//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Shadows Watching // by SaltyJustice //------------------------------// Monday morning. There were no classes these last two weeks, just final exams scheduled every other day, so I had the day off. Sensing my weakness, my mother had arranged my interview for 10:30am. I hadn't gotten much sleep, but it was too bright to go back to bed, so I headed out, bleary-eyed, into the city streets. The EDF-whatever building was squat and square, with no archways or trimming to speak of. Everything was a right angle. The corners all looked the same. The whole thing was painted a single monotone gray. There was no writing, not even any graffiti, on the building, save for a small plaque by the front door bearing the Sun symbol and a scrawling about dedicating some stone to some pony I had never heard of. Inside wasn't any better, the air was stale and stunk of day-old coffee. The receptionist grunted at me and pointed to the waiting room. I wasn't early, they were late, backed up due to some sort of commotion at the palace. I went to wait until they could catch up on whatever it is they do here, when they're not busy strangling hope or burning happiness in an oven. There were two other ponies in the waiting room, a chestnut colored stallion with big, thick glasses who was staring at the ceiling, and a white mare with a pink mane who was reading the newspaper. Very, very intently reading the newspaper, she had her face buried in it and I couldn't see what she looked like, but I assume it was a grimace. I could hear her teeth grinding. I already knew what had happened, sort of, since my parents always discussed the headlines over breakfast. At least, they did whenever Mom was taking down a crook. This morning had been particularly bad. "Look at this!" Mom said, slamming down the newspaper onto the table. My lightning-fast reactions kept my spoon from flinging cereal in every direction. Dad's toast was unflappable. The headline read "Princess on a Warpath!" and there was a picture of soldiers fleeing in terror through a doorway. More importantly, the headline had nothing to do with Mom's big case. It wasn't even on the front page. "Mmm hmmm," Dad tried his best to feign interest with a piece of toast stuck in his mouth. "Ooh, every time that drama queen spills a tea cup the papers leap all over it. I'm doing real work out here, damn it!" Mom continued to vent. "Mmm hmmm," I said, mimicking Dad's intonation perfectly. He put down his toast. "Dear, it's just a tabloid headline. You know how the papers are. How's your case going?" Dad asked. Mom's face softened, then a wicked grin came over her. "Oh I've got the bastard this time. I wish you could be there to see it, we got his hoofprints all over the missing museum artifacts we recovered. He's done, and I know he knows it," Mom said, matter-of-factly. "Well, I can be there to see it, I took the day off. What time was the -" Dad tried to speak, but Mom cut him off. By throwing herself on him. "Oh oh oh," she said, kissing him on the mouth. I turned away, fighting my gag reflex. I swear I'll never be able to eat again. "3 o' clock, room 117 in the D building, don't be late!" she gave him another kiss. "It's a date," Dad said with a smile. Ugh. I focused myself on reading the flyers all over the waiting room, mostly advertisements for other government services that I had no need of. All of my legs worked (Equestrian Disability Services), I could use magic like any other Unicorn (Canterlot Office of Medical and Magical Support), I wasn't addicted to anything (Government of Equestria Gambling and Addiction Counselors Association), and the ponies on the other side of the mirror didn't want to murder me (Canterlot Greater Mental Health Region), so I was pretty safe. I browsed the literature anyway, out of boredom and not much else. I could hear the clock on the wall ticking. It seemed to be ticking slower and slower. The more I noticed it, the slower it went. The mare with the newspaper turned a page, her teeth stopped grinding. Then they started again. Finally, the receptionist called my name and sent me down the hall, third door on the left, for my interview. The office was a square room, the walls were the same gray color that the entire rest of the building was. Sunshine filtered through thick blinds on the window behind the desk. There was nothing on the walls, not even bookshelves, just a simple desk and a gray mare sitting behind it. She stared at me as I entered, no emotion crossed her face. I sat down in front of her and tried my best to smile. Her expression was unchanged. "Miss Cadence," she said. I think it was supposed to be a question, but her voice was a pure monotone. "You're here for the house-and-foal-sitter position," she continued. "Yeah, I mean, yes, I'm here for that," I answered. An awkward silence hung in the air. She stared at me some more. I think she might be a robot. She pointed a hoof to some scrolls on the desk. I pulled them over in front of me and looked them over, long paperwork forms with fields for name, date, age, gender, experience, criminal history, list of fears, blood type, average leg length, whether or not you look good in orange, most words recited in a tongue twister without messing up, and a host of other things that the government uses to screen its applicants. I picked up a quill and started filling them out as best I could. As I did, I glanced at the name plate on the desk. J. S. Lemma. Didn't seem like a robot name. Perhaps she's named after who built her. I filled out the form, then filled it out again since the vellum was too thick for a carbon copy. Then I filled out another form about insurance and another about previous experience (none). I had no idea how long it took, there were no clocks in the room. Finally, I finished and put the quill down, having consumed half a jar of ink in the process. Lemma didn't even glance at the scrolls as she pushed them to the side of the desk. "What makes you believe you are qualified to work for this agency," she asked in that awful monotone again. I couldn't hear any gears or springs, so whoever built her had soundproofed her as well. "That I filled out all that paperwork?" I asked, chuckling. If robots could understand humor, she gave no indication. I bet she'd clean up at Poker. "Please report in for orientation this Friday at either 11:00am or 1:00pm, whichever is more convenient for you," she stated. I guess that means I got the job. "Do I need to, uh, bring anything?" I asked. Perhaps if I could make her contradict herself, I could get her to explode. I remembered seeing a movie poster for something like that once. Then I wouldn't get the job, though. "No," she stated. That was it. I stuffed my copy of the form into my saddlebag and left. I glanced back over my shoulder on the way out, but there was no change. She could stare down a Cockatrice and then get him to fill out a form accepting liability with a glare like that. On my way out, I glanced into the waiting room as I passed the reception desk. The mare was gone, but the chestnut colored guy was still there, and still staring at the ceiling. Perhaps he had mastered the art of sleeping with his eyes open. Either way, I wouldn't want to be in his place. I left the building and the full force of fresh air hit my lungs. It was a wonderful feeling, and the acrid stench of coffee flowed out of my nostrils to be replaced by flower pollen and freedom, at least temporarily. When I got home, I was totally going to leave the window open as I studied. I left at a trot, the streets were quiet. Too quiet. I looked up at the sun, gauging the time. It was around noon. Where was everypony? Shouldn't they be on lunch? Shouldn't there be at least one pony other than me on the streets? I looked around, up and down the boulevard, and back to the stuffy office building I had come from. There was no talking, no pony in sight, I couldn't even hear the birds, there were none to sing. The wind had died down. It was deathly silent. I was completely alone. I slowed down, looking around. Maybe there had been some sort of alarm? I hadn't heard anything earlier, somepony would have told me to stay off the street. I saw a news stand unguarded, and a fruit cart with nopony to push it. The fruit wasn't scattered, there had been no rush to evacuate. I slowed to a stop, looking around, listening intently. I heard a bubbling sound from somewhere below my hooves, a gurgling like air released into thick mud. I looked down, but the concrete was unchanged. The bubbling continued. It took me a moment to realize it wasn't a sound I was hearing. It was happening again, but it wasn't a sudden thing, it was continuous, sustained. It was getting louder, closer to the surface, and it was going to bubble up somewhere very close to me. I turned to face where I thought it was going to burst out of the ground, trembling slightly. I swallowed hard. The bubbling stopped, and silence replaced it. I was not alone, there was something immensely hostile a few meters in front of me, but I could not see it. I could only feel a seething, impenetrable hatred, pure malice radiated out of the air in front of me. I didn't panic, I concentrated, closed my eyes, and opened them again to see the unseen. Standing before me was a shape that seemed impossible, a black and green bubbling beast. It seemed to be made of tar, or mud, slowly flowing in and around itself as it took shape, assembling three legs to stand on, like a tripod. Its body, if you could call it a body, was merely another leg extending up into the air, thicker than the other three. As it finished shaping itself, the black goo seemed to harden. Veins of a green, iridescent material I had never seen before froze on the outside, running in and around the edges of the creature. I could see no wisps of light in the other plane this time, just the green silhouette of this creature, the same green that ran across its body. I couldn't begin to describe the terror that came over me. I was paralyzed, fearing that if I moved, this terrible thing would notice me and squish me. It stood four times my height, its legs were thicker than my body. I couldn't possibly try to fight it, I was struggling even to comprehend it. I stood stock still, my mind screaming at me to run but my legs refusing to listen. I took a single, tentative step back. No sooner had my hoof touched down then the creature turned, if that's the right word, to face me. It stepped on one leg towards me, and as it did, its body fell down onto its leg, merging and extending itself back up into the air. It tumbled over itself, advancing towards me, slowly at first but picking up speed. It started to merge faster and faster. A sphere of light appeared behind the creature as it moved, but it wasn't like it was when I saw my parents in the other plane, it was - "What are you doing? Go, run! Run!" it yelled. Finally my legs acceded. I turned. I ran. I sprinted as fast as I could, opening my real eyes to navigate as I tore down the street. I had never run that fast in my life, but I could feel the presence of the thing behind me. It was as fast as I was, and getting faster. I could feel it gaining on me, but I dare not look behind me, were I even able to see it. No time, keep running. I banked around a corner and kept going, I had no direction, just away, away from that thing. It followed implacably after. I didn't know what it wanted or what it would do if it caught me, there was no time to think about anything except running. My lungs started to protest first, then my legs, burning as I pushed every cell in my body to its limits. My mouth dried out, the wind caused my eyes to tear up, and still the thing was behind me, getting closer. I took another turn onto Main Street, wheeling around the corner, sliding slightly. The tension was too much, my buckle broke and my saddlebag went flying off. I had no time to get it. The creature was too close. I pushed myself beyond every limit I ever thought there was, until I reached a clear and calm place where I could no longer feel my muscles screaming and my lungs burning. I just kept running. The thing behind me didn't even matter, just running was all there was. I felt it recede, slowly, as I cleared another two blocks in seconds. It stopped, stopped chasing me, stopped existing. I couldn't feel its presence anymore. It was gone. I stopped, skidding to a halt on the smooth pavement where carts normally were pulled. I looked behind me, not gasping for breath. I could breathe when I was sure I was safe. I concentrated, bringing the other sight again, and looked around. It was black, empty, as usual, no creatures lived here. I heard somepony talking again, then another and another. I was surrounded by the din of speech, and globes of light filled my sight beyond sight. I opened my eyes. Ponies surrounded me, going about their business, talking and laughing with one another. A young father and his little filly strolled by, his bags loaded down with groceries, his filly rolling a watermelon along the road. She had a pure and innocent little smile on her face. Some business ponies passed, talking about where they should have lunch. A soldier walked up to me. "Miss," he said, addressing me. "You dropped your bag." "Oh, uh," I started to say. Had they seen me? Did that just happen? "Thanks," I finished, as he put down my saddlebags in front of me. The soldier gave me a curt nod before going back to his duties. I quickly threaded the buckle back together and put my bags back on, checking to be sure my scrolls hadn't fallen out. I wasn't tired, I wasn't panting. It was like the last few minutes had never happened. Maybe I really did need Mental Health Services.