Curse of Clocks

The room glows orange as the fireplace lights the area, keeping it warm and the room well lit. Above it is a picture of a white earth pony stallion with a brown mane and tail and has hazel eyes and a cherry-red unicorn with a red and black mane and tail and has velvet-violet eyes. They both are holding a foal in their hooves, one a colt, the other a filly. This is the Inkwells family portrait. Ray has known the Inkwells family for at least two years and has helped them with their jobs and foal-sitting every once in a while.

Quilton "Quills" Inkwells is a police detective with Ponyville Police Department and is trying out for Celestia's Secret Service Squad. On the side, he is a great writer and has many books published about serial killers, crimes, and even his own personal logs have been made into books. Burnt Red, Quills' wife, is a surgeon in a mental hospital. Though the hospital is for mental patients, she specializes in any and all surgeries. She's the head nurse at the hospital as well as one of the surgeons. The two foals, Snowy and Stormy, are like two miniature Discords: they cause chaos wherever they go, but they mean no harm and just love to play. Snowy is a unicorn, and Stormy is an earth pony, both a unique shade of red with interesting green eyes.

As the fire in the fireplace crackles, Ray begins to get up and stretch when a white earth pony stallion comes into the room with a writing quill behind his left ear. With a glance, he looks at Ray and gives a relieved smile. "Ah, good," he says with a deep British accent, "You're finally awake. I was beginnin' to worry there for a second."

Distraught, Ray asks a little shakily "What time is it?" With that, the white pony drops his jaw and the quill from behind his ear falls to the ground.

"Hey hon..." the pony calls to the other room, "Can you please come and bring us each a spot o' tea and some ink splotches... Ray here can't tell the time anymore..."

"Tell... Time..." Ray repeats to himself. Within a second the nightmares come back to him in a flash: a pool of blood where Amyah used to be, seeing that demon morph into his once beloved, drowning on blood from only Celestia knows where, and... His now dead unborn foals. With a jolt of memory, Ray immediately looks out the window. "Quills, the time is 2:37 PM on October 28, 2014. Right now, I need to know what's going on outside."

"Er... That was awfully quick for a recovery of amnesia," Quills said picking his quill up from the ground, "And from what I can tell, it's another normal day in Ponyville."

Ray sits in silence as he watches a few fillies and colts play a variation of hoof-ball. A few seconds later, Red comes in and sets some tea down, "There you go, I hope he gets feeling better soon and not end up in the ward for a treatment." She uses some magic to set down the ink splotches and says, "I'll let you conduct the interview. Give me a holler if you need me for anything, okay Quills?"

"Righto," Quills says releasing a sigh, "Alright Ray, you ready for this then?"

Ray goes and sits on the couch and has a calm look on his face as though the hell he escaped from never existed, "Yes sir, I do believe I am Detective Inkwells."

"No need for the formalities Ray, but this is in fact a police investigation," Quills says getting a pad ready to write on.

"And why is that? Wasn't I just sleep walking?"

"Unfortunately for you, no, you weren't."

"Who made the call for the investigation then?" Ray asks sipping his tea.

"Your wife," Quills says writing a note down, "Apparently, you never made it to bed, but it appeared you made it to the couch. After a bi' o' a struggle with wha'ever it was, she saw you walk into the room. Your eyes were open, but she claims you had a look of terror in your eyes with a bit of emptiness in them."

With that statement, Ray grimaced, recalling what he witnessed in the nightmare. "Yeah... I saw something that nopony should've seen..."

"And what would that 'ave been Ray?" Quills asks ready to write again.

"A monster... It butchered..." Ray trails off with a tear rolling down his cheek.

Quills writes down the note real quick, "I see... But there was no--"

"I was asleep Quilton," Ray said firmly with a slight bit of aggression in his voice, "What I saw versus any testimony given will never add up. Everything was upside down, backwards, and transformed into a living, breathing world of hell. Something was trying to kill me, this much I can tell you without doubt. All I do know is that a monster pursued me and did a number on me."

"Really now?" Quills says writing down what Ray said, remaining calm, "You look fine to me."

"Yeah, I know. It was a very lucid nightmare, I need to take sleep medication, blah blah blah," Ray said rolling his eyes feeling humiliated, "Just... If I caused any damage, just send me the bill... I'll take responsibility for the damages I caused."

"Herein lies the problem," Quills says sitting up, "Sleep walking, you did no damage, nor did you do anything when Amyah touched you. When you say that monster did a number on you... How did you react?"

"I was drowning at the time in a pool of blood so thick I couldn't move. I could've sworn it tore my leg off or at least out of socket, but I seem to be fine."

"I see... I found you just as you collapsed in the rain storm, so I picked you up and drug you back over here."

Ray thinks back to the nightmare one last time, "Quills... I got lucky. I would've died, but the water must've taken me out of the nightmare. I know for a fact that there is a force trying to kill me."

Writing down some notes and thinking, Quills turns the page, writes a couple more things down and goes to the next page. "Do you know where the source of this 'force' came from?"

"Well... I--" a loud crash cuts Ray off as a foal cries from having broken something.

"Blast!" Quills says with slight panic, "I'll be back." He quickly rushes upstairs and tends to the little ones.

Ray lets off a heavy sigh and casts his gaze back out the window. Once again, he's watching the fillies and colts. It seems more has joined the game of hoof-ball, and even a second game is being carried on. As he sees each of them smiling, watching as they laugh in joy, he notices one small filly with a dark gray coat and an indigo mane and tail try to join the others, but they keep avoiding her as if she's not welcome. Ray watches silently as the filly keeps being rejected by her peers. Before long, she begins to form small tears in her sapphire blue eyes. As he contemplates whether or not he should console her, a large figure drabbed in some sort of tattered earth-brown sack comes up to her, while the others ignore this sight. It appears to be a pale gray unicorn with a white mane and tail as well as a scar over his left eye as well as being blind in that eye. The filly immediately begins to bawl and back away from it. Ray begins to move with unease, but can't seem to leave the view of the window. The monstrosity of a stallion approaches the filly before picking it up with magic. As if having heard of this creature before, the filly begins to shake her head and plea silently to the mysterious pony. With a grin, showing off its smoky yellow teeth, he looks over at Ray. Ray, locks eyes with the stallion, one eye being blind, the other being crimson red. The stallion tilts his head to the right and the filly screams a loud, deafening shriek, but is silenced when the unicorn snaps his neck to the left.

CRACK!

The filly is instantly motionless and the stallion just drops the body as if she were garbage. Ray, infuriated, watches the beast of a pony as he pulls a hood over his head and glares at Ray before giving an evil grin. He puts a hoof up to his mouth, as if signaling Ray to be silent, and then turns away. The other foals continue to play as though there was never a tussle though.

Finally free from whatever it was that held Ray's body still, he rushes outside and to the scene where the bloody deed occurred, but what he saw was baffling: no pony was there. There were no fillies or colts playing any games, no murderous stallion, no dead filly, nothing. Ray stands there for a second before rubbing his eyes to clear his vision a bit more. When he looks at his hoof, a crusty yellow mucous lays broken on his leg.

"Strange..." Ray says out loud, "Nothing was irritating my eyes earlier..." He looks around and sees no pony around whatsoever, not even Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash.  Vendor stalls were empty as if no pony had been there all day. He looks up at the sky to check the time and immediately gasps in shock and awe at what he sees: the sun is no longer in the east side of the sky, but rather the west. "It's... No way... It's 1:23 PM..."

"Ray!" Quills comes out quickly, "What's wrong then?" he asks with a British accent, "You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"I... I... When did I wake up?" Ray asks, voice quivering, but firm at the same time.

"About five minutes ago, why?"

Ray's heart stops as he realizes that he may or may not be awake. A moment ago, it was almost 2:40, and now, it's almost 1:25. He just watched a very realistic scene of a filly dying right before his eyes while others ignored it, and at the same time, managed to have not remembered ever waking up with a huge time gap. He shakes his head and heaves a heavy sigh. "Let me guess, everypony is at work right now?"

"Erm... Yes?" Quills says puzzled, "Why do you ask?"

"Well, sadly, I can't exactly say without sounding crazy..." Ray says scratching his leg feeling embarrassed and slightly ashamed.

"Ah, a conversation with my wife then?" Quills says leading Ray back inside, "I'll give you the address of her office. Would you like tea before you go? To help calm your mind?"

"Sure, but I'd rather see a pony that doesn't know me... I know your wife has good intentions, but I don't want this anymore personal than it already is." Ray says following Quills inside.

"Righto, I understand. One Ashwaganda tea coming up." Quills said happily trotting, slightly showing off his heritage through tea making.

"Asha-what now?" Ray asks tilting his head to the side.

"Ashwaganda," Quills begins, "is anti-stress tea. It helps calm the mind and relax the body. It also can help keep strange dreams away and nasty nightmares as well."

"I'll happily take a cup," Ray says delighted at the thought, thinking he may be free of this terror from a plant that helps the mind. He figures he could drink that tea for eternity if it kept that monster away from his sleep.

As Quills leaves to make the tea, Ray ponders something: what if he is still asleep? How will he know what is real and what isn't real? He looks around and realizes his best bet may be to become familiar with his environment and look for signs. As Ray thinks back now, Quills actually never took a family photo before. He was always too busy with work as a detective and writer to do anything like that, let alone the fact his foals aren't that old. Being as young as they are, it would be difficult for them to stay focused that long.

"Luna... Help me through the following nights..." Ray quietly pleaded, hoping his wish would be heard. He then decided to join Quills inside for a cup of tea and to be interviewed for his disappearance.

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Trotting down a quiet path is usually a peaceful concept. Just not when the path belongs to a mental asylum where the silence means mandatory check ups. So far, Ray notices that everything is normal and not dream-like or surreal. This brings a sense of peace over Ray's mind as he approaches the doors to the hospital. He sits on the bench to gather his thoughts and recollect what happened before going inside.

As it turns out, Amyah did in fact make a call to Quills to conduct an investigation after Ray had left the house. She didn't give pursuit because of the stress because of her pregnancy. She called the family's close friend and detective Quills Inkwells and told him where Ray appeared to be headed. As though by luck, Quills had snuck up behind Ray. When Ray lifted his hoof, lightning struck and scared him to death. After that, a bit of hail hit Ray's side and he took off. The detective gave pursuit and ended up tackling Ray and putting him in a sleeper hold, which gave the illusion where Ray thought he was drowning on blood. After that, everything is as it was. Ray woke up panicked, ran outside and made a fool of himself.

'At least I know what happened for real this time and that no pony was hurt,' Ray thought to himself as he got up and entered the hospital.

Upon entering, a sense of controlled chaos overwhelms the room. Some of the wallpaper has been torn down, lights of been busted and some are flickering, a brown substance has been smeared along the walls and somehow on the ceiling, the places smells strongly of paint, and police forces in riot gear are alongside the walls and close to all exits.

"Sorry sir," the receptionist said looking up at Ray, "Due to circumstances, we are only accepting new patients that are going to be checking in with us. No new therapy patients or visits to friends or family."

Thinking about the circumstances of last night and what happened, Ray questions whether or not he would really be safe locked up. Considering what all happened, it may be the best course of action. His environment only changed when he was moving.

'If I were unable to move in my nightmares,' Ray thought, pacing slowly, 'would I actually get sleep? Would Luna come to aid me?'

"Sir?" the receptionist said, breaking Ray's train of thought.

"Huh?" Ray says startled, "Oh, uh... Well, you see..." he says stalling a bit, thinking of his final choice, "I need to... Well, to put it bluntly... I need to be protected."

"Protected?" she asked, becoming a little cautious.

"I'm having these nightmares that make me wander the streets, with full motor skills. Why do I need to be protected? I almost drowned myself in a pond," Ray says, lying about the last part, hoping to get somewhere with this.

"I see," she says almost rolling her eyes.

"And I hear voices telling me to kill ponies," Ray says noticing the loss of interest in her eyes.

"Come again?" the receptionist asked, feeling a little uncomfortable.

"Yeah, the voices tell me to kill ponies. Ponies like you."

With Ray's last statement, he was forced to the ground and cuffed from behind without being aware of the security guard's presence. After that, he found himself being thrown rather violently into a padded cell. Before too much longer, a nurse came in with a sedative and a straightjacket.

"Before I give you this shot to make you sleep, care to tell me your name?" she asked preparing a needle.

"Under two conditions," Ray said, hoping to persuade her to not give him an injection, "and they are not outrageous, I promise."

"What are these conditions?"

"First, I do believe one should introduce oneself before asking for someone else's name."

"Well, since this is very unusual for a patient to be so seemingly normal, I don't see the harm. My name is Dusky Dawn."

"I'm Ray Pendulum Clocks," he says with a smile and slight nod, "The second condition is that you put me in that straightjacket before you do anything else. I'm not going to put up a fight, nor will I protest. The truth is I need to be kept safe for a night. I came to see a doctor, but had to plea insanity to be even remotely looked at as a patient. I wander around at night in awful nightmares, but suppose this here padded room is locked and I can't move easily. That means I can't wander around or get hurt."

"I see," Dusky says, flicking the needle to get the air out, "I'll meet you half way. This is a weak sedative, so the amount I give you won't knock you out. But, I am required to give you a shot for policy reasons," She says sticking the needle into Ray's foreleg without warning.

The room began spinning for Ray as he felt woozy, but he could fight off the sleep if he could stand up. As soon as he made the attempt to stand, he fell back down immediately. With his thoughts clouded, he can't seem to form a thought nor can he clearly focus on anything. Before he knows it, a nurse sits him upright and puts him in a straightjacket.

"There you go Mr. Clocks," she said, "Better?" Ray's eyes started to close as his mouth opened to answer.

"Mu... ch... Better..." he mumbles out wearily, losing consciousness.

"Maybe I gave you too much..." is the last thing he hears before passing out completely.

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Ray begins to stir quietly as the sedative wears off. Unable to move, he smiles a bit, lifting his head. As he opens his eyes, he sees a hole in the wall that he doesn't remember seeing before There appears to be a dim light emitting from it. Shaking off the awkward feelings from the drug, he gets up and balances his way to the hole to have a look in it.

"Let's see here..." he says putting his face up to it, "What's on the other side?" A stained wall is the only thing he can see from his perspective. "Well, what was I expecting? They do need to clean up the mess a bit though. I get the riot was big, but come on. With that many guards, you would at least expect--"

"That many janitors, right?" a deep and dark voice says, finishing the sentence from behind Ray.

Ray quickly turns around, losing his balance and falling. When he looks up, his eyes are locked in with the other pony's eyes, one being blind, the other crimson red. "No... No way..." Ray says, his heart beginning to accelerate, "It's you, you bastard!"