Persist
It was cold.
It wasn't the type of cold which merely chilled somepony. This cold froze. It was a biting, fearsome presence that constantly nipped the flesh and the bone, tore at the muscle and tendons, and gnawed the spine.
That was all the mare could feel as she laid in the center of the bare stone room. She didn't know how long she had been there, let alone how she ended up there, shivering. Whether she was shivering from the cold or from the oppressive darkness in the air, she couldn't tell. The black hung everywhere, engulfing everything it touched, including herself.
Though despite her own wishes, she knew she must leave and go deeper into the darkness, and soon. It was coming, just as it had been for... she didn’t know. It didn’t matter. Thinking about it wouldn’t change the blatant facts.
Her joints creaking, coming to life once more, she stood up noiselessly, alone in the dark. She knew what to do. Going back would mean death. She must proceed forward. Planting her hoof firmly on the rough stone in front of her, she took her first step. Soon, more followed, and the motion finally smoothed into a walk into a hallway adjoining the room, shrouded in a dark veil.
Though she told herself otherwise, just to keep herself going, she had no idea where to go. The black stretched beyond sight or sound, consuming even the echo of her steps. She was aware that it was going to be difficult, to say the least, but also knew that she could persevere. But only if she kept moving.
Last time she had made the fatal mistake of stopping. Though only for a brief moment, it was enough to let her know the dire consequences were not worth it. The brief respite might be beneficial at the time, but halting would be a sign of failure, and a gesture of the acceptance of destruction.
Soon enough, she saw something in the gloom far ahead: a shimmer of light, a beacon of hope. The plodding of her hooves gained a renewed vigor as she shook the numbness from her limbs. The speck grew brighter and brighter until she was almost upon it.
As she practically flew into the room, which contained the promise of her deliverance only moments before, she came to a screeching halt.
What she found, rather than her salvation, was yet another grey stone room, this time in the shape of an octagon. Through a tiny hole in its high, vaulting ceiling, a soft white light pierced through the gloom. The light shone on basin filled with water, perched upon a plain rock stand, which silently sat in the middle of the room, completely undisturbed.
For a moment, she considered not doing anything. Rather than examining the pool, she wanted desperately to ignore it and leave at once. She turned to leave, only to find a stone wall to greet her. The hallway she had entered from was gone. Wildly, she flung her head about, looking for more passages. There was only more stone. Despair began to set in. She knew what this meant.
Taking one last look at her surroundings, she closed her eyes and took a deep, shaky breath before approaching the pool cautiously.
The stand the basin rested on stood directly in the center of the room, and came up approximately to the mare’s chest. It was made of a smoothed, grey granite, like the rest of the bleak place she was in. The basin was octangular, made of marble rather than more grey stone, filled with silvery colored water that glistened in the light.
She looked at it cautiously. It was seemingly immovable, and did nothing when she approached, as she thought it would. Instead, the water’s surface remained still, and glistened in the soft white light emanating from above. She stared at it for a moment longer, waiting for something to happen. She only received the glimmer of moonlight in response. She gazed scrutinisingly, before moaning in exasperation and giving a half-hearted kick at the basin.
The water stood still.
Sighing, she gulped, before raising her hoof to touch the surface, before she froze; there was no reflection.
Arching an eyebrow, the mare leaned over the basin carefully, studying the water with intent. The water stubbornly maintained its perfect, glossy surface. It continued refusing to reflect not only her, but anything else, with the sole exception of the soft white light that gleamed from above. Then it shook.
The mare jerked back at an imperceptible speed. The entire podium rattled violently, upsetting the once serene water, causing its surface to be broken with hundreds of tiny waves.
Her eyes darted about the room once again, but to no avail. No new passages had appeared, and she was still imprisoned in stone. Taking a few calming breaths to steady herself, she tentatively began to step toward the basin once more. When finally upon it, one startling new detail was instantly highlighted in her mind.
In the midst of the ripples of water, a dark shape had appeared, though its features were murky. The pony, whose features were now set into a stony determination, once again raised a hoof to gingerly tap the liquid, and in the same instant, the ripples disappeared into the void, leaving the ominous figure staring back at her.
The mare reeled backward in fright. Though it was merely an image, somehow conjured up in the basin, it seemed as though... no, it was real. While that was a frightening thought to begin with, the figure was much more to the mare than a horrible monster; she knew it, and it knew her. Implications flew through her head as she kept her eyes locked on the basin, and all the while, two sickly, glowing orbs stood in stark contrast with the rest of the figure, peering back at her.
A powerful, sudden revulsion coursed through the pony, causing an otherworldly scream to burst from her mouth, and she drove her hoof through the surface of the water.
Her world exploded. The water threw her back, tossing the world violently around her. The next thing she saw was the wall behind her rapidly closing the distance between it and herself, and then...
Nothing. It was dark once again, yet she knew she hadn’t lost consciousness. Aside from a burning in her hoof, she otherwise felt no different. The basin, and that creature, were now gone. That was all that mattered.
It seemed to her as though the world was quite literally turned upside-down and back again, and then every light, every minuscule speck of flame in the night, was overpowered and put out. There was nothing, except the ground she was now lying on and the pitch black surrounding her. There were no noises other than that of her own breathing, echoing in the abyss back to her.
Echoing...
Hope sent energy coursing through her being, giving her renewed vigor. She took a brief pause to gather what little strength she had left, before boldly taking a small step from her tiny, safe bubble into the inky unknown.
At that point, she would have given anything in the world to have a light source, but every time she had previously attempted to summon even a glimmer, the dark snuffed it out. She hadn't bothered to make another attempt since, yet she was certain it was of no use. The only goal and driving force she had left was her command to keep moving.
She continued walking, her mind racing, disobeying her commands to stop and focus. The hallway, the basin, the figure, the explosion, the darkness, time was running out... She had to focus. She couldn't be distracted. If it happened, all would be lost. She must keep moving.
It was with that thought that the room burst into a dazzling, yet unsettling array of lights. It wasn’t sunlight. Rather, it was all candlelight. Thousands of candles lined the walls of the huge, round chamber she was now in. They cast aside the inky dark in a short distance before their light was consumed again. On the far edge of the area she had entered, raised by blocky steps, sat an unadorned pedestal, with an entity lying on top. Any other details that could have been gathered were lost, as the mare turned tail and took flight as fast as her legs could carry her.
As long as she kept moving... She kept repeating the phrase to herself over and over again as she fled though the black. It didn’t matter to her where she ended up, but it couldn't be there. She couldn't face that. Not now. She didn't know what laid on that pedestal, but her gut told her she didn't want to know. No, she couldn't know. It sent chills running down her spine to merely consider taking a peek. Before, she had been too curious, which was her downfall. She couldn't let it happen once more.
Preoccupied with these thoughts, she almost didn’t realize it when the darkness finally halted. With a brief flicker of hope, she looked up, before her eyes widened in terror.
The same room was laid out before her.
Casting a glance over her shoulder, she saw another tiny speck of light, which could only be the chamber. Then how could it be here-
She spun wildly around, as panic began to overtake her, before she blindly sped off in yet another direction. Once again, the same room appeared in front of her, whether by some evil magic, illusion, or otherwise. She tried fleeing once more, and it happened yet again. Briefly, she considered yet another flight, but she cast the though aside; there was no use. No matter which way she turned, an identical room faced her. She could run no longer. Hanging her head, she exhaled as calmly as possible, resigning to the fact she would have to face the room.
Halting for a moment to regulate her breathing, she finally took one last large, shaky breath, prior to setting hoof in the candlelight once more.
The chamber was exactly how it had been before. The thousands of tiny, flickering candles still lined the walls of the enormous, half room, and the strange pedestal that sat opposite of her had the identical shape lying on top.
Her first step in could hardly support her, and when she looked down, she realized why; she was shaking. She halted in an attempt to calm her nerves, but nothing worked. She forced herself forward.
Oddly enough, the shape perched upon the pedestal didn’t get clearer no matter how close she got to it. From any distance, it appeared to be nothing more than a dull white or grey blob, though the exact color couldn’t be determined in the less than stellar lighting. Regardless, whatever it was, it was placed there intentionally. It knew she didn't want to see it, and so it forced her to.
All of a sudden, one end of it slowly rose from the pedestal.
The mare froze in her tracks, stopping only a few yards from the... thing. She took a half step backwards when it heaved again, and a soft exhaling breath could be heard.
Her eyes flicked around, vying for options, but no alternatives presented themselves. The void had closed itself off, and the room was now a complete circle around her. She was trapped with whatever abomination this was, with no hope of escape once more.
Before she could go any further, the mound groaned and twisted violently. The pony reeled back, stumbling over her hooves, before she looked up only to see a face she hadn’t expected belonging to the mound, or rather, the pony.
It was the face every foal from the corners of the globe knew by heart, but what joy had coursed through the mare when she saw that face instantly vanished after getting a closer look at the her features.
The white coated mare looked weary, but moreover, entirely shaken. Her once dazzling, flowing pink mane was now in shambles, singed at many of the edges. One eye was swollen shut, and, possibly the most startling feature of all, blood streaked across her face.
The mare on the pedestal was looking straight at the the pony, and was now yelling unheard words. Her one good eye looked into the dimly lit room not with anger, but with fear. Again, her mouth flew open, yet no sound came forth. She appeared to be pleading with the pony in the room.
The mare flung herself at the mother figure, desiring now to help more than anything in the world, when a strong, blunt force hit back. She staggered away, throwing her head about wildly, attempting to find the source of the attack, when she realized it laid directly between her and the one pony she cared more about than herself.
A shimmering hung in the air, and was now startlingly clear to her; it was a force field.
The world seemed to melt around her. All that mattered was getting to the other pony. The only objects that now existed were the two ponies and the force field. All else was black.
Again, she pounded at the shield, only to be repelled. She threw herself upon it again and again, each time to no avail, and all the while, the pony within called to her. She could see her name on her lips, but couldn’t hear a word. She tried to call out to her, but she continued to speak, oblivious. She couldn't hear her.
Finally, something snapped, and her resolve, which had carried her for so long now, gave way at last. She slumped hopelessly on the ground beside the shield, now openly weeping, tears streaming down her cheeks. She gave a halfhearted hit to the force field one last time, before she finally collapsed in exhaustion.
When she woke, she couldn’t tell the time. How long had she been lying there? She couldn’t say. She was once again in a blank, dark, unforgiving stone room, and it was cold.
Her instincts told her to move, to leave while she still could, but her body wouldn’t respond. It had given up all hope when she failed to save the pony trapped within the shield. She waited.
Soon enough, the room dissolved around her once more to reveal the force field and the pony enclosed inside nearby, but she didn’t care any longer.
At least, that’s what she told herself as a final, single tear dropped from her face as she said, “I’m sorry Sister... forgive me...”
Then the world flashed to a bright, white light, and she felt no more.