> .b..a...c....k.....r......o.......o........m.........s.......... > by shortskirtsandexplosions > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > and backrooms > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You breathe and you breathe Musk and dust and Dust and musk Something itches Something crawls A buzz Your skull A never ending buzz Like cicadas Crawling on the ceiling Then the floor Sizzling on hot metal grates Your skull has been on for too long Open your eyes The world slides in through narrow slits A narrow corridor Urine colored carpets Fluorescent bulbs Bright and bright and buzzing An air of stale gold Faded Stiff as hay A fitting diet, don't you think, Twilight Sparkle? You feel like choking Move On stiff legs You stand A flick of the tail And you feel nothing No wind No breeze No coolness or freshness whatsoever Just the mildew And the buzzing Buzzing and bright and buzzing and bright and It found you Or maybe you found it You exhale There's a narrow partition up ahead Where a yellowed wall meets a yellowed wall You trot forward The buzzing comes and goes A slight flicker to the lights Or maybe you imagined it You reach the partition You turn the corner And Musk and dust and Dust and musk Something itches Something crawls A buzz It is your head, Twilight Sparkle After all, you brought it here as well, didn't you? You rub your temple, leaning against a wall It's neither warm or cold But lukewarm The walls The walls Your head or the room? Both are the same Would you expect any more? Would you deserve any more? Maybe the next room will be different How did you know there would be another? Only one way to find out You move forward Four hooves tiredly shuffling Padding Trotting without echoes The buzz follows > and backrooms > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take a right Take a left Take a right Take a left Take a right Take a left You stand in place The buzz is above you The buzz is behind you The room splits A fork in the yellow In the yellow In the yellow There's a right turn up ahead There's a left turn up ahead A left turn behind you A right turn behind you You think about turning around A complete one hundred and eighty degrees But The right will look left The left will look right Only the buzzing would remain Only the buzzing would remain true And then what? At least it would be something different than what you've been doing It would be retracing steps Or have you actually been stepping? You have been moving in one direction this whole time Or has the rooms been moving? And you have just been Floating Forward As the buzz shifts You close your eyes You try to think Past the buzz Past the dust and musk And dust and musk And dust and musk and You are better than this, Twilight You are a clever unicorn You've been through tougher situations Crazier straits More chaotic labyrinths Think about your friends Imagine that they're stuck here with you What wouldn't you do for them? Wouldn't you get them out as well? Wouldn't you work your hardest? You really Really Shouldn't have closed your eyes Silly pony A gasp Your eyes flash open Dust and musk Mildew and yellow A narrow corridor with mildew and mildew and There's a fork A right turn A left turn But which is right? And which is left? Only the buzz remains Bright lights Fluorescent and following Silly pony Must keep going Just make a turn Any old turn? You do so With Your eyes closed The buzz shifts And it's just like floating > and backrooms > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stairs The stairs lead up But they do not pierce the buzzing As you ascend One hoof at a time The buzz climbs It carries on And it carries on Your ears flick The buzz carries forward On fluorescent waves Or maybe it isn't climbing It's just a sound Maybe it is sinking Sound goes in all direction Then why are there no hoofsteps? Your eyes widen A stab of pain Brightness and brightness Piercing gravity And as you look down And as you look up You lose track of either Are these stairs going up? Or down? You pause You lean against the wall With your hoof It's barely even there Your hoof? The wall The walls are everywhere, Twilight Sparkle They're your only friends now The walls and the ceiling Six sides, forever receding Yet forever devouring And one day they will sink inwards And swallow you into nothingness It was always bound to happen Maybe Maybe somepony got tired of waiting And brought you here before your time Unless This is the time The buzz Lights flicker The stairs tilt Back Forward Somewhere Teetering No Do not wait for the walls You are not surrounded You can't be The sixth barrier It Is always receding It is an exit Must You must find it, Twilight You must find it and break free The stairs tilt up The are stairs in front of you Climb You climb You ascend Past the buzz Through the buzz The buzz follows There's a hallway up ahead There's always a hallway up ahead Keep an even pace Get on even hoofing Even now Even now Even now Do you seriously believe her? A slight shudder But You keep moving You ascend And The buzz > and backrooms > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You're a clever unicorn, Twilight A string A yellow string Why didn't you think of this before? You lead it through the empty corridor Over carpet and tile and mildew stains The fluorescent lights catch the fibrous track A golden glow It is so very simple The string goes around a wall And takes a left You turn left with it The string will show where you've been And where you haven't been That's why you've left it That's why you've been leaving it Your pace quickens The string drapes in a straight line up ahead Until it doesn't It goes around a wall It takes a left You turn left with it Such a clever unicorn, Twilight You would have to be To fashion a string out of nothing Was it the carpet? Did you unravel it? If so, from where? You blink You follow the string But slowly, now There's a wall up ahead The string takes a left So You follow it You You made the string You left the string here Or did the string leave you here? It leads straight ahead Until It doesn't There is a wall up ahead Such a clever pony, Twilight Sparkle It turns left So You turn left And There's a string It goes straight Until it doesn't There's a wall up ahead It turns left So So So So You > and backrooms > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There's a chair here You have stopped There's a chair here Why is there a chair here? It's an empty room With the lights And the buzz And A chair And you remember Ten rooms ago Or was it ten hundred rooms ago? There were two chairs Facing a wall Facing each other Facing nothing Just like this one It faces the wall And the corner But neither It breaks up the symmetry It is empty As this room is empty But why is it here? Why were the other ones there? Who is it for? You're the only pony here You're the only pony anywhere The rest of the chamber is empty Full of nothing But fluorescent lights And buzzing Pointless Purposeless Forgotten Crooked Broken It had to have been placed here Or dropped here Like you Twilight Sparkle Twilight Who would miss a chair? Twilight, you have to keep moving Who would miss you? Turn around and pick a direction Any direction But what if you find more empty chairs? Just go Move What if you chose to sit in one? Move, Twilight You turn You trot down the corridor If you waited long enough Would someone come sit beside you? Move Or would it take you somewhere deeper Further Someplace more broken than here Than you? Move Move Move You trot faster > and backrooms > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ascending Descending Tug and push Gravity Deflating The walls are the floor are the ceiling are the walls You know why you're here, Twilight Sparkle Don't listen You know what brought you to this broken place Don't listen to her Just Move Ascending Hoofsteps Without echoes Without Without Think about it, Twilight Sparkle Nature doesn't have tests Nature has nothing to prove Nature just is Don't listen Don't listen Just Trotting Step by step Up through the buzz The lights A flicker Nothing about this is natural Nothing about this is right The geometry The decay It's trying to implode upon itself It yearns for collapse The six walls shrink Hungry Devouring But You You You have to keep moving You're the only thing keeping it from dissolving into infinitesimal nothingness Hoofsteps Ascending Descending Past the buzz It floats It A rock in the stomach A pit A center of gravity Upon which all things spin All things here That shouldn't be here That shouldn't be anywhere Think, Twilight Think about it, Twilight Sparkle Think about your friends Think about how wrong this place is Think about how they're missing you Think about how wrong you are The sixth wall recedes It will lead you out It will lead you to them You are here because of a test A test that you are failing Just keep moving Hoofsteps In The buzz And tests don't exist in nature Buzzing Because nothing in nature is bound to fail Buzzing Stepping Hooves Like you are Don't Broken Don't listen Broken Keep moving Broken Just keep moving Broken The light flickers > and backrooms > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- No Yes No Yes It's Starting to make sense No Now No It's Starting to make sense Now You stare at them Feathers Lavender feathers That's It's not Look at them Scattered Across The carpet Lavender against yellow A cold contrast Left in a hurry A flurry There There must be No A pegasus Somewhere With your coat color No Lost here with you They don't leave a trail They're just Scattered Like leaves Lavender leaves Soft and freshly-plucked Yes We all know No Yes, we all know why they're here No Just You shudder We all know why you're here Just keep You stumble So broken Just keep moving You limp forward Hooves over feathers Hooves over carpet Such a failure Don't Just Please You quicken your pace The buzz follows More feathers After all, Twilight Sparkle More feathers Nothing belongs here More feathers Unless it needs to be fixed More feathers > and backrooms > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Branches There are branches here But But how There was a tree here But where There is a tree here When In pieces Twilight Twilight Sparkle All across the room Scattered across the corridors Teetering off the stairs Charred and burnt Beneath The fluorescent lights Twilight Don't Look at it You trot forward You see fragments of books Tattered lengths of bedsheets The broken remnants of a telescope And A wooden horsehead Cracked down the center Look at all of it Don't Isn't it starting to make sense Twilight Sparkle Don't You shake Your heart Your heart It doesn't belong Branches And splinters Scattered Blasted As you never belonged Leave Your heart beats And that's why You were brought here Leave this place You backtrot from the branches But you only bump into more Because you are a failure They scratch and they claw You must leave this place Because you are broken Twilight Twilight Leave You hobble over the chunks of wood You flee You gallop So broken that You couldn't even be fixed No Twilight The world blurs The fluorescent lights sting The buzz Encompassing Twilight Don't cry You were replaced Don't cry Just move Galloping They replaced you Twilight Sparkle Stumbling Bumping Just move You You will find them They replaced you You will find them They replaced you You must find them Collapsing Crying Musk and dust The buzz Get back up You get back up Sniffling And go You gallop Silly unicorn > and backrooms > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A corridor Just keep moving Another corridor Just keep moving Walls and walls Halls and halls Fluorescent bulbs And Buzz And Buzz Don't stop The same way forward The same way backward There has to be an exit There is always an exit There is They replaced you No Don't They replaced you Twilight Sparkle Keep moving Twilight Twilight Sparkle Twilight Just Imagine if you could fly out of here Gallop Keep Galloping But you can't fly Keep Galloping Can you? Down the corridor Until A scrap What? In the center of the floor A scrap It lies there What You stumble to a stop Limping Panting And you look at it No Leathery Translucent Dragonskin Oh no Oh yes Molted dragonskin In the shape Please no Yes Yes The shape of wings Please Celestia no Broken Failure They replaced him too They replaced him too You cry Nothing but buzz So you run They replaced him too They replaced him too They replaced him too They replaced him too You run > and backrooms > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- They replaced him too They replaced you They replaced him too They replaced you They replaced him too They replaced you They replaced him too They replaced you They replaced him too They replaced you They replaced him too They replaced you They replaced him too They replaced you They replaced him too They replaced you They replaced him too They replaced you They replaced him too They replaced you They replaced him too They replaced you They replaced him too They replaced you They replaced him too They replaced you They replaced him too They replaced you They replaced him too They replaced you They replaced him too They replaced you > and backrooms > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go right Go left Go right Go left Go right Go left Go right Go left Go right Go left Go right Go left Go right Go left Go right Go left Go right Go left Go right Go left Go right Go left Go right Go left Go right Go left Go right Go left Go right Go left Go right Go left > and backrooms > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leave a string Silly unicorn Just follow a string Silly unicorn Have you tried using a string Silly unicorn Leave a string Silly unicorn Just follow a string Silly unicorn Have you tried using a string Silly unicorn Leave a string Silly unicorn Just follow a string Silly unicorn Have you tried using a string Silly unicorn Leave a string Silly unicorn Just follow a string Silly unicorn Have you tried using a string Silly unicorn Leave a string Silly unicorn Just follow a string Silly unicorn Have you tried using a string Silly unicorn Leave a string Silly unicorn Just follow a string Silly unicorn Have you tried using a string Silly unicorn Leave a string Silly unicorn Just follow a string Silly unicorn Have you tried using a string Silly unicorn > and backrooms > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You're a failure Just keep moving You're broken Just keep moving You've been replaced Just keep moving You're a failure Just keep moving You're broken Just keep moving You've been replaced Just keep moving You're a failure Just keep moving You're broken Just keep moving You've been replaced Just keep moving You're a failure Just keep moving You're broken Just keep moving You've been replaced Just keep moving You're a failure Just keep moving You're broken Just keep moving You've been replaced Just keep moving You're a failure Just keep moving You're broken Just keep moving You've been replaced Just keep moving You're a failure Just keep moving You're broken Just keep moving You've been replaced Just keep moving > and backrooms > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like a room Like a tomb It is nothing This is nothing Without a space Without a breath To give To take To forget To make Sometimes right Sometimes left Sometimes up Sometimes down Forward and backwards Around and around We tried We failed We cried We wailed And in the end As in the beginning We can always start We can always start over With you Without you The form The formless But always But unless A backup A backroom To pick from To throw away With Without The buzzing