Silence.
The only thing the unnamed pony's ears could make out- dull unending silence. His eyes couldn't see anything beyond the pure blackness of the void, with only a few glimmers of grey light shifting in and out of view. Soon though, even they faded to black. In spite of that, he knew of his location- The Edge of Creation.
The large pocket of existence that stands between the walls of the universe and the space between dimensions.
"Eight?" A voice echoed around the unnamed pony, catching his attention. "Please, open your eyes."
Gently, compiled, finding a glowing white shard floating weightlessly before him, seemingly watching him. He turned his head, looking all around himself, seeing one shard after another. He was surrounded by them.
"Who are-?"
Before he could speak up, the same voice echoed through his head again, making him wince. "You don't seem to have a home in this dimension..."
"Wha—?" he tried again, only to be cut off once more.
"Shhh... We'll find you a home, Eight."
With that, a slow bubble of light began to envelop him, sprouting from just behind the first shard. As the bubble grew and surrounded his entire body, a bright sky began to form from the light. Clouds flew past his vision as he floated down towards a darkly lit town, light reflecting off each individual window. It looked completely abandoned.
"Eight?" He whispered to himself, turning his attention back to the shard.
It didn't respond.
Within moments of the surrounding light fading, gravity suddenly took hold, dropping him towards the concrete streets.
His screams echoed through the air, as his body flailed in the wind, the world completely blurring around him, yet somehow, the shard was following him down.
"You're safe with me." The voice echoed one last time, seeming to fade away.
He could feel himself begin to slow and stabilize in the air until he was once again upright. Gradually, he approached the ground, extending his hoof and feeling the concrete below make contact with it, before gravity finally took complete hold, setting him gently upon the abandoned street. "What... Is this place?" He looked around slowly, taking note of the street name- Dulken St.
Just then, a sudden, cold wind blew hard from behind, as random papers and leafs shot past.
He stumbled forward, barely managing to catch himself, before he quickly moved close to one of the buildings, trying to avoid it.
Every building seemed totally unlabeled, with each one having their doors all tightly boarded shut.
He quickly attempted to yank one of the boards off, which was blocking off the entrance to what looked to be a shop, it's interior being visible through its display window.
However, a small glimmer of light flickered from the center of the street through the reflection, catching his attention.
He quickly turned and stared, seeing something shiny, rolling around in the wind. Cautiously, he approached and scooped it up, seeing now that it was a white shard- the exact same one that had followed him down.
Without warning, another burst of wind shot past him, threatening to knock him over. He quickly ran back towards the building, making sure to hold the shard tightly against his chest. As the winds blew harder and harder, he once again tried forcing himself into the building, yanking and pulling at the boards, to no avail. After a long moment of catching his breath, a look of determination crossed his face, before he took a step back, taking a deep breath before making a quick dash for the door, pivoting just before it and twisting into a powerful buck.
The wood broke with a loud snap, splintering but giving him a small opening into the building.
Reaching his hoof in, he quickly turned the knob and pushed the door completely open, crawling inside and slamming the door closed behind himself. Slowly, he took a deep breath before suddenly choking, coughing on the dust that covered every inch of the room.
"Well, that was unpleasant," he found himself whispering, just as his coughing nearly subsided. "But I'm finally inside." he quickly pressed his arm against his mouth and nose, breathing slowly as he cautiously turned, looking around the room.
Barren bookshelves lined the left wall, caked in dust. A few had even collapsed completely, leaving behind splintered, rotting wood. A desk sat just to the right of them, an old register sitting atop it, the drawer open and empty of any currency.
Letting out another sigh, he lifted the shard away from his chest, looking down at it before trotting up to the desk and setting it down. "I can't carry this thing around like this." He stared at it for a long moment before slowly moving to the other end of the room, peering down a dim hallway, barely being lit by the sunlit. Moving slowly, he stepped into it, noticing a set of stairs at the other end, leading up to a second floor.
Two doors lined the left side of the wall, one laying open, revealing a pitch-black room while the other remained shut.
Looking to his right, he spotted a light switch and flipped it.
Nothing happened.
"Great, no power," He let out a sigh, looking back down the dark hall. Slowly, he began making his way towards the first, shut door, pushing it open, revealing a small empty closet filled with dangling spider webs, coming from the ceiling and walls, though he wasn't able to spot any actual spiders. With a look of disgust, he closed the door, not seeing anything of note, before making his way over to the next door, which still sat open.
Looking in, he could make out what seemed to be a fairly big room, topped off with an old, dusty bed. Past that, many of the details were lost in the dark. Even if he wanted to go in though, a small desk blocked the doorway.
Turning back to the stairs, he peered up them, bearly seeing into another dim, but wider-looking hallway. Approaching, he looked down at the first step, checking for any damage before slowly bringing his hoof up and stepping onto it.
It let out a soft groan at the sudden weight, but overall, seemed to be stable enough.
With a sign, he gradually made his way up, a quiet and soft clicking becoming audible as he reached the top. Pausing, he looked around the new hallway.
Two closed doors each lined the right and left walls, with one other door sitting completely open at the other end, opposite to the stairs, the room inside seemingly pitch black. The soft clicking was emanating from it though, barely audible over the wind outside.
Cautiously, he moved towards the first door on his right. Trying the doorknob, he was disappointed to find out it was completely locked up and quickly turned, moving to the door directly behind himself. He turned the knob, this one, notably, being unlocked, and pushed open. Just as it reached halfway, it jolted hard, slamming against something heavy, a loud scraping sound echoing around the hallway. He jumped a little at the sound before taking a deep breath, trying to calm himself. Very slowly, he leaned inside, finding a totally wrecked bedroom, a turned-over bed partially blocking the doorway.
On the opposite wall was a window that peered out into an alleyway, the light from outside barely shining through it. Next to that was a ruined dresser, which sat open, its doors and hinges bearly holding on. Inside, torn-up clothes shifted and swayed, slightly dangling out and against the floor. With them, a silver neckless could be seen.
A gentle smile crossed the unnamed pony's face. He could definitely use that to hold that shard around his neck.
- - -
After pushing his way past the door and retrieving the neckless, he stepped back out into the hall, quickly wrapping it around his neck. He began softly making his way further down the hallway before coming to a stop at the next door on the right wall, the clicking sound growing slightly more audible as he approached, yet he could still just barely hear it. Softly, he pushed that door open, revealing what seemed to be a study.
Bookshelves lined both walls, a desk sitting between them on the opposite wall to the doorway.
Stepping in, he looked around, taking note that while the shelves were mostly empty, there were still books here, though they all looked pretty dusty and worn, that he wouldn't doubt even brushing against them would turn them to dust.
That is, all except one, that lay flat against the desk, it's cover a deep violet.
Slowly, he approached it, running his hoof against its velvet cover before pulling it open, revealing a series of blank pages.
"Curious." he quietly said to himself, lifting it up and closing it. "This might be handy. Better hold onto it." With that, he turned and began moving for the door, only to suddenly bump into a nearby chair he hadn't seen.
It sat alone close to the door. Beneath it, were scrapes dung deep into the wooden floor, as well as disturbed dust. It had clearly been moved relatively recently.
He quickly shook his head, filing that thought away for another time, before exiting the room. He turned and looked down the hall, directly at the pitch-black doorway, that soft clicking still emanating from it. He stared for a long moment, a feeling of dread filling his body, before shaking his head again, turning his attention to the last closed door. Clutching the journal in his hoof, he slowly reached out and pushed the door open.
Beyond it, there was another, much cleaner bedroom, a single bed pressed against the wall in the center of the room, with two tables on each side. Notably, it looks to be the same size as the bedroom downstairs.
Entering, he spotted something laying flat on the bed- a black trench coat, spread out, as if in waiting. Most importantly, he could see it had pockets- big pockets. Without a second thought, he quickly dropped the book onto the bed and picked up the coat, looking over it before gently sliding it on comfortably. It fit him like a glove.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a full-body mirror pressed against the wall. Moving in front of it, he turned his body, examining himself.
His messy dark brown hair draped down over his dark red eyes, his coat's color seeming to be a desaturated brown. This was the first time he'd actually gotten to see himself. Luckily, it seemed like the black trench coat matched his color scheme pleasantly.
Instantly, he scooped up the violet journal and slid it into his new pocket, feeling its weight press against his rump, before stepping back out into the hall. Once again, he found himself staring at the final door, listening.
Now that the sound had his full attention, he could just barely hear something else alongside it. Something along the lines of soft inhaling between the bursts of clicks.
Cautiously, he approached the door, the sounds growing more and more audible with each passing step until he finally stood just in front of the doorway, quietly breathing.
The room looked to be completely bathed with darkness, with not even the smallest detail being visible from the outside.
Hesitantly, he lifted his hoof and firmly placed it on just beyond the doorway, the shadows of the room overtaking his color, making him seem invisible. With shallow breathes, one slow step after another, he quietly made his way further in, past the doorway, listening as the sounds grow far more noticeable. At this point, he barely couldn't see anything at all. The details of his coat and the rest of the room blurred together into a dark mass of nothing.
The only visible beacon he had was a pair of blue lights, sitting next to one another, both failing to cast any noticeable light.
The more he approaches, the louder the clicking grew, before he finally stopped just short of them.
They subtly shifted up and down in the dark, matching the pace of each breath perfectly.
He could feel a shiver run up his spine before realizing just how crazy this was. As quietly as he could manage, he began backing away, keeping his eyes firmly locked on the shifting blue dots, occasionally glancing back towards the exit. As he just about neared the exit, letting out a deep breath he didn't know he was holding, he felt his hind hoof suddenly catch against something, making it scrape against the floor loudly and causing him to trip, landing back against the floor with a loud thud.
Just then, the darkness of the room quickly evaporated, replaced by a small, wrecked bedroom, its furniture completely destroyed.
The pony quickly turned, spotting a toppled chair sitting between him and a black blob that twisted and contorted in place, until finally shaping itself into a small dog-like creature, before it suddenly letting out an ear-splitting cry.
He quickly covered his ears and screamed, pain bursting through his head. He tried looking at the creature again, only to gasp.
The creature's dark claws were outstretched, it pouncing in his direction before they sliced through his hind leg.
He wailed, clutching it before kicking out at the creature, only to miss.
The creature growled and bit down on his outstretched leg, flailing its claws wildly.
Pain filled the pony's whole body as he screamed, seeing its eyes now glowing a crimson red. Without hesitation, he kicked at it again, managing to knock it off, before quickly trying to climb to his hooves.
Quickly recovering, It suddenly cried out again from behind, the entire building echoing with the sound.
He suddenly collapsed onto his leg, the pain continuing to run up his whole body. With all his strength, he forced himself back to his hooves, leaning against the wall before quickly limping for the stairs. Just as he reached them, he felt a sudden force ram back, knocking the wind out of his lungs and sending him tumbling down to the first floor.
The creature scratched and bit at his body. He tried to hold it back with his arm. The pony barely kept the creature out of reach of his face.
A second later, he managed to climb to his hooves. He grabbed the thing by its claws, swinging it around before throwing it into the dark room.
Its body crashed into whatever was in there, before it quickly began clawing at the desk, ripping it apart and throwing chunks of splintered wood into the hallway.
As quickly as he could, the unnamed pony made a mad dash out of the hall. He glanced back, gasping as he saw the shadow dog pouncing his way. Instantly, he fell to the floor, watching it as it just barely glided over his head.
It crashed against the wall next to the front door with a hard thud, before falling onto its back. It began scratching wildly at the air and squirming, trying desperately to roll over.
Without a moment to lose, the pony climbed back to his hooves and limp over to the desk, grabbing and slipping the shard into his pocket.
The creature cried out again, finally managing to get upright.
The pony could only scream as his body stiffened.
The creature pounced again, outstretching its claws at him.
The pony collapsed against the desk, panting heavily, the creature just missing and landing hard against the register in front of it. It scrambled against it to turn and face him.
The pony quickly turned and crawled out of its range, towards the shelves. He began yanking on one desperately, glacing at the creature.
It finally turned and stared him down, letting out another cry. A moment later, it pounced again.
Finally, he managed to pull the shelf down, it toppling over, landing perfectly on the beast.
It only took a second before letting out another loud cry, before it suddenly begins to tear it apart from underneath, sending wood chunks and splinters into the air.
Before the pony had a chance to move, a large chunk of wood shot out at him, striking him across the head and sending him falling back. The jagged piece of wood hit the ground just as he did, right next to his head. Slowly, he opened his eyes and watched.
The creature climbed up onto the desk again, bearing its black teeth and hissing at him, before it pounced once again.
The pony cried out, turning and suddenly biting onto the piece of wood. He quickly swung it around himself, it slamming into the creature hard.
It flew back and hit the wall hard, landing on its back. It squirmed and trashed at the air.
Without a second thought, he moves quickly over to it, plunging the sharpest part of the wood deep into the chest of it.
It screamed loudly, clawing at the wood.
Falling onto his side, the pony watched the creature wraith in pain before letting out one more cry and falling limp.
Breathing heavily, he stared at it, watching it pulsate until stopping completely, now seemingly crumbling into dust on the floor. Softly, as the creature crumbled, a black shard hit the floor and tumbled towards him, stopping just before his eyes, before his vision slowly blurred and faded to black.