I lay drifting in an endless expanse of pitch-blackness. As I awoke in the blank abyss, I gazed at my arm. It was still the blue flipper, yet I was unsure why, or what was happening. My head darted around, taking in the absolute wall of darkness. As I inspected my surroundings, they abruptly changed.
The entire dreamscape was slowly being warped, changing colors flashing before me, as the entire sky around me slowly pixelated. I looked behind me, seeing the sky behind me was still pitch-black. The assault on my senses was blinding, yet it was all beautiful in a way at the same time. I felt a chill run down my back, and my view was instantly drawn towards the shifting area in front of me.
A flashing rift was ripped open, and the area that lay beyond it was alternating between black and white. It was almost too much to look at. I shielded my eyes with my arms, as a strange shape emerged from the rift. It looked just as scrambled as the sky around me, and it had a backwards-L shape that was a little thick on the side.
I thought back to my drawing, and realized it was the same exact shape.
Trembling in fear, the shape gradually moved in my direction, the corrupted sky following it's form. The eldritch abomination tilted it's entire self to view me. The pixelated mess that was it's body shifted, the pattern looking like television static in the way it moved. I stayed still, not wanting to move, in case it tried to attack me.
Instead, it spoke up, it's voice like a thousand screaming computer sounds, "YOU ARE AN INTRUDER HERE."
As it spoke, my head flared, pain piercing through me like a hot soldering iron through my forehead. I screamed in pain, falling to the invisible ground, clutching my head. As I writhed on the ground in pure agony, the pixel creature floated over to me. It seemed to size me up, as if deeming me worth it's time or not.
It spoke again, it's words catching my existence on water and fire at the same time, "EXPLAIN."
I dragged my head over to look at it.
"I don't think I can take much more of this." I said, before realizing I had said that out loud instead of in my mind.
Unless I was in my mind.
I shook my head, groaning, and slowly rose up. I looked at the creature, and was unable to find anything resembling a face on it. I sighed, and spoke up, not wanting to anger it further.
"I am here by complete accident. I'm terribly sorry, I would leave if I could." I apologized, pouring as much of my sincerity into my words as possible.
I rubbed my forehead, and clenched my eyes shut, trying to rid my mind of the searing pain. I wasn't going to be getting any rest from it, it seems, as the pixel entity in front of me spoke once more.
"I SEE. DO NOT DISRUPT ME OR MY DOMAIN, AND YOU MAY REMAIN HERE."
I fell to the ground again, the burning feeling churning in my head. I watched as it turned around, and made it's way back into the rift. As the rift sealed shut behind it, the sky lost it's coloring, and I was left in the darkness once more. I collapsed to the floor, and curled up in a ball.
I rocked back and forth, with a million questions buzzing in my mind, but one was most forefront.
"Why is that thing in my head?"
[|||]
Twilight was sitting at her desk, resting on the smooth wood. Heaving a sigh, she lifted up her head, and picked up a quill in her magic. Levitating a parchment to the desk, she began to write. The cursive flowed across the page, the quill swiftly moving about the paper. As she wrote, Spike walked into the room.
Upon seeing Twilight at the desk, he shook his head. After that creature had nearly blown up the laboratory and set the tree on fire, he had worried Twilight was injured, but she continued to assure him she made it out without a scratch on her. The small dragon had just finished washing the dishes, and was ready to curl up in his basket with a good comic book.
Spike strode over and up the staircase, eyeing the bed at the top with uncertainty. He entered the bedroom above, and saw the being that had had a spastic fit earlier. It's red and blue form lay prone across the bed, yet not without some movement. It would occasionally jerk it's body, as if in pain, then relaxing itself again.
Spike wondered if it was having a nightmare, or if it even could have nightmares. Clearing his head of such thoughts, he sluggishly plopped himself into his bed, which was more of a basket than anything else. He reclined himself back, before reaching into the blanket under him, retrieving a new Power Ponies issue.
Flipping to where he left off, he let himself become immersed into the story, no longer caring for anything but the comic book.
Spike failed to notice the Porygon-Z beginning to stir.
[|||]
I was tired, that much was obvious. I groggily opened my dartboard eyes, feeling the weight of my body in full force. Activating Magnet Rise, I took a moment to see where I was. Spike was reading a comic book, not even looking up to meet me. I shrugged, and hovered over towards the stairs, only to find my balance was off from the pain I had to endure earlier.
I overcompensated on my tilt, sending me crashing into a wall. I lazily struggled, my torso embedded slightly in the wood. Giving up on my endeavor, I decided to just hang there until I got help. I took a glance at Spike, who was still oblivious to everything going on around him. Whatever he's reading must be very interesting.
I heard the rapid clopping of hooves. Twilight reached the top of the stairs as soon as I turned my head.
I motioned my arms out to emphasize my predicament.. "A little help here?"
She gasped at the sight of me stuck in the wall. I was a bit dazed from my strange visit in the dream, and hadn't quite gotten my bearings together. She grabbed me with a levitation spell, and pulled. My Magnet Rise was unexpectedly deactivated, causing me to fall to the floor in a pile of blue limbs.
"Every time..." I groaned, flying up into the air once more. Twilight looked a little worried, but I waved a dismissive flipper in her direction. Shaking my head, I made my way downstairs, trying to keep myself level and steady. Once I reached the first floor, I was met with book piles littering the library.
Twilight trotted down next to me, while looking a little sheepish, and explained the mess.
"Sorry, I was looking for some information about a box. I haven't found anything yet." She picked up a book, and began to flip the pages, analyzing every word to find what she was looking for.
I rubbed my sore torso, and tried to crack my neck, only to be met with nothing.
Oh, yeah, no neck. Well, that's one plus. No more stiff neck in the morning...
"Alright, so you're not worried at all that I just hurt myself?" I asked, tilting my head in confusion.
Twilight walked over to me, and looked me over, while I just floated in place. Her horn lit up, and the bandages--that I had forgotten about--were carefully unwrapped by her magic. She checked over my body, while I fidgeted, the urge to zoom around the place like a madman returning.
She chuckled. "You're perfectly fine! I see no signs of injury."
I imitated a sigh of relief, while Twilight continued to search through the books. Then, it finally clicked in my head about what she was researching about.
Wait, a box?