said "My greatest apologies for scaring you." "Heyyy, I wasn't scared! Not at all!" said Rainbow Dash, shaking the obviously petrified expression off her face and replacing it with a confident smile. Twilight rolled her eyes at this, while Silence said nothing. "What?" Rainbow said, continuing her confident smile. "I wasn't! Seriously!" Silence facehoofed. "Just come in. If Princess Celestia sent you, it's for a good reason," he sighed, standing to the side of the door. Twilight and Rainbow entered, looking around, murmuring about how nice the house was for being so far away from Ponyville. Silence watched them enter the study, a chill running up his spine. "Why do I feel like this isn't going to end well?" he murmured to himself. Shaking off the feeling of dread that was threading through his body with a chill, he closed the door. Hearing laughter in the study, he murmured "There's nothing to worry about." 'But why do I feel like there is,' he thought , doubt creeping through his mind. He walked into the study, ready to describe what he had discovered thus far. Somewhere in another world, somepony laughed.