Cardboard Casket

by Silk Rose

Cardboard Casket

I lay in the box, drawing stale air with a raspy, shallow breath. The box's cardboard bottom provides little comfort for my sore side. Regrets tick through my mind with each beat of my heart as the blackness surrounds me.

I shouldn't have eaten those cupcakes. Spike said they were good, but he eats rocks! I shouldn't have listened to him. I shouldn't have agreed to play hide and seek with Sweetie Belle. I shouldn't have closed the lid. I shouldn't have stayed in here after I felt sick. I shouldn't have done many things.

I try to slow my stuttered breathing as the air in the box becomes suffocating. A piece of dust gets caught in my throat, sending me into another involuntary coughing fit. Each cough brings up an unknown substance from the depths of my stomach.

I want to cry out, to scream, even if nopony can hear me, but I just don't have the strength. I feel paralyzed. My body isn't listening to me anymore. I just have to lay here, afraid of the inevitable.

I'm going to die. I've accepted it, but I still fear it. Nopony ever wants to die, but here I am, forced to endure each breath until the end. Forced to die a slow and painful death as my best friend tries to find me, blissfully unaware of the hiding place I'm trapped in.

I was always afraid of the dark, but that's nothing compared to death. I'd gladly go blind if it means I can still feel the grass under my hooves, and breathe the fresh outside air, and hear my friends' voices. I'd take that deal in a heartbeat.

I'm more afraid for my friends. They'll have to live in a world thinking they're the reason I'm no longer in it. Sweetie Belle will feel the worst guilt; hide and seek was her idea. I don't fault her at all, but I know her. She'll blame herself forever. She doesn't deserve to live like that.

Suddenly I hear hoofsteps near the box, and hope floods my thoughts. Somepony is close, somepony can save me! They get so close to the box, I can feel the vibration of their hoofsteps through the floor. I can hear her calling my name as I try with all my might to yell, scream, kick, anything to get her attention.

Sweetie Belle trots away as all of my attempts were for naught. The one chance I had for salvation, trotting away, sealing my end. She was so close, and I so helpless. Nothing worked, nothing could save me now.

My body seems to pity me as it lets me cry. I enjoy every teardrop as it will most likely be the last shred of comfort I have in life. Each drop falls down my face as I dream of making a sound. Wishing for one last good cry before I go.

As the next teardrop slowly rolls down my face, it brings a memory to mind. Rainbow is hugging me and agreeing to be my big sister. The memory replays in my head, in slow motion and fast-forward, at the same time. She was such a good sister.

The memory fades and a new one follows with the next teardrop. Me and Sweetie Belle meet Apple Bloom and form the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Little did I know how much our group, our calling, would mean to me.

Another teardrop, another memory. The moment we decide to focus on helping other ponies find their cutie marks, causing us to get ours. It meant so much to us, that we finally got what we wanted after so long.

As the last memory fades, I ask for one last wish. Please, just one more hug with my friends. One more chance to tell them I love them. One more final goodbye. Please! But my wish is not granted, and I can feel myself starting to give out.

Seeing no other option, I gather all the strength I can, using all the memories, tears, and hope as fuel for the determination to not die in this box. I scream, I don't want to die, in my head, as I try to force my back leg to kick as hard as I can.

I manage to move my leg, but only barely. It softly impacts the cardboard wall, making a weak sound, then falls limp as my control loosens even more. I hope with every fiber of my being that it's enough that somepony will come save me.

After a few more seconds, I hear something rubbing up against the box. Is somepony there? Who is it? But, after it continues to rub the box, it starts purring, vibrating the box. Opalescence is outside the box!

I hear the purring stop for a second before the entire box shakes. The purring continues from above. Opal is on top of the box. I need to get her attention, but how? I fail at lifting my leg again. What now?

Cats have good hearing, right? I might be able to make noise to get her to look in the box. I do my best to control my breathing, barely managing to affect it. I feel light-headed and dizzy as I attempt to make a noise, any noise. I meow as loud as I can.

I hear movement above me as the cardboard rustles, then there's a blinding light as a cat pokes its head into the box. I quietly meow again, exhausting the last of my efforts. Opal meows at me before taking her head out of the box, the lid falling closed.

All I can do is hope as the minutes pass by. Eventually, as I'm about to pass out, I hear meowing, and it's getting louder. I feel hoofsteps behind Opal. She went to get help! I love you, Opal! The box opens, and the blinding white light is the last thing I remember before passing out.

I'm saved…

Comments

[Uz Naimat]

Oh, the chills. This was short, but exhilarating. Thank you for a most unpleasant, yet soul-touching, ride.

Also, Scootaloo does make it out, right? You arenʼt just teasing us, are you?

[Silk Rose]

11840276
Up to readers' interpretation.

[Uz Naimat]

11840279
Oh, you devil Rose you.

Well, I like to remain hopeful.

[Tape Deck]

11840279
Yeah, There's no way I'm gonna assume Scoots is dead. Well, anyways, nice little story.

[PseudoBob Delightus]

Great stuff! I'm glad I was able to help with this.

Personally, I loved the part with the cardboard box.

[starcoder]

oh my—
wow. what else is there to say?

[darklight731]

This was a fantastic, dark story, with a good ending.

Good kitty. Have a treat.

[ThePeer]

honestly, it should've been a wooden crate or something harder to get out of. Little kids can tear out of a cardboard box, and if a cat can open it, surely Scoots can. Its not designed to keep living things in.

But besides that, I think this was well written.

[Rockyvolcano4]

11840641
I think the point is that she ate something that has her completely unable to move her body at that point, and she didn’t realize it until she was too weak to actually get out of the box. Also, industrial cardboard boxes that fabrics and such are shipped in (which I assume is what she’s in since this takes place at Rarity’s) tend to be a lot sturdier than your standard moving box. They get to the point where they’re incredibly difficult to tear even for adults with an existing tear/cut to work from. (Also hooves and filly that is barely bigger than Rarity’s cat.)

[Gundham tanaka]

This reminds me of "the biding of Isaac" lore, with the closed box and lacking oxygen part sounding like an inspiration or something related.

[Ko777]

Tell me I’m not the only one who rushed through this to see if it had a happy ending

[Hyper Star]

Ah yes, the blinding white light. Can mean a lot of things, death is among those things.

The ending doesn’t leave us with much, Scoots was either saved by Rarity or died.

The writing is excellent, but I’m getting rather tired of these "life flashes before their eyes" type of stuff and these "up to the readers" endings.

This gets an OKAY!

[PureExxtacy]

The cover art is awesome.

[Cozy Cottage]

Simple, short, to the point. Very nice.

[Bob333221]

this is really well done, me and my friend enjoyed reading this over a discord call,

but....

when the tensions where at its peak...... meow.

i really sorry but that broke both of us for the rest of the story, we couldn't stop laughing.

we both loved the story and hope you make more like this.

[Jymbroni]

This was a nice tense story.