Tick...

Tock...

Tick...

Tock...

"Can't be tardy...must not...be..tardy!"

Tick Tock...Tick Tock...goes my little pony clock...

"C...Celestia...? It's so...it's so dark..."

Tick Tock...time's up. It's time to die my faithful student

Twilight Sparkle sat up with a shuddering gasp, her lungs heaving for air. Her eyes darted across the dark expanse of her bedroom, scanning for any danger lurking in the shadows. She knew nothing was going to be there...because nothing on the outside ever came inside...but check she did, for fear that the rules might have changed. It was cold on the second floor of the Library, the lack of heat drawing thick clouds of vapor out of the Unicorn's heavy breath. The sweat that drenched her coat and mane cooled with the frosty air, making her shiver and shake. She wondered curiously as her eyes ran over one of the far bookcases lining her wall if she was shaking because of the dampness of her fur...or out of pure fear.

Of course, the element of fear made sense to her in this situation. There were many reasons to be afraid nowadays...

As her eyes finished wandering over her boarded up bedroom window, she let out a shuddering sigh and wrapped her forelegs around herself in a sort of self-hug. She held herself tightly for several long, quiet moments, gently rocking herself back and forth as she tried to get her most recent nightmare out of her head. The same nightmare, with just a few changes...as always. Sometimes the colors were different, sometimes ponies that were there before in her nightmares weren't there again, or new ponies were in place instead. It was always in Canterlot, in the Royal Castle that her nightmares took place. The same begging, the same mad rush to the throne room that she had gone through, hoping for answers. Answers as to what had happened to her peaceful little town, answers as to why Celestia had cast the most powerful Anti-Teleportation spell known to Equestrian kind over Ponyville.

No answers were to be had, however, and like always, the nightmare ended with Princess Celestia glaring down on her prized pupil with dark, menacing eyes and a lavish grin while levitating a simple pocket-watch in the air. What any of this could mean...she had no idea. The very thought of going to Canterlot itself seemed like a dream anyway, which would be odd to anypony who wasn't informed of the current situation.

The...grave...situation, that Ponyville seemed to have found itself in.

Twilight took a moment to look towards her clock, staring at the hands which displayed to her the time of 3:24 in the morning before she got out of bed and grasped her blanket in her teeth. She gently pulled the silky fabric upwards, tucking it over the pillow and making it snug. Of course the bed looked perfect after she was done...after all, she DID have plenty of time on her hooves to practice. There was nothing better to do anyway. Squinting her eyes, Twilight did her best to walk towards the bathroom door without bumping into anything, her hoofsteps carefully carrying her towards the far wall. As she entered the bathroom, the nauseating smell of old feces and urine assaulted her nose. She did her best to hold her stomach (which she was getting the hang of, much to her delight) as she moved inside and past the mirror, not even bothering to cast a glance towards her shadowy reflection. What would she see that she hadn't seen already anyway? An unkempt mane? A pair of violet but bloodshot eyes? A nasty scar that passed over her right cheek?

She kept her hoofsteps quiet as she walked up to the medium-sized metal bucket that rested right in the middle of the bathroom floor. The smell that rose from its grotesque basin was enough to make anypony lose their lunch, but after enough time and exposure...anypony could get used to the general rot of things. The unicorn let out a tiny sigh of exhaustion as she plopped her rear down on the bucket, staring across her dark bathroom towards her towel rack which kept hers and Spike's individual towels up and hanging, ready to dry a wet pony or dragon! That is...if there was even any water left in the pipes to dry a pony of...or a dragon left to dry. She thought about Spike as she did her business, wondering if he was safe, if he was ok. He knew enough that he mustn't go outside, and as long as he heeded that warning, he'd be fine. Maybe she'd see him today, or maybe she'd see Carrot Top, or even Big Macintosh. It all depended really on who drew the shortest straw and was stuck with the day shift...the time when all the madness happened...the time when somepony or some dragon would be forced to watch the chaos and bloodshed happening in the streets.

She shook her head, getting back up to her hooves and grimacing as she took the metal handle of the bucket up in her teeth. She did her best to breathe through her teeth only as she approached the only opening in her library: her bathroom window. With delicate hooves, she propped the bucket up on the window sill and gently poured its contents outside and onto the far ground below, turning her head away so she wouldn't have to watch the wretched waterfall. After the bucket was empty, she brought it back in and placed it back down on the bathroom floor before hurrying out and shutting the door firmly behind her. She did her best to do this with as little noise as possible. She knew that if you made any noise, you wouldn't be able to use the baskets. If you made any noise at all...

They...would hear you.

They would sit outside, and watch. Watch the boards, watch the doors, watch the open bathroom window but not get to close as the smell would drive them away. Circling like vultures, wondering if it was a living, breathing pony making all that racket or just some wild animal. They'd never go inside though, even if there was a way in. They didn't go in because it was dark...and they didn't like the dark. That's the thought that passed through Twilight's head as she quietly tip-hooved down the staircase towards the ground floor. For whatever reason, those outside couldn't STAND the dark, and would hiss and shy away from it like a cat would to water. As long as she kept her Library boarded up and the lights all completely off, she'd be safe. Granted, she had to have SOME kind of light, otherwise she'd go blind. She had read in one of her books that too long of an extended period in darkness could render somepony blind if they were ever exposed to light again...and thus...her bathroom window. She'd take several moments out of her day to sit in her bathroom...right in the direct beam of sun that cast itself through her window. She'd warm herself in the yellow glow of the sun, and embraced it like she would her mother...with love and tolerance.

She needed that sun...needed that light, knowing it was one of the only things left keeping her sane. It was Rule #6 after all, Keep yourself sane. She couldn't afford to let herself lose it, not before she discovered exactly what in the hell had happened to her peaceful little town. It was this she pondered over nearly everyday and night since this whole thing even started, and it was what she pondered now as she made her way into her simple little kitchen. She passed by the rusty stove, the cobweb filled kitchen sink, the dust-covered counter-tops. She passed all of these...except the kitchen table, a table that held a small basket of what most ponies in Ponyville nowadays considered to be worth 'The value of Diamonds'.

Apples.

Sweet, delicious, life-prolonging apples. The only thing left that wasn't poison or struck down by some kind of weird disease. It was because of these diseases that Rule #5 even existed, which said to Only eat Apples. Twilight picked through the bushel for the healthiest looking one, a dark red Gala apple, and held it up in her hoof. She gave it a long, hard stare, taking a moment to peer around every square inch of the delicate morsel before taking a quiet bite from it. She let out a grateful sigh through her snout as the juicy goodness made its way down her throat, her mind filled with gracious prayers that the apples were still delicious. She didn't know exactly how...but despite what had happened, it seemed Sweet Apple Acres was still in business, regardless of Big Macintosh's absence and the fact that the entirety of the farm was mostly outdoors. How Applejack was collecting these apples and staying alive...she hadn't the faintest idea.

Her work was to be commended though, thought Twilight. She hoped that when all this pain, bloodshed, and chaos was all over, that maybe she could get Applejack some kind of medal or special trophy for her brave deeds to Equestrian kind. Maybe even a statue in her honor...she was sure that the country mare would appreciate that. Twilight smiled as she took down the last of the juicy apple, turning and heading back out towards the main area of the library. It was just about pitch-black around the area, with the only saving grace being that the moonlight from the full moon up in the sky helped illuminate some of the cracks between the boarded up windows. She trotted towards the window to the left of her heavily boarded up front door and peaked through one of the cracks, letting her eyes trail over the house just across the street. It was a small, two story house, built and shaped just like the other houses of Ponyville, and boarded up just as heavily too. Twilight felt a slight pang of sadness but comfort in her heart, knowing that Spike was resting just beyond the barriers of that house.

He was lucky enough to have gotten inside with Carrot Top and Big Macintosh, even Rarity of all ponies when the event started. She'd know when he was there, watching the library and looking for her, for at 2:00 P.M. every afternoon, a white slip of paper would slip through the boards cracks. It was their little signal that let the other know that they were watching, and when another slip of paper fell through, it meant they were leaving the window. It made Spike and Twilight feel...better, sitting at their windows and looking over towards one another. Hope is what kept the two smiling, knowing that even though a small street cut them off from one another, they were still alive, and they still loved each other. She smiled, staring over towards the darkened windows, wondering if her little Spike was having good dreams instead of the nightmares that plagued her every night. Just as she began to wonder what kind of dream he was having, a dark shadow flew past the front of her window, making her leap back and fall on her flank. She pressed a hoof firmly against her mouth, cutting off the gasp that had nearly escaped her. She should have expected it, she told herself. She knew that the streets were usually empty at night, that the ones outside were drawn to the houses with the lights turned on...the lights somepony forgot to turn off in their hurry to flee Ponyville before the quarantine.

They loved the light, of course, which is why Twilight knew the houses with the lights turned on were so dangerous. She even knew that many of the ponies left alive knew what she knew. They knew the rules. They knew not to go outside. They knew not to trust the empty streets and not to venture out at night just because what was lurking outside was afraid of the dark. Notes were traded back and forth across the basket system warning ponies about the night. The notes written with frantic scrawl about the fact that even though the ones lurking outside were afraid of the dark...if they saw anypony outside, they'd move in for the kill, move into the night regardless of their fear or not. Twilight sighed, remembering those who chose to ignore these warnings...remembering the frantic screams of those trapped outside during the night, the screams that only signaled more and more of the those outside to go on the hunt.

She took a moment to breathe, quietly moving away from the window and out of its view-range. She didn't want to chance it looking inside and seeing her. If it saw her...it might be a good two or three days before it eventually forgot that she was there, and it was those days she couldn't afford to spare. Every day and a half, the basket system would send her a fresh supply of apples...and with such high demand on the Apple Market these days, nopony could afford to go hungry for long. If there was ever a sudden shortage, one could easily start suffering from the effects of starvation...their animalistic instincts driving them to go out in search of food...to go outside.

With this in mind, Twilight moved to one of the bookcases, her eyes squinting at a bookmark lodged in between two books. She pulled out the book to the right of the bookmark and looked over its title, quietly reading the words The Equestrian Guide to Gardening and Garden Gnomes. Looks like she was learning about Gardening today...

She smiled and made her towards the small closet door nearby, a tiny sign hanging from the door knob that read 'Happy Place'. She opened it quietly, stepping inside the closet and shutting it gently behind her. It was a fairly cramped space, but roomy enough to seat a small pillow, a lamp, and a small basket which held four apples inside of it. With careful movements, Twilight pushed the pillow against the bottom crack of the door and with the careful movement of her teeth, turned the knob on the lantern to the right. The soft yellow glow of light began to gleam from behind the glass, hurting Twilight's eyes at first. They adjusted after a few moments, allowing her to at least get a good look at her book. If she ran out of air because of the pillow plugging up the door crack, she'd just turn off her lantern and go out into the main room for awhile. It was a pretty simple process, and it at least kept her mind on things other then what lied just beyond her boarded up door. It was more or less an escape from all the wretched evil that had seemed to plague her town.

A practice which she had made into a list of all the things she required of herself to do daily.

Something to keep her mind focused and her mental status sane.

A few things to keep her from asking herself the same question over and over and over again: What's happened to Ponyville?

A routine.