Sounds in the closet (Patreon)

 That evening while Luna met with Creeper and Viper another pony was having a much more unfortunate meeting in my Equestria dreamscape.

 
  Private Meadows looked up from the newspaper she'd been reading. She'd been using it to help stave off the crushing boredom of having to sit in this hallway of the Palace Infirmary for hours on end. There was suppose to be another guard pony on watch with her. But her partner this evening had supposedly eaten something bad in the mess hall before their shift had begun. They had just staggered off to the restrooms to supposedly become reacquainted with her dinner.  After that Private Bubbling Brook was suppose to go the Night Watch desk and request that another guard pony be sent down to take their place for the remainder of the shift with Meadows. 

  
  Meadows thought that Bubbling Brook was just looking for a way to get out of having to pull another of these late-night guard watches outside the patient's room. In a way she understood. Late at night the hallways of the Palace Infirmary were almost eerily quiet. After a while one found their ears straining to try and hear any sounds at all, and what sounds one did hear or made echoed on for far too long or seem to travel unnaturally far.

   
  This state of affairs was only aggravated by what sounds one did hear late at night sitting outside this blasted room.  Everypony from the guard who stood watch to the night staff in the infirmary swore they'd heard sounds around this room. Insidious, furtive slithering sounds, and dark, hissing whispers that left one unsettled. Meadows had never entered the room, but one of the nurses who was looking after the patient had confided with her that she constantly imagined that were things moving in the room. Always on the periphery of one's vision. Small fleeting movements and shadows that seemed to move and flicker.

   
  Compounding the situation was the rumors go around the barracks about an incident that had occurred in this blasted room with the Mare-in-Waiting and Scale Bearer known by many in the ranks as Celestia's Sledgehammer. Phoenix. According to mare on-duty the moment Phoenix had entered the room the mare had suddenly gone on high alert and had acted like there was something very dangerous in the room. Dangerous even to her. Something is in here! 

   
  Meadows had heard the stories about this mare. She'd seen her and her teammates in the mess hall a couple of times. She'd seen the mare's scars with her own eyes. Scars that no living pony should have. 

  So for such a pony to suddenly feel threatened by being in that room had done nothing to quell the speculation about its occupant. At least Phoenix's visit had resulted in one positive thing. At the Mare-in-Waiting's suggestion there now was always two guard ponies on duty now outside the room. So at least one had company. 

  The earth pony was starting to wonder whether Bubbling Brook had actually gotten to the Night Watch desk or had passed out in the restrooms when there was a sound from the patient's room. This wasn't one of those sounds that one imagined to have heard.  Instead there was a solid, very audible, clunk  followed by scratching sounds. Like one's dog wanted back in the house. A couple of seconds later there was another series of clunks. 

  
  Private Meadows rose from her chair and peered in through the doorway into the room. "Hello? Is everypony alright in there?" There was no verbal reply from the room but now the guard pony could hear rattling noises coming from the room.

   
  Cautiously the private entered the room. A couple of dim glow lamps and multitude of wards set up provided only minimal illumination in the space. The patient was asleep in there bed. This was the first time Meadows had seen them. A young, thin to the point of being gaunt, unicorn mare. She was a sad looking thing but seemed to be resting well. 

  As she looked at the mare there was another series of clunks and rattles. They were coming from closet next to the bed. What the hay? Did rats get into it? The private wondered as she approached it. If they did there will be a ruckus over that. Rats in the infirmary was unacceptable. 

  
  Stopping in front of the closet she pondered what was the best course of action to take. If she opened the doors all the way the rats might run out into the room. At the moment they seemed to be trapped in the closet. But it was so dark in the room that she wasn't certain that she'd be able to see anything inside it. 

  Finally the mare figured the best thing to do was to open the doors all the way. Besides she was a Royal Guard pony in full armor. What were some rats going to do her? Rearing up on her hind legs she grabbed the handles of the closet with her front hooves and yanked the door open.  

 
  The first thing Meadows noticed was a lack of rats. In fact after a second she realize she couldn't see anything. She'd expected much of the closet's interior to be obscured by shadows, but instead she was confronted by a solid wall of total darkness. She was attempting understand what she was looking at when the impenetrable blackness suddenly transformed into a mass of glistening black claws, teeth, and tendrils. Before she could scream they grabbed her and yanked into the closet and closed the doors.  

 
  Nurse Splint sauntered down the hallway as she made her scheduled rounds. Much of the graveyard shift was spent getting caught up on the paperwork that inevitably piled up during the day. However several times during the shift they had to check in all the patients in the infirmary. Just make sure they were all sleeping well.  

 
  She was rather annoyed to find the door to the room assigned to the patient named Prophecy unattended. The chairs for the two Royal Guard who were supposed to be on duty were empty. The only sign of that anypony had been here was a copy of the Canterlot Courier lying on floor. Shaking her head the nurse entered the room. The patient was asleep in her bed. Not surprising. The staff were still giving her a sedative at bedtime to help the poor thing sleep. 

  She'd almost strolled back out of the room when something caught her eye. A dark puddle of some fluid on the floor between the bed and the storage closet. As she looked at it Splint noticed that the puddle seemed to be slowly spreading out from the closet itself.  

 
  Great. The unicorn thought. Did one of the cleaning crew put a bottle of some cleaning chemical back in the closet and its fallen over and broken?

   
  She didn't like doing it but if she was going to have clean up a mess she'd need a bit more light. Reaching out with her magic she turned up the glow lamps a bit. as the room grew brighter she immediately recognized what the puddle was. It was blood. An ever growing slick of blood.   

  The primal part of Splint's mind wanted to flee from this, but the professional part of her knew based on the amount of blood she was seeing if there was an injured pony in there then seconds could make the difference between life and death. Steeling herself she walked up and threw the doors open. 

  
  Then she screamed and hit the emergency alert ward on the wall. 

 To be continued.