The Kill Box

Undisclosed location, Ponyville, Present Day

In the center of a small, damp room, filled with the smell of rotting flesh and wood, lies a figure. The figure is sprawled out lying on top of a bed; blood stains litter the sheets and pillows, as the figure-jostled in sleep-shifts around. As the figure's motions get more and more spastic, it finally bolts awake, squinting into the confines of it's current cell. Just as the figure's mouth opens, a voice comes over the PA system in the ceiling.

GOOOD MORNING EVERYPONY! Or should I just say "pony"? There's only one of you after all-the game would be too easy otherwise. And easy is anything but what this should be for you.

"Who are you? What do you want!?!" the figure yells to the PA.

There's a pause as the unknown man operating the PA ponders her questions. Who am I? He starts, WHO AM I? HA HA HA, OH HA HA AHA...oh, OH! You crack me up. He takes a moment to recompose himself after his laughing fit, I am...well now, let's not spoil the surprise...how about you just call me The Caretaker for now. And as for my motive...well...I DON'T FUCKING KNOW! He enters another long winded fit that doesn't die down for a couple of minutes.

Unnerved by the Caretaker's actions, the figure looks up fearfully at the PA, "Well...what do you need with me?"

Hmmm...what do I need with you? OH! I know now-I need you to just go and, ah, kill yourself so I don't have to do it for you.

The figure's fear turns into rage at the new information, "You dare to threaten royalty!?! You could be charged with treason for the mere act!"

Royalty? Wha-OH! I remember now...you WERE coronated recently. I suppose I should be calling you PRINCESS now. Right, Twilight?

Silence. The air fills with the sound of quiet static as neither make a move to talk.

Hmm...not much of a chatter aren't ya. OH Well... the voice says with exaggerated slow ness, I guess I'll leave you to it for now. TA TA!

All that is heard for now is the click of the speaker shutting off, leaving silence to come once again.

Twilight's scowl at the speaker quickly turns to a frown, and even quicker into a crying mess. She collapses onto the floor of the room, barely able to controll her own breathing. "come on...keep it together me...you can get through this." She takes a moment to reconsider, "Well...most likely get through this."

Looking around the space she's in, she notices a camera positioned above a door in the corner of the room. "That must be what he's useing to watch me as I get around" Twilight thinks with a grimace. "I wonder if the door is unlocked..." she thinks to her self as she looks around more, "That could just be my ticket out of he-wait is that a body?"

Looking into the far corner away from the door, Twilight spots the hunched over figure of another in the room. "Ah! Good. Well at least I'm not alone in this freakish nightmare." Twilight exclaims as she makes her way to get the attention of the other person. "Hey, you alright in th-AAHHH!"

Twilight quickly jumps back as the body suddenly rolls over and looks directly into her eyes. Noting the hair colour and shape, she realizes that she is looking into the life less corpse of none other than Lyra Heartstrings.

HA HA! You seem to have found the last person who I abduct- I mean ASKED to WILLINGLY volunteer for an 'experiment'.

Horrified, Twilight asks, "What did you do to her!"

Sounding uninterested, the Caretaker replys Oh I did nothing. She merely cried herself into shock, and died in the corner, alone. He sighs, Such a boring person, with a boring story. All she did was cry, talk about Bon-Bon, cry some more, and then mope in silence for sometime; and repeat.

"But wasn't she the overseer of the museum?" Twilight asks, "She was living a happy life running that job! In fact, I remember talking to her just before- wait...oh...OH..." and then in hushed tones, "her disappearance...she came here when she disappeared."

The Caretaker starts to cackle, Ah HA! You've uncovered the secret to the plan! Yes, 'Miss Twilight', every disappearance case for the past while has all been MY handiwork. Bringing them here soon enough for my 'games'.

Suspicious, Twilight looks at the PA speaker, "What 'games'?"

OH you'll learn soon enough little one. In fact you could say they're JUST AROUND THE CORNER. Cackling with laughter, he leaves once more.

"Oh yeah? Well...uh...buck you!" She yells back. Looking back at the door, she cautiously makes her way to open it. Just as her hand is about to grasp the handle, she pauses, hand hovering. "Wait, it can't be that easy to get out of here. If I trapped someone in a room, I wouldn't leave an unlocked door to escape from." Twilight thinks, "However, this 'Caretaker' person said there were other people before me, so how'd they get out?" Her gaze shifts from the door, to the handle, and to the door again in rapid sucsession. "I'll try opening the handle from the rim, not the whole knob."

Sure enough, as Twilight turns the handle, a small blade ejects from the center of the knob. She gets down to inspect the blade, and sees a small droplet of clear liquid fall off and hit the floor from it. "Well well well, how's that for 'dumb princess'?" Twilight mentally gloats to herself, as she opens the door.

The only response she got was the subtle clinking of the lock as a deadbolt on the other side, preventing her exit.

Twilight gives off an angry and displeased look at the doorframe, and turns back around to look at the room once again. In another glance around her little "cell", she takes note of a moldy dresser, pull-out bed, and Lyra's corpse.

Curious, she decides to check under the bed first "Always the bed where the secrets are kept." Twilight thinks with a smirk.

Turning the bed over, she finds what appears to be the outline of a trapdoor hidden under a layer of dust. Brushing it away, she finds the subtle indentation of a rectangle around a section of the floor. "Ah HA! So the door was the fake way out; with the poisoned blade as insurance to make them think that the trap for the room was in the door! If they survived that, but the door was locked, they search the room for other exits. The dust over this door would keep any escapees away from this exit...but it has to be booby-traped. No way he would leave this unguarded. Twilight thinks with a gasp, Hmm...

Looking at the bed once again, "Well that leg post looks similar to someth-oh Twilight you clever girl."

Getting off the floor, she quickly brings her foot down ontop of the bed. A vicious CRUNCH echos through the room, as one of the bed legs falls off. Picking it up, she moves back to the trapdoor-of-sorts, and gets to work unjamming the floor above it.

Many grunts fill the room as she struggles to get a budge. A couple of minutes pass where nothing else happens. Getting angry at her make-shift crowbar, she starts throwing her shoulder into it. "Why." (Grunt) "Can't" (Grunt) "You...Just..." (Heave) "BUDGE!"

With one last, mighty shove/throw, the trapdoor gives...right before the surface explodes into Twilight's legs. The explosion rocks into her, thowing her legs over her head, as she sails into the far wall. The room's filled with a sicking SNAP!

Gasping, Twilight peels-off the wall and hits the floor. With her ears ringing, and adrenaline pumping from a potentally snapped ankle, she crawls her way to the opening. Looking in, Twilight's face is met with singed wood, splinters everywhere...and a locked safe in the hole.

"Well...shit."