//------------------------------// // The Box // Story: Doctor Whooves: Shadow Of A Ghost // by Scyphi //------------------------------// There were probably a number of better things Rainbow Dash could’ve done at that point. One that crossed her mind was to notify the authorities about the damage to her house and the rogue flying box that had caused it. It being Ponyville, the authorities would at least look into it. Another seemed more appealing, which was going back to bed and wait until morning after some more sleep to sort this mess out. But Rainbow chose none of those, and instead chose the option that made all the difference. “Let’s follow it!” she exclaimed to Flitter, and started to fly off in the direction the object had gone. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on!” Flitter exclaimed back, caught off guard by Rainbow’s sudden jump into action and hurried to fly after her. “You sure that’s a good idea? That thing just smashed through your house!” “And it might just do it again to somepony else’s unless we stop it!” Rainbow concluded, determined. “But why us?” Flitter wined as they flew into Ponyville officially. “Why can’t we call, like, the cops or somepony else more qualified to do it?” “Nah!” Rainbow said, dismissing the idea. “I can fly faster than them anyway. This way’s better.” “…I’m starting to think you hit your head harder than you think…” Flitter muttered under her breath, not quite quietly enough for Rainbow not to hear. Rainbow was going to comment on that when something caught her eye. “Look, there it is again!” she exclaimed, coming to a mid-air halt. Flitter didn’t stop quite in time and slammed into the back of her. Annoyed, Rainbow shot her a glare, then grabbed her and faced her in the right direction to see, pointing at the object with one hoof. “There, you see it?” Sure enough, something noisy, speedy, and blue had risen out from among the dark buildings, starting to soar crazily up into the sky and out of control. The object, whatever it was, got up pretty high, the light on it flickering sporadically, before it started to slow down to the point that, for a split second, it just seemed to hang there in the sky. Then, without warning, its light suddenly flashed violently in a fury of sparks and the object started to drop like a rock, turning top over bottom as it flipped again and again, trailing smoke. Flitter gasped, but Rainbow was already moving, ready to take action for the accident she knew was going to ensue. She knew that not even she could fly fast enough to stop the object from hitting ground, so instead she watched it closely to see where it hit ground hard enough that a boom could be heard, followed by a plume of smoke. Only Rainbow saw that it didn’t hit ground, but rather a building. Twilight’s library. Alarmed for the safety of Ponyville’s newest inhabitant and librarian, Rainbow redoubled her pace as she flew towards the plume of smoke. Flitter at first protested the sudden increase in pace, struggling to keep up, but once she realized the location they were heading for, she fell quiet and continued following the blue mare ahead of her, aware of the need for alarm. Rainbow silently thanked her for it; the speedy pegasus hadn’t known Twilight all that terribly long, only a few months at best, and they didn’t see eye to eye on everything either, but after putting their lives on the line to stop Nightmare Moon earlier that same year, there was no denying they were friends. Rainbow wouldn’t want to see anything bad happen to the purple unicorn. Arriving at the dark library, the two pegasi quickly surveyed the situation. It was clear that the object had struck the tree library’s canopy, cutting right through it until it struck a branch or the tree itself. It was hard to tell for certain, because a column of smoke currently rose from the gap in the leaves it had left, periodically illuminated by brief flashes of light from within. Rainbow ignored this, though, and went straight for the library’s front door, pounding her hoof on it the moment she had landed. “Twilight!” she called. “Twilight, open the door!” When there was no immediate response, Rainbow tried to open the door herself, but found it was locked. She made a frustrated groan and resumed pounding on the door, trying to rouse the attention of the unicorn presumed to be inside. “I’m going to fly up and check how bad the damage is,” Flitter volunteered suddenly, flying up towards the tree’s canopy. “Right,” Rainbow answered distractedly, and began looking for either another way into the library, or another way to try and get the attention of the inhabitants within. Eventually, she flew up to a small balcony where a patio door looked into Twilight’s private study and bedroom. Rainbow then began rapping on it. “Twilight! For the love of Celestia, Twilight, get up and answer me! TWILIGHT! You don’t answer me soon I will break down this door! TWILIGHT!” Twilight never answered her calls. Unsure why, and the balcony door locked as well, Rainbow finally gave up trying to get the librarian’s attention and turned around, bucking the balcony door hard enough to break the lock and shatter one of its glass panes. Ignoring the damage, Rainbow hurried into the study and bedroom beyond, looking around for any sign of life. Finding it dark, quiet, and otherwise intact, she turned her attention to Twilight’s bed, and flapped up to it. “C’mon Twilight, we need to—” Rainbow began as she yanked back the covers, expecting to find Twilight tucked under them. But to her surprise, she found the bed empty. Frowning, Rainbow stared at it until she heard a harsh snore from behind her. Turning around, she saw Spike in bed asleep, curled up tightly but cozily in his basket. Rainbow slapped a hoof to her forehead. “Seriously?” she asked herself aloud. “How do you sleep through a heavy object crashing hard onto your roof like this?” But the baby dragon was a very deep sleeper, for he hadn’t even noticed Rainbow’s breaking and entering or her attempts to alert everypony inside of the potential danger. So, slightly miffed at the dragon, Rainbow chucked the bed sheets still in her hoof aside and bent down close to Spike’s ear. “SPIKE!” she hollered at the top of her lungs into the dragon’s ear. If that wouldn’t wake him, nothing would at this point. Fortunately, it did, for the little dragon immediately woke with a yelp, jerking away from the source of the sound before rolling out of his basket, flipping it over on top of him in the process. Sitting up and throwing the basket off of him again, Spike stared at the culprit sitting before him. “Rainbow Dash?” he said, surprised and angry. He rubbed at his eyes with his claws for a moment then looked at the pegasus again to make sure she was truly there. “What was that for? What are you even doing in here?” “I’m trying to save your scaly butt, but you were too asleep to notice!” Rainbow snapped back. “You really slept through the impact?” “What impact?” Spike answered, frowning as he looked around the dark room. Rainbow rubbed at her temples with one hoof in frustration. “Never mind!” she said. “Where’s Twilight?” “Twilight?” Spike repeated, looking back at Rainbow. “At Fluttershy’s. She went over there to help with a “pet project” for Fluttershy, and decided to sleepover. She’s been real big on that lately ever since she had her first slumber party with Applejack and Rarity about a week or so back.” He shook his head, rubbing at his eyes again. “But what are you doing here?” He noticed the broken balcony door suddenly. “Did you break in?” “It was for a good cause!” Rainbow argued, pushing him towards the balcony door. “I didn’t know if you were trapped in here or hurt or something!” “Why would I be hurt?” Spike mumbled as he resisted Rainbow’s pushes. “What’s going on?” “A big dang object crashed onto your roof and nearly set the whole place on fire, that’s what!” Flitter exclaimed, suddenly appearing at balcony door, back from her flyover. “Big dang object?” Spike repeated, trying to keep up and failing. “What big dang object?” Rainbow ignored him and approached Flitter. “Well?” she asked. “How bad is it?” “Thankfully, not as bad as it could’ve been,” Flitter responded with a relieved sigh. “The object—whatever it is, I’m still not sure—came down hot enough that it scorched the tree a little, but thankfully didn’t manage to set it aflame. Most of the smoke seems to just be coming from the object itself now, and even that’s starting to fade.” Spike suddenly perked up at the mention of smoke. “Smoke?” he repeated, worried. “What smoke?” “See for yourself,” Flitter said, leading him out onto the balcony before pointing up at the column of smoke that was still rising out from within the library tree’s canopy. But like she had already said, it was beginning to fade. The sight only made Spike panic, though. “Oh no!” he moaned, leaning his head back as his eyes followed the trail of smoke up into the sky. “Oh no, oh no, oh no! Twilight’s going to kill me!” “Oh, I doubt that,” Flitter quickly assured him, draping a soothing hoof around him. “She’ll just be really, really, really, really disappointed with you,” Rainbow concluded. Flitter gave her a look that said she wasn’t helping. Spike barely acknowledged either of their comments as he broke free of Flitter’s hoof and hurried to a nearby, almost hidden, spiral staircase that led up into the canopy and out of sight. Rainbow assumed it led to what she had heard Twilight call her “observation balcony,” the uppermost balcony standing at the very top of the library, and figured Spike was heading up there to view of the damage from above. She turned her attention back to Flitter. “So what about the object itself?” she asked. “Figure out anything new about it?” Flitter hesitated at this. “I…didn’t really get close enough to get that good a look at it,” she admitted, before giving Rainbow a frown. “As I see it, you can figure that out yourself, seeing you were the one that wanted to catch up with it and all.” Rainbow rolled her eyes, but didn’t protest. “Fine,” she said, and started to follow Spike up the spiral staircase. Flitter followed too, bringing up the rear. As Rainbow Dash went, her eyes were turned into the tree as she attempted to put the object in her line of sight. It was difficult, seeing that a great deal of green shrubbery blocked her view, but she managed to determine roughly where it was. About halfway up the stairs, though, the two pegasi met up with Spike. He had unexpectedly stopped halfway, having determined for himself that he was now in line with where the object roughly lay in the tree. He was staring silently past the shrubbery and at the blue object, only partly visible behind it. Conveniently though, this spot happened to have a sizable tree limb running under it, poking on under the staircase. So, vaulting himself over the staircase’s railing, the little purple dragon jumped onto the limb and cautiously used it as a bridge to the object, pushing aside the tree’s greenery as he went. Flitter protested this, though. “Whoa wait, do think it’s wise to do that?” she asked, reaching a cautious hoof at him. Spike paused, looking back at her. “You said it hadn’t started a fire,” he pointed out. “So how could it do anything to harm anypony at this point?” “Well…I don’t know,” Flitter admitted. “All I know is that I get…jitters every time I look at it.” “You’re not the only one,” Rainbow admitted, who had felt the same thing, only for her, it just made her that more determined to figure out what it was. “I’m saying we should probably keep our distance, just in case,” Flitter continued. “Well fine, you two can stay there,” Spike said, having made up his mind. “I’m going to go see what’s caused all of this before I get in trouble for it.” And with that, he pushed on. Rainbow hesitated for a brief second, and then jumped over the staircase railing so to follow the dragon. “Rainbow!” Flitter objected in a harsh whisper. “I’m not about to let him go alone,” Rainbow retorted, and continued on. She hadn’t gone far before she heard the thump of hooves landing on the branch behind her, telling Rainbow that Flitter was following after all. Rainbow grinned to herself, then turned her attention to what lay ahead. Within moments, the tree’s greenery all fell away where the limb met with the tree’s trunk, leaving more than enough space to see the source of their troubles that night. Spike was already there, having stopped just ahead of Rainbow, staring in awe at the object. Rainbow stared too, somewhat surprised and shocked herself. She wasn’t sure what she had expected to see, but the object proved to be much more mundane than she had been reckoning. It was merely a tall wooden box, painted with fading blue paint. It was currently pinned securely between two smaller limbs hanging over them, keeping it from falling. It definitely appeared to be artificially made, and though Rainbow couldn’t see anything to visually confirm it, she felt like it was very old too. It bore a pair of fixed framed windows on each of its four sides, running along the presumed top of the object. Most of the glass in these windows had shattered at some point in the crash, and it was from those openings that most of the smoke seeped out of the object. Also on every side of the object, above the windows, was a glowing narrow strip of a sign, bearing white letters on a black background. Because the light that illuminated them was flickering, it was hard for Rainbow to read it, but Spike moved closer and was eventually able to make out the words. “Police public call box,” he read, which meant little to him. He glanced at Rainbow, then at Flitter keeping a safe distance behind the blue pegasus, and saw from their shrugs that they weren’t sure what it meant either. Quietly, they all went back to studying the peculiar box. Rainbow began wondering where it came from, and for that matter, how it could have possibly swooped around in the sky like she had seen it do. She started to wonder again if her original theory of it being some new kind of top secret aircraft might be right after all when she noticed the object appeared to have a door too, for the side facing down towards the spot Spike now stood bore a handle and what could be a tumbler lock. But why this relatively small box that would barely fit one pony would have such a thing, none of them were sure. Rainbow would’ve thought that it would need more space inside to comfortably carry a passenger. The only other worthwhile features to note about the box was the small cylindrical light perched at its top, currently strobing slowly, weakly, and flickering like the other lights on the box. Then there was the noise it continued to produce as well, although it was much fainter now, sounding weak and almost sickly. Whir—prr—prr—prr…Whir—prr—prr—prr… For several long moments, the three just stood there in staggered positions along the tree branch, staring at the object and not sure what to do now that they were there below it. Finally, Rainbow took a few steps down the tree branch, closer to where Spike stood, craning her neck as she looked up at it. She was thinking about trying to fly up so she could see if they could try and shake the box loose from its spot, getting it away from the library before it could cause it any more harm, when the noise it was making abruptly changed. Whir—prr—prr—prr…Whir—prr—prr—prr—prreee—prreee—reeEEEEEEEEEEEE Startled by the sudden change in pitch of the noise, Flitter panicked. “Get away from it!” she urged, ducking back behind the shelter of the shrubbery she had never fully left. Rainbow and Spike started to back away as quickly as they dared given their precarious location, Rainbow beginning to spread her wings to take flight should the need arise, but otherwise they both kept their eyes on the box. The squeal it was making persisted for several moments, then with a loud POP that made Flitter yelp, the light atop of the box burst into a shower of sparks and the object immediately went both dark and silent. Another gush of smoke poured out the broken windows, but after that, everything was suddenly and eerily still. Rainbow held her breath in tense anticipation, fearing what might happen next. Spike, on the other hoof, was just starting to become brave enough to venture back towards the box when something heavy thudded against its door. Spike yelped and quickly backed away to Rainbow’s position again. Both froze when they heard something shake and rattle the door, as if struggling to open it. Rainbow’s eyes suddenly widened as she realized what was happening. “Something’s inside,” she breathed in chilled wonder. “There’s something inside that box, trying to get out!” Flitter gasped again, still mostly hidden behind the green cover of the tree, looking ready to flee at a moment’s notice. “Get away from it!” she hissed at Spike and Rainbow again, more urgently this time. But too scared to run now, the little dragon and blue pegasus mare remained rooted to the spot they stood, staring with wide-eyed fear as the door on the box continued to shake and rattle.