//------------------------------// // Chapter Three: The Shrill Sound of a Lyre // Story: The Nightmares of Equestria // by The Warmaster //------------------------------//     Lyra  Heartstring’s POV    “Good night, Bonbon!” I called, trotting up the stairs. We had just finished up our Nightmare Night party, and everypony had already left.    “Good night.” Came the muffled reply, as Bonbon was currently laying facedown into a pillow. I climbed into the soft confines of my bed, and slowly drifted off to sleep.  ×××××××   I awoke to a strange office. Two vents sat at the sides, with a button labeled ‘light’ above both. A fan whirled lazily on the desk, with a flashlight sitting on the desk, as well as a few crumpled up pieces of paper, and a soda. To the right was a  bunch of weird boxes all stacked up, and a large, dark hallway loomed in front of me. At my hooves was a small pad and a funny looking bear mask. I picked up the mask with my magic, and placed it over my head. I then grabbed the pad with my hooves, and examine it.    As I fiddled with it, the screen blinked to life, showing a room, along with a set of buttons named ‘Cam 1’ and so forth. I pressed each button, flickering to each room. At the ‘Stage area’ was a weird looking bear, and as I watched, it snapped it's  head towards me, it's eyes glowing a deep red at the pupils. I blinked, and it changed completely. Instead of what had looked kinda cute, now stood a demonic version.  It had razor sharp teeth,  with holes in it's fur, and evil eyes. It waved it's  hand at me, and- wait, hand? HAND?! I squeed  in joy at the sight of the hand, even though it was more like a talon. Five fingers jutted out of the palm,  with a talon at each end.  When I looked back to it's  head, I noticed it had almost a quizzical look, with it's  head tilted and a eyebrow raised. Then the picture fizzled out for a moment, and when it reappeared, the bear was gone.   “Hello?” a deep, ominous voice called out.    ÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷ Daring Do’s  POV    “Well, Ms. Do, what we were able to see inside of the suit appeared to be in close appearance as the mythical ‘Human’ species, however decayed it might have been.  If it truly is a ‘human’, then you might have just proven that they existed once before ponies existed. The technology, however, was inseparable from the corpse inside, as if fused to it. We dare not touch it, in fear of it causing damage  to either the  machine or the corpse. We might just have to keep it as a single artifact,  and display it with the mask pulled up.” Dusty told me, before motioning over a few ponies.    “Due to this incredible find, we think it right to raise the amount of bits you earn for finding it. The rest of the team will also be rewarded, so don't worry. Right here is fifty thousand bits.” The two ponies placed a giant bag full of bits in front of me. I stared at it, before sighing.    “Dusty, you know I don't need this. Stop trying to give me your bits, and instead just credit me with finding the human.”  I said, shaking my head. He nodded, and waved the other two off. As they left, I thought about maybe writing a novel  about this...nah, then the fans would be able to realize that I was Daring Do after all, and that my adventures were real. I already have seven ponies who know, and that's  more than the amount I wanted.    “Of course, Ms. Do. What should  I credit as an alias?”  Dusty asked, and I thought about it.   “Maybe… Artemis?” I asked, and he nodded.   “Very well, Artemis, I will have that name in the newspaper by tomorrow. Again, I thank you for the incredible find. Anyways, it's  near closing time, and our night guard should be here in ten minutes, so why don't we head home for the night?” Dusty said, checking his watch. I nodded,  and turned around, before heading out  the building.   ÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷   Later that night….    “Man, this is great. I get to sit here, do nothing but watch these cameras all night, and kick back and relax. Nothing better!” The Night Guard, a Pegasus by the name of name of Wild Guilt, said, sitting back in his chair. He began reading his magazine of ‘The Power Ponies’, which was the latest issue.   As he read, he failed to notice  the new box that recently came in slide open, and a decayed golden rabbit thing stepped out,  testing it's  arms and legs, before staring at the camera. The camera screen flickered, before turning to static. Wild Guilt looked up.    “Huh. That's odd… this is a brand new system. The cameras shouldn't  be failing…”  He muttered  to himself, before shrugging and returning to his magazine.  I'll have the mechanics look at it in the morning.”    then another camera went out, this time with the words ‘Camera deactivated' in red text scroll across the screen. He looked up again.    “Is somepony messing with the systems?” He asked, sitting up and pulling out his flashlight.  He got out of his chair, and began  walking towards the area where the latest camera went offline.    When he arrived, he took a look around, before flying up to the camera. When he got close, he flicked on his flashlight again with a flick of his tongue.    The camera was completely trashed, with the lense shoved inwards and out the back. He quickly turned around, and shouted, “Alright, who's  messing with me? These things are expensive!” He shouted, his voice echoing through the halls. He heard a thump in the next room, and went to investigate. When he got there, everything was untouched. He checked the sign next to him.    “Ancient Roamane  Artifacts and history… I don't see why anyone would be in here.” He said, before turning around and bumping into something and falling to the floor.    “Ow! What the buck? What did I...hit….” He cursed as he looked up, and into the glowing eyes of the golden rabbit.  It let loose a loud scream, and grabbed Guilties  head, and picked him up. The rabbit raised him up to it's  own head, which was seven feet from the ground. It growled, before raising it's mask with it's other hand, revealing a decayed head, with only five teeth. It's  skin was pink, with absolutely  no hair accompanying  it. Those same glowing white eyes glared at him, before taking his head in both hands, and squeezed.    “Ah...agh...graaagh!” Guilty shouted as his head was slowly crushed, before a loud Crack sounded out, and his head was caved in. Springtrap carried the now dead corpse of Wild Guilt to the trash can outside, and dropped the corpse inside. He walked back to his box, and stepped in, before sealing the box completely.    “I-I will bring J-jo-Death-joy to all the girls and boys.” He growled from inside the box, before  closing  his eyes once more. Being crushed from a suit and slowly decaying for thirty years since arriving at this world had driven him entirely insane. He only saw the small equines as a source of food, but when he found he had no way of eating the corpse, he had decided to toss it away. He knew that it must have been a default in his systems, so he wanted to try again after finding the error.    “Tomorrow….is….another...day…” He muttered.    ÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷ Lyra’s  POV    It had been exciting for the first hour. Then it had become terrifying. At random, the creepy bear had appeared, and without the mask on, I would have died. Then there was that weird  child thing with lots of teeth and bony fingers that came in on occasion, and at one point had tried to eat me. I shuddered at the memory of that, before hearing a dark laugh. I looked up and saw the bear in front of my face, jaw lowered in preparation  to bite. The inside of his mouth was almost entirely mechanical, with no fleshy bits anywhere. I tried to pull down the mask, but it swatted it away, before chomping down on my forehead. I screamed.   ××××××× “AAAAHHH!” I jumped out of bed, flailing my hooves everywhere in a panic. I was then slapped in the face, and a voice called out, snapping me out of my panic.    “What's  the matter with you?! It's four in the morning!” Bonbon shouted,  and I immediately  calmed down. Outwardly, that is.    “Sorry, Bonbon. Just a nightmare, that's  all. Hey, do you think you could, um, I don't  know,  stay here for the night?” I asked, my eyes shifting from side to side, examining my room. She sighed.    “Fine, but you owe me one.” She jumped onto the bed. I followed her, with a small headache creeping in. I laid down and quickly fell back asleep, unaware of the tiny dots of blood collecting on my forehead.