• Published 18th Apr 2022
  • 617 Views, 19 Comments

The Door - Jack Daniels



A door with Twilight's name on it appears in her room. She has no idea how it got there, but maybe it leads somewhere?

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Chapter 1

It appeared suddenly one day with little fanfare. A plain brown door with a brass knob and no other distinct markings, save for the words Twilight Sparkle engraved neatly into it. It stood independently, save for its doorframe, in the middle of Twilight’s bedroom in the Castle of Friendship.

When Twilight woke up one morning and first saw it, she was struck by curiosity, rather than the fear and dread that would soon become staples in her future. Her first thought was that it might have been some kind of prank by Rainbow Dash or Pinkie. That didn’t seem right though. The eeriness of something like this didn’t fit into what she was used to from those two. No, not eerie, creepy.

I better check to make sure nothing is going on with it, Twilight thought to herself, preparing her magic to reach out and grasp the door’s handle. After all, she could never be too careful, in her time as an element of harmony she had made a few powerful enemies, not to mention that she was a princess now, one with no royal guard at that.

As soon as Twilight’s magic made contact with the door, she immediately recoiled. Most physical objects when held in magic tended to have a certain feel, different from what you might get if you held it directly in your hooves, but still consistent. This door though was unlike anything she had ever felt before.

Twilight then decided to run a series of tests to ascertain the nature of the door. But each test that she ran only served to greatly increase the deepening sense of wrongness that she felt. The door’s nature defied all logic, both scientific and arcane. Twilight was becoming more and more certain that this door didn’t belong here. Not just in this castle, but in this plane of existence.

The thought that this could be Discord did cross her mind, but she was familiar with chaos magic and this was nothing like it. Besides, she recalled an earlier conversation with Fluttershy where she told her that she hadn’t seen him for a couple of weeks now.

With no other recourse, save for contacting Celestia, Twilight decided to try and ignore it for now, it wasn’t really doing anything anyway. She just hoped that it would stay that way. Twilight didn’t have much of a choice either, seeing as how Spike and Starlight were away in the Crystal Kingdom.

Twilight set out to try and get some things done, but the door remained firmly fixed in the back of her mind.


Twilight hadn’t been able to get anything done that day. Thoughts of the door had remained in her mind all day. The more time passed, the more questions plagued her. Why was the door there, how did it get there, why did it have her name on it, and where did it lead?

That last one didn’t make much sense to her at first, it was a freestanding door in the middle of a room after all. But Twilight couldn’t shake the sense that it definitely lead somewhere. Questions of exactly where were what had left her exhausted and more than a little frightened.

It was getting late, so Twilight resolved to at least try to get a little sleep. However the thought of sleeping in the same room as the door was too off-putting, so she settled for taking one of the guest bedrooms down the hall.


Twilight went through the motions of preparing for bed and then laid down to sleep. The door hadn’t done anything all day as far as she was aware, she just had to hope that that wouldn’t change. She managed to fight the constant feeling of unease long enough to fall asleep. It was short-lived.

She didn’t know how long had passed since she last closed her eyes when she was awoken by a noise, if you could even call it that, coming from her room down the hall. Quite frankly it was indescribable, even more so to Twilight’s sleep-addled mind. She was quickly waking up however thanks to the deepening dread that was flooding her system.

If Twilight had to liken the sound to something closer to pony comprehension, then it would be a choir of voices singing (talking?) discordantly but in perfect harmony. They didn’t speak any language Twilight had ever heard and yet she could understand them perfectly. They were beckoning her towards the door.

At first, Twilight tried to ignore it, putting a pillow over her ears and humming to drown it out. All her efforts were for naught, however, as the noise persisted, seeming to echo directly in her head.

The fear she was feeling was overwhelming now. She could sense the seething mal-intent in the voices, and she knew with absolute certainty that whatever lay beyond that door wanted to do terrible things to her, and that were she to cross that threshold she would never return.

At the same time, the voices possessed a hypnotic quality, one that drove her toward that room, and in turn the door. It wasn’t long before her limbs were moving seemingly against her will. In what felt like no time at all she was standing in front of her room

When she entered, the first thing she noticed was that the entire room was bathed in a soft red glow. The glow’s origin was a red light that seeped from under the door’s frame. Aside from that though, nothing seemed to have changed.

It struck Twilight then that she would definitely be going through that door and that free will had long since abandoned her. A mix of emotions rushed over her, helplessness, fear, and profound sadness at never seeing her loved ones again. The voices had reached a deafening crescendo at this point, swiftly working to drown out every other thought.

Twilight reached a surprisingly steady hoof forward, turned the knob, and walked through.

She never returned.

Author's Note:

That's my second story up, this time for a contest. Bicyclette's A Thousand Words contest to be exact. It was an interesting challenge, made all the more so as this is my first attempt at horror. The word limit lead to some interesting choices, but I'm overall happy with what I was able to manage.
If you have any constructive criticism or comments in general, be sure to leave it down below, I'd love to hear it. If not, thanks for reading. :twilightsmile:

Comments ( 19 )

Minotaur got her.

11214715
A terrible fate no doubt. :twilightoops:

11214720

Praise Him. (Note the minotaur thing was from a Dr. Who episode -- "The God Complex")

> “Dark” tag.
> “Horror” tag.
> Rated “everyone”.
🤔

11214739
Yeah I was a bit put off by that too, but nothing actually came up that warranted a stronger rating. Still feels weird for sure.

Vaguely reminiscent of The Enigma of Amigara Fault...

DRR... DRR... DRR... :pinkiecrazy:

Curious. I honestly can't tell if this is an effective case of using the reader's imagination against them or not quite doing enough to make it work. Though I do have to wonder why Twilight didn't, you know, talk to any of her friends about this (aside from needing to fit the word limit, of course.) Either way, enjoyably creepy. Thank you for it and best of luck in the judging.

11264927
Thank you for reading, and I'm glad to get solid criticism from someone who's work I enjoy so much! I'll try to keep some of those potential plot holes in mind going forward. I found that it was definitely a concept I would have liked to go more into (if not for it being a thousand words). Maybe I'll try something similar again in the future. Horror can be pretty fun to write and I definitely want more practice!

A plain brown door with a brass knob and no other distinct markings, save for the words Twilight Sparkle engraved neatly into it.

the door! was it made for her?

That didn’t seem right though. The eeriness of something like this didn’t fit into what she was used to from those two.

dang, but that would make for an even sicker prank!

Most physical objects when held in magic tended to have a certain feel, different from what you might get if you held it directly in your hooves, but still consistent.

aww, that's my headcanon, too!

Twilight was becoming more and more certain that this door didn’t belong here. Not just in this castle, but in this plane of existence.

it does seem quite illogical even in the context of a magical land of ponies

It was getting late, so Twilight resolved to at least try to get a little sleep. However the thought of sleeping in the same room as the door was too off-putting, so she settled for taking one of the guest bedrooms down the hall.

aww, it is convenient that Twilight lives in a giant, empty castle with a ludicrous number of rooms for the number of creatures who live in it

If Twilight had to liken the sound to something closer to pony comprehension, then it would be a choir of voices singing (talking?) discordantly but in perfect harmony. They didn’t speak any language Twilight had ever heard and yet she could understand them perfectly. They were beckoning her towards the door.

oof, that is very unsettling to imagine

The fear she was feeling was overwhelming now. She could sense the seething mal-intent in the voices, and she knew with absolute certainty that whatever lay beyond that door wanted to do terrible things to her, and that were she to cross that threshold she would never return.

between this and Twilight's innate sense that the door is so wrong it doesn't belong in this plane of existence... that is fascinating!

Twilight reached a surprisingly steady hoof forward, turned the knob, and walked through.

She never returned.

oof, love how the definiteness of this statement makes it hit hard! great way to end it with the pieces that were set up, with everything going up in (red glow!) metaphorical flames as Twilight is forced through the door by forces beyond her grasp.

there is something delightfully meta about all this! the door is an intrusion into the reality of the story's world. it makes no sense in the internal logic of this world, or even narrative logic in general. there is no character arc or motivation to drive the decisions in the story. Twilight's fate is to go through it, never to return, because the story dictates that that is how the story must end (it's literally labeled with her name!), and in the end she succumbs to it.

and of course, another way to interpret how she never returned is because the story ends at that point. there is no place to return to! it, Twilight, the door, and everything no longer exist now that the story is over.

lovely stuff!

11298045
Thank you so much for giving this a look and a place in your contest. Hope to participate in another one again! :twilightsmile:

11433369
This is actually so awesome! My first ever reading! I am ecstatic beyond words. This is so cool! Done with such an amazing voice too.
:heart::pinkiehappy:

11433429
That's pony and wolf for ya! 🥰

PresentPerfect
Author Interviewer

I absolutely adore the description of the voices. :D

11572790
Thank you so much for taking the time to do a review, it's always appreciated and your's was super well articulated! I really didn't expect this story to get that much attention, but its been looked at by two great reviewers which is so crazy to me and also pretty exciting! :twilightblush:

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