//------------------------------//
// Investigations and Phasing 
// Story: Chronalmin Flux 
// by The Psychopath 
//------------------------------//

Minted looked around curiously as he wandered the winding corridors. He noticed, through trial and error of taking the wrong  path, that he would twist with the passages, disorienting him more and more. When he finally reached a flat piece of ground, he took a moment to recover his bearings and look around again. He jumped at the sight of an eyeball looking at him from the wall. It had become part of the construct and was now just lazily looking about, content with whatever it could see. Being slightly disturbed, the pony readjusted himself and started moving 'forward' again.

There was a strange expedience of wind reaching Minted's ears, and the further in he went, the louder and clearer it became. They were voices all whispering in various tones at the same time. Some of the voices were unhappy, some joyful, some stressed, some angry, and some just mellow. Minted gulped audibly and felt paranoia start to consume him. Further on, he saw a note scribbled on some torn yellow paper, and decided to give it a peek in hopes that it would illuminate whatever was happening.

It looks like I won't be getting out of this. Whatever came into this building and took control of it has started twisting and messing with everything. I can hear it slithering, stepping, and hopping towards me. I just wanted to go home after this round.

Apparently, it was the note of one of the other janitors working in the office at the same time as Minted. Strangely, the status of the paper and its faded hue indicated that this paper had been here for quite some time. Yet, this whole ordeal had only just started. Without warning, a gurgling noise brought his attention to full alert. Something peeked around the corner but retracted too quickly for the janitor to see what it was. He started moving quicker and quicker, then notice canine jaws, which were naught but bone, snap at him from the walls. Something dropped from above, narrowly missing the stallion and dropping through the floor. It shrieked with a deep baritone that raised in pitch when it phased through the floor; Floor which warped and twisted even more than the rest of the corridor.

Minted had a thought cross his mind as he fled for his life from the unknown mass chasing him. How could the notes already be in such a state of decay? Nothing in the office remained long enough to enter this state of decay. He dropped the paper and continued forward, seeing more and more notes strewn about. The writing was different on every single one of them, and all depicted their circumstances in the area. Various limbs and facial organs appeared every now and then on the walls. Even boney masses appeared, often blocking a passage. 

Wrap got tired of this never ending trot and started to think. So far, he only went forward and back, and judging by the windows, this would lead to nowhere. Left and right hadn't worked either, and it still only led him to the same conclusion: That he would never leave if he thought conventionally. Instead, he scratched the side of his head and looked down. His face illuminated gleefully. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and imagined himself walking downwards. He flipped and stepped onto solid ground. Although, by its feel, it was more akin to sandpaper. 

The whispering became extremely loud, and before he had a chance to open his eyes, a loud explosion's shockwave blew him backwards. The stallion slid on his hooves and jolted his eyes open to see a thin stream of purple smoke burning away whatever was  attached to the walls and deforming them. Several of the armored ponies galloped to him and pointed their weapons straight at his head and heart.

"Who are you?"

Once again, Minted had no way to respond. 

"Well?"

Another pony nudged the first with their elbow. "He corresponds to the mute entity found above. If he's really a pony, then he would have said so."

Another pony chimed in. "The simple fact that he's still alive is proof enough that he isn't a real pony.  Contain and eli--"

The entity came out from Minted's fur, horrifying the stallion and attacking the armed forces. While Minted tatted his chest frantically multiple times, the entity showed itself to be a creature of many limbs and parts. Legs where they shouldn't be, eyes in place of toes, and jaws in random places. The whispering became extremely loud while it hopped, flew, and walked towards its victims. One of the ponies was caught by a jaw and her screams turned into gargling as, in front of her comrades, her armor melted into her skin, her body twisted, and everything on her body twisted and moved. She soon became a moaning extension of the body spewing acidic gunk at her former comrades, but it didn't end there. 

Two diamond dogs stepped forward while holding red jewels in their paws. They slammed the gems together and made a loud 'crinkle' noise that was accompanied by a red shockwave which hit the beast and tore its newly acquired limb and slowly returned the pony back to her original form. The monster itself was thrown backwards and landed on the ground right at Minted's hooves. While it regained consciousness, its hundreds of eyes of different sizes and colors focused on the stallion and the skin around them displayed gleeful joy as it stood back up.

Minted had no intention of staying and getting absorbed by such an eldritch horror and scampered away when the creature took a swing at him. It missed, hit the floor, and made a gurgle mixed with a cry that displayed sadness almost alike to that of someone losing a friend. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, its touch deformed the ground caused it to open like a maw, swallowing Wrap whole. He ended up falling down a tremendously wide pit easily capable of accommodating twenty ponies stretched out and touching each other hoof-to-hoof. Its dark walls were actively covered by a blue smog wobbling randomly with the various tremors of the skyscraper like bass lines. The stallion couldn't help but make a long, 'silent scream' while he fell, and then something caught him. He found himself held aloft in a halo of light with a transparent outer ring and was then let down gently on the floor.

Trembling violently from the drop, the stallion found that he was in the purest of dark and had trouble seeing. Fumbling around and waiting for his eyes to adjust somewhat, the stallion found an old oil lamp still filled with a bit of flammable oil and lit it. Finally able to see, the stallion could see that he was standing in an old, run down office of some kind, although it definitely wasn't of his time. The decorations, such as the arcs of the ceiling and the wood carvings made to decorate the now rotted doors and furniture were typical of late medieval times. A disgusting odor of mold permeated the air and was mixed by the smell of wet ash whenever the janitor walked next to a wall sconce. The stone floors were relatively clear save for the many crunchy leaves on the floor.

Minted paused a moment and looked down. He would've screamed again at the sight of pony bones on the floor. He hopped around as though flesh eating insects were crawling along the floor and took the time to breath deeply and reign in his hyperventilation. He decided to light the sconces along his path, and a few of them still lit up. Even though the lighting wasn't consistent, it still gave enough light to see most of the area in dim light. The bones of the ponies were strewn everywhere, and without better lighting, came better coloration detail. All along the floor were the signs of fires erupting, and even the bones had been consumed by fire and were brittle to the touch.

The tight area opened to a tall room with four pillars within it. The skeletons were still there, but along the walls were still shadows that took the appearance of ponies holding something above their heads or via one hoof. They were holding weapons. What had happened to them was far beyond Minted's knowledge, and he was stressed enough with the immense and natural silence, the skeletons, and the only noise being made being the reverberations of his hoofsteps.

He continued forward, ending up in the main chamber of whatever this warped area was. It was immense and very tall and the roof was supported by multiple pillars arranged in a line. Looking to the left revealed two massive wooden doors five times the size of any pony. The door on the left had been busted down while the one on the right was only hanging by the hinge at the top layer. It was definitely going to fall, what with the lower half having rotted off. Looking off in the distance revealed only darkness and overactive fog. The stallion raised an eyebrow and huffed at the 'inviting' exit. 

He knew better than to leave for the 'outside' when he was already in a building. That wasn't exactly a 'normal' appearance. That being said, he could see pieces of a battering ram resting upon the floor, accompanied by multiple 'shadows' and skeletons. The further he followed the line of skeletons to the right, the creepier the scene became. Dozens of skeletons were stuck in a position of prayer, the few the stallion could see up close had their knees completely cracked. Three tarnished windows tarnished into a yellow stain let but a few beams of light; Not enough to illuminate anything. Below them was a shrine dedicated to what looked like Celestia and two 'archangels'. Celestia was standing on her hind legs and flaying her forelegs as a way to demonstrate her size and to intimidate any threats. The two statues flanking her on the large podium in the wall had been practically destroyed by fire and time, but Celestia herself was intact. Minted lifted his lantern to better see the statue, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary, and continued his search for a way out.

He spun around a few times then spun back and felt a vice on his heart and cold sweat dampen his fur as though his pores were rivers. Two, wide open eyes of white scelera and multiple, thinning layers of black and white rings were glaring at the janitor. Their disconcerting appearance was amplified by the empty frown beneath them. The stallion continued staring at it and, with his whole body chattering, slowly tried to inch his way away from the terrifying thing before him, but, much like the rest of the creatures in this place, it would not let him be. 

The building vibrated violently, and the ghostly figure phased out of the stone sculpture to show that it looked like a skeletal version of Celestia with only her lips and eyes as flesh. The rest were but bones, and her mane and tail were tattered, decayed versions of their once vibrant forms. When she, or rather 'it', opened its mouth, its voice sounded like a vehicle with rubber tires screeching to a halt and skidding on the road.

The solid shadows started moving in a lock-and-move fashion while the Celestia impersonator floated towards the stallion who decided that he had enough of this and galloped as fast as he could away from the ghost and the shadows. He trampled multiple skeletons on his way and passed through a wooden door next to the altar of the statues and continued forward. Strangely, these corridors and areas were free of skeletons and shadows, but the Celestia impersonator was hot on the janitor's trail. She wasn't planning on abandoning her pursuit any time soon. Bolting as best as he could, the stallion found his hooves heating up. The ghost was heating up the air around him and trying to cook him alive. 

The closer the Celestia ghost got, the hotter the air became, and it was getting a little too hot for him. Rounding the corner, the stallion slid on the mossy ground and took the opportunity, despite his imbalance, to spin around and throw the lamp at the face of the ghost. The lantern shatter when it hit her and stunned her briefly. Minted cheered openly and fell while doing so. Still sliding, he felt the building shake again and was then engulfed by the moss collapsing inwards. Although he was 'saved' from the ghost, he was not saved from whatever had taken a hold of him now. 

Whatever had grabbed him did not have time to chew, as he fell from the ceiling into an immense garden and onto a pile of mush and purple liquids. It seemed the group that entered the tower were setting the garden on fire and fighting whatever was currently eating them in the distance. This place was relatively uncorrupted, unlike the other floors. At least, it was uncorrupted in the sense that the normal office doors were still present. Minted grinned stupidly at the much needed break from the 'action' and terror and rushed towards the stairs. He had only gone down twenty-two stories. He still had a long way down in this fluctuating abomination.