The bright rays of Celestia’s sun shined through the living room windows as it reached its midday peak, illuminating the distressing scene within Sky’s apartment. Scraps of what had once been his wooden desk chair were scattered on the floor by the windows which remained undamaged. The front door continued to stand ominously, heavy chains barring any attempt to open it.
Sky sat in front of his open refrigerator, staring into its meager contents of three carrots forlornly. Sitting by the kitchen sink was a now mostly empty bottle of shampoo. After the incident with the shower he had resigned himself to bathing as best he could with the sink.
After pulling out a single carrot and closing the fridge door Sky made his way over to the window. He sat eating his carrot while staring out the window at the ponies going about their day. He had learned that any attempt to draw attention to those outside was a fruitless endeavor. No matter how much he hit the window, screamed, or waved his arms about no one ever took notice... even when someone happened to glance toward his window, they showed no signs of seeing him.
Sky lost track of time sitting by the window in a daze when there was a knock at the front door. Sky glanced at the clock with a flat look on his face. “17:00 like clockwork...” he muttered.
Sky walked to the front door and looked in the peephole. Sure enough standing on the other side was Pinkie Pie, making her daily attempt to draw him from the apartment.
“Hey in there it’s me again! I came just like I promised and I never break a promise, only this time I brought a friend!”
Sky’s face broke into a confused frown. ‘Friend?’
Walking up next to Pinkie Pie was the landlord Sunderland.
Pinkie was bouncing excitedly while Sunderland sifted through a metal ring adorned with a plethora of keys.
“You see I came here over and over and over and over and over and over, but you never open up and say hi or even tell me to get lost, so I started wondering if you were okay or just avoiding me. So I talked to Sunderland and he agreed to open your door to make sure your okay, so I hope you don’t get angry with us because we just want to make sure everything is fine because friends care about eachother and I still want to be your friend!”
Sky allowed a smile to form as for the first time since Pinkies very first visit he felt hope start to blossom in himself. His landlord could use his key to unlock the door! True the chains would keep the door from opening more than a centimeter at most, and true he couldn't turn the deadbolt from his side but there was still a chance. It could work, it had to work. Then Sky could finally get out of this hell.
Sky heard the scraping of the key against the lock and Sunderland leaned toward the door...followed by a look of confusion on the landlords face as he struggled to turn the key with no success.
“I don’t get it, this is definitely the right key...and I know this lock hasn't been changed. Why can’t I get this thing opened?”
Pinkie hopped closer to the door. “Maybe the lock is broken *gasp!* and thats why he hasn't come out!”
Sunderland Placed the keyring back on his work belt and stepped back, turning to Pinkie. “Look, it’s unlikely that he’s even in there. The walls are paper thin and the neighbors on both sides of the apartment say they haven't heard a peep from him. He probably went back to Manehatten to get more of his stuff or something.”
Pinkie eyes went wide as her mouth gaped in shock. “Oh wow I never even thought of that! So maybe he wasn't avoiding me afterall and I was being a silly filly all along talking to an empty room!”
“Look Pinkie, I’ll get a locksmith over here tomorrow morning to get this door open. You're free to come by then if you want.”
The voices of the two ponies outside began to fade as they walked down the hall to the stairwell away from Sky’s apartment as Sky lay on the floor with his forehead up against the cold metal of the door, tears streaming down his cheeks.
That was it then. Not only could he not get out but it seemed nopony could get in either. He would be trapped in this Celestia damned apartment until he starved, he was sure of it. He reached for his inhaler as the tightness in his throat from his crying started to bother him, only to find he was not wearing his necklace, reminding him that it had run empty yesterday. Lightly pounding his head against the door once, Sky just continued to lay there crying to himself until finally sleep overtook him.
Sky was suddenly jostled awake by a loud crack, like a sledgehammer hitting concrete. Sky got to his hooves and looked around the room, still slightly dazed from his sleep. The sound had come from down the hall toward his room and the bathroom. He checked his bedroom, only to find everything still in its place.
Hesitantly, Sky turned to face the bathroom door. After the episode with the shower he was not eager to see what fresh horror the bathroom had in store for him. With no other option left however, Sky slowly turned the handle, and after a moment's hesitation threw the door open.
Sky stood in shock as he gazed into the rooms interior. On the wall just above the toilet was a hole. The hole was a perfect circle in the tile, with no sign of the tiles that had previously occupied that spot on the wall to be found. It looked as if it had always been there, placed perfectly into the wall, no rough edges or signs of debris or dust.
With eyes wide Sky slowly walked in front of his toilet to look into the whole. He trembled slightly as he beheld another impossibility introduced into his life. On the other side of this wall was his neighbor's apartment. This was a cold hard fact, no denying it. Many times while he was trapped in this apartment had he layed in bed while hearing the sounds of a filly playing and parents talking on the other side of the wall.
He knew this was the case. He knew that nothing in the last day had changed that. Yet as he looked into the hole in his wall he was solidly contradicted by the sight ahead of him.
Within the hole, instead of the sight of the adjacent apartment, was a long dark tunnel. The tunnel was comprised of a smooth black stone, like an obsidian corridor that stretched far beyond what the light from his bathroom could reach. There was no sound coming from the tunnel but as Sky placed his face slightly inside he felt a very weak breeze on his face.
He stood for what must have been at least an hour looking into the abyss before him. If there was a breeze coming from the tunnel then it must lead somewhere. The hole was large enough for him to squeeze through if he kept his wings held to his side. However, it was one thing being stuck in this apartment for so long, after all he had spent most of his time indoors while living with Shield. it was quite another thing to squeeze down a dark tunnel that was who knew how long with the slight case of claustrophobia that came with being a pegasus.
There really was nothing for it though in the end. It was either take his chances with the tunnel, or continue to sit in the apartment and rot. Having made his decision Sky left the bathroom and flew back to his living room. Opening the foot locker against the wall he retrieved his saddle bag and opening his fridge placed a carrot into it, leaving just one left in the fridge. He had no means to transport liquid in his bag so he would have to hope wherever the tunnel lead him there would be drinkable water. Sky knew under any other circumstances it would make no sense to think he would need to bring food and water with him on what shouldn't be any long excursion, but after all the reality warping he had experienced since moving to Ponyville, the mantra better ‘safe than sorry’ seemed appropriate.
Sky flew back to the bathroom and once again gazed into the black void of the tunnel. Gulping nervously, Sky snuggly tucked his wings to his sides and climbed over the toilet into the hole.
It was slow going as he shuffled his way further and further down the tunnel. It was getting to the point that no trace of light could be seen around his body that almost completely filled the tunnels circumference. However, as he continued to shuffle further along Sky was hit with a sense of vertigo.
He knew he was still facing forward as there had been no change or bend in the tunnel as he crawled. However as he moved forward he felt more and more like he was gazing down into a pit rather than forward into the tunnel.
As he tried to wrap his mind around this feeling, the walls of the tunnel began to shift. Sky could feel them rapidly sliding past him while air battered his face. His mind roared in sudden panic as he realized his was falling!
Faster and faster the walls slid around him, their smooth surfaces offering no chance to create friction and slow his descent into the pit. The air rushing past him became an unbearable howl as he reached terminal velocity.
Sky began screaming in terror as as the wind battered his face. He forced his eyes to stay open in a squint, looking for any opportunity to slow his descent or catch site of the pits end. As he continued to fall he began to see a small pinprick of white light far in the distance. His heart pounded heavily in his chest while his breathing stopped while he stared in shock at seeing what must be the end of his fall.
The shock wasn't what had stopped his breathing though. Between his claustrophobia from being in the tunnel and his current terror as he fell, his asthma had hit with a vengeance. Sky’s fear only mounted further when he found himself unable to draw any breath as he fell. His lungs burned for air as the light rapidly drew closer and closer to him. Darkness began to creep over his vision, even as the light started to become unbearably bright.
Just as the world had become nothing but blinding white light, all that Sky knew was darkness.