Alexshy

“Please, sunny, stay here and don’t touch anything,” […]’s warning was perhaps excessive, as his daughter was noticeably intimidated by the scale of the rooms and mechanisms around. The filly quietly nodded and prepared to wait for her father, interestedly observing the arched length of the so-called gallery with numerous doors to the mechanisms, she was promised to see, and the exits to the dam face, she wasn’t going to approach anyway, hearing the roar of water outside.

[…] entered the workshop, firmly knowing that his daughter wouldn’t do anything stupid; she was a smart and obedient filly, despite reaching her teen age. He taught her well the difference between some casual mischief and the seriousness of obvious dangers.

“Now… Where it is?” the stallion sorted out the tools on the workbench, looking for something specific. Yesterday he noticed that the lever at the fourth gate mechanism had some backlash, becoming noticeably loose and calling for large force to turn the gears. As it was late in the evening, […] decided to tighten it, when the light would be naturally brighter, thus this morning. He could show his daughter, how the gate propulsion mechanism worked as well.

“Aha. Come here!” he picked a large wrench with his mouth, when the loud panicking scream from the gallery almost made him drop the heavy tool. […] was to spit it away on the floor with loud metal clang anyway, as he was almost knocked from hooves by the filly, who darted inside, slamming the door shut, trembling, and snuggled to her father with all the strength she had. […] took his breath, he was immensely happy to see her safe and sound.

“Hush, hush, dear, what’s up?” he hugged her by the shoulders and nuzzled her forehead, inwardly guessing which disaster he was to deal with in a moment; he was to calm the filly first and listen to her.

“Dad, please, hurry…” panted the filly, when she could catch her breath. “I saw the monster far in the… corridor! We need to get out of here now!”

“A monster in the gallery?” the stallion sported a bewildered and slightly sceptic look. “Are you sure, sunny? It’s dark there, I admit…”

“Dad, it was there! Big… and black and scary,” the girl gabbled fast, but quietly. “It had no head… and it had… those… tendrils!”

[…] stiffened: the mere look of his daughter told that she saw something and truly believed it wasn’t her imagination, besides, the description sounded nastily familiar.

“I saw that announcement letter, daddy!” whimpered the girl. “It’s one of those creatures, princesses warned about…”

The sound of quiet, but very distinctive hoofstep outside, confirmed her words better than any explanation. Somepony… something definitely was in the gallery. Taking another look at his pale and shaking filly, […] decided to err on the side of caution. Thankfully, there was an unsophisticated hiding place in that workshop.

“Here,” he nudged her lightly towards the small closet with a metal door and a through lock, following her and accidentally kicking the wrench, which noisily slid away on the floor. More determined hoofsteps sounded from the gallery, something headed in their direction.

With jet-like speed […] pushed his daughter into the closet and squeezed there himself, closing the door. The lock clicked, the stallion fiddled with his tool-belt, taking out a long screwdriver and shoving it in the handle hole, blocking the lock from their side. ‘It better be somepony’s idiotic joke! I’ll personally whip the ass throwing that trick!’ Both ponies, the adult stallion and the filly, froze listening.

The hoofsteps quickly reached the workshop and stopped behind the door; by the sound one could guess, they belonged to a creature considerably bigger than an average pony, and […] started to doubt the idea of it being somepony’s joke. Whoever was there, lingered for a few seconds, stomping hesitantly, then the large workshop door opened slowly, screeching seemingly on the mere souls of hiding ponies.

“Step-stop!” something got in, rustling and quietly moving along the room; the loud sound of the table, pushed by the large body, almost made them jump. […] carefully cupped daughter’s mouth with his fore hoof to prevent accidental scream. The sudden feel of despair and chilling fear made his coat stand; his heart ached at the view of his little princess’ painfully dilated eyes – she must have suffered the same inexplicable terror. ‘Celestia! That’s not a joke…’

“Step-stop!” Maybe it was their imagination or the noise of blood rushing in their ears, but they vividly imagined something dark and dangerous, “sniffing” the door of their closet. The large hoof, or whatever the monster had, screeched on the metal door and made their hearts skip a beat. Then something bumped the door, not very hard, simply trying it; thankfully the closet opened outside.

Another bump! A thin stripe of the Dark Mist licked the narrow gap below, showing its edge inside and making both ponies wince away from the door, deeper into the small closet. […] supported his nearly fainting daughter, still holding her mouth shut, squinting from the becoming unbearable ringing in his ears and doing his best to grit his own teeth, not to neigh from the hammering terror.

Lazily bumping the door once more their tormentor turned and heavily trotted away, out to the gallery. Panic and despair started releasing them little by little and, as soon as he could hear something except the ringing and his own blood rush, […] turned all ears. Their lives or at least sanity, judging by what he heard in the announcement, depended on that.

“Now…” he felt, how his knees suddenly shook and large drips of cold sweat ran down his neck, something […] was unable to notice seconds before. “That… thing must be heading to the building… Probably looking for the exit. There is one more at the other end of the gallery. The grate is locked, but I have the keys. We need to get there, sunny, fast and quietly! Understood?” he released the muzzle of his filly, when she nodded convulsively, at least her eyes looked normal already.

“I know, daddy… But… I can’t,” whispered she, still holding on him. “My legs are trembling…”

“Oh, Celestia…” breathed out […], listening at the door carefully; the heavy hoofsteps receded to the left and vanished. ‘It’s now or never!’ he yanked out the screwdriver and carefully opened a gap – the road was clear.

“Now, be quiet!” the stallion tried to open the door without any screeching, but stopped, seeing the filly almost hanging on him clenching to his neck; her knees trembled indeed and she couldn’t stand straight yet, let alone run.

[…] kneeled and let her get on his back, wrapping the fore legs around his neck; he could feel now, how the poor girl trembled, and closed his eyes for a second, making a deep breath.

“Hold on tight, okay! Whatever happens…” the filly nodded faintly and […] accurately exited the workshop, listening and watching the left end of dark corridor fixedly. It was empty and silent and the stallion turned away, pondering for a second.

The rising Sun bathed the dam face with bright light, which flooded the catwalks and got into the gallery through openings. That, although, made the unlit parts of the pathway almost pitch black for their eyes. ‘What’s now? Risk and stay here, where we could be ambushed from every corner, if only I was mistaken... or get outside, where we at least can see the threat immediately.’

He made a single step, the sound, not very loud, but quite recognizable, rolled through the gallery, making the stallion decide at once. Slowly and tensely, ready to burst to gallop at every second, he reached the nearest opening and stepped on the catwalks.

“Don’t look down, sunny!” he squinted from the bright sunlight, falling right into their eyes, and stopped for a moment, letting them accommodate, then turned right.

A large metalwork construction partially blocked the way in a few yards distance, overshadowed by the crane – the part of supportive frame for the future generator assembly work. […] realized his mistake, he wanted to return and quickly pass that area through the gallery safely not to climb through the frame. The noise behind his back told him, it was late; the black horse-like monster, surrounded by flowing Dark Mist, darted to the catwalks, as if it was chased by the Cerberus.

The filly squeaked and snuggled deep into father’s mane not to look, catching the glimpse of the nasty creature behind […] remembered the warning in letter: “…please, leave the area of the aforementioned effects immediately and notify local authorities or/and the royal guards, if present! The anomaly may be accompanied by visual manifestations in form of shadowy horse-like creatures. Be aware, these creatures are dangerous...” In a couple of leaps he reached the metalwork frame and ducked, trying to get through the construction fast but safely, remembering about his daughter on his back. It appeared to be unbelievably hard, including the wave of mind-shattering terror, which mercilessly flooded them again, making […] grunt and pant groping through the scaffolding. His eyesight darkened and the tinnitus-like sound in the ears became almost unbearable.

The beast lingered for a second, but some sound from the gallery made it rush, stomping the catwalk heavily and making it noticeably shake. The technician panicked, throwing a quick glance over his shoulder at the approaching menace, he paced forward, his hoof got onto something round and… unattached to the rest of the frame. In a second the world around made a couple of loops; in some wild survival spasm he managed to grasp something, which got under the hooves, and firmly clench it… hanging over the gate, the spillway and the raging waters below.

His heart was beating seemingly under his throat and the noise of blood in the ears could easily compete with thunder; thankfully his daughter held onto him really tight, but he could barely recognize her voice in that pleading squeak.

“He-e-e-elp!!!”