I moved out of my bed, my hooves clopping on the floor. In my magic, I held a candle. It was not very bright, though it was somewhat bright. Was it bright enough? Who could tell.
I moved to my mirror and stared deeply into my grey eyes. I did not blink. I had to see. Just to see. I was awake, after all.
There was a pounding at the door. My ears twitched. I stared deeply into my grey eyes. My house creaked around me. The pounding continued. I tried to ignore it. I did.
“Something woke me up,” I whisper to my reflection. Her mouth does not move. The bags under her eyes grow darker, redder.
Her eyes move toward the window. I can see a tree outside. It is laughing. “Did a window break somewhere,” I ask her. She does not answer. The creaking gets louder. The laughing gets closer.
I whisper further, “or did the door open?” I hope the door is not open. I think of my journal. I hope the door did not open as I think of my journal; that would not be good, my journal says. I think it does, at least. Maybe. I’m sure it says that.
My hooves clop against the floor as I walk through the doorway to the hall. Clop. Clop. Clop. Clop. “It will be hard to find.” I refer, obviously, to the window. Obviously. Not the pounding. Relentless, it was. The window breaking, I mean.
The laughing went away.
“This is a huge home,” I said out loud, “with tens of rooms. But I haven’t looked in all of them for a long time.” The hallway creaks. No one responds. Clop. Clop. Clop. Clop.
Thunder rolls. There is no storm.
I hold my head with a sigh. “I’ve been feeling so exhausted lately.”
I’m in my room. “What a migraine! As if somepony is pounding a hole in my poor skull.” My magic holds onto my candle. The light above me will stay on. It is a lantern. Lanterns stay lit.
Clop. Clop. Clop. Clop. I look at the door. “I’m terribly tired. I’ve even started to sleepwalk. Last night I woke up standing right here at the door.” I gulp. The face behind me is leering into the back of my head. It is only a mask. My father owned it. “If it hadn’t been bolted, I would have ended up outside! At night, this door has to be locked securely.”
Clo-reak-Clo-reak-Clo-reak-Clo-reak.
I am by my telescope. The pounding resumes. The light above me blows out. My skulls rest soundly around me. “I’m exhausted. I just can’t fall asleep. And then in the dark I keep seeing some strange thing.” A light creak. “By morning, the nightmares are gone, though. How much longer till sunrise?”
The light above me sparks. So does my horn. I have to put down the candle to fix the light. I put it down and lean up to the light, using my magic to fix it. My magic is black. It has no light. The candle does not work without my magic and it goes out. I cannot explain my candle.
I slowly fix my light. The world around me shifts. It creaks. It pounds. It laughs. I don’t know what it is.
I hold my candle again. My light is on. It is bright in my room. It is bright in this room too, now. This room was a hallway moments ago, but that does not matter now. The room is bright.
The pounding is insistent now. I shuffle back to the door as quickly as I can, nearly a canter, holding my candle with magic. I walk to the door. There is no noise. I walk back to the telescope. I stop; there is no sound.
“Wait a minute.” I look around. “What happened to time? It feels like time is standing still.” I glare at the darkness growing around me - my lights are bad here. I just changed this light, but it will be bad soon. Worse. “Why doesn’t this night ever end? Something is very wrong.”
I continue walking. There is no reason not to. Clop. Clop. Clop. Clop. Noise. Knock-Knock-Knock. I turn to the door but turn away; no one’s home. I put down my candle and fix the light in the hallway. Click-Crea-Click-Creak. My ears keep twitching at each little noise.
Light floods the small hallway. I can go up, or to the side. I go to the side. There is another lightbulb. I drop my candle and go to fix the light. Creeeak…. I keep fixing it. Crak-le-crek-crackle. I don’t know what the clicking crackling is. It sounds weird. I ignore it as best I can.
It sounds like it’s right beside me. The room is pitch black without my candle. I want my candle. I want light. This bulb takes a while. I turn. I turn. It cracks. I turn. It creaks. I turn.
Light floods the empty room. There is a window. It is black. There is a ladder down. There is light there. No one is here.
I walk down the ladder quickly. There is a clock there. It looks like me. It always does. I walk to it and change time. “This is how it’s done. I can wind up the time too. If the morning is not coming to me, I’ll move myself and my home towards it.”
The clock disappears. I look around the room. Something is amiss. What could it be? I have a shiver in my bones - the door creaks open. Did it? Did it really? I have to check. Just to be sure I locked the door. Surely I did.
I run upstairs. Clopclopclopclop. I can’t help it. I walk as fast as I can to the door. Each room is somewhat darker than it had been before. My skulls look sadder as I pass them. They seem to shudder. I gallop to the door. It is wide open. “So, the sound of knocking came from here! But how did I manage to unbolt it? And not lock it again?”
I look out into the night. It is dark. There are woods. It is terrifying. “... It’s… frightening to go out at night. But I have to check. To make sure that it’s just the wind.”
I step outside.
I am deep in the woods. How did I get here? My candle is with me. It does little. There are laughing trees all around me. Clop. Clop. Clop. Clop.
I keep walking. It is very dark. Laughter is still all around me. Why is laughter here? Why do the trees laugh? I walk faster. Clop clop. Clop clop.
Crickets are chirping. They are the only noise - are they? Is something behind me? I can’t see well. I run through the trees, dodging anything that may be in my path. I’m scared. I run fast. Clipclopclipclopclipclopclipclop!
I’m panting. My breath is shallow. My heart is racing my hooves.
My house creaks as I near it. I am galloping. My candle flickers in the wind.
Something is coming for me.
I run and lock the door. I am inside.
I awaken.