"I don't think it's working." He commented aloud, expecting a female voice to chastise him for speaking while she was working. But the response never came. "I don't really feel any different. Was something supposed to happen?" He questioned aloud again but still no response, his closed eyes not giving him any direction as to what was happening around him. Fed up with the lack of response he decided to go against instructions and rise up from his laying position on the couch. "Dreamer, was there something I was supposed to do or... what the...?" Blinking awake, the stallion looked around himself to find that his surroundings had changed significantly. "Where... where am I? This looks like..."

His room. His plain, old, regular room. Knick Knack blinked in confusion and rubbed his foreleg against his eyes to help coax them awake and figure out what was going on. For a week now he'd been plagued with nightmares so intense he could barely have a night's sleep without waking a few hours later. His marefriend Annie Smith concerned for his well being had attempted to fend off his nightmares with some tender loving care; spending the night with him. However, it was unfortunately not enough, as they had still come full force and kept him from a night's sleep once more. With their solutions becoming more and more scarce, Annie had suggested they go speak with their unicorn friend Dreamer Dust.

Dreamer Dust had always been an unusual pony for Knick Knack to deal with. It wasn't that he disliked her; she was very friendly, outgoing and cheerful. Many of the colts around town admired her as she was one of the few unicorns in Ponyville and a pretty one at that. But despite that kindness there was always something about her that made Knick uneasy. He didn't know if it was her magic, her mannerisms, or that it felt like she was flirting with him every time they spoke. However, he admitted there wasn't anyone else to turn to, so he let Annie Smith lead him that morning to Dreamer's fortune telling shop/bookstore. As usual, she was more than overjoyed to have them over, and just as eager to help.

That was how he had been left alone in Dreamer's store with her company, Annie Smith having to return to her farm lest she disappoint her father Black Smith; who Knick was pretty sure hated him. Despite that, Annie and he were allowed to date with minimal interference and he counted himself grateful that he was able to maintain his relationship with her. Which only made it all the more stressful that he was being left alone with the pretty, flirty, and violet unicorn. Dreamer had assured them both that she had a spell just for Knick's nightmares and would have him cured in no time. However, Knick wasn't the greatest of optimists, so he had made sure to let Annie know he loved her in case he wound up in a coma for a month or something because of a spell gone wrong. But now...

"I didn't... I didn't dream the entire thing did I?" Rising from his bed the orange earth pony with the blond mane slowly slid off the sheets and got to his feet, feeling surprisingly better physically than his sleep deprived body had been earlier in the day. At least he assumed it was earlier in the day. There was a dark color coming in from behind the curtains in his bedroom making him wonder if evening was approaching. "No that's just silly... I think." Groaning and stretching Knick trotted slowly into his bathroom to wash his face and try to recap everything that had happened.

"Okay so I just woke up in my room... when did I go to sleep?" With his erratic sleeping scheduled that could have been any number of times in the past. Yesterday he'd stayed up until Annie had come over to his place to help him sleep, and from there he'd been woken up from another nightmare and hadn't gone back to bed since. "Was it then? Did we never go to Dreamer's?" Maybe her staying over had actually helped him. If that was the case she must have woken up and gone off to the farm to let him sleep. But then if that was the case why was he on top of his covers instead of under the sheets. She couldn't have made them with him still sleeping on the bed.

"No that doesn't make sense, I remember that too clearly anyway." Okay, so he must have actually gone to Dreamer's place to get her magic treatment, whatever it was. He knew from the time they had been there to the time he'd laid on her couch he had everything accounted for. So maybe he fell asleep then? "Makes the most sense..." He was looking himself over in the mirror and noticed the terrible bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. Pulling out some mouthwash, he started to swish it around while considering the possibilities further. He didn't remember a thing after Dreamer Dust informed him she would be using her spell. So maybe he'd fallen asleep instantly after she'd cast it and not had any dreams?

"So then... she put me to sleep without nightmares and carried me home?" The idea of being alone with Dreamer Dust had been a bit nerve wracking already. The further idea of her bringing him home and being in his bedroom with him was... well a lot more nerve wracking and a little exciting at the same time. The thought of Annie walking in on that seemed to multiply the feelings tenfold either direction depending on whether she'd be happy or upset with the scene. Knick spit out the mouthwash at that point, after deciding that maybe that wasn't the best line of thought. "Okay, better get my mind out of the gutter." Hot mare fantasies aside, he knew he better check in with Annie before it go too late.

Exiting his bathroom and in turn his bedroom, Knick proceeded down the stairs to his store with a yawn that filled the building space with its loud noise. Not that he was concerned, since clearly no one was around to hear it. Carefully but tiredly he walked down the stairs and Knick began to weave around his store shelves with a second nature to the front door, barely looking forward the entire time. When he got to the door he turned the lock for the dead bolt and pulled at the door to exit. It didn't budge. Blinking he gave it a few harder tugs thinking maybe it had gotten jammed and he'd have to call up Tough Odds to come by and give it a look. As he was absentmindedly pulling at the door, Knick began to register the metallic sound of chains shaking with each pull of his hoof. It sobered his tired mind quickly as he looked up at the front door.

Chains... chains covered the door every which way. In nearly random pattern they crossed, secured by locks and metal loops that were bolted into the wall around the entrance. So tightly did they weave over the door that Knick's pulling didn't cause the door to swing even a little ways open. The doorway was sealed shut. Furthermore, on the door, written in what looked like red paint, were the words "DON'T LET HIM SEE!"

"What... the hay?" Knick stared on in disbelief, not really registering what he was seeing at first. He sat on the ground, reading the red writing and then looking upon his confines until he was able to understand what was before him. "Okay... um... okay. Let's stay calm." He gulped and rose to his hooves again, looking around the store with a growing sense of dread. It was different too. The store looked as if no one had cared for it in some time, and while Knick was never the best and tidying up it never had the appearance of neglect before. Worn away wooden shelves, rusted metal and dust covered goods everywhere. The products, well... they weren't even his goods. Each item on the shelf looked like something he would carry except too worn away from age and disuse. Furthermore, they were not the things he had for sale just yesterday. Slowly turning to observe the room Knick felt his breath quicken. He forced himself to stop.

"Okay, we are not panicking! We are not... this is just a joke. Yeah." He looked back at the words written across the door and tried to ignore his mind informing him that this was serious. "This is not serious. Clearly my friends are pulling a joke on me. Yeah, that's it". While he was getting treated for a serious problem with nightmares his friends had put him in a coma, rearranged his entire store, bolted up the door from the INSIDE, and left him on the bed to find it. "An extremely elaborate joke. Like... amazingly elaborate." Knick walked through his store to confirm that yes, just about everything had been changed. Other than the fixtures, all of his stock had been replaced. There was worn away paper products, dolls, mane-care products and little odds and ends that were all aged and discarded in appearance. The only obvious thing that still remained was a few pictures on the wall and his record player in the corner of the store by the cash register.

Knick let out a sigh and decided that he was just going to calmly head to the back of the store, exit through the back door, and proceed to freak out all over Wither Rose and Spring Shade. This had those two written all over it. "I bet they got Tough Odds to chain up the door too. Well, we'll see if they get their deliveries on time this week or not." Knick was calming himself trying to think of pranks to pull back on them as he head into the store room.

He'd honestly expected to see all of his stock shoved back here for the joke, but shockingly the store room looked as if it was in just as bad of condition as the rest of the store. Just like before everything was changed; the boxes were rearranged, anything like tools or items that weren't stored in boxes were worn and rusted from disuse, and most concerning in the very back of the store room there was a solid, wooden wall. "...where's the door?" This was starting to spiral far beyond a joke as Knick walked briskly past the discarded store products and put his hoof against the wall. It was solid wood that was who knew how thick, and there was no indication that there had ever been a door built into it. Knick gulped down the lump in his throat for a second time as he tapped his hoof on the wall and then let it slide off.

"This can't be real. It can't be!" He looked around to see if maybe there was some sort of lever or edge to push the wall aside, that possibly this was still a prank. No matter how good a carpenter Tough Odds was, Knick didn't think he could erase a door. How long had he been asleep? As Knick was getting ready to turn back out towards the storefront he noticed a piece of paper that wasn't in as bad of condition as everything else. "What's this?" Sliding some boxes aside to pick it up, he read the paper to himself.

"The light of the rarest of silver will dispel the approaching of darkness."

"... what the hay does that mean!?" He looked at the paper as if it would speak up to clarify itself but of course no such thing happened. Letting out a groan as he let the paper slide from his hoof he proceeded back out to the storefront again. He was forcing himself to walk calmly despite his instincts screaming at him to run, not that he knew where to.

"You are not trapped." He told himself, looking around the store. "You are not trapped. You are not trapped in your own building. There is a way out of here." Both normal exits were out of the picture, which left an abnormal exit. "You are not trapped because you are going to go out the window." He told himself reassuringly approaching the one closest to the door. "You're going to climb out the window like a burglar in your own home. Then you are going to find those ponies that did this and you are going to inform them..." Wood. As he pulled aside the curtains he was met with planks of wood, covering the window from top to bottom and nailed thoroughly into the wall. Knick stared in disbelief that even this had been denied him. Seeing just a sliver of light Knick pressed himself up against the opening, looking to try and get somepony's attention that he was still alive in here.

"Why is there so much fog?" He wondered aloud looking at the street in front of him, or what he could see of it. Only a few feet from the window was visible as the streets of Ponyville were encased in a thick blanket of fog. He'd never seen such weather in town before, the pegasi would never allow it. But here it was, as unbelievable as the condition of his home, and just as helpful. He let out a sigh and proceed to check the other windows, all so well boarded not even a sliver of light shined through. So he was indeed trapped. "This can't be happening. Why is this happening!?" He gritted his teeth and clenched his eyes shut in frustration, wanting to scream out. Maybe that would get somepony's attention, but he was too frustrated to even do that. Instead he stomped a hoof on the ground and shook one of the nearby shelves in the process. Letting out a sigh he began to slowly walk back towards his room, the only normal looking part of the house left. "Maybe one of the upstairs windows is open..." He tried to reassure himself but he was fairly positive they wouldn't be.

Slowly weaving back through the display shelves to the front desk, he stopped, suddenly seeing something that was out of the ordinary. Well, his entire store was out of the ordinary, but this one thing stood out as it wasn't decrepit or aged like the rest of the building. Walking to the front desk he reached out and held up a pocket watch with a chain attached. It had been sitting on the front desk like someone had left it there to be purchased, shining with a metallic gleam that nothing else seemed to have. Knick looked it over curiously. "What's this doing here? I never had a watch." Holding it up against his ear he didn't hear any ticking and looking it over there was no place for a key to wind it up. He pressed the button on the top to open the closed door over the clock face but it just clicked with no results. "This thing busted? Why would it be here?" He pressed the button a few more times with no result and grumbled setting it back on the counter. "Junk. Just like everything else in here." Knick glared at the unhelpful item as if it were to blame for his situation. Heading towards the stairs again he was stopped by the loud sound of a crash upstairs.

"That didn't sound good." Knick Knack looked upstairs with anticipation. After everything he'd seen so far he half expected something to come down from the source of the loud noise to terrorize him further. After a few soundless minutes, Knick worked up the courage to step towards his room again, quietly climbing the stairs just in case whatever made that noise was still around. He tip-hooved towards his bedroom door, trying to peek in through the doorway but unable to see anything or anypony moving. With a deep breath Knick managed to proceed inside, then he found himself looking around frantically for the source of the crash, but he did not see any damage. "I didn't just dream that up right? I mean... I know I heard something!" No response. He didn't know if that was reassuring or not. Proceeding further Knick inspected his bedroom, but everything was just as plain as when he woke up. He was about to head downstairs again to see if he could find something to rip out those boards or chains with when he heard the sound of wind.

"That's odd, I didn't leave any windows open." Not that it mattered, further inspection showed that they were boarded up here as well, the slivers between the wood showing more foggy sky with the faintest of day light behind it. Closing his eyes Knick proceeded towards the noise, which crazily enough was leading him to his bathroom. He walked blind until he was positive there had to be something before him and looked forward to see.

"That... that isn't possible!" A hole... not just any hole. It was big enough for a Pony to crawl through, it's dark interior suggesting it could go for quite a distance. The wind on the other side confirming for him that there must be another side to it like it was a tunnel. But strangest of all, it was in his bathroom wall and extending out into nothing, which shouldn't be possible. "This can't be right!" Knick ran out of the room and out his bedroom door onto the balcony that lead down stairs. He looked past the balcony railing at the wall where the hole should have been coming out of, but there was no damage to the opposite side of where the bathroom would be. Slowly heading back to his bathroom, he peered into the depths of the hole in the wall, listening to the sound of air passing. The sound of escape from this place.

**********

Tossing the saddle bag over his side Knick Knack began rooting through the store to see if he could find anything of use. Sadly anything along the lines of tools or equipment was either missing or rusted beyond use. It was a miracle his saddle bag had remained in one place. The kitchen had been just as unhelpful, nearly all of his food supplies gone and the only items even available were some chocolate milk in the fridge along with a bottle of rice wine he'd imported some time ago and planned on sharing with Annie.

"Annie..." Knick sighed, having forgotten that he was originally going to see her in his panic. "Annie... wait for me." He nodded to himself. He didn't know where that hole would lead, but it was out of here. And if whatever was happening here was happening in the rest of Ponyville, Knick Knack had no time to spare in locating his friends. Tossing the chocolate milk into his saddlebag, Knick proceeded back towards the stairs but stopped suddenly. "Oh yeah... you." He walked towards the counter again looking at the steel pocket watch before him. He didn't know why but something about this watch seemed different from the rest of the building. He lifted it once more with his hoof, depressing the button again and finding just as much luck in opening the face plate. Giving it a glare he tossed it into his saddle bag and proceeded up the steps.

Once back in the bathroom, Knick noted the only thing keeping him from getting through the hole was a pipe that had probably gone to the sink before but now looked ruined beyond repair, no water running from its openings. Wrapping his hooves around the pipe he was able to pull it from the wall with one quick tug as it dropped onto the tile with a metallic ring. "Easy part's over." He commented and looked back at the hole, listening to the air again and working up the courage now that he was before his mystery exit. Knick took two steps towards the wall and was going to enter before looking back down at that pipe.

Opening up the medicine cabinet he found a roll of bandages that looked fairly clean and unaffected by whatever had ruined the rest of the building. Knick propped up the pipe and wrapped one end completely with the medical bandages and tape, giving it a clean grip. Hoisting it up with his mouth he moved his neck back and forth to see how much momentum he'd get. Satisfied it seemed fairly threatening he craned his head back and slid it under his saddle bag against his back like a sword. "Heh, I'm willing to bet Spring Shade would make fun of me for this. But I'm not exactly the fighting type to begin with." Not many ponies were, and Knick Knack felt a little silly making himself a weapon in the first place. But where ever he was going he wanted to be sure he was prepared for anything, even if...

"No time to worry about that. You find a problem, just deal with it." He nodded to himself and put his hooves up against the hole, hoping it was big enough to allow him through with all of his gear. "Wait for me Annie." With a hard tug Knick Knack pulled himself into the hole's depths, and slowly crawled away from the shop.