//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: The Corner of (Our) Eyes // by Daemon McRae //------------------------------// Chapter 8 Some ponies say that houses are alive. Like when they talk about haunted houses, evil places, that kind of thing. It was kind of like that. Like the house was alive, kind of, but at the same time… infected. Possessed. Like a parasite had made itself at home and taken over. Because it wasn’t the house staring back at me. It was something else. Something living in my house. Like the foundation and floorboards and walls and ceilings were nothing but a husk filled in by malevolence and intolerant anger. And yet I got the distinct impression that not only could nopony else notice it, but that it didn’t really even matter to them. The house’s gaze was unwavering, not even noticing my friends or any passerby. I knew if I’d set foot in my own house it would… eat me. Not like chew me up and swallow me, or anything, but I sincerely doubted that I’d make it out. I’d stopped halfway across the street, just kind of staring at it. Like if I blinked it would change, or get closer, like an evil game of Red Light, Green Light. “Rose, you ok?” Octavia asked, pushing me gently in the shoulder. “What?” I shook myself out of my reverie, slowly turning my attention to the cellist. My eyes darted back a couple of times to the house, and I could still feel it looming over me. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll be fine. Listen, I… ok. This is going to sound really weird, and you can’t ask me why, but I can’t go in there right now. I just- I’m gonna go get something to eat. Ok? Ok.” I started to take a few steps towards the center of town before Octavia put a hoof on my shoulder to stop me. “What in Equestria is the matter with you?! You can’t just run off wherever you please when your friends are trying to help you! Are you crazy?!” Her hoof on my shoulder tensed like she wanted to smack me. I was still breathing a little heavy when she stopped ranting, so it took me a moment to respond. “Ok, listen. This whole Ditzy-Twilight thing going on? I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but… aw, dammit, I really shouldn’t be telling you this,” I muttered, and sighed heavily. “Ok, here goes. You know Twilight’s in the hospital, right?” Octavia nodded. “And?” “Well, whatever put her there? That’s the real reason I was in the hospital last night. And it… they, whatever the fuck this is… it’s in that house. I can feel it. It’s staring at me, and if I walk in that front door… I’m pretty sure it’s gonna kill me.” I paused, and closed my eyes, waiting for Octavia to yell at me, or call me crazy, or something. Then I heard Daisy behind me. “Oh, and you were just gonna let me walk into a haunted freakin house that eats ponies without telling me?!” I turned around to see a rather indignant flowerfilly storming up the front walk to me. “Are you kidding me?! Do you not pay attention during movie night? You never let somepony walk into a haunted house without telling them it’s haunted!” I had to think about that. “Well, it’s kind of hard to explain. I think it’s actually me that’s haunted. Like this thing that’s following me, or whatever. I’m pretty sure it just beat me home, or something. Like, it won’t hurt any of you, but… it’s like it knows me, or has my scent, or something. Look, I don’t know all the rules, or even what this thing… things… stuff is. I talked to Zecora, and she said I shouldn’t go home, or whatever. So I… I just can’t go back in the house. It’s perfectly safe for you girls, but… I need to be somewhere else right now, ok?” Daisy seemed a little off-put, but conceded. I couldn’t read Octavia, though. Honestly, I didn’t try very hard. I started to walk away again, and this time they didn’t stop me. ---------------- I wasn’t really sure how long I’d been walking until I noticed it get dark. At first I thought maybe I’d stumbled into the forest for all my dumb luck, but I looked up and still saw houses. I didn’t really recognize them, but even I haven’t been everywhere in Ponyville. I mean, it has grown a bit over the last few years, anyway. I saw that the sun was starting to set, so I made my way home. Or, at least, to the center of town, from which I could pretty much find any place in Ponyville I wanted. Thank Celestia the center of town is a giant freakin weather pole. I could see the top of Town Hall from where I was, so I started walking straight towards it. I let my mind wander a bit, just kind of background stuff, like how the hell I was supposed to avoid getting eaten by some other-dimensional werebeast thing with some kind of social disorder. And the fact that I hadn’t really eaten all day. Mostly the beast thing. I shook out of my reverie long enough to try to find a restaurant, so that I could at least focus all of my energy on my more pertinent problems. All I saw was more houses, though, so it seemed I hadn’t walked quite as far as I’d thought. I could still see the spire, so I knew I was going the right direction. I kept on walking, just kind of lost in my own little world on the way. Mostly my thoughts kept dragging themselves back to what I was going to say to my friends when this was all over, and if they’d believe me. I didn’t know what Octavia was thinking, but I was pretty sure I was gonna hear it later. Like, when I got to her place tonight. I know Daisy wasn’t happy with me, but I think she kind of understood, or at least got that I believed what I said. Good grief, how far had I walked? I looked up to see the familiar sight of the spire, but for some reason it looked like I hadn’t made any progress. I guessed that it was just a matter of perspective, so I looked around to see if I could find another landmark to walk towards. And that’s when I saw it. The town spire. On my left. I turned back to my original orientation, and saw the town hall, off in the distance, like I’d been following. But there it was, on my left. And my right. And behind me. It was then that I noticed that, even with the sun setting and the sky going dark, it was still much harder to see than it should have been. I mean, we have streetlights, and ponies turn light on in their homes at night. But there was nothing here. Just the dim illumination of a darkening sky set behind the outline of the town spire. I could make out the dim outline of houses all around me, but they seemed… fake. Cookie-cutter, even. Like it was the same house, over, and over, and over… And it started to sink in how absolutely screwed I might be. I turned to the nearest house, to see if there was at least a door or a window I could throw open so I could hide under the stairs or whatever. There was a front door, but it was… hell, it was weird. Like a perfect door. Exactly what you think you’d see when someone says “Hey, there’s a door there.” Not wanting to sit in the open for whatever had decided to spirit me away to an abandoned version of Pleasantville, I throw what little caution I have left kicking and screaming into the wind and duck into the house. At which point I found myself on the front porch of said house. Across the street. Oh… not good. ----------------- Octavia had heard a lot of crazy things before, but none of them quite like that. And certainly not from Roseluck. She may be one of the more dramatic mares the grey earth pony had encountered in her life, but had never really bought into any of the crazy magical shenanigans Ponyville was somehow prone to. Which made it all that more unsettling. And believable, somehow. It had been a few hours since Roseluck had wandered off, which was also unlike her. Taking a few moments to breathe was fine, and she was even prone to a faint or two hundred, but Octavia knew the flowermare to never just walk away from a problem. So she decided to go find her friend. When she went to open her front door, however, it made a sound. As in, somepony knocking on it. Octavia opened the door to see a rather distraught Daisy at her doorstep. “Roseluck’s gone.”