Skybridge's attempt at a new life in Ponyville does not go as he imagined.
Skybridge attempts to start a new life for himself by moving to the quiet little town of Ponyville. Things take a turn for the worse however as his new apartment begins to change. Will Sky be able to escape the room and the nightmare it contains?
The carriage rolled down the unpaved road, bouncing along the uneven path, pulled slowly by a single brown stallion with a white mane. Through a single small window on the door of the black carriage, amid the dim interior, sat a pegasus staring blankly at the blue sky above that matched his eyes, lost in thought. The pegasus had a bright pink coat, at odds with the gloomy expression etched on his muzzle. His short black mane and tail lay unkempt and tangled.
The pegasus watched as the sun moved across the sky while idly toying with the silver chain around his neck that held his inhaler. It wasn’t until Celesta had begun placing the sun under the horizon to make way for the moon that the carriage made it’s way onto the cobblestone road leading to it’s destination. The orange light of the evening sun lit a large wooden sign, faded with age on the side of the road. The carriage’s lone occupant watched the sign pass by reading the message written in chipped black lettering “Welcome to Ponyville”.
‘Looks like my trip is almost complete’ thought Skybridge
Colorful cottages lined the street as ponys of every type went about their business, eager to complete their day's activities before retiring to their homes for the night. Many of the ponies stopped to watch the carriage pass by with interest, caught by the uncommon sight of a new arrival in town. Sky viewed the town filled with it’s unknown ponies from the window with a gleam of worry in his eye.
Just as the carriage rolled up to a somewhat run down looking apartment building it slowed to a halt.
“We have arrived at Ponyville Heights sir.” the colt pulling the carriage declared loudly.
Sky stepped out of the carriage into the evening air and looked over the building. Unlike the beautiful homes he had passed on his way into ponyville this three story complex looked neglected and aged. The brown paint had begun to chip away from the wooden walls and the small flight of concrete stairs leading to the double doors of the lobby were cracked and worn. The lawn around the complex was in dire need of cutting and had patches where the grass had become brown and stiff.
‘Well you get what you pay for right? Who knows, maybe the rooms are nice. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover after all.’ Sky thought as he looked upon the underwhelming visage.
Sky was pulled out of his thoughts as the brown stallion behind him his cleared his throat. Sky turned to face the carriage driver, seeing that the stallion was looking at a small yellow notepad in his hooves.
“Let’s see now, one way trip from Manehatten, single occupant with four luggage items. That will be forty four bits Mr. Bridge”
“Yes of course Mr. Pully, let me get my coin purse from my suitcase” Sky said as he turned and walked to the back of the carriage where his luggage was roped in place. After taking his luggage of three ragged brown suitcases and a black cello case that stood out in it’s pristine condition, he unzipped the front of one of the suitcases and pulled a small sack out with his mouth. Walking back to Mr. Pully he took the purse in his hooves and shook out the fair into the waiting hooves of the driver.
After counting the bits and placing them into a lockbox on the front of the carriage Mr. Pully hooked himself back in position and with a final wave goodbye to Sky pulled the carriage away.
Sky watched the carriage roll down the now dark street. With only a sliver of moon out that night the road was meagerly lit by the street lamps spaced out every block. Head held low, Sky turned to his cello case and unwilling to leave it in the street while he went inside to get his key, grabbed the handle in his mouth. Starting toward the steps leading to Ponyville Heights he raised his head only to see a world composed of pink fur and blue eyes.
“GAH?!” Sky shouted as he dropped the case and fell over backwards in shock.
“Hi im Pinkie Pie! I saw you riding into town and wanted to meet you! I welcome everyone to Ponyville and...”
Pinkie continued her welcome rant, oblivious to the look of fury on the face of the wheezing pegasus before her. Sky reached for his inhaler only to find the necklace was no longer around his neck. ‘The necklace must have slipped off when that Pink pony made me jump!’ Sky began turning in place frantically searching the ground around him for the necklace.
“...Oh! and at the party you're going to meet everyone and make lot’s of new... hey, are you even listening?!” Pinkie exclaimed.
Face red from anger and difficulty drawing breath, Sky turned to look Pinkie in the eye while gritting his teeth and drawing slow, shallow breaths spat “Een hal ur” at Pinkie.
Pinkie’s eyes widened with realization and she blurted out in a single breath “Ohmygoshimsosorrydon’tworryi’llfindit”.
As Pinkie turned her back to Sky he saw the silver necklace dangling from her tail, tangled in the messy hairs. He quickly lunged forward before the mare could turn again and grasped the necklace in his teeth, quickly pulling the necklace free along with the pink hairs caught in the chain eliciting an indignant yelp from Pinkie.
“Ow! Hey what’s the big idea?!” When Pinkie turned back to Sky she saw him holding the inhaler to his mouth while taking a deep breath, relief apparent on his face.
“Oh great you found it! Guess it was in my tail huh? I’m always finding stuff in there!”
Sky however was not listening as he was far more concerned with the cello case the insane mare had caused him to drop. Seeing that there was no apparent damage to the case he focused his attention back on the offending mare.
“Where do you get off jumping me like that?! Making me drop my instrument, giving me an attack, only to have my inhaler get in your filthy tale!”
Pinkie slumped under Sky’s glare, her smile turning into a small frown “I’m sorry, I just wanted to welcome you...”.
Sky raised a brow, rage leaving his voice being replaced by weary irritation “And the best way you could think to do that was to jump into my face in the dark?”. Pinkie opened her mouth to reply but Sky cut her off, saying with exasperation “Look, I’m going to go inside and unpack my things so please just give me some space.”.
“Oh..well okay, I’ll just talk to you later then. Oh ya, you never told me your name silly!” Pinkie said, her smile coming back.
Skybridge sighed “Sky, my name is Sky. Alright?”
“Okey dokey Sky! See you later!” With that She was gone in a pink blur down the street.
Sky watched the street for a moment, shocked at the speed with which Pinkie had retreated until finally picking up where he left off. Walking through the doors of the lobby with cello in mouth, Sky gazed around. The lobby was a small room with a brown tiled floor and white painted walls from which hung a few cheap looking paintings of nature scenery. At the far end of the Lobby was a door leading to the first floor apartments and a stairway leading up to the second floor. On the immediate right of the lobby entrance was a small desk on which sat a few pens and a bell, behind the desk was a door stating ‘Employees only’.
After ringing the bell a third time an elderly stallion with a blue coat and yellow greying mane came out from the door behind the desk.
“Hey there. Names Sundered Land, just call me Sunderland, everypony does. I’m the landlord here, and you must be the new tenant in room three-oh-three.” he said with a tired smile on his face, yellow eyes focused on Sky.
“Skybridge, nice to meet you sir.” Sky’s voice lacked any eagerness to be meeting this new pony and his blue eyes kept themselves lowered to the ground.
After being introduced to his room and given the key Sky proceeded to bring his belongings into his apartment, locking the bolt on his front door and placing the small security chain in place. The apartment was small but spacious enough for a single pony to live in. To the left of the front door was a small kitchen area closed in by a chest high countertop with a space at the hall to let one enter the kitchen. The kitchen floor was a checkered black and white tile while along the outer wall of the kitchen area was a sink, a small refrigerator without a freezer and a old gas oven.
In the same room as the kitchen separated by the countertop was the living area. The area was carpeted in a short brown rug that while clean bore many stains from years of use. The only furniture currently in the room was a ragged yellow loveseat facing the two closed windows on the far wall that overlooked the street, a bookshelf set against the right wall next to the hallway that led deeper into the apartment, and large footlocker sitting against the right wall just below a large splotchy black stain on the wall.
Sky walked to the cramped hall of the apartment finding a brown wooden door immediately to his right, and a pair of similar doors at the end of the hall opposite of each other to the right and left of the hall. The first door on the right revealed itself to be a small room with a washer and dryer inside as well as some shelves on the wall bearing some cleaning supplies and closed cans of white paint. ‘Well I suppose I can use the paint to cover that stain on the living area wall.’ Sky closed the door and reached the end of the hall opening the final door on his right. Inside was a bathroom with a single pony sized stand up shower encased in glass that distorted the sight inside for privacy. Across from the shower was a toilet that bore a brown stained ring in the bowel, next to which sat a small sink fixed into the white tiled wall. Sky grimaced as he looked over the condition of the toilet, sighing as he decided he would have a lot of cleaning to do tomorrow if he wanted this place to be livable.
Opening the door on the left side of the hall Sky found his favorite room in the apartment, the bedroom. Sky finally allowed himself a small smile looking over the room. There was already a mattress in place covered in some dark yellow sheets and a rather flat looking pillow. The floor was covered in the same carpeting as the living area, and the walls were similarly covered in a fading white paint. Against the wall on the same side as the door was an indentation with a coat rack in it to serve as a closet for the few clothes an average pony might have. Against the opposite wall was a single window near the head of the bed that looked over the street, a pair of lamp posts directly in the path of the window cast a bright light into the room. ‘Guess i’ll have to keep the curtain closed at night if I want to get any sleep in here’ Sky thought, the small smile he had finally allowed himself vanished as quickly as it had come.
Finally against the right wall in front of him stood a desk and chair made from the same tan wood. The chair creaked noisily as Sky settled himself into it. The surface of the desk was covered in a multitude of small scratches and nicks in the wood. On the left and right side of the desk where the sides of the desk reached down to the floor were a pair of drawers. The two on the left slid out easily when Sky pulled on them, as did the top drawer on the right. However, the bottom right resisted Sky’s attempt to open it. Placing both hooves on the handle Sky pulled on the drawer only to have the desk pull slightly with him while the drawer stayed firmly closed.
Snorting in irritation Sky allowed the desk to defeat him for now and shuffled out of the chair and over to the bed. Sky made a face of disgust taking a closer look at the condition of the sheets ‘No way in tartarus am I sleeping on those sheets and pillow until I have them washed. Who knows what could have been on them.’.
Not wanting to touch the sheets with his mouth, Sky carefully used his front hooves to remove the sheets and pillow. Draping them over his back and using his wings to lift the hanging cloth so as not to drag across the floor sky walked back to the washer closet and placed them on top to be dealt with when he had purchased detergent.
Tired as he was, Sky was eager to make his way back to the bare bed to sleep for the night, but as he started to make his way back he abruptly stopped and widened his eyes. ‘I almost forgot the photo! I can’t leave him in there all night...it wouldn't feel right to sleep without him there to keep an eye on me.’
Sky quickly made his way over to one of his suitcases and pulled from it a framed photo of a younger teenage Sky and another larger Pegasus colt standing in grass in front of a large tree during a bright, sunny day. The other colt in the picture had a plain tan coat with a long blue mane and tail, and was looking at the camera with his bright green eyes with a toothy grin plastered on his face. The colt had a foreleg draped over Sky’s withers and Sky was looking up at him while laughing.
Gliding back to the bedroom Sky placed the picture on the desk facing the bed and went over to close the curtains to block the light from the two street lamps outside. Settling down in bed Sky gave a last look to the photo before closing his eyes. As Sky began to drift off to sleep a single tear made it’s way down his cheek as he muttered “Goodnight Shield”. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sky woke up with a start, his heart was pounding in his chest and he was struggling to get even the most meager breath into his lungs. Grasping the inhaler from his neck he released several sprays into his throat. Slowly his breathing became easier and Sky continued to sit in bed, wide eyed and sweaty as he waited for his heart to calm. He couldn't remember the nightmare, and as he racked his brain for the cause of his distress he had the feeling he didn't want to remember it. All he knew was that it had been awful.
Not having soap, Sky settled for simply rinsing himself off in the shower to deal with the stench of his sweat from the nightmare. After shaking himself dry he went to the kitchen to get something from the fridge to fend off his morning hunger. He had always been the cook at home for both his father and his brother. Sky had just always had a knack for it, though not as much as his music but still it was a talent of his.
He opened the fridge only to stare blankly at it’s empty interior. “Right...you haven't gone grocery shopping yet.”
Opening the suitcase that held his supplies he pulled out a large wood mug and proceeded to settle for a glass of water for breakfast. His stomach grumbled it’s protest to the situation. “Stuffy in here” Sky said, flying over to the living rooms windows. The windows proved difficult to open but in the end he had managed to get both of them fully open, working up some new sweat in the proces.
Sky dug through his belongings, pulling out his dark blue saddle bags and strapping them on.
‘Okay so objectives for today. Get food, get bath and laundry supplies...’ Thinking of the stain on the wall and the can of white paint in the closet he added one more thing to purchase ‘and a paint brush. Then just need to unpack.’
Sky undid the locks on his door and pulled on the handle, only to have it barely give when he pulled. ‘Oh you have got to be bucking kidding me! How many things in here are gonna give me trouble opening them?!’ Giving a few more harsh pulls on the door and snorting in anger Sky managed to open the door, step outside, and angrily buck it closed with a rear hoof making sure to lock it afterwards.
As Sky stomped down the concrete stairs outside of ponyville heights into the street something gave him pause. Next to the stairs at the street was a large wooded lamppost with a mesh cage to hold the fireflies that would be added at dusk. Everything about the lamp post seemed perfectly normal but Sky couldn't help but feel that something was...off about it. He looked back and up seeing the window of his apartment bedroom. ‘Wait thats it! Wasn’t there a second lamp post right next to this one last night?’ Sky simply shrugged this off deciding that he must have been mistaken. there were no signs of something having been removed recently so there couldn't have been a second lamp post.
It was late in the afternoon when Sky finally made it back to the door of three-oh-three. His shopping list proved too large for one pair of saddlebags and had been forced to purchase and equip and second pair to carry all that he bought. The town had proven slightly hard to navigate for a newcomer, especially when having to avoid and run away from a certain party obsessed mare.
Sky unlocked his front door and remembering how it had resisted to being opened this morning slammed his shoulder into the door to open it, only too have it smoothly give way causing Sky’s over abundance of force to send him falling to his side into the apartment. Luckily the straps of the bags held avoiding the need for a cleanup.
Glaring at the front door as he shut and locked it sky growled “Make up your mind. Either you’re easy to open or you’re not!”. Realizing he was verbally reprimanding a door, Sky sighed and rubbed his face with his hooves in exasperation.
Sky turned into the apartment only to increase his frustration when he found the windows he had struggled so much to open were now shut. This time no matter how Sky pulled at the windows he could not get them to move in the slightest.
Declaring this another temporary win, Sky proceeded to unpack his things. It was well into the night by the time the unpacking was finished, the bed sheets had been washed, and he had eaten his quick dinner of raw carrots he had bought from an orange maned mare at the market.
The apartment now at least looked a bit more homey in Sky’s eyes. His cello case now sat in the far corner of the living room, open and displaying it’s contents next to a small fold up chair to sit on while playing. Pots, pans, dishes, and the like were now stored in the kitchen shelves and the fridge was stocked with a variety of vegetables. Sky stepped into the bedroom looking contently around the room. The bed was now properly made and the desk had been set up with his clock, writing instruments, papers, and books of sheet music, all ready for him to compose.
The only source of irritation left in the room was the bedroom window which like the ones in the living room had not only had been shut when he returned, but could not be forced open. As Sky looked out the window however his complaints about the window were immediately forgotten. Outside shining clear as day in front of the building were not one, but two identical lamp posts filled with fireflies and sitting right next to each other.
Sky’s eyes widened and feeling a slight tightening in his chest took a pull from his inhaler. It didn't make sense, he was sure there had been only one lamp post outside. He even took note of it when he had returned to Ponyville Heits after shopping. Sky was tempted to go outside to triple check but knew that would solve nothing. He knew what he saw outside and he knew what he was seeing at that moment. “It..must be something with the window. Ya, it’s probably the glass bending the light or something.” He said with trepidation.
Eager to change his focus from the oddity, Sky planned his next day as he got into bed and beneath the sheets. ‘Okay, tomorrow I need to clean, paint over that stain, and get to writing my next piece. That means I have no reason to leave and can finally relax.’
As Sky settled his head on the pillow with a content smile he looked to the Photo facing him from the desk. His smile was instantly whipped from his face. “Night Shield” Sky said with his voice breaking as he lay his head back down on the pillow and drifted off to sleep. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sky hit the floor with a loud thud as he woke attempting to scream through his burning lungs. His limbs were tangled in the bed sheets leaving him to struggle wildly as he panicked. He couldn't get his hoof free to grab at the inhaler around his neck to free him from the strangling pressure in his chest. As he writhed on the floor desperately trying to lift out his right hoof, his heart pounded in his chest and darkness started to creep into the edges of his vision. As his struggles began to weaken, the cloth around his right leg shifted, freeing his hoof. Clutching to the inhaler he immediately shoved in in his mouth and ejected it’s lifesaving spray.
Sky wasn't sure how long he lay on the floor next to his bed, just staring at the cracks in the ceiling while he recovered from his near death. Again he couldn't remember the nightmare that had caused this, though he felt that this one had been different from the other somehow, and that it had been much worse. As he got up from the floor and tossed the sheets back onto the bed he looked the the photo with Shields smiling face on his desk and felt compelled to hold in close against his chest for a moment. Letting his tears flow freely he remembered how Shield had always been able to calm him down when things got bad. It was almost like Sky hadn't needed the inhaler when he knew his brother would be there for him.
Gathering himself he looked at the clock on his desk and saw that it was almost noon already. Sky showered while humming Hall of the Pony king to himself. He had finished cleaning his body but he continued to stay under the warm spray of water letting it calm him. There was suddenly a metallic groan from the wall behind the shower head and the water abruptly stopped.
Sky turned the knobs of the shower in different directions eliciting no response, then proceeded to bang his head repeatedly against the glass wall of the shower letting out a groan far louder than the pipes had made.
“Well Mr. Bridge, I wasn't able to find anything wrong with the pipes and none of the other tenets are having problems. So it must be something wrong with the pipes in your shower itself.” Sunderland the landlord explained while standing in the hall outside three-oh-three. “I can get a guy by tomorrow to knock out some of the tiles in your shower wall to get at the pipes, alright?”
Sky stood in the apartment on the other side of the open doorway, which had thankfully opened without a problem when the landlord had come knocking. “I understand Mr. Sunderland, I should be in all day tomorrow playing so I’ll let him in when he comes by.” Sky had severe reservations about letting some strange repair pony into his apartment for any reason, but unless he felt like showering in the kitchen sink there was no alternative.
With that Sunderland said his goodbye and Sky closed the front door. As Sky turned though he saw the stuck windows of his apartment and remembered he needed to tell Mr. Sunderland about those as well. However, when Sky pulled on the door it refused to budge. “Oh by Luna’s frozen nipples not again!” Sky shouted, face turning red with rage. He heaved on the door again and again, going so far as to hold on with his front hooves while bracing himself against the wall with his back and flapping his wings as hard as he could, but the door didn't even creak or groan, let alone move.
“FINE! I didn't want to go out today anyway!” Sky shouted as he bucked both his back hooves against the door in revenge.
The cleaning had gone smoothly and the apartment not had a presentable appearance. All that was left to do was paint over that splotchy black stain over the footlocker in the living room. Setting the now open paint can down next to him Sky took the paintbrush he had purchased yesterday in his mouth and dipped it into the white paint. The apartment however seemed content to frustrate him at every turn, as while he painted he noticed that the paint would not stay on the wall anywhere there was black, instead running off completely leaving the stain untouched.
Furious at the apparently faulty paint, Sky was about to buck the open can across the room until he was surprised by the sound of his shower running.
Letting a smile climb onto his face and relaxing his body in relief, Sky forgot the pains of the day at the thought of his shower running again. That would mean he would not have to let anyone in to fix it, which would be a very welcome change.
Sky opened his bathroom door and was assaulted by a wave of steamy air. Apparently while messing with the shower knobs he must have turned the water to it’s hottest setting. The bathroom was like a sauna, so thick with steam that he could barely see. As Sky stepped closer to the shower however, he swore he could see the distorted image of a pony though the haze of steam and blur of the frosted glass shower door. Leaping forward and opening the door Sky raised his hoof ready to hit whoever was in his bathroom ... only to find the shower completely empty.
Sky turned off the shower and walked out, closing the door behind him with a heavy sigh and his head low. ‘All the stress today really got to me I guess if i’m acting that stupid.’
Settling himself into bed and saying his good night to the picture on his desk Sky thought about the next day. ‘Well today might not have been overly pleasant, but tomorrow I can take a shower and send the repair pony away so I can be by myself to practice.’
Sky was about to let himself drift to sleep when he remembered what had happened this morning. Deciding to play it safe for the night, Sky chose not to lay under the sheets while he went to sleep.
Sky woke slowly, pleased to not have had a nightmare this time. Looking out the window Sky saw it was still pitch black outside, leaving him to wonder why he had woken up. It was then he noticed it was hot, very hot. Even though he had not had a nightmare the heat was enough for him to once again wake up covered in sweat. Looking to the door of his bedroom he could see light coming from the crack under it. Concerned he had left the hallway light on Sky opened the door, only to be assaulted by a wave of heat and smoke hitting him hard in the face.
Coughing on the smoke, Sky ducked down and pulled from his inhaler. Stepping out into the hallway, Sky’s eyes opened wide in terror. The apartment beyond the hall was completely engulfed in flames. A solid wall of burning death stood between him and the living room, and it was spreading down the hall fast. Running to the window in his bedroom Sky began to frantically pull at its handle. Normally it would be too high of a fall to jump to the ground below, especially with the concrete to land on. However, if Sky could get out the window he could safely fly to the ground.
Unfortunately no matter how much he pulled at the window, it would not open. The smoke grew heavier, billowing into the room in a choking black torrent . The fire in the hall outside of his room crept even closer as Sky nearly found himself frozen in panic . With a gasp for air, he managed to pull himself back into the moment and away from his despair, as a wave of heat lashed across his entire body. He could feel the feathers on his wings nearly singe at the rippling blaze passed over him; the only way he knew he could get out was through that window ... ‘but how?’. Thinking as quickly as his oxygen starved nerves would allow, his eyes fell upon the desk chair through the burning haze of smoke. Fighting his panic with a sudden clarity, Sky grabbed the solid oak desk chair with his front hooves and smashed it into the window as hard as his screaming muscles could manage. The chair smashed into matchsticks and kindling as it collided with the window, which remained completely undamaged.
Sky’s eyes shrunk to pinpricks as he stared in horror at the sight before him, coughing from the smoke and from the asthma that it was irritating. He could feel like flames licking at his back as he desperately punched at the glass with his hooves to no avail. In agony, he collapsed to the ground as the flames began to eat at his flesh, all the while unable to draw any more breath from the smoke filled air. The pain from the flames subsided as inky darkness slowly crept across his eyes. All he could do before losing consciousness was mouth the word ‘help’ for no pony to hear. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sky’s whole body felt sore and his head pounded. He felt like he hadn’t gotten any sleep even though the clock on his desk clearly stated it was nine in the morning. Shuffling into the bathroom, he laid his necklace on the sink while looking at himself in the mirror.
His pink coat seemed to have lost some of it’s brightness while his black mane was even more disheveled and tangled than it usually was. His eyes were bloodshot with dark circles forming around them. Hoping that a warm shower would relieve even the smallest fraction of his tension, Sky stuck his right fore leg under the shower head and reached with his other hoof to turn the shower knob.
Sky let out a sudden shriek, and jumped away from the shower drawing his right leg to his chest. Instead of water flowing from the showerhead, a stream of warm blood was cascading onto the shower floor and had coated his outstretched hoof.
Eyes wide and gasping for breath Sky turned to the sink and grabbed for his inhaler with his unsoiled hoof. After taking two long drags, he turned on the sink and fervidly scrubbed at his arm, splashing water on his chest over and over even after all traces of the blood were no longer on his fur. After several minutes of manic washing, Sky finally paused taking deep breaths and whimpering. His soft cries hushed as he felt the bile rise to the back of his throat and lurched himself over to the toilet to vomit.
Once done heaving, he began to calm slightly and noticed that although the air was thick with the smell of blood, the shower had stopped running. Hesitantly, Sky looked behind him into the shower, only to see the once white tiles soaked in blood. A slow crimson drip continued to fall from the showerhead, each drop landing with a sickening splash that left Sky gagging.
Disgusted, Sky closed the shower door and backed out of the bathroom slamming it’s door shut as he left.
“I need...I need to get out of here. Get a guard, or... something.” Sky said while staring at the bathroom door, still panting. Trembling, Sky walked down the hall and turned to leave the apartment, stopping dead the moment the front door came into view.
The door, once an unassuming portal, was now wrapped with large heavy chains which themselves ran through metal loops set into the walls next to the door. Large padlocks that bore no dials or keyholes to be unlocked held the chains firmly in place, while scrawled on the door in dried blood just beneath the peephole were the words:
The bright rays of Celestia’s sun shined through the living room windows as it reached its midday peak, illuminating the distressing scene within Sky’s apartment. Scraps of what had once been his wooden desk chair were scattered on the floor by the windows which remained undamaged. The front door continued to stand ominously, heavy chains barring any attempt to open it.
Sky sat in front of his open refrigerator, staring into its meager contents of three carrots forlornly. Sitting by the kitchen sink was a now mostly empty bottle of shampoo. After the incident with the shower he had resigned himself to bathing as best he could with the sink.
After pulling out a single carrot and closing the fridge door Sky made his way over to the window. He sat eating his carrot while staring out the window at the ponies going about their day. He had learned that any attempt to draw attention to those outside was a fruitless endeavor. No matter how much he hit the window, screamed, or waved his arms about no one ever took notice... even when someone happened to glance toward his window, they showed no signs of seeing him.
Sky lost track of time sitting by the window in a daze when there was a knock at the front door. Sky glanced at the clock with a flat look on his face. “17:00 like clockwork...” he muttered.
Sky walked to the front door and looked in the peephole. Sure enough standing on the other side was Pinkie Pie, making her daily attempt to draw him from the apartment.
“Hey in there it’s me again! I came just like I promised and I never break a promise, only this time I brought a friend!”
Sky’s face broke into a confused frown. ‘Friend?’
Walking up next to Pinkie Pie was the landlord Sunderland.
Pinkie was bouncing excitedly while Sunderland sifted through a metal ring adorned with a plethora of keys.
“You see I came here over and over and over and over and over and over, but you never open up and say hi or even tell me to get lost, so I started wondering if you were okay or just avoiding me. So I talked to Sunderland and he agreed to open your door to make sure your okay, so I hope you don’t get angry with us because we just want to make sure everything is fine because friends care about eachother and I still want to be your friend!”
Sky allowed a smile to form as for the first time since Pinkies very first visit he felt hope start to blossom in himself. His landlord could use his key to unlock the door! True the chains would keep the door from opening more than a centimeter at most, and true he couldn't turn the deadbolt from his side but there was still a chance. It could work, it had to work. Then Sky could finally get out of this hell.
Sky heard the scraping of the key against the lock and Sunderland leaned toward the door...followed by a look of confusion on the landlords face as he struggled to turn the key with no success.
“I don’t get it, this is definitely the right key...and I know this lock hasn't been changed. Why can’t I get this thing opened?”
Pinkie hopped closer to the door. “Maybe the lock is broken *gasp!* and thats why he hasn't come out!”
Sunderland Placed the keyring back on his work belt and stepped back, turning to Pinkie. “Look, it’s unlikely that he’s even in there. The walls are paper thin and the neighbors on both sides of the apartment say they haven't heard a peep from him. He probably went back to Manehatten to get more of his stuff or something.”
Pinkie eyes went wide as her mouth gaped in shock. “Oh wow I never even thought of that! So maybe he wasn't avoiding me afterall and I was being a silly filly all along talking to an empty room!”
“Look Pinkie, I’ll get a locksmith over here tomorrow morning to get this door open. You're free to come by then if you want.”
The voices of the two ponies outside began to fade as they walked down the hall to the stairwell away from Sky’s apartment as Sky lay on the floor with his forehead up against the cold metal of the door, tears streaming down his cheeks.
That was it then. Not only could he not get out but it seemed nopony could get in either. He would be trapped in this Celestia damned apartment until he starved, he was sure of it. He reached for his inhaler as the tightness in his throat from his crying started to bother him, only to find he was not wearing his necklace, reminding him that it had run empty yesterday. Lightly pounding his head against the door once, Sky just continued to lay there crying to himself until finally sleep overtook him.
Sky was suddenly jostled awake by a loud crack, like a sledgehammer hitting concrete. Sky got to his hooves and looked around the room, still slightly dazed from his sleep. The sound had come from down the hall toward his room and the bathroom. He checked his bedroom, only to find everything still in its place.
Hesitantly, Sky turned to face the bathroom door. After the episode with the shower he was not eager to see what fresh horror the bathroom had in store for him. With no other option left however, Sky slowly turned the handle, and after a moment's hesitation threw the door open.
Sky stood in shock as he gazed into the rooms interior. On the wall just above the toilet was a hole. The hole was a perfect circle in the tile, with no sign of the tiles that had previously occupied that spot on the wall to be found. It looked as if it had always been there, placed perfectly into the wall, no rough edges or signs of debris or dust.
With eyes wide Sky slowly walked in front of his toilet to look into the whole. He trembled slightly as he beheld another impossibility introduced into his life. On the other side of this wall was his neighbor's apartment. This was a cold hard fact, no denying it. Many times while he was trapped in this apartment had he layed in bed while hearing the sounds of a filly playing and parents talking on the other side of the wall.
He knew this was the case. He knew that nothing in the last day had changed that. Yet as he looked into the hole in his wall he was solidly contradicted by the sight ahead of him.
Within the hole, instead of the sight of the adjacent apartment, was a long dark tunnel. The tunnel was comprised of a smooth black stone, like an obsidian corridor that stretched far beyond what the light from his bathroom could reach. There was no sound coming from the tunnel but as Sky placed his face slightly inside he felt a very weak breeze on his face.
He stood for what must have been at least an hour looking into the abyss before him. If there was a breeze coming from the tunnel then it must lead somewhere. The hole was large enough for him to squeeze through if he kept his wings held to his side. However, it was one thing being stuck in this apartment for so long, after all he had spent most of his time indoors while living with Shield. it was quite another thing to squeeze down a dark tunnel that was who knew how long with the slight case of claustrophobia that came with being a pegasus.
There really was nothing for it though in the end. It was either take his chances with the tunnel, or continue to sit in the apartment and rot. Having made his decision Sky left the bathroom and flew back to his living room. Opening the foot locker against the wall he retrieved his saddle bag and opening his fridge placed a carrot into it, leaving just one left in the fridge. He had no means to transport liquid in his bag so he would have to hope wherever the tunnel lead him there would be drinkable water. Sky knew under any other circumstances it would make no sense to think he would need to bring food and water with him on what shouldn't be any long excursion, but after all the reality warping he had experienced since moving to Ponyville, the mantra better ‘safe than sorry’ seemed appropriate.
Sky flew back to the bathroom and once again gazed into the black void of the tunnel. Gulping nervously, Sky snuggly tucked his wings to his sides and climbed over the toilet into the hole.
It was slow going as he shuffled his way further and further down the tunnel. It was getting to the point that no trace of light could be seen around his body that almost completely filled the tunnels circumference. However, as he continued to shuffle further along Sky was hit with a sense of vertigo.
He knew he was still facing forward as there had been no change or bend in the tunnel as he crawled. However as he moved forward he felt more and more like he was gazing down into a pit rather than forward into the tunnel.
As he tried to wrap his mind around this feeling, the walls of the tunnel began to shift. Sky could feel them rapidly sliding past him while air battered his face. His mind roared in sudden panic as he realized his was falling!
Faster and faster the walls slid around him, their smooth surfaces offering no chance to create friction and slow his descent into the pit. The air rushing past him became an unbearable howl as he reached terminal velocity.
Sky began screaming in terror as as the wind battered his face. He forced his eyes to stay open in a squint, looking for any opportunity to slow his descent or catch site of the pits end. As he continued to fall he began to see a small pinprick of white light far in the distance. His heart pounded heavily in his chest while his breathing stopped while he stared in shock at seeing what must be the end of his fall.
The shock wasn't what had stopped his breathing though. Between his claustrophobia from being in the tunnel and his current terror as he fell, his asthma had hit with a vengeance. Sky’s fear only mounted further when he found himself unable to draw any breath as he fell. His lungs burned for air as the light rapidly drew closer and closer to him. Darkness began to creep over his vision, even as the light started to become unbearably bright.
Just as the world had become nothing but blinding white light, all that Sky knew was darkness.
Sky woke with the feeling of cold water dripping onto his muzzle, his back laying on what felt like a soaked sponge while his fur soaked in the clammy water. He slowly opened his eyes only to wince his left eye closed again as a drop of water landed on it from the moldy wet ceiling. Sitting up, Sky viewed the room he found himself in with trepidation.
Sky looked around the small room, the mold covered walls were dimly lit by a single lightbulb on the ceiling above him. The soaked mattress that sat on the floor took up almost all the space available save for a hoof length gap from the side of the mattress to the wall in which was revealed a matted grey carpet and about four hoof lengths from the end of the mattress to the closed wooden door which acted as the sole exit from the bedroom.
As Sky rose to his hooves he gave of several hacking coughs from the choking level of mildew in the stuffy air. Sky reached out and opened the door to peer into what lay beyond. The door opened into a small apartment devoid of any furniture. The main area of the apartment was in similar condition to the closet he had just left. Water damage permeated the whole apartment it seemed and the air was just as poor.
“Hello?” Sky choked out. “Is anypony there?”
Silence greeted Sky’s call as he listened for a response. Suddenly there was the sound of a door slamming shut. It had come from behind a Rotted plank of wood that had once been a door set into the far wall. Sky peered around the wood that hung loosely on a single hinge into the room beyond. Discovering what appeared to be the proper bedroom of the waterlogged apartment, Sky pushed aside the door which caused the wood around it’s hinge to break, the door giving off a wet thud as it fell to the floor beside him.
Inside the bedroom was the rotted remains of a full sized bed and a pile of fungus covered wood that used to be some kind of dresser. A shockingly out of place door stood on the wall across from him. The door was in pristine condition, as was the frame around it. This was strange considering the puddle of water that had formed beneath the door. Sky approached the door cautiously viewing that there were three bolt locks above the doors handle. Sky also noticed that he had been somewhat wrong about the door being unmarred as when he get close he realized there were words faintly cared into the door.
‘The heavens watched as the protector took it’s place before the storm’
“Oh come the buck on! Riddles now!?” Sky’s angry outburst cause him to begin coughing again, reminding him that he should leave the stuffy room soon before his breathing got much worse.
Determined to at least try to reach whoever had closed the door Sky gave the door three strong knocks and waited a moment for a response, once again only to receive silence. His ears splayed back in disappointment from his continued failure to make contact with another pony. ‘I should have known better. If I couldn't reach anypony from my apartment why would I be able to from...wherever I am now.’
Leaving the bedroom with it’s strangle door he walked to the exit of the apartment. As he reached for the handle however he was hit by a strong sense of deja vue. Turning to look back over the dilapidated apartment Sky couldn't help but feel this place was somehow familiar to him, like he had been here before.
Shaking off the strange feeling he opened the door and stepped into the hall outside. Although covered in dust with cobwebs in the corners the hall showed no sign of the water damage that the apartment he just left had suffered from. Even the wall behind that acted as the outside wall of the apartment looked fine, if a bit old.
The long tiles hall had been boarded up windows on one side that let slivers of light in, dimly illuminating the hall. On the opposite side were doors to apartments. However all but the door he stepped out from were either boarded up or had been filled in with cement. When Sky tried to peer outside between the boards all he could see was an impenetrable mist. He could see some dead grass just outside the window, showing that he was on a ground floor, but he could view no more than that. Spotting an unbarred metal door with a push handle at the end of the hall, Sky cantered to it and stepped through.
Beyond the doorway Sky stepped into what appeared to be a lobby. Two wooden dust covered chairs flanked an upward bound staircase to his right. To the left was a closed door and directly before him, across the black and white tiled floor was a pair of double doors leading outside.
A grin burst onto Sky’s face as he bolted for the unbarred exitway. Reaching the door, Sky pushed down on the push handle. Finding the door unlocked Sky let out a shout of pure glee and made to push the door open. Just as the door began to open however something strong slammed into the door from the outside sending Sky falling back onto his plot. Sky watched in horror as the push bars and the gap between the door vanished, leaving a solid plate of metal blocking the exit.
“no...nononoNO!” Sky screamed as he lept at the metal beating against it with his hooves, his face contorted in rage. “This isn’t fair Celestia damn it!”
After spending a moment sitting before the metal barricade looking at his hooves taking deep breaths to calm down Sky began to attempt to think his way around his situation. ‘Something is actively keeping me from getting out of this. Instead it’s like I’m being lead on rails with no choice other than to play by it’s rules to continue.’
“Well then,” mumbled Sky “I guess I have to find a way to open that triple locked door I found before. Wearily rising to his hooves again Sky walked to the door behind the desk. This door was locked by a single bolt lock, the key hole of which was warped making it impossible to open even if he had the key.
With the stair way leading to the second floor being the only avenue left Sky spread his wings, but before taking off he was hit with that feeling of deja vu again. After a moment of looking around, Sky’s eyes widened in shock as his pupils shrunk. “I do know this place!”
The little pink colt Skybridge sat on the lobby chair by the stairs reading his Doctor Whooves adventure book. A toothy grin adorned his face with wide eyed glee as the Doctor defeated the cyber ponies once again. he had borrowed the book from his classmate as he didn't have any books of his own.
“Sky what're you doing here?!”
Sky slapped the book shut and looked up to the double doors of the lobby to see his brother Shield looking at him with panic written on his face.
“Hi Shield!” Sky shouted with glee “I go this book from a friend at school and-”
Shield ran up to his brother,“Sky you were supposed to get dinner started! Dad is gonna be home any minute and if we don’t have things ready-”
Sky’s eyes began to water up in panic “Oh no, I don’t want papa to get angry at me. I just forgot, and now he’s gonna get man and-”
Putting a hoof around Sky’s small frame Shield tried to comfort his little brother. “Hey don’t worry...You get the water boiling and I’ll chop the vegetables. If we hurry and work together we might get it ready in time. Shield wiped a tear off Sky’s face. “And who knows, maybe this will be one of those days he’s late.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sky stared at the chair that he had sat in so long ago. “I do know this place...this is the building in Fillydelphia I lived in with Shield and...dad. That means the room I woke up in was the one I shared with Shield as a colt.”
Sky sighed and rubbed a hoof down his face. This was not somewhere he had wanted to find himself in ever again, and yet it seemed this nightmare had other plans for him.
Shaking off the haze of shock and depression, Sky once more opened his wings and flew up the two flights leading to the hall of second floor apartments. This may have been his old home but nothing had changed, Sky needed to find the keys to that door. This hall looked similar to the first in it’s neglected and aged state. The doors and windows were similarly blockaded except for one door at the middle of the hall. This door bore no number on it, and rather than plain wood like the others had two green glass rows running from the top to the bottom of the door parallel to each other.
Sky opened the door and stepped inside, jumping slightly as the door shut itself behind him. Sky turned back to the room and glanced around. Despite Sky not remembering any such place being in this apartment building, he found himself in what looked like a rather run down pub. Lamps with red shades hung from the ceiling over a collection of circular tables, with stools lined in a row before the bar itself.
On the wall behind the bar there was a collection of bottles containing various amounts of booze, many of which were on their sides, some having spilled their contents down behind the bar. On the bar there sat a large jar filled with clear liquid. The light from the nearby lamps caused something small in the jar to gleam. Sky slowly approached the bar, and when only a few steps away discovered that there was a copper key with an oval shaped handle sitting in the bottom of the jar.
Having discovered what had to be the first key, Sky was about to step forward to get the jar when a noise stopped him. Out of sight behind the bar came the sound of somepony being sick. A gurgling wretch was followed by the sound of liquid hitting the floor and a sizzling sound. Curious, Sky slowly rounded the bar to gaze behind it.
Behind the bar standing over a pony corpse covered in a black tarish liquid stood something out of a nightmare. The creature had the body of a rotting pony, it’s grey hairless body swollen and puffy. The head of the creature was a boneless featureless worm like thing with a round toothless mouth that dripped the black tar onto the corpse beneath it.
Sky was paralyzed at the sight of this aberration. It had clearly killed the pony beneath it and now he had just revealed himself to it. The creature began to take plodding steps toward Sky as he backed away from the beast. Its head raised up, twitching and pulsing and pointing it’s mouth at Sky while it began to make a hideous gagging noise.
Sky’s brain finally registered what was about to happen and, in breaking out of his shock induced state, dove to his right just as a stream of dark ichor sprayed out of the monster into where Sky had just been standing. The liquid hissed and bubbled as it hit the wood floor. Sky realized that the spit must be acidic, if he hadn't moved when he did he would be covered in the stuff.
The creature was already stumbling it’s way uneasily around the corner of the bar. With a flap of his wings Sky dove forward and grabbed the jar from the bar and overturned it dumping the key and water onto the floor. As Sky landed on the floor he heard the familiar gagging sound of the seemingly infuriated beast.
Turning to his left, with the glass jar still in his hooves, he desperately lobbed the it at the creatures head. The jar shattered on impact with the monsters head into a thousand glittering pieces. It let out a low groan of pain from the glass embedded in it. While the monster was distracted, Sky used the moment to grab the key in hoof and fly back to the exit. As he heard the sound of retching over his shoulder, he galloped through the door and slammed it behind him, hearing a splash of liquid hit the other side of the door.
Not wanting to stay near the bar any longer he flew back to the stairs and came to a rest at the third floor. Sky fell to his side, he could barely breath from the panic of seeing the monster..that drunken thing in the bar. It was hard not to keep thinking about it...seeing it in his minds eye. How the creature had walked in that stumbling drunken fashion, and the sounds it made as it vomited the acid. ‘A drunk...seems an appropriate name for that thing in the bar.’
As he struggled to gain control of his breathing and slow his heart he brought the key he had recovered up to his eye, the oval handle was engraved with a closed fist.
A small smile rose to Sky’s face as a sense of accomplishment filled him. “One down Sky..hehe, one down.”
Sky’s pleasant moment was quickly shattered however when he heard a familiar groan of pain from a room down the third floor hallway. The groan was followed by a loud thud, then silence. Rising from the floor Sky looked down the hall and waited for any other noise or sign of another drunk. Sky could see from his position at the stairs that like the second floor, there was a single door unlocked. Slowly Sky glided over to the door, careful not to make any sound.
The door was completely normal in appearance. A simple wood door with a peephole and the number ‘303’ painted on the surface with faded gold paint. Sky placed his hand on the door knob causing it to fall off the door with a thud onto the carpet. The door, no longer held shut, opened just a few centimeters.
As he peaked around the corner from the slightly ajar door he nearly recoiled in fear at the sight of a drunk in the far corner of the room. However, he quickly noticed that the drunk was actually laying on it’s side in a pool of blood. Opening the door fully, Sky stepped inside and cast his eyes around the room looking for any sign of what or who had killed the thing.
The window and door in the apartment were boarded shut, leaving the only way out to be the door Sky had just entered. He knew nothing had left from that door since he made it to the third floor; the fact alone that the door knob had still been on the door seemed to suggest that nopony had entered or left this room at all. ‘Seeing as this monster was in here dead... best to stop trying to understand it.’
The drunk had lacerations all over it’s torso and face that continued to leak copious amounts of blood. A small sheet of paper, spattered in the creatures blood lay on it’s side.
I told you to stay inside! You’re not ready to face him.
I’ll try to help you get back, but you’ll have to stay inside after okay?
Don’t use the hole again- Shield
Sky stared at the note with his jaw slack and eyes wide. A single tear made it’s way down his cheek. Sky had seen the message on the door of his apartment, but that had been different. That had been one weird thing piled on top of a hundred others, easily forgotten in all that had happened. This...this was here and in front of him. Shield had killed this monster and left him this note.
Looking back down at the torn corpse in front of him Sky noticed something else Shield had apparently left for him. On the spot where the note had been was now a silver key with a picture of a shield etched onto the oval top of its handle. As Sky picked up the key Sky found a memory from long ago rising to the surface. Looking at the key in his hoof with a slight frown sky softly spoke “That’s you Shield, always looking out for me...”
Sky lay on the mattress he and his brother shared from the closet. Their father had come home angry again, smelling like those drinks of his. Shield had shoved Sky into their room as soon as the angry colt began yelling.
“You stay in here and don’t make a sound okay? I’ll...handle dad.”
Sky knew what he meant. When dad would get angry he would hide Sky somewhere and take the hits himself. Sky was always so ashamed when it happened. Shield shouldn't have to face dad alone like that, but no matter how much it hurt to listen Sky couldn't willingly put himself before their dad.
The stress of the situation was only made worse by how hard it had become to breathe. If it had not been for Sky’s wheezing there would have been no sounds at all, and thats what really scared him. Before there had been yelling and the sound of objects hitting the wall. Now there was silence ... but Shield still hadn't come back.
Just as Sky was about to muster the courage to open the door to find his brother, Shield opened the door and stepped up onto the mattress. Shield’s left eye was bruised and swollen shut, and there was blood coming from his lip. Sky noticed as his brother slowly walked to the head of the mattress and lay down that Shield was walking with an odd gait. Shield kept his back legs bent at an odd angle away from each other as if it hurt for them to get close together.
Sky cuddled up to his brother with concern. “You got hurt bad this time didn’t you?”
Shield hugged his small brother to his chest, resting his chin on top of Sky’s head. “It’s fine, just a few bruises.”
“But you wouldn't have to get hurt so bad if it wasn't always you.”
“NO! I mean, no I can take it bro. With your condition...you might not make it through okay. It’s my job to protect my little brother. Now get some sleep okay? You have class tomorrow.”
With a slight nod Sky closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Sky lifted his foreleg and wiped away the tears that had formed in his eyes. He hadn't understood the extent of how their father had hurt Shield those nights, but by now he was old enough that he knew. Sky understood just how much Shield had protected him from.
Sky pulled the broken door open the rest of the way and stepped out into the hall. ‘Two of three keyes, and I’m already on the top floor...where could the last key be?’
Rather than walk back to the stairs as he could not think of anywhere they could take him he hadn't already been, Sky walked to the opposite end of the third floor hall. The far end of the hall indented to the right where instead of another apartment door stood an open elevator shaft. Gazing down the shaft Sky could see the the door at the bottom was also open, and there was no sign of the elevator itself.
Flaring his wings Sky stepped into the shaft and floated down to the bottom. he landed in a bare concrete hall that led to the left from the elevator. The hall was illuminated by three evenly spaced lights along the ceiling. Closest to him was a staircase leading up to a door with the broken lock that must have lead back into the lobby from the basement. On the right hoof side of the hall were two doors. The first marked storage was locked. The second door marked boiler room opened easily.
Inside the room let off a continuous hum, keeping the power in the building on. Crouching walk under a low hanging pipe Sky made his way to the back of the room where a small desk with a reading lamp sat. Sitting on the desk in the light of the lamp was a rusted iron key with the symbol of a cloud etched on it’s oval handle.
Upon entering the hall Sky was immediately shoved from the side hard enough to send him sprawling. Sky whipped his head around to the attacker only to spot a drunk looming over him. Sky pushed himself out from under the savage abomination just as it brought it’s head down on the concrete where he had been prone. Sky began backing away from the monster that stood between him and the open elevator shaft. As the creature continued to stumble toward him Sky suddenly heard the sound of gagging from behind him.
Letting out a scream Sky dived against the wall to his right just as a volley of black vomit flew threw the space he had just been and into the face of the first drunk. Sky let off another scream as some of the acidic substance splashed off the floor onto his fetlock burning his skin. At the same time the first drunk let off a deep gurgling groan and fell to it’s side thrashing as the bile hissed and popped, eating away at it’s head and chest.
Despite the burning on his leg Sky took the opportunity to fly over the downed monster and up the elevator shaft. Once he reached the third floor Sky began furiously rubbing his leg against the wall, desperate to get the acidic bile off. When he was finished the wall had a smear of black and red from the mixture of acid and blood on the wound. The leg would have to be cleaned and bandaged but Sky reminded himself that it could have been much worse. All three keys had now been collected and the only place left to go was back where he started. As sky went down the stair and back to the first floor apartment he was careful to peer around corners and flap his wings as softly as possible in case any other monsters had manifested from nowhere while he was gone. Thankfully the trip back into the apartment he woke up in was without incident.
Sky stood in front of the triple locked door and went over the riddle again. ‘okay the shield stands between them so the middle...The cloud would be in the heavens so top...and that leaves the first on the bottom.’
Each key entered it’s lock and turned with a satisfying click. Once all three locks were disengaged the keys fell out of their holes and turned into ash at his hooves. Sky flung his hoof away in surprise, casting the ashes across the carpet next to him. After realising that the strange occurrence was of no harm to him he turned back to the door and taking a deep shuddering breath he pushed the now unlocked door open. beyond the door was a decrepit bathroom. The toilet was broken apart and the mirror on the wall smashed. Water covered the floor and flowed down the walls in streams. Sky slowly turned his head to face the tub as he remembered how everything changed for him in this room.
Things had been quiet for too long this time. Sky had been sitting on the mattress by himself waiting for Shield to come back in for what must have been hours. There had been the yelling and hitting again, and like the last few years there would be a long silence after. This time though the silence had gone for much, much longer. Sky carefully pushed the door open and peaked around. The living area was dark a faint light came from the open door to dad’s room. Sky walked on the tips of his hooves into his dad’s room.
The bed was empty with the sheets ragged and laying off the side of the bed. The source of the light was coming from the open bathroom door. Sky peeked into the bathroom carefully.
In the bathroom Shield sat next to the tub with a blank expression on his face. There was an empty bottle of whiskey on the floor by the tub.
“Shield...are you okay?”
Shield slowly turned his head to look at Sky and without changing the expression on his face said in a monotone voice “I will be Sky” He turned to look into the tub again “We both will be now.”
“What are you talking about?” Sky said as he slowly approached. Shield said nothing and continued to stare into the tub. As Sky reached his brother he looked into the tub and his breath caught in his throat.
Inside the tub laying face up motionless beneath the water was their father. The water tinged slightly brown from the whiskey.
Carefully Sky repeated his performance from memory, and looked into the tub. Inside the tub, rather than a bottom was an opening that had a ramp of porcelain with water flowing down it into the dark. hesitating for a few moments Sky ensured his bags were secured to his sides and climbed over the wall of the tub and slid down the ramp.
He slid down the wet porcelain for several minutes. Eventually the porcelain walls to his sides gave way to sheets of metal bolted together. As he flew faster down the ramp Sky began to hear a siren permeating the air from all sides.
The ramp begun to even out slowing his descent before depositing him into water several meters below him. The water was only chest deep causing Sky to hit the floor on his back with a painful grunt. As Sky got to his hooves in the murky water there was a loud metal clang from behind him. Looking back and above Sky saw that a metal grate had slid down and blocked off the ramp he had come in from.
Looking around the room Sky saw that he had been deposited into a space about the size of a tennis court. Red flickering light entered the room from grates along the room where the metal rusty walls met the roof.
You little shit... a deep booming voice spoke from seemingly everywhere at once.
“Wha..what” said Sky as he searched the gloom around him.
You weak little pusbag, how dare you come back here?!
“I didn’t want...who are you?!” Sky was beginning to panic now, sweat gathering on his already soaked brow.
You know who I am!
“d-dad?” he squeaked
Shield isn’t here now...now it’s just you and..me!
The monster towered over Sky by a full pony length. It’s front hooves were wider than Sky’s barrel. As it stood before Sky, water continuing to pour from it’s stitched closed mouth and rotten flesh it let out the same roar of rage that had assaulted Sky in the boiler room. Only with the creature right in front of him the force of the sound was enough to send Sky tumbling head over hooves in the water.
Before Sky could get back up the creature lunged forward seemingly not impeded by the water at all, and swung one of it’s powerful forelimbs into Sky’s side, rocketing him into the air. Sky hit the wall on his other side with a sickening crack. Pain erupted from Sky’s right side. The bones of his wing had shattered from the force of hitting the wall, and he was having trouble breathing between what was turning into a strong asthma attack and the pain in his ribs that stabbed with each breath.
Sky was so focused on his pain that it was too late when he noticed that the monster had made it’s way over to his trembling form. Sky screamed as the creature lifted him and pinned his body against the wall applying enough pressure to stop his breathing. The monster stared at him with empty eye sockets and gurgled out what sounded like a laugh. Sky’s vision began to darken as his body screamed in pain. ‘This is it...i’m going to die in this place.’
The beast released Sky from the wall with another rage filled roar as something flew into the side of it’s head. Sky leaned against the wall in a struggle to keep himself above the water level. Even with the monsters hoof no longer pinning him he could barely bring air into his lungs and his head spun. Sky watched as something flew around the monster beating it in the head and sides with a heavy pipe. Sky’s eyes widened in disbelief as he realized it was Shield.
Shield flew around the creature drawing blood and cries of pain from it with his weapon. He dodged the slow sweeps of it’s legs only to counter with more harsh strikes. Finally with a crack Shield embedded the pipe through one of the monsters eyes. As it shrieked in pain and rage Shield turned and slammed his rear hoof into the end of the pipe pushing it deep into the monsters skull.
The monster stood perfectly still for a moment, then crashed forward into the water leaving it’s bloody head submerged.
Sky sat against the wall with only his head above the water as he gasped for breath with a smile on his face. Shield was here, right in front of him. Shield had saved his life.
Shield walked up to the wall next to Sky and tapped the wall with a hoof. A series of red circles filled with runes glowed red briefly on the metal wall only to fade, leaving a large hole in the wall with impenetrable darkness beyond it.
Reaching over Shield lifted Sky up and placed him in front of the hole.
“I told you not to leave your apartment but you did anyway and now you got hurt!”
“buh..buh i juhs” Sky tried to wheeze out.
“No buts Sky. It’s my job to protect you and I can only do that if you stay inside.”
Sky struggled to ask his brother what was happening, but only managed a few harsh coughs. He was distraught; his head racing with questions, his body burning with pain. The only words he could muster came out in sharp gasps and shallow wheezes. He felt his composure returning ... slowly. It had been so long, to be able to talk to his brother once more would be the only thing making this nightmare bearable. He felt fresh air fill his lungs and opened his mouth to speak, but before Sky could utter a sound, Shield put both of his forelegs against Sky’s chest and pushed him into the dark hole.
Sky drew the bow across the strings of his cello with practiced ease. His eyes, puffy and bloodshot from crying were closed and his head tilted to the ground as he held the cello’s neck with his left wing. A torn off piece of his bed sheet was wrapped around his barrel, holding the shattered remains of his right wing in place.
Sky perhaps would have thought his experience had all been a dream when he woke in his bed, had it not been for the very real broken bones in his wing and his throat sore from struggling to breath. As Sky continued to play his mind wandered to what he had found when he had struggled out of his bed. The drawer of his desk that the day before had been impossible to pry open had been opened wide.
Inside the drawer was a scrap of aged yellow paper that bore wrinkles as if it had been crumpled up and thrown away to be forgotten. The message on the paper continued to leave Sky confused even now, making it all the more difficult to clear his mind and play.
Remember, the doctor always lies
-Shield
Resigning himself to the fact that he could not give his playing the proper attention it deserved Sky placed the cello back in it’s case against the wall. Sky glanced at the window with it’s curtains drawn shut. It seemed like ages since he had been outside, or for that matter even seen the outside. Eager to view a change of scenery even for a short time Sky approached the window and drew open the shades to reveal Ponyville outside.
Sky recoiled in shock at the condition of the town outside his window. The sky over Ponyville was covered in a layer of angry dark clouds that blocked the sun’s rays, leaving the deserted foggy streets dark and gloomy. The houses that lined the street opposite of the apartment looked aged and forgotten, with peeling paint, missing chunks of roof, and boarded up windows and doors. There was no sign of life anywhere in sight of Sky’s window. ‘How long have I been gone?’
Slowly Sky backed away from the window trying to understand what he was seeing. He felt like he couldn't have been gone more than a day, and yet if what he was seeing outside was to be believed it must have been years. Sky looked back to the window and splayed his ears back as his face hardened. ‘I...have to get out of this somehow, I just have to.’
Just then there was a knock at the front door joined by a familiar energetic voice. “Heeeeres Pinkie! And this time I have Mr. Quick Set here with me to unlock the door!”
Sky took on a confused look, raiding his left brow into the air with his mouth slightly ajar.
“If Pinkie is out there with the locksmith...then it can’t have been more than a day since I went into the hole!”
Sky heard another voice, this one a raspy male voice like an old smoker spoke up from beyond the door.
“Who are you talking to? I thought the Sunderland said there was no one in there?”
Sky bolted over to the door. He knew they probably wouldn't hear him but at this point he cared very little. It would be a blessing just to see that smiling, crazy, pink mare after all the pain, depression, and fear his life had become since getting trapped here. But as Sky ran toward the door a throbbing pain started to form in his head, getting stronger as he rapidly approached it. Unable to stop in time from his dash to the door, Sky reached the chained exit only to screech in agony and jump away, luckily landing on his left side away from his broken wing.
When Sky had reached the door the throbbing in his head had exploded into a world of agony, feeling like shards of glass were being run through his grey matter. As Sky scrambled away from the door to escape the pain that faded with distance Sky recognised voices speaking again.
“Okay, what the hay! This princess blasted lock is stuck tight! I can’t even break the thing open!”
“Hmmmmmm? Oh! oh! oh! I know what to do! I’ll just look in the window, maybe I’ll see what's wrong with the door! Or even see Sky, hooray!”
Barely a second passed between Pinkie finishing her sentence and the sound of a ladder hitting the wall outside the living areas window. Followed by a Pinkies face pressed up against the glass, a look of extreme concentration on her face. Sky got to his hooves and looked to the window. Behind Pinkie the town continued to look deserted and foreboding but she showed no sign being aware of it. What Pinkie did show was a face of mounting concern, quickly advancing to that of fear.
“Oh no...” Pinkie said in a much more somber voice, her hair falling flat on her head. “I know this... Sky, I don’t know if you can here me or not but I’m going to get help I promise!”
With that Pinkie jumped straight off the ladder and bolted down the street, quickly being hidden by the mist. All the while the scraping of Quick Set could be heard at the door as he continued his fruitless struggle with the unyielding blockade.
It had been hours since Pinkie had left with her strange promise of help. Sky couldn't be sure exactly how long with his clock no longer working and the scenery outside unchanging. Hunger and thirst had convinced him to eat the last remaining carrots from his bag and the refrigerator. Luckily water still flowed from the kitchen tap rather than a less savory fluid.
Sky attempted to pass the time once again with his cello. The somber drifting music helped to calm his mind and think about his options. ‘ I have no food left and nothing anyone does to get into this room seems to be of any use. Sky’s thoughts returned to the hole in his bathroom. ‘I don't want to go in there again, besides Shield told me not to...’ The bow slipped across the strings before Sky quickly righted it continuing the song. Shield had told him not to leave the apartment, but leaving meant possibly seeing him again. it could even mean being able to talk to him again.
Sky thought about Pinkie. ‘ I should probably wait for her to come back...maybe she can really help.’
Sky shook his head slowly, after everything that had happened there was no reason to believe it would be that easy. This place wouldn't let him out that easily, that he was sure of by now. Once again placing his cello back in it’s case Sky walked to the open bathroom. Inside the whole was still there, but with a new addition. Surrounding the outside of the hole was a black circle with strange runes between it and the edge of the hole. Sky recognised the runes to be the same ones that had appeared when Shield had touched the wall in the flooded room. Were those symbols connected to Shield somehow?
Sky’s legs trembled as he approached the hole. If he did this he might find his way out, he might see Shield again. But Shield had told him in no uncertain terms not to... and Shield always knew what was best for him. Sky’s mind returned to the note he had found when waking up.
“The doctor always lies...” Sky muttered.
Perhaps the meaning would make itself known when he reached whatever lay beyond. Sky felt that things wouldn't be the same when he traveled through this time. He had to real reason to think that, it just seemed to make sense to him for some reason. The hole would not take him back to the apartments, this time it was going to take him somewhere new.
With a last deep breath and a softly spoken apology to Shield for disobeying, Sky climbed into the hole while carefully avoiding scraping his wing on the wall. The experience of falling happened once more. However, Sky felt no panic this time as he fell toward the light. To fall to his death would be too quick and merciful... no, this place would not let it be that easy...it was never that easy.
Sky’s eyes snapped awake as he drew his first rattling breath, the air moving into his lungs like a thick milkshake through a straw. It had been too long since Sky’s inhaler had run out and his breathing would only continue to get worse. Sky realized that whatever else waited for him in the future, the sword of Ponecles would be waiting above him, ready to fall. With a groan Sky sat up in the dark space, feeling soft cushioned space beneath him. Unable to see in the darkness, Sky reached out with his forelegs feeling the area around him. The space was a small cube only large enough to fit two ponies side by side. The ceiling was only a few hooves over his head and like the floor and walls, was covered in the same soft cloth.
Sky began to frantically search the soft room for any other features, some sign of an exit from the small dark space. Sky’s search came to a halt as a muffled noise reached him from the right side of the room. Pressing his ear against the wall Sky held his breath and listened for the noise. Just as he was about to shrug it off the noise returned, a long low moan coming from beyond the confines of Sky’s enclosure.
Sky drew a deep breath before shouting as loudly as he could manage “Hey! Hey can you hear me! I’m trapped, can you let me out?”
The moan repeated with no sign of acknowledgment from whatever produced it. Sky was about to repeat himself when a burst of blinding light and the noise of something sliding away hit him. Looking to the wall at his side, a small slot in the wall had opened letting in light from the outside. As he looked into the light, letting his eyes adjust he shakily uttered “He-hello? Who’s out there?”
A pony’s face came to the front of the door, silhouetted against the light. Seeing someone brought a small glimmer of hope to Sky. Letting a nervous smile adorn his face Sky said “I don’t know where I am.” Looking to the broken wing tied to his side and back to the pony “ I’m hurt, could you let me out please?”
The pony outside the door stood silent, continuing to simply observe Sky inside the room. Beginning to get frustrated Sky grit his teeth and shouted out “Stop bucking with me and open the damn door you...piece...of-”
It was then that as his eyes adjusted to the light Sky could finally make out the face of his visitor. A tangled grey mane lay flat between the ears of a tan pony. The most striking feature Sky could make out however was that the pony ‘looking’ at him had no eyes, merely red hollow sockets. Sky felt that he should be frightened of the creature, but as he looked into the eyeless face of the pony Sky strangely felt only a sense of calm. For the first time in a long while it felt like everything would be okay.
Sky shook his head to clear his thoughts and realized the slot in the wall was now vacant. The click clack of metal striking linoleum could be heard moving away from the door and stopping nearby. Sky stood on his hind legs bracing himself against the padded wall and tried to look out as best he could. Outside his cell was a small brown room with a door across from him. To his right he could just make out the grey tail of the eyeless stallion, the tail became blocked from sight however as a door to the space next to him opened.
With the door to the next room open Sky could now clearly make out the moans of whomever was in the cell.
“Hey, who’s over there? What are you doi-”
Sky’s question died in his throat as the moan was cut off with a sickening crunch, followed by a wet sucking pop. He sat in silence for a moment until the metallic click clack noise marked the return of the mystery stallion. This time the stallion walked by the cell as it approached the door across from Sky’s cell. Sky’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped in horror. The stallion looked very much alive, as opposed to the creatures of death and rot he had seen before. It’s lifelike look however, simply made the differences stand out all the more horribly. In the place of hooves was a long metal spike attached to each leg. that produced the click clack noise as they struck the tile floor. The stallion’s coat was entirely a light tan brown and his mane and tail an unkempt grey. It’s flank was adorned with no cutie mark.
As the stallion opened the far door it turned it’s eyeless gaze back to Sky for a moment. Sky was once again struck by a sense of calm in juxtaposition to what he was seeing. Under the eyeless face of the stallion, in place of a mouth was a long needle which was currently covered in dripping blood. The stallion turned away and left the room, closing the door behind it with a back leg.
The moment the exit closed the padded door that Sky was bracing himself on let out a click and swung open, leaving Sky to fall to the ground with a frightened yelp. Groaning from the pain of his already bruised body hitting the cold hard floor Sky rose to his hooves and stared at the door for a moment to see if the stallion would return. After ensuring that the door did not open again Sky looked to the room on his right that stood open still.
He slowly walked over to the room, not sure if he wanted to see what was within or not. Slowly peeking around the door Sky looked into the room. Sky gasped in fright at the scene. Inside the room was a yellow green tailed mare laying on her side in a pool of blood. The mares head had been punctured on top between the ears and blood had pored over her face obscuring her thin features and the color of her matted mane.
Sky looked away and staggered a few steps before hunching over and vomiting. After he finally finished heaving he wiped the tears from his face with his foreleg and spat several times on the floor to remove the remnants from his mouth. As much as Sky did not wish to follow the creature that had murdered that trapped mare, Sky knew it was the only exit from the room.
Slowly opening the door Sky peeked his head outside. The hall outside was a sterile white. The tiled floor, ceiling, and walls were all completely blank aside from a small sign on the wall next to his door that bore the word ‘ISOLATION’. He quietly stepped out of the room, flinching at the loud noise of the door slamming itself shut behind him.
Hearing no noise from the hallway he walked the short distance before the hall branched into a “T”. To his left a pile of rubble blocked the hall from where the ceiling appeared to have caved in. Looking to his right, Sky could see clearly down along the wall of the hall, an exit sign dimly glowed over a doorway.
Still attempting to be silent Sky moved with haste toward the exit. As Sky passed a door with the sign ‘Psychiatric Nurses Station’ he heard a noise like a low thud coming from within. Sky froze by the door, startled at first, then deliberating if he should check inside or not. Deciding that like him and the murdered mare there might be other ponies here he opened the door as slowly and quietly as he could manage.
The room inside bore several desks with writing utensils and paper, as well as three large cabinets. On the far side of the large square room stood a white mare with a pink mane and tail. Covering most of her body was a pair of blue medical scrubs. While trying to exercise some amount of caution, Sky grabbed hold of a wooden office chair that sat at the desk by the door and took a few steps toward the nurse.
“Hey, are you okay? My names Sky, and I’m lost. Who are you?”
The ‘nurse’ slowly turned to face Sky, revealing that like the stallion before, her eye sockets were empty. Only unlike the stallion her mouth looked to have been replaced with what had to be some kind of megaphone. Before Sky could even process what he was seeing the nurse let out a deafening screech, like sharpened nails on a chalkboard. As the nurse wailed she made no advance toward Sky. Dropping the chair and laying his ears back against his head Sky ran out of the room and slammed the door shut; he could still hear the screech coming from the other side but it was no longer unbearable.
Just after getting away from the screeching nurse, a new noise quickly drew his attention. The door to the stairs slammed open beneath the exit sign down the hall. The stallion flanked by two nurses walked into the hall and turned to face Sky.
‘ Why was I trying to get away from here again? They just want to help me.’ Sky thought to himself as he looked into the stallions eyes during their slow approach.
As they drew closer and Sky sank deeper into his stupor, Shields voice suddenly thundered in his mind “You have to get away from the Doctor! Hide! NOW!”
Sky’s eyes widened in fear as he realized what he was doing. Seeing that there was nowhere else to run Sky dove back into the nurse’s station slamming the door shut and turning the lock from inside. The nurse inside continued to scream as the Creatures outside pounded at the door. Dashing forward Sky grabbed the chair he had dropped in front of the nurse and rose it above him.
“Shut up! Shut up or I’ll...I’ll hit you!”
The nurse continued to scream despite the warning while the pounding started to shake the door dangerously. Scrunching his eyes shut Sky brought the chair down on the nurses head, knocking her flat out onto the ground. Still she continued to let out her ear splitting screech so desperately even as Sky continued to bring the chair down on her again and again shouting “Shut up!” with each swing. Emitting a distorted warble the nurse finally went silent.
Sky opened his tear streaked eyes to the gory scene below him. The nurse's head was split open and there were lacerations on her withers and chest from where the chair had struck her. Blood covered what remained of the chair in his grip as well as Sky’s fore legs, chest and barrel. Most horrifying of all however was that the slaughtered nurse below him no longer sported a loudspeaker on an eyeless face, but rather a pair of eyes as pink as her mane wide with terror and glazed with death. Her mouth open in a silent scream of broken teeth and blood.
“What...no, nonononononono. No! She..she was a monster. Oh Celestia she was a monster.”
Sky may have broken down right then and there if a particularly hard hit to the door hadn't produced a crunch of breaking wood. Remembering his situation, Sky looked for any escape but saw none. ‘What do I do?!’
The door fell open with a final blow and the two nurses standing beside the doctor let their back hooves touch back to the ground. Six empty eye sockets gazed into the room to find it empty aside from a battered corpse in the center of the room. The two nurses walked forward and hooked a foreleg each around the corpse, dragging it out of the room leaving a trail of blood in their wake. The doctor slowly turning his head to give the room a final look, turned and left closing the door behind him.
Sky opened one of the large cabinets and stumbled out into the room, gasping and holding his chest. “Holding...breath...for so long...not a good idea.”
After catching what breath he could Sky peeked outside the room, looking both ways in the outside hall. Seeing no sign of the Doctor, or strangely enough the blood trail which seemed to end just outside the room; Sky galloped over to the exit stairs and flung the door open, dashing down the stairs two at a time.
Sky reached the flat turn of the third floor turnoff and barely had time to stop himself before smacking into the chain link barrier that blocked access to further down the stairs. A note written on a prescription pad was clipped to the barrier. He pulled it off and read the typed message.
You can’t move on if you don’t recognize the problem.
Sky let out an exasperated sigh and turned to look at the third floor entrance while collapsing onto his haunches. “Oh course...why should it be easy.”
Sky sat there for some time, a blank expression and glazed eyes painted his face as he tried to come to terms with what had just occurred. ‘They’re monsters...not ponies. That, that thing was a monster...but then it ... she, was a pony. Sky’s face let out an irritated twitch. ‘Ugh! NO! She was a monster ... this place is screwing with me! I know what I saw.'
“I’m not a murderer...” Sky said as his face took on a determined scowl. “You hear that you bastards! I. Am. Not. A. Murderer.”
Newly determined to get out of this alive, and with sanity intact Sky drew a calming yet rattling breath and stepped into the third floor of the facility. Only to immediately dive behind an overturned gurney laying by the left wall ahead of where he entered from. Down the bright hall was a single nurse currently walking away towards the far end of the hall. Sky could make out a line of doorways along the left wall and two turn offs on the right side.
The doors were all numbered and appeared to be rooms for patients. The closest right turnoff had a sign that read ‘RADIOLOGY’ and was cloaked in darkness, as the light in that hall appeared to be blown out. The farther right turnoff was exceptionally brightly lit, while the sign was too far away to make out.
Looking back to the nurse Sky saw she had reached the end of the hall and had turned around, coming back to his end of the hall! Diving back down behind the gurney Sky hoped she hadn't seen him and cursed his overly bright pink coat.
Sky waited until the hoof steps of the nurse were very close before taking one last deep breath and holding it to silence all noise. As he hid behind the gurney holding his breath the nurse walked past, failing to notice him in her peripheral. Getting up he quickly padded his way to the first turn off and hid in the dark, finally letting himself breath again. As the nurse made her return trip through the hall Sky followed her at a slight distance, sweat collecting on his forehead as he silently followed the nurse. Once she had passed the second turn off he went went for it.
Now within the hall he could see that the sign which he couldn't make out actually had it’s letters scratched out, making it illegible and leaving the contents of the door a mystery. Suddenly aware that he was in plane sight, and that the nurse would soon be walking by again, he grabbed the door handle and pushed it open. Beyond the door a blinding light glared into his eyes and Sky felt the world around him losing focus. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“We've had this discussion a thousand times Sky! No, you can’t go to the park. If you want to go outside you can go to the back yard where it’s fenced in.”
Sky had known what the answer would be before he even asked Shield. He knew he was being selfish, that Shield couldn't keep him safe out in the world. Sky couldn't help it though. It was his twelfth birthday and he didn't even know anyone to invite...just Shield and himself, like always.
“Hey little guy, you know I don't do this to cause I like it. You’re just a little too...frail to go out there.”
Sky nodded his head while looking at the floor despondently.
Shield put his hoof under Sky’s chin forcing him to look in Shields eyes. “Friends are overrated anyway” Shield said with a smile. “You have something better. You have family, now let’s turn that frown upside down! We can play pin the tail on the pony, your favorite!”
The idea brought some happiness to Sky, but he couldn't help but still feel sad to just be with his brother. ‘You’re so selfish...’
Sky blinked away the echo of light from his corneas, now looking into a completely empty blue room with a white tile floor.
“What in Celestia’s blood soaked Tartarus was that?!” Sky said with a bewildered look on his face. It had been..a memory? Sky remembered how his brother had always insisted on staying inside as much as possible. Sky had been home schooled, and...didn't have friends?
The sudden surge of memories had left him feeling confused and disoriented. He could swear that a moment ago he hadn't known this, but he could remember it now as clear as day. Had that isolation really been his life? ...Had that even changed now?
The screech of a nurse quickly shook him out of his state as he quickly turned to see the patrolling nurse had spotted him.
“Oh buck!” He screamed, eyes wide.
Sky darted past the nurse into the hall only to immediately come to a stop as he spotted the Doctor with his ever present nurses coming down the hall. With Sky’s way back to the stairs cut off he did all he could think of and ran back to the room that had awakened his memory and closed the door, sliding the bolt closed with a click.
Wheezing Sky backed away from the door simply repeating “Oh buck oh buck oh buck” under his breath.
The door began shuddering from impacting hooves on the other side. Sky looked around the room desperately, but it was completely bare with nowhere to hide this time. Just as Sky was about to give up the last scrap of hope he had left, his panicked eyes caught something rattling near the ceiling on the wall. There, with it’s cover dangling half off, was a vent.
Sky ran over and jumped up grabbing onto the cover with both hooves. Dangling there, Sky wiggled his body around trying to get the cover to come completely off of the vent. With a final strong twist the vent cover snapped off letting Sky fall to the floor, directly onto his broken wing. Eyes wide and mouth open in a barely audible scream from the pain Sky rolled onto his stomach.
The door gave a mighty shudder as the top hinge partly gave way, two of it’s screws coming loose from the wall. With the urge to live overcoming his pain for the moment, Sky returned to the vent and jumped up to it grabbing onto its edge with his hooves. Unfortunately upper body strength was not Sky’s forte and he held there struggling to pull himself up.
With a final crash the door came down and the sound of hooves and mental clinks sounded on the floor behind him. With a final adrenalin fueled pull, Sky squeezed his body into the ventilation shaft and wormed away from the entrance as quickly as he could into the dark shaft.
After many long minutes of squeezing and coughing his way through the dark and dusty shaft, Sky made it to a closed grate leading into another bare room. Judging from the placement of the room Sky figured it must be the first turnoff from the third floor hallway.
With a few pounds from his hooves the cover fell off and Sky carefully lowered himself into the room, falling the last few hooves distance onto his stomach with a grunt. Sky quickly made his way over to the door and slid the bolt to unlock it. Looking outside Sky saw no sign of the Doctor and the single nurse continued to stand where she had spotted Sky, but was making no noise.
Silently, Sky crept back into the stairwell and closed the door.
The barricade blocking the way down was now gone without a trace, as was the note he had torn off. With his path clear Sky trotted down the stairs at a brisk pace, but avoided running so as not to crash into any other surprises as he almost had before. Sky’s caution was soon rewarded as he came to the second floor entrance with another chain link gate blocking the way down.
You are making good progress but there is more to accept before you are ready.
Sky rolled his eyes and slumped his shoulders “This is ridiculous...what are you gonna make me remember? More shit I already know?” Sky chose to ignore that he couldn't seem to have remembered his previous isolation before he had looked into the third floor room.
Sky opened the second floor door and found himself with a few hoof lengths before a right hoof turn would lead from the stairway entrance to the hallway proper. He could hear the sound of multiple hoof steps coming from the hall so, staying close to the ground Sky crept up to the corner and looked around it.
The hall held an identical design to the floor above and was just as plain and sterile as the rest of this facility. Three nurses patrolled the area. One nurse patrolled up and down the main hall while a nurse patrolled the first turn off with a third patrolling the farthest turn off. All of the doors along the left side of the hall had a small red light over them, paired next to each red was an unlit green light, probably signifying the doors as sealed. Once again it was the door on the furthest right turnoff that had the brightest light issuing from it. Although this time the first turn off was not dark, eliminating it’s use as a hiding spot from the halls patrol.
Sky analyzed the hall for how he might get to the other end without having a nurse call the doctor. Along the hall to the left and right were several gurneys and metal carts that seemed to be designed for delivering food to the rooms.
Sky crept over the a gurney, the cloth draped over it providing cover. As the main patrol walked away sky made his way from one source of cover to the next, taking care to stop before the first turnoff. He would have to make his way past when the main hall nurse and the turnoff nurse were both facing away. Unfortunately that meant playing his luck again with the main hall nurse walking past him , as it would be then that the turn off nurse would also patrol away giving him a chance to get to the metal cart at the second turnoff.
Sky waited with baited breath as the imitation pony nurse made it’s way past him down the hall. He climbed out from under the gurney on it’s other side and, as quiet as he could manage cantered over to the delivery cart to hide on the opposite side. It was then that Sky realized his mistake, as being on this side of the cart hid him from the main hall nurse who was patrolling back, but put him in plain view of the second turnoff nurse who would soon be coming to the main hall. As the main hall nurse made her way past Sky who was pressing himself as tightly against the wall as he could, he could hear the hoofsteps of the second turn off nurse approaching the main hall. Sky looked around desperately, not knowing what even to be looking for.
Sky spotted a glass cup sitting on top of the delivery tray he was hiding against and formed a very quick, very risky plan. Waiting until the turnoff nurse was about to reach the hall, Sky threw the glass cup down the hall as hard as he could. With a loud crash the glass shattered on the flood several meters ahead of the main hall nurse.
For a terrifying moment both nurses came to a stop. Sky let a breath of relief when he saw both nurses quickly walk to the end of the hall to investigate the noise. With the turnoff clear, he made his way over to the door at the end of it that had a placard reading ‘THERAPY ROOM’ on it’s face.
Taking a moment to prepare for what might be beyond, Sky opened the door and is bathed in light.
“I want to be in a room without a camera. I’m sick of you always watching me.”
Sky lay on the plush red couch across from the Doctor with a sneer on his face. He hadn’t been given a moment of privacy since he got here and it was grating on his nerves. “From one to another” he muttered.
The doctor looked at Sky, his circular glasses hiding his eyes behind their sheen. “What was that Sky?”
“You heard me!”
The doctor took a moment, running his hoof through his grey mane as he searched for the best way to answer.
“Well Sky, you see we just need to keep an eye on you for now because after what happened we feel you might be a little...frail at the moment. And we don’t want you to make any...rash decisions. Understand?”
Sky looked at the doctor raising an eyebrow “What are you talking about? After what happened?”
The doctors lips moved in response but the words were muffled and unintelligible. Sky’s rage filled response however was clear as day. “Don’t you bucking talk about him! You shut your lying Celestia damned mouth or I’ll kill you myself!”
Sky blinked the light away and found himself looking into a dilapidated room. The walls were peeling and the tile floor was stained and missing chunks. Looking behind him Sky saw the rest of the hall was now similarly degraded. The light over him was now a dim and flickering pulse of sickly yellow, and listening closely he could no longer hear the noise of footsteps coming from the hall.
‘Is this the same place?’ Sky was able to confirm that this was in fact the same hall when he spotted the therapy room sign laying on the floor in the doorway. With no sound of the nurses in this new version of the hallway, Sky walked out of the turnoff and rounded the corner. No sooner did he turn that he stopped directly in front of the Doctor, his two nurses flanking him as silently as the grave to either side.
Sky began to back away in fright the moment his eyes lay on the Doctor. For every step Sky took backwards however, the metal spikes of the doctors legs would clink against the broken tiles. The more Sky thought about it though he realized he didn’t even know why he was backing away. ‘I’m being a big baby about this. He looks weird, but I feel like I can trust him.’
Sky now had his rear to the wall as the Doctor bore down on him, nurses in tow. ‘Ya, thats it. I’m gonna sit here like a good pony and just...let him help me. All this can finally end.’
The Doctor now stood, towering over Sky and began to lean down bringing his metal proboscis closer to Sky’s head. As the needle approached, Sky resigned himself for what was to come and sat down on the floor. As Sky sat down the broken glass of a cup dug into his haunches, drawing blood with a sharp pain. The sudden pain jolted Sky out of his stupor just in time for him to dive to the side with a scream of “No!”.
The Doctors mouth missed it’s target of Sky’s head, instead leaving a shallow scrape on Sky’s front leg. Panicked, Sky plowed his way between the nurses and bolted for the stairway door around the corner. Nearing his target Sky chanced a glance around to see that the Doctor and his nurses had not moved from the spot at the end of the hall and instead seemed content to watch him run.
Reaching the door, Sky went into the stairway and slammed the door shut with a buck of his rear hooves. Sky lay on his side cradling his front leg. He had to take a long time before his breathing was under control and he no longer felt like he would pass out, although he had no idea how long as he had no watch.
Getting up, Sky saw as expected the chain link gate was gone. Climbing down the damp stairs, Sky finally reached the ground floor stairway entrance. Sky placed his ear against the rusted door and listened, carefully taking note of the sound of hoofsteps from beyond. When the sound began to fade further away he decided to take his chance and open the door.
Strait ahead Sky could see a hall with a nurse standing still and facing away from him, while to his left a much longer hall stretched down with a nurse walking away from him down it. Sky ducked into the hall with the unmoving nurse and considered his options. If he wanted to get further down this hall to where it turned off to the right, he would have to get past the nurse without her noticing. But since she is just standing there he can't avoid her by using a patrol route. Sky knew soon the other nurse would return on her patrol, and he couldn't be standing here when she did. Furthermore he couldn't go back to the stairs since with her facing his way in her patrol she would see him and set off her hideous alarm.
“I really hope this works...” Sky muttered under his breath
Dashing forward as quick as he could he tackled the nurse in front of him to the ground. The moment she hit the ground Sky threw his uncut foreleg around the front of her throat and pulled up with all the strength he could muster, bracing his rear legs against her back.
The nurse made some weak sputtering noises from her megaphone as he cut off her air. She thrashed her body strongly enough that it almost threw Sky off her back, but he held strong. Finally her thrashing slowed until it stopped altogether and she ceased making any noise at all. Sky watched as in the blink of an eye her empty sockets were replaced with golden eyes and her megaphone vanished into thin air leaving a mouth of pearly white teeth.
Shaken but held in focus by the sound of approaching hoof steps from the hall behind him, Sky hooked his injured foreleg under barrel and dragged her down the hall hiding the corpse around the corner. Hopefully the other nurse wouldn't investigate the now missing guard.
Taking a moment to ensure the other nurse was indeed walking away he purposefully avoided thinking about the dead nurses transformation. Once the hoofsteps had faded he turned to the new hall. Straight ahead where to doors, one to his right and one to his left. Past them the hall was blocked with a pile of moldy cardboard, wood crates, and rusted hospital equipment.
The door on the right had a red glowing ‘EXIT’ sign over it. Having learned his lesson about ever being optimistic in this place Sky slowly approached the exit. Another note was taped to the door and on trying the handle Sky found the door to be locked. Sky ripped down the note and read it.
When you have taken your final step, you have my permission to leave.
Sky turned to face the door behind him. The sign on the old cracked door read ‘OFFICE’ and scratched crudely under the sign was the message
Dont believe his lies -Shield.
With a moments hesitation, Sky hardened his face and stated simply “...No...”
Sky lay in bed crying. he was a young adult now at seventeen years, he had no business crying here, curled up like an infant. It hurt though, it didn't always hurt but when it did he couldn't help but cry. Sky took a pull from his inhaler and tried to remember a time before the pain came. A time in his life that he didn't have to worry if tonight would be another of those nights, but sadly he came up short.
The door to his room creaked open and Shield stepped inside.
“Hey Sky..I heard you crying. Are you okay?”
Sniffling Sky rolled over to face Shield and put on a poor fake smile, Sky was never a good liar.
“Ya...I’ll be fine.”
“Well, if you say so.” Shield looked less than sure. “You gonna be up for Pondside Amusement Park tomorrow?”
Sky simply nodded his head while continuing to give that fake smile. Shield gave a smile of his own, looking much more sincere and stepped out closing the door.
“I..I don’t understand what you want. I don’t know where these memories are coming from, or why I’m suddenly remembering them now.” Sky turned his gaze to the ground. “But I don’t think I want to remember any more. Just...just get it over with.”
The Doctor stood still for a long silent moment, then took a step forward and began lowering his mouth to Sky’s unmoving head.
Suddenly the exit door flew open and Shield ran forward past the shocked form of Sky and pushed the Doctor away with a kick of his front legs. The Doctor made no noise when struck, but began backing away thrashing his head about. The spots where Shields hooves had hit the doctor burned and hissed, flame spreading over the doctors body as it fell to the ground thrashing in pain.
Shield turned to Sky with absolute rage in his eyes. Before Sky could even utter a word, Shield grabbed him by the throat and dragged him to the exit.
“You left your room! You disobeyed me! You didn’t listen to my warnings! And now that I’m here, I find you about to let that monster have you?!”
He could barely choke out a word from Shields iron grip on his throat. “I.. I couldn’t”
Shield snarled at Sky and lifted him off the ground “No excuses! You disobeyed me and you need to be punished! I’m closing the hole and you are STAYING INSIDE!”
And with that final roar from Shield, Sky was tossed into the light beyond the exit.
Sky woke with a raspy groan, his throat sore from heavy breathing. He winced as he turned over and rose from his bed. Every part of his body felt unbearably sore between his broken wing, cut leg, and generally bruised form. Sky stood there for a moment thinking over what had just transpired in the nightmare. He had been ready to give up and let the monster have him. He was just so tired. Tired of running. Tired of fighting, of being scared. Most of all, he was tired of being alone. Sky smirked as he went over that last complaint. He had spent most of his life in one form of isolation or another, and now only when it’s being so strongly enforced does he realize how much he wants to see a friendly face.
‘A friendly face huh...’ Sky’s thoughts turned to his brother. Two times he had appeared before Sky. Twice now he had saved Sky from death. Yet in neither of those cases had Shield let Sky get a word in, would not stay and talk or even offer any words of encouragement. It seemed Shield was more interested in keeping Sky in his apartment then actually being there for him.
Sky felt confused at the conflicting emotions swirling in his mind like an out of control typhoon. Sky never thought about his brother this way. Shield had always been there for him and helped him, so why couldn't he help but feel resentment for his older sibling now? Sky rose his head to look at the picture on his desk. The picture was from a happier time of Shield and Sky together, so perhaps it could sooth the roiling storm in his mind.
When Sky looked at the photo pain cracked in his brain like a strike of lightning. The photo of their happy moment had been horribly changed into a grotesque mockery of the original. Rather than a sunny day in the grass, a pair of tattered rotting ponies stood with a glassy eyed stare in front of a brittle, dead tree in an empty brown wasteland. The picture reeked of death and was unbearable to look at for more than a moment, if not for how horrible it had become than for the strange pain and accompanying sense of rage that came from it.
Sky stumbled out of the room, bucking the bedroom door closed and gasped as he took in a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Standing there in the silent apartment hall Sky remembered his brother final words to him, how he had promised the hole would be closed now. Sky had to know if it was true, would his only way out be gone? Gently Sky opened the bathroom door, assaulted by the stench of old blood. Stepping inside with a hoof blocking his nose Sky looked to the spot over the toilet where the hole stood.
Sky felt is his soul turn to ice in the sight of all hope being lost to him. The hole was now a simple one inch circular depression in the wall, filled in with solid brown stone. ‘Thats it then...unless the door decides to unlock itself than I really am stuck here.’ Letting his mind wander Sky noticed the foul taste in his mouth from when he had vomited. He turned on the bathroom sink, thankfully water flowed out, and washed the taste from his maw. ‘I don’t handle horrible things well...I’m not gonna have an esophagus if this keeps up.’ Sky managed to let out a small chuckle at the thought.
Sky stepped out and closed the bathroom behind him to seal the bloody stench inside as much as possible and turned down the hall to the living room. Sky’s pace slowed as he came to the living room until coming to a dead stop at the threshold. The entire room looked old, very old. The walls had begun peeling, the kitchen was a rusty deteriorating mess, and a moldy smell was in the stuffy air. Everything from the carpet to the ceiling had been stained red, by what Sky didn’t want to think about very hard. The worst changes however were the windows which now appeared to be covered in a pulsating red flesh of some kind, and what used to be the black stain on the wall. The ‘stain’ was now an oozing black tar like mass that gleamed and shivered on the wall. Rising and falling from the surface of the ooze were many small green eyes that followed Sky’s movements, keeping a constant unholy vigil on him.
Sky simply stood stock still, taking in the condition of his home turned prison. Perhaps he had become jaded, or more likely his bruised and battered mind simply refused to let the horror sink in, but Sky found his thoughts turning to his most prized possession rather than the eldritch horrors around him. Entering the living area Sky looked to the corner where he kept his cello. Only when he saw his cello did he finally let out a weak scream. The case lay open in the corner and the cello lay in fragments around that entire corner of the room. It had been reduced to splinters as if a wild animal had taken issue with the instrument.
Kneeling down Sky pawed at the pieces of wood and string in shock. There were very few things that had ever given Sky pure joy in his life, fewer still that he could access whenever he wanted, and now it was destroyed. Sky simply fell to his haunches, empty stare aimed at the shattered pieces of his happiness.
Sky wasn’t sure how long he sat there, his mind frozen in a state of self pity before the sounds beyond the front door roused him. Careful to keep far enough away from the door so as not to suffer from it’s mental attack again Sky listened to the conversation beyond.
Sky could make out the high pitched voice of Pinkie “It’s right here Twilight! Something bad is happening in there and it has something to do with that spell you cast on me.”
Another voice, presumably this ‘Twilight’, spoke “But I don’t see what-”
At this point the two voices began to speak over each other in what sounded like an argument over what they were going to do. It finally came to an end with Pinkie screaming out “JUST OPEN THE DOOR!”
There was a moment of silence followed by the hum of unicorn magic activating. Sky’s eyes widened as the door shuttered against the chains binding it producing a loud rattle. This was followed by a cry of pain and a thud from the other side of the door. Sky listened carefully as the voices mumbled to each other, although the words couldn't be made out Sky could hear the shock and concern in their voices.
“Alright. So maybe you were on to something Pinkie. There is definitely something holding this door shut. The magic fights me when I try to push against it.”
Pinkie replied with a note of desperation to her voice “There must be something you can do?”
A moment passed while the unicorn took in her options. “I’m going to build up a large charge of magic and aim it at a pinpoint location of the door rather than trying to push the whole thing open. That should pierce the magic and might destabilize it.”
Worried about the idea of a focused bolt of strong magic striking the door just in front of him, Sky stepped away and to the side, taking refuge in the kitchen. The green eyes of the wall followed him unsettlingly. The hum of magic came from beyond the door again. This time it held for longer, and with each passing moment the sound grew louder and louder. When the hum had become a dull roar the magic was finally released and struck the door with the sound of a bull smashing against it. The door shook from the blow wildly and the whole apartment shook with it. As the room shook like an earthquake a loud roar came from every direction at once, as if the unicorn beyond the door had angered Tirek himself with her magic.
As the shaking and roar continued a red fleshy growth sprung from around the door, covering it and blacking out the last remnants of noise that had passed through it. Finally as the noise and shaking started to calm there was a loud crack and a crash from the bedroom. Sky lay on the floor darting his eyes around the room in fear. When he was felt sure the strange event had passed he gathered his wits. The windows and door now pulsed with a horrible life of their own and silence pervaded the apartment. Sky couldn't help but think of Pinkie. He barely knew her and yet she continued to try everything she could to help him. He frowned as he thought of how he treated her when they first met. ‘If I make it out of here alive...well I don’t exactly know what I’ll do but thanking her will be part of it!’
Remembering The final noise from the bedroom, Sky made his way down the hall and opened the door to peer inside. Being careful not to look at the desk with the warped picture Sky took in the room. Where his bed once was, was a hole in the floor. The hole was surrounded by a set of glowing red glyphs, just as the other hole had been before. It seemed Twilights attack had breached the magic after all. There was a way out again.
Sky couldn't quite get himself to smile at his discovery. The hole ment a way out again true, but wherever it would lead would not be pleasant. Not to mention how his brother would react if he were to show up again. Shield had been furious, and had claimed Sky would be punished. Looking at the state of the apartment on his return as well as...his cello, Sky could tell Shield had been serious. Taking a deep breath Sky approached the hole. ‘No...I can’t stay in here. I can’t stay alone. I have gotten through nightmares in this place and I won't let myself need protection anymore.’ Sky took another step toward the hole, leaving his cut left leg dangling over the abyss. ‘I’m doing this Shield...and if you care about me, you’ll accept that.’
This time as Sky jumped into the hole he didn't feel like he was falling into what lay beyond. Rather Sky felt the calming sensation that he was choosing to go toward whatever lay ahead.
Sky kept his eyes closed for a moment as he became aware of his new surroundings. He was sitting on some kind of tightly wound metal grating. His coat and mane ruffled in the thick hot air that was continuously rising from the floor and his ears flicked to and fro, catching the industrial sounds of colliding metal and roaring fire that rose in a cacophony all around him. Taking a deep breath of air that smelled of blood and smoke Sky let his eyes open.
Taking a deep breath of the tainted air had been a mistake in hindsight. The traces of smoke that fogged the air burned his already overworked and abused lungs and the smell of blood and burning flesh that acted as an undertone turned his stomach. Doing his best to compose himself through the fit of coughing and gagging this caused, Sky took in his surroundings through tearing bloodshot eyes.
He found himself on some kind of catwalk. It’s blood splattered and rusted frame creaked and groaned ominously as he rose to his hooves. The catwalk lacked any sides or guard rails, the sharp edges instead simply coming to a mangled end offering no safety from the chasm below. Although the sounds of machinery could be heard clearly from all around the metal path, Sky could see nothing but an endless smoke tainted darkness on all sides and above. The only source of light was the constant orange glow coming from the pit under Sky. Lowering his head he gazed into a fiery abyss. The distant writhing flames acting as the sole source of light and also the stifling hot air and smoke that continuously rose from below.
Sky’s surroundings left him feeling overwhelmed. He had been sure he was prepared from what lay ahead but now he trembled as he found himself seemingly in the depths of tartarus. ‘I can't imagine tartarus being much better. Is this really where I’ll find Shield?’
Sky’s hooves created a rhythmic clang against the metal grate as he trudged down the only path before him. The monotony of the endless dark before him left his eyes glazed and his mind elsewhere. It felt like he had been trotting down the path for hours with no change in his surroundings whatsoever. As he walked Sky’s mind continued to worry over everything that had happened to him. He wondered if it would end here in this dark place, if he would find his brother, he wondered if he would get a chance to apologise to that dedicated pink mare he had been so rude to when he arrived.
So lost was Sky in thought as he walked that he never noticed the downward stairs as he approached them. Sky’s heart leapt into his throat as his hoof failed to land on the path and he began to tip forward. Breath catching, Sky instinctively tried to flare out his wings to catch himself, only to screech in pain from his broken wing. Sky fell forward, crashing into the stairs under his and tumbled painfully before his body fell over the edge. Just as Sky began to fall into the pit of fire below the stairs he grabbed at the ledge with a single hoof. Grabbing onto the staircase with his other hoof he struggled to pull himself up as he hung over certain death. Being a pegasus Sky did not have much natural strength in his legs, being a scrawny and unathletic pegasus had only made this worse. Wheezing and straining , adrenalin pumping through his veins, Sky slowly pulled himself up to the staircase until he was able to work his barrel and back legs over the edge.
Sky lay on his belly over the staircase, exhausted and panting from his near death experience. When he was finally able to calm down and his breathing reduced to a minor weeze he looked around. Above Sky was the metal path that had suddenly ended in the dropping stairs Sky now found himself on. Below Sky at the end of the staircase was what appeared to be a stone well. The round walls of the well continued down into the pit below with no end in sight. Carefully making his way to the edge of the well Sky gazed into it. The interior of the well was as to be expected, dark with no end in sight, however there was no sign within it of the fire the well seemed to lead into.
Sky looked around himself as if hoping an alternative path would suddenly reveal itself. With no method of flight he was not eager to drop into a mysterious pit that showed no hint of where it ended. With no other way forward presenting itself Sky slowly stepped up to the wall. Chewing his lower lip in nervousness Sky too a shaky breath, weather from his abused lungs or his fear even Sky wasn't sure, and jumped into the well, grinding his teeth to hold back a scream.
Sky again found himself waking in an unfamiliar place, thankfully not smashed to a pulp from his fall. He was laying on a cold and damp concrete floor. A rusty prison cell door took the place of the ceiling and the walls were similar damp concrete. Beyond the bar door Sky could make out what seemed to be a hallway that went left and right from his cell. It was as if gravity and been left on it’s side. As Sky began to rise to his hooves his right fore hoof slipped slightly on the wet floor and he felt for a moment before his balance was regained the floor end next to him. Turning his head to right right and gazing down revealed yet another endless pit, large and rectangular next to Sky.
By now Sky had recognised the pattern of this world. You went where it wanted you to or you died. And in this case the option was jumped down another pit into the unknown, or stay locked up in this cell and until you die. Although Sky felt much less trepidation as he prepared to jump into this hole he couldn't quite suppress a shiver as he gazed into the darkness. Taking a deep breath he once again fell.
The music was the first thing Sky noticed. Sky got to his haunches, finding himself sitting on a somewhat rotted wood park bench. He was in a large courtyard filled with faded signs depicting clowns and smiling children. The sky above him was filled with grey clouds and the occasional rumble of distant thunder. On one side of the courtyard was a large wooden door that had been boarded over. Hanging over the door, attached to the wall by only a single corner was an exit sign. Sky hopped off the bench that sat on the side of a central path from one side of the courtyard to the other. Sky walked down the path looking around in astonishment. This had not been at all what he would have expected to wake up to. Although faded with age and neglect Sky could tell this had once been a very happy place. Sky approached what must have been the entrance to the strange place. A pair of turnstiles, one marked ‘in’ the other ‘out’ stood within the mouth of an anonymous smiling clown. FLanking the clowns head were ticket booths. Their glass was murky and the contents of the booths obscured. The large fake clowns head that was built into the wall had seen better days. Sky cringed at the off putting appearance of the face caused by chipped paint and a missing plastic eye, giving it a decidedly corpse like visage. Sky pushed on the turnstile for entry only to have it not budge. On the edge of the turnstile was a slot with the engraving ‘TOKENS ONLY - ONE PER ENTRY’.
“You have got to be kidding me...” Sky Tried again with a harder push, straining as much as his battered muscles would allow. “You have got to be fucking kidding me! Just let me in damnit!” He punctuated his statement with a buck to the turnstile, only managing to produce a dull thud against it. As Sky was preparing to vent further frustration against the unmoving metal bars he was interrupted as a loud chime rang from the booth next to him along with a metal shelf sliding out from under the window. Curiously Sky trotted over to the booth and looked into the shelf, finding a small bronze coin within. Blazoned on the surface of the coin was ‘Welcome to Lakeside Amusement park’. Sky stared at the coin in shock as he suddenly remembered. “Lakeside... how didn't I recognise it?” Sky looked up to the disfigured clown face, “This is the park my brother used to take me to sometimes, I used to love this place...So why do I feel so apprehensive when I think about it? Why did I forget it?”. What Sky did not voice out loud was the most pressing question in his mind ‘And do I even want the answer to any of those questions?’.
Steeling himself Sky walked up to the entrance with the coin in his hoof and slid the token into the slot of the turnstyle. Giving the bar at barrel level a push the entrance turned guiding him in between a set of rotating bars ahead and behind him. Sky walked briskly through the ‘throat’ of the clown that led into the park. He remembered that just within would be the gift shop and ticket purchasing area to play the games and go on rides. As he exited the hall Sky let out a yell of fright, cut off quickly by the hooves over his mouth to hold the bile from rising out of it.
The floor and walls around the park had been replaced with rusty sheet metal, clumsily bolted together. In front of Sky, flanking the path through the park were a pair of charred stallion’s bodies. They stood suspended by a metal pole that come from the ground piercing their bodies from their flanks with a pool of dried blood below them. Over each corpses head was some sort of bulbous grey fleshy growth, writhing as if filled with snakes. Sky fell to his haunches at the sight, hunched over and struggling not to heave. He could only imagine the pain the stallions must have felt being impaled and burnt before they died. ‘What could they have done to deserve that, nopony deserves that’.
Sky got up and walked forward between the macabre display, being careful not to look at them. With Sky’s eyes stuck to the ground in front of his he couldn't help but notice the gleaming chef's knife that lay on the ground between the corpses. Sky’s eyes widened and he came to a stop at the knife. Temporarily too confused about what lay before him to think of the corpses around him he slowly wrapped his hoof around the handle of the blade and examined it. The blade was gleaming, looking out of place with it’s untarnished blade and smooth handle. Carefully testing the blade on his fetlock Sky found it to be extremely sharp.
Sky’s ear twitched to his left as he heard to sound of something hitting the ground. Whipping his head over he saw the fleshy orb had fallen from the corpse’s head and not lay on the ground. He could not see the underside of the orb which had a circular flexing hole surrounded by four appendages like a starfish arm. The fleshy orb quickly flipped itself over with a flex of it’s body and began scuttling toward Sky. Sky held the knife in front of his as he took a step back from the crawling thing before him. He continued to back up and was about to flee when his flank came in contact with the other body. The shock caused Sky to look up and behind him at the impaled corpse. His eyes met the underside of the other fleshy mass as it fell from the corpses face onto his own.
Sky panicked, muffled screams passing from his as he thrashed his head around and bucked wildly at the air. In his terror Sky’s instincts took hold over his judgement, leaving to to flail about like the frightened animal he was, banging his head against the ground and swinging his head back and forth in an attempt to dislodge the creature from his face.
Sky’s screaming was exactly what the creature needed however and Sky felt his panic increase ten fold as a stiff fleshy appendage slid from the hole under the creature and into Sky’s mouth, holding his jaw open as it slowly made it’s way further. Sky was so frightened he hadn't even noticed when he had lost his grip on the knife. With the creature stuck to his head instantly violating his mouth it was all he could do to begin hitting at the creature with his hooves rather than run around in a panic. The creatures strange phallus had already made it into the beginning of Sky’s throat as he continued to strike at it rapidly with both hooves. Although he could feel the flesh of the creature crushing under his hooves and it’s blood running down his chest it stubbornly continued to force itself into Sky.
His breathing blocked by the thing in his throat Sky beat against it all the more desperately until finally the four tentacles loosened their grip around Sky’s head. Feeling his chance he immediately grabbed onto the creature and pulled it off his face and threw it to the ground. The creature, still rooted somewhat in his throat caused his head to pull down with it, separated by some of it’s exposed appendage. Grabbing onto the intruding organ Sky Slid it from his throat and out of his mouth as quickly as he could and scrambled away from the creature as quickly as he could.
Sky lay off to the side gulping in as much breath as he could, keeping his eyes on the violator the whole time. The creature made no move other than the occasional twitch, which always caused Sky to let a twitch out of his own, as dark viscous blood pooled around it from it’s ruptured and broken body. As Sky calmed he saw that his vision had become blurry. he ran his foreleg over his face and looked at the wetness that gathered on his fur. He realized that his inability to steady his breathing was not because of his asthma but was a result of his sobbing that until now he had not even noticed. Sky tried to collect himself and look around.
He saw that laying about ten feet to his left was the knife he had found, thrown there in his panic. Sky lowered his eyes to the ground and grimaced at his stupidity. “If I had just used the knife then that thing wouldn't have...couldn't have...”. He couldn't bring himself to finish that statement out loud. Dragging himself to his hooves Sky took a step in the direction of the knife, then felt as something hit his back leg and wrapped its limbs around it.
‘THE OTHER ONE!’ In all that happened Sky had allowed himself to completely forget that he had been backing away from one of those Violators as he had been gripped by the other one. Sky once agan began bucking his back legs in an attempt to dislodge the monster, screaming obscenities at it the whole time. Rather than being flung off however Sky felt the creature begin adjusting it’s limbs one by one, making it’s way slowly toward his flank. As one of the limbs rose and gripped around his cutie mark Sky’s sucked in a breath and looked to the knife laying ahead of him.
“NO FUCKING WAY!”
Running to the knife and doing his best to ignore the violator creeping up his flank and getting itself into position, Sky wrapped his hoof around the handle of the blade and twisted the front of his body as best he could. Sky felt the creature tentatively probe at him from behind. “AAARRRGGGHHH!” Sky screamed out as he tensed his body and stabbed back at the bulb of the creatures body. Over and over again he stabbed it and screaming. Continuing even after it had fallen off until all that remained was a pile of unrecognisable torn flesh oozing oil like blood. Pating and crying, snot running down his snout Sky gripped the knife against his chest as if afraid it would leave him.
Feeling a surge of anger go through his Sky turned and began stomping on the remains of the violator. “You” stomp “Sick” stomp “Fucking” stomp “Piece of shit!”. Sky stood for a moment panting after he stomped down on the remains one last time. he then stepped away then fell onto his back, letting out a quiet wail of despair and doing nothing to stop his tears.
For a time Sky simply lay there, ignoring the smell of the dead violators, tears and mucous drying on his face as he gazed at the dark cloud covered sky with glazed eyes. He couldn't quite bring himself to process what he had just been through. The experience went beyond being frightening or painful. He felt weak for not having been able to kill them sooner. he felt foolish for not having run right away or using the knife when he got caught. ‘If I’m that useless...maybe I deserved it’.
Sky’s thoughts were interrupted however by the most frightening sound in existence. Sky heard something soft hitting the ground to his side, followed the the same sound on his other. Sky scrambled to stand and whipped his head back and forth, nearly passing out from what he saw. Crawling over the walls of the park to his sides was a veritable army of the fleshy monsters, falling to the ground as they came over the top. As the violators landed they began making their way toward the path in the center where Sky stood.
Sky didn't take a moment to think about what to do next. He ran as fast as he possibly could. Putting the handle of the knife in his mouth Sky sped past broken down game tables, jumping over obstacles in his path. he almost tripped in surprise as he saw a pink rabbit mascot suit laying in the road. The mouth which would act as an opening for the ponies face to see out of was soaked in blood and a nearby violator was currently scrambling toward Sky, leaving a bloody trail from the mascot. Sky deftly dodged to the side after recovering from his stumble and jumped over the mascot.
As he ran past more and more carnival game booths the need for him to dodge and evade the violators on the path became greater and greater. He couldn't spare time to look but Sky knew that they were still pouring over the walls of the park and if he didn't get somewhere safe soon he would be overwhelmed. That thought gave Sky the will to pore on even more speed. He idly wondered if you could perform a sonic rainboom while running as his hooves carried him faster than he thought possible.
Jumping another violator Sky caught site of his salvation. Ahead of him down the path was a building that looked like some sort of mansion. The door was closed but did not appear to be boarded up. Sky could only hope it would be unlocked as he made his way toward it, fleeing the horde around him.
A violator landed on Sky’s back but was jostled off by the motions of his running before it could get a grip. Sky ran through the pain in his hooves ‘almost there’ he ran through the burn in his lungs ‘almost there’ he began to serpentine in an attempt to evade the jumps of the violators that tried to grab hold ‘There!’ Sky slammed the door open and skidded to a stop on his hooves after a short distance. Turning and running back to the door as fast as he could Sky put his shoulder to the door and slammed it shut. Sky braced himself against the door as he felt impacts from the other side. Turning his head he spotted a bolt lock over the handle to the door and creatures thudding against it all the while pushed the bolt into place.
Sky backed away from the door. He could still hear them jumping against it but the door remained sturdy and showed no signs of giving to their assault. He turned and stepped down the hall only to stumble. Sky felt tired and dizzy, his body feeling as though it were made of solid lead. Sky tried to walk, to push himself but he could barely lift a leg. Falling onto his side Sky gasped for breath but could barely get a wisp of air into him. Darkness creeped over his eyes as he slipped away.
The afternoon sun beamed into the room through the window, illuminating the table covered in papers and books at which sat two pegasi stallions. One white stallion and one younger pink stallion.
“And when you're done you end up with two numbers for answers because of that plus or minus you put before the square root, understand?” Shield finished walking Sky through his quadratic equation with a proud smile.
Sky put his pencil down and stared at the finished work solemnly. He couldn’t feel happy with finishing as his mind was on other things. He wondered as he felt the sun hitting his face what it would be like to learn these things with others. Sky wanted to know what it would be like to go to school and make friends like his brother did, instead of staying inside and being homeschooled.
Shield read the sad look on his brother’s face, a look he had seen more and more often as his little brother grew up. “Hey Sky?”
Sky turned his eyes up from his paper to look at Shield sitting across from him, giving Sky a concerned look with the hint of a small smile. “Yes Shield?”
Shield was silent for a moment before he leaned in and put a hoof over Sky’s “I can see you're upset, you know I can't help you if you don’t tell me what's wrong. So come on, talk to me.”
Sky wasn't so sure, his brother tried hard to provide even teaching Sky himself. What if Shield though Sky was being selfish? ‘What if i am being selfish?’ Sky wondered. Seeing the gentle look on Shields face however, gave Sky the courage to speak.
“I...wanted to go to a real school. I have to stay inside, since it’s not safe when you aren't with me but... if I was in a school then I would be with teachers, a whole bunch of them! And...and they would be able to keep me safe and I could learn around other’s and maybe...make..some...friends?”
Sky’s speech slowly petered off at the look on Shields face. Gone was the understanding smile, replaced by a look of pure rage.
SLAP
Sky felt tears in his eyes as he sat with his head turned slightly to the side, mouth open in shock.
Shield stood on his rear legs, leaning over the table as he put his foreleg back onto the tables surface. “You ungrateful little brat! Do you have any idea what I do for you? I could be going out after work! I could be spending my weekends relaxing, but instead I use what little time I have to make sure that you’re safe and fed and educated and this is the thanks I get for it?!”
Sky shook at his brother’s rage “But..but I just...”
Sky yelped as he was knocked from his chair and hit the floor. Shield’s hoof had struck him right in the mouth head on and Sky could feel the blood running down his chin as he lay on the floor shivering. Shield stomped around the table and stopped at Sky’s prone form. Sky watched as Shield rose his hoof into the air to strike again and Sky squeezed his eyes shut in preparation for the pain. The hit however never came, instead Sky felt Shield lay down next to him and drape a foreleg across Sky’s withers.
“I don’t like this Sky, you need to learn to be more grateful for what I give you. I think you learned your lesson, but from now on I need you to be a better pony okay?”
Sky nodded and put his head into the crook of Shield’s neck, drying his eyes on Shields coat. “I’m sorry big brother.”
Shield gave a light chuckle “And that’s what matters. Now, let’s finish up todays lesson okay Sky?”.
As the rose up Shield gave Sky a little squeeze “Hey, I love you okay little guy?”
Sky smiled and nodded looking into Shields eyes “I’m not little...but I love you too”
As Sky sat back down he gave the matter a final thought ‘I’m lucky to have such a great brother thats willing to help me stop being a bad pony.’
Sky let out a hoarse groan and slowly flipped onto his stomach. He let out a hoarse cough as he opened his bleary eyes and waited for the images to slowly blur together. ‘I feel like somepony hit me with a truck...then backed up and did it again just to be sure’ Eyeing the bloodstained knife that lay on the floor Sky rolled back onto his hooves and grabbed the handle of the blade in his mouth. ‘I guess it feels better than feeling dead...’. Sky looked to the door he had come in through and listened. The door remained bolted and there was no sign of any violators still trying to get in.
Sky turned and walked through the building seeing signs for haunted rooms and lairs of one monster or another. Many of the displays were boarded up and those that weren't were empty. Sky could remember being terrified of the attractions in this haunted house when he was little and having fun with them as a stallion coming here with Shield. ‘Shield...’
The memory of Sky’s dream was still fresh in his mind. He had not forgotten that day or other days like it but, for some reason it seemed different looking back on it now. Was Shield really right to treat him like that? Sky had lived his whole life feeling that he at times had deserved being struck, that Shield had been doing what was best. Now however, he realized that wasn't really true. ‘Shield did take care of me, but that shouldn't have given him reign over my life. It didn't give him the right to hit me...right?’.
Sky pondered this as he trotted through the twists and turns of the haunted mansion. Something gave Sky pause after a great deal of walking. ‘The mansion wasn't this big...’
It was then Sky noticed a red glow coming from behind him that grew brighter every moment, accompanied by a buzzing sound like a thousand bees. Looking back down the hall he had walked from Sky witnessed a mass of red light approaching rapidly. All around the light was an area that seemed warped, like reality itself was being drawn into it. Sky decided quickly that he wanted no part of that...
Once again Sky found himself running. The halls of the mansion cut left and right seemingly at random, sometimes leading to an excessively long hall and other times only to immediately turn in another direction. He had not been running for too long but already he knew that the inside of the mansion was impossibly large compared to the outside. The glow was becoming noticeably brighter and Sky had the suspicion that his pursuer was becoming faster. Finally Sky turned into a strait hall leading to an open door, the outside visible beyond. Sky ran down the hall and as he got halfway down the hall...extended. Sky gaped in disbelief as he ran, once again witnessing the end of the hallway with its door to freedom fleeing from him in a sudden jump of distance. A third time of the hall running ahead of Sky had him sweating in fear. The light was nearly atop him now and he could feel the end of his tail being pulled on by the strange force around the glow. Finally Sky made it past the halfway point and seeing the door approach pushed off with his back legs and jumped through the door. As Sky landed on the metal ground outside he heard the door slam, looking back confirmed that the light had not followed and a sturdy wooden door with an exit sign hung on it was now closed.
Being outside brought the threat of Violators to Sky’s mind causing him to bring the knife he held in his mouth to his hoof, leaving him ready to defend himself. The place Sky found himself reminded him of the dark hellish place he arrived in after leaving his room. The metal floor lay suspended above a dark pit. There was no nearby light source but Sky could mysteriously see that path with complete clarity. Ahead of him at the end of the path lay a circular structure with a metal roof shaped like a tent. The sides were enclosed with chain link and just beyond the structure Sky could make out another metal patch leading to a small, square nondescript building with a spotlight shining on it from some unknown source in the dark sky above.
Sky looked between the light shined building with the foreboding cage structure between it and him, then back to his broken wing with a frown. He couldn't help but think how much easier this all would have been if he could just fly. ‘In case I haven't said it before...fuck you dad.’
As Sky walked to the circular structure Sky could see pony shaped figures in the dark interior. As he slowly approached he could see that none were moving and they seemed to be attached to a pole that went from floor to ceiling. ‘A merry go round!’ Sky chuckled to himself for being so apprehensive about fake ponies on a merry go round. They were rides foals could sit on, hardly something to be scared of.
Sky carefully walked onto the ride and stepped into the dark. Sky quickly looked behind himself, surprised that no gate or other blockade had closed behind him to trap him. Sky had come to expect these things. Trotting ahead, making sure not to bump into the ponies on either side as he walked around the middle Sky reached the doorway on the other side. Sky’s earlier prediction about being trapped turned out to be true, if somewhat early, when a row of four metal spikes slid up from the floor until they reached the ceiling. The moment they finished closing the exit the ride began to spin and the lights flicked on.
Sky screeched at the sight of the ride. The ponies on the poles drifted up and down as the ride turned. Blood dripped from the torn flesh where the pole went through their bodies. Their hairless misshapen red flesh twitched and writhed erratically, from pain or just as their natural movement Sky could only guess. The heads of the ponies were a closed flap of skin, like a bag that covered their face. Wrapping around the skin covered heads of the ponies were leather straps like some twisted version of reigns.
There was no where Sky could go that wasn't surrounded by the abominations. Although they showed no signs of hostility Sky did not wish to be any closer to them than needed. He found something else drawing his attention however when he heard the erratic clopping of hooves coming from the other side of the cylinder that acted as the middle of the ride. Stepping out into visibility was a new and terrible pony like thing. The monster was what appeared to be two stallion corpses that had each been chopped in half long ways and then stitched back together using half from each stallion. One side was clearly larger than the other, causing the creature to talk slanted to one side and the halves of its slavering toothless mouth to not line up. In it’s eye sockets were two solid orbs with no pupil. The right being green and the other being blue.
Sky refused to be caught unprepared or to picnic this time. Spreading his legs Sky rose his knife wielding hoof and got ready to strike. The beast was still a distance away and moved very slowly to boot. Sky was debating on whether to charge the creature or wait for it to get to him when the monster struck. Whipping out of the creatures misshapen mouth came a long red tentacle with black veins running along it. Before he could blink the tongue had wrapped around his neck and squeezed as it began reeling Sky in. Bracing his back hooves against the ground to slow his progress toward the beast Sky brought up his knife and with one sweep cut the body of the appendage from the piece around his neck.
The monster let out a howl of pain as its tongue sprayed blood across the merry-go-round floor before retracting back into the monster’s mouth. The piece around Sky’s neck instantly went limp and he easily removed it. Sky had no interest in letting the monster recover. Sprinting forward Sky lunged at the creature and plunged the knife into the side of its neck in a spray of blood. Again the two sided beast howled, ramming its head into Sky’s chest to knock him away, leaving the knife in it’s neck. Sky got up and saw the creature stumbling it’s way toward him, blood dripping from its neck and mouth. Turning, Sky dashed away from the creature all the way around the ride and up behind the creature. Ramming the creature in the side as he came up to it Sky sat on its ribs and pinned it to the ground. The creature was larger and stronger than Sky but he didn't plan on pinning it for long. Grabbing the knife in both hooves Sky ripped it from the beast’s neck only to plunge it downward again. The monster writhed and screamed and buckled as Sky gored it’s neck over and over.
As Sky stabbed a final time the blade of the knife broke off in the monster’s spine, causing Sky to tumble over the beast head first and land on his back before it. The monster thrashed about spraying blood from its mouth onto Sky laying before it. The thing let out one last gurgling cry before falling limp and silent, blood continuing to pool all about its head and neck.
Just as the beast went still the ride slowed to a stop and Sky heard the metal bars descending. Sky did his best to rub the blood off of his face as he walked off the ride. Looking ahead Sky could see the square building he had seen from beyond the ride, its door still illuminated. As Sky approached down the metal path he realized what he was looking at. The door in the light had a blue picture of a stallion and on a door to the side outside the light that was boarded up was a picture of a pink mare. The end of the road lead to a public restroom.
For a reason Sky couldn't put his hoof on this innocuous building gave him a greater sense of unease than anything else he had encountered thus far. Sky had to fight the urge to simply turn around and deal with the Violators in favor of opening the Stallion’s room door in front of him. Looking closely at the door Sky saw some small writing under the sign.
DON’T GO IN - Shield
“That’s what this has been for... Shield told me not to leave the apartment, but I did anyway because I realized I had to. That I couldn't just sit there and do nothing.” Sky looked at the door handle with a sense of determination. “And now he’s telling me not to go in here after all I’ve been through to get here. No, I have to move forward.” Sky put his hoof on the door and prepared to push ‘I used to hope Shield would forgive me for not obeying him and coming here. Now I’m not so sure I’m the one who needs forgiving.’
Sky closed the door behind him with a sigh. Heavy bags were under his eyes from the lack of sleep last night. Sky’s body hurt and he felt sick to his stomach...and sick of himself. Sky walked over to the dirty mirror over the sink and took in what he saw. His pink coat had lost its sheen, his mane and tail were tangled and covered in split ends while bloodshot and tired eyes looked back at him. He used to care for himself pretty well. Sky didn’t view himself as good looking but tried to look his best just for the way it made him feel. Now though, he just wanted to go unnoticed. Looking good was the absolute last thing he wanted.
Sky cringed and dropped his eyes to the floor as he heard the bathroom door open and close. Sky’s fears were confirmed when he heard the lock slide into place. Sky’s ear flipped down on his head as a warm breath flew across it, though he knew better than to shy away from the source.
“You know you were really cute when you were screaming on that roller coaster.” Shield gave a small kiss on Sky’s folded down ear. “I thought my favorite little brother might want to be comforted.”
Sky said nothing, although his breathing became faster and more shallow as Shield moved behind him.
Shield heard Sky’s breathing increase and came to his own conclusion about it. “Getting excited huh? Don’t worry, I would never leave you wanting.” Sky braced his hooves against the sink and looked into the mirror as Shield’s weight settled itself on Sky’s back.
Sky saw Shield look him in the eye from the mirror “Love you, little bro”.
Sky grit his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut. ‘no’ He Held himself steady, hooves pushing against the sink so hard it hurt. ‘no’ Sky wanted to be anywhere else, anywhere that wasn't right here, right now. ‘No’ It would be over soon, he could tell from how it sped up. ‘NO’ He finally felt it, a horrible awful warmth. “NO!”
Sky reached a hoof behind him and leaning over slammed Shields face into the sink. Broken teeth and blood sprayed into the sink before Shield fell to the floor moaning in pain. Sky bore down on Shield holding his larger frame down with the weight of his fury and pressed his hooves into Shields throat. “IloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyou!” Sky yelled as he pressed harder and harder into Shield’s throat. Shields concussed form only offered token resistance as his eyes rolled into his head and his white face slowly turned purple.
Sky wasn’t sure how long he stayed there like that. He only knew that they had needed three stallions to pull him away from his beloved brother...
There was no waking up this time. Sky stood in the pitch dark space feeling as if he had always been here. Sky couldn't see him, but he knew Shield was here. This was what Shield had been so desperate about through all of this hellish experience.
“Shield...Shield!” Sky waited for a response, receiving none. “I know you’re here brother. It’s over, I don’t need you now...I haven't really needed you in a long time. It was all about you! Protecting me?! Giving me everything?!” Sky ground his teeth and tilted his head down in the dark. “I don’t know when things changed, when you stopped truly being there for me... but that brother had been gone for a very long time.”
“I gave everything for you! I loved you and you struck me down!”
“THAT WASN'T LOVE!” Sky let out a breath and looked straight ahead into the dark, eyes determined. “It’s over, I’m on my own now and I won't be punished for taking my life back. I’m my own stallion now.”
“You’re mine! You always were and you always will be mine, you ungrateful bitch! Mine!
Like a blindfold being lifted Sky could now see his surroundings. He stood in a large rectangular room. The walls and floor and even the ceiling were slick with blood and on the side walls were two spears,one on each wall, each placed in a silhouette of a pegasus stallion. And there on the far wall was his brother, Shield.
The entire surface of the wall was dominated by the face of Shield, his flesh melding into the stone itself. Two enormous green eyes glared with hate at Sky from across the room.
Shield’s mouth opened and began drawing in breath. The vacuum began to suck Sky across the room, with nothing to grip it was all Sky could do to brace himself against the floor enough to not go flying off his hooves. When the drawing in of breath finally died Sky had been sucked halfway to Shield’s gaping mouth. Shield followed with an outward breath of thick smoke. It blew over Sky and tainted the air of the room, leaving Sky coughing in the foul air.
Before Sky could recover Shield was drawing in his breath again. Sky tumbled over and found himself scrambling for purchase as he was drawn toward Shields mouth. Just as Sky passed one of the spears sticking out of the wall he grabbed hold, only for it to easily be pulled from the wall. With no time to spare Sky flipped onto his back and aimed the spear at Shield's approaching face. The spear sunk into Shields left cheek and the breath was cut off. Shield screamed in pure rage, sending Sky tumbling all the way back to the entrance of the room. Sky got up, eyes tearing from the toxic smoke and lungs burning, and ran to the other spear.
You little shit you’re in it now! I’m the only reason you aren’t dead! I protected you from all of them! Not anymore, face them yourself...
The smoke cleared away from Sky as it began gathering in the center of the room between Sky and Shield. The smoke rose up from the floor and gathered thicker and thicker until it resembled a clump of oil more than smoke. The black mass then took on the shape of Sky’s father from the hotel. Sky’s broken wing gave a twitch just from the sight of him.
The lumbering beast charged at Sky. As it drew close the beast swung one of it’s club like forelegs at him. Sky dived to his belly, avoiding the blow and rose tricking the spear into the monster's gut. The stab drove the monster back a step but it quickly recovered, charging in again and slamming into Sky. Only by rolling to the side after hitting the ground was Sky able to avoid being trampled under it’s hooves.
As the beast slowed to a stop it slowly turned, and received the tip of Sky’s spear straight through the bottom of it’s jaw and into the head. Sky withdrew the spear and trotted backwards, watching the inky black monster for what would happen.
Uagh! You’re not done! You can’t win this without me! You fucking need me!
With Shield’s words the cloud again began to reform, this time growing thinner and lankier. It formed think sharp legs and a needle like snout until a black replica of the doctor remained. There was no charging this time, only a calming sensation. Sky could feel it inside, if he just let him the doctor could make it all go away. The memories, the struggle against his brother, even all the pain that life had to offer could be gone.
Sky was tempted, so tempted to take the offer. ‘And why not? what is there to look forward to after all this? A broken mind, a broken life? I should just...’ Just as the doctor reached Sky a flash of Pink whet through Sky’s mind ‘A chance to smile? To make friends and learn to be happy?’
As the doctor lowered his sharp proboscis at Sky there was a tearing sound, and the golden point of Sky’s Spear emerged from the back of the doctor’s neck. “I’m not ready to die, and I am not gonna quit.” The smoke creature deformed completely, filling the air with it’s choking essence once more.
Wha...no,no you cant...cant do this without me. Please Sky...you need me.
Looking at Shield and gasping for air Sky realized how bad Shield no looked. Standing up to the smoke had some effect on his brother, leaving Shield’s face sagging and the flesh looking far more rotten. The Spear in Shields cheek was leaving a wound that sizzled and popped as if the spear were red hot in Shield’s flesh. Sky walked slowly up to Shield, both brother’s gasping for air at this point.
Looking up into the eyes of the monster his brother had become Sky was silent for a moment, the only sound in the room and gasping for breath. “Despite everything Shield...you’re my brother. I know what happened that night, you saved me from dad that night. And even if you haven't you always cared about me. I’ll always love you Shield.”
Good...good, I love you too little bro. We can sti-
Whatever Shield had been about to say was cut off as Sky’s spear plunged into his mouth. Tears rolled down Sky’s cheeks as he looked into his brother’s shocked eyes “I’ll always love you...as much as I’ll always hate you. Goodbye Shield.”
Shield let out a gurgle as his eyes rolled back into his head and then was still. The black toxic smoke began to pour out of the gaping mouth of Shield rolling into the room and pushing Sky back with the force of it. Sky tried to run away, get to the other side of the room where the smoke might be thinner but there was no air to breath at all. The smoke burned as he breathed it in and he could feel himself getting faint. Sky continued pacing around the room looking for any air but finally succumed to the poisoned air and fell to his side, pointlessly gasping for breath. As Sky’s vision once again began to go dark a small but genuine smile graced his features.
Sky wasn’t sure where he was. He heard distant voices as he floated between consciousness and sleep.
“-inkie, it will just take a moment to-”
‘Am I dead?’
Sky heart a loud pop followed by a strange sensation of being stretched out and crushed back in. As he fell back into darkness he noted that he couldn't feel anything under him.
Sky squeezed his eyes tightly as he shifted his body in discomfort. All of his muscles felt stiff and sore. A rhythmic beeping coming from somewhere nearby assaulted his ears making sleep impossible. Slowly Sky opened his eyes, letting them adjust to the harsh light of the room. The first thing he saw was a plain white wall in front of the bed he was laying on. Looking down his muzzle, Sky discovered A plastic mask with a tube leading to a machine at his side that hosted both some kind of pump as well as a screen showing sharp up and down spikes that coincided with the beeping that drove away his sleep.
‘I’m...alive.’
Sky slowly turned his head to the other side of the room at the protest of his neck. There sitting in a chair with her face buried in a magazine depicting a happy yellow earth pony filly on it’s cover with the title The art of party was a familiar pink mare. Sky smiled at seeing her. Something about seeing Pinkie, in the same room with nothing to separate them, made him feel happier that he had in...maybe his whole life. Sky felt like it was the first time he had really been near anypony. Sky called out to her in a calm clear voice.
“Hey Pinkie...”
Pinkie dropped the magazine as she hopped into the air with a huge and shocked gasp. Rushing over to Sky faster than he could track with his eyes, Pinkie grabbed Sky in a firm but bearable hug. “Oh Sky you’re awake!” She looked Sky in the eye with the biggest grin he had ever seen on a pony. “I knew something was wrong when you wouldn't answer the door so I got the landlord but he couldn't open it so I knew something was really wrong! So I looked in the window but when i saw in the apartment I really really knew something was wrong!” Pinkie’s grin had slowly devolved into a slight frown, her eyes more concerned than happy. “So then I got Twilight because she is really good at magic and she knows about the time I saw things like what I saw in your apartment so I thought she could help! But when she tried to open the door nothing happened then she tried again and some red magic hit her and-” Pinkie’s rambling had gotten more and more desperate sounding. Just as she was sounding her most panicked she was silenced by Sky quickly wrapping his hooves around her in a strong embrace as he buried his face in her poofy mane.
“Thank you...thank you so much.” Pinkie would feel him shaking as his voice quivered and tears dampened her mane. “I don’t even know you, and when you tried to welcome me I was so mean... but you still kept trying to reach me.” Pinkie blinked in surprise as he drew his head back and looked at her, his eyes wet and a grin to rival any of hers. “I made it because of you. In the end, I was ready to give up but I remembered you.” A smile grew on Pinkie’s face as Sky continued. “I knew I had to try to get a chance to thank you, and to say I’m sorry for acting like a jerk to the nicest mare in Equestria.”
Pinkie patted Sky in a way that any other time he would likely have found patronising. “Don’t you worry Skybridge! Your auntie Pinkie is always there to help a friend!”
Sky, for the first time in longer than he can remember giggled like a little colt at her statement. They were silent for a short time, Pinkie sitting on the mattress with her smile seemingly frozen in place while Sky took stock of things. He was bruised, battered, his wing was still broken (although now sitting in a cast), and he likely would not want to go back to his apartment... but he was free. Sky felt pride at knowing that he had finally faced all that had happened to him, all that he had done and come out of it a better stallion.
Sky looked into Pinkies big blue eyes and grinned. “Hey Pinkie?”
Pinkie tilted her head in question. “Ya Sky?”
“Would...would you still like to throw a welcome party for me? I think I would like to make some friends.”
