Later that day, Pinkamena started getting antsy. She wanted to explore the various halls outside, mostly to see what might’ve been hidden away or abandoned. Twilight, always eager to learn new things, thought that this was a great idea.

After checking Fluttershy for any reason they should stay by her (Twilight had fed and watered her shortly before they left), they left the room and closed the door behind them.

“Let’s not go too far.” Pinkamena said, “I want to be close in case some pony decides that Fluttershy would make a good scarf.”

“Good idea.” Twilight said. She had a hunch that the only other pony in their area was a crazed idiot who was probably still playing with his wooden box, but it never hurt to play it safe.

They retraced the route they took to get to the mess hall (Twilight was thankful that Pinkamena decided to skip the storage area) and ended up by the door labeled ‘Abnormal Containment Zone’. Twilight didn’t get a good look at this door when she passed by it before (she was much too busy trying to keep up with the aforementioned idiot) and for the first time noticed how strange it was. Most doors in Sleipnir were made of a synthetic wood that gave them the appearance of well, normal doors. But this door, the one guarding the Abnormal Containment Zone, was made out of metal. There were no hinges on this door, nor a knob to turn it which. This one door was a smooth sheet of metal on an unbroken wall of plaster.

Twilight approached the door. It didn’t have the same effect on her as the book of Newt did, but still something about it that drew her in. She wanted to know how such a door could operate, how ponies interacted with it on a day to day basis. It could’ve been magic, but then earth ponies and pegasi would’ve had to rely on unicorns to enter and exit it, unless only unicorns were given access…

"Twilight, what are you doing?” Pinkamena asked.

Twilight found herself staring wide eyed at the metal door. Drool was beginning to drip from the corner of her mouth.

“I, uh… was just curious about this door. That’s all.” Twilight said. A small wave of embarrassment washed over her.

Pinkamena giggled, “Oh that? It’s electronic, like the one that leads to the arena back in the cell hall.”

“Huh, guess I never saw that door,” Twilight said, “or if I did I can’t remember it. How do you open it?”

“Well, the one in the cell halls was automatic, but it looks like this one is either broken or locked.”

“How can you tell?”

“Because we’re standing three feet from it and its not opening.” Pinkamena answered.

“Okay then, how do we open it?” Twilight asked.

Pinkamena shrugged, “No idea. Unless we find a crowbar or something, we’re out of luck.”

“Oh, alright,” Twilight said, making almost no effort to hide her disappointment.

Smiling, Pinkamena gestured toward another door and said, “Come on, there’s still lots of things to see!”

They entered this new (and unmarked) door and found a room that had just enough light for Twilight to make out several desks placed in a row. On them were these strange white TV things that Twilight had never seen before. There weren’t any chairs or stools for ponies to sit on and the walls were barren except for a long crack in the wall farthest from the door.

Considering how long the place had been abandoned, there wasn’t much dust on anything. Everything looked like it had just been cleaned an hour or two ago.

‘Come to think of it,’ Twilight thought to herself, ‘I haven’t seen much dust on anything since I’ve been stuck here.’

The two of them wandered through the room. Pinkamena seemed to be interested in the TV things and kept playing with their cords. Twilight on the other side of the coin, gave up on them after trying get a few to turn on with no success.

Instead, Twilight took to looking for anything else in the room that might be useful, or at the very least interesting. She kept hoping that she would come across a desk that had drawer or a cabinet, something that might hold files. But whatever the researchers (assuming they were researchers) did in this room apparently didn’t require any paper work. Twilight could not find any paper anywhere, and it was starting to get to her. Wouldn’t ponies eventually need paper to keep track of their progress? How did they keep records? What was the point of this room?

“Hey Twilight, I found something!” Pinkamena called from across the room.

“What is it?” Twilight asked, her mind still boggling at the paperless wasteland.

“Come see. I’m not sure how to explain it!” Pinkamena answered.

Twilight crossed the room to where Pinkamena was calling from; the desk closest to the door. Pinkamena was jumping up and down and grinning from ear to ear.

“What do you want to show me?” Twilight asked.

Pinkamena pointed under a desk and said, “Take a look.”

Twilight looked under the desk, but all she found was some of the dust that the rest of the room was devoid of.

“What are you trying to show me? There’s nothing down here.”

Pinkamena giggled, “Look up silly, there’s some kind of switch.

Twilight did as Pinkamena asked, and found a small red button.

“Do you think we should press it?” Pinkamena asked.

Twilight considered it for a moment then answered, “Sure. Let’s see what it does.”

Twilight pressed the button. Above the desk the room filled with light. Twilight got out from underneath the desk and saw the white boxes were now all turning on at once.

Every screen displayed the words ‘Apple Family Electronics’ beneath the image of a half eaten apple. A second later, they switched to a black screen that displayed an assortment of words and letters that scrolled down to quickly for Twilight to read, much to her disdain. It didn’t take long for the screens to change again; this time they displayed the word ‘SLEIPNIR’ with a handful of images in front of it.

“Well that answers one question,” Twilight said.

Pinkamena either didn’t hear her, or didn’t want to respond. She seemed to be mesmerized by glowing screens in front of her.

“I’ve never seen computers like this before,” Pinkamena said.

“How do you know these are computers?” Twilight asked. The computers Twilight was familiar with were monstrous pieces of machinery. They often needed two rooms dedicated to them; one for the console and another for the monitor. The smallest computers Twilight had ever seen were the ones in lab by Dread’s office, and those took up at least four feet of floor space each.

“Just look at them. What else can they be?” Pinkamena answered.

Twilight couldn’t argue with that.

“Any idea how to use them?” Twilight asked, no longer concerned with their size.

“No, Twilight, we just found them.”

“Oh… right.”

Twilight looked around one of the computers for a way to interact with them, but to no avail. There were no slots on the computers so they couldn’t have simply been missing pieces, but there was no way to input data into them.

Twilight placed a hoof on the desk to lean into the screen, when suddenly the screen changed. She jumped back from the screen in a surprise and the screen went back to its previous look. Thinking that she was beginning to figuring these computers out, Twilight once more placed her hoof on the desk. The moment her hoof touched the smooth surface of the desk, the image on the screen changed. Now it displayed the words ‘Please drag to select action’. Twilight dragged her hoof across the desk and the computer screen cycled through a list of commands for her to choose from. Most of these commands seemed useless to Twilight. Among the more interesting options were: ‘Display Recent Status Reports’, ‘Review Abnormal Containment Procedures’, and ‘Disengage Security Door 173’.

When Twilight selected the first of these options all she got was a screen saying “DATA CORRUPT”. When she selected the second one, the screen displayed a series of numbers that Twilight was in no mood to decode. The last one however…

The sound of scraping metal screeched from outside the room. Twilight and Pinkamena ran out to see the door to the ‘Abnormal Containment Zone’ was being lifted open by either magic or a machine.

A broad smile stretched across Twilight’s face, and she ran to the metal door. As soon as the door was open wide enough, Twilight dashed through it. Behind her, Pinkamena was yelling at her to stop. Twilight didn’t care. The door was open and inviting Twilight to discover its secrets.

She was sorely disappointed.

Behind the metal door was small, empty room that was only decorated with two windows and another metal door. Behind the windows were just smaller rooms that were almost equally devoid of furniture, except that they shelves at the back of them.

Seconds later, Pinkamena ran into the room, nearly crashing into Twilight’s backside.

“Why did you run off like that?” Pinkamena asked in between large breaths.

“I just wanted to see what was behind that door.” Twilight answered. It wasn’t a completely honest answer, but how was she going to explain to Pinkamena the sweet siren call of knowledge?

“Doesn’t seem very interesting,” Pinkamena said. “C’mon Twilight, let’s go back to the computers! Maybe we can get them to play some games!”

“Just a minute,” Twilight said, “I want to see what’s behind this other door.”

Pinkamena snorted, “Alright. Just please don’t take too long.”

The way to open this second metal door was more obvious than the first. There was little slot next it where a pony would slide a card that would open the door. Only problem was that it required the pony wanting to get in to have a card, something Twilight sadly lacked.

Twilight looked around to see if a pony had happened to drop their card when she noticed that behind the glass window on the left side of the room was a box marked ‘key cards’ in black marker sitting on one of the shelves, just out of reach. There was a hole cut at the bottom of the window where a pony could’ve slid a card through if they were on the other side, but it was much too small for Twilight to stick her hoof through to grab them.

Twilight grumbled beneath her breath. Once more she was faced with a problem that would’ve been simple if she had her magic, but was next to impossible without it.

Twilight kicked the glass with her hind legs, hoping that she would be able to solve this problem with brute force. All she got for her efforts was a slight pain in her legs and a still unbroken window.

Twilight inspected the window to see why it hadn’t broken. Twilight wasn’t the world’s strongest kicker, not by a long shot, but even she should’ve been able to break a glass window this thin.

Dejected, turned around to let Pinkamena know that she was done here and that they could go where she wanted.

“Pinka,” Twilight started to say when memories of the Pinkie Pie of her world popped into her head, “I need your help. Do you mind… What are you doing?”

Pinkamena had her face close to the window opposite the one Twilight was interested in. She was twisting her face into various snarls and grimaces.

“Oh nothing,” Pinkamena giggled, “just making funny faces. If you look closely you can see yourself in the window.”

Twilight looked at the window on her side and saw that she could see her reflection in it, however faintly.

“Anyway, Twilight, what did you need?”

Twilight looked away from the window and answered, “Do you think you could slide under this glass and get me one of those cards?”

Pinkamena looked at the slot and then back at Twilight, frowning.

“Have you gone loco in the coco?” Pinkamena asked, “I can’t slide through that!”

Blinking, Twilight asked, “What do you mean you can’t?”

Pinkamena place a hoof as far into the slot as it would go and rolling her eyes said, “Hmm, I wonder...”

Twilight snorted, “The Pinkie Pie I knew slid through smaller spots than that all the time! I’ve even had her talk to me through a mirror!”

Pinkamena looked at Twilight incredulously and said, “Okay, assuming that you’re not going loopy on me, I’m not the Pinkie you knew. Just because she could do something like that doesn’t mean I can.”

“Right…” Twilight said, slightly embarrassed, “I sometimes forget that.”

Twilight went back to trying to figure out how to get her hooves on the security cards. She wasn’t sure why she bothered; unless they stumbled upon something that could break the glass there was no hope of getting them.

She was once more about to tell Pinkamena that she was done when another thought occurred to her. She remembered a technique that Rarity used to use to hide birthday presents without magic; a technique that she could use to grab that box of cards. Only problem was that this technique was one of the few things Twilight could never quite figure out, despite how many books she read on it.

“Pinkamena,” Twilight asked, “can you use your tail to grab things?”

Pinkamena answered, “Yeah, I used to use it to prank ponies. What about it?”

“Do you think you could use your tail to pull that box to where I can grab it?”

Pinkamena shrugged, “I can try.”

Pinkamena pressed her hindquarters up against the window and slid her tail through the slot.

“You’re gonna have to give directions, Twi, I can’t see what I’m doing.”

“It should be right behind you.” Twilight said, “Just keep feeling around.”

At that moment Twilight thought that this was good enough to pass as help. However, after watching Pinkamena brush her tail wildly against the shelves for half a minute, Twilight knew she would have to do a better job.

“Okay, a little to your left… Wait, wait, I meant my left.”

Eventually, Pinkamena found the box of cards. She slipped her tail underneath it and pulled it towards the window. Halfway across though, Pinkamena’s tail twitched, flipping the box in mid air and sending what seemed to be hundreds of cards raining down.

Twilight starred at the mess in disbelief. She had come close to satisfying her curiosity but was stopped by a random muscle spasm.

It took Pinkamena longer than Twilight to realize what had happened; she was too busy starring up at the ceiling. When she did figure out what she had accidentally done, the fur on her face turned bright red.

“Sorry, Twilight. I…” Pinkamena stammered.

“Save it!” Twilight spat, then, catching herself, added, “It’s a small loss. So what if I can’t see what’s behind this door? There’ll be other doors.” Twilight forced a smile, “Like all the doors out in the hallway. We haven’t explored them yet. No use crying over spilt milk; or cards in this case.”

Pinkamena smiled, “Thanks, Twilight. I’ll make it up to you.”

Twilight raised a hoof, “Don’t. It was an accident.”

Twilight’s heart ached at the prospect of being denied access to whatever was behind the second door, but she consoled herself. There would be other things to explore, and possibly greater things for her to learn. What was one door? They had passed hundreds of doors just coming here. Surely one of them would have something worth looking at in one of them.

The two of them started leaving the room. Pinkamena seemed happy that they were finally moving on, but Twilight couldn’t quite let it go. She took one last glance across the small room, as if to commit its image to memory.

Then she noticed something that she could only describe as a miracle. She called Pinkamena to show her the good news. At first she didn’t quite get what Twilight was showing her, then Twilight went up to what she wanted Pinkamena to see.

Caught within the slot of the window was a single card.

Twilight leapt towards the card, wide grin stretched across her face. She bit down on it and rushed to the slot on the metal door. She slid the card through the slot and the sound of an engine roared from somewhere within the walls. A second later, the door began to rise.

The room beyond this door was entirely dark, what little light that flooded in from the entrance only reached about five feet. Twilight could make small noises that sounded like distant crying.

“Think there’s a light switch nearby?” Twilight asked.

“Probably,” Pinkamena answered, “there was a light switch in that stairway.”

They quickly found and flipped the switch. The two ponies found themselves in what Twilight guessed was some kind of hall of garages. Both walls were lined with more metal doors. The difference was that these doors had glass windows in them some that a pony could see what was behind them.

Walking through the hall reminded Twilight of the cell hall she and Pinkamena were imprisoned for some time. Every other door seemed to have something banging on them or screeching. The doors were thick enough to muffle these noises, but they still put Twilight on edge. Images of Sam kept finding their way into Twilight’s thoughts and she had to keep reminding herself that the monster was dead, and that Dread said that it was the worst thing in Sleipnir.

‘But Dread didn’t know everything about Sleipnir, he said so himself.’ Twilight thought to herself, ‘Hay, he wasn’t even sure what Sleipnir was.’

Twilight tried to shake these thoughts out of her mind. It would do her no good getting worked up like this. She was here for research, and she wasn’t going to let a childish emotion like fear get in her way.

Twilight went up to one of the doors and tried to peer inside, but found only darkness. She found that the crying was coming from behind the door she was looking through, but couldn’t make out what it was.

Twilight tapped on the door, hoping that she get a response from whatever was behind it. The crying noise grew louder and was joined by moans from several voices. Twilight could make out the cries of at least forty ponies. She pressed her face against the glass and strained her eyes to see if she could make out any shapes in the darkness. At first she saw nothing, but as she strained her eyes Twilight could just make out a blurred shape. It looked like an old, gnarled tree that had shed its leaves for winter.

“Hello, is any pony in there?” Twilight asked, hoping that she was loud enough to be heard through the metal door.

Whoever was crying behind that door suddenly became very quiet.

“Are you hurt?” Twilight asked, “Why are you in here?”

A small voice that was barely audible through the metal door answered, but Twilight couldn’t make out what it said.

“Stay put.” Twilight ordered, “I’m a princess and I’m going to get you out of there. Just give me a minute.”

The small voice said something again, and Twilight took it as sign that whoever the voice belonged to understood.

Twilight turned to talk to Pinkamena and was met by an empty hallway. Twilight frantically looked up and down the hallway, calling Pinkamena’s name. Vivid images of Pinkamena being kidnapped by one of Sleipnir’s inmates flashed through Twilight’s mind. She had been foolish to let Pinkamena out of her sight. Twilight had no idea who might’ve been lurking in these halls, but that didn’t stop her from wanting to explore. What possessed her to explore an abandoned mental hospital for fun? Twilight couldn’t even begin to answer. Now her friend was missing, possibly dead, and it was all her fault.

“Pinkie!” Twilight called again and then muttered to herself, “Not good, not good.”

“I’m over here!” Pinkamena’s voice called from somewhere down the.

Relief washed over Twilight as she called out, “Where? I can’t see you!”

“Down the hall, there’s a turn on the left!” Pinkamena answered, “You should really check this out!”

Twilight started walking in the direction of Pinkamena’s voice. With each step, Twilight’s relief of knowing that Pinkamena was safe was replaced with anger. By the time she had passed a half dozen of the metal doors, Twilight had begun stomping down the hall, gritting her teeth.

When she reached the turn Pinkamena had mentioned (which at a distance blended in with the rows of metal doors) Twilight found Pinkamena with her nose pressed against one of the windows.

Twilight took a deep breath and asked in a stern voice, “What do you think you’re doing?”

Turning to look at Twilight, Pinkamena asked, “What do you mean?”

Twilight snorted, “I mean, why would you wander off like that? Don’t you know how dangerous it is to wander around here alone? Who know what kind of psycho you might’ve run into!”

“Twilight, this place was locked up when we got here. Who am I going to run into?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight said, “that Doctor Hoof guy or whatever his name was. Either way it doesn’t matter, we shouldn’t get separated from each other. We have no idea what’s down here, and very few ways of defending ourselves.”

Fumbling with her front hooves, Pinkamena said, “I guess you’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just that well… I guess I got excited, this being a new place and all.”

Twilight sighed, “That’s okay Pinki…mena. I probably shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

“Can we just move on now?” Pinkamena asked, “I promise I won’t run off anymore.”

Twilight smiled, “Alright then. Now what did you want to show me?”

Pinkamena gave Twilight an almost unnervingly wide smile, “Oh you’re gonna love this.”

Pinkamena hopped over to the door she had previously been looking at and pointed at its window.

“If you look carefully enough, you can see this kind of weird puffball thing!” Pinkamena said.

Twilight looked into the window. The room beyond it was better lit than the last one, but Twilight still couldn’t make out much. What she could see was what looked like a large, pink ball of shaved fur that some pony had dumped in there to get it out of the way.

“What exactly am I supposed to be looking at?” Twilight asked.

“Give it a moment. Tap on the door to get its attention.” Pinkamena answered.

Twilight grumbled about how unhelpful Pinkamena’s answer was, but continued to look at the pile of fur nonetheless. Twilight tapped on the door a few times, but didn’t get a response.

“Are you sure this thing is interesting?” Twilight asked, “Because it hasn’t done anything.”

“Just give it a minute.” Pinkamena answered.

After about five minutes, Twilight had had enough. She tore herself away from the door and beckoned Pinkamena to follow her.

“Please, Twilight? Can’t we stay a little longer?” Pinkamena begged.

Twilight snorted, “No. I’m sorry, Pinkamena, but I don’t want to waste my time looking a pile of shaved fur.”

“It’s not a pile of shaved fur!” Pinkamena protested, “Please, Twilight, if you just give it a minute, I promise you’ll love it.”

Twilight gave an exasperated groan, “Fine. One more minute. But then we leave, okay?”

“Okay.” Pinkamena answered.

Once more Twilight pressed her face against the window, and once more the pile of fur did nothing of interest. Twilight turned to ask Pinkamena if they could go now, but the pink mare just motioned for Twilight to keep looking at the fur ball. When Twilight looked back at the thing, it had somehow moved up to the window and was now starring at Twilight with large blue eyes.

Twilight stared at the thing, unable to comprehend what it was she was looking at. The thing stuck out a small pointed tongue and made an audible ‘phtht’ sound that made Twilight’s teeth clench.

Twilight took a step back and demanded, “What in the hay is that?”

“I dunno. I just found it.” Pinkamena answered, “I think that it’s some kind of pony, but I’m not sure.”

Twilight snorted, “That thing cannot possibly be a pony. I mean look at its fur.”

“What does fur have to do with being a pony?” Pinkamena asked.

Twilight thought about it for half a moment then answered, “I don’t know. I guess I’m not thinking clearly right now. It’s just that… I don’t know. Let’s just move on, okay?”

“Can we keep her?” Pinkamena asked.

“Her? You think it has a gender?”

“I think so, I mean she looks like a mare.”

Twilight took another look at the abominable fur thing (looking at it made Twilight’s stomach twist) and saw that it’s skull was shaped similarly to a pony mare’s, albeit vaguely.

“Are you sure you want to keep it?” Twilight asked, unable to fathom why some pony would want spend any time with it.

Pinkamena shrugged, “I guess so.”

Twilight looked at the living lint ball, and found it biting at its flank for some reason.

“If you say so,” Twilight said. She was about to tell Pinkamena that it probably wasn’t a good idea to take the thing along with them, mostly because they had no idea what the thing was or what it might do to them. Then a thought occurred to her; trying to explain why they shouldn’t take the puff ball to Pinkamena would be like denying a puppy to a filly. No matter how well you craft your argument, the child would still beg and plead for the potential pet. Either Twilight would have to waste a significant amount of time arguing with her friend, or she could give in and deal with the consequences herself. But there was also a third option, one that may seem a little cruel but would at least keep both Twilight and Pinkamena safe. Twilight could set a condition that Pinkamena couldn’t possibly make.

Stroking her mane with a hoof, Twilight said, “You’re welcome to keep whatever that thing is if, and only if, you are willing to; feed it, clean up after it, and play with it.”

Pinkamena beamed, “That sounds like fun!”

“AND,” Twilight continued, “you have to get it out of its cage.”

“Okie dokie loki!” Pinkamena said. She reached into her tail and pulled out the key card they had used earlier.

“Where did you get that?” Twilight asked.

“You dropped it back at the entrance.” Pinkamena answered, “I just picked it up for safe keeping.”

“Okay, that makes sense,” Twilight said. “But what are you going to do with it?”

Pinkamena beamed, “I think I can use it to open her cell and let her out.”

Twilight shifted her weight slightly and tried to think of a way out of this.

“Are you sure?” Twilight asked, “I mean, I don’t see anywhere to slide it.”

“Yes I’m sure,” Pinkamena said looking up and down the door, “I’ve just gotta find it.”

Pinkamena searched for what must’ve been five minutes before giving up.

“Oh, I guess the card doesn’t work here.” Pinkamena said. Her face seemed to sink in disappointment.

“Maybe that’s because no pony’s supposed to open these doors?” Twilight suggested, “So far we haven’t seen anything benign locked in Sleipnir. Besides us, I mean.” Twilight quickly added in the last part, fearing that she might trigger one of Pinkamena’s self hating episodes.

“I guess that makes sense” Pinkamena said, pausing for a second, “but she doesn’t look dangerous.”

The giant pink puffball was now beaming at the two of them. Twilight could now confirm that whatever the creature was, it at least had hooves. Twilight wondered if the creature shared a common ancestor with ponies. Hyracotheriun, perhaps?

“Looks can be deceiving,” Twilight said, shaking the thought out of her mind. “Remember the lesson we learned when we met Zecora? What, you know who Zecora is, right?” Pinkamena nodded her head, “Okay, well it’s important to not judge a book by its cover. It works both ways. Just because something looks nice doesn’t mean that it is.”

“Yeah, I know that.” Pinkamena answered, “It’s just that… It’s just that… Maybe you’re right and we shouldn’t let her out of her cage.”

Something behind one of the doors started screeching loud enough to drown out both of their voices, and agitate the other creatures held captive. The halls echoed with more banging than before and both Twilight and Pinkamena had to cover their ears to block out the sound.

When this intrusive tumult ended, Twilight nuzzled Pinakamena, “It’s for the best. We really shouldn’t be messing with things unless we know what they are.”

“I guess so… Is it all right if we go back to the mess hall?”

Twilight looked at Pinkamena, “Why? We got here a few minutes ago.”

“I know,” Pinkamena answered, “it’s just that, well, I’m getting a bit antsy. I think I’m starting to get worried about Fluttershy. We’ve been away for too long.”

Twilight furrowed her brow. To her it didn’t feel like they had been gone long enough for Pinkamena to get worried. She wanted to stay and see what else might be in this hall of curiosity (provided that whatever it was wasn’t like that fur ball creature). Twilight was about to deny Pinkamena’s request when she thought back to how they got in the hall in the first place, and how she so rudely denied Pinkamena her first request to leave.

“Alright,” Twilight said, “if you want to go back, we’ll go back. We can always come back tomorrow if we want, right?”

Pinkamena smiled, “Yeah, I guess that’d be okay.”

The two of them started walking back towards the entrance. As they walked, Twilight mentioned her previous behavior.

“Pinkamena,” Twilight said, taking a deep breath, “about how insistent I was earlier… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude, I just… I wasn’t thinking.”

Pinkamena giggled, “It’s okay. I didn’t really notice until you pointed it out to me.”

“Well, whether you noticed or not, my behavior was unacceptable and I swear not to act that again.”

Pinkamena raised an eyebrow, “Do you Pinkie promise.”

Twilight smiled and repeated the old pledge, “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

“Okie dokie loki!” Pinkamena said.

The two of them continued through the hall. As they pass the door Twilight had taken an interest in, Twilight could hear the sound of a crying foal coming from behind it. Twilight’s heart ached for the poor thing, and she wanted nothing more in that moment to see that door open and whoever it imprisoned set free.

‘Is this what Pinkamena felt when she saw that puff ball thing?’ Twilight asked herself, ‘No wonder she wanted to take it with her so badly.’

Twilight reminded herself that the logic she used against Pinkamena taking the fur ball also applied to her door. Doubly so, considering she didn’t even know what her creature looked like. But still…

‘Maybe I was bit too hasty in judging the fur ball,’ Twilight thought to herself. ‘Come to think of it, I didn’t give it much of a chance.’

This thought made Twilight’s stomach twist. She was supposed to be the Princess of Friendship. How could she be so judgmental to a creature she knew almost nothing about? And not just that either, hadn’t her first thought when seeing Fluttershy been about how unattractive she was?

Twilight shuddered. What was wrong with her? Why was she acting like this? What changed?

The answer came to Twilight like an ice arrow to the face. Sanguinam Ungollum. She was infected with it, wasn’t she? That had to be the answer. There was no way she could ever be that cruel unless she wasn’t in her right mind.

‘I guess I’ll have to make up for it somehow.’ Twilight thought to herself, ‘Maybe I can do something tonight?’

Twilight was immediately struck with an answer; she would come back to the garage hall and try to free the puff ball thing. It might take her a while to figure out how the doors worked, but Twilight was confident in her abilities. While she was at it Twilight might be able to let out the crying thing she had taken interest in.

When they got back to the mess hall, Pinkamena checked Fluttershy to make sure that she was still relatively safe. When she was satisfied, Pinkamena turned away from the scarred mare and crawled onto the futon and closed her eyes. After a few minutes, Twilight also crawled onto the futon, on the opposite side.

Twilight laid there for a few minutes, her eyes closed but her mind wide awake. She went over her plan to release the fur ball in her head several times, each time imagining a different solution to the locked door. She also thought of how waking up to finding the fur ball would brighten Pinkamena’s day.

However, as she planned what was likely a foolish endeavor, Twilight slowly succumbed to sleep. As she lay there, nearly napping, Twilight heard the distant sound of the laughing mare cackling at some strange thought. Twilight was used to this by now and paid no heed to it. She listened to the mad guffaw for several minutes before she realized that something was wrong. Twilight was at least three stories from where the laughing mare would’ve been and (assuming the Doctor hadn’t turned them around during his wild goose chase) at least half a mile away.

Twilight stirred and opened her eyes, ready to solve the mystery of the laughing mare once and for all. However, the second Twilight had her eyes open, green tendrils grabbed at her head. Twilight managed to emit a surprised yelp before the tendrils pulled back, and dragged her into darkness.

Author's Notes:

I'm running out of chapter titles.