R.T.
Night had fallen over Manehattan with its usual grace, though such a beautiful night was lost on a city that never slept. Though the streets were quiet in comparison to how they were during the day, they still bustled with life and ponies needing to get somewhere in a hurry. Amongst the many vehicles traveling that night, one particular taxi was making its way towards a Manehattan apartment complex, intent on dropping its owner off to rest for the night.
“That'll be 12 bits.” The taxi driver spoke up as he came to a stop outside a large building. Several lights were lit along the side of building, indicating how many ponies were currently occupying the rooms.
“Thank you for the swift arrival good sir,” Inkantessa Octavia Pie returned him with a smile, stepping down from the vehicle. She grabbed her instrument from the back and strapped it to her back before paying the stallion his fair, plus a generous tip. The driver gave a grunt and a nod before returning the Manehattan streets.
Octavia took in a deep breath and let out a satisfied sigh as she turned and walked up to the apartment complex's front door. The familiar sight of the front lobby quickly came into view and brought a smile to her face. It had been quite some time since she had last stepped foot into the building and a wave of nostalgia washed over her senses as she did.
“Oh, Octavia! Haven't seen you in a while.” An old mare with dark gray hair and a faded lime coat spoke up with the voice of an eighty year old smoker from behind the main counter, stroking a white cat that sat on the desk next to her. “Finally finished with your fancy music playing are ya?”
“Well, I'll never truly be finished with my life's passion, but yes, our tour finally ended.” Octavia let out a chuckle at her own response. “It's good to see you well Lime Bit. I take it things have been quiet around here as well?”
“Same as they'll ever be,” The old mare grunted. She let go of the feline long enough to reach behind her desk to pull out a cigarette and stuffed it into her mouth. “How long will you be staying this time?” she asked, pulling out a light and igniting the stick up before taking a long drag.
“Well, I currently have no long-term plans on my schedule, so I'll likely just take some time to relax here for a while.” Octavia shrugged her shoulders with a smile. “I'll likely end up visiting my sister in Ponyville at some point, but there's no rush on that either.”
“Ponyville eh?” Lime tapped her cigarette against her ash tray as she blew smoke off to the side. “I hear weird things about that place these days. Apparently ever since Celestia's goodie two-shoes moved on in, the place became a hectic warzone or something like that.”
“You can't believe all the rumors you hear.” Octavia shook her head amused. “My sister and her friends do a wonderful job keeping everyone safe. Ponyville has always been a wonderful place to live, I'm glad my sister has found a wonderful home there.”
“If it's such a wonderful place to live, why ain't you living there?” Lime raised an eyebrow, looking at Octavia with a bit of contempt. “I'll be honest with ya Octi, you're wasted on a dump like this. I run this place out of spite, you deserve a real home to come back to.”
“Well, I appreciate the concern, but I've made my own decision to live where I feel I can get the most work.” Octavia shrugged her shoulders, turning to the old mare with a smile. “I take it you've been taking care of my home in my absence of course?”
“Yeah, yeah. If that's what ya want, you just keep sending them bits and I'll keep the nest warm for ya.” Lime reached behind her counter once more, rummaging for a bit before pulling out Octavia's room key and tossing it across the lobby to her. Octavia gracefully caught it in her mouth. “Made sure no-one came even close to touching yer door. It's late now, so you go get some shut eye.”
“Some sleep does sound wonderful. See you tomorrow Lime.” Octavia gave the older mare a wave before she started to make her way upstairs.
“Wait, Octi, one more thing before you go,” Lime said, reaching under the desk one more time. Octavia blinked in surprise as the old mare pulled out a small bundle of letters wrapped together and tossed them her way. “You got some mail while you were gone.”
“Oh, thank you.” Octavia smiled back before grabbing the pile of letters and making her way up the stairs.
The apartment complex was fairly well maintained despite its age, though no one would dare call it new. A plush red carpet lined the hallway floors, though various stains riddled different spots before various doors, each one telling a different story of its different inhabitants. The walls were a yellowing white, getting close to needing a fresh coat of paint, but acting as a good frame for the brown doors that lined the hall. The sound of life could be faintly heard through some of the doors as families got ready for sleep, others just getting ready to start the night.
It didn't take long for Octavia to reach her front door, the door to room 213. Her key fit like an old glove and opened the locked door with a familiar click. The door swung open with a nostalgic groan, and a long hallway with white walls that led to the main rooms of her apartment greeted her. She flipped a light switch just inside the door, the glow of gem-powered lanterns illuminating her apartment. Just before the front door, in a small indent in the wall, was a small mahogany console table with a small ornate clock atop it. Surrounding the table and clock were several family pictures she had hung up of her sister and parents.
One picture stuck out in particular though. In the middle of the all the hanging pictures, was a particular picture from her childhood, worn with age, but one still very dear to her heart. It was a picture of her entire family. Her Mother, her Father, Grammy Pie, her younger sister Pinkamena Diane Pie, and their youngest sister Bellamena Marie Pie. Octavia couldn't help but give the photo a sad smile, knowing that two of the family members were no longer with them.
“It's good to be home,” She spoke aloud. She reached up and put a hoof to her neck, letting it stretch with a pop as she let out a small groan. She then closed her door, placing the keys to it down next to an ornate clock on her console table. The clock said it was currently 9:18pm, just late enough for Octavia to settle in and have a quick drink before bed. She made her way down the long hallway, that ended in a sharp right turn to the rest of the house.
Around the sharp turn was the rest of her apartment. To her immediate right was a bathroom, primarily for guest use, but contained a shower and bath just in case. To her left was an arched doorway that lead to her living room-kitchen combo, with the room split between the two by a breakfast bar. Then at the end of the hallway next to the bathroom was her bedroom.
Octavia let out a short yawn, feeling the exhaustion of her day starting to catch up to her. She placed her cello case down against her living room wall, giving her back a quick stretch, grateful she wouldn’t have to be carrying it out onto the town for at least a couple of days. She then wandered over to her kitchen and opened the fridge door, checking up on her stash. The fridge was painfully barren of food and normal drinks, but that was how Octavia had left it before her long tour had started. The only bottles she had left in the fridge were a few bottles of chilled wine and assorted liquors. While not a heavy drinker, she did enjoy a quiet glass from time to time.
Pulling one of the chilled drinks out, she uncapped it and took a whiff of the bottles scent, the heavenly fragrance wafting to her senses. Finding a glass, she poured the distilled white liquid into the glass and took her first sip, feeling the intense flavor of the alcohol moving past her lips. She let out a small hum of satisfaction, taking a moment to enjoy the slight tingle before moving to her living room couch and settling down onto one of the plush cushions.
She took another sip of her drink as she began to look over the stack of letters Lime Bit had given her. Most were just the usual garbage, a few advertisements begging her to spend money, the occasional letter from a fan that hadn't made it to her while on tour, or reminders to pay off a bill that she had already long since paid off.
However, one was very different from the rest. A pink letter that had the distinct smell of pastry sugar, and sealed with a small blue balloon sticker. The sight of the letter surprised Octavia, not because she wasn't used to getting letters from her sister, but rather that it had ended up in the pile of mail that Lime Bit had given her. Pinkie had been very good about sending letters to the band while she was on tour, so she thought she had gotten all of the ones she had recently sent, but it seemed one had slipped away.
She quickly downed the rest of her wine before placing the empty glass on the coffee table and pulling open the back of the letter. She had been expecting a spray of confetti to come shooting out of the letter, as was tradition of a Pinkie Pie letter, but this one lacked that specific charm to it. Curious now, she pulled out the piece of paper inside, that seemed far too ordinary to be a letter sent by her party loving sister.
She quickly unfolded the letter. It was not written in her sister's usual messy handwriting, filled with love and cheer. Rather, it was written in crude black ink, with a shaky hand. The ink had dripped, each letter looking as if it were bleeding.There wasn't much written, but what was there sent a chill down Octavia's spine.
Watch out. The gap in the door...
It's a separate reality.
The only me is me.
Are you sure the only you is you?
Octavia flipped the letter over to look at the back to see if she was missing something, but the back contained nothing more than blank paper. She read the note over again, her brow furrowing in confusion. It was just a bunch of nonsense written in a creepy fashion.
“My sister did not write this letter,” Octavia decided, tossing the paper onto her coffee table. She wasn't sure how this prankster had gotten a hold of Pinkie's envelopes to mail her this crude letter, or why they thought it'd be funny to send her a fake letter from her sister. It wasn’t a joke she found funny in the least.
She let out a frustrated sigh as she got up from her couch. She'd write to her sister about it tomorrow, but for now it had just killed her mood and she was ready for bed. She yawned again and made her way out of the living room and to her bedroom.
Her bedroom was as simple as the rest of her apartment. A queen sized bed placed in the middle, a small closet and a personal bathroom aligned on one side of the wall, with a personal dresser with makeup and clothes on the other. A night stand with another picture of Pinkie and her sat next to the bed. Octavia made her way over to the bed, pulling back the violet covers and slipped into her bed. She let out a small sigh of contentment that she was finally in a familiar bed rather than the constant nights at hotel rooms that had become the norm while she had been on tour.
She went over her schedule for the next day in her mind. She'd wake up, write that letter to Pinkie, then head to her favorite little breakfast diner near the apartment. Then she'd go food shopping, come back home and put everything away, have a nice lunch, then possibly go out for a few drinks to celebrate a good tour.
Bundled up in her familiar and safe bed, she drifted off into a gentle sleep.
O O
O
Something didn't feel right. A groan escaped Octavia's lips as consciousness slowly returned to her. Her hoof moved closer to her head and landed on something hard and cold, immediately making her realize that she was no longer in the cozy comforts of her bed. Her eyes blinked open, a hazy dark blue blur being all she could see. She lifted her hoof up to her face and rubbed her eyes, trying to clear her head.
When her vision finally returned, her heart dropped. She wasn't in her room. in fact, she didn't recognize where she was at all. She was in a solid gray room, with the only visible light source being a small LED above a wooden door. The light barely illuminated anything, keeping the corners of the room pitch black.
“W-Where am I!?” Octavia asked, feeling panic starting to well up in her chest. Had she been kidnapped? Drugged maybe? She had made it home safely, she remembered that but... Had she forgotten to lock the front door? Had someone followed her? The possibilities were running through her head. Her mind was jumping to conclusions as to how she wound up in a cold, concrete room like this.
Octavia yelped in panic as a sound echoed across the room, snapping her attention to it. The door to her cell made a familiar creak as it opened, the same creak that her own front door made when it opened. The door slowed to a stop as it sat open, slightly ajar, as if telling her it was okay to leave this room.
Octavia decided not to wait to see what was behind the door, she had to get out of there as quickly as possible. She stood on her hooves and rushed over to the door, slamming it open with her shoulder.
She skidded to a halt. On the other side of the door was her apartment. She'd recognize the long hallway from anywhere. Her mouth hung agape as she tried to collect her words. She turned to look behind her, making sure she hadn’t gone crazy. Her front door sat there, same as it always had. She blinked several times in confusion, turning to look at her clock on her console table. It showed that it was a minute away from midnight.
“Sweet Celestia it was just a nightmare,” Octavia groaned, putting a hoof to her face. “Did I sleepwalk too? Ugh, I need another drink.” She shook her head, walking down her hallway. As she rounded the corner to her living room, her hoof hit something with a loud clank, causing her to nearly trip on the spot.
Stabilizing her footing, she turned to look at what her foot hit, spying an empty alcohol bottle lying on the ground. Confused, she picked it up and looked at it, not recognizing the brand of the drink. She took a quick whiff of the open top, smelling the scent of fresh alcohol, as if it had been recently emptied.
“That's strange...” Octavia muttered in confusion, “I didn't drink this, nor did I buy this brand. Where did this come from?” She stared at the bottle for a moment longer before letting out a tired sigh, just wanting her own drink now. She stepped over to her kitchen and dumped the bottle in the trash. It was then that a stench hit her nose, the reeking scent of old alcohol emanating from nearby. She turned her head towards the stench, spotting a small pile of garbage bags lying in the kitchen with several empty alcohol bottles scattered around it.
“W-What? Who left this mess here?” Octavia wondered, backing away from the trash. She was suddenly getting the feeling that something was very wrong and looked out over the kitchen's breakfast bar at her living room. Scattered throughout the corners of the room were emptied bottles lying around, pieces of trash often accompanying them, making the apartment feel like an alcoholic trash dump than a living space.
“This... This can't be my apartment.” Octavia hesitated at the realization, “Did I sleepwalk into someone else's apartment? A lot of them do have the same layout... Oh merciful dreams of Luna, I must have done that.” The gray mare groaned, running a hoof against her face. The furniture layout was the same as in her apartment, but her apartment had come furnished and she'd never stepped into any of the other apartments. For all she knew they all looked like this.
“I better leave before they either wake up or come home to a strange mare in their house. That would be far too embarrassing to try and explain,” Octavia grumbled as she made her way back to the front door. Her first night back home was already turning into a disaster and she wanted nothing more than to just get back to her apartment, properly lock the door this time, and get back to sleep.
Reaching the front door, she pressed her hoof against the knob and turned it, expecting for the door to open. Instead, it stubbornly clicked and jammed, refusing to open.
“What the-? Let me out you stupid door!” Octavia growled at the frustrating knob. The door wasn’t budging, no matter how she turned the knob. She let go and examined the lock, noticing that the keyhole was on that side of the door. This meant that if she wanted to open it she needed a key. “Who has a lock that you need a key to open from the inside!?” Octavia groaned in frustration, putting a hoof to her face again.
She quickly glanced over the nearby console table for the key. When she saw it wasn’t there she rushed her way back to the living room and glanced around any shelf or table that might have the key. When nothing turned up, she let out an exasperated sigh and rubbed her temples with both of her hooves.
“There's no avoiding it; I have to tell the owner that I somehow managed to sleepwalk my way into their apartment and now I'm locked inside.” She had to roll her eyes even at her own story. “Good going, Octavia! you've certainly made a mess for yourself tonight.”
Stepping out into the hallway attached to the living room, she let out one last reluctant sigh before she turned and made her way towards the bedroom. But before she could take her first step, she stopped on the spot, blinking in confusion as the end of the hallway to the bedroom was not what she expected. Instead of a door on the side leading to the bedroom, she found a short flight of stairs that led down to a door.
“A... Basement?” Octavia furrowed her brow in confusion. “Our apartments don't have basements... Or maybe the first floor ones do? Is there room for that?” Now Octavia was just curious to see what a basement in an apartment complex would look like. Figuring she was already neck-deep in trouble anyway. What would it hurt to just take a look?
When she stepped down the concrete stairs, she was suddenly aware of how loudly each of her steps was as they echoed against the cold walls. She walked up to the door and put her hoof to it, pushing it open and stepping through the door. She stopped in place, blinking in confusion as the door closed behind her.
It was the front hallway again. As if she had just stepped through her front door again. She whirled her head back to the door she had walked through, and quickly tried the handle again. The handle merely gave her the same jammed lock sound that it had before.
“Okay... Okay, I'm sure there's a... Perfectly reasonable explanation for what's going on right now.” Octavia reassured herself, trying to calm an oncoming panic attack. “The easiest is just that... I'm dreaming! Yes, that's right, I'm dreaming. A very... Lucid dream, but looping magic doors are possible in dreams.” She nodded at her deduction. “All I have to do now is wait to wake up!”
She sat in the spot for a moment, waiting to wake up. She blinked several times. She looked around at the hallway. She looked at the clock. It was still sitting at one minute till midnight. She lifted her eyes up to the pictures on her wall. There was her family smiling back at her from their frames. She pursed her lips as she realized that nothing was happening. Her tail starting to twitch impatiently. She started counting in her head, staring at her unmoving clock. She counted at least sixty seconds, and stared as the clock's time didn't change.
“UGH! What's going on here!?” Octavia cried out, putting her hooves to her head in frustration. She quickly stood up and made her way down the hall again. “If I'm just waiting to wake up I might as well wait on the couch!”
Her nose scrunched up as she passed by more empty bottles, smelling the rancid odor of old alcohol as she turned the corner of her hallway. She came to an abrupt stop around the corner as she blinked in confusion. The doorway to her living room was gone, a wall having been erected where it should be.
“I can't even be comfortable in my own dream. Wonderful.” Octavia scowled at the wall, hoping it could feel her contempt despite it being an inanimate object.
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
Octavia jumped out of her skin as she whirled around at the sudden loud noise. Her eyes snapped to her bathroom door, the wooden door shaking from what sounded like a pony trying to break out of it.
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
She began to crawl away from the door, not letting it out of her sight as it rattled and shook with each forceful hit. She had no idea what was going on, but her instincts told her that nothing good was hiding behind that door. She was better off with it locked in there than for her to investigate whatever was trying to break free.
Her back hoof fell on air, as she looked behind her. She had backed away from the door far enough to have hit the stairwell once more. She turned her attention back to the bathroom door, watching it rattle with another succession of hits. She turned around and rushed down the stairs to the basement's door.
The door opened with ease as she pushed through it, being greeted with her front hallway once again. The door slammed shut behind her and her emotions were a confused jumbled mess. On one hoof she felt better about having gotten away from the banging door, but the door in question was still just around the corner. She let out a mewl of frustration, unsure of what she was supposed to do.
“Princess Luna's supposed to help with bad dreams isn't she?” Octavia groaned looking up at the ceiling. “Well I really could use her help about now...”
Gulping down her anxieties, she began walking forward once more. Her ears perked up hearing something that she hadn't before. Though it was faint and muffled through the walls, she could hear that it was now raining outside.
She leaned around the corner of the hallway, staring at the bathroom door. For the moment it was silent, unmoving as it always should have been. However, what did catch her attention was the fact that the doorway to the living room had returned.
Deciding not to linger near the bathroom door for longer than she needed to, she did a short gallop past it and walked into her living room. Rather than the usual furniture of comfy sofas and a path to the kitchen, it was just a blank room of four walls and two windows in the back showing the dark and rainy night outside. However, in the middle of the room now stood a small wooden table with a gramophone sitting on top of it.
At this point she was absolutely questioning if she should be doing anything, but at the same time she couldn't deny that she was curious about the gramophone. There was clearly a record on it, and it only needed a wind up in order to play. Taking a deep breath to steel her nerves, she raised her hoof and began to crank the handle on the machine.
The familiar buzz of a record hit Octavia's ears first as she finished winding it up, listening to the gentle scratching before a grainy voice began to speak up.
“A stallion committed the brutal killing on a Sunday afternoon when the family was gathered for dinner. The murder was committed by a close friend to the family, who started by killing the father with a meat cleaver. The mother valiantly attempted to stop the stallion, but was stabbed through the neck and died instantly.
“The family's son came down to investigate the noise, and was stabbed to death as well. The family's six-year-old daughter had the good sense to hide in the bathroom, but reports suggest that he lured her out by telling her it was just a game. The girl was found mutilated and torn to pieces.
“The stallion's whereabouts are currently unknown and locals are being asked to contact authorities if he is spotted. Neighbors who had seen the stallion before the murders reported that he was repeating a strange phrase in a loud voice, as if he was chanting some strange spell.
“There was another family stabbed to death in the same state last month. And in December of last year, a stallion used a butcher's knife to murder another family of four. In each case, the perpetrator was an unknown stallion that seemed close to the family. State police are uncertain if this string of homicides are related or not, but are warning families to be vigilant about who they invite into their homes.”
The gramophone's message ended as the record finally came to a stop. Left with the silence of the discomforting room, Octavia swallowed nerves that had built up in her throat. She had been expecting some kind of music to play, but instead it had been a voice giving a report as if they were reporting to a newspaper outlet. There had been something haunting about the report the gramophone had told her, it was incredibly discomforting to listen to. It reminded her far too much of what happened in her own childhood.
Getting back on to her hooves, she backed away from the gramophone before turning around and exiting the living room. Her eyes wandered over to the stairway leading to the basement. She was beginning to understand how this 'dream' she was in worked. She walked through the hall, something happened, then she walked through the basement door and the sequence would begin again.
“Well...” Octavia spoke quietly to herself, “I guess if there's any way out of this place... It'd be after I go through that door enough times, right?” She was trying to convince herself that it was the solution. If simply waiting to wake up wasn't an option, then the only thing left for her to do was to keep moving forward.
With newly steeled nerves, she made her way down the stairwell. Pushing through the door, she entered the familiar hallway and didn’t even stop to register that fact this time. “Let's just see what happens this time.” She muttered quietly to herself. Rounding the corner she could see that her living room was once again missing, and that there were a few extra empty alcohol bottles scattered around the edges of the hallway.
She wasn't going to wait for something to happen this time, she was just going to go straight for the door and move on to the next version of the hallway. However, as she approached the stairwell, a door creaked shut and closed in front of her, blocking her path to the stairwell. She blinked in confusion, stopping just in front of the door and looking up at it. She raised her hoof up to the door handle and tried to pull it open, the door merely clicking loudly at her for her trouble.
“Well that's great. Try to do what it wants of me and it shuts me out.” Octavia mumbled grumpily as she glared at the door. Just then, the sound of another door creaking open hit her ears. She turned around, spotting the bathroom door once more, though this time it was open slightly ajar. She looked around the walls of the hallway, trying to see if there was anything else for her to do than to investigate the now open door.
“Okay, Octavia, calm down. It's just your bathroom... What's the worst thing that could be in there?” She tried to encourage herself, though it didn't work as intended. There were a lot of things she could imagine being in the bathroom. None of them were good.
With careful steps, she made her way back towards the bathroom door. As she grew closer, a new noise hit her ears, causing her to stop in place. It was faint, but she could hear crying. Quiet sobbing of what sounded like a little filly coming from her bathroom. She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end as she heard the sobbing.
With her nerves on edge she drew closer to the door, seeing the pitch black darkness of the bathroom through the crack in the door. The filly's crying grew louder as she drew closer, her eyes trying to adjust to the darkness in her bathroom. She couldn't see anything through the door, she could only tell that the crying was coming from inside.
She raised a hoof hesitantly, thinking that she should open the door and let more light in and take a look at the filly who was crying. The moment her hoof touched the door, a sickly pale white hoof reached out from inside the bathroom and grabbed the handle, slamming it shut on her.
Octavia didn't know who it was, Octavia didn't know what it was. The only thing she knew was that there was one irreversible fact.
She was not alone.
Her heart leapt into her throat as she backed away from the door, her body trembling. She wanted out of this nightmare, she wanted to wake up. She didn't want any of this to be happening anymore. She wanted to wake up in her bed and laugh off the nightmare and get on with her life.
The door at the end of the hallway creaked as it sprung open on it's own, revealing the short stairwell to her. It didn't matter if it was further into this madness, Octavia just had to move. She turned from the door and rushed to the end of the hall, getting away from the thing that was hiding in her bathroom.
She pushed her way through the door, entering the familiar hallway, and rushing down it. She stopped in her tracks, hearing the distorted sound of the filly's crying again once more. It was louder this time, almost as if the filly was close enough for her to touch. Her body shivered hard, her nerves rising to her throat. With nervous trepidation she moved to the end of the hallway and turned the corner.
Octavia screamed, backing up and running into the wall, scattering empty alcohol bottles around. At the end of the hallway, shadowed out by one working light was a sickly white mare. She was standing unnaturally on her hind legs, her limbs stretched longer than a pony's limbs should be, a sickly gray cloth draped over her body, and black hair draped over her face.
Octavia turned and ran back down the hallway she had come, rushing up to the door and slamming against it hard with her shoulder. A sharp pain spread through her shoulder as she desperately scrambled for the door knob, pulling at it for it to budge. The door refused to open, only returning the constant clicking of it being locked.
“Open! Open! Please for the love of Celestia open!” Octavia desperately cried, panic audible in her voice as she slammed her shoulder against the stubborn door once more. The pain in her shoulder only intensified at her efforts, the door not even registering her hit. She turned around, intending to buck at the door with her hind legs, only to end up screaming again and slamming her back to the door.
The sickly mare was at the end of the hallway, standing under the single hallway light, shadowing out all of her features. The filly's distorted crying grew louder with the monstrous mare so much closer now. Octavia's hind hooves scrambled to push herself against the door, trying to get away, only for her traction to slip, causing her to fall into a sitting position. She trembled in fear as tears began to spill down her face, not knowing what the figure intended to do with her.
In the next moment the lights suddenly shut off, Octavia's vision going dark. She let out a wailing cry as she covered her head, waiting for the sickly mare to do something. She trembled and quaked in her spot, sobbing into her legs, anxiously waiting for something, anything, to happen.
After several moments of only hearing the filly's crying, Octavia carefully looked through the gap between her hooves. Though it was blurry, her eyes had adjusted to the dark and she couldn't see the mare's figure standing at the end of the hallway anymore.
She hiccuped as she tried to catch her breath, still shaking in fear as she lowered her hooves to the ground and slowly stood up. Her mind was screaming at her to stay put, but she forced her trembling hooves forward. Her hoof hit against an empty bottle, making her stop as she heard the clink of glass move across the floor. Shaking her head, she made her way to the corner of the hall and looked down it.
The hallway was still pitch dark, except for a light above the stairwell leading to the basement door. The sound of the filly's crying were still echoing through the hall, not helping Octavia's desire to move forward. With another gulp, Octavia slowly walked through the pitch black hallway, being careful to put one hoof before the other. Her nerves were on edge, paying attention to even the smallest change in her surroundings.
The lights suddenly switched back on, causing Octavia to jump in place. A swarm of cockroaches scurried away from the walls and floor, slipping into cracks and behind the walls the moment Octavia spotted them. The crying filly's voice finally disappeared, though it was little comfort to her as she let out a frightened whimper.
Not wanting to turn back now, she pushed her shaking hooves forward. She made her way down the short stairwell and pushed open the door, and re-entered her apartment.
“What do you want from me?” Octavia whimpered quietly under her breath, hearing the terror in her own voice. Fresh tears were still threatening to spill from her eyes, terror still gripping her heart. The lights were on in the hallway so far, but that sickly mare was probably waiting for her around the corner again.
With her hooves still trembling she hugged the wall as she walked towards the corner turn. This time she merely peaked one eye around the corner, trying to spot if the monster was there. The hallway past the turn was pitch black, she couldn't even see a light above the stairs to guide her way.
Octavia jumped, as a door loudly creaked opened. She pressed her back to the wall, feeling her heart thudding loudly against her chest. She waited for the sound to stop, and then waited several more seconds before looking around the corner again. The bathroom door was now wide open, as if inviting her inside.
There was nothing good for her in that bathroom, she knew it deep in her gut. The moment she peaked her head in that mare was going to appear again. She stood staring for a little longer, waiting for something to happen.
It was then that she noticed something about the door. It looked like there was a light, flickering on and off on the bathroom floor. Curious, she carefully moved away from the corner and looked in around the corner of the bathroom door. On the floor, turning itself on and off at slow intervals was a lantern.
Blinking in confusion, she walked up to the lantern and picked it up with one hoof. Once she touched it, the flickering stopped, leaving the bathroom pitch black. She reached her hoof out to where she had seen a knob on the lantern and turned it, the flame coming back to life and illuminating the bathroom.
The bathroom door slammed shut, Octavia twirling on the spot to look at the door. She walked up to the door and tried the handle, finding that it was locked. She was now locked inside of her own bathroom.
Octavia let out a sigh of acceptance, realizing she should have seen that coming the moment she entered the bathroom. With the lantern in hoof, she lifted it up to get a better look at how her bathroom might have changed. The walls were speckled with dirt and grime, as if they'd been left unattended to for years. The tile floor had the same grime, but also contained what looked like blood that had been splattered around. The blood made Octavia's breath hitch in her throat as she followed the trail on the ground towards her bathroom sink.
In the sink was the shrunken, decapitated head of a hairless white filly. The filly's head had a white bandage wrapped around it's eyes, bloodstains marking where the eye sockets should be. It's mouth was black and oozing with a black tar. She could see part of it's spine sticking out from the bottom of it's neck as it sat in a pool of caked blood at the bottom of the sink.
But what upset Octavia's stomach the most, was the fact that it looked like it was still breathing.
Octavia backed away from the sink, not wanting to be near the decapitated head any longer. The mouth of the shrunken filly curled up, the lips trembling before it’s breath hitched, and started crying. The distorted crying of the filly echoed across the bathroom, causing Octavia to back up against the tub. She stumbled into a sitting position, her body shaking in fear at the crying.
Her ears snapped to attention, at the sound of her front door loudly opening through the bathroom walls. Her heart sank into her gut as the sound of loud, heavy hoof steps began to make their way down her hallway. The steps turned the hallway's corner, before stopping right in front of the bathroom door.
The filly's crying grew louder, as something behind the door grabbed hold of the handle and began to turn it. Octavia scurried to a corner in the bathroom and pressed her back to the wall as she stared at the bathroom door's handle in horror. The handle shook, the thing trying to open the door, but the door refused to open. Whatever was outside got the same jamming noise Octavia got when she tried to force a door open.
The door shook violently as something struck it hard. The handle was turned roughly as something tried to force the door open. The filly's crying was slowly dying down, but something was trying to break into her bathroom. The handle turned again, another violent slam against the door, another turn, another slam. The filly's crying died out, seeming to have lost it's breath. The thing outside the door turned the handle once more, lightly jostling it, before letting go.
Several quiet moments passed, before the sound of heavy hoof steps returned, moving away from the bathroom door and down the hallway. Octavia waited for several moments after the sound of hoof steps disappeared, before letting out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding on to the whole time.
“This place... It's getting more aggressive...” Octavia whispered to herself as she clutched the lantern close to her chest. “This isn't a dream... It's too real to be a dream... I would have woken up if it was... What if I...” The thought caught in Octavia's throat, terror striking her again as her body shook.
She didn't want to think about it, but there was a very real possibility. A very real possibility that she could die in her apartment that night.
Her heart jumped as the bathroom door unlocked on it's own, before creaking open all the way. Octavia trembled in fear as she stared at the now open door, waiting for that horrific mare to appear in the door frame.
When nothing appeared, she placed the handle of the lantern in her mouth and made her way to stand up. With the light being some small modicum of comfort, she stuck her head out the bathroom door and looked bath ways. The lights in front of the stairway had turned on again, though the light's before the front door had shut off now. The path to the basement was now clear, which meant she could pass through to the next round of rooms.
“...How long am I supposed to do this for?” Octavia asked herself as she made her way towards the stairwell again. “Is there an actual end to this or... Does it just keep getting worse each time I pass through...” She stopped her thought in their tracks as she stood before the basement door. The only consistency she had in this place was that when something happened, this door became available to her to pass through. The world changed kept changing each time she passed through, so that had to mean something.
Something happening meant there was progress, and if she was progressing, then maybe she could find the way out at some point.
With some modicum of her determination reinforced, she pushed open the door and entered to the next iteration of her apartment. This time, all of the lights in her front hallway were out, leaving it completely pitch black save for the light that illuminated from her lantern.
While the lantern was a small bit of comfort, she still had to swallow her fears as she stepped forward. As she neared the corner, a new sound came to hear ears, a distorted voice coming from a gramophone.
She turned the corner and saw the light on at the end of the hallway and the door to the basement closed, but more importantly, the door into her living room had returned once more. As she drew closer, the stench of mildew and old alcohol hit her nose once more, cockroaches scurrying away from the light as they crawled along her walls.
“A stallion committed the brutal killing on a Sunday afternoon when the family was gathered for dinner.” Sitting in the middle of the living room was that same small table with the gramophone, though this time it was accompanied by a small picture frame. The gramophone droned on, though the record sounded scratchier and rougher than the first time it played the message. It really was just the same message as before, though the needle would occasionally skip a beat here or there.
She looked closer at the picture that sat on the table, realizing it was a picture she hadn't seen in a long time. In the middle was a much younger Octavia, with her two younger sisters standing next to her. Pinkie was to her left, and Blinkie was to her right. The three sisters were smiling for the camera, seemingly happy as could be.
However, a large 'X' had been marked over Blinkie in a white marker, with the words 'Cut the pieces' just under the X. The picture sent a shudder down her back, remembering Pinkie's sobbing words about how their sister had died.
“Look behind you.” The phonograph suddenly spoke aloud, causing Octavia to jump back from the table. She whirled her head around, illuminating the area behind her in a panic. She looked back and forth, not seeing anything other than the empty living room she found herself in. The sound of distorted heavy breathing hit her ears next, the stench of death filling the air. She no longer felt safe in the living room, and ran away from the gramophone without looking back.
Something hard suddenly struck her neck. Her throat was being crushed by something squeezing down around it, before it lifted her up into the air. Her lantern hit the ground with a loud crash as he body was whirled around and she was face to face with the sickly mare. Bile was running down her mouth through her teeth, her eyes a lifeless white as her breath was loud and hissing. The deformed lengthened legs had grabbed Octavia by the neck and was strangling the life from her.
Octavia couldn't even scream, feeling her neck being bent and pushed to an unnatural degree. Octavia's eyes were rolling into the back of her head as pain assaulted her every nerve and her breath was stuck. In the next moment, a loud snap echoed through the room as her head twisted around farther than it ever should. Her limp body struck the ground hard next, as the sound of heavy breathing hovered over her body. The last thing she heard was the sound of flesh being torn apart.
O O
O
Octavia let out a sharp gasp as air filled her lungs. She rolled onto her side and started coughing up a fit. Her body curled against the cold cement as she was still racked with pain, her lungs burning as they struggled to accept the new air she was breathing. Her stomach churned next, upset by the sudden awakening and her violent coughing. She vomited up bile from an empty stomach.
With shuddering, gasping breathes, she began to calm down enough to roll onto her back and put her hooves to her neck, still feeling the stinging grasp of where the mare had strangled her. She had felt every stinging nerve, every crack of her bones, the intense pain of having her neck snapped.
Still shaking, she brought a hoof to her mouth and wiped away some of the bile still stuck to her mouth, before rolling back to her side and lifting herself up into a sitting position. Her eyes looked around the room, realizing that she was back in the room that had started all of this, the same concrete room that she had first woken up in.
“What a cruel joke...” Octavia shuddered, lowering her head as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. “I can't even escape this hell by dying...” She hiccuped a muffled sob as she put a hoof to her mouth, trying not to break down into a sobbing mess. Hot tears cascaded down her cheeks as she failed to suppress them, taking in hot breaths as her body was racked with pain and fear.
The sound of a flame coming to life caught her ears, causing her to snap to attention. Sitting in the middle of the room was the lantern, glowing it's gentle yellow light. She just stared at the lantern for a moment, certain she had heard it break when she had dropped it. Deciding to count her blessings rather than worry about it, she managed to stand on her shaking hooves and walked over to the lantern, picking it up in her teeth.
Having the gentle light really did help calm her nerves a little, at the very least it had stopped her from breaking down into a sobbing mess. She sniffed and rubbed her eyes, wiping away the remaining tears as she quickly looked around the room she was in with the light.
To her surprise, in one corner of the room was a table she hadn't seen in the darkness. On top of it was a paper bag that looked like one used for take out food. However, the bag was crumpled, and the bottom of it was soaked red with blood, as if some kind of freshly cut meat had been placed at the bottom of the bag.
Then, the bag started shaking.
“I watched... I could do nothing else but watch...” A rough, deep voice spoke up, the bag moving in time with the voice as if it was speaking. “I watched all of them, but they were all so different from me. That was until I saw... Myself. I saw myself in front of me. But, it wasn't really me. Watch out. The gap in the door. It's... A separate reality. The only me is me... Are you sure the only you is you?”
The bag stopped shaking, and Octavia stared at it. It's words felt... Ominous. She couldn't understand what they meant at all, but the last words it had spoke were the same ones that were on the letter she had opened.
“Of course I'm the only me...” Octavia mumbled to herself, turning away from the bag and walking over to the door. She placed her hoof against it before stopping. “...I am the only me... Right?” She turned her head to look at the spot she had been lying, staring at it with uncertainty. She had been certain she was the only her, until that bag started making her question it. If she wasn't the only one of herself, then what would that make her?
Octavia shook her head and pushed the thoughts out of her mind for now. If it was something to worry about, it was something to worry about later. Right now she just wanted to keep moving, to get out of this nightmare. She didn't feel safe anywhere, so her only option was to move forward.
Her front door opened and she entered her front hallway, immediately being met with the overwhelming smell of blood. She put a hoof up to her nose, retching as the thick scent of iron and copper burned her throat. She looked behind her and saw the door had already shut behind her, causing her to let out a frustrated groan. She was immediately regretting this decision.
With no options left, she made her way down the hallway, and turned her head to look around the corner. There was a dramatic difference in the hallway this time, with the light at the end of the hall tinting everything a sharp red. Her living room was there again, though now she could hear the faint splashing of liquid hitting the ground, as well as the crying filly again. Both sounds were coming from the living room.
Hugging the wall, she made her way over to the living room entrance and peaked her head to see what was inside. The yellow light of her lantern illuminated the sides of her fridge, the furniture being tied up with chains and dangling from her ceiling. The white box was gently swinging, and significantly stained with blood around the edges where the door opened. Each time the fridge swung too far in one direction, a large mass of blood poured out from the slightly open edges of the fridge and added to the large pool that had amassed beneath it. The sobs of the crying filly sounded like they were coming directly from the swinging metal coffin.
The path to the basement was clear, and the smell of blood was making it hard to breathe. So without hesitation Octavia decided she had spent long enough in this version of the hallway. She walked down the stairs, but stopped when she noticed that something was different this time. She blinked and tilted her lantern up, noticing that there was now writing above the door.
I'm sorry Sis
But I can't say no to the Monster in my heart
Another shudder ran down her back. She didn't know what it meant, she didn't know what any of this was about, but those words struck a chord in her that left her even more unsettled than she already was. Quickly shaking her head, she walked down the rest of the stairs and pushed through the door.
Octavia's head began to swim, a strange sensation overcoming her body as she passed through the door. She tried to straighten her vision, but everything in the world seemed to swirl around her. Only half of the lights were working in this hallway, and the half that were cast an eerie red light against the pitch black darkness.
She shook her head, trying to clear it, only to realize that her teeth were no longer clenching down on anything. The lantern had vanished the moment she had walked through the door. She let out a frustrated whimper and took a step forward.
Her entire body lurched forward, causing her to stumble on her hooves as the walls felt like they were speeding past her. She managed to stop, her body jostling in place as she tried to get a grip on reality. With a bit more warning this time, she stepped forward, feeling her body rush ahead before coming to a stop.
Whatever was going on, it wasn't just in her head, it was affecting her entire physical being. She hated this feeling, she hated feeling like even her own body was out of her control. She had to make it to the door and get out of this, she needed her senses. Adjusting for her new center of balance, Octavia began to run down the hallway, the world seeming to rush past her as she ran.
The world would flash red, then be pitch black, and then red against as she raced down the long hallway. Something wasn't right, the hallway was longer now, longer than it had ever been. Her hooves hit the ground, she could hear them loudly connecting as she ran, but no matter how far she went, no end appeared in front of her. Just one dark hallway with red lights, whirring past her head as she tried to keep running in a straight line.
“Where's the turn?” Octavia spoke aloud, staring straight ahead as the world continued to rush by. The hallway wasn't ending. It just continued to stretch forward. Her breathing was starting to grow ragged, the exertion starting to burn in her legs. “Where's the exit!?” Octavia asked desperately, looking at the walls as they passed by. Only red and black walls passed by her, the sound of her hooves echoing against the wall with each pass.
There was a sound. Octavia's heart leapt into her throat. Her hooves struck the ground loudly with each strike. There was a scream. The scream of a filly. Octavia ran faster. The sound of a knife was drawn. Octavia's heart throbbed in her chest. The knife struck flesh. The filly screamed in agony. Octavia's hooves echoed loudly in her ears. The knife pulled out and struck again. The filly went silent. A hot breath wafted over Octavia's neck. Panic screamed through her entire body.
The sound of stabbing flesh. The echo of racing hooves. The distorted cry of an older mare. The twisted world around her. Endless rushing walls. It didn't end. There was no end. She was trapped. A shrill cry rang out. She was going to die. Her mind was blank. Her body hurt. Her mind hurt. Her breathing hurt.
A door! A door appeared at the end of the hall! She slammed her hooves, she raced for the door. The hot breath washed over her neck, she raced faster. The door was in sight, the red glowing door. She was going to escape, she was going to get out.
She tilted her head, and with her full force she slammed into the door. Her entire body crumpled, slamming into the solid wall with tremendous force. Pain soared through every nerve ending in her body. She crumpled against the door, her head ringing, the world spinning, pain filling her entire existence. Her body shook as she was pressed against the door, the door that was supposed to be her savior. A shrill cry exploded in the air, her eyes shooting open and turning towards the darkness.
A sickly white hoof reached out and grabbed hold of her shoulder. The distorted mare's face drew closer, crying and screaming, the stench of death on her body. Just touching her hurt and her malformed hooves reached for Octavia's neck once more. Octavia screamed louder than she had ever screamed before.
“OCTAVIA!” A mare's voice rang out as Octavia's eyes shot wide open.
The face of an old mare with gray hair and a faded lime coat was the first thing she saw, staring at her with concern, a hoof on her shoulder.
“Octavia, sweetheart, are you alright?” Lime Bit asked, her face growing more concerned. Octavia's entire body was shaking, unable to process what had just happened. Her head slowly turned to look around her, realizing that she was no longer in her apartment, but rather the lobby of the complex. “You were sleepwalking and screaming. Is everything alright?”
“A... Asleep...?” Octavia's voice was weak and pitiful as the words slowly stumbled out. Her face felt hot, her eyes were burning. She raised a hoof up to her face and felt the still fresh tears that were staining her cheeks. She gently wiped at her eyes, feeling how much her body was still trembling. She looked back up at the apartment caretaker, disbelief in her eyes. “I... I was...”
“I've never seen you sleepwalk before.” Lime said seriously, walking away from Octavia to grab a box of tissues off of her counter. She pulled out two of the disposable cloths and offered them to the trembling mare. “It's alright now, you're safe here. I won't let anything harm you.”
“I'm... I'm really...” Octavia's voice was choking up, as she gently took Lime's offering. She brought them up to her face, gently wiping away at her cheeks. “I'm really awake...”
“Yeah, you're awake alright.” Lime Bit nodded, frowning at the mare. “You came down here and started making a ruckus. I came out of my room to see what was going on and found you screaming.”
“I...” Octavia couldn't find words. She just turned her head down to look at the floor, then at her hooves. She closed her eyes and pressed them against her face, still remembering the nightmare she had spent all night going through. “I just... What time is it?” Octavia asked hesitantly.
“It's four in the morning dear, sun hasn't even started to rise.” Lime Bit explained.
“O-Oh...” Octavia stammered, wrapping her arms around her barrel, trying to control her shaking.
“Goodness sakes girl, you've not stopped shaking since you woke up. Was the nightmare that bad?” Lime Bit raised an eyebrow, unable to believe something had spooked Octavia this badly.
“Y-Yeah...” Was all Octavia could stammer out, shaking her head softly. She pushed herself up into a more proper sitting position, taking several deep breaths and closing her eyes as she tried to calm herself. The vision of that hellish nightmare still haunted her mind, but she could push it away to calm herself, at least for the moment.
“Can I get you anything? You're certainly having a rough night.” Lime tried to offer in comfort.
“No... No I...” Octavia shook her head, looking up at the mare with a smile. “I'm just... I'm going to head to the twenty-four hour diner and get some coffee and breakfast... Just, get out of the apartment for now. I-I'll come back once I'm feeling better. I just... I need to be away for a moment.”
“Well, alright, if'n that's what you need.” Lime Bit shook her head softly. “Try to feel better Octavia. I still gotta get up in a few hours so I'm gonna head back to bed. You take care of yourself, alright?”
“I will... Thank you.” Octavia nodded her thanks with a smile, finally starting to feel a modicum of normalcy come back to her. Lime gave a nod before walking away, opening the door to her personal room and stepping inside. Octavia just sat on the floor for a moment longer, processing in her mind that she was actually awake again and managed to escape that hell.
Standing up on hooves that felt like they might give out underneath her at any moment, she made her way to the building’s front door.
Even for Manehattan, a city that never slept, four in the morning was a quiet time for the city. There was currently nopony out on the streets, and a gentle wind was blowing. The lamps on the street illuminated her way as she began to walk towards the diner she knew was within walking distance.
She stopped for a moment, turning to look up at the moon that was still hanging in the sky, just waiting for the last hours to pass before it lowered to make way for the sun. It had been a nightmare so terrifying that she had woken up screaming, and now she didn't feel like going back to sleep in fear of seeing the dream again.
“Is that what you went through sister?” Octavia murmured quietly to the night sky. Images of the pink mare with her mane straight, looking depressed but content with a sad smile on her face filled her mind. She remembered hearing Pinkie's story in front Blinkie's grave, the story about how she had nightmares so awful she couldn't sleep at night.
It had only been one night though. Unless they happened again, it wasn't guaranteed that she was facing the same thing her sister had gone through those months ago when she appeared at her performance in Fillydelphia. Though if Octavia had to guess, it had been something like this.
“If I keep having that nightmare...” Octavia murmured, shuddering at the thought of having it again, “I'll contact her and... Have her get me the same help that she had...” Octavia shook her head. “That nightmare... I never want to have it again...”
Octavia took a deep breath and let it out slowly, looking back down towards the road as she began to walk. That early in the morning, a small bit of mist covered the quiet Manehattan streets. Octavia's hooves echoed through the empty city as she made her way through the streets of a silent city.