Beware the Red
Octavia panted hard, her breath coming in ragged gasps as she shot through the town square. It was already dark out, stars the only source of celestial illumination available in all of Ponyville. It was past the moon’s setting, and still a few hours before the sun took its place— all sane ponies were long asleep.
Meaning Octavia had nopony to call on for help.
Rounding the the library Octavia’s rapidly beating heart gave a leap of joy as she finally came within eyesight of her destination. The tall, brightly painted house was a beacon of hope in the dark night, a place of solace she prayed to Celestia would provide shelter from the evil behind.
Coming to a screeching halt at the doorway, Octavia whipped her saddlebag off and began frantically digging through it to find the housekey.
Where is it?! she was thinking desperately, sweat drenching her brow and making it difficult to see her way through the saddlebag.
As she struck gold, snatching the key with her teeth, Octavia tossed her head in delight only to see the demonic entity standing at the library. Its bloody eyes coldly regarded her every move with a smile that glinted in phantom light.
Fear and adrenaline once again coursing through her aching veins, Octavia thrust the key into the lock and turned it as quickly as possible. Tossing the door open and bolting in as fast as she could manage, she elected to buck the door closed behind her to save time.
Turning, Octavia flipped every lock and closed every bolt in what she knew was a vain hope that the flimsy-looking door would keep out the presence that had followed her home from the train station.
As she backed slowly from the door, never letting her eyes leave any of its umpteen locks, she heard a tapping at the window to her right.
Glancing that way briefly, she was greeted with the same horrific smile which seemed to reflect light that simply wasn’t there. The canines were longer than equinely possible, and the skin was stretched beyond anything but drastic surgery or complete mutilation would be able to accomplish. More horrifying than the smile could ever be, its red eyes pierced Octavia to her very core.
She dashed over to the window despite the horror that stared back, and closed the blinds.
Immediately, there was a tapping across the house at the other ground-level window. She looked backwards, both terrified and morbidly curious to see if the thing could somehow manage such a feat.
She wasn’t disappointed. There, too, was the grin. A single candlelight across the street illuminated the blue hair which surrounded the demonic smile, but left every other detail of the pony (if that was what you could still call it) in silhouetted shadow.
Octavia had to truly will herself over to that window, taking care not to trip on anything in her house. Celestia knew, she couldn't afford any mistakes.
Reaching the window, she shut those blinds too, though not before hearing the entity giggle something menacingly.
”Tavi.... Hehehe...”
Octavia began shaking despite herself, chilled to the bone to hear her pet name defiled so.
The tapping came again from upstairs, but she deemed upstairs to be simply too far out of the way. She knew from experience with Rainbow Dash that there was no way into the house up there. She had been adamant about reading Octavia’s copy of the latest “Daring Doo” novel at the time.
Instead of bothering with the windows upstairs, despite the incessant tapping, Octavia limped over to her desk. If I’m going to die tonight, Equestria must know the truth about what happened, she thought to herself desperately.
Octavia sat in her chair, and lit the candle that was situated to her right. Though she was loath to admit it, the act of writing music for hours on end had helped calm her before. She hoped it would do the same now.
Taking the quill in her mouth and dipping it in the inkwell, she began to write.
To anypony reading this: do NOT trust anything I say if you find me. The only words you can believe are what will be written on these pages. But most of all, BEWARE THE RED.
It started this morning, when my roommate Vinyl Scratch was trying to find someplace scary for her themed album release party.
That morning...
Octavia sat moodily on her couch, bored out of her skull. Despite the fact that Vinyl Scratch was an absolute tornado in their shared home, she simply couldn’t will herself to break from the monotonous laziness she had fallen into for the past few weeks.
“What should I wear?!” Vinyl Scratch gasped, galloping from the hallway closet to the one in her room, a trail of ‘rave’ clothes (utterly distasteful, in Octavia’s opinion) behind her.
“But what should I eat before?!” she yelled from the upper level, coming barreling down the stairs and into the kitchen. She threw open the refrigerator door, and began tossing food onto the counter.
Octavia, sensing a lull in the hurricane, decided to get a few laughs at Vinyl’s expense.
“I believe you may be forgetting the most integral part of an album release party!” she called into the kitchen.
There was a pause from the kitchen, and the food stopped flying for the moment. Then, Vinyl Scratch was face-to-face with her, desperation etched around her beautiful cerise eyes. Not red, as was the common rumor.
“What is it?!” she pleaded/screamed, grabbing Octavia by the shoulders when she was a millisecond too slow in responding. ”WHAT. IS. IT,” she demanded as she shook her roommate violently from side to side.
“Calm down and I’ll tell you!” Octavia managed to squeak out, no longer enjoying her little jab.
Vinyl Scratch immediately dropped her, then plopped down on the couch one spot over. Admittedly, she was on the edge of the seat and vibrating for the information. But considering she had just been whipping around the house, she was relatively relaxed.
“Alright. You need a place to hold the party,” Octavia said, straightening her hair. “That’s what you’ve forgotten.”
Vinyl Scratch nodded slowly for a few seconds, seemingly contemplative. Then she exploded off the couch, and started pacing around the room.
“Of course! The venue! We need a venue!” she cried, stopping to scratch her chin. “We need one that’s kinda creepy, preferably abandoned, and has a wide open area where I can set up my equipment and the guests can jam out... Anywhere around here you know like that, Tavi?”
Octavia flinched at the pet name. Only her closest friends and family called her “Tavi,” and she had always hated it. In the professional music world, where she had actually made a name for herself, she was known by all as Octavia Melody. She had even played at the Grand Galloping Gala, for Celestia’s sake!
“Firstly, you know how much I despise that little... nickname... you picked up from my parents during their last visit. Please refrain from using it. And secondly, no. I haven’t the slightest idea where you could have this party of yours. If you ask me, only Nightmare Moon would have any idea where to find a site that would fit the garish sounds on your upcoming record.”
Vinyl Scratch stopped, a smile spreading across her face. “I know you hate the nickname, Tavi, but we’re friends so you can just deal with it. Now then. I think you may have just solved our venue problems!”
Octavia groaned. “What do you mean ‘our problems’, and why do you say I just solved them?”
A few hours later...
The train ride had been terrible for Octavia, but she had to admit that the walk up the mountain from Canterlot was exactly what she needed to break her out of the lazy rut she’d been in for the last few weeks. The fresh air, the scenic views, the thick trees, and what seemed like all of Equestria stretching beneath the peak was breathtaking. In fact, she decided she may well come to the peak by herself one day soon to write music.
“I’m hatin’ this so far,” Vinyl Scratch commented bitterly.
She was wearing her trademark sunglasses (which didn’t seem out of place for once) as well as her hoodie, an off-white color that matched her coat and had ‘DJ PON3’ written in large, spray painted letters. When they had started shipping those hoodies, it instantly became a new fashion trend. That’s why the new album was a big deal. It was to be Vinyl Scratch’s first full-length album, and expectations were high.
“Oh, this is nice, Vinyl,” Octavia commented warmly, a slight smile on her face. “Not exactly what I would expect for your album’s release party, but it’s truly beautiful up here.”
Vinyl Scratch snorted, shaking her head. “Nah Tavi, this isn’t where the shindig’s goin’ down! Our destination is what we’re here to scout!”
“And that would be?” Octavia asked, one eyebrow raised.
Vinyl indicated a bend coming up in the path with a nod. “Just wait, it’s supposed to be right around that turn!”
Octavia was unsettled by that, but decided to give Vinyl Scratch the benefit of the doubt. Besides, she’d never lead her astray before.
As they rounded the bend, Vinyl gave a WHOOP! and started trotting faster, while Octavia’s jaw fell open. Before them lay what looked like a collapsing hospital. It was a faded white, with ivy growing up the dark brick walls as if nature itself was trying to erase the memory of a time long past.
It looked to be three stories tall, with a surprisingly little amount of windows. What few there were had been long since covered by wood planks, though some had fallen down. Despite being so obviously abandoned, nothing except the ivy grew within hundreds of feet of the building. The front doors were wide open, giving the impression of a gaping maw.
Octavia shivered despite the warming sun on her back, getting the eerie feeling that something watched hungrily from the empty windows. Vinyl moved ahead happily, humming one of her songs as she approached the wide open doors.
“V-Vinyl?” Octavia called, unwilling to go further. “What is this place?”
Vinyl Scratch stopped, turning to find her friend stopped a few dozen feet behind her. “What is it?” she replied, somewhat annoyed. “Why’d you stop?”
Octavia shook her head, entirely ill at ease. “What is this place, and why does it seem so... off?” she repeated.
Vinyl Scratch returned to her friend, a smile once again gracing her lips. Octavia liked her smile; the self assured grin always made her feel safe.
“There’re a bunch of theories,” she explained. “Those conspiracy ponies get a real kick out of it! Everything from housing for fleshy pink alien monkeys to scientific experiments are suggested to’ve happened there, but mostly, there’s just one theory that has any, you know, substance to it.”
She leaned close to Octavia, her voice lowering to a conspiratorial whisper.
“They say this is where Princess Luna was stuck when she started going crazy... before the moon, there was this place.” She glanced at the building, the smile growing. “The Royal Asylum. Built up over the years around Nightmare Moon's cell, in its hayday there were insane patients, criminals, and even Nightmare Moon herself. Ponies have reported weird stuff going on here, anything from disembodied voices to being actually touched. You take a place with a reputation like that, and some of my songs like Wub Meh Hard, Mah Evil Pet or Mindcrime, and you’ve got a ragin’ party!”
She turned in awe to regard the building, smiling crazily. “Now c’mon Tavi, we gots some wubs to scout for!”
Dragging Octavia along when she remained hesitant, Vinyl Scratch approached the front of the decrepit structure. Though they were wide open, Octavia got a distinct, nonwelcoming feeling in the pit of her stomach.
“I... I’m not sure this is the best way to find someplace for your party, Vinyl,” Octavia said as she looked inside through the openings. It was dark, too dark to see, but she thought she could make out some sort of welcoming desk.
“Why not simply let the record company take care of it?”
Vinyl Scratch rolled her eyes, and started to push her friend into the building with her head. “They don’t know anything about my style. C’mon, Tavi, it’s just some abandoned spelunking-type stuff between friends. Nothing scary, okay? Just get.... in... there!”
With her final word, Vinyl Scratch managed to shove Octavia into the open doorway. Tumbling forward, Octavia disturbed a cloud of dust that immediately found its way into her airways.
She coughed, sitting up to hack out the motes from her lungs as Vinyl Scratch trotted by smugly.
“You didn’t ACK! have to push me BLEH! you know, Vinyl!” Octavia wheezed.
"Oh please. You’re in now, ain’t ya? Let’s go!”
Octavia glanced around, pleased to see that her eyes had adjusted somewhat. They were indeed in the old reception area. There were a few old benches turned on their sides along the walls, and plants that had long since decayed in their pots. There was also a gurney sitting stoicly in the corner. To either side of the receptionist’s desk, hallways stretched into utter darkness.
Vinyl Scratch happily waited near the hallway to the left, her horn glowing. “Tavi, c’mon! We need to find the cafeteria or something, and that map on the wall is too hard to read. I think it’s this way!”
Octavia grumbled as she stood up, but with her first step there came a foreboding feeling of dread.
“Um, Vinyl? I get the feeling we shouldn’t be here,” she said hesitantly, taking a step backwards. “Perhaps we should simply—”
BANG!
Octavia shrieked, turning in an instant to find a door behind her had fallen from its hinges.
“Oh. Oh that is wicked,” Vinyl Scratch mumbled to herself, trotting back to the terrified Octavia. “Now, that’s atmosphere!” she cried, turning to her friend with a bright smile on her face.
“Good thing you’re buds with a unicorn in here, eh?” she asked wryly, tapping her glowing horn.
Octavia shook her head quickly as Vinyl Scratch started to make her way back towards the hallway. “I’d rather not be present whatsoever!” she scolded her roommate. “Shouldn’t we check to see if this place is structurally sound before we continue?”
"Tavi, it's lasted this long just fine. And you’re an earth pony. You can just buck your way through any collapsed drywall,” Vinyl Scratch responded exasperatedly. “Now get your flank over here, so we can find a spot to set the party up!”
With a longing glance back at the boarded-up doors, Octavia sighed and joined her friend in the darkened hallway.
“That’s the spirit!” Vinyl commented warmly, giving Octavia a healthy knock on the shoulder. “Now, let’s get to explorin’!”
They started forward, checking each doorway they came across. For the most part, Vinyl’s light cast creeping shadows over collapsed desks, broken artwork, and paper strewn everywhere. Octavia figured they were simply offices, and didn’t pay them much attention.
And thank Celestia for that light, Octavia mused as she glanced at the long stretches of darkened hallway ahead and behind. Without that blue light, seeing would be impossible.
“Looks like they left in a hurry, huh?” Vinyl Scratch commented dryly as she picked through some of the papers that had migrated into the hallway. “This all seems like important stuff. I don’t think they’d just leave it lyin’ around, y’know?”
Octavia nodded silently, looking back over her shoulder. She was sure she had heard something like shuffling behind them, but there was nothing there.
“Tavi, are you ok?” Vinyl asked suddenly, making Octavia jump as her friend touched her with a hoof.
“What?” she asked, looking briefly at Vinyl Scratch before glancing back down the hallway. “Oh, I... I thought I heard something.”
“Aw, that’s just your mind playing tricks on you, Tavi,” Vinyl Scratch said offhoofedly. When her friend didn’t react, she sighed and took off her glasses.
“Look, Tavi,” she said, revealing her entrancing magenta eyes. “I know ya don’t want to be here, but I’m asking you as my friend to stay with me. It’s important to me. So, can you please just calm down and help?”
Octavia looked into her friend’s sincere eyes, and knew that she truly meant what she had said. Sighing once again, Octavia nodded. “Alright, Vinyl. I suppose I must be convincing myself of phantom shuffling. Let’s go and find your cafeteria.”
Vinyl Scratch smiled widely, slipping her glasses back on. “Yeah, Tavi! Let’s go!”
Turning, they continued down the hallway, and decided to take a right when they came to a T junction. While it lead them much deeper into the building, they rationalized that a cafeteria would probably have some sort of central location.
After a few minutes of silently making their way down this second hall, they started to notice regular slides set into the walls. Upon closer inspection, they discovered they were windows meant to look into patient cells.
The first one was somewhat clean, nothing much on the floor but the bedsprings of a mattress strewn around. The walls were faded and starting to fall apart, but there was nothing much to speak of.
The next room, however, was interesting enough for Vinyl Scratch to open the door that was flush with the walls. As she opened the door, Octavia saw why. There were words written all over, scribbled too small to read from a distance. They covered the walls, the window, the floor, even the ceiling.
But the most shocking thing about the room was the kicked over chair in the center, and the doll that swung from the ceiling by its neck.
Moving around the overturned chair, Vinyl Scratch squinted to make out the words written on the back wall. “Not themselves,” she intoned loudly. “Trust nopony. Fear the red.”
She looked back at Octavia with a single eyebrow raised. “I think that’s all there is, written again and again all over the place. These ponies really must have been crazy!”
Octavia hadn’t moved from the doorway, but at the words ‘fear the red’ she felt a shiver had passed through her. She looked at the doll to see it had started swinging softly.
“Oh, and this thing here...” Vinyl Scratch muttered as she moved closer to the doll. “What the buck would somepony hang a doll for?”
She reached up to touch the doll midswing, but it immediately stopped of its own accord.
“TRUST NOPONY! FEAR THE RED! NOT THEMSELVES! TRUST NOPONY!” it started to giggle loudly in a little filly’s voice.
Vinyl Scratch gasped and Octavia started to back out of the room, her eyes never leaving the doll. Vinyl Scratch followed her immediately, and they shut the door behind them without a word. They shared a look, and Vinyl Scratch reached up to shut the window slider.
As they continued down the hallway, the doll’s voice faded slowly into the distance. “FEAR THE RED! FEAR THE RED! FEAR THE RED!”
They were shaking when they reached the next four-way intersection.
“Y’know, it was probably just somepony messin’ with us,” Vinyl Scratch commented, shining her cold blue light down the new hallway. “My, uh, my friend didn’t mention that room, so somepony’s probably just been here since then to scare the next ponies to come along.”
Octavia eyed the inky darkness suspiciously, agreeing with Vinyl Scratch halfheartedly. “Although, how long has it been since this friend of yours visited here?”
Vinyl Scratch started to her left, and Octavia followed. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe four months?” Vinyl said without much conviction. “She brought this big group with her, and they said all they heard was some creaking. No dolls.”
She pushed open a door, moving into the next office. The floor creaked under her weight as Octavia saw the floorboards shifting beneath her friend.
“Vinyl, I don’t think it’s too safe to be in here. What are you searching for anyway?”
Vinyl Scratch gave a big smile, looking up at Octavia. “This,” she replied, holding up a map that was somewhat faded and seemed ready to crumble in her hoof.
“See?” she pointed to a small box along a hallway that was marked in green. “That’s us. And if I’m reading this right, there’s two floors above us, and two below us. ”
She pointed out the other diagrams that filled the page. “It looks like we’re not too far from the cafeteria, either, which is three stories high. We just need to take this hallway all the way down, and hang a right, and we’ll come out into the cafeteria’s balcony!”
Octavia’s eyes weren’t drawn to the large space Vinyl Scratch indicated with her hoof. Instead, she focused on the medium-sized square box at the lowest floor, the second basement. There was nothing irregular about it, except for the red that filled the box.
“Vinyl, what is that red box in the lower basement?” Octavia asked, intrigued. She stepped closer as Vinyl Scratch went to look at it. “Is that writing next to—”
A tremendous crashing sound filled the room, and Octavia watched in horror as her friend was sucked into the open space that had once been the office floor. The cold blue light of her horn disappeared into the darkness below, and Octavia could only just make out the desk, some cabinets, and other pieces of furniture from the room fall into the hole as well.
“VINYL!” she screamed, moving as close to the hole as she dared and trying to look into the utter darkness. The only thing that responded was another loud creaking, followed by the sound of another floor giving way.
With every movement of the rubble that came out of the hole, Octavia became more and more concerned.
“VINYL! CAN YOU HEAR ME?! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!”
No answer.
“VIN—”
“Yeah, yeah, I hear ya!” Octavia heard her years-long roommate respond. The sound of it was odd, though. Like the sound echoed all around Octavia, even from the hallway behind her.
“I just broke through the floor, nothin’ to get freaked over!” Vinyl Scratch called from down in the hole. “I, uh... I seem to be under some desks I can’t move though, so can you find a way down here to help?”
Octavia’s mind raced as she tried to remember the floor plans she had just been looking at. “Uh yes, yes I think I remember a staircase down the other hallway. Will you be alright, though?!”
“I told you, I’m fine!” Vinyl Scratch yelled up. “Just please hurry! This kinda hurts being buried under two floors of junk, ya know!”
Octavia nodded to herself over and over, trying desperately to remember exactly how to get to the staircase. “Alright, alright, I’m going to go find the stairs. I’ll be right down, ok Vinyl?”
“I’ll be here! Haha. Seriously though, hurry!”
Octavia ducked back into the hallway, and found an almost impenetrable darkness. The feeling that something was watching her was fierce, a crippling fear, but she pressed on for her friend.
Brushing against the hallway with her right side, she made her way down the hallway. If she remembered correctly, the stairs would be on the right side of the hallway, about halfway to the end.
But there was no break in the wall. There were doorways, but they only lead into small rooms that Octavia was too frightened to enter.
After a full two minutes of nothing but walking, Octavia found herself in an open space. Looking to the right, she could just make out another hallway.
Desperation started to set in, because she knew that there shouldn’t be a hallway there. Figuring with a frantic thought that she must have mistaken this next hallway for the one with the stairway in it, she made her way quickly to the right side.
Octavia started to trot forward, moving over to once again brush her side against the walls.
There were some more sliding windows set in the wall, but she didn’t dare open any rooms. There was no way she was going to spend any more time than she needed to in that damned asylum. She was going to get Vinyl, get back upstairs, kick down those stupid banging doors, and say goodbye to this Celestis-forsaken place forever.
The wall started to get more smooth, and then Octavia’s side was brushing against railing.
Her heart leapt for joy momentarily, thinking she had found the stairwell, but then a breeze blew across her coat.
It was then that Octavia remembered Vinyl Scratch pointing out the cafeteria. The three story cafeteria, whose main floor was on the second basement level with most of the patients.
Right where Vinyl would be.
She raced gleefully down the balcony, figuring there would be a stairwell at the end.
Octavia wasn’t disappointed. There was a metal staircase at the far side of the upper balcony, and she could take it all the way to the ground floor.
Clopping down the stairwell, it took only half a minute to reach the bottom. When she did, though, she was surprised to find there was a single shaft of light in the middle of the room. It hadn’t been there when she had started down the stairs just moments before, but it seemed to come from a window at the back of the cavernous room. It somewhat illuminated the tables and chairs in the room, but it also destroyed her night vision.
Octavia wasn’t sure what to make of it, but she started forward anyway. Her friend needed her, and all she had to do was just get through to her in order to leave that place.
She stopped short when she saw something step into the light.
It didn’t make any breathing movements, and its head was lowered to star straight at the ground. The coat was pale and torn red in several places, and its right front hoof seemed to be twisted at an odd angle. The lightning blue mane was what truly shocked Octavia.
“V-vinyl? Vinyl Scratch? Is that you?” Octavia called hesitantly, moving towards her friend. Something told her not to approach it though, to move beyond it and get her friend. This thing didn’t seem like her friend.
“I’m fine, Octavia. Come to me. We’ll leave together,” it said in a monotone voice without movement. The head didn’t rise, and it still didn’t look like it was breathing.
Octavia was rooted to her spot. She couldn’t move closer to her friend, but at the same time she didn’t want to. There was something terribly wrong.
“Vinyl, where is your hoodie? And how in Equestria did you get out from under all that rubble?” Octavia asked hesitantly.
There was no response.
Octavia waited a moment before attempting to move slowly around the shaft of light.
“Oh, you are clever, aren’t you?” said a voice right next to her ear.
Octavia jumped and looked around in fright, but there was nopony near her. Looking back to the shaft of light, she saw the Vinyl Scratch thing had disappeared. She was utterly alone once again.
Whimpering softly, Octavia made for the far end of the cafeteria as fast as possible. There were large tables and chairs she had to move around scattered everywhere, in various states of disrepair.
After stumbling through the cafeteria, desperately watching for any poser Vinyls or disembodied voices, Octavia finally came across the hallway that would bring her to her friend.
She thought she could hear something coming from the hallway, but she couldn’t be sure. Octavia began to trot in the general direction it had come from, hoping to Celestia that it was where Vinyl Scratch was trapped.
The hallway felt old. Whereas the other walls had been white and smooth, these were cold brick. It was darker than anywhere else she had entered, and had a sort of energy to it. Like the memorial of a tragic accident.
She heard something behind her. glancing back, there was nothing. Suspicious, she turned forward and started to trot faster, but she heard it again: the same giggling from the cafeteria was following her.
Octavia tried speeding up, but the incessant laughing was always just behind her, tickling her ears, brushing at her tail, moving between her pumping legs. She pushed herself harder and harder, but the harder she ran, the louder and higher pitched it laughed
She reached the end of the hallway, and had to turn left. Taking the corner at top speed, she collided face-first with a floor-to-ceiling pane of glass.
She fell to her haunches, shaken, and tried to shake her head to clear the sudden headache.
“Tavi?!” she heard from the other side of the glass. “Tavi, is it really you this time?!”
She looked up sharply, trying to discern the shapes behind tha pane of glass. It was too dark.
“Vinyl Scratch? Where are you!” she shouted desperately, the ghastly laughing forgotten in place of her friend’s needs. “Show yourself!”
A faint blue light lit itself as Octavia heard a grunt, and she saw the pile of debris sitting atop three of her friend’s four legs. Thankfully Vinyl Scratch’s head and left foreleg were left uncovered, so she could crane her neck around to smile painfully at her friend.
“Octavia!” she called, full of relief. “You made it down here! Sorry I got us into this mess, but we need to leave ASAP! There’s something down here that’s just.... it ain’t natural, Tavi!”
Octavia nodded, looking around for some sort of handle or lever or something to open the glass. She spotted a small plaque next to the glass, and the blood drained from her face as she read it.
“Hey... Hey Tavi? You wanna let me out now?!” Vinyl Scratch pleaded, wiggling what parts of her body she could. “I can’t really feel one of my legs, y’know?”
Octavia’s head popped back into the glass, and she looked at Vinyl Scratch with fear written all over her features. “Vinyl, we need to get you out of there immediately!”
“I’m all for it!” Vinyl Scratch called back excitedly. “What happened?”
“This is Nightmare Moon’s old room.”
Vinyl Scratch’s smile dropped, and her head whipped when she heard something in the room start to slowly laugh.
“Vinyl?” Octavia called, but her friend didn’t move. “Vinyl Scratch!” Her gaze seemed rooted to a spot behind the rubble, somewhere Octavia couldn’t see.
It was when Vinyl Scratch’s horn went out that she started to well and truly panic. Left with no light, her friend unresponsive, and being stalked by some strange force, Octavia went with her first natural instinct.
Turning sharply, she bucked the glass with everything she had. She could feel it give under her back hooves, but as soon as she made contact, Vinyl Scratch started to scream.
Octavia began ucking the glass as hard as she could, repeatedly pounding the pane with every ounce of strength her earth pony body could muster. With each contact, Vinyl Scratch’s screams became more and more horrific.
With one last Olympic effort, Octavia broke through the glass. It shattered around her, and she turned to see her friend free from the debris of two floors.
Vinyl Scratch was floating midair, her rear legs together and her forelegs extended to either side. Her mouth was open, and this vapor-like substance was entering her.
“Vinyl Scratch!” Octavia yelled, but she didn’t respond.
Terrified beyond words, Octavia was at a loss. She had no idea what to do, and watched helplessly as her friend was desecrated.
“Tavi... help... me...” Vinyl Scratch managed to gasp.
Octavia glanced around desperately, propelled to do something, anything, to help her friend. She saw the pile of rubble hadn’t been disturbed, still standing tall.
“I’m coming!” Octavia shouted to her friend, finding her legs. She galloped forward, climbing the towering pile of debris with the desperation only a loved one could compel. Reaching the top in no time, she turned and leapt for Vinyl Scratch’s floating form.
They collided, and Octavia drove Vinyl Scratch to the ground. They landed with the weight of much more than two ponies, and the vapor was forcefully driven from Vinyl Scratch’s lungs.
Covering Vinyl Scratch with her own body, Octavia looked around warily. Her eyes had adjusted to the dim light as much as possible, but she couldn’t see where the cloud had gone. The room fell silent except for the ragged breath of the two mares.
“Vinyl, are you alright?” Octavia whispered harshly.
“I-I could feel it, Tavi,” Vinyl Scratch gasped through her intakes of breath. “It was telling me I could control it, that I could be as powerful as Nightmare Moon... But I saw its thoughts. It’s what corrupted Princess Luna, Tavi. It didn’t die when the Elements of Harmony exorcised it, the thing just came back here to hide!”
She started to cry despondently. “We have to get outta here, Tavi, we have to go! It won’t stop until it has a new host!”
Octavia jumped up, terrified that her friend had come so close to possession, but stopped as she heard a rumble.
“What is that?” she asked her friend as the world around them started to shake.
“It’s coming back!” Vinyl Scratch moaned.
Some sort of water line must have burst, because the two ponies found themselves knee deep in flowing water. It swirled around them and the pile of rubble at the center of the room, moving faster and faster, while at the same time it rained down from the ceiling.
“Vinyl Scratch, we need to get out of the water on that pile! ” Octavia shouted, reaching to pull her friend from the water she still lay in.
Instead, she felt an incredible force punch her in the chest, and she was thrown against the far wall.
Slamming into the solid brick, Octavia cried out as she felt one of her ribs break. She bounced from the wall, landing hard on the ground.
“Tav—” Vinyl Scratch started to yell, but she was cut off by the same supernatural force dunking her head under the water.
She struggled, the water rushing down her throat and into her lungs.
She was pulled up briefly by her mane, and held onto the faint hope that her friend had come to rescue her. Instead, she was driven under once again. Over and over, her head was pulled from the water as she was on the brink of drowning, only to be shoved back down.
Octavia struggled to find her hooves, hearing a constant splashing from around the pile. She moved carefully around the rubble, and peered through the rain and her fallen hair. Vinyl Scratch was repeatedly being shoved under the water line.
A rage found its way into Octavia’s heart, and she snorted loudly. Pushing herself as hard as she could through the growing waters, she galloped forward to slam into whatever it was abusing her friend.
Whatever it was she hit, it was big. Octavia, with all of her earth pony strength, sent it slamming into the wall behind Vinyl Scratch.
The wall cracked where the invisible entity smashed into it, and Octavia listened with grim satisfaction as it cried out in pain.
“We’re leaving, Vinyl!” she cried, grabbing Vinyl Scratch and tossing her onto her back.
The unicorn was too weak to respond, slowly retching as her body tried to expel the water that had found its way in. She did manage to spit one sentence out, though.
“It’s not done with us, Tavi.”
A growling filled the entire room, and the building around them trembled all the harder. The water stopped flowing, and slowly started to rise into the air around them.
“Beware the red, ponies,” the disembodied voice intoned.
The water started changing as it floated, changing color to become a bloody crimson.
“Let’s get out of here!” Octavia screeched, and took off for the hallway. Skidding around the corner, she galloped as fast as she could with her friend on her back.
“Tavi,” Vinyl Scratch moaned, pointing behind them.
Looking back, Octavia’s eyes widened as she saw a tidal wave of bloody water flowing after them. It filled the entire hallway, and threatened to drown them both if caught.
“Hang on!” Octavia yelled, working to gallop even faster as she ran for her life.
The pair shot into the cafeteria, and Octavia had to work on dodging around the tables and chairs. The tidal wave was under no such constriction, and swept everything along with it while chasing its prey.
The single spot of light that illuminated the floor disappeared, only to reappear again immediately. It was joined by another, then another, and Octavia heard heavy splashing behind her.
Passing through the light beams, she looked up to see the ceiling had started to collapse. The setting sun broke through, its light a welcome change from the dark recesses they’d come from.
“Almost there!” Octavia called back to her friend.
Taking the steps three at a time when she reached them, Octavia shot up the flights of the staircase. When they reached the top, she slowed a bit to look down into the cafeteria.
The water was impossibly evading the light beams, and slammed into the opposite wall. Now stretching across the entirety of the cafeteria, Vinyl Scratch couldn’t help but to gloat.
“Ha! Not so tough now, are ya!” she yelled, draped over her friend’s back. “You’re through, and we’re gone!”
A roar erupted from the bloody water, and geysers started to shoot up around the room. Crashing into the ceiling, they tore through mortar to reveal the open sky. Smashing through supports, they worked on bringing down the entire building.
“If I can’t have you as pets, I’ll have you as tombmates!” it boomed, shaking centuries-old hospital to its foundation.
“Oh my Celestia, GO!” Vinyl Scratch screamed, slapping her friend on the flank.
Octavia didn’t need any more urging, and raced into the labyrinth that was the hallways.
Careening around the first corner, Octavia had to dodge to the right in order to avoid a gaping hole in the floor.
“That’s where I fell through!” Vinyl Scratch yelled as they passed.
A wordless scream echoed around them, and Vinyl Scratch looked back to see steps being ripped out of the hallway tile as the evil being chased after them.
“The Nightmare’s coming back!” Vinyl Scratch cried. “Take the next corner!”
“Leave us alone!” Octavia sobbed, terrified as she took the next possible turn at speed.
The steps dug in as they tried to come down the same hallway, and it ended up slamming into the opposite wall in order to lose enough momentum that it could give chase.
“Didn’t work! Next left!” Vinyl Scratch yelled.
Octavia jumped to her left, barely making it into the hallway in time.
The ‘Nightmare’, as Vinyl Scratch called it, barreled past the smaller hallway without slowing. It continued on its path, and the heavy steps faded into the distance.
Octavia slowed to a stop, exhausted. “Can you walk, Vinyl?” she asked, prepared to continue carrying her friend if need be.
“Yeah, I think I’m good,” Vinyl Scratch said hesitantly, sliding off Octavia’s back. When she had righted herself and taken a few shaky steps, she smiled at her friend.
“Thanks for that, Tavi. You have no idea how terrifying the Nightmare really is.” Vinyl Scratch shivered as she said its name.
“What is that thing?” Octavia asked. “Why do you know so much about it all of a sudden?”
Vinyl Scratch shushed her friend, and started forward. “When it tried to take me over, our minds connected. I saw everything it wants to do with us, how it wants all of Equestria under its power. It tricked Princess Luna into thinking she had control when it possessed her a thousand years ago and turned her into Nightmare Moon, just like it tried to possess me tonight.”
Octavia looked around worriedly. “And now we’re stuck in this maze of hallways, with a demon hunting us.”
Vinyl Scratch nodded. “Let’s get out of here. I don’t think the building will last much longer.”
As she spoke, the building started rumbling louder. Fearing it was more than just a shift in the supports, the two ponies hurried forward.
They passed numerous hallways, each longer and darker than the last. Checking either way before entering a new one, there were a few close calls.
At one point, they heard the slowly stomping sounds coming from around a corner. They were in the middle of the hallway, with nowhere to go.
Looking around, Vinyl Scratch indicated a gurney set against the wall.
Octavia nodded, and the two of them silently scrambled under the old hospital bed in the hopes that the Nightmare wouldn’t find them.
Watching the hallway and breathing through their mouths, the ponies watched as the tiles were crushed beneath the weight of the Nightmare. It took long steps, a good five feet between each stomp.
It came closer and closer, while Octavia and Vinyl Scratch pressed themselves as far back as they could.
The Nightmare paused with a step right in front of the hospital gurney. Vinyl Scratch and Octavia held their breath, hoping against hope that it couldn’t detect them.
An animalistic snuffling came from above, and seemed to get closer. The other footstep came immediately before their faces, and they heard the bedsheets being lifted above them.
Slowly reaching back, Octavia took hold of her saddlebags that had somehow stayed with her the entire time. She clasped a granola bar, and as quietly as she could, tossed it down the hall.
The snuffling immediately stopped, and a wicked chuckling came from above.
“Can’t hide from me forever,” it laughed, and then took off down the hallway.
Tiles were thrown backwards as the Nightmare ran, and it slammed its way through the a corner on its way into another hallway.
Octavia and Vinyl Scratch let out their breaths, but waited a moment to see if it would come back. When the stomping receded into nothingness, they crawled out from under the gurney.
Indicating the direction the Nightmare had come from, Vinyl Scratch lead the way into the next hallway.
Three hallways later, Octavia thought she could see some faint light coming from a doorway.
She pointed it out silently to Vinyl Scratch, who nodded. Moving ahead, Vinyl poked her head around the threshold.
Jumping back, Vinyl Scratch waved Octavia over excitedly. "It's the exit!" she told her friend as loudly as she dared. "We're being the front counter. All we need to do is jump that and we're home free!"
Octavia was ill at ease. "Are you sure? Something doesn't feel right. Why would that Nightmare let us go so easily?"
"It didn't! We escaped fair and square, and now we can get out of this Tartarus hole. I'll go first!"
Ducking around the corner, Vinyl Scratch galloped for the counter.
Octavia peeked around and watched as Vinyl Scratch went to leap the counter. A piece of paper floating in a nin existent breeze caught her eye, and panic gripped her heart.
"Vinyl, wait! It's a trap!"
"What?" Vinyl Scratch looked back as she jumped through the air, slamming into the invisible form of the Nightmare.
"You're mine now!" it yelled triumphantly, lifting Vinyl Scratch into the air by her hoodie.
The building around them shook, and pieces of the floor in the waiting room started to fall away. Two stories below, the red water churned hungrily, waiting for its next victim.
Vinyl Scratch's mouth was forced open, and for one terrible moment, Octavia looked upon the true form of the Nightmare in horror.
It was huge, an overmuscled hulk of red flesh that was torn away in several places top reveal the black organs beneath. The short, curved legs ended in massive paws that held up its gargantuan weight.
Worst of all was the face. An unsightly mane shot in every direction from its head, ringing the pupil-less eyes and jagged toothed grin which stretched beyond anything natural. It lacked any muzzle. Instead, two simple slits flared as it drew breath.
And then, its arms was gone. Replaced by a thick cloud that somehow held Vinyl Scratch aloft as they forced themselves down her throat.
Octavia looked around desperately, trying to figure out what to do. She glanced at the desk, the broken chairs, the busted paintings, anything that would give her an idea.
Then it came to her. She had slammed into the Nightmare once, why not again?
Jumping into action, she threw herself over the counter and grabbed the gurney. Turning it by force, she called out to get the thing's attention.
"Hey, red!" She yelled as she started forward, pushing the heavy gurney before her. The Nightmare paused, and Vinyl Scratch managed to turn her head as well.
"Fear ME!"
Launching the gurney with everything she had, Octavia felt a deep satisfaction as Vinyl Scratch was dropped and the Nightmare was knocked backwards.
Smoke arms pinwheeling, it teetered on the edge before falling backwards into the racing waters below.
There was no screams, but as soon as the sound of a huge splash came two stories below, the entire building started to collapse around them.
"Vinyl, we must get out now if we're to have any hopes of surviving!" Octavia told her friend, dragging Vinyl Scratch to her hooves.
When she discovered Vinyl Scratch was too weak to move on her own, Octavia took one of her friend's hooves and threw out over her neck. Supporting Vinyl Scratch as the building fell to pieces, Octavia moved as fast as the pair could manage.
As they moved past the hole, Octavia could see the last remnants of daylight streaking the sky through the open doorway. They were so close, Octavia could feel her heart grow hopeful.
Then it sank as she felt Vinyl Scratch being yanked away from her.
Looking back at the hole, Octavia saw the Nightmare clinging to the edge. One smokey tendril was extended, and slowly dragged a whimpering Vinyl Scratch toward certain doom.
Rushing over, Octavia kicked the oversized beast square in the ragged eye. "Release her, brute!"
Howling, it let go with one arm to pick up and throw Octavia. She flew over the gaping hole to crash into a support pillar, cracking it as she hit. Falling to the floor, she immediately leapt back to her hooves. A crack spiderwebbed across the ceiling above the pit, and Octavia traced it quickly to the same pillar she had collided with.
"Back to Tartarus with you!" she growled. Turning, she bucked the pillar with all her strength.
It gave way instantly, bringing the ceiling down with it. Octavia jumped towards the door, a large portion of lumber missing her by inches.
That same piece of timber broke the Nightmare's grip on Vinyl Scratch, sending him roaring to his demise below. All that was left behind was a pile of rubble, swirling dust, and the prone form of Vinyl Scratch.
Grabbing hold of her friend's hoodie with her mouth, Octavia pulled Vinyl Scratch from the collapsing building just in time. When they were no more than ten feet from the entrance, the rest of the building seemed to implode. Every floor pancaked into the one below, leveling the once imposing structure entirely.
Sitting down hard, Octavia drew her first breath of fresh air in hours. It felt fantastic, until the adrenaline started to wear off and that cracked rib came to the forefront of her mind.
Moaning, Octavia found she didn't have the desire to stand for a while. Instead, she lay on the ground next to her friend.
Vinyl Scratch, on the other hand, stood.
"Come on Octavia, we can't stay here," she said in a tired voice. "I can't thank you enough for what you did for me today, but we need to go home. Here, I'll help you."
Vinyl Scratch used some magic to lift and support Octavia, and they started to hobble back down the path.
"Home. Now there's your first good idea all day, Vinyl!" Octavia chuckled painfully through gritted teeth. "I can't wait to get inside and lay down for some well-deserved shuteye."
Vinyl Scratch looked back at the demolished remains of the psychiatric hospital and grinned wider than possible. "Oh Tavi, I've been thinking that to myself for some time now," she replied, her blood red eyes gleaming with hunger.
