Silent Ponyville: Reunion
Familiar places.
Part 6
------
It was...so clean.
The lobby was spotless. Nothing looked broken or worn down, nothing was noticeably out of place, there was no trash or debris anywhere, and Lance couldn't even see a speck of dust on anything as the circle of illumination from his light moved across the room. It was as though he had simply walked in moments after the janitorial staff had finished their nightly rounds and departed. Lance took a few steps into the room while the drowning mare outside apparently gave up, letting his watch quiet down once more as it shambled away.
He should have been happy about this. Considering his profession he found simple general uncleanliness disconcerting, never mind the complete and utter filth he'd endured ever since he'd woken. Now here was this practically sparkling lobby and all it did was fill him with a new level of dread. Did that mean there were ponies here? But if there were, why would they even bother keeping the place cleaned up considering the state of the rest of the town?
I'm not going to get anywhere by just standing here asking questions...
Lance didn't dare to let the thought be anything but a thought. Hearing a voice of which he knew the source in this madness was a small comfort, but he was fairly certain it had been his comment to himself back in the cafe that had given him away to that sheet shrouded giant. His internal monologue would now remain internal, since he had lived for quite a while now and was fairly keen on continuing to do so.
Now that he was inside, and reasonably sure he was safe, the next order of business was finding the way over the wall and then finding an exit on the other side. If his memory served well enough the wall would be tall enough to block out the ground floor and the first floor, so if he could get up to the second floor his way should be clear. He looked around the lobby, seeing nothing of note save for the receptionist's desk, a couple of couches for waiting ponies to sit on, and the door leading into the apartments standing just slightly open, giving him a narrow preview of the darkness beyond.
The receptionist's desk seemed like a good place to start. Lance was growing tired of walking around unfamiliar territory hidden in either darkness or fog. If there was a map of any sort behind the desk it would make his path a lot easier to pick out.
But first he had to quietly shut that blasted door so the hairs on the back of his neck would go down.
With the door taken care of he made his way to the desk. His search didn't take long. In fact one couldn't even call it a search; as soon as he rounded the side of the desk it was over before it had even began. There was a bundle of four emergency floor plans stapled together and taped to the wall, one for the ground floor and each of the three stories above. Lance actually hesitated a moment before plucking them from the wall, half expecting something horrible to happen for how easy they had been to find. Nothing did...
Yet.
He decided it was best not to let it get to him, hard as that may have been. After all, he'd plucked the map of Ponyville off the bulletin board outside just as easily and nothing particularly awful had immediately happened as a direct result.
Lance placed the map on the desk and focused his light on it. There was no other way out of the lobby aside from the door leading outside and the door inward that he had just closed, so which way he was going next was no question at all. Where he would go afterward was his primary concern. It only took him a moment to find the lobby on the map before looking for a stairwell or elevator to get him up to the second floor as quickly as possible.
The apartments were arranged around an H shaped trio of hallways, with six of the cheaper, smaller apartments going along the central hallway with the entrances to another four deluxe balcony apartments at each end of the two side halls, totaling ten apartments per floor. According to the map after exiting the lobby he could turn left to use the stairwell, and right to head toward the elevator. There was another stairwell in the corner of the building opposite to the first, one that should be the other side of the wall.
Perfect...well, perfect assuming that the elevator worked or the stairwell wasn't blocked off. In spite of the lobby's tidy appearance he had little doubt his trip up, over, and down would prove more complicated than just a trip up, over, and down. Despite how much sense this town didn't make, it seemed to operate on a twisted set of rules all its own that was beginning to pick up on. There was never any direct route anywhere. It was like something was always running ahead of him setting up an obstacle course to navigate for little more than its own amusement.
He gave the three other floors a glance to find they had roughly the same layout save for the odd utility closet and the designated land lord's apartment in one of the deluxe rooms on the third floor. Now that he knew what to do all that was left was to go out and see how it was to be done. The building's layout was simple enough but he put the floor plans in his bag to take with him anyway, just in case. After he closed his saddlebag he walked out from behind the desk and turned toward the door leading deeper into the building.
It was cracked open again.
Well...I...guess that saves me the trouble of opening it...
Lance knew it would be difficult to impossible to find any other positive points to the discovery so he pushed it into the ever growing pile of cast aside dreads and worries and moved forward. The hinges creaked quietly as he opened it, and after no more than two steps inward be heard his watch begin to buzz softly. The subdued sound set him to looking in each direction frantically, shining his light ahead, to his left, and finally to his right before he saw it. It was another drowning mare lying dormant at the end of the hall, just in front of the elevator door.
He waited a few moments but it didn't move the least bit. Apparently he was far away enough to keep it from rousing. A small measure of the tension eased from his body, but he was left worrying about what would happen when he turned his back to it. The first one he had run across had crept a ways down the street while he hadn't been looking. Would this one do the same even though he hadn't yet woken it up? Out there it had been merely unsettling, but with the way the drowning mares swung those bladed masks back and forth it would be outright dangerous in these cramped hallways. As much as Lance hated the idea of interacting with these things any more than necessary he also knew that predicting their behavior would probably save his life.
Five seconds. That was it. He would look away for five seconds. If it got close enough it would surely make those stomach churning choking noises and give itself away before it got too close. He would keep the door open too. The lobby was big enough to move around in so it was a good escape room if the need arose.
He turned his head and looked down the left hallway toward the stairwell door.
Five...
Four...
Three...
Two...
One.
Lance might have felt his neck pop if he had turned to look back any faster. It was a somewhat welcome sight that greeted him though. The drowning mare hadn't moved an inch. Apparently if they weren't woken at all they couldn't creep when unobserved. He could use that.
Looking past her, he could see that the elevator was down there with them on the ground floor. The buttons to the side looked to be in working order, in keeping with the rest of the building thus far. It was possible the elevator was working. If he could just use it to go straight up he might bypass an entire potentially monster filled floor and have the deed over and done with all the quicker. But he'd have to go through the drowning mare before he would even have a chance to see if it was working. The wound on his leg stung just a little more as he mentally recounted his recent first tussle with one of them out in the streets.
Getting near one of them was unacceptable, but their consistent movement towards him seemed predictable enough. Perhaps he could lure this one into the lobby and close the door to trap her inside?
Oh, right, the door had already proven a tad unreliable. Scratch that.
At the moment he could only conclude it was best to leave her well enough alone way at the end of the hallway. One of the other rooms on ground floor might prove useful for safely containing her though. The deluxe apartment door almost right next to her was out of the question obviously. He looked down the center hallway to see four rooms available before a familiar cobblestone wall blocked off the rest of the floor. Off to his left was, of course, the other deluxe apartment. Only five rooms to look through. It wouldn't take long to find something suitable. Mindful of not getting a stop closer to the drowning mare he stepped into the center hallway and tried opening the first door on his right.
It looked like the lock was broken. He couldn't open it.
Make that four rooms...he moved on to the second door on the right.
It looked like the lock was broken. He couldn't open it.
So...three rooms then? Lance turned toward the door on the left closest to the cobblestone wall.
It looked like the lock was broken. He couldn't open it.
He couldn't quite contain his grumble of irritation but he doubted the sound would wake the monster lying still around the corner. Before he could move to the last door in the central hallway though, a number of details about this door caught his eye. The other doors had been plain oak doors with wood grain finish. This one was painted white, and the small brass plaque on the wall next to it that should have displayed "Room G-8" instead said "303". It was even printed in a different font than the other room number plaques.
This isn't even the third floor...
"Lance?" A mare asked from the other side of the door.
"Yes?" Lance answered reflexively in harmony with another voice on the other side of the door.
...
WHAT?!
"Are you sure you're okay with this? You look...troubled." The mare asked.
He tried opening the door again, turning the knob harder in an attempt to force it open as his apparent namesake replied, "Yeah, I...sort of am. We've only been dating for three months...it just feels a little soon to be doing this you know?"
"Yeah...I know. But you'll be able to put money back faster if you can split rent with somepony, and...well...I don't mind having you around more."
The door was no good. But he had to see into that room now.
His eyes darted over to the last door in the central hallway left unchecked, room G-9. Lance had no valid reason to believe he would have any more luck seeing into 303 in G-9 than at the door, but it was worth a try. He moved quickly and rather than finding a fourth broken lock, the neighboring apartment's door proved accommodating and allowed him inside.
"I don't really mind being around more either...but...I guess I just worry that if I move in with you you're going to find I'm not quite the pony you thought I was and start second guessing what you think of me." The colt replied.
The inside of G-9 was bare, clearly lacking a tenant. He entered into the main room consisting of a small kitchen to his right with the rest clearly intended as a living room. On the left there was a short hallway with three doors that doubtlessly lead to the apartment's bedrooms and bathroom. Yet again, everything looked clean and tidy...save for the small hole in the kitchen wall.
As he approached he could see it was a pipe that looked to have been installed through the wall with a noticeable level of clean cut professionalism. Did it go all the way through the wall into the other apartment though?
"Like what? Can you think of anything that would make me think less of you?" The mare asked, her voice coming through the pipe clear as day. It did go all the way through the wall! Lance peered through it, having to back off and blink a few times as his eyes adjusted to the abundance of light on the other side. The two ponies weren't visible though.
"Well...no...not off the top of my head but you know how the story always goes. You have a young couple moving in together thinking it's going to be utter bliss, then a month later they're at each other's throats over the little things about one another they've found they just can't stand." The colt answered. From the sound of it they were standing just to the right of the pipe's line of sight in 303's living room. Lance maintained his vigil.
"Maybe, but this isn't a story, this is the real world, this is...us. We can do something different than the story. I'm sure we'll get in each other's mane plenty with enough time, but none of that ever has to mean we enjoy each other's company any less. I know it's a gamble but...if I make that gamble, I want it to be with you." The mare said.
This...this was...what was this?
The colt sighed, "Thanks...that means a lot to me. I still feel nervous about it all though."
"I am too a little...I don't think it's possible not to be." She agreed.
"Heh, there'd probably be something wrong with us if we weren't."
She chuckled softly, "Probably...but you know you don't have to do this if you really don't want to. None of the paperwork is signed yet, nothing changes until we both want it to."
There was another small pause before the colt made up his mind, "Well then we need a pen don't we?"
"We do!" The mare replied enthusiastically, "They have applications down at the front desk, meet me there?"
"Sure."
"Yay!" She cheered before Lance could hear somepony opening a desk and rummaging around inside.
The sound was quickly forgotten though as he saw the colt step into the pipe's sight line on his way to the door.
Lance's eyes slowly opened wide as he looked him over. Amber coat...dark red, shorter mane...blue eyes that were yet to be burdened by years of medical work...and that unmistakeable scalpel cutie mark. There was no other conclusion to reach. He might have been hallucinating, or maybe this place had been drilling into his mind deeper than he thought possible, but regardless of the cause he was looking at himself as he had been long ago. This wasn't a pair of ponies just randomly appearing in unlikely places...these were memories.
But then that could only mean the mare was-
He winced as a sudden ringing in his ears coincided with the memory borne doppelganger freezing in place like time itself had stopped on the other end of the pipe. Lance tried to keep looking to see if anything would happen but the ringing became too intense and he was forced to pull his eye away from the hole to press his hooves to his ears. Moments afterward it stopped quite suddenly, leaving him to slowly let his hooves move away from his ears as he wondered what the hay had happened. He looked through the pipe again, but the lights had gone out and nopony was making a peep on the other side anymore.
The fateful crash he had heard out near the wall, the date in the cafe, and the colt and mare deciding to live with each other...these weren't two ponies he was encountering at random at all. They were his memories from long ago, never forgotten but having gathered a fine layer of dust in his head for how little he had looked at them for so long. But what were his memories doing splattered all over the landscape now? Could that mean this place really was inside of his head just as Twilight Sparkle's description of her spell had suggested? A lot of things would make a bit more sense if that were true but Lance couldn't accept it. Everything felt too real, too present, there was no way he was asleep, and the cuts in his leg in particular were a persistent reminder as they continued to throb painfully beneath the bandage.
More questions. Always more questions with no time to answer any of them. He needed to keep moving and find a way over the wall. When he turned around to leave he was met with another unexpected sight. On the opposite wall of the living room there was an image of a pony painted directly onto the wall with a rectangular slab of metal going across it, held in place by one padlock at each end. The pony was wearing a red robe and golden crown, and the halo of a sun surrounded her head. In one hoof she grasped a chalice, in the other a single stalk of some white plant with leaves going up the entire length. There was something engraved on the slab in elegant script:
Thy path may be lit by the grace of the saint
She asks of ye two gifts in tribute
Only thee who can bring life from the earth shall find them
"...okaaaaay..." Lance couldn't help but mutter in bewilderment.
He left the strange sort of altar behind and decided to give the bedrooms and bathroom a look. The bedroom locks were both broken, but his detour paid off when he entered the bathroom and found a medical kit in the sink that was quickly deposited in his saddlebag. Finding nothing else of interest in G-9, he found himself in the central hallway once again being confronted by an unexpected sight.
There was a note nailed to the wall next to the door of G-2 across from him that hadn't been there before. Wouldn't he have heard somepony hammering the nail in? No matter, he ripped the note from of the nail all the same:
Dear Esteemed Guest,
Your presence here has only recently been brought to my attention, but it was in a most unpleasant matter. However the damage done was minimal at worst and one could not really expect somepony who has only so recently arrived to really know any better, so no hard feelings!
However, I politely ask that from now on you refrain from looking too much into doors labeled 303. Feel free to pass by them if need be, but please do so in a timely matter and avoid lingering near them any longer than absolutely necessary. Heed this one request and I see no reason for us to experience any unpleasantness.
Thank you for your time!
Strange...did that mean there were more room 303s? Did all of them contain memories of his past? He wasn't sure he could honor the request in this note if that was the case. True, now that he was thinking back he remembered a great deal about those days but if he could see himself that meant there was a chance he could see her too...and he wanted that dearly. He was briefly unsure what to do with the letter before he just slipped in his saddlebag. A piece of paper didn't take up much room and something to write on might prove useful later on. Or maybe he was just becoming a pack rat pony.
There was one more door to check before he either went up the stairs or tried to trap the drowning mare to free up the elevator. Still ever mindful to maintain his distance from her as he rounded the corner, he headed down the hall to the unobstructed deluxe apartment, G-1. The unlocked door afforded easy access, a welcome surprise since he had been half expecting yet another broken lock. The interior was quite spacious; the living room was larger and had a fire place, the kitchen had far more space for a cook to move within, and between them was a dining area that had a sliding glass door out to the patio. It let in the light from outside and was thus the first room in the apartment complex that wasn't pitch black. Unlike G-9, this room also sported a full complement of furniture in pristine condition. It looked like somepony actually lived there.
A plastic bottle rested on the table, and as he moved closer he could see it was some generic brand health drink. He gave a grunt of amusement before checking to see if the seal on the cap was unbroken and stashing it. There were plenty of health drinks available making miraculous claims but as a medical professional he knew those claims for the snake oil they were. It would still be handy to have if he got thirsty though, something told him that bottled consumable liquids were at a premium here.
There was nothing else of interest in the kitchen, and the door that he assumed was to the bedrooms and bathroom had another broken lock. When he looked out of the sliding glass door to the patio however he saw a vial of some sort lying on the cement just short of the railing. The door slid open with a bit more noise than he would have liked as he stepped outside and picked it up. There was a small amount of clear liquid inside and the vial sported a warning label that made it obvious the contents were a highly corrosive acid.
Lance hesitated for a moment. His first impulse was to leave it there and avoid the risk of melting a patch of his skin off if it broke in his bag. On the other hoof something that could eat through a bit of metal couldn't possibly not prove useful in this obstacle course of locks he was navigating. He decided it was worth taking with him but he wasn't about to place it in his bags where it could potentially melt a chunk of everything else he was carrying. Fortunately the front tool strap of the saddlebags had a holster of sorts that would do the job just fine, holding the vial away from his bags and in a place where it could be quickly removed if need be.
A sudden sound brought his attention to the view outside past the patio and beyond the perimeter fencing of paint black metal rods. It was a dreadfully familiar clip clopping...but it was moving away. The fact didn't stop Lance from dashing back into the room and only daring to look back once he was hidden to the side of the door. The hoof steps had stopped...but within moments they resumed, this time much faster and headed right towards him. The monstrous sheet wrapped unicorn burst from the fog and rammed headlong into the bars of the fence that proved ill capable of withstanding the force of the blow and bent inward with a metallic groan.
It had been the blasted door sliding open, it had to have been, he hadn't made a sound otherwise. He got out of room G-1 as fast as his hooves would carry him away from the cacophony of bending bars and scraping metal. The choice afterward was obvious. He could either take up precious time trying to lure the drowning mare into G-9 or the lobby, or he could take the stairs up a floor immediately.
His decision was only further reinforced by the sound of splintering wood as the patio railing proved a laughably ineffective barrier.
Strange as his luck had been, it chose not to kill him in this instance and left the stairwell door unlocked, which was strange because it immediately decided to try and kill him anyway by leaving the stairs in a rusted, bent up, unusable wreck inside. Luck's attempt on his life turned out to be a complete backfire though. Lance looked upward to see the door to the first floor already slightly open just as the door to the lobby had been.
He heard breaking glass followed by furniture being tossed out of the way and G-1s door being bashed open.
Lance crouched low, unfurled his wings, then shot up to the first floor door and through it to relative safety. He turned and looked downward just in time to see the shrouded monster pony break through the stairwell door. She looked upward at him briefly before trying to use the stairs only to have the rusted support snap under her weight. After letting out a beastly groan of frustration she looked around briefly, her gaze settling on a jagged bit of one of the broken supports sticking out of the wall. She placed her side against it, beginning to move back and forth to use it as an impromptu saw on the ropes holding her sheet in place.
Whatever she looked like under that sheet, he could live with the mystery since being around her for any amount of time looked to be a quick ticket to a somewhat early grave. He ventured a quick look upward to see that the door to the second floor was boarded up, and the door to the third floor was cut off by a rusted iron grating preventing any progress up past the second. It was just as well that the stairwell wouldn't get him any higher now thanks to its new occupant. He closed the door behind him.
The well kept appearance of the ground floor had somewhat diminished on the first floor. The carpet was faded, stained, and worn through to the concrete in some places. The light brown paint on the walls was just beginning to peel, and a look upward revealed some of the inactive bulbs were missing or broken. Though the deterioration was unnerving, this was offset by the fact that Lance seemed to be alone in the hall on this floor and free to move about as he wished.
He checked the elevator first but to his dismay he found the button panel that might have been able to call it up to him missing, torn out if the jagged state of the hole where it had been was any indication. The wiring behind it was left exposed, and one wire with green insulation had a segment conspicuously absent. Did that mean the elevator wouldn't work at all? How was he supposed to get to the second floor and over the wall then?
Lance grumbled irritably and turned back to the halls. He may as well check the apartments...there wasn't much of anything else he could do. This time he would just go through every door before bothering to investigate any he happened to find unlocked. Apartment 110 was right next to him so he started there to joyously encounter another broken lock that seemed to add insult to the injury of the defunct elevator.
"Ugh..." He lamented as he stepped into the center hall. His intent to check apartment 109 next was derailed as he saw another white door marked 303 in the place where 103 should have been. This one was boarded up, and 102 proved inaccessible. There was no way he would be able to see inside...but that was alright with him. He moved over to this new 303 door and sat next to it with his back to the wall. Getting to listen to her voice again was a gift all it's own, and he closed his eyes to let the memory play out in his head as she started to speak inside...
------
Lance quietly closed the bedroom door and made his way down the hallway, having just awoken from a good nap. His body ached as it often did as of late. Ever since they had moved in together he had thrown more effort into his weather service job, securing a few raises with more hours, and now he was signed up to begin fall classes at Manehatten University sooner than he had ever anticipated. He was about to enter the living room when an only recently familiar voice gave him reason to pause.
"You know dear, it's still not too late to decide you two aren't that serious."
She sighed, "Mother, would you let this go? Lance is a good, motivated, ambitious, hardworking, intelligent colt. He cares about me, and we have fun being together. I think that piece goes there."
Lance stopped and listened. Her mother was visiting for the weekend, and he'd seen no end to her scrutinizing every little thing about him.
"Hrm? Oh...oh I see, yes that fits perfectly, good eye!" Her mother replied, apparently putting together a puzzle with her, "That's all well and good honey but...a stallion really ought to be able to support a mare financially and here you are practically paying for his education. Here...this looks like it goes on your end."
"Thanks. Things aren't like they were back when you met dad though mom, I've got a flower shop and a decent income, I don't need anypony to support me. Besides, I'm not paying his way, I'm just helping him do it faster by splitting rent with him. I picked Lance because I wanted Lance, and that's the way I like it. I don't want to end up like you and dad sitting in your living room reading books so you can avoid talking to each other." She paused before her eyes widened and she looked back to her mother after realizing she had been a bit too frank with her last remark, "I'm sorry mom, that wasn't necessary."
Her mother gave an amused chuckle, "I admit your father and I have sort of drifted apart, I can't really blame you for noticing. If Lance makes you happy and you're doing well for yourself then...well, I guess I can't really complain. I'm still going to worry though. I'm your mother, it's my job, and even if you do like Lance I still know my daughter could do much better. This piece doesn't even look like it goes with this puzzle at all."
"Hrm...put it aside for now, probably goes in the middle. I guess that's fair enough, as long as you let us live our own lives." She replied.
"I will dear, it'll be tough sometimes but I will."
From there the conversation steered back to the task at hand. Lance waited a couple minutes more to negate any suspicion before he emerged into the living room with an only partially fake yawn, "Morning ladies."
"Oh, good, you're up. I wanted to try that restaurant down the street for lunch but I didn't want to leave my daughter without any company because somepony was too busy napping." Her mother replied in that delightfully passive aggressively pleasant manner of hers, producing an eye roll and smile from her daughter that only Lance saw.
"Well thank you for covering for me." He said with a respectful nod as her mother rose to her hooves.
"I'll be back in an hour, love you." She said before giving her daughter a hug and heading toward the door. Lance couldn't help but notice the comparatively cold sidelong glance he got as she passed by and out of their apartment.
"Brr." He remarked after the door had closed.
"Oh shush, she'll warm up to you...or at least leave you alone eventually." The younger mare in possession of his affections light heartedly scolded as he made his way over to her.
"I'd kiss you but I probably need to brush my teeth first." He said as he sat next to her.
"Oh? What's the occasion?"
"To thank you for standing up for me."
She gasped and gave him a good humored shove on his shoulder, "You were eavesdropping! Bad pony!"
He chuckled as he took one step to right his balance, "I'm very sorry ma'am, how can I make it up to you?"
"Hrm..." She brought a hoof to her chin and paused in thought before a smile graced her face, "Make two of those daisy sandwiches you're so good at, then meet me in the bedroom for lunch and something else we should finish before my mom gets home." She answered with a wink before standing and heading down the hallway with an exaggerated sway to her step.
Her motions suddenly began to slow until she stopped entirely along with everything else, the sudden freeze in time accompanied by another sharp ringing tone.
------
Lance grasped his head in pain and stumbled away from the door, the penetrating ringing noise in his ears only relenting after he had done so. He shook his head free of the disorientation and looked back at the door to see that it had been replaced with a wall of solid cement.
He sighed forlornly. She had been good to him, even when he couldn't do anything but pay half her rent and not have much left over to help with food and bills after adding to his university fund. Even though she had denied he was a burden he knew deep down inside that he had been, if only a bit. But she hadn't cared.
He missed her so much...
...
After letting his head clear for a moment he turned to resume his sweep of the doors of the first floor. Following another frustrating series of broken locks he had found only one door that was usable: apartment 108 directly across from what had formerly been 303.
Upon opening the door he was immediately greeted with the sickening noise of tearing flesh to accompany the buzzing of his watch. He closed it instantly and stood there wide eyed with his hoof lingering on the doorknob.
Everything in his being told him to just stay put and not go inside, but he knew there was nowhere else to go from there. He had to do it. This door had to open.
He took another deep breath to bolster his resolve and began easing the door open slowly, stopping when the gap was just wide enough to get his head and light through. The tearing sound had given way to what was unmistakably chewing, and even more alarmingly the first thing his surgical light revealed was a messy blood trail leading out of the kitchen and into the living room. As much as he didn't want them to his eyes and light followed it deeper into the room as the chewing ended with a sickened swallow and the distorted voice of a mare catching her breath before the tearing sounds resumed. After what felt like far too short a time he found the source of the sounds and the blood trail.
It wasn't a drowning mare, and it definitely wasn't the sheet shrouded beast pony pursuing him, but it was indeed a pony of some sort. It was a different color on each side, dark red on the left, and a pale flesh color on the right, all of it covered with the scars of hundreds of healed over cuts. The two halves were stretched over and nailed into one another in an alternating pattern, giving the appearance of a large stitch holding the two halves together. The blood had come from another pony that he could only assume had been the room's tenant, who was now dead at this new creature's feet apparently being scavenged for sustenance.
The circle of light did not go unnoticed. It stopped gorging on the fresh corpse and looked over it's right shoulder right back at him as its ears perked up. The head itself was the oddest part of the monstrosity. It wasn't a head so much as two half heads combined into one, the right half completely covered in dark red scar tissue and shaped like a stallion's head, the left half covered in blood, eyeless, sporting a maw of jagged teeth that stretched back well past the point that a pony's mouth should, and shaped like a mare's head.
Lance stood there with baited breath, preparing to run. But it didn't charge at him as he was anticipating. The scavenger just gave a vaguely feminine snarl of warning and resumed feasting while the left half of its head writhed in its scar tissue prison. It didn't seem to care about him...for the moment. It only looked to care about guarding its meal. That might afford him some wiggle room inside of the apartment, but how much? Was he really willing to test it?
The alternative was a stairwell full of sheet covered unicorn murder machine. He was willing.
Slow and steady.
He eased the door open the rest of the way and crept inside slowly and quietly while the scavenger gnawed away. Struggling to keep his breathing quiet from the sheer tension, he looked around for anything of note. The kitchen was absolutely covered in blood, the various bits of cookery scattered all over after a deadly encounter of which the tenant had gotten the bad end. The only other thing in the living room besides the corpse and the scavenger was a dirty mattress that made it look like the corpse was less of a former tenant and more of a former squatter.
Lance flinched as the scavenger brought the right half of its head up to swallow another chunk of meat before descending again.
Only the bedrooms and bathroom remained, but the hall to the right that lead toward them would only take him closer to the scavenger. The door was right behind him though. If things got hairy he had plenty of room to just turn tail and run. It was the only thought that let him move his hooves forward and further.
He had taken two steps before it noticed his advancing and stopped all movement, beginning to let off a low growl as it crouched near the ground. It still didn't go for him though.
Lance took another step. Two more and he'd be able to go down the hallway and leave the creature in peace.
The mare half bit down on the neck of its victim and glared death at him with its eyeless gaze, the growl growing louder.
Another step. Each one made his watch buzz louder. It took a herculean effort on his part to remain in control and not make a panic driven sprint for it.
The mare half's mouth released the dead pony and the scavenger turned toward him, standing protectively in front of its kill as it snarled at him.
Lance and the scavenger stood stone still looking right at each other, waiting for one another to make any move at all.
...