Ch. 6 Memoir
My eyes snapped open, my vision was hazy and bordered by white, like that resembling of a dream. The world swiftly formed itself around me and once it realized my sudden awareness, I found myself standing in an endless green field. No defining features present, save for a lone hill in the distance. The slope of the hill was rather gentle, the main attraction being the tree that sat comfortably atop it. I found myself walking towards the hill, not a sound was made as I stepped through the wild grass.
Once I had reached the foot of the hill, I began to hear voices. Voices of children laughing and playing, truly happy sounds, I found myself walking to the hilltop, hoping to find source.
As I neared the peak of the hill I noticed extensive exposed roots from the tree, almost to the point where it coated the entire hilltop in its earthen embrace. Strange designs became clear on the tree, they resembled faces crying out in agony. The cheerful voices were gone, replaced by whispers of conspiracy, torture, and death. I began to reach out to touch the tree, not by my own will, as if it were being pulled by an unseen hand tugging at my wrist.
The instant my pointed appendage made contact with the tree, a pure black, viscous liquid flowed from the eyes of the unnerving carvings. The liquid pooled around my spikes on the ground as the fluid began to form into what could only be described as a bloodied, demonic hand. The hand swiftly leaped upwards, grabbing hold of my ribs in a deathly grip. More liquid began to spew forth from the tree, quickly forming into an equally bloodied arm. The newly formed forearm shot out from the tree, joining with the hand that still held its grip on my body. I felt myself being thrust into the air by the immense limb that sprouted from the botanical monstrosity. The limb sheathed itself into the ground, before dragging itself back into the the crime against nature that was the ‘tree’, taking me with it.
My vision blurred into existence once more, I began to become light-headed as a new feeling of numbness spread throughout my body. I attempted to make sense of my surroundings as I found myself lying in a hospital bed once again. The room was not a pristine white as the one I found myself in before. The walls and ceiling were rusted, as putrid air wafted in from the decadent air vents. Standing up, I walked through a blasted out door frame to be beset by a horrific sight. The only thing that could be heard was the faint ringing of heart monitors, and the moans of pain, and imminent death. The hall was spattered with blood and various organs, corpses scattered across the floor. I tentatively stepped through the hall, several ponies were limping about, organs hanging out of their bloated stomachs. My legs quickened their pace, as my eyes looked for an escape from this hellish hospital wing. I saw a rusted elevator door and I scrambled for it and began mashing the button to call it with one of my spikes.
A gleeful ‘ding’ was heard as the decaying doors screeched open, revealing an equally visceral room with an unscathed unicorn hugging itself in the corner. I recognized this unicorn as the one I had seen prior to my relapse into dream, slowly approaching the unicorn I reached out a spike to touch it. The unicorn didn’t seem to take notice until my spike made contact, it began wailing in fear the instant I made contact. I stepped back from the unicorn, and turned my attention to panel on the wall of the elevator, light’s dimly illuminating the buttons for floor selection. I blindly hit one button as the elevator began shaking, the aged light overhead flickering wildly with it. After standing in the epilepsy inducing light for a time, the elevator grinded to a halt, as the light returned to its more stable state. I neared the door, when I realized the entire room was different, blood no longer coated the floor and walls, instead I now stood inside a pristine elevator.
I stepped to the elevator door as it slowly began to slide open, when I was pulled backward by an unseen force. I turned around to see the unicorn who was now standing and facing towards me, its horn aglow with a brilliant purple light. “What are you doing?” I stammered out, attempting to break myself from the unicorns apparent hold on me as I drew closer to it. I was now directly facing the unicorn, mere inches away from it, I closed my eyes, preparing for some form of assault.
“S-so you’re not a monster like the rest of them?” The unicorn stammered as she fiddled with her hooves.
“Rest?” I inquired, now curious as to what other creatures dwell in my mind.
She began to speak again after taking a quick look past me, “They...they were everywhere... I had to run, but I saw so much and I barley made it in the elevator... I was shocked at the horrible monsters I saw...” She spoke, now starting to mildly hyperventilate from the memories.
I couldn’t help but crack a slight grin, finding the unicorns fear hilarious, even if my thoughts had traumatized her, turning back around I noticed the doors had fully opened, rays of sunlight quickly flooding into the elevator, illuminating the once shady room. I looked beyond the blinding light, stepping outside to see a snow covered world, several metal structures littering the otherwise barren landscape. I stepped out of the elevator my spikes leaving almost no prints in the slow as I stepped through it. I heard the sound of snow crunching behind me as I continued walking through this empty world, the only other sounds provided by the occasional gentle gust of wind. I approached one of the structures, finding to feature a lone, rectangular door. Once inside I found the building rather small when compared to its exterior, this however was barely something to care for, given what the room contained.
A white, pulsating orb of light floated in the center of the room, suspended by metallic braces. Suddenly the unicorn burst into the room, and attempted to dive into the orb, but seemed to be repulsed by some unseen force. I looked at the violet unicorn for a moment as she struggled against the unseen hand holding it in place. My vision flipped back to the orb, approaching it I didn’t seem to be repulsed by the force that still held the unicorn.
I slowly reached out to touch this contained star. The instant my spike made contact with it the orb rapidly expanded, consuming me in its brilliant white light. While in the light I felt a rush of memories rush into my mind, memories of a world that was not my own, memories of mythological creatures, memories of cities, memories of an entire world, memories of friends.
My eyes snapped open as I found myself in the pristine room once more, my body was splayed out on the bed in a strange position. The unicorn stood up from the floor, a perplexed look on her face, until the familiar bang echoed from the door once again, stealing her attention. The white unicorn of before stepped into the room, accompanied by the pegasus I had briefly spoken to. The three ‘ponies’ converged and momentarily whispered to each other, briefly looking at me as they spoke.
After conversing the three turned away from me, and stepped out the door, slamming it behind them. I was alone in this immaculate prison once again.