Remy stared at the door leading to the room Crystal had some from. That scream belonged to Lance, there was no doubt. She looked first to Crystal, then to Sky, torn between running to go help Lance and staying to watch over Sky and Crystal.
“I…” Remy began. “I’m sorry Sky.”
Crystal looked down at the bat pony and frowned.
“Crystal you need to come with me. I need to find Lance.”
“He… he went into the picture room,” Crystal started. “I’ve been in there but… it’s scary, please, I don’t want to go back.”
“Just show me where it is, sweetheart,” Remy requested.
Crystal led Remy to the door which Lance had walked through minutes before. Remy rested a hoof on its golden knob, but stopped.
“Crystal,” Remy stated without facing her. Crystal backed away, sure that Remy would ask her to come with her into the picture room. “I want you to stay behind. If there is something in here then... ” Remy stopped, not wanting to think about facing off against another monster. “Stay with Sky, keep her safe okay?” Remy finished and finally turned to smile at the little filly.
Crystal could see the fear on Remy’s face. “The pictures in there,” Crystal began. “Don’t look at them.”
“Thanks kiddo,” Remy replied, trying her best to put on a smile again.“I’ll come back, I promise.” As she turned the knob and opened the door, she realized she was echoing Lance's exact words. She just hoped that they could both keep their promises.
Remy closed the door behind her and surveyed the room before her—a hallway decorated in paintings, but no creature in sight. Crystal’s warning echoed in her head as she walked down the hall. Don’t look at them.
Remy trotted forward, eyes glued to the floor, making sure to not accidentally look at the paintings on the walls. She noticed a blue hair on the carpet as she trotted slowly down the hall; there was no doubt it was Lance’s.
“Please be okay… please be okay,” she kept repeating quietly as she trotted forward. The hall seemed to grow somehow; Remy could have sworn she would have made it to the end by now. But she couldn’t look up. Then she saw something on the carpet, a blue hair. She stopped to look at it—it was in the same position as the last piece she found. No… not in the same position, it was the same hair.
“How did-” Remy said to herself, then she looked up.
She was standing at the start of the hallway. She turned around and saw the door to the room with the statues was right there behind her. Her heart was pounding. She was walking, she was sure of it… She started to feel nauseous. She looked around at the paintings but they were all blank. She quickly started trotting forward again, eyes focused on the door at the end of the hall until she blinked, then, like magic, she was back at the start again.
Her nausea was getting worse. The room was spinning. She looked down to see that same piece of blue hair, then threw up on it. Moments later she lost her balance, fell onto the wall on her left and began to slump there.
“La… Lance…” Remy called out weakly. Her vision was starting to fade and she began to feel cold.
Don’t look at them.
Crystal’s warning kept repeating in her head.
“I… don’t want… to die,” Remy said. Remy’s vision was fading rapidly when she heard someone yell.
“Get the fuck off of her!”
Suddenly Remy was snapped back to reality and sent crashing down to the carpet below. She looked up and saw a painting with two withered equine forelegs coming out of it. One was reaching for her, the other was lying on the floor in front of her, cut away.
Suddenly Sky was in front of her, stabbing at the painting that had had her in its grasp. “Fucking die!” Sky screamed, then sent the knife in one final time as hard as she could manage before slumping down and turning to Remy.
“What…” Remy asked still feeling nauseous.
“It had you,” Sky said, panting. “I came in and it had you held up… just holding you by your head.”
“Are you okay?” Crystal asked, running over to Remy’s side. Remy smiled as the little filly hugged her.
“Been better, how are you holding up?” Remy replied with a weak smile then turned to bat pony slumped on the other opposite wall. “Sky… thank you.”
Sky nodded, still trying to catch her breath.
“I don’t understand… I was in the hall but then it kept... resetting. I felt… sick,” Remy said as she looked up at the painting that had grabbed her. It was of a pony, their face was etched in pain. What was worse was that there were black holes where it’s eyes should’ve been, almost as if the artist didn’t want it to see.
“Whatever that was,” Sky replied, slowly looking up at the painting with equine forelegs. Blood was running from the stab wounds. “It’s dead now.”
Remy looked around at the other paintings then sighed with relief when the rest all appeared to be normal—regal ponies and landscapes. Sky was the first of the three to stand up again, and she trotted to Remy and helped her to her hooves.
“Let’s go back to the bar and regroup,” Sky ordered. “I don’t want to stay here for long.”
Lance awoke in a dark prison cell with no recollection of how he got there. Outside his cell in a sconce on the wall, he noticed a single torch set ablaze. Through the bars he saw a figure standing there—a mare in a maid outfit.
“Wh-Where am I?” Lance asked, trying to stand. He almost immediately stumbled and stopped, feeling like he was going to puke if he moved too much.
“I brought you here,” the mare said from the other side of the bars.
“Who are you?” Lance asked. “Why do I feel sick?”
The maid didn’t reply.
Lance couldn’t see her too well, but something about her looked off. She was beautiful, with a long black mane and tail, a tan coat and the maid outfit which seemed to go perfect with the rest of her color scheme.
“I will bring you your food soon,” the maid replied. There was no emotion in the words. Then she turned and walked into the blackness of the cave.
“Wait! Hey!” Lance yelled, trying to stand again. But she was gone.