//------------------------------// // 4: Places never to be seen... // Story: To Die Twice // by Quite Quiet //------------------------------// Darkness stretched out around her, completely hiding all objects in the room. Trixie stumbled backwards from the door with hooves slightly sinking into the loose ground. Blindly putting one hoof in front of the other she move backwards towards the middle of the room. Loudly announcing its presence Trixie slam her heightened head into one of many support beams holding the floor above her head up. Grabbing her head in agony she falls flat to the ground. Ears ringing and head spinning she simply lay there and waited, waited for the pain to back down. Breathing heavily in and out with eyes closed. As the turmoil assaulting her head subsides she sighs. Eyes slowly adjusting to her pitch black environment she takes the first real look around the room. Lying in a corner is an outline matching week-old hay, most likely the planned bed for her. Not a pony’s length away from it is the outline of a tub. Slowly feeling her way towards the tub the scent of unhealthy dirty water enters her nose. Grimacing at the smell Trixie increase the distance between the two objects, all pretense of a bath abandoned. Moving closer to the pile of hay instead, Trixie ease her way down into the hay in an attempt to make herself as comfortable as possible in the circumstances. The strong scent of the tub noticeable but bearable from the current distance. With sleep keeping itself away from her thoughts begin to wander. “Why did this happen to me? I never asked for any of this.” Thoughts assaulting her mind as the one still open eye began to moisten. “I never wanted to die, but coming here was a mistake. I should just have ran away, far away from Equestria and tried living on my own in seclusion so I didn’t change history. Who knows what me being here will do now.” Trixie feels the first tear run down the side of her face, uncaring to the meaning on it. “I have to fix this, I can’t stay here. First thing in the morning when I get out of here I will flee. Hide somewhere and when the craze dies down escape far, far away from here.” Tears now falling from both eyes, the closed and the open equally happy to shed her tears. “Why am I crying? I should be happy! Happy I’m getting out of here, happy I have a plan to follow. Why am I not happy?” Sighing and chocking on her tears at once the attempt to wipe away some of the tears are unsuccessful. “Am I crying because of her? The one they sent to help me, and the fact she just locked me in a cell again less than a day later. I can’t let her keep doing this to me. As soon as she opens that door I am out of here.” Tears gave way for conviction that tomorrow she would be free. And as the last tear fell from her face the filly slowly drifted off to sleep and eyes closed. The first rays of sunshine slowly crept in the room through the gaps in the walls, conveniently moving their way towards the lone sleeping filly in the room. As the first rays of dawn reached her eyelids and began the first relentless attempt to wake her, two pair of hooves could be heard making their way down a staircase and towards the secret door into the room. If the sun had been relentless in its attempt to wake the filly, the owner of the hooves was no better. Barely a second after the clip clop noise had ended a particularly loud scream could be heard. “You have thirty seconds to wake up and stand at the other side of the door young miss!” The unspoken or else was heard by every pony present in the house, even the one sleeping in the room just behind the door. Groggily Trixie opened her eyes, rubbing them with her front hooves. Bloodshot eyes looked out across the now dimly lit room, finally getting her first real look of the room. To her dismay the shadowed outline from yesterday evening had been correct and the only two objects in the room were the bed she currently occupied and some sort of bathing tub just next to her. “Ten seconds remaining.” Stumbling to her hooves Trixie hurries around the room, studying the walls in a desperate attempt to find exactly where the door in sat. “Five.” Twisting her head around, eyes glances over every inch of the walls, looking for any clues as to where the door out of here could be. Thinking back to the night before, she judges her position to the two objects in the room in a last attempt to uncover the location for the door. Noticing the two of them sitting far away from her in the other side of the room, Trixie slowly twist her head in the opposite direction and stare right at a large vertical crack in the smooth walls. The crack in the wall only grew larger and larger as the outside world once again was revealed to her. Blocking the freedom completely was the same mare from yesterday, Winter Heart. The white coat leaving not a single hair out of place and a stern look in her eyes. And she frowned. Standing just below her, Winter towered above her far more than she had yesterday. An air of superiority surrounding the mare as she looked down on Trixie. “Did you take that bath as I asked you to?” The question left no room to argue. Either she had taken the bath, or there would be something that happened if she hadn’t. Trixie Answered with what she hoped Winter would want to hear. “Y…yes, Miss Winter.” Winter stood silent for a moment after the answer, unmoving. Then after several minutes had passed she bent her neck down towards the little filly, snout and eyes moving uncomfortable close to her chest. A moment later she deeply inhaled through her nostrils, sucking up even the smallest traces of smell from her. The mare then moved her head back up to once again show an imposing sight to anything smaller than her. The frown on her face deepening for a moment, eyes unblinking and completely focused on Trixie. Again inhaling enough to puff her chest out, Trixie tensed up for what was sure to come. “Liar. You still reek of those dirty city odors. I thought I told you to clean up, didn’t?” The coldness in her voice as she said it made Trixie shiver. This mare took no excuses nor gave any. “You’re staying in there until I know you’re clean. The tub is right there, use it.” “But the water…” She didn’t want to argue, but that water wouldn’t make her cleaner. It would only make her wet. “No but miss. If you don’t like it, clean it up.” And with that the door in front of her slammed closed in the blink of an eye, barely giving Trixie enough time to notice the swing at all. Through the wooden walls came the muffled last words of her guardian. “And no dinner until you’re clean and stop lying to me.” Listening as the sound of hooves moving away slowly quieted down, Trixie sat still on the ground and sighed. The lights finding their way in through the boards in the walls helped illuminating the small room, the filly and the two objects inside it. Glancing to her side Trixie looked towards the water-filled vat standing stock still in the corner beside the ‘bed’ of hay. Getting back on her hooves again Trixie hesitantly makes her way towards the not-so-inviting bath tub. The closer she got the more unbearable the stench got and standing just a few step away the rotten smell made her sick. Looking over the top of the vat into the water only made things worse. The vat held something that could once have been water, but as Trixie gently touched the surface of the tank she was sure. Water shouldn’t bounce back up like that. Finally giving up her stomach went into uproar, making her retch and cough. Desperately trying to move away as she kept her mouth closed she turned around and limped on three hooves as far away from the disturbing smell as possible. Feeling the taste of bile in her mouth, she lowered her hoof and spit what little bile there was on the ground. A pathetic stain marked the ground for a moment before getting soaked by the ground. “She can’t expect me to bathe in that. I would be worse off than I am now if I did. That stuff can’t be healthy to get covered in, much less clean yourself with.” Sighing deeply Trixie falls back down onto the dusty floor, hooves tuckered under her for comfort. “I didn’t even try to escape. I just froze up as soon as I saw her. Why would I do that? It makes no sense.” Closing her eyes for a moment Trixie lets her head down on the ground, silver mane falling down over her eyes and partially obscuring the view of the vat. “What if I refuse to ‘clean’ myself? She can’t expect to keep me in here forever. I need to eat something sometime.” At the thought of food, her stomach kindly reminded her she in fact had nothing to eat since yesterday morning and that it requested something soon. Slightly blushing from the sound, Trixie looks around and realize where she is. Instantly the blush disappears, along with the smallest hint of a smile that existed for the fraction of a second. The only sound around her is that of her own breathing, slowly in and out again in an endless pattern of repeats. Above her the roof of her room is stock still, not a sound from the likely inhabitants of the orphanage above. Time stretches on as she laid there, shadows creeping along the walls and marking the passage of time. Watching carefully with her head still in her hooves, Trixie studies the holes that let the light through. Holes smaller than the tip of her horn, but numerous to make up for their size. As the time passes by the room slowly grows darker and darker, stealing details from her surroundings meanwhile. The planks holding the water become a single entity of wood, the individual strands of hay melting into each other to form a discoloured heap of browns and yellows. As her field of vision shrinks she takes one final push and get up on shaky hooves. Carefully making her way towards the hay while she can, eyes wander once more towards the unspeakable vat that holds her doom and her freedom. Settling down in the pile of hay for the second time she sniffs the air for the first time since the morning. While not as noticeable as the day before the unmistakable scent of dirty water is still present. The final rays of the sun leave the room plunging the already dark room into the same pitch black stare as yesterday. Moving her head around for a more comfortable position Trixie slowly closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep in the company of her stomachs loud protests. The morning came and with that the morning sun. Slipping in through the holes it greeted the barely sleeping Trixie in her pile of hay once more. Rubbing her eyes with a hoof she gently raised her head up. The exact same room lay in front of her as it was yesterday, vat of fluid still reeking that horrible smell of rot. A door slamming in the distance gave the first warning signal, and the dulled clopping noise that could be heard was the second. Getting up on weak legs she stumbles towards the general area of the door. A previously unknown hole greet her hoof and she falls down face first into the ground. Jaw numb from pain and head spinning from the impact she barely register the same call for attention as yesterday. Pushing her hooves under her she barely manages to get up into a standing position before the door swings open, barely missing her head as it does. Blinded by the light from outside Trixie rapidly blink her eyes in a desperate attempt to regain her focus. Blocking some of the light is the silhouette of a pony. A very specific pony. “Have you taken your bath yet?” And the mare sounds no less pleasant this time around either. Struggling to open her dry and cracked lips, the best she can manage is the faintest reply. “N… no, Miss.” “What did I tell you? You stay in there until you take your bath, that’s final.” The annoyance in her voice cut through the weakened haze Trixie just in time to see the door close in front of her once again. “And no lunch until you do as I tell you.” As the clopping on grass moved away from the door for the second time in as many days, Trixie gave up all pretense of strength and fell to the side. Closing her hurting eyes the filly took several deep heavy breaths, before mustering enough strength to once more get off the ground. One step at a time she crept at a snail’s pace towards the vat she could get out of here with. As she closed in on the tub she felt the smells again. Hanging heavily in the air her breathing became more and more forced. The thick air around the bath sapping what little strength she have as she collapses on the ground, failing to reach it with a significant margin. Simply laying there on the ground, forcing air in and out of her lungs the hours pass. Slightly shifting her legs to spread out from her she once more watch the shadows creep across the walls as the time pass. Head resting on the ground and eyes flicking about the room as the hours slowly move forward. The morning turns into day and day turns into evening as she lay there, barely moving her body the slightest. As she notices the fading light in the room, a last desperate attempt to move begins. Avoiding all pretense of standing, Trixie drag herself across the floor towards the place she slept for the previous two days. With a final push of will she forces herself back up on the now used pile of hay and immediately collapses, gasping for air. Heavy breaths and complaining stomach is the last two things she hear as she falls back into the dark embrace of sleep.