Grey Eyes

by Smakleapp

Unknown Circumstance

The thing about a closet is that it makes it hard for the pony inside of it to tell what time of day it is.

Octavia was in one of those states of mind where she knew she was awake, could see her surroundings, but she didn’t quite feel real yet. It was almost like a dream, and it very well could have been. A filter of yellow came over her violet eyes. The lone light she left on shined with a similar color. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, and she thought that perhaps she could stay like this forever.

It was strangely warm and comfortable. Because she had no grasp on reality, she had no grasp on real problems. A dream that adheres to what she wanted. Peace. Quiet.

She smiled, she knew that. It was so nice. Perhaps she could close her eyes, sleep once again. Anything was-

Skkt skkt

Any type of rest Octavia had instantly went away as soon as she heard the sound. It took her a second to get up on her shaky hooves. Her eyes wavered around the room, looking at the small inclined space she trapped herself in.

Skkt skkt

The corner. Yes, that’s where it seemed it was coming from. Behind the back wall. That made little sense, but yet the sound persisted. In the corner of the closet stood a tall metal shelf. When she first entered the closet, she paid no mind to it. The three levels were lined with varying cleaning supplies.

“What?” she whispered underneath her breath. The blinking light did not help her anxiety, adding to it. It kept fading in and out.

Skkkkktttt

It was definitely behind the shelf.

Octavia took a deep breath, with which she had trouble with, and began to pry the metal closet off of the wall without making any loud noises. It was a struggle, as she used all of her strength to lift the shelf, minding the shift of the freshners. She made little progress, needing to put the leg down slowly to regain her breath. With another deep breath, she began again. She had it facing diagonal.

With much deliberation, Octavia tried to sneak her way through the small opening. Already she could see something existed beyond that point. It was a metal grate, one that must have been connected to the air ducts.

Skkt skkt

Octavia felt her body squeezed between the wall and shelf. Her eyes became just level with the grate.

“Shoot.”

She guessed it would be dark, and she was right. Her eyes had trouble adjusting to the darkness. She began to feel uneasy. Whatever was there, she couldn’t-

Skkt skkt

A tiny bird hopped into view. A robin, she would guess.

Skkt skkt

It’s claws scraped the metal floor of the air duct. So that was the sound. She smiled. It was funny, she couldn’t recall the last time she saw a bird. Granted it wasn’t flying, but maybe, just maybe…

The bird stared directly at the earth pony, looking sideways. Octavia grinned, slowly.

The bird's beak opened slightly, by a crack.

A soft tweet escaped its mouth, perhaps because of the presence of another. The tweet caused Octavias back to straighten. It was unexpected.

She was surprised to find out that the bolts of the vent door were out on one side, allowing her to swing the door open for the creature.

Something caught Octavias eye. As the light of the room slowly went into the vent, it seemed as if something was in the back of the vent.

The bird, however, jumped in front of Octavias straining eyes. He was close to the exit now, and Octavia craned her neck up as much as she could, and the bird hopped out. It looked toward the pony, almost thanking her.

Thump

Octavia didn’t turn right away. She was too busy having her spine sit up straight. Her sweat glands seemed to step it up in almost an instant. The closet became colder to Octy. The sound made everything stand still, everything seemed to stay in place.

Thump

Octavia slowly, as slow as she could, moved her neck back in front of the vent, hairs standing on her body.

Her eyes gazed upon the dark metal corridor the bird was trapped in.

And at the end, two grey eyes of a filly stared back.

“OH SHO-”

Pure instinct kicked in, as Octavia thrashed backward. Her body slammed against the metal shelf, causing it to tumble down at lightning speed. The crash could have been compared to a nuclear blast.

A second later, Octavia got a view of her perpetrator. It was indeed a filly pegasus, a rather small one at that. She had a poofy mane (Octavia would guess it was a shiny blue), and a mangled coat. It looked odd seeing something like that. A mismatch of that scale. Her cutie mark was a bouquet of flowers, the colors she couldn’t be sure of

The bird began to tweet in fear. It tried flying out of the curling. The vacant portals were now fixed on the bird. The tiny wings that couldn’t have been fully developed flapped furiously, and she slowly lifted off the ground toward the small bird.

“No!”

Octavia surged forward, grabbing her bat from the corner and slamming it against the creature's cranium. It immediately fell down to the floor, twitching. Octavia raised her bat above the things head, ready for a finishing blow.

You know, I would love a little filly.

The bat hung in the sky, Octavias eyes wide. With haste, Octavia creeped to the corner, grabbed her belongings, put the bat in her mouth, and pushed her back to the door.

Octavia turned into the open space of the store she went to a day before hoping no greys were present in the store.

She was kinda right.

Greys stared against the store outside, all pressed up against the glass. They weren’t exactly staring at the grey pony, sometimes staring off somewhere else in the store.

Octavia looked behind her at the janitor's closet, where the filly still was. She sighed, and ran to the back. She pushed open the fire escape door, and the alarms immediately started blaring. It led into an alley.

In front of her stood a building and a convenient fire escape ladder that led to the roof. Octavia jumped up across the ladder, as she heard the store behind her being thrashed. She climbed for a minute, having to take a five second break to catch her breath. She made it onto the rooftop, and was immediately met with a problem.

“What in the world am I supposed to do now?” She realized how cheesy it sounded censored, and it made her laugh. She still held that true. Her brief moment of self-appreciation was broken up as she heard the clanking of metal behind her. Added to this was the sound of dove bombing above her. She looked up to see a pair of greys circling her like vultures.

Octavia began to run to the other side of the rooftop, and gazed back to see the pegasus greys on her tail. Her bat slammed against one's face, but another one grabbed her arm.

She yelped in surprise as the grip tightened. The pegasus momentum caused Octavia to be lurched forward, her feet eventually left the ground. She kicked at the air, trying to somehow kick off the air. It was surprisingly futile, as the grey picked her up more and more. Octavia saw that a horde of greys struggled to climb up the ladder.

She was pulled higher and higher into the air. Eventually, she was soaring above most buildings, looking down at the streets.

The grey seems to try and grab Octavia up closer to its body, as if it was trying to absorb her. Octavia felt her arm slipping after each attempted pull. A jerk upwards sent her bat falling downward onto the street below. Her backpack hung loosely from her free arm, and with much deliberation, Octavia used all of her strength to swing the backpack over her head. It slammed the pegasus in its head, and the stallion's grip loosened as it screeched in pain.

Octavia instantly began to drop. The air slammed across her back and produced a soundtrack to her departure. She closed her eyes as she came close to the ground.

Her last thought...

I wonder if anyone will know.

She saw a dash of blue before all she saw was black. And she was out.