This is a non-profit fanfiction created for entertainment purposes only. This story is a continuation to Silence of Ponyville, which is a side story of Silent Ponyville and Silent Ponyville 2 by author jake-heritagu on deviantART. While it is highly suggested to read the previous stories before this one. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro and Lauren Faust. Silent Ponyville concept belongs to jake-heritagu. Please support both. -------------------- The Shop - Chapter 4 - Abacus Knick raised his head from the wet pillow and rolled onto his side, looking at the boarded up window in his bedroom. He'd woken up in his bed some time ago but was unable to find the strength to stand, instead he'd taken to sobbing into his own pillow. After all of that; the fighting, the injuries, the terror and the confusion he just ended up back exactly where he'd started. He didn't understand the point or the reason, none of this made any sense. He just wanted to go home, to his real home. To his friends and to Annie. He didn't want to be here anymore. Slowly Knick pulled himself to his hooves, wincing when he felt a bit of pain as his right hoof hit the floor. From the venom he'd touched back in that strange dark school no doubt. As he got up and winced at the feeling of the saddle bag straps touching against his other burn wounds on his back Knick inspected the bedroom. The lantern was there on the floor just like before, so was the baseball bat. His saddle bags felt cluttered with things as well indicating nothing had been lost when he ran for his life from that... thing. Knick peeked his head into the bathroom to see that the hole in the wall was easily large enough for him to fit through now. The sink had fallen off onto the floor as the hole had cut into the ceramic that held it up. It wasn't that surprising since it had grown the other time he'd come back as well. He was starting to consider the possibility that the house was changing itself while he was gone. It wasn't a very comforting thought. Knick walked back to his bed and reached into his saddle bag, digging out the oats and setting the pouch on the covers. He untied it with his teeth and was relieved to see real, solid food that wasn't old or haunted. "Thank Celestia for small favors." He devoured it all quickly, maybe faster than he should have but at least there was something in his stomach now. Maybe he'd even find another one of those drinks somewhere. At least everything in this crazy world wasn't deadly. Knick left the baseball bat and lamp upstairs, he wouldn't need them immediately unless he ended up crawling through that hole again. Something he'd gladly avoid but knew deep in his gut he'd end up doing again, possibly forever. Who knew? Heading downstairs Knick stopped in the main part of the store and looked around, nothing really appearing different. The door was still chained, the shelves still had nothing good on them and he was without a doubt alone. "Time to drop the junk." Having considered this earlier in the scary schoolhouse Knick was starting to believe not everything he had held a purpose. Or at least it wasn't immediately obvious. Reaching into his bag he pulled out the abacus, the strange book from the freezer, the silver candle and the house key, setting them onto the store counter. The book hadn't done him any good on his last trip and he was in a school for crying out loud. Although he'd found the book here in the store and not on the other side of the hole. Maybe he wasn't supposed to take it with him? But the chocolate milk had helped him in the cafeteria so he didn't know what he was basing this off of. The silver candle looked just like the previous one he'd found in the train yard but it hadn't been immediately useful either. That just left the abacus and the house key. Maybe the abacus was supposed to be useful earlier but he'd found a better solution with brute force over brains. The house key was clearly meant for something so Knick picked it up and tossed it into his bag. His back already feeling better from the relief of the extra weight. Realizing there wasn't any point in avoiding it Knick Knack started to trudge his way back towards the stairs when something caught his eye. On the far wall by the stairwell and storage room entrance there was a display of sorts. It was sitting on top of a small cabinet and it seemed to be education themed. There was a protractor, a math book, and a fancy writing quill. They were all dusty but looked as if they were part of a set. Hanging above the cabinet and display were some designer horseshoes but they didn't seem to have anything to do with the educational tools. He would have over looked all of this if it wasn't for an empty spot on the display that listed a price for an abacus. Knick looked back at the tool he'd picked up from the strange school and back at the display. It seemed way too obvious. It also reminded him of the last time when he'd set the meat inside of the refrigerator. Things had gotten strange shortly after, but the sales counter wasn't being affected so maybe it would be okay. Knick walked to the items he'd left on the counter and picked up the abacus, then turned and headed back to the display. He sighed, looking around himself for anything unusual before setting the abacus down onto the display and backing up from the counter. It began to turn black. "Oh that's not good." The black filth didn't stop there, spreading to the whole cabinet and corrupting the other educational tools on display. "Oh this isn't good at all." Knick Knack backed up as he watched his cabinet become old and rotted, the wall behind it and the floor beneath becoming stained with something dark and sticky looking. The horseshoes rusting and growing dismal in color. "Well that's just great." Knick grumbled looking at the corrupted furniture. "I have to live here until I get out of this place you know. Do you think this is helping me deal with any of this every time you go all freaky on me?" Knick was glaring at the cabinet when it suddenly clicked like a lock had been undone. "Guess I made it feel sorry." Knick walked up and opened the cabinet doors beneath the display, noticing that there was something inside. Reaching in with his hoof he pulled out an orange book with the title written in red letters of "How to be True to the Pony Within". It was the exact same shape and size as the other book he'd found. The type face for the title was even similar. Taking the book back to the store counter Knick set it on top of "The Kindness of a Mare", looking at the two of them. Clearly they were important to something but he couldn't even begin to fathom as to what. "Forget it." Knick sighed and walked back up the stairs, now carrying only the house key from the items he'd brought back with him. Upstairs again Knick took a second to look himself over. He was banged up worse than before now. Even with the bandages along his left leg having been pretty bad he was still managing. Now he had a burn on his right hoof and the burn spots on his back still stung at him. The oats made him feel better and more confident to face what was coming this time around. As he wrapped his tail around the baseball bat he looked at the red stains on it and remembered how he beat that vile mare to death with his weapon. Before when he fought the dogs he'd been forced to use the pipe, including the part where he killed the one dog to save his life. But in the school... "I killed her of my own choice." Even saying it out loud didn't make him feel as horrible as that first time. He'd swung his weapon with the intent to murder the monster with the pleasant backside. Now he was sure that if it came to it he could do it again. "Is there something wrong with me?" He didn't feel upset at the thought of killing as much as he used to. He didn't enjoy it but the remorse was gone. Was this place doing something to him or was he just conditioning himself to the world around him. "If you think forever you wont get anywhere." Picking up the lantern Knick walked into the bathroom and crawled up into the hole. He hoped he could manage to stay awake this time but he didn't expect to. As long as he was safe when he awoke though he felt as though he could be okay. He could do this. He wouldn't let this place kill him.