Twilight Sparkle sat lazily in her office chair, staring at the clock on her wall and wishing that the hours would pass by faster. As the Princess of Facility 19, it was her job to ensure that the good ponies who worked there actually did their jobs in a timely manner, and that the entity stayed where it was. That second part was very important, but the first was what she actually spent most of her time doing. Always telling her staff to get back to work and think of the safety of ponykind, it gets tiring after a while.
From a reclined position, she glanced at the network of security cameras displayed on her monitor and spotted a researcher slacking off, reclining in her chair in much the same manner Twilight was. The facility's princess pushed a button on her desk with one of her hind hooves and began to speak. "Dr. Shine, please get back to work. Your job is integral to the safety of facility personnel and the world at large. Refusing to give 100% on facility time will not be tolerated. Thank you."
Twilight lifted her hoof from the button and adjusted her position in the chair. She thought idly about what she would have for dinner that evening. Maybe I'll have some hayburgers delivered, she thought. She really liked hayburgers and fries, probably way too much, but she didn't care. Suddenly, alarm klaxons started to blare loudly, and Twilight bolted upright in her seat, eyes wide open. The facility intercom crackled as a stallion spoke in a monotone voice.
"This is a Code XK Alert. The entity has breached containment. I repeat, the entity has breached containment. All facility personnel are to exit the building immediately. I repeat, all facility personnel are to-" A harsh static noise interrupted the stallion on the intercom before the message could end. Then, the intercom went dead silent.
Not long thereafter, the power went out, leaving Twilight in pitch darkness. The blare of the alarms slowly faded into silence. As Twilight sat in complete darkness, a feeling of unspeakable dread and absolute terror began to pool within Twilight like a pile of cement. The fear of it all made her sick to her stomach. But she could not expel her lunch now. If the entity truly was loose...there was no time to waste, thought Twilight as she bolted out of her office door.
The princess of the facility walked its halls alone, her way lit only by the light from her horn and the dim emergency lights installed on the ceiling. Shivers ran down Twilight's spine, and she felt that the temperature was about ten degrees colder than it was. Eerie shadows danced merrily on the building's metallic walls under the flickering of fluorescence and magical light. The halls all looked the same to her, like endless paths in an endless maze. Twilight turned a corner, and then another, and yet she was still walking in the same place as before. The hallways were labyrinthine by design, to try and confuse the entity in a situation like this, a fact that Twilight now cursed as she kept walking. Littered along the ground, she could see the slumped bodies of her fellow facility workers, as cold and lifeless as the air around her. She knelt down to examine a dead researcher when the corpse vanished before her eyes, leaving no trace of its existence whatsoever. She went to examine another corpse, this one a former security guard. Same result. Then, looking up from the ground, she saw it.
The entity was never very easy to describe. It was never even given an official name; it was just referred to by all personnel as 'the entity'. All Twilight saw of it was an oblong shadow cast against the air in the middle of the hallway about ten meters in front of her. Twilight had read the report on it. It shrugged off all manner of might and magic hurled against it as easily as a gnat on its shoulder. Its only weakness was that, under observation, it could not move at all, which was how it was contained in the first place. Even though the entity was never determined to have eyes or even the ability to see, Twilight could tell it was staring directly at her, with cold and lifeless eyes hidden under the shadows. So Twilight stared back at the entity. It was the only thing she felt she could do.
The one thing Twilight knew was that she could not afford to close her eyes no matter what. She knew that, if she blinked for even a fraction of a second, it would be the death of her. But Twilight could not keep her eyes open forever. She stared at the entity for only a minute before she felt that horrible urge scratching at her eyes, making her tear up involuntarily. She could not blink, and yet she had to. Her biology demanded it. So Twilight closed her eyes for just a split second, and then...
In the middle of her palatial bed, Twilight Sparkle woke up in a cold sweat, breathing hard and looking frantically around her bedroom for monsters in the darkness. She saw nothing. Her bed sheets were scattered haphazardly upon her and her bed as a result of her tossing and turning in the night. Some of them were even on the floor. Standing in her open doorway in the dim light of a nighttime brazier was one of Twilight's royal guards, spear in hoof.
"I heard strange noises coming from this wing of the palace. Is everything alright, Your Highness?" he asked.
Twilight smiled awkwardly and waved her hoof dismissively. "It's nothing. I'm fine. You may return to your duties now."
"Yes, Your Highness!" The stallion raised his hoof in a salute and continued his night patrol.
And with that, Twilight straightened out her bed sheets and readied herself for sleep once more. The light of the moon cast soft shadows against her bedroom walls. Just before she dozed off again, out of the corner of her eye, Twilight caught a glimpse of an oblong shadow...
