Maybe if he'd Listened, he would've been fine. He wouldn't have gotten tangled up in something he shouldn't have. As it was, however, he was trapped in a box, in the dark.

He knew something bad would happen. An earth pony in a previously Pegasus-only city? Ludicrous.

But he didn't think it would be this bad.

Perhaps I should start from the beginning, as that is the traditionally how people write stories.

Dash Pawnrite's family had come upon a small fortune when his great uncle passed away. With their new found riches, Dash's mother convinced them to move to Skycrest, the town his Pegasus mother had grown up in.

At first he had no problems. He mostly just isolated himself in his room to read. If you don't interact with other ponies, you can't let anyone down, and no one ever expects anything.

But his mother didn't like that attitude. She insisted he start taking daily walks through town to meet some of the people. She thought he would benefit from making friends and meeting new people.

She was wrong.

The first couple of days, Dash didn't meet anyone. Just the way he liked it. But one day, altering the previous patterns, he bumped into someone. Great. Social interaction.

Ew.

He wouldn't have stopped to say hi, but when she stopped and spoke first, he felt obligated to continue.

"Hi," Dash said awkwardly.

"I haven't seen you around here before."

"I just moved in, down the road from here." He had to admit, she was cute.

"In that case, welcome to Skycrest!" She seemed very upbeat and cheery. Normally he despised that sort of thing, but when she spoke, it just seemed like a refreshing turn of events. "If you're interested in meeting more people around town, I've got a little hang out group that meets at the Feathercoarse Coffee shop just down the road a little ways from here." She pointed down the sidewalk in the opposite direction of his house. The shop was out of sight from here, but he was sure he could find it. "We're meeting tonight at six. You should come."

He stood without saying a word. He didn't know what to say. He didn't practice talking to other ponies regularly, so he was at a loss.

She continued. "Umm… Okay, well, I hope I see you there tonight." She continued walking.

He, too, continued.

Maybe he should go. He might meet some people who share his interests there. Plus, he'd get to see her again. Worth it.

He got home about an hour later, at 2:00, still four hours from the meeting. Walking inside his house, his mother asked, "So how was your walk? Did you meet anyone?"

Dash explained what had happened. His mother disapproved.

"I haven't met these people. It's not safe. Maybe you can go next time, after I've had a chance to talk to their parents."

Dash wasn't happy, but he didn't say anything. He simply waited until six, when he'd go anyway. His mother was the one who said he should meet new people. She should be happy for him.

At six, he sneaked out his bedroom window, and made his way to the meet up point.

Looking in the window, he saw that the others had already gathered. They were all sitting in a corner booth; the girl he'd met sat between the rest of them. She looked over and saw him outside the window, then she motioned for him to come inside. He did as instructed.

Sitting down, he was greeted by more unfamiliar faces. The girl introduced them all.

"The one sitting next to you is Clyde, and over here by me is his younger brother, Dale. Our group may be small, but we're all tight. That's what matters, right?" Remembering that she hadn't yet introduced herself, she continued. "Oh yeah, and I'm Perch."

Dash was happy.

He was about to bring up his love of books, but was halted. Clyde started speaking.

"I brought the eggs. You get the TP?" He nodded toward Perch. She nodded back.

What was going on here?

Perch looked toward Dash. "Prepare for the best night of your life."

She got up and led dash and the others outside. They walked down the sidewalk a couple of blocks, and halted by an alleyway. Cutting through the alley, they made it to a long stretch of road with Color berry fields on either side. They walked down the farm roads, coming to a lone house. A mansion.

"What exactly are we doing here? Are we going to egg their house?" Dash was concerned.

Perch answered, "Much more. The eggs are just the first part. If they don't trigger alarm in the people inside, that means people aren't there. They're supposed to be on vacation, and the eggs are just extra measure. We'll break in. That place is full of expensive goodies."

Dash didn't want to seem like a wuss, so he went along with their plan. Reluctantly.

Perch offered him the first egg. He took it. He was scared, but he threw the egg anyway.

No alarm.

"Step one, complete. Initiate break in." Perch.

They walked up to the front of the house. Clyde took his hoof and drove it through a window. If it hurt, Clyde didn't let on.

They all climbed in the window. Dash looked around in awe. This place was amazing.

Perch, Clyde, and Dale started taking valuable looking statues and knickknacks off of shelves in the main room. A sound echoed from the next room over. A hoof step.

They all froze in their tracks.

Perch looked toward Dale, distraught. "You said these people were on vacation," She whispered.

Dale replied, "That's what my sources said!"

The sound got louder. They all bolted upstairs, but Dash tripped, halfway up. Before he could get to his feet, the hoof steps caught up to him. An old stallion now stood above him, a creepy smile plastered on his face, a mallet in his hoof. He raised the mallet above his head and smacked in down on Dash's head.

The next thing Dash remembered was the felling of terror when he found he was unable to move. His strained, but he couldn't so much as wiggle a hoof. The extent of moving he could do was with his eyes. He could look around, but that's all.

Not that it mattered. It was pitch black. As far as he could tell, he was trapped in a box, in the dark. Unable to move.

What had that old coot done to him?

He struggled, in vain. Three monitors lit up on the ceiling of the box, inches from his face. Each showed one of the other ponies who had infiltrated the house with him. Perch, Dale, and Clyde, all sat motionless except for their eyes, just like Dash.

Perch's screen got brighter, as though her box had been opened, then she was gone. The same thing happened with Dale. Then Clyde.

Light entered the box as it was opened. An animatronic pony lifted Dash up and sat him on a chair. The chair was a boring school chair, complete with a desk in front. He was in a boring one room school house. The entire room was grey toned. He managed to strain his eyes to his left enough to see that the other three were right next to him, all still motionless. In front of them was a large chalk board with the word 'No' written on it.

So there they were, unable to move, not sure where they were, staring at the word 'No' for the rest of their foreseeable lives.

If only he'd listened.