> My Little Nightmares > by A Winters Rose > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > (1) The Watch Box (Revised) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A little girl in a yellow raincoat stared down at the black void, watching a dark speck quickly fall from her vision. The speck was her friend, once. But not anymore. He would likely be dead once he reaches the bottom of whatever this place was. She didn't care. Without a second thought, she turned around on the walkway, facing the glaring static of what she compared to the televisions. Her way out. She walked slowly forward to the exit, shielding her eyes from the increasingly glaring view of the static, feeling the remains of the path crumble and fall to the abyss behind her. She didn't look back. Life goes on as normal for the ponies in Ponyville. Birds are singing, foals are playing, and everypony is calm and carefree. Well, except for a certain Alicorn princess. "Twilight, calm down!" A distressed voice shouted from within the Castle of Friendship. Princess Twilight Sparkle did not calm down. "Calm down? Calm down?! Spike, don't you know what this means?! Not only has New-Tech Industries made a ground breaking discovery, but they also improved my Watch Box to work without magic! There are so many outcomes and advantages that are now possible! They could even mass produce the Watch Box because, guess what, no Unicorn has to manually learn the spell to record something and get me to display it! There are so many other things that could be used in a similar manner, if only just-" It was at this point of which Twilight's assistant, Spike the Dragon, shoved a paw directly over her mouth. "Twilight! That's cool and all, but your going all crazy again." Twilight narrowed her eyes at spike, but finally relented. After freeing her mouth once more, she sighed and then took a deep breath to calm herself down. "Sorry, Spike. But its just... so much to take in!" Twilight said excitedly. Turning around, she moved over to the two items in the room: a large rectangular container, and a smaller box with a screen on it, which had a label under it reading "Watch Box". A wire was connecting the two, and the larger container, labeled "Generator" was vibrating and humming. "I mean, it is simply amazing that it can function without magic at all!" "So... what does it do exactly?" Spike asked skeptically. "Its just... sitting there." "Well that's because it isn't on yet. See?" Twilight responded. Walking closer, Twilight located the button on the side of the box, and pressed it. Almost immediately, the Watch Box turned on, abruptly showing a screen full of static and releasing a loud sound, which in turn startled Spike. "Gah!" Spike yelled as he fell backwards. "What the hay?!" "Spike! Language!" Twilight reprimanded. Spike just grumbled. Twilight walked back towards Spike and started to explain. "The Watch Box activates like that, its normal. Now, we can use it to watch something that was already recorded. Previously, the magic version of the Watch Box lets a unicorn with the correct spell to display their experiences from their own eyes. Now, instead, any pony with the supplementary recording camera can record anything they want without magic! After the recording, they can eject it with a recording stick, which is called a film, and insert it into a slot in the box to play it." Spike used his clawed hands to scratch his head at the explanation. "Right... so... where's the film?" Twilight paused. Then slowly smiled into a sheepish grin, to which Spike just deadpanned. "Heh... well... I must have forgotten that part while borrowing it from the New-Tech research center. Oh, don't give me that look Spike, this actually gives me an opportunity to test if It still works with magic. I read the change reports, but I don't recall them actually changing the base magical functionality... which makes me wonder if it actually does require magic. Or maybe it's used in a different way?" Spike shrugged, deciding to stay and watch. "Alright, here we go..." Twilight charged up her horn to cast the memory spell, before firing and directing it to the Watch Box when it was ready. Spike and Twilight waited for something to happen. And waited. And waited some more. "Twilight, its not working." "Yeah." "I'm gonna go now." "Yeah..." With that, Spike left the room. Twilight was staring at the Watch Box with a frown, considering any other options or improvements. Even if it wasn't still magic capable, maybe they could find other uses for magic in the future? Surely with all these new advances, technology wouldn't replace magic in the future... right? Twilight decided to scan the Watch Box with her magic. Maybe she could find out more about how it worked or what changed in relation to the magical enchants she had previously put on it. Surprisingly, there was a weird pull sensation at a certain point. Focusing on that pull, Twilight reached out her magic to explore what exactly it was. The pull only went further away, causing Twilight to pull back lest she be forced to loose the connection. Not exactly knowing what to do, she just kept pulling, feeling it get closer and stronger. It was soon very apparent that this was a bad decision. Twilight started to strain under the pressure, feeling like she was being pulled in the Watch Box itself along with her own magic. Not giving up, Twilight tried harder to pull whatever it was closer to her than the other way around. "Come on Twilight... your the element of magic... you can do this..." Twilight grunted and gritted her teeth, eyes narrowing, while the light of her horn was increasing in brightness, intensely lighting up the room she was in. The static of the Watch Box was moving around strangely enough, but that was a question for another time. And if she paid enough attention, she would also notice the sound of static becoming distorted. Twilight's eyes widened suddenly when she heard a crack of glass and smoke suddenly emitting from the Watch Box. Panicking, and not wanting to loose her connection less she get bad feedback from... whatever was happening, she did the next best thing. Twilight reached out with her magic, and hit the power button, instantly shutting off the Watch Box. Her connection to whatever she was holding on to was also lost to her disappointment. But, in the end, it was necessary to prevent making it explode or something. "Phew." Twilight sighed in relief. She looked over the Watch Box for any damages, and sure enough, there was a crack in the screen. Chuckling softly out of nervousness, she levitated the Watch Box and connected equipment to bring to the New-Tech center for repairs. "And I just got this from them, hopefully they won't be too mad." Twilight thought about what had just happened, but she was at a loss. She decided to put this event to further study after it is repaired on her checklist. And with that, she walked out of the room, Watch Box in tow. Steel Score trotted down the halls, heading towards his office. He wore a white lab coat along with black protective hoofwear. On the front of his coat resided a gold nametag that read "Director Steel Score". He passed many ponies wearing similar attire, as was required by standard procedure, procedure that was set by himself of course. The only ones who stood out were those wearing the black and blue security barding. Instead of a nametag, they wore a smaller badge of the New-Tech Industries logo. And one such pony was headed straight for him. "Good morning, Director! Here are the incident reports for the past week, as requested." The security pony spoke, showing the related documents he was carrying. Steel sighed, pressing his hoof to his eyes in annoyance. "Strong Hoof, I thought I told you to put any and all papers on my desk. That means everything, including incident reports. I told you this last time." Strong Hoof coughed into his hoof. "Uh, yeah. My bad." Steel levitated the papers anyway and continued on his way. "For the love of Celestia, at least try to listen next time." He said without looking back. "I swear, I'm surrounded by idiots." Steel muttered. Finally reaching his destination, and having glared at one too many ponies for standing in his way, Steel released his magical hold on the papers on his desk and let out a sigh in the comfort of his chair. And then the intercom on his desk went off. "Director Steel Score, Princess Twilight Sparkle just dropped off the Watch Box for repairs, said she damaged it on accident." A bored sounding voice reached his ears. "Oh for the love of-" Steel growled as he scooted over to reach the intercom, before pressing it. "Well then get somepony to fix it. Leave it in its room when their done, I'll have the Princess pick it up later." With that out of the way, Steel slumped back in his chair. "Damaged the Watch Box... wonderful. Simply wonderful." Steel sighed and rested his chin on his hoof. This was going to be another long day. A lone pony walking down the hall was whistling a marry tune while holding the Watch Box in a blue magical glow. He saw nopony else as he made his way past multiple doors with various signs, few were allowed in this section except for specifically selected researchers for various projects that were in the works. He finally reached his destination, stopping in front of a door not different from any other in the hall. The sign above the door simply read "Project #6". He unlocked the door with his master key card and stepped inside briefly to levitate the box on the floor next to a few storage crates. And with that, he turned to leave and closed the door behind him. The pony paused for a second, and looked back, confused. He could have sword he heard an echo deeper than usual when the door closed shut, was that always the case? He shrugged, and continued on his way. He had other things to do. As the pony walked further out of sight, the Watch Box suddenly came back to life with loud static, but only for a moment. The cracks grew, and the screen shattered into many pieces only seconds later. And another long day it was. Alarms blared inside the New-Tech Industries Research Center, as ponies were running about and yelling at each other, trying to figure out what was going on. Eventually, a pony in a black and blue barding, walked up to another pony in glasses, whos stance suggested that he was in charge. The security pony spoke before being addressed. "Director! Project number six is the room which had triggered the alarms. The box screen is shattered, and we have the pony responsible in holding, but unconscious." The director, with tired eyes, looked at the pony who brought the news that would only make his day much more difficult. "What do you mean, shattered?! I said have it repaired, repaired! That's the complete opposite from being repaired! Ugh, who is responsible, the princess will be most unhappy when she hears of this." The security pony shifted. "A... filly. In a yellow raincoat." The director's staring caused the security pony to feel rather uncomfortable. "I'm sorry... what?" > (2) A New World > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A little filly in a yellow raincoat stirred on the cold sheetless bed, only now waking up from her slumber. Even then, the feeling of waking up on something that resembles a bed was unusual, but welcome. She did not remember the last time she had a good night's sleep. But that wasn't the only thing that was unusual. She felt... strange. Sure enough, she was unable to move any of her limbs correctly, and the limited view of her appendages did not reveal much as they were covered by her yellow raincoat. Instead, she opted to sit up slowly and carefully, managing to push herself to an upright position through the strange feelings of her new arms. The filly tried to recall what led her to the present. She had just escaped from the strangest place she had ever seen, though barely, leaving him behind as she did. Just before that was hard to remember, but that did not matter. What mattered was that she was safe now. Or, that she was captured. Only now realizing, well, not realizing where she was, she began to scan the small room she was in. It was a bare, dull light-grey. There was a single door opposite from her, and two large windows bordering the sides of it, though they were too dark to make out anything on the other side. The only object within the room was the bed she resided on. Not wanting to wait and find out what will happen if she stayed here, the filly began to try for the door. And then she remembered her limited movement... that will have to come first. After a few minutes, the filly was able to stand on her hooves and take slow steps forward without falling on her face. It was blatantly obvious that she wasn't human anymore. She could still speak just fine, she found out after whispering quietly to check just that. She was some kind of animal. But she didn't know what, not that she knows many animals. The new legs would take some time to get used to, and the tail would just get in the way. The TV place must have changed her in some way. But, that wasn't what was important now. Safety always comes first, and she did not think she was safe here. With a few steps, she was in front of the door. She tried to carefully push on it after seeing it had no handle, but it did not budge. She tried again, and again, grunting with the effort of more force but to no avail. She looked up to the windows, but quickly discarded the idea of breaking them as they were too high up to reach. Doing so would also serve to alert anyone who might be nearby to her presence, so that wasn't an option. With nothing more to do, she looked back towards the bed, another plan forming in her head. "I'm positive, sir. She must have snuck in during the shift change. Not sure how she broke it though, she don't look to strong even for a pony her age." The hoofsteps of the three ponies echoed loudly in the hall with their increased gait, Director Steel Score leading the way, flanked by two of the site's security. Said Director growled in annoyance. "I will deal with your incompetence later. I swear, what is the point of hiring you fools if nothing you do actually matters?" The one who had been talking before simply cleared his throat in response, but otherwise said nothing. "Nevermind snuck in, how exactly did she get inside." "The door must have been unlocked somehow, maybe the janitor forgot to lock it?" The other one responded. Soon enough, the group paused in a smaller hallway extending from the main one they were in. Doors lined the walls without pause until the path would lead to a dead end, each door marking each room with a sign above it, labeling "Holding Cell A, Holding Cell B", etc. "Which Room?" Steel Score asked nopony in particular. "Holding Cell A, sir." The talkative one responded. Steel rolled his eyes at himself. Of course, It's not like we have anypony else in holding. The group entered the holding hall and with a few more steps, reached the indicated door. Steel activated the device on the wall directly besides the door with his magic, the door itself sliding open directly from the middle soon after, with both halves of the door sliding off into a section of the wall on either side. He stepped inside and took a look around, and noticed quite quickly of the lack of an elephant in the room. "Nopony. Is. Here." The filly was laying down stock still, daring not to move. She heard the voices before they came in, and she reasoned there was more than one. She had no reason to trust them, and so she had no reason to show herself rather than being completely hidden and safe. Well, as hidden and safe as one can be while hiding under a bed. To be fair, more than a few of the "people" she had run into so far hadn't been bright enough to check under small places where she could fit. A few moments had passed, and she could no longer hear any noise as the silence of the room returned. She didn't think they had left yet, but the lack of noise was unusual if they were still looking. Had they gone? Her thoughts were proven wrong however, as the bed she was laying under suddenly shot up in the air, leaving her exposed to the light and the open air. A loud "Ahah!" was heard in close proximity. With no time to think, the filly acted on the spot and did what she did best: ran. "Hey- get her!" She had little time to judge her surroundings or who had found her, the only thing she knew for certain was the general direction of the door. On instinct alone, the filly dodged to the side when one of them jumped in front of her, sliding with her landing directly under another one that had tried to flank her. She found the door with a quick glance and was relieved to see it open. With her path now clear, she made a run for it. And then tripped on her own unfamiliar hooves. She groaned soon after she met the ground with her head. Confusion replaced pain as a blue glow surrounded her, and she felt herself lifting on the ground. She struggled and panicked all at once, trying to escape whatever was holding her while also trying to figure out where it was coming from. The answer was soon clear as her vision was replaced by two large, blue, angry, eyes. The filly in the yellow raincoat was sitting down on a stone bench, with the lead "person" - Director Steel as he called himself, on the opposite side, separated by a small table. They were alone in the small room with a single light shinning down above them. The filly, for her part, was conflicted. For one, she was afraid of what the animal thing wanted from her. Well, she supposed she was an animal thing too, but wasn't sure. "How did you get in here?" The Director was glaring down at the filly, waiting for a response. The filly, for her part, didn't know what to say. She felt some comfort in the raincoat she wore as it obscured her face, so she didn't have to look directly into (his?) eyes. Instead, she took a look around the room for what felt like the 6th time, but just as she concluded the other times, there was no where to go or hide. The director sighed and muttered to himself. "Right... ahem. You are not in trouble, miss. I can have it repaired easily. What's your name?" His glare disappeared and he spoke gently. The filly focused back on him, and a few seconds more passed. She didn't trust him. And she didn't trust herself to speak. "Do you have any parents?" The filly continued to stare. "How old are you?" A few more minutes passed, with nothing changing. The director left soon after, groaning in annoyance, which she didn't mind. She continued to sit there, taking everything new in. She was in an unfamiliar place, in an unfamiliar body. The people she had met weren't significantly larger than her and appeared less threatening, even if they had captured her for some unknown purpose. She hopped off the chair, and laid herself down in a corner of the room to rest, and wait. She had no idea what the future held in store, but she hoped... no. She told herself she would never hope again. To hope is to let your guard down and expect for the worst to not happen. The worst always happens.