Silent Past
chapter 4:Enter the nightmare
Scootaloo slowly pushed the door open. The rusted hinges screeching in defiance. Peeking her head through the small opening, she noticed how old and stained the walls looked. This isn't so bad, she thought with a gulp. Cautiously leaving the room, she started walking the dark hallway. Her steps echoed in the empty hallway as she walked through the lightless hallway. After walking for a few minutes she felt her mane start to stand on end, something was with her. Stopping, Scootaloo turned around and looked back into the darkness. "Is somepony there?", she called out. Trying to be silent, she listened intently for a response. For a moment nothing could be heard except her shallow breaths. Her ears perked up in fright as she heard the screech of rusted hinges, followed by a door slamming; The sound of two hoofsteps and a dragging noise shortly followed. She didn't know why, but the sound terrified Scootaloo and whatever caused it was heading her way. Breaking into a gallop, she turned away from the noise and frantically tried to open each door she saw. Whatever was behind her was gaining and a soft wheezing noise could be heard. Coming across a door without boards, she turned the knob and forced herself into the room.
Slamming the door shut behind her, Scootaloo fumbled with the doors' lock. Finally hearing the bolt slide into place, she leaned against the door and slide to the ground. Taking a deep breath, she waited for the 'thing' in the halls to try breaking in. As the seconds dragged on, she finally exhaled. Turning to look over the semi-dark room she noticed a pony shaped figure slouching oddly beside another door.
"Hello?", she questioned, wary after seeing some holes in the other figure's legs. The flickering light hanging from the room's roof allowed her to cautiously make her way closer to the unmoving changeling. "Are you trapped here to?", the creature remained slouched, hooves on it's midsection.
Giving it a shake she waited for response before hearing a soft thunk. Slowly looking down, she noticed the lower part of it's eviscerated body had tipped over and the top half was suspended by wires sewn into it's wings. Her pupils slowly dilated as she tasted bile in her throat.
“Oh dear Celestia...” Doubling over, Scootaloo wretched onto the floor as the changelings insides slowly seeped onto the floor. Even a creature that fed on love didn't deserve to die in such a fashion. “Why...why am I’m seeing these things? What did I ever do to deserve this?”, she sobbed, dry heaving because her stomach was empty. Silently crying after the stomach convulsions ended, she opened the door next to the changeling and paused long enough to close it’s dull blue eyes.
Behind the door was another hallway. She was thankful this one seemed more maintained and had lighting, but she still felt the loneliness gnawing at her heart. The orange filly plodded on, more and more of these dark thoughts and feelings filling her head. Most were about her never seeing her friends again or how she wasn’t and may never get adopted. The more those thoughts raced through her head, the faster she moved to leave them behind. Scootaloo just wanted her friends back.
Lost in the labyrinth of seemingly infinite doors and halls the last thing she'd expected was to trip down a staircase. “OW!”, she cried as she hit each steps. Soon she came to a rolling stop when she slammed into a wall. Her mouth opened in a silent scream of pain as she waited for the pain to fade. Scootaloo started to rise to her feet before she collapsed in defeat and started crying. What was the point to continue struggling. Sugar Snap died in the fire, her friends were gone and nopony wanted her in their family.
“Even if I do manage to get out...what will change?” she tearfully said to herself.
“Hello?”, a familiar voice called out. Upon hearing it she stopped crying and looked up, her tears of helplessness changed to tears of hope as she got to her feet.
“R-Rainbow..?”, she whimpered in disbelief.
She stumbled to her feet, from getting up too fast, and ran towards the voice. Within a minute she came to some kind of lobby and saw a familiar pegasus standing there. ”RAINBOW!”, she cried out as she gave the mare a big hug. “Oh Rainbow thank Celestia you’re here...” Scootaloo replied, “I was starting to lose hop...” before she could finish Rainbow slapped the orange filly across the face. “Ow! h-hey...what gives..?”, she asked.
“Why would I let a dirty orphan touch me”, Rainbow replied while looking at Scootaloo with disgust.
Scootaloo looked at Rainbow in shock. “B-but how did you..?” she asked while tentatively touched her stinging cheek.
"Cause' we told her." two fillies walked out of the shadows. Applebloom glared at the orange pegasus as Sweetie Belle gave a disgusted look.
Scootaloo couldn't believe her ears. Not only were her best friends bullying her, they had broken a Pinkie Promise.
"Why don't you just go home you flightless freak." the unicorn filly said before chuckling meanly, "That's right you don't have one."
Scootaloo was in too much shock to even speak, the only three friends she had were bullying her. “Y-You know I’m a late bloomer...”, she managed to say as she started to breakdown in tears. Scootaloo had to rub her face a few times as the fur around her face was getting too wet.
“You’re just a useless fan. I won't even make you my pet.” Rainbow said casually.
Scootaloo couldn't see through the veil of tears as she huddled in a small ball. she just wanted to die. “Ah can’t even look at you you're so lame.” Another voice said, Scootaloo looked through her tears and barely saw her two best friends.
“Yeah, you’re way too pathetic to be friends with. The fact you don’t even have parents is proof. NOPONY wants you!”, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom's voices said in unison.
Scootaloo curled up tighter before a comforting hoof was placed on her shoulder. She looked up to see Sugar Snap smiling at her. The rest of the world seemed to go silent as she looked at the pony.
"Why didn't you die Scootaloo, we were suppose to be together forever." part of his coat lit on fire as he casually rubbed a hoof on her cheek. "I'd worked so hard to keep you in the orphanage." to Scootaloo's horror his face started to melt from the heat like wax. "I own you and your soul for everything I've done." he said with finality before his skull smiled down at her.
Something finally clicked in Scootaloo. Everyponies’ actions and the sudden hatred for her just seemed, too obvious. “This...this isn’t real...”, she whispered as understanding filled her eyes
“What was that loser?” Rainbow asked.
“You're all liars!” Scootaloo yelled as she slowly started to stand up as the others slowly backed away, “You don't know my friends and Sugar Snap would never, NEVER try to scare me!”, she screamed with teary eyes.
The berated ponies backed up a little but soon started to laugh, “Look at the little baby...thinking this is all a dream or something. Face it! You’re just...”, Rainbow snickered as they started to draw closer again.
“SHUT UP!”, Scootaloo yelled, she wasn't going to accept anymore of their lies. “This world is just like a nightmare...just like last time and everything I saw wasn’t real.”
“Say that all ya want, it won’t change a thing.” Applebloom said followed by Sweetie Belle saying. “Everything in this world is real, so why don’t you just go off and di...”
“YOU ARE NOT REAL!!!” Scootaloo yelled as loud as she could screaming, making the ponies grab their heads in pain. “You are not real so just LEAVE ME ALONE!”, Scootaloo screamed.
As soon as the words left her lips, a burst of light engulfed the room and blinded her. The light faded away as she fell to her knees breathing heavily. Trying to regain her breath she heard a ragged exhalation of breath. She looked up slowly and saw a creature watching her from a cold stone throne. It seemed like a statue besides the occasional twitch of its eyes Faster than she could react the creature loomed over her, investigating the pony with it's glazed eyes.
“MONSTER!?”, she screamed in primal terror.
The pony-like creature stood slightly taller than Celestia and was a macabric mix of various fur connected by wispy black scars. It's skeletal mane and tail clinked as it's fleshless muzzle opened slowly.
“Innocence?”, it wheezed in a disturbing female voice. The creature moved like a minotaur, standing on its hind legs will using its forelegs to reach for her.
Scootaloo instinctively slapped the hooves away as they got close. The creature paused slightly before responding with a powerful backhoof. With a crack, she hit the stone wall and slumped as spots of light danced before her eyes. With her blurred vision she noticed a dark blue pony appear from the darkness confronting the creature.
"Begone abomination! Thou hast no right to be here!" she heard the familiar voice order.
"Luna?”, she questioned as her sight slowly returned.
A broken growl filled the room as the creature’s throat started to rumble. Scootaloo could hardly believe her senses when she realized the creature was laughing at the princess of the night.
“She is mine, ‘princess’, do not interfere”, the creature finally said as it pointed to the young filly. A portal of green-black flames behind the creature. Through it Scootaloo saw a familiar stallion draped from a statue with chains. “You shall come to Silent Hill for the sacrifice... or I shall feast on the one you care so dearly about.” the creature said as it showed its interlocking teeth in a malicious smile.
“Sugar Snap?”, Scooaloo called as the stallion slowly lifted his head revealing a beaten face.
“I’ll never tell...will protec...”, Sugar Snap mumbled before his head collapsed to his chest again.
Scootaloo rushed forward instinctively to help the elderly stallion before noticing her body was fading. “Silent Hill is not for you.”, she heard in her head as her surroundings disappeared and she found herself falling into her hospital bed.
“Sister... Luna where are you!”, Celestia called while searching the castle grounds for her sister. She headed for the royal living quarters as two guards opened the door for her. “Thank you... has Luna been through here today?” she asked them before continuing to Luna’s room.
Both of the guards stood tall as they uniformly said, “no your highness”, before a crash was heard from the interior. All three of them turned towards the source before Celestia rushed towards her sister’s room. As she burst through the door she could hardly believe her eyes. Scorch marks led from a slowly repairing wall to Luna’s beaten form. Cobalt blue Alicorn breathed shallowly as she lay in the broken remains of her bed.
“Luna! What happened, who did this?” Celestia cried as she hovered protectively over her sister. She heard one of the guards behind her shouting commands for the castle to be put on high alert and for a medic to be summoned.
Opening her eyes with an obvious effort, Luna pulled her sister’s head close before responding in a whisper. “She’s returned...”, Celestia heard her say as the young alicorn went unconscious from the shock. Celestia didn’t understand before seeing a small piece of gray ash in her sister’s blue mane.
“Echidna...”, she said softly.