//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Loosened Screw // by RealityWarper //------------------------------// "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?