Mind of the Dark

by Silver Melodies

Black and Evil

The first thing Fluttershy did was examine all of the doors that remained shut. Which one was which? How would they be able to tell? Discord had given them no clues, so there was not even the slightest way to know. Right? And one of them would become a beast soon enough, so they would have really no choice but to guess then.

She looked around the room. Everypony else seemed to be processing the same thoughts as they glanced from the doors to the ponies around them. It was kind of obvious that no one had even the slightest clue on what to do. They didn't even know what was going on.

Fluttershy regrouped with her friends. They had to find a way to get out and survive. Discord couldn't be serious when he said only one could survive, right?

“Well?” asked Rainbow Dash. “What are we doing standing around? Let's get out of here!”

Twilight shook her head. “No, we have no idea which door to pick. If we pick the wrong one...”

“Yeah. Yeah. Discord got away before it exploded on him!”

Applejack spoke up. “He teleported himself, sugarcube. Ain't no way you can do that.”

Rainbow Dash smiled. “Yeah? Well I'm fast!”

Without another word she dashed for the nearest door. Everypony who saw her cried out for her to stop, but she ignored them. Grabbing the handle, she flung it open, dashing away before it could hit her. But she wasn't fast enough. The resulting explosion hit her in the back, just barely hitting her. But the heat was enough to make the grown mare scream. She tumbled to the ground and landed at the feet of Glaze, who simply stared at her.

Rainbow struggled to get to her feet, but a searing pain in her back made her stop. Tomb pushed past Glaze. “Where are your manners?” he asked as he helped Rainbow Dash to her feet.

She cried out in pain as he helped her up, her back felt like it was on fire. When she was able to stand, she looked at her back. Her mouth dropped open. Her wings were burned to the bone. Her feathers and flesh were gone. Now she only saw bone, and maybe some stray flesh. Her back only fared slightly better. It was singed, to the point were she could see her dermis. Her flesh sizzled as if still cooking from the recent flames that had touched her back. Everyone around her wore sick expressions while the little fillies turned their heads, gagging.

She held back the tears as she struggled through the pain of losing her wings and just the pain in general. Fluttershy rushed over to her friend, careful not to touch her.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash!” She tried to examine her wings, but it was just to gruesome! It was horrible! Many thoughts went through her mind. Any lingering thoughts that this was a joke were gone. Discord meant business. How would Rainbow Dash get around while she was in the pain she was? Would it heal? It was disgusting!

She turned her head. She couldn't look anymore, it pained her, both in her stomach and her heart. She looked around, everyone slowly tore their gazes away from the injured mare and back to the doors and each other. Fluttershy felt a tear slip down her cheek. When she got out of here, she'd give Discord an ass whooping he'd never forget. If she got out.

She turned back to Rainbow, who he was still trying, and failing, to hold back tears. Fluttershy felt more tears coming. Her heart ached for her friend, but there was nothing she could. Without any kind of equipment, she couldn't even begin on the wounds Rainbow Dash sported. The mare would have to suffer through the pain.

Rarity gasped, Fluttershy assumed from the fact that Rainbow was a mess. Then she heard another gasp, and Pinkie Pie. “Rarity, are you alright?”

Fluttershy turned to see Rarity fall over, clutching at her stomach. She gasped again her body began to spasm. Pinkie Pie tried to hold her down, but Applejack stopped her. “No! You'll only hurt her more!”

Everypony in the room watched in horror as Rarity spasmed and flailed around on the floor. Then the real horror came. Rartiy screamed, loud enough to make any stallion cringe. Her hair began to fall out, and dark circles formed around her hooves. She rolled onto her back and arched, letting out yet another scream. Her eyes opened to reveal completely purple, like a lizard or something. Fluttershy recoiled when she saw a snake tongue gape out of her friends mouth, and her teeth became jagged. Her hair had all but fallen out, only a few stray locks here and there. Then, just as suddenly as it began, it stopped.

Everypony just stared at the dress maker, wondering what to do. A loud bang and everything went dark. Every mare screamed, and even a stallion, as far as Fluttershy could tell. She dropped down, hooves over her head. She didn't know what was going on, but she was terrified.

She peeked out of her hooves to see she could see, even just a little bit. She looked around. She could see Twilight, and part of another pony, but that was it. She slowly got up and looked around.

Twilight turned to her. “Fluttershy, are you okay?”

Fluttershy turned to Twilight. “Um... no... I don't... I...”

She could only see about fifteen feet in front of her. The rest was literally, black. Like a dense black fog or something. She could barely make out shapes that were just outside of her range of vision, but other than that, she couldn't see.

She heard a scream. Her head turned to the direction the scream had come from. Then a loud crunch, and it sounded like somepony was chewing. She tried to find someone, but Twilight was gone. She ran for the nearest pony she could see. It turned out to be Cheerilee, who jumped in surprise at the yellow mare running toward her.

“Fluttershy, what...”

Fluttershy saw a face, pale and sick, flash in the fog, before a black tentacle flew out of the dark and wrapped around Cheerilee's head, snapping her back and into the darkness. Another scream, another crunch, and more chewing. Fluttershy began to panic. Her stomach was twisting up. What was going on?

She turned around and ran. She bumped into a few ponies, but she eventually found the wall. She pressed up against it, trying to steady her breathing. What would she do? She couldn't leave her friends, but she couldn't just stay here. She would die!

She had to find a door. Best case, it would lead out. Worst case, she would die. Then again, dying in an explosion had to be better than dying by whatever monster was out there.

Apparently, another pony had the same idea, but wasn't lucky. She heard an explosion, as well as a scream. There was not crunch afterward, so Fluttershy assumed that the scream was from a pony caught in the blast.

She reached for the nearest door and was pulled it open. She waited for the blast, but none came. She breathed a sigh of relief. She would make it. Two ponies ran up to her. Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie embraced her friend. “I thought you were gone!”

Fluttershy shrugged her friend off. “Um... yeah, I'm fine...”

Applejack pulled Pinkie and Fluttershy through the door. “Come on! We gotta move!”

They passed through the door and slammed it shut, only to have it opened by three very terrified looking ponies. Fluttershy recognized them as Glaze, Tomb, and Mic. Bron was missing, but Fluttershy didn't care. She just wanted to get out.

Applejack, however, was more concerned. “Where's... Bron?”

Mic shook his head. “We lost him. No idea where he is.”

Fluttershy almost spoke up. So you just left him? Some friends. But she didn’t care. She ran past them and slammed the door shut just as another scream reverberated through the room, this time sounding more like a stallion. Maybe that was Bron, maybe not. She didn't care. She turned back to her friends. “We should move.” The terror was unmistakable in her voice.

They all agreed and, with their new... survivor friends, they made their way through a long hall. It was just as dark here as it was back in the room. She just walked around, trying to find a way to go other than straight.

After what seemed like an eternity, they found two doors. Pinkie Pie was about to grab a door when

Fluttershy cried out, “Stop!”

Pinkie Pie froze. “What?”

“What if... what if the door is like the ones back in the room? What if it explodes?”

Pinkie thought it over, than opened it anyway. Fluttershy jumped back to avoid the flames that would shoot from the door. But none came. Pinkie walked through the door, looking around. It was just a big room. As far as Fluttershy could see, it was empty. Nothing here either.

The six ponies slowly entered the room. The monster might be here as well. They, very slowly, explored the room. In the whole place, they found a two doors, and a pair of stairs leading up to the third door.

Fluttershy let out a sight of relief. They were alone. For now. Everyone regrouped in the middle of the room. Or, as close to the middle as they could guess. Everyone was losing the look of horror as it slowly turned to one of determination. They were all determined to get out alive. The only thing was, would they work together, or would they all fight each other for survival?

Applejack spoke up, like normal. Always the one to take charge in a hairy situation. “Okay, we need to find everyone first. Then we can form a plan to escape.”

Glaze shook her head. “The chances of us finding anyone in here are very slim, unless this is just a big loop.” Again, with that voice. It was so weird. Was Glaze a robot? Fluttershy didn't know.

Applejack look Glaze in the eyes. “We have to try. If we leave all the ponies, we might as well of murdered them ourselves.”

Tomb rolled his eyes. “Right. Because it's better to charge into a... a haunted house thing, in search of ponies who may or may not be there, in order to simply do what is right? I'd rather make it out of this alive, thank you.”

Fluttershy looked at him with wary eyes. He sounded like he might be ready to do anything it took to win. She would have to keep... keep an eye...

She felt cold. Horror crept back into her body. She couldn't move, fear freezing her in place. Instead, she watched as a ghastly white face floated into view behind Mic, who was directly across from Fluttershy. Her pupils shrunk to pinpricks, and her mouth dropped open.

Everypony turned to Fluttershy. “What is it?” Mic asked.

She could only force out a squeak as the monster sucked Mic into the darkness, amidst shouts and cursing. A crunch, then chewing. Fluttershy almost threw up. Everyone scrambled for any door they could find. Fluttershy still couldn't move. Then she saw a leg, half eaten and covered in blood, drop into view. It was Mic's leg. Now she did throw up.

As if she was suddenly released from a spell, she bolted up the stairs and away from the monster. She flung it open then spun around to shut it.

Moments before it closed, she saw the monster, in whole. A pale figure, barren of anything to indicate it was still alive, save for it's eyes. Orbs of death, seeming to suck in all life. It's face had a smile stretched across it's face, black and evil. It had a single horn, and it's wrists were wrapped in black. It's lips parted to reveal jagged teeth, covered in the blood of it's latest victim. Strange it didn't have any on it's face. It's mouth opened, and a snake-like tongue slid out.

Fluttershy gasped. She began to cry, but knew she couldn't, not here, not now. She had to get out. But that face. She knew who it was, she knew, but she didn't want to. She ran down the hall she had found herself in, quiet sobs escaping her as the tears fell.

It was Rarity, and Rarity had been killing other ponies, and eating them. Cheerilee, Mic, who knows who else. She was eating them. And she was going to eat her too.

Author's Note:

Well, I'm sad. The way this story is going, I hope it's going to be great, but sad for me to write. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry... *sniff*.

Anyway, only three more chapters (give or take one) left, so stay tuned!