Silent Ponyville: Reunion
What a nightmare.
Part 8
------
"Come on come on come on come on." Lance muttered as he continued fiddling with the surgical light. If the crystal's charge was depleted he didn't know what the hay he would do. Getting up there had been an interesting enough journey on its own, he couldn't imagine how harrowing it would be having to go back down in pitch black with several monsters waiting for him on the way, not the least of which was that brutal shrouded mare...or once shrouded mare at least. The siren off in the distance began to die down before quieting completely. Lance let out a breath of relief as his surgical light finally began to flicker back to life, soon casting as strong a circle of light as ever.
He found himself wishing it hadn't.
"Wh...what the...." His eyes widened, his ears pulled back, and the color left his face as an unprecedented wave of terror smashed its way through him.
The chained door to 303 was gone, and as far as he could tell the halls were back in their usual positions rather than just the one single hallway. The apparent rearranging of the third floor's layout was by far not the most jostling detail though. Everything had undergone a macabre transformation in the period of total darkness. The exposed rebar and cracked cement floor and ceiling had been replaced with an uneven, chaotic grid of poorly welded together metal plates, and the walls that had once been made of grating over molded insulation were now formed of oddly angled iron bars over what looked to be segments of stretched out leather held in place by hooks at each corner. Everything metal was spotted with rust, and the skins that were stretched out looked to have dried only very recently. There was not a stitch anywhere on them to explain how long they were. Such a hide could not have come from any creature anypony had ever seen in Equestria.
Lance felt a strong urge to just run until he found the way out of there but he squelched the impulse. If this altered version of the apartment building was anything like the one he had just made his way to the top of, all that would do is get him killed.
"Calm down...just...calm down...." It suddenly didn't matter to him if monsters nearby could hear him reassuring himself, he needed to do it. A voice he could control was just about the only thing he had left to be sure he was sane now. The mysterious deterioration of the apartment building around him as he had ascended had been taxing enough on his psyche, but now that everything had changed so drastically, so quickly, right in the dark in front of him, he found it difficult to keep up his earlier conclusion that he was awake and lucid. This sort of stuff only happened in nightmares.
Nightmares and here.
He backpedaled a step and put his back to a wall...or at least the bars it was composed of. Even this didn't feel particularly safe. He could hear the air move steadily in whatever space was behind the stretched skins, almost like some sort of unearthly breathing. But despite half expecting something to grab him from behind the bars, having something at his back still felt better than having nothing but the menace of a hallway full of open space just behind him.
Lance took a moment to just breathe and regather the thoughts that this most recent development had flung every which way. This changed a lot of things, but it didn't change the fact that he still needed to find an exit on the other side of the wall...or just any exit at all for that matter. He found himself caring very little which side of the wall he ended up on, just so long as he could get outside and away from...this. The obvious first course of action was to check to see if the stair wells or elevator would offer him a quick exit, not that he was holding his breath over it. If things continued as they had been going he would be lucky to find his path downward clear for even just one floor.
From his spot against the wall the elevator should have been to his right, but he shined his light over to see that there was no elevator to speak of. The shaft didn't look obstructed from where he was standing though, so there was still the possibility of jumping down and breaking his fall with a beat of his wings. His hopes were dashed as he stepped to the edge and looked down to see that the elevator shaft was blocked on the second floor by a rusted metal grating, with access to the second floor itself cut off as well by another wall of oddly angled iron bars. But even though he couldn't get through the iron bars he could certainly see through them. For all he knew there was something worth spotting on the other end.
After giving the ceiling a cautionary glance to make sure it all wasn't just an obvious trap of some sort, he hopped down and landed on the grating with a soft grunt before turning and shining his light down the hall. It seemed the complex was degrading as he descended in much the same way that it had done so on the way up. The rust had spread further on this new version of the second floor, and he even spotted another, deeper, far more unsettling shade of red spattered in several spots with nary an explanation. He spotted one thing that made the hop down worth the trouble though. Lance couldn't quite make out what it was but his light glinted off of something lying on the floor at the intersection of the side and center hallways. If the recent past was any indication, it was surely something worth picking up.
There came a sound from around the corner that made him freeze. It was a distorted, curious hum overlaid by a soft snarl, both bestial and feminine at once. A gentle creaking and clicking of metal clad hooves on the floor followed and grew closer. He didn't need to see anything to know who that was, and she had apparently spotted his light.
Lance spent an overlong second fumbling with the switch on his light before managing to turn it off. With no other light source everything was plunged back into pitch blackness. He silently stepped back from the bars and lowered himself down to the grating, keeping his hooves beneath him in anticipation of having to make a leap back up to the third floor should his effort at hiding in the dark fail.
The hoof steps and creaking continued until she reached the side hallway and stopped. Lance heard her neck restraints groan as she looked down either side.
His body tensed. Could she see in the dark? It didn't seem like much of a stretch after having been able to see him just fine through the sheet she'd discarded at the base of the stairwell.
...
Wait...
The watch!
It started buzzing softly as the hoof steps started up again, heading straight for him. There was no way anypony would miss the sound, especially as it quickly rose in volume in concert with the monstrous mare's proximity. Lance knew if he moved to try and muffle the noise he would just make enough sound to give him away anyway. He had to run. His wings were about to unfurl when a recent memory flashed through his mind. She'd been able to hear him muttering to himself back inside of the cafe, but had hovered outside, clearly uncertain if he had been there or not. In the two occasions she had gotten definite sight of him, her response had been an immediate, zealous charge, completely unlike the measured pace of the hoof steps approaching him.
Could she not hear the watch?
If she could, if this hesitation on her part was all a feint, she would have to spend a few precious seconds pushing through the bars anyway. He would have time to leap to safety and run...somewhere. But if she couldn't hear the watch, he could just hide there and avert any suspicion. He wasn't sure how much leeway in movement around the hellish apartment complex that such success would buy him but it was worth trying. Lance restrained his racing breath to a silent crawl, not daring to move a single muscle as the distance closed, fearing that the sound of his heartbeat alone would give him away if the watch failed to do so.
The hoof steps stopped again, placing her just on the other side of the bars. She was so close he could hear her every breath even through the insistent buzzing of the pocket watch. Despite not having the sheet covering her any longer it still sounded as though her mouth was covered. By what though?
He flinched as she struck the bars. His wings extended and he was about to jump for it when he realized the expected groaning of the bars as they were pushed out of the way was not forthcoming. She struck the bars again, and once again nothing was done to follow it up.
She really didn't know he was there...she couldn't hear the watch at all...but she suspected something enough to try and goad him into fleeing...
The revelation that his hiding spot in the dark was actually working in spite of the loud buzzing bolstered his resolve to stay there and not make a sound. Just a while longer...he had to sit there still and silent for just a while longer, then she would go away and look for him elsewhere.
I'm not here...just go away...just go the hay away...
....
He heard whatever metallic object that was covering her face clink against the bars before she took in a long, slow breath. The following exhalation sounded like a feral growl overlaying what was unmistakably a coo of delight.
Did she just-
The thought was cut short by a much more enthusiastic strike against the bars followed by the telltale groan of their bending to the force being applied as she began trying to get at him in earnest. His hiding spot was compromised, and he made a wing assisted leap back up to the third floor now that there was no point in staying quiet anymore. The cautious approach he had planned on wouldn't cut it now. Even though the second floor elevator shaft bars had been thicker than the perimeter fence she'd easily plowed through outside it would only buy him maybe half a minute of running time.
He spent a few moments getting his surgical light switched back on through the adrenaline charged shaking of his hooves. Now that he had been on the second floor the rust and spots of blood had spread upward to the third floor, just like the decay had spread downward on his way up. There was no going back in this place.
How had she gotten up from the ground floor anyway? The only reason he had been able to was because he had...
...wings.
"No no no shut up." He told himself. It didn't matter how she got up there, what she had, or what she looked like, he just needed to get away from her as fast as possible.
He shined his light down the hallway and saw that the stairwell on the other end of the hall wouldn't be any help. It was sealed by a metal slab that had been bolted to the wall and covered the door completely. That left the other stairwell on the other side hall as the obvious next choice. Another rending of iron from the elevator shaft put a terrified spring in his step as he started to gallop down the central hallway. Aside from there being no cobblestone wall he saw only two details on his way, but they both made quite the impression.
The first was that the wall to his left along which he assumed there would be doors to apartments 302 to 304 had been replaced by a lightly blood spattered chain link fence. It gave him a view into a large, dark, nearly empty space that had been hollowed out of the area that half of the apartments used to inhabit. A spotlight that must have been aiming up from the ground floor partially illuminated the sole occupant of the small void, a single pony, hairless, faceless, and scarred, hanging upside down from a chain bolted to the ceiling. It twisted back and forth, trying to free itself from the loop of chain holding fast to its ankle to no avail. The other three limbs were held tightly against its torso for one reason or another that Lance didn't feel too keen on discerning at the moment.
The other was a white door to his right, standing spotlessly clean in defiance of the nightmare world around it and bearing a now familiar number.
------
The work over the last few years had only gotten more taxing on him. He was working more hours at his weather service job so that he could cover more of his fair share while still keeping tuition paid off. When he arrived home exhausted most every day he had just time enough to wash off the day's sweat before heading to his classes, after that he had just enough time to come home again entirely too late, and after that he had just enough time to do his studying before having not nearly enough time left to sleep prior to the entire process starting anew.
For his trouble his marefriend's mother had switched from suggesting he was a parasite to insinuating that he wasn't paying enough attention to her daughter...and he was a parasite.
There was no use in fretting over unwinnable battles though. From his spot waking up warm in his bed with her behind him on one of the exceedingly rare days they both had off, he didn't much care about that anyway. They hadn't planned anything in particular to do for the day so he didn't even bother checking the time after his eyes drifted open, something he enjoyed not doing very dearly when he could get away with it. He yawned as quietly as he could manage then rolled over expecting to see her right there next to him.
"HLUUURG!"
As it turned out she was in the bathroom.
"Are you okay?" Lance called out as he hopped out of bed, trotted into the hallway, and over to the bathroom door that was hanging half open. The toilet flushed as he pushed the door.
"Do I-urp-sound okay?" She replied somewhat bitterly before turning on the faucet and washing her mouth out, "Ah Celestia that tastes awful..."
"Will you be okay?" He clarified.
"I don't know...it's been happening all week. Just after you leave I wake up, and half an hour later I'm in here throwing up." She said as she grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste.
"Think you caught something?" Lance guessed while still standing there in the hallway.
She spent a minute brushing, then spit before getting around to replying as he waited patiently, "I don't think so...I haven't had a fever or anything, and you probably would've caught it too."
"Yeah true...I wonder if something's spoiled in the fridge and we just haven't checked the expiration date." He guessed once more and looked down the hall toward the kitchen.
"With the way you keep tabs on that I doubt it." She replied with a look of amusement as she reached for a bottle of mouthwash.
"Who knows, I might have slipped recently without using the notebook."
"Oh come on now, it took me a whole year to convince you to stop cataloging the expiration dates in that thing and I'm not going to let you start again." She said with a chuckle at the recollection of the well worn notebook that had taken up residence on the counter next to the fridge about a month after he had moved in with her.
"Alright alright...I'll give the fridge a look over though, I mean it's got to be something, somepony doesn't just throw up for no reason." Lance said and started to walk back down the hallway. He didn't make it to the third step before he heard the plastic bottle of mouth wash drop into the bathroom sink and looked back over his shoulder, "You okay in there?"
...
"Honey?" The silence was worrying and Lance trotted back over to the open door. She was just standing there staring wide eyed into the mirror, "What's wrong?"
"Lance...what day is it?"
"Um...Saturd-" She rushed over before he could finish answering, the sudden movement caught him off guard and forced him back against the wall with his marefriend's wild eyed face only inches away from his. The look on his face in response was understandably unsettled.
"No I meant the date!" She demanded again. He took a moment recalling his mental calendar but apparently it wasn't fast enough for her. Just as he'd opened his mouth she vanished from his sight and he felt a gust of wind as she literally flew into the living room where their calendar was pinned to the wall.
"Wait, wait what's wrong?" He tried asking as he galloped after her. She ignored him though, wings still flapping as she hovered in front of the calendar tracing a path across it with her hoof.
"...No no no!" She cried out suddenly before rushing out the front door of the apartment with Lance in close pursuit.
"Would you just tell me what's wrong?!"
------
This wasn't like before. It wasn't just him sitting there listening and letting the memories return to the front of his mind. This was something altogether different that struck his mind in one instant impact that produced a feeling reminiscent of a physical blow. He staggered to the side against the chain link fence with his eyes shut tight against the brief flash of pain. After it had passed he shook the disorientation off and looked back toward the door. It was no longer the spotless white door to 303, nor the cement wall that had replaced them before, but a thick rusted over iron door bolted over the smaller one.
There was also a viewing slot that was currently open. Lance shined his light at it but only got a brief, inconclusive glimpse of who was on the other side before the viewing slot's cover was slammed shut. A hiss of steam followed by the unmistakeable sound of one of the bars in the elevator shaft snapping apart moments later served to remind him of his predicament. He galloped to the end of the hall and turned right to head toward the stairwell only to find no door visible in any part of that half of the side hall.
There was also the much more pressing matter of the half set of teeth bared at him.
It had been roaming at the far end of the hallway beyond the range of his watch but that was soon remedied, the volume of the buzzing rising in volume at an alarming rate as the scavenger barreled toward him. There wouldn't be any corpse to distract it until it turned Lance into one. With a scavenger on his right and the menace of the implacable monster mare behind him there wasn't much choice but to bolt down the hall to his left and hope for the best. What he saw certainly wasn't the best but it would do: a door on the right at the very end of the hall that the maps from the ground floor had never indicated would be there.
He heard the scavenger's half jaw snap shut as it just barely missed biting into his leg. Lance had long ago made it a habit to avoid flying indoors since sudden gusts of air knocking things over could potentially spell disaster in a busy hospital. But this was no hospital, and he was rather keen on keeping his hooves attached to his legs. A beat of his wings had his hooves off the floor and he flew down the hallway. He reached out his hoof in preparation to grab the doorknob but the hind legs of the malformed beast pony pursuing him proved surprisingly capable as it made a lunge for him.
Lance felt the jagged teeth of the monster pierce his back left leg before he slammed into the floor only two yards from the door. Just before the scavenger stood back up and started shaking his leg back and forth in a bid to tear a chunk of him free he heard a quartet of heavy hooves landing on the metal floor. If he couldn't dislodge the creature before she rounded the second corner he was finished.
Seeing as he would simply be slammed into the floor again if he tried to take off he instead rolled onto his side, looked back at the famished monster, and aimed kick after frantic kick of his uninjured hind leg into the scavenger's face. His hoof struck the featureless colt shaped side which seemed to react on its own, letting out muffled groans of pain and shaking about trying to escape the flurry of blows whilst its mare counterpart continued doing grievous damage to the leg in her mouth. The galloping hoof steps quickly grew closer, she was halfway through the center hallway. Lance relented in the assault for only a moment for the sole purpose of putting all of his strength into one last desperate kick which actually deformed the colt half's skull with a sickening crack. The mare half let out a startled yelp, losing its grip in surprise as two of its legs went limp and pulled it down to the ground.
The familiar screech of her neck restraints heralded her rounding the corner but Lance was already grimacing in pain trying to put as little weight on his bleeding hind leg as possible while he wrestled the door open then flung himself inside. Had he been thinking more clearly he might have thought to at least give a glance to what was beyond the door before making such a brash move. His front hooves found no floor beneath them and by the time he recognized the room for the narrow drop to the next floor down that it was he was already halfway down. At the very least he had enough presence of mind left to tuck in his wings before he landed on his back with a painful grunt.
"Uuuuungh..." He groaned as he rolled back onto his hooves and forced himself up despite the protests of his shredded leg. There was an awful racket behind him at the top of the chute as his pursuer found she wouldn't be able to fit through to chase him down. The discovery elicited an unnatural growl of annoyance followed by hoof steps on the floor above and a terrified whimpering. A cacophony of cries of pain, screeching of metal, tearing of flesh, and splattering of fluids echoed down the chute before a hiss of steam, what sounded distressingly like a distorted moan, and a final crack of bone brought an end to it.
Lance stood there looking back at the open door, struck still with horror by the sounds he had just heard.
...
The groan of her neck restraints echoed down one more time and suddenly the cadaver of the scavenger landed at the bottom of the chute, limbs bent in ways they shouldn't have been, neck visibly crushed, and generally torn apart. Lance winced at the flash of pain in his leg as he reflexively stepped back from the sight, eyes affixed onto the grisly remains and pondering how close he had been to such a fate himself. The hoof steps trotting over to the central hallway above served to snap him out of it with the realization she was heading back towards the bars she had broken through.
The same bars that had separated him from that glinting object...
For all the chaos present in that place Lance had begun to catch on to a few things. When a monster was near his watch would buzz. When it looked like it would be a straight shot to something, it wouldn't be. Finally, when something seemed placed in just such a way as to catch his attention, he would need it. Now he just had to hope the wall was either breached or just not there anymore. It seemed odd to be wishing for one less barrier between him and his aspiring killer but if it was there, he wouldn't be able to get to that glinting object in the hallway, and she'd just break through it and murder him anyway.
His strange luck held and he found the cobblestone wall somehow entirely absent with the object he sought giving another glint, his light once more illuminating it after he had limped around the corner. He wasn't sure why she was so casually trotting through the hall above him after such an enthusiastic gallop before but he was thankful for the extra time. There was no way he would beat her there with his chewed up leg but his wings were more than up to the task as he took to the air again.
The large open space was on his right now, and like before there was a section of chain link fence that let him see into it. The hanging pony had descended to his level and now instead of twisting in a prolonged effort to free itself, it was shaking with panic as black blood streamed down its body from mysterious cuts in its skin that made it look like it was coming apart at the seams.
Lance ignored the unnerving sight and landed next to his latest prize, with seconds to spare from the sound of the approaching monster upstairs. It was a key with 'G-4' inscribed on the handle. He would not have thought of apartment G-4 when looking for an exit but seeing as the world around him had turned into a literal nightmare with no explanation he wasn't sure what to think anymore.
The trotting upstairs turned into a gallop again the moment he bagged the key, like she had waiting for him to do it. Lance realized suddenly he hadn't seen a single door on this floor yet and he was unlikely to outpace her back to the chute that had saved him before. He heard her hooves impact on the outside of the bars and tried to flee away only to be struck by the 303 engraving in his light at the far end of the hall.
------
She pushed past two ponies exiting the drug store, leaving Lance behind to apologize on her behalf before catching up to her.
"Hey, will you please tell me what's wrong?!" He asked in exasperation, both of them catching their breath after the dash out of their apartment and through the city.
Her only response was to give him a nervous sideward glance before resuming looking up at the signs marking the various isles before cantering away, evidently having found the location of what she sought. Lance followed after, silently, his own worry eating away at him. She had never acted like this in the years they had been together, and now this new sudden outright terror combined with an unwillingness to explain anything filled him with dread. She wasn't the sort of mare to obsess over her looks but she still preferred to preen her mane a bit before going out and she hadn't even done that before bolting out their door. It made him want her to just keep searching silently through these isles instead of confronting what was making her act this way but he knew such thoughts were naive at best.
She stopped and started examining the contents of the shelves.
Lance followed her gaze shortly before his eyes shot open and his ear twitched.
"WHAT?! I...! You...! But we can't...! How could...! The last time you weren't even supposed to be in-"
"Lance!" She shouted to interrupt the flow of terrified thoughts leaking out of his mouth, "Please..."
The verbal slap to the face brought him out of it and he finally looked around to see several ponies staring at them. As though that weren't enough, the pleading, dewy eyed expression on her face cut him to the core. She was scared enough right now without him throwing gas on the fire. His own panic adequately subdued by the pang of guilt, he cleared his throat, walked over, and calmly sat next to her.
...
"How the hay is anyone supposed to pick one when every one of them says 'best ever, most accurate, free kitten inside yadda yadda yadda'..." She mused in a poor attempt to lighten the situation.
Lance did a bad job at faking a laugh as he joined her in looking over the various boxes arranged before them. He vaguely remembered a passing comment by his professor during the week or so his class had been going over some of the chapters relevant to his...their current predicament. Still somewhat unsure, he pointed toward the most familiar brand name, prompting her to look over to him.
"Are...are you sure?" She asked.
"Not one hundred percent sure but...reasonably so." He replied in complete honesty.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out in a soft sigh before she grabbed one of the small boxes off the shelf, "Okay...let's go."
"I'm right behind you."
They made their way to the front register, his marefriend looking like she was going on a death march for some reason that eluded him. To be certain this entire thing was unexpected and very serious, but he had never seen her as scared as she was right now, as though her entire world were falling apart around her with every step she took. He couldn't tell whether it was out of character for her or just an aspect of her personality that had never seen before now. He did know something for certain though. She was hurting, and he wanted to do anything he could to make it better.
"Oh! Congratulations!" The teenaged mare at the register said cheerfully as she rung up their purchase.
------
He recoiled and groaned at the flash of pain in his head as he stumbled forward. Another unearthly sounding utterance of delight came from behind him before her armor scraped against the deformed bars as she started pushing her way back through them.
Lance forced his eyes open and looked forward to see that same rusted iron door that had replaced door 303 before, only this time it stood open invitingly into the stairwell. Without sparing a backward glance he flew toward it as fast as his wings could carry him. As he sliced through the air he heard the telltale hiss and clink of her steam powered jaw opened right behind him with nary a hoof beat to explain her proximity. How would he possibly lose her now? Even if he made it through the door she would just catch him in the stairwell.
No matter how futile he seemed he reached deep and put on an extra burst of speed all the same.
The door was right there in front of him!
So close!
Her jaw snapped shut on nothing but air just as he sailed through the door to have it unexpectedly slam shut on its own behind him then dent inward as she failed to stop herself from charging right into it. Lance heard her roar in frustration before striking the door repeatedly, each blow causing it to shake a bit but still hold fast against the onslaught. She wasn't getting through this barrier. He sat down and took the opportunity to catch his breath, realizing he was starting to feel quite dizzy. His entire left hind leg was almost completely red below the wound that the scavenger had torn open. How much blood had he lost?
Before he could get the med kit out of his saddlebag and remedy the situation his stalker gave one last indignant grunt before putting a final dent in the door that suspiciously resembled two back hooves and running off. He wasn't safe enough to bind his wound yet. She hadn't been able to break the door down but the building was made of plenty of other materials she could break through to get to him. Lance had to keep moving and get out of the apartments.
He shined his light around to see the stairwell was less of a stairwell now and more just a single vertical room with nary a stair in it that linked the first floor and second floor. The walls looked like the inside of a ventilation shaft, only more rusted over than anything he'd come across so far. It was so severe that the thin metal was rusted completely through in places, revealing something he could only describe as fleshy gently pulsing behind it. Lance didn't want to look at the walls anymore.
He was standing on a grating that covered half the room, making it a trivial matter to float down. The floor was composed of panels of old sheet metal that were resting on another such grating that went wall to wall. There were several gaps in the coverage allowing one to see downward and he became curious if there was perhaps a way to make it down to the ground floor. After pushing one of the panels aside he was greeted by a none too encouraging sight. The stairless 'stairwell' just kept going down and down beneath him with no door in sight. In fact past a certain distance the light just sort of stopped as though the darkness were not merely the absence of light but some force all on its own that swallowed it. He put the panel back in place. Lance didn't want to look at the floor anymore either.
At least the door leading out looked normal enough, aside from the rust. The latch stuck a bit but it was nothing a more forceful push downward couldn't power through. The hinges were another matter though, and Lance was forced to grip the latch with both front hooves and grit his teeth through the pain of using both of his hind legs to pull the door back just enough for him to slip through. The effort left him panting for breath and feeling even more light headed. He looked back at his leg to see the wound wasn't bleeding quite as badly as before but all this activity surely wouldn't help it. He needed to get out of there.
The first floor wasn't just more thoroughly rusted over and caked with splotches of dried blood. The impossibly sized skins behind the now entirely rust colored bars were moving, periodically bulging outward as something behind them pushed on them. What the skins hid he couldn't tell, nor did he care to know.
The chain link fencing had shifted position for this floor, allowing him to see the hanging pony that had once more mysteriously descended from another angle. It was now twitching and convulsing in a manner impossible for anypony, obviously subjected to great pain by the trio of chains pulling it downward by hooks that pierced and stretched its flesh.
Why did he keep voluntarily looking at all these things?
Lance squeezed his eyes shut until he had stepped past it. This floor was simple, if more macabre than ever. There was a nice plain door at the other end of the side hall, and his access to the middle was cut off by a bevvy of long metal slats that were bolted across the entry into the middle hallway. Only one way to possible go...which meant the door was probably locked. He wouldn't know until he tried it though.
Halfway to his destination his accursed curiosity kicked in again and he couldn't help but look past the array of metal slats to the white door on the other side...