They ran up many flights of stairs, their hooves seemingly barely touching the surfaces of the stairs themselves. They ran, not knowing where it was they were going to. The sound of metal scraping against the brick floor echoed from behind them.
"Applejack!" Twilight said.
"No time, Twi!" said Applejack. "Just keep running!"
And so they did. They ran and ran and ran, the sound of metal scraping against brick following them, never getting louder, never getting quieter. It was a steady sound, a sound that would never tell you whether it was getting closer or farther away from you.
Eventually, they made their way to one flight of stairs which lead to nothing. Literally, it lead to nothing. It was a staircase that lead to a solid ceiling.
"Oh no!" Applejack said, her voice beginning to fill with panic.
"Maybe we reached the top of the tower?" Twilight said hopefully.
"No, Twi, you don't understand!" said Applejack, panic now taking over her voice completely. "There is no top!"
Their attention was caught by a mysterious figure that showed up from the staircase across the room. The figure was just a shadow shrouded in the half-lit darkness of the room, and yet it carried a menacing feeling, a feeling of dread and forboding. The figure itself seemed to say 'You're Fucked," without even using it's voice.
"Oh no!" Applejack yelled again. "She's here!"
Twilight felt a bead of sweat slide down the side of her head. The figure that stood on the other side of the room wasn't moving. It was just standing there, as if watching us from it's position in the half-lit darkness.
Applejack ran around the room and began hitting the sides of the walls and banging the windows, as if looking for a way out. She ran up the staircase and banged against the ceiling. Nothing happened. She was hyperventilating, which Twilight noticed, and was having a hard time maintaining a calm demeanor.
What was it about the figure that caused even Applejack to panic like this? Twilight found out when the figure began walking towards them.
The figure's movement wasn't smooth. It jerked back and forth as it stumbled towards them, in a seemingly uncoordinated manner. The light shining through the windows showed that it was holding a fireaxe. Well, more like dragging it across the floor. This was what was the source of the scraping noise that they heard earlier. More light shone upon the figure, and it's details were revealed. Instead of being a horribly disfigured pony as Twilight was expecting, it was actually a quite normal-looking mare, with the only "insane" features being her deranged eyes. She looked almost exactly like Twilight, the only two diffences being the aforementioned insane eyes and messed up mane. She also had no cutie mark.
"Twi," said Applejack. "If you know any spells to wake us up, now would be a very good time to use it."
"I'm on it," Twilight said. She focused her magic. Her horn glowed from the effort. The light from her horn grew brighter and brighter....before it fizzled out.
"Twi, this really isn't funny." Applejack said. "Please wake us up."
"This isn't a joke!" Twilight said, her own voice starting to fill with panic. "I'll try again." She focused her magic again, but the same thing happened.
"Twi! Not funny! Cast the spell, NOW!" Applejack screamed at Twilight.
"I can't! This isn't a joke! There's literally something in the air that's not letting me cast a waking spell!" Twilight screamed back.
Not good. The figure was getting closer. It was moving slowly, though, so perhaps they had the advantage in speed.
The mare abruptly jumped fowards several feet and swung the axe at them. Twilight leaned backwards as the axe swung towards them, suffering only from a small cut on the end of her nose. Applejack got the shorter end of the stick, however, as her other cheek now had a gash in it. Blood dripped off of their injuries and dotted the floor. The blood droplets grew smaller and smaller, and then disappeared, as if the floor was absorbing the blood.
Applejack turned around and bucked the mare in the face, causing it to stumbled backwards slightly. It dropped it's axe, which Applejack picked up and threw at the mare. A sickening splat was heard, right before the figure fell to the ground.
"I-is it over?" Twilight asked. Her answer was automatically answered when the mare slowly stood back up and removed the axe, which had been embedded within her side. Twilight found it strange, and at the same time sickening, that the mare remained silent the entire time, not uttering a single word or muttering a single moan of pain.
Applejack immediately returned to the walls, feeling them up and down and seemingly searching for something. Searching for what? Twilight didn't know. A sudden click caught her attention, though.
"Twi! this way!" Applejack grabbed Twilight by the hoof and dragged her to the part of the wall which clicked and shoved her into it. Twilight crashed into the wall, which opened and revealed a slide, which she fell into.