The Only Prescription is More Pony

by F.Venka

The Nightfall

I fixed my eyes on the ceiling, feeling strangely healthy right off the bat. It appeared to be morning once again, and the clouds seemed to be doing a great job at blocking the sun. ...I know this because my curtains seemed to be opened; that was the second detail that I didn't remember.

Immediately, and without my own mind commanding me, I got out of bed like I was the most athletic man on Earth. I knew there was something strange there, but I just decided to stop overanalyzing stuff and see what I could do. As soon as my feet touched the floor, I felt no cold whatsoever; it took me a few more steps to realize that, indeed, the floor was either warm enough for me to not notice it, or that I was having just another weird dream... and given the circumstances, it wasn't difficult to know which one out of the two choices was true.

I don't feel like wasting time on describing my room or anything like that, so let's just say it was way more organized and clean than usual. Anyway, with nothing but a few steps, I opened the door: and that was when I noticed that something was going wrong. No, not just wrong, very wrong.

For some strange reason, behind the door was nothing but a long, dark corridor with a -visible disregarding the darkness- door at the other side. For some equally strange reason, I just decided to go through the corridor: it would take some minutes, but I guess I just went "there's nothing to be afraid of, it's just a dark hallway" in my head and just closed the door behind me.

The creak of the door closing echoed through the entire corridor, the sound travelling far too fast for the distance that I thought the hallway had; but, far more strange than that, was the fact that the sound never faded away and only became louder and louder with every passing second.

My footsteps didn't make any kind of sound, and I was starting to feel like I wasn't myself anymore, for some reason. I had been walking down the passage for some minutes, but the door at the other side never changed its position.

---

The minutes went by as I tried to stop myself from advancing. The creak of the door had filled the air and, in the confusing mess of sounds, I could hear just about anything that my mind felt like coming up with.

I tried to reason with my own mind: I opened my mouth to speak but no sound came out. I tried to raise my voice but no avail: the only sound present was the self-replicating whimper of the door. I really mean "whimper", because I could clearly hear dozens- no, hundreds of them. It felt like a rain of pleads had started to wash down my very being as I began to lose any perception of what made me be myself.

Desperately, I screamed. Yes, I know, simple action, and there was no way it could have taken me anywhere, but, what else could I have done in that situation?

I screamed nonsense, and no sound came out. I froze in my spot, and tried to turn back around. As soon as I directed myself to make the turn, all of the sounds just stopped, leaving myself with the hum of silence.

Well, that hum of silence just lasted a second or even less, as I heard the sound of a door opening behind me.

I don't think I'd be able to describe my feelings in that moment: physically, I felt like I could do anything, but mentally, I was completely crushed. I tried to do something, anything, like running that would be the most sensible thing to do, but I only stood in place as I heard hoofsteps approaching. It was the same sound that I've had heard in other occasions, and that was what unnerved me the most about it: why did I hear that? Every time I heard it, it was louder and lasted longer: was that signaling that "it" was "getting closer", whatever that might mean?

For some reason, I was able to actually move after I got over the surprise that, indeed, nothing good was going to come out of this. My frantic steps made no sound, either, and the hoofsteps resonated more and more inside my head. I didn't even try to look back, both from fear and from the fact that it could have ended up really ugly had I tripped or anything.

The door was really far away from me, but in that moment I thought of nothing else but to escape, so distance was no matter.

The horror I felt in that moment only seemed to increase when my mind decided to be extra nice to me and started thinking about the situation as I went "gaaaaah!" and moved my legs like I was running in an olympic event.

I could hear my voice saying this:

"I'm running from an unknown being that has hooves, and is starting to catch up with me, albeit pretty slowly. Its hoofsteps sound rather slow, like it isn't even forcing itself to run. The door is only a minute away, but I can feel my legs failing me already. The hoofsteps have stopped and, instead of them, there is the sound of wings flapping approaching me extremely fast. I won't be able to make it at this speed."

The sheer calm exhibited in the voice, my own voice, made me think that I had no choice at all.

I braced myself for the impact against the door: no, I wouldn't stop to open it, I'd just slam myself against it, hoping it that it would break or fly off and just leave me continue my path.

Some steps before the big jump, I felt that my feet were made of lead and, even with the adrenaline of the moment, I wasn't able to lift them more than a couple of inches. I tried to move, fueled by the ever-increasing desire to live, but due to this thing called inertia, I only managed to fall and slam my head against the wooden floor; I wasn't knocked out, mind you, but the impact was hard enough to just unable any movement from my part for a while.

A being landed behind me, leaving out a light chuckle: it sounded so familiar, but I just couldn't tell whose voice it was. I couldn't even pick which gender it was.

"Weak. You were left alone for such a short while, I'm shocked you've managed to reach this point so quickly," said the voice in a calm, monotonous way. "And here I thought you all would be psychologically stronger... since you boast of intelligence so much..."

I tried to drag myself towards the door, ignoring any other thing. I tried to get away, but as soon as I started to move, I felt a hoof against my back, which immediately turned into a sharp pain: whoever it was, it was forcing its entire weight over me, and left me with no air.

"I thought you would understand me... after all, you've felt what I felt..." said the voice, the words dripping with malice. "How does it feel like, being chased by the unknown and losing your voice? How does it feel like, to lose yourself in a sea of confusion?"

I felt that everything was coming to a close, in that moment. I forced my voice out, as if to try a last time to say anything. To my surprise, my voice actually came out, even when barely audible:

"Who are... you?"

I tried to grab the doorknob, in hope that everything would just disappear as soon as sunlight engulfed the corridor. That proved to be a terrible mistake from my part, as the pressure over my body did nothing but to increase: I couldn't breathe anymore, so there were just minutes before my imminent fading.

"You already know the answer to that," whispered the voice. "But there's a much better question..."

I gathered all my strength to enunciate the following words, knowing that, after it, there would be nothing. With that mindless determination, I spoke up again:

"Who..." I said, words failing me. "Who..." I tried again, with no luck.

"What's wrong?" asked the voice, mockingly. "I thought that you would at least try to get your point across, you know..." it continued, reaching a point where I could literally feel the cold, merciless stab of hatred through my heart.

"What are you...?" I finally could say, consciousness leaving me at the same time. I felt absolutely nothing after that: no pressure, no lack of air, but no joy, no sadness, no nothing.

Nothing but confusion.

---

"Wake up," I heard the voice say. "You're not supposed to die yet."

I opened my eyes slowly, staring at the ceiling. I felt even worse than before, but I chose to get out of bed immediately anyway. It was morning and the few clouds blocked the sun from time to time.

I froze in the spot.

The curtains were opened, just like in the vision I had just had. I glanced over to the door, hoping that everything would be just fine, like it should be.

Ha, what was I expecting?

There was no door to speak of: in place of the door itself, there was nothing but more of the wall.

A feeling of dread began to develop inside of me again. For no reason at all, I directed myself towards the window, to take a look outside and to try to find any sort of comfort.

As soon as my eyes were fixed in the world outside, I left out a gasp; after that, complete silence. I stared outside in absolute silence for a long while, trying to comprehend what was going on.

There was nothing. The sky was blue, the clouds were pretty, but there was nothing but the apartment. I looked down, and I couldn't find the ground anymore: there was an endless amount of floors that reached further than my eye could follow.
I turned back towards the room, claustrophobia start to creep into my head. I turned the computer on, looking at every corner of the room as my breath started to get more and more agitated.

The whirr of the fan broke the unsettling silence, but there was nothing I could do to brush whatever was happening out of my mind.

When I set my eyes on the screen, I was greeted by, by far, the simplest animation I've seen:

A little white square over a black background started to move through the screen, like those DVD standby... uh, thingies, bouncing as it touched the edges. It was accelerating constantly, but you wouldn't actually notice it unless you've looked at it for a long time.

For some strange reason, I tried to focus on the animation, as if to forget about anything else.

After a while, I reached out for a notebook I use as a place to write down ideas, just to read some of the stuff written there: it comes out as amusing for me, sometimes. Plus, I was starting to feel like I wasn't myself anymore, so my subconscious was pleading for me to find something, anything that could mark the idea that I was, indeed, myself.

A random page appeared as I opened it; the writing seemed rather fresh and it was, most certainly, my own handwriting. I could tell because of how shaky it was, trust me.

I couldn't really remember the fact that I has written anything, but I decided to just read something. I'm starting to worry about every single thing, I thought as I rolled my eyes. It's nothing but a fever, remember.

I read out loud:

"Hey now, do you see me down the way? I've been watching you every day... No one knows my plan... yet, but I must be silent, I must contain my secret smile but let me tell that you'll be chewing your nails, hanging your head and chasing your tail when you know about it...

Your world is under observation now, and I monitor your station... under faces and the places where you'll trace your points of view, whether you want it or not.

You've got nothing to fear... but fear itself. But... what do you fear? Do you fear that your hopes turn into disappointment?

You save others, but are also saving nobody but yourself. Your life is an eternal war, where peace is nonexistent. In order to escape, somebody has to be sacrificed.

Who? Me? Who am I, you ask?

I really thought you'd know that by know...

Don't you remember how we met? Didn't you see the signs?

I wanted to scream, and my mouth was closed shut... I wanted to shine, and my light wasn't glowing...

I was sinking in-between the never-ending darkness... in there, there was no air but I was finally able to reach that long-cherished state of peace.

There I waited for my own mind to take somewhere nice, somewhere I could fly without being afraid of flying. ...To take me where dreams are real.

But what sense does it make not to fulfill your dreams?

That's the reason of why I shrouded the world in an eternal night, and the reason I shall eclipse your entire existence. Because you deserve it, you will pay...

I'll swallow your sorrow, and I'll inhale your fear. I'll steal your tomorrows and I'll inject your tears.

So, please, never forgive me, please spit on my name; but I hold on to my memory, and keep me to blame, because you'll need me to blame."

I stopped reading in that moment. There were more lines, but what was the point? I was pretty sure I had understood the message by then.

Things had gotten dark rather quickly; to think that I was having an amusing vision of Applejack falling from my ceiling... just yesterday.

My eyes went towards the screen once again, finding nothing but a single phrase written in the screen, in a typical computer font:

"Life is fear; fear is despair."

Confused, I directed my eyes towards the window, gazing at the blue sky outside. Nothing but some seconds passed before I felt the computer turning off by itself. One part of me just wanted to turn it on again, given how everything would appear to be just fine if I did; other part of me, however, was too frozen with dread to try anything.

I stood up, baffled by the situation, and looked back to the wall where the door was supposed to be.

To my increasing confusion, the door was there, actually. Looking back, the fact that the sole idea of something being normal unnerved me is rather strange, but I'm guessing it made sense back then.

I directed myself towards the door, fearing the idea that there could be anything at the other side. The door opened slowly, with a creak, much like in the dream before. The main difference was that behind the door there was nothing strange: the typical short hallway, the kitchen at the right, the living room at the left and another room right in front of me. Everything was in order.

I forgot about everything in one second and just went to grab some bread, given how a sudden hunger attacked me in the spot.

After the little kitchen rob, I stood up and went towards the front door, my bread in my hand. I opened the door as I bit a part of the bread, closing my eyes for a moment there. I closed the door behind me before I opened my eyes again, noticing that something was clearly off:

There were no walls to speak of. The stairs went straight down into a distance far too great for me to recognize, filling me with vertigo. I bit into my bread once again, tasting sand; nothing but sand. I spat compulsively right after that.

I turned back, to get back into the apartment but, to the surprise of absolutely nobody, there wasn't a door anymore: just stairs; stairs that went upwards, towards infinity.

A sound of gentle drizzle reached my ears, but there was absolutely no rain to speak of; just... the calming sound of the rain, in the background.

I hadn't felt peace like that for a long time, then. It felt just so disjointed from what was happening then, but at the same time it felt just so right. I can't truly describe it, but I felt like I could stay in that spot for all eternity.

With my mind entirely hooked on the rain, I decided to give a few steps down the stairs, knowing that I would end up nowhere. I didn't really think about it, then, but was there anything else I could do? I was lost in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a seemingly endless staircase.

My steps resonated in my head, as if to remind me of the passing of time. The somehow lit stairs glowed with an unnerving blue, the black void surrounding me giving me claustrophobia one second and agoraphobia the other. The unsettling doubt about whether there was any escape or not was slowly draining my hopes away; hopes that were refilled by the feeling of calmness stemming from the rain.

Hidden in-between the only sound present was the sound of wingbeat, coming from behind me. Under other circumstances I'd just brush it aside as my own mind but, in that moment, I froze in the spot, my own mind telling me to run as far away as I could.

Two things happened at the same time: I heard a low chuckle coming from behind me, and, as if to showcase my low intelligence, I turned around to face whatever it is that was happening behind me. You can guess how well it went...

All sound stopped when my eyes noticed the figure standing in front of me. There she was, Nightmare Moon, a smug smile on her face. I tried to say something but couldn't do anything but to stare in disbelief.

She raised her left forehoof, her expression changing into a tired one.

"Wake up," she said with no emotion whatsoever, before moving her raised hoof as if to point me. At the same time, I felt a pressure against my chest, not unlike the one I had just woken up from. "I haven't given you permission to die yet," she added.

Everything went black in that instant, which was rather surprisingly fast. Well, I guess that it's better that way, it was better than to suffer all the asphyxiating...

Comments

[I Am Known As Sketchpad]

um.

Is this a true story? PLEASE TELL ME THIS IS NOT A TRUE STORY.

This is fantastic. I love this story already.