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All Ends With Beginnings Pt.3

By SaltAnon
Created: 2020-12-08 05:03:57
Expiry: Never
horror

  1. >Surrounded.
  2. >He was surrounded.
  3. >Surrounded by a thick cloud of red Aura.
  4. >You tried your best to enter the aura but were repulsed on every attempt.
  5. >Why wasn’t this working?
  6. >You sensed something was wrong in your dream realm, something wrong with Anonymous.
  7. >But it felt like it would’ve been another normal Night Mare.
  8. >This was so much different however. This thick aura surrounding Anon seemed so alien. What was wrong?
  9. “Maker damn you! Let us in!”
  10. >You screamed, using your royal Canterlot voice.
  11. >The thick crimson cloud surrounding Anon’s unconscious body swam around.
  12. >Agitated by your previous attempts, it lashes out at you.
  13. >The smell was horrible. Like mold and rot.
  14. >You recoiled and gag on the air in your mouth.
  15. >You couldn’t do anything here. You had to do something else.
  16. >Frustrated, you left the dream realm and ran to your sister’s chambers.
  17. “Celestia!”
  18. >Your sister jumped at your sudden entrance, almost choking on the cake in her mouth.
  19. >”Guh! Luna! What’s the emergency?”
  20. “Sister, it is urgent! I must go to Ponyville to deal with a nightmare issue!”
  21. >”Nightmare? It’s the middle of the day. Who would be asleep at this hour?”
  22. “Anonymous.”
  23. >”Did you not see him last night?”
  24. “We did. And he is having another nightmare. One I can not solve in my dream realm.”
  25. >”You can’t? How’s that?”
  26. “We aren’t sure, but there is a strange aura surrounding him on the dream realm and I can’t get through it. I will be leaving to Ponyville with great haste! I’m sorry we must cancel on the tea party.”
  27. >”I...uhm. That’s fine Luna. If Anonymous needs help with an issue like this, it is far more important you go and help.”
  28. “I will return sister, wish us luck.”
  29. >With that, you galloped out of Celestia’s chambers and down the halls of the castle.
  30. >You reached the main balcony and took off, flying as fast as you could.
  31. >Normally it’d take a day for you to reach the town flying on your own.
  32. >But the sense of urgency present within you, and with a considerable amount of magic, you were able to reach the edge of Ponyville’s city limits within a hooffull of hours.
  33. >Touching down at the city limits you caught your breath.
  34. >A significant amount of you magic reserves were depleted and your wings were sore.
  35. “Oh...moonrocks, never again.”
  36. >After gulping down several mouthfulls of air, you took off galloping to where you knew Anon was staying. Twilight’s Library.
  37. >You dashed in and out of the ponies in the street. A few of them screaming, a few of them expressed some rather course words you’d have them punished for if the situation wasn’t so dire. Others took photographs.
  38. >Panting and with a mane soaked in sweat, you finally reached the library.
  39. >You knocked in the door to the library.
  40. >…
  41. >Wait, forget this, you’re a princess.
  42. >You kicked the door open, almost hitting a small dragon in the face.
  43. >”Ahh! Woah hey, watch it...Princess Luna?”
  44. “Ah! Spike, Twilight’s assistant. We apologize for the urgency, but there is something wrong with Anon!”
  45. >”What? How’d you know Anon passed out?”
  46. “Yes, we’ve come to...wait, what was that you said?”
  47. >”You said you came by to check on Anon. How’d you know he fell out cold out of no where?”
  48. “He is out cold?”
  49. >”Yea! Here, I’ll take you to him.”
  50. >You entered the library and followed the small dragon to the other side of the room.
  51. >Anon was, as the dragon said, unconscious on a couch in a corner of the library.
  52. >Rarity and Fluttershy were by his side tending to him.
  53. >When they noticed you, they quickly turned themselves around and bowed.
  54. >”Princess Luna! Why are you here?”
  55. >Fluttershy squeaked.
  56. “We sensed Anonymous was in trouble and came to help as soon as we could. We are close friends after all.”
  57. >”Oh! Of course.”
  58. >You looked around the room for a second, noticing a lack of Elements of Harmony.
  59. “Where are the rest of your friends? Specifically Princess Twilight.”
  60. >Rarity stepped up.
  61. >”Well that’s just it your majesty, we can’t find her. We sent out the rest of us to go and look for her.”
  62. “Where was the last place you three remember her being?”
  63. >The purple dragon spoke up next.
  64. >”Anon and I were on our way to Pinkie’s to have lunch. Twilight stayed behind to clean up the library before she went. She said she’d be right behind us.”
  65. “So Anonymous fainted at the bakery in town?”
  66. >”Yea! But we brought him back here assuming Twilight was still here to help. We’ve checked her room, the kitchen, Anon’s room. She’s no where.”
  67. “We see.”
  68. >You walked up to Anonymous and studied him.
  69. >He was definitely unconscious.
  70. >There really wasn’t anything you could do in this situation.
  71. >You already saw what he looked like in the dream realm, and there really wasn’t a good spell for waking people up from unconsciousness. Or a spell at all for that fact.
  72. >You had to calm yourself down entering the library, you had a royal demeanor to maintain. Your subjects couldn’t see you freaking out like a filly who just lost her toy.
  73. >But seeing Anon out cold on the couch like this, and without any known cause twisted your stomach up in knots.
  74. >You’d describe him as being peaceful if it weren’t for the eerie stillness he projected.
  75. >The only movement was the soft rising and falling of his chest with every breath he took.
  76. >This was the only obvious sign he was breathing. His breaths weren’t very audible, even with your alicorn hearing.
  77. >You moved to rest your hoof on Anon’s chest when the front door opened.
  78. >”It’s hopeless y’all! We’ve looked every where. That hayburger joint, quills and sofas, the book store, we even checked the bakery for her!”
  79. >You looked over to the front door to see Applejack coming through relaying her distress over not being able to find their friend. Followed by Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.
  80. >Upon observing you they gasped and bowed.
  81. >Upon lifting up her head, the apple farmer expressed confusion upon seeing you.
  82. >”Princess Luna? What are you doing here?”
  83. “We sensed Anon was in danger and came to check in on him.”
  84. >Pinkie gasped jumped right in front of you.
  85. >”DANGER! Oh my gosh, is Nonny alright? Is he sick? Does he have the flu? Common cold? Gasp Does Anon have a spy chasing him?”
  86. >The party mare got closer and closer to your face with every threat she listed off.
  87. >She was so close at the end of her rambling you could smell her coffee breath.
  88. >You scrunched your muzzle and slowly placed a hoof onto her face and pushed her down and away.
  89. “Uhm. Noooooo. At least. We don’t think so. There still seems to not be any reason as to WHY Anon has passed out. And I’m assuming the three of you haven’t found the whereabouts Twilight Sparkle have you?”
  90. >Applejack stepped up again to answer.
  91. >”No your highness. We didn’t. We’ve looked and asked all over town. But nopony seems to no where Twilight went off to!”
  92. “Well, this certainly is a problem then.”
  93. >Rainbow Dash hovered over you two, interrupting your train of though.
  94. >”Uhhh. Guys? Do you hear somethin’?”
  95. “Hear wha-”
  96. >*thump*
  97. >”What was that?” Spike looked around nervously.
  98. >*thump*
  99. >All of you stopped to listen in to the source of the sound.
  100. >*thump*
  101. >A horrible smell began to arouse as well. It was faintly familiar for some reason.
  102. >Rarity gagged and covered her muzzle with a hoof.
  103. >”Gah! Ughh. I believe I think I hear the movement from, guhhh...”
  104. >Rarity shivered.
  105. >”From, that room over there.”
  106. >She pointed her hoof over towards a door of the library that seemed to have it’s hinges broken.
  107. >”What? The guest bedroom? We were just in there.”
  108. >”Well standing around and doing nothing won’t solve the mystery.”
  109. >Rainbow Dash swooped over and placed her hoof on the door.
  110. >”What ever is in there may be why Twilight is gone. Or maybe even why Anon blacked out.”
  111. >Rainbow dash opened the door and a gust of the stench flew out.
  112. >It was rancid. It was like mold...mold and rot. It was on the tip of your tongue.
  113. >What was it?
  114. >Rainbow Dash coughed and covered her muzzle with one of her forelegs and peered in.
  115. >The rest of you really couldn’t see in the room. Rainbow’s body was blocking the door way, and the room was dark.
  116. >What was in there though must have been shocking.
  117. >After gazing into the room, Rainbow cowered and slammed the door shut, turning around and keeping her back against the door.
  118. >Her eyes were wide and pupils dilated.
  119. “Rainbow Dash, what did you see?”
  120. >You moved toward the shaking pegasus.
  121. >”U-uh...you don’t wanna know.”
  122. >You made your way closer and stopped just in front of the pegasus leaning against the door.
  123. “Rainbow Dash. What is inside the room?”
  124. >You postured yourself to make you seem taller than you were.
  125. >You were still taller than the rest of the ponies in the room, but you really wanted to emphasize the authority in your bearing.
  126. >Rainbow gulped, her eyes darted to the side and she careened her neck to stare at the door.
  127. >”Uhm. Princess, I wouldn’t go in there if I were you. B-but, if you wanna look...”
  128. >Rainbow moved out of the way and went back to fluttering above you.
  129. >”Go right ahead. I’mmmmm gonna stay over here...away from...that.”
  130. >She flew over to the other side of the room, right next to Anonymous.
  131. >You and the rest of the mares in the room stared at her inquisitively.
  132. “Alright?”
  133. >You looked back over to the door and placed a hoof on the handle.
  134. >*thump*
  135. >What was she so worried about? What was behind this door?
  136. >*thump*
  137. >They said they checked this room a while ago when searching for Twilight Sparkle.
  138. >What could have made their way into this room with out them noticing?
  139. >*thump*
  140. >You slowly opened the door. All the mares minus Rainbow Dash were behind you trying to take a peak. Even timid Fluttershy who was quivering behind your flank.
  141. >You finally pulled the door open as far as it would go, stopping only because the hinges were so badly damaged.
  142. >Applejack heaved.
  143. >Pinkie Pie slowly backed away.
  144. >Rarity fainted.
  145. >Fluttershy began to break down.
  146. >Spike uttered one word.
  147. >”Freaky.”
  148. >The inside was...
  149. >Well, it was bizarre. Very bizarre and very terrifying.
  150. >The same cloud of funk invaded your nostrils.
  151. >The floor of the room seemed to be covered in dark red and engorged blood vessels.
  152. >Some of them as thick around as the barrel of a foal, others had a far more normally sized diameter.
  153. >They pulsated slowly and seemed to push blood, or what ever substance they were carrying, into the floor of the tree itself. Patterns and roots all flowing into each other.
  154. >It was like seeing the circulatory system of a pony just lying on the ground haphazardly.
  155. >Some of the bark and wood on the walls were peeled back or rotting. Mold and fungus in their own patched along the confines of the room.
  156. >What was most peculiar however, was that underneath some of the peeled back wood and bark, was metal.
  157. >Corroding and rusted metal.
  158. >Lastly, and seemingly the most ominous, was that in the middle of the room, what you presumed to be the source of all this was since everything, blood vessels, mold, and metal alike, was a black note book.
  159. >Though the book itself was also covered in random veins as well, you could make out large and red letters, reading…
  160. “Do not read?”
  161. >”W-what?” Fluttershy looked up from her hooves.
  162. “Do not read...is this Anonymous’ journal?”
  163. >You slowly entered the room and stared around.
  164. >It clicked why that smell is familiar. It was the same stink from the Aura that surrounded Anonymous in your dream realm.
  165. >Despite the arteries carpeting the floor, there really wasn’t any blood outside of them.
  166. “By the maker. You said you inspected this room?”
  167. >Spike poked his head through the door frame.
  168. >”Yea! None of this was here like twenty minutes ago!”
  169. >What? What in Tartarus caused all of this?
  170. >You took a close look at the book.
  171. >*thump*
  172. >You recoiled.
  173. >It...it moved!
  174. >*thump*
  175. >The book was moving. It looked like it was trying to open up.
  176. >*thump*
  177. >*thump*
  178. >*bang*
  179. >The blood vessels covering the book finally tore, and the cover flew open, hitting the floors surface with the force of a two ton weight falling from the sky.
  180. >Pages flipped and turned themselves.
  181. >You slowly began to walk backwards, never taking your eyes off the journal in question.
  182. >The flipping began to get progressively faster and faster.
  183. >The book flipping to seemingly random pages. Forwards and backwards.
  184. >”AHHHHHHHHHH!”
  185. >A scream could be heard coming from the book, as if it were coming from down a long hallway.
  186. >”Horse apples! That sounded like Twilight!”
  187. >Applejack also began to take her own steps away but halted when she recognized her friend’s scream.
  188. “Sky above! She’s in the book?”
  189. >”PLEASE! PLEASE! I CAN’T, NOT HERE!”
  190. >She was begging, screaming as if in painful agony.
  191. >You had to do something.
  192. >With out hesitation, you channeled some of the little magic you had rest in your reserves and performed a return spell on the journal. A spell you learned as a filly if say, Celestia or a student was practicing a spell that allowed you to enter a book but they forgot how to return.
  193. >A bright flash filled the room.
  194. >A thud.
  195. >And then...silence.
  196. >…
  197. >You opened your eyes. Blinking away the bright light away from the flash of the spell.
  198. >You shook your head and looked toward the book.
  199. >The room seemed fine now, back to normal.
  200. >All that lay on the floor was Anon’s journal and…
  201. >Sweet...you don’t even know.
  202. >Your spell worked, that was for sure.
  203. >Twilight was on the floor in front of you.
  204. >A scarred, and bruised mess.
  205. >Her body was covered in lacerations and bite marks.
  206. >Scabs and burn marks covered her flank and there were a few large bruises around her ribs.
  207. >One of her wings were dislocated.
  208. >A trail of dry blood trailed from her nose, and most of her tail seemed to be missing.
  209. >What on earth happened to this mare?
  210. >”Twilight!”
  211. >A chorus of screams erupted from behind you, and the five other elements of harmony and Spike rushed in to see their friends.
  212. >Frantic chattering from her friends trying to make sure she was okay filled the room.
  213. >You pushed them aside and approached the mare.
  214. “Calm down, all of you calm down. Let us handle this.”
  215. >You lowered your head down and nuzzled Twilight.
  216. “Twilight. Twilight wake up.”
  217. >She twitched. So did just her leg.
  218. >You nuzzled her some more and concentrated a little bit more magic into your horn.
  219. >You may not have a spell that could wake a pony up from being unconscious, but in dire situations you could perform a spell that would give ponies a jolt of energy.
  220. >Though in this case a jolt may not be necessary.
  221. >Twilight’s eyes slowly opened and she began to take in the view around her.
  222. >”W-where...where am I?”
  223. “You’re in your library Twilight. Back home.”
  224. >”I-I’m back? I...I’m back.”
  225. “Yes. Of course. Be careful sitting up.”
  226. >”I-I’m...I’m back from...I’m back...”
  227. “Yes. You’re fine now Twilight Sparkle. You’re safe. Where ever you were, you’re not there any more. We can get you the help you need.”
  228. >”I...back...”
  229. >She just kept stuttering the same words over and over.
  230. “Yes Twilight, you’re back...Twilight, can you tell us where you were?”
  231. >”Where? I...no. No, I can’t...I don’t...I was...”
  232. >Tears began to form in the purple mare’s eyes.
  233. >”Where? I was...I’m back from...from, no I can’t I...”
  234. >She continued to stutter.
  235. >Tears began to fall from her eyes now.
  236. >She sniffed and brushed some of them away.
  237. >”No. No, I’ll tell you.”
  238. “That’s wonderful. Where is it that you were?”
  239. >Helping ponies out of nightmares trained you for this you suppose. It’s been more than one occasion where you had to help a foal recover from a terrifying nightmare.
  240. >”I...I was in the dark place...I know where I was. I know where Anon was, I know what happened, I know everything now and I...”
  241. >She stopped her self again. She began to breakdown.
  242. >”Oh sweet Celestia, what did I do? What did I do? I just wanted to help! I couldn’t stand to see Anon struggle and be able to do nothing! I...I had to read it. I had to read his journal and now I...I can’t even begin to just...I...”
  243. >The flood gates opened, and tears flowed freely and in great amounts from her eyes.
  244. >She wrapped her hooves around you and buried her muzzle into your chest.
  245. >You allowed her.
  246. >She wanted to help Anon? By reading his journal?
  247. >And his journal is the dark place? Like...literally?
  248. >It would explain the state the room was in before you cast the spell.
  249. >But Twilight mentioned only reading the journal not casting a spell.
  250. >And she knows everything now?
  251. >What possessed her to read his personal diary like that?
  252. >What was so urgent with Anon that she had to violate his privacy?
  253. >You shuttered to imagine.
  254. >Taking a closer look at the state Twilight was in, it mirrored what Anon looked like when you first encountered him.
  255. >It tore you up inside to think about Anon going through what Twilight just had as well.
  256. >What could that have possibly been?
  257. >Your thoughts were cut short though.
  258. >Twilight had since removed her face from your chest and was staring behind you.
  259. >”A-anon?”
  260. >You and the rest of the ponies in the room turned your heads to see Anonymous standing there with his journal in his hands.
  261. >”A-anon...I...I didn’t know, hay, I COULDN’T have known that everything you had gone through was just so-”
  262. >”You read my journal.”
  263. >Twilight recoiled.
  264. >You didn’t pay attention to that.
  265. “Anonymous! You are well!”
  266. >”She read my journal...”
  267. “Uhhhh...”
  268. >”Yes Anon, I did, and I’m sorry but you were just so hurt and things looked like they were getting worse and I-”
  269. >”There is written, in BIG RED LETTERING TO NOT DO THE EXACT THING YOU JUST DID!”
  270. >All of you shrunk back at that.
  271. >Anon seemed enraged, embarrassed, hurt...betrayed.
  272. >It pained you to seem him like this.
  273. >”Anon...I’m sorry...I...”
  274. >Twilight began to cry again.
  275. >”Twilight why...w-why did you read my journal?”
  276. >Anonymous began to look so confused, so hurt.
  277. >It broke your heart.
  278. >You stood up and began to approach him.
  279. “Anonymous, listen to us.”
  280. >”Luna? L-luna do you know anything?”
  281. “Anonymous...Anon, no, let us explain, we can all figure this...”
  282. >”No! No more explaining. I can’t. No more helping! Look what trying to help me has done. It just causes more of my pain to be reflected back to others. I...I just need to go.”
  283. >Anon turns around and books it out of the room.
  284. “Anon wait!”
  285. >You begin to chase him down but are stopped when Twilight jumps onto you.
  286. >”Luna wait! Please, I need to warn you!”
  287. >You struggle do get Twilight off of you, even with the help of her friends, and magic.
  288. >She was grabbing on to your haunches for dear life almost.
  289. “Twilight Sparkle! What is the meaning of this? We need to catch Anonymous!”
  290. >”Princess please, I need to warn you about what could happen! I want to help Anonymous just as much as you but please! You have no idea what happens in his book!”
  291. “And when have I expressed interest in violating his privacy?”
  292. >”Princess Luna, you don’t understand. That book, his journal, that was his source of consciousness! That book holds all the information we need to help him.”
  293. “W-what? His source of...you never wrote back to me on that! I assumed you have failed to find it.”
  294. >”W-well no...I’m sorry. I did find it. But I didn’t know what to make of it. It wasn’t just outside of Anon’s body. It gave of a horrible aura that was so different than what my book on the spell described.”
  295. “So you are saying...that all of his problems are coming from his journal?”
  296. >”Well most of them. Please, Princess you have to understand, if everything I found out while in that journal is true...and I didn’t get far...then the only way to help Anon...is to truly understand what he went through in that book. And because I screwed up, you can’t just track him down and force it. You have to convince him.”
  297. >You pondered what the young princess was telling you.
  298. >How did she know all of this, and why in the heavens did she not tell you about Anon’s source of consciousness?
  299. >Well, you had it now. Which means you can finally get into Anon’s head...with his permission, and hopefully end all of this once and for all, as well as get any answers you’ll need.
  300. “Are you sure about all of this Twilight Sparkle? This is all coming from seemingly NOWHERE from our perspective.”
  301. >She vigorously shakes her head.
  302. “So be it. Elements of Harmony! The rest of you take care of your friend and get her medical attention. I’ll find Anonymous.”
  303. >And with that, you made haste to go and find Anonymous.
  304. >Where ever he went.
  305.  
  306. ~~~~
  307.  
  308. >You ran out of the library and flew up into the sky.
  309. >Only for you to come back down.
  310. “Hnng! What in the?”
  311. >You pick yourself up and brush off the dirt from the landing.
  312. >You were still too tired from arriving to Ponyville so quickly.
  313. “Moonrocks...guess I’ll have to search for Anon on hoof.”
  314. >You looked around you and saw a crowd of shocked ponies in the market place off in the distance.
  315. >You ran up to them.
  316. >Noticing you, they all bowed their heads in respect.
  317. >One of the mares called out to you.
  318. >”Princess? Your majesty what are you doing here?”
  319. “No time for formalities my little ponies. We must ask you all if you’ve seen the Human Anonymous come through here?”
  320. >You spoke as urgently as you cold short of using your royal Canterlot voice.
  321. >You didn’t want to deafen the crowd.
  322. >”Him? Oh goodness, he ran just right through us a minute ago.”
  323. “Did you see where he went?”
  324. >”He went into that direction over there your highness, down the path of White Tailed Woods!”
  325. “We thank you all!”
  326. >You booked it.
  327. >Going down the path they said Anonymous ran down.
  328. >Questions ran through your head.
  329. >About the journal, about Twilight, about Anonymous.
  330. >Those all had to wait however.
  331. >Now you just had to make it to Anon and…
  332. >Well, you didn’t really know. Twilight was rather vague on those details.
  333. >She said she’d figure a few things out, and that if you wanted to help Anon, he had to let you.
  334. >Though Anon did seem panicked.
  335. >He left the library in a rush, with out even checking on Twilight or questioning why everypony was there.
  336. >What ever caused all of this, it terrified him, and you could see the guilt and anger in his eyes as he picked up his journal and fled.
  337. >Your hooves kicked up dirt as you ran down the trail.
  338. >You ran with so much speed and force that a few of the leaves that hadn’t been shaken down from the trees during the Running of the Leaves event were certainly off of them by now.
  339. >You looked around.
  340. >In every clearing.
  341. >Past every tree.
  342. >In the branches as well. He was a primate. Wasn’t that a thing they did? Live in trees?
  343. >Point being, you were doing your best to look for Anon.
  344. >Wait. Stop.
  345. >You dug your hooves into the ground, skidding to a halt.
  346. >You waved the kicked up dirt cloud away to get a better view into the clearing you just passed.
  347. >Huzzah!
  348. >There on a stump, sat Anonymous.
  349. >You cantered over to him and called out his name.
  350. “Anon! There you are, please, we must-”
  351. >Anon swerved around and fell back.
  352. >”What the? Luna! Why are you-? Look, please, I didn’t know anything would happen. I didn’t mean anything. I’m sorry, I just wanted too-”
  353. “Anon calm down, I’m not here to-”
  354. >”Luna, no, I don’t want help, I can’t hurt you too! I couldn’t bear-”
  355. “ANONYMOUS! THAT IS ENOUGH!”
  356. >You stomped a hoof on the ground and screamed so loud you made the trees and earth around you shake.
  357. >Anon recoiled and hid his face behind his book.
  358. >A disturbed flock of birds were shaken from their nests and flew off. Squawking in annoyance.
  359. >That was able to make Anon shut up.
  360. >You didn’t really like doing it, now that you were accustomed to the manners and ways of speaking in the modern world, but the Canterlot voice was still useful.
  361. >A steady silence replaced the panic from earlier.
  362. >A long breath was held between the two of you before you let it out with a sigh.
  363. >Now that all was still, you finally felt you could breath easy. A very nice contrast from the series of events that happened earlier in the day.
  364. “Anonymous...Anon, there is no more running away from this. No more hiding, no more secrets. We can not wait any longer. We all beg of you...I beg of you, just talk to us.”
  365. >Anon lowered the book from his face. He seemed so defeated.
  366. >You approached him and sat down.
  367. “We are far too tired to run any longer. I have exhausted a significant amount of my magic reserves and energy just to get here to Ponyville to make sure you were okay. Twilight Sparkle seems to have seen and been through a lot just to help you. We all witnessed some pretty unusual things in the past few hours, even coming from you.”
  368. >Anon looked so distraught. As though he didn’t even know what to do in the situation.
  369. >He brought a hand to his forehead and looked over to somewhere nonspecific before meeting your eyes again.
  370. >”Why?”
  371. “We care about you Anonymous.”
  372. >”What...does that mean Luna? That’s too vague. How? Why are you trying to help me? Especially after what happened? How could you care about an alien you found just a few months ago that almost attacked you?”
  373. “Anon, don’t talk about yourself like you are some horrible monster or daemon! We understand that our first impressions were not ideal, and yes in the beginning it was to make sure you were not a threat to our kingdom, but now we’ve developed a genuine care for your well being. You could be a horrible spirit meant to haunt me and I’d still care, especially over the bond we shared.”
  374. >”S-spirit? Why are you-”
  375. “Anon, that was a figure of speech.”
  376. >”I...uh, heh heh. Yea, of course.”
  377. “Anonymous...I’d like to say I know you. You expressed so yourself that we share a lot in common. We felt alone. We both had horrible issues with our personal self image. I know it’s hard for you to express your self, get everything off your chest.”
  378. >”Luna this is clearly different. I-I mean, Twilight is injured, and, I don’t recall everything that happened in the book, but when I went through it, I just had to question if I was even sane. There were time’s I had to overtly question if I was even...”
  379. >Anon fell to the ground on his knees and buried his face into his journal.
  380. >You nuzzled the side of his face.
  381. “Anonymous. We saw what happened to Twilight. This changes nothing other than the urgency in needing to help you. Something is wrong. Unnaturally wrong, and something that can obviously not be so easily done away with by magic.”
  382. >”I don’t want to hurt any one again Luna. Hell, you know how I felt about leaving my coworker to suffer in her grief, even if she was in the wrong. I don’t want to bother anyone with my problems.”
  383. “Anonymous. I have been able to trust with you all my problems and hardships that led to Nightmare Moon. Those problems definitely hurt ponies, especially my sister. You’ve been able to help me through feelings and emotions I couldn’t discuss with family successfully. We are similar even in this, and we are in debt with you for it.”
  384. >Your chest felt twisted on the inside.
  385. >Those awkward thoughts began to come back again, only now they were joined by fear. The fear that if you didn’t do anything you’d be harming Anon. Or worse, loose him.”
  386. >”I...I don’t even understand everything myself.”
  387. “You must’ve known somethings. You kept that book out of the hooves of anypony, especially me and my sister when we were about to confiscate it.”
  388. >”I didn’t want anyone to read what was inside! I didn’t want all of my problems coming out like that. Those were mine! I didn’t know they’d be fucking sucked in! I tried to get rid of it, burned it, soaked it, tore it up, threw it in the garbage. But it doesn’t fucking go away. It’s like it’s attached to me in a sort of way. Like we need each other to just exist!”
  389. >That reminded you of what Twilight said about his source of consciousness.
  390. “That may very well be so Anonymous. And if that’s the case then clearly what ever the real problem troubling you is, has to be inside that book. Twilight discovered as much.”
  391. >”She probably figured out a lot of things...God, poor Twilight. I can’t show my face around the six of those ponies again.”
  392. “We all care about you, that’s why Twilight read it in the first place.”
  393. >You placed a hoof on the journal.
  394. “And that is why we must finish what she started.”
  395. >Anon stared in disbelief at what he just heard.
  396. >He slowly began to shake his head.
  397. >”No. N-no, no! Luna! You can’t! I know you want to help, but if you have to...argh, Luna not this way. Please!”
  398. >You wrapped a hoof around Anon and pulled him into a hug, nuzzling your neck into his.
  399. “I don’t want you to hurt either...but it must be done.”
  400. >”L-luna...”
  401. >Anon wrapped his arms around you.
  402. >”I know where you’ll go. It’s to dangerous. I barely made it out of that place in one piece.”
  403. >His grip got tighter, and you could feel his wet eyes mat the fur in your neck.
  404. >”I can’t hurt you too. God forbid I lose you.”
  405. >You placed your free hoof on Anon’s chest and softly pushed him away, breaking the hug.
  406. “You have helped me through my troubles. The longer we post pone the more at risk you put yourself in. Please Anon, let us help you.”
  407. >He wiped his eyes and looked at you with pleading eyes. Begging you not to do it.
  408. >You won this staring contest of will though and Anon sighed.
  409. >He looked at the book still in his hands, and then back at you.
  410. >Slowly and with a trembling hand, he slowly out stretched his arm and gave you the journal.
  411. >You surrounded the book in your aura and held it in front of you.
  412. >”Luna wait...”
  413. >You stopped and lowered the book to make eye contact with Anonymous.
  414. >”Before you do it...I need to tell you that I l-...just...be safe. And I’m so, so sorry.”
  415. >You simply gave anon your best reassuring smile and lifted the book back up.
  416. >You closed your eyes and took in a deep breath.
  417. >You let the wind and sounds flora and fauna of the wildlife enter your ears for a gentle moment. Assuming, if Twilight and Anonymous were anything to go off of, this was the last moment of peace you would be experiencing for a while.
  418. >You released the breath, and with a hoof opened the cover of the notebook.
  419. >You began to read the red writing.
  420. >”Dear diary...”
  421. >You couldn’t even finish the line.
  422. >You fell over.
  423. >Everything went black…
  424.  
  425. ~~~~
  426.  
  427. >You are Princess Luna.
  428. >Princess of the night. Co-ruler of Equestria.
  429. >And you feel like your head was about to split open.
  430. >You began rubbing your temples with your hooves and tried your best to open your eyes.
  431. >Dry mucus caked your eye lids. Making it just a little more difficult to open them.
  432. >It didn’t help that you felt as though all of the magic and life had been sucked out of you.
  433. >You haven’t felt like this since awaking after your thousand year slumber in your moon.
  434. >Rubbing out all of those eye boogers, you let your eyes get accustomed to the light in the room around you.
  435. >Well, what little of it there was anyways.
  436. >The room you were in was...well, it looked abandoned.
  437. >A strange rectangle in the ceiling of the room was giving off a very faint life source, though it seemed to go out and come back in small flashes.
  438. >You got the feeling it wasn’t supposed to do that.
  439. >The walls had porcelain tiling and the ground you lie on is wet and clammy.
  440. >Looking closer you could see taps coming from the walls.
  441. >The ceiling appeared moist, black splotches of mold were…
  442. >Oh...oh heavens.
  443. “Hrk!”
  444. >By the maker. It just hit you like a slab of marble.
  445. >The dank musk and decay invaded your nostrils. The hint of the mold was light, but just enough to make it a thousand times worse than what it would have been.
  446. “Oh good graces, what in...hrk!”
  447. >Aaaaand you just emptied your stomach on the floor.
  448. >Now was probably a good time to get up and figure out where in the hay you were.
  449. >Maybe a towel to wipe off any vomit that may have gotten onto you.
  450. >The shower area seemed communal. Something you’d see in a locker room.
  451. >Upon exiting the shower area, you find that a locker room is exactly where you were.
  452. >Lockers lined the walls, though they were stacked to heights far taller than it’d be expected for a pony to use.
  453. >Looking at the place, it seemed to be slightly big for any sort of locker room.
  454. >Even if you were in Cloudsdale where Pegasi could just hover up to reach, the taps, faucets, and benches all seemed to be out of place.
  455. >Hay, the room was slightly bigger than for a mare your size.
  456. >Okay okay.
  457. >Enough of sizing up the room.
  458. >Where were you? Like, exactly?
  459. >Yea duh, you were in a locker room. But why?
  460. >Oh! You remember now. You must be inside of Anon’s journal.
  461. >Why would it send you here?
  462. >Some smelly locker room where the benches are rotten, the lockers bent in and rusted, some of their doors fallen off, and mold infesting the ceiling?
  463. >You remember Anonymous warning you of this place being terrifying, and of Twilight also having been here. She didn’t seem to have a very pleasant experience either.
  464. “I suppose...I will just have to find a way out of here?”
  465. >Good...idea?
  466. >Better than nothing, and it gives you a goal to work towards.
  467. >You really should’ve asked Anonymous more about the book.
  468. >But he was already VERY adamant you not even open it.
  469. >And when you freed Twilight Sparkle she was adamant that you HAD to go through the book to help him.
  470. >Given her distressed state and injuries, she really didn’t appear to be able to give any more details than what she did give out.
  471. >You make your way through the rows of lockers and happen upon a small room.
  472. >It appeared to be an office with a little desk inside.
  473. >Probably where an instructor or coach would sit.
  474. >The light inside was far brighter and a lot more stable.
  475. >You pushed the rotting door open slightly and took a few steps inside.
  476. >The walls had writing on them.
  477. >”OPEN YOURSELF UP!”
  478. >Smeared in...was that?
  479. >You sniffed the air.
  480. >Please don’t let it be what you thought it was.
  481. >You got a little closer to the lettering and sniffed one more time.
  482. “Oh by the maker that’s...Hrk!”
  483. >You caught the vomit in your throat and managed to swallow it back down.
  484. >Yep...feces.
  485. >Someone took their dung...and smeared that message on the wall.
  486. >What in the heavens pushed someone to do that?
  487. >As cryptic and strange as the message was, it really didn’t help you.
  488. >Though you’d stick a pin in that and remember it for later.
  489. >You looked over the desk to find something that could help you.
  490. >A long and black cylinder that seemed to stretch in a conic shape at the end.
  491. >The chair behind the desk had a satchel draped over the back.
  492. “How convenient.”
  493. >You threw the satchel on and tighten the strap so it’d fit snug around your lower neck and barrel.
  494. “This should prove useful in my journey. As for THIS strange object.”
  495. >You look over the odd wand device and find a switch near the base.
  496. >Switching it on caused light to flash out the end.
  497. “This...should prove VERY useful in my journey.”
  498. >You switched off the torch and placed it in the satchel.
  499. >You didn’t need it quite yet, being princess of the night had it’s perks which included better visibility in the dark.
  500. >Though assuming the luminosity of the environment you find your self in now is anything to go off of. You don’t think it’s going to get any brighter.
  501. >Leaving the office you notice a small hallway that was close to the door.
  502. >A small, and dark hallway. With a small cage in the wall that seemed to be holding cones, exercise equipment, and various balls for sport in it.
  503. >Yep, it probably won’t get much brighter from here on.
  504. >At the end of the hallway was a door that had a sign saying ‘exit’ on it though, and that’s what you needed.
  505. >You walk down and pull the handle.
  506. >Locked.
  507. >Moonrocks. There was probably a key back in the-
  508. >”You horse bitches don’t let up do you?”
  509. “AH!”
  510. >You back into the wall of the corridor opposite of the source of the strange voice.
  511. >Which was the cage.
  512. “Who’s there! We demand you to identify yourself!”
  513. >Having a mini-heart attack and having your back against a wall is no reason to NOT be authoritative to a strange voice coming from the darkness.
  514. >Oddly enough not your first time.
  515. >”I’m assuming you already know me...sort of.”
  516. >Wait. You did recognize that voice.
  517. >You squint into the darkness and see the vague shape of…
  518. “A-Anonymous! Is that you in there?”
  519. >”The last one asked the same question. I hope you don’t get as excited when I give you the same answer.”
  520. “There is no need to be cryptic. I know that voice!”
  521. >The dark figure inched his way closer into the soft light coming from down the hall way.
  522. >He...looked like Anonymous.
  523. >Though his normally white hoodie was gray and covered in stains.
  524. >It looks like he hasn’t shaved in days, which was odd given the fact Anonymous usually kept himself clean shaven.
  525. >And he was wearing...uh.
  526. “Anonymous? Why are you wearing a blindfold? And why the crosses on them?”
  527. >Anonymous furrowed his brow.
  528. >”I’m not going to answer a stupid question like that.”
  529. >You cocked your neck back slightly.
  530. >What? Why was he acting so rude?
  531. >Were you two not close friends?
  532. >Your last memory with him was him fearing for your safety if you recall correctly.
  533. “Anonymous there is no need to be abrasive. I’m sure we can help each other. I see that the cage is locked, maybe there’s a key in th-”
  534. >”I don’t need YOUR help with the cage.”
  535. “Oh?”
  536. >”I don’t need your help with MY problems either.”
  537. ”What? I don’t think I understand. You allowed me to read your journal. I did not force my way in like Twilight. Though please understand when she did so she was only doing it out of love for a friend.”
  538. >”You were allowed to read it? Don’t tell me you’re trying to help to! You pieces of shit just make me live through this shit all over again!”
  539. “We make...what? Anonymous please calm down, surely you know that you let me read the journal! It occurred less than-”
  540. >”Shut up! You want to try and help? Go ahead. You can’t, and you’ll become absorbed and suffer the same pain as I do, and probably die like the purple bitch who just came through almost did. But by all means, give it a shot.”
  541. “W-well, isn’t that what you wanted? And what’s so dangerous out there?”
  542. >Anon slipped his hand in his jacket pocked and took something out of it.
  543. >”Here, this is all I’ll give you. Don’t expect anymore help. Now if you excuse me...”
  544. >Anon flicked the item into your face and turned around. Making his way to a large bin in the corner of the cage.
  545. >”I need to have a serious...heart to heart with my self.”
  546. >Anon stepped into the bin and crouched down out of sight.
  547. >You pressed your face up against the cage.
  548. “Anon? Wait, what do you mean? Why must you act so aggressive?”
  549. >No answer.
  550. “Anonymous?”
  551. >Still no answer.
  552. “Anon please speak to me!”
  553. >You shook the cage, which in turn shook some boxes next to it and caused a medicine ball to come out and hit the bin Anon just climbed into.
  554. >The bin tipped over and...nothing inside.
  555. “What in the name of…?!”
  556. >Huh. Guess he really didn’t need help getting out of the cage?
  557. >You call out his name a few more times before giving up. He really wasn’t in there anymore.
  558. >Why was he being so rude? And what was with that blindfold with the crosses?
  559. >With a sigh you turn your attention to what ever Anon threw at you on the ground.
  560. >It was a key.
  561. >Picking it up in your aura you inspected it.
  562. >It gave off a purple glint when bringing it to the light.
  563. >Was this too the cage lock?
  564. >A quick attempt was all that was needed to rule that out.
  565. >Okay so this must go to the exit then.
  566. >You put the key into hole in the door and unlocked it.
  567. “Well...even if it seems you don’t remember, I will help you out of this mess Anonymous. No matter what.”
  568. >You push the door open, and walk through.
  569.  
  570. ~~~~
  571.  
  572. >You push the door open and walk through, entering a gymnasium.
  573. >Much like the locker room you just exited, it was in shambles.
  574. >In fact, it looked like it would collapse at any second.
  575. >Beams and railing bent and rusted.
  576. >Stagnant water dripping from various places.
  577. >The wooden floors rotten and torn from the floor.
  578. >Very little light.
  579. >The stench of rot and mold still hung in the air.
  580. >You settle on trying to find a way out of this place as well.
  581. >What Anonymous told you before disappearing was of very little help.
  582. >Hopefully on finding your way out of this abysmal place you’ll find a clue towards something.
  583. >You make your way across the gymnasium and exit the door, leading into a large hallway.
  584. >Billboards hanging on by a single rusted nail, papers strewn across the floor.
  585.  
  586. >The fancy electrical lights continued to flicker, all emitting inconsistent amounts of light.
  587. >This was definitely a school.
  588. >The few doors that weren’t boarded up had paintings seemingly done by small children, and the decorations among the hallway were depictions of rainbows and green fields.
  589. >Well, those that had color or weren’t peeling away from the apparent years of neglect.
  590. >You choose a direction and hoofed it.
  591. >Had to find the exit of this place.
  592. >The deeper you went into the school the danker the environment became.
  593. >The occasional bug would scurry, water was soon replaced by a black sludge coming from pipes.
  594. >Some of the tiling from the ceiling were just gone and exposing a dark void above.
  595. >Nothing about this place sat right with you. Not at all.
  596. >Though, there were little signs of any hostile creatures or monsters.
  597. >The only signs of life was the occasional insect or vermin.
  598. >And who ever in Tartarus was smearing their own excrement on the walls of the school. There was enough of it, that it couldn’t have been any rat. And fresh enough that it had to have been placed within the last few hours.
  599. >Finally, after a few jumps from rats, and having a miniature heart attack from a roach falling into your mane, you found what must have been the exit.
  600. >Two large doors with a sign above them.
  601. >’WELCOME TO INCOGNITO ELEMENTARY’
  602. >Why a welcome would be given above the front doors you were seemingly supposed to EXIT the school through was odd.
  603. >Though at this point hardly a concern.
  604. >A quick push against the metal bar across the door revealed the doors were locked.
  605. >Figures.
  606. >Of course you could always break through...the solid wooden and glass doors.
  607. >Making a lot of noise.
  608. >No. And though you had the energy to walk and move around fine, maybe even get into a little bit of a fight or run away if it came down to it, your magic reserves remained at critical levels.
  609. >Weird, you should have enough to preform basic spells at this point.
  610. >Which meant you couldn’t just teleport.
  611. >Darn. Telekinesis seemed to work fine though.
  612. >Maybe the headmaster’s or principle’s office had a key to the front door.
  613. >Fortunately the office was right across from the front door.
  614. >Unfortunately the door to the inside was boarded and chained up.
  615. >Of course.
  616. >You’d have to find another way inside.
  617. >You idly tap the chain with your hoof and give out an exasperated sigh.
  618. “If this is a cruel joke, I’m not laughing.”
  619. >Snickering could be heard.
  620. >Now you were annoyed. First the universe decides to be intentionally difficult and now somepony was laughing at...
  621. >Wait.
  622. >You snap your head to the source of the laughter and immediately take a defensive stance.
  623. >A small figure just out of sight moved back down towards the hallway you came from.
  624. >You continued to gaze intensely down the hallway and into the dark.
  625. >Alright, you weren’t dumb enough to go back down that hallway again.
  626. >You look around the area you were in.
  627. >Front door locked. Office boarded up. Same story for the other hallway. Doors closed and boarded shut.
  628. >Which meant the only other way to go was…
  629.  
  630. “You must be joking.”
  631. >You inch your way back to the hallway.
  632. >Rustling could be heard. More giggling.
  633. >With a gulp, you made your way back into the hallway.
  634. >You peak behind the corner.
  635. >Nothing.
  636. >You let out the breath you were holding in your chest.
  637. >There was movement from out of the corner of your eye.
  638. >You snapped your head around.
  639. >A door that was previously closed was now open.
  640. >Dare you look inside?
  641. >Curiosity killed the cat Luna.
  642. >If the injuries on Twilight told you anything about the creatures of this world, it was best to just stay away and not interact unless absolutely necessary.
  643. >You decided to inch your way to another one of the classrooms.
  644. >Not a much better decision.
  645. >But there was a 50/50 chance of there being nothing inside the closed classroom, and an absolute certainty of something being in the classroom where the door was now opened.
  646. >That was good reasoning, right?
  647. >Okay maybe not, but you made your decision and you were going to follow through.
  648. >You inched your way backwards toward the other door, keeping your eyes locked on the open class.
  649. >Each step was slow and precise. Every few seconds you looked around yourself to make sure you were still in the clear.
  650. >Your hindquarters made contact with the door behind you.
  651. >You take a quick look inside the window to make sure nothing was immediately inside.
  652. >Looked clear.
  653. >You enveloped the knob in your aura and slowly turned it, as to not make too much noise, and pushed the door open.
  654. >One last check around you to make sure you were clear, and then back to the open door.
  655. >You froze.
  656. >Two small white eyes staring back from the door frame.
  657. >You catch your breath in your throat as you and the figure across the hall stare each other down.
  658. >Not one to feel threatened by a thing of such size, though not foolish enough to underestimate it, you furrow your brow and straighten yourself, though keep a defensive stance.
  659. >The black figure began to move from out of the class room and into the small amount of light in the hallway.
  660. >A small human, a child it looked like.
  661. >The hair on it’s head disheveled, and its skin a sickly gray.
  662. >The clothing it wore was torn and covered in filth.
  663. >Dry mucus and snot covered it’s face.
  664. >It eyed you with growing suspicion.
  665. >You kept your authoritative demeanor.
  666. >Keeping your brow furrowed, you squinted at the human young.
  667. >A part of you felt sorry for the poor thing, but understanding the context of the situation you were in, you stayed vigilant.
  668. >The child’s face began to twist from suspicion, to a scowl.
  669. >It reached behind it self and from seemingly no where pulled out a pair of rusty scissors.
  670. >It began to hyperventilate, taking in deeper and deeper breaths.
  671. >Anticipating what was probably about to happen, you made a slight movement to back further into the classroom behind you.
  672. >That did it.
  673. >The child took in a final deep breath and let out a shrieking cry.
  674. >The sheer volume from something so small took you off your guard a bit and you flapped your ears back and flinched.
  675. >The crying became progressively louder, and louder, and was soon joined by more distance screaming.
  676. >A quick turn of the neck down the hall way showed shadows moving in the distance.
  677. “Moonrocks!”
  678. >You swore.
  679. >The child in front of you reared back and prepared to leap.
  680. >You quickly dodged back into the class room and slammed the door shut, locking it.
  681. >The child hit the glass and fell unto the floor outside.
  682. >About a dozen more of the children joined it, screaming at the same eardrum piercing volume.
  683. “HA! CAN’T REACH US IN HERE YOU HEATHE-URK!”
  684. >Your celebration was cut off by child grasping onto your neck.
  685. >Turns out the room wasn’t as empty as you’d thought.
  686. >You rear back and slam into the wall.
  687. >You hear something metallic fall against the floor. The child had a knife.
  688. >Struggling, you kept back up against the wall and shaking violently to remove the hell spawn off of you.
  689. >The little horror had an iron grip however and held on tightly.
  690. >It was screaming that horrid cry into your ears at an increasing volume.
  691. >The sound was akin to cutlery scratching against a plate.
  692. >You thrashed around the classroom.
  693. >You crashed into the tables and desks within.
  694. >Slamming into what ever you could to get the heathen off of your back.
  695. >It began to dig the nails of its fingers into your neck and tried to reach your eyes.
  696. “OH NO YOU DON’T!”
  697. >With one final slam against the black board of the classroom, you could hear a crunch, and the child’s scream became muted.
  698. >The shrieking replaced with a horrid hollow, wet, gasping noise.
  699. >The human young finally released it’s grip and fell onto the floor.
  700. >You backed away to the other side of the classroom and scanned the area.
  701. >No other children, just the one’s still outside, and the one trying it’s best to gulp air into it’s lungs.
  702. >You kept your eyes onto the convulsing mess on the floor.
  703. >The sound was awful.
  704. >Tears poured form it’s face and it was sobbing profusely interrupted only by the coughing.
  705. >A small amount of deep crimson blood came splattering out of it’s mouth.
  706. “B-by the maker!”
  707. >*CRACK*
  708. >Your neck snapped from the injured child and toward the door.
  709. >The children were throwing books at the window and managed to crack the glass.
  710. >You quickly inspected the room once more. Looking for some way out.
  711. >There was a slight breeze coming from above you.
  712. >A vent. A large vent.
  713. >Would you even be able to fit through there?
  714. >*CRACK*
  715. >Well, only one way to find out.
  716. >You used the little amount of magic you could to rip the grate out of the wall near the ceiling.
  717. >*CRACK*
  718. >You took position slightly away from the vent and reared back.
  719. >*CRASH*
  720. >The window broke.
  721. >The children were coming through.
  722. >With hardly any time before they latched onto you, you made a leap of faith and managed to somehow get half way through the grate.
  723. >You placed both forelegs on either side of the wall and managed to keep your self in.
  724. >A weight could be felt dragging on one of your hind legs.
  725. >Tartarus! One of them was on you.
  726. >The screaming from the children reverberated in the metal vent and managed to amplify the horrid volume.
  727. >You thrashed your hind legs and bucked wildly as you tried to crawl further into the vent.
  728. >The child kept it’s iron grip onto you.
  729. >You were finally almost entirely in the vent.
  730. >Though you were also pulling the child latched on in with you.
  731. “GAH! Get off of-AHHHHHH!”
  732. >A sharp pain was flared near your haunches.
  733. >A warm liquid could be felt staining your coat.
  734. “YOU LITTLE PIECE OF-”
  735. >You reared your hind legs back one more time.
  736. >The heathen lost it’s grip.
  737. >You bucked as hard as you could.
  738. >*CRUNCH*
  739. >Shrieking replaced with a horrid gurgle and a thud.
  740. >More of the warm liquid could be felt as it splattered against your backside.
  741. >You pulled yourself further and further away from the entrance.
  742. >You didn’t look back. You really couldn’t either.
  743. >The vent was just big enough for you to fit in, but moving within it was another story.
  744. >You crawled and crawled your way through.
  745. >The shrieking began to get further and further away.
  746. >The vent was too high up for the hell spawn to get in...you hoped.
  747. >After a few difficult turns through the vents, you found another grate.
  748. >You peered through the opening and into the room.
  749. >It was the front office.
  750. “Thank the maker!”
  751. >You used one of your forehooves to bust the grate open and crawled out, falling onto the floor.
  752. >Using your magic, you placed the gate back in place, and covered it with a large filing cabinet.
  753. >You lied on the floor, catching your breath.
  754. >After a minute of heavy breathing you try to pick yourself up.
  755. >Try.
  756. >The sharp pain in your hind leg flared and caused you to buckle.
  757. “AhH! Hnnng!”
  758. >The little heathen got you with the scissors.
  759. >You searched the area of the office.
  760. >All that was around that could help was a filthy sweater.
  761. >What ever, it’ll do for now.
  762. >You ripped off a piece with your teeth and wrapped it around the room.
  763. >With that over, you slowly picked your self up again to sit in a better position.
  764. >You took a few deep breaths and made sure to inspect the office for any more of the little creatures, or anyway for them to get in.
  765. >Nothing. For good this time.
  766. >The shrieking seemed to have died down.
  767. >You were left in the well illuminated office in silence.
  768. >Free to catch your breath and process what just happened.
  769. >Your heart was still racing. Adrenaline pumping and coursing through every vein and artery.
  770. >The sounds of what just happened went through your head over and over again.
  771. >The shrieks.
  772. >The breaking of glass.
  773. >The crunching.
  774. >By the maker, the crunching. The horrible noises of the two children’s lungs filling with blood too.
  775. >It was all just so…
  776. >By the gods.
  777. >You looked yourself over. Dark crimson caked your hindquarters.
  778. >The gravity of the situation was beginning to set in.
  779. >You stared at the ceiling, still trying to catch your breath.
  780. >Two children.
  781. >You just crushed the chest and skull of two small children.
  782. >Sure, two children that were trying to harm you. Just like the rest of them.
  783. >And they in fact did harm you.
  784. >But still, two children all the same.
  785. >Heavens above, why was this all in Anon’s journal?
  786. >Why did you have to do that?
  787. >Did you have to?
  788. >What was that supposed to mean?
  789. >When you thought dangerous monsters you were thinking of ones you’d find in the Everfree or even Tartarus.
  790. >Not children.
  791. >Why?
  792. >Why children Anonymous? What did they have to do with his problems?
  793. >What did they do to him?
  794. >You lowered your face to your hooves.
  795. >Your vision was blurry.
  796. >You wiped the tears away the best you could.
  797. >No.
  798. >No tears. No crying.
  799. >Anon was in trouble.
  800. >He was probably some where here.
  801. >And not the Anon you had first spoken to.
  802. >The Anon YOU know.
  803. >The real Anon.
  804. >The one who wanted help, and would help you.
  805. >The Anon who stayed up through the night in the dream realm with you.
  806. >The Anon you…
  807. >You picked your self up and brushed off the dust from the vents.
  808. >You took one last breath in through your nose.
  809. >Focus on Anon. That’s why you’re here.
  810. >Anon.
  811. >Now, time to look for this key.
  812. >You opened up a few of the drawers and cabinets.
  813. >Papers, penciles, folders, student records.
  814. >...hmm.
  815. >You flipped through the student records.
  816. >Sally, Carter, Mordecai, Sarah, Jason.
  817. >Human names were weird.
  818. >Jessie, Juan, Anonymous, Parker...Anonymous?
  819. >You pulled out the folder.
  820. >Yep. These were Anon’s records.
  821. >So this was Anon’s school.
  822. >Let’s see then. This may have a clue of where to go next.
  823. >You opened the records and began reading.
  824. >The records gave some basic information.
  825. >His height, weight, age. This was back when he was 11 years old.
  826. >He was given something called an IEP.
  827. >He was apparently given a special education program based on issues he was having.
  828. >Well, nothing inconsistent here then.
  829. >It reports that he had trouble confessing his problems with his teachers.
  830. >Whenever they tried to help, he’d shy away.
  831. >You recall Anon talking about that.
  832. >Medical information, all missing.
  833. >Oh! An address.
  834. >547 north west lane.
  835. >Human addresses are weird.
  836. >You take the page with his address and place it in your satchel.
  837. >All you needed was a map of the area and you’d have your new destination.
  838. >Though, that’d have to wait. Need to go and find this key.
  839. >The office area itself was just a large room for the front desk and small hallway area that lead into different smaller offices.
  840. >Which included the nurses office.
  841. >Gauze and painkillers, very useful. Now in your satchel.
  842. >In terms of finding a key however, all of the offices were empty.
  843. >Time to actually check the front desk then.
  844. >Oh...well, should’ve checked here first.
  845. >On the wall next to the front desk was a key rack with keys labeled for different doors.
  846. >Library, Cafeteria, Gym, Office, FRONT DOOR!
  847. >You grabbed the key with telekinesis.
  848. >This one had a slightly off light blue or cyan color to it.
  849. >Into the satchel it went.
  850. >Might as well look around the rest of the front office for anything befor-
  851. >*Thud*
  852. >You quickly ducked behind the desk.
  853. >You slowly peaked out from under it and out the office window into the main lobby where the front door and noise came from.
  854. >A tall lanky figure obscured some what in the darkness was approaching one of those heathen children.
  855. >The child was very distraught and seemed to be panicking.
  856. >It was crying, though not as loud as when you first encountered them.
  857. >The figure outstretched its arms and grabbed the child.
  858. >It cooed and tried to comfort the crying heathen.
  859. >”Shh. Shh. Little one. I must help you.”
  860. >The child shook its head violently and thrashed in the long arms of the thing.
  861. >”I must help you child...just, open up to me.”
  862. >The child screamed in that familiar shriek.
  863. >The creature impaled the child’s chest with it’s long digits and raised the heathen above it’s head.
  864. >The heathen was crying and violently thrashing around trying to get away.
  865. >”I said...open up to me.”
  866. >The taller creature ripped open the child’s chest cavity and began to pull out the organs.
  867. >Slowly, one by one.
  868. >Sniffing them, bringing it to it’s face which was hardly visible and blocked by long blonde hair.
  869. >The creature paused and slowly began to move its head upwards and towards the office window.
  870. >You took cover once more behind the desk, out of sight.
  871. >Your heart began to race again.
  872. >”Ah. Another young soul in need of help?”
  873. >NonononononononononononooooooNOPE!
  874. >You could hear movement coming closer to the window.
  875. >A slow knocking.
  876. >Your heart began racing.
  877. >Just go away, just go away just go away.
  878. >”Little one, if you are inside, I must help you.”
  879. >The voice was raspy and feminine.
  880. >You curled up behind the desk, looking for a way out if it decides to break through the glass.
  881. >”Hmm. I must have...made a mistake.”
  882. >You could hear the creature move away, slowly, heavily.
  883. >The movement began to get quieter, and quieter, and quieter.
  884. >Then silence.
  885. >Silence for three very long minutes.
  886. >Your chest began to burn.
  887. >You shakily release the breath you’ve been holding.
  888. >With a gulp you peak up from behind the desk and into the main lobby.
  889. >Gone.
  890. >It was gone. Leaving behind the gored heathen.
  891. >What ever in the nether regions of the maker herself that was, that was the last you EVER wanted to see of it.
  892. >A little bit more of exploring of the office, making sure to keep out of view from the window, lead to nothing, and it was now probably time to make your way back to the front lobby.
  893. >You decided to grab the rest of the keys just in case.
  894. >They were all a bronze color, separate from the front door key, and had emblems on them for the respective doors they opened.
  895. >You found a school map and discovered that the library was only a hallway away from the main lobby.
  896. >Perfect.
  897. >Map in your bag, and a destination to reach, you decide to enter the vent from the nurse’s office and make your way to the school library.
  898.  
  899. >Twenty minutes.
  900. >That’s how long it felt just to get through all the vents.
  901. >You could hear the rustling of those heathen children outside and that was about it.
  902. >Though they didn’t seem to hear you, you didn’t know whether to count yourself as luckier to be within the vents.
  903. >Insects and rodents of various sizes would crawl over you.
  904. >You were pretty sure one of the times you took rest you laid your muzzle into a puddle of rat piss by mistake.
  905. >Hopefully it was just dirty water.
  906. >The entire place was beginning to just smell the same, and you were finally getting used to it.
  907. >It was as if there was nothing more to smell.
  908. >Desensitization from the musk of a decaying school aside, looking through one of the grates you could see that you were finally inside of the library.
  909. >Graces and thanks to the heavens.
  910. >Waiting patiently and staring out into the large room you decided the coast was clear and climbed out.
  911. >You made your way through the rows of rotting book shelves with extreme caution.
  912. >You didn’t want to have a run in with a heathen...or worse.
  913. >Goodness, if Twilight had to go through the same environments you did you could have only imagined what her reaction to the library of the school would have been.
  914. >Books lay haphazardly across the floor.
  915. >Apparently one of the heathens used an anatomy book as toilet paper.
  916. >What was it and these children with relieving themselves every where except a toilet?
  917. >You know for a fact you passed several bathrooms when you first roamed the halls.
  918. >*creak*
  919. >At the sound of a door being pushed open you hid behind the shelf closest too you.
  920. >Observing between the book shelves you could see one of the children running across the room with a human doll.
  921. >Giving chase to the young child was another young child screaming and crying.
  922. >If the creatures weren’t so dangerous you’d face hoof.
  923. >No. You were going to do it anyways.
  924. >Tartarus spawn or not, children acted like children.
  925. >They ran into a room with the sign above it reading ‘COMP LAB’.
  926. >Whatever that was.
  927. >Staying as quite as you could, you inched your way over towards the exit of the library. Keeping your eyes on the COMP LAB
  928. >You could hear the two children fighting each other over the plastic toy.
  929. >Carefully, you pulled out the library key from your bag and unlocked the door.
  930. >One look through the door window, the hall way was empty.
  931. >You carefully applied pressure to the metal bar across the width of the door.
  932. >Carefully...carefully…
  933. >*Squeaaaaaak~*
  934. >You cringed.
  935. >The audible struggle in the lab ceased.
  936. >Oh Tartarus no.
  937. >You spun around to see the two little demons staring at you.
  938. >You couldn’t move.
  939. >Anticipation and fear froze you.
  940. >All movement ceased and the air between you and the children became still.
  941. >A staring contest. You and the two children.
  942. >Seconds passed. You waited for the scream.
  943. >A minute. You waited for the scream.
  944. >Two long agonizing minutes. You waited for the scream.
  945. >They just stared at you.
  946. >No hyperventilation. No sharp objects. No scowling.
  947. >They just...stared at you?
  948. >Maybe it was because you were staying so still?
  949. >The last one jumped you and screamed because you moved slightly.
  950. >You couldn’t just stand there forever!
  951. >The stand off continued for an agonizingly long amount of time.
  952. >Movement could be heard coming from underneath some stray tables and from inside the same lab.
  953. >Two more showed themselves.
  954. >Three more.
  955. >By the maker, five, now six!
  956. >Eight of the cryptic human children came out and were just staring at you.
  957. >You were sweating profusely. It felt like it were as hot as your sister’s sun.
  958. >You legs began to shake a bit, then your torso, and with that your breath.
  959. >Your eyes darted around to each one of the little children.
  960. >They just stared at you.
  961. >A few of their mouths hung open.
  962. >Ten more minutes.
  963. >You dared to try and move.
  964. >Just like last time, one hind leg back, toward the door.
  965. >Nothing.
  966. >Another step.
  967. >Nothing.
  968. >They continued to just stare at you.
  969. >You let out a breath.
  970. >They were doing nothing.
  971. >You weren’t exactly sure why, or what you were doing differently, but they weren’t doing anything.
  972. >You lay your hoof down on the metal bar on the door and continue to push it open.
  973. >Still nothing.
  974. >You exit into the hallway and they continued to stare.
  975. >The door closed.
  976. >You stepped further away. Walked a bit aways.
  977. >You were good.
  978. >YOU WERE GOOD!
  979. >HUZZAH!
  980. >You have no idea why this group of children were so docile, but they just let you go without so much as screaming.
  981. >And you were in the hall way! You could see the light from the main lobby from here.
  982. >The home stretch!
  983. >Finally, you could just exit the door.
  984. >Hyperventilation.
  985. >Behind you.
  986. >A deep breath in.
  987. “Help.”
  988. >Screaming.
  989. >You didn’t even look behind you.
  990. >You took off down the hall way.
  991. >Something flew into you.
  992. >One of the children T-boned you coming down one of the hallways you had to pass to get to the main lobby.
  993. “NO! AHH! UNHOOF US YOU HEATHEN FROM TARTARUS!”
  994. >You slammed into a set of lockers against the wall.
  995. >The child was shrieking in your ear.
  996. >You slammed again. The familiar crunching of bone and rupturing of internal organs.
  997. >The child from right behind you grabbed a hold.
  998. >You couldn’t see the sharp object he was wielding but he managed to used to slash at a tendon in your wing.
  999. >You screamed, no, wailed.
  1000. >You fell to your side. Burning pain pulsated from your withers.
  1001. >The child who was wielding the sharp object, a piece of broken mirror, climbed on top you.
  1002. >It raised the shard in the air and let out one of its ear drum rupturing cries.
  1003. >You raised your hooves in between the two of you, ready to block.
  1004. >Down. You blocked, though he managed to give you a good scrape.
  1005. >He slashed across. You blocked again.
  1006. >He really shouldn’t be messing with a princess who took jousting as sport.
  1007. >He stuck his fingers into your nostrils.
  1008. “AH!”
  1009. >You sneezed. The child climbed further up to your neck and wrapped its legs around you, tightening his grip.
  1010. >He was chocking you.
  1011. >You tried roll over in attempt to throw him off but you ended up just rolling over onto your new wound and instinctualy flinched back.
  1012. >You tried to use your hooves but he was too far up your neck and managed to use his iron grip to latch on.
  1013. >As a last resort you used up the little bit of magic you had to force him off you, but his grip around your trachea was choking you and you couldn’t concentrate on making the spell manifest.
  1014. >The child raised its glass shard into the air and let out one more scream.
  1015. >It made sure to get right into your face for this one.
  1016. >Before the child could attempt to cut open you jugular however, it froze and began hacking blood into your face.
  1017. >It dropped the mirror shard on the ground and convulsed a bit.
  1018. >Looking down at its chest to see what had just happened, you could see long skinny digits piercing through the chest of the child.
  1019. >The grip around your throat loosened.
  1020. >The child’s arm fell.
  1021. >His eyelids began to droop.
  1022. >It let out a few more coughs before it began to be lifted up.
  1023. >”Now now sweet child. We do not allow bullying on THESE school grounds.”
  1024. >This can’t be happening. This can NOT be happening.
  1025. >The tall anorexic figure of the human woman came into view as she moved the small child out of the way and up close to her.
  1026. >She moved her large disgusting hand over the child’s skull, wrapping its fingers around it completely. Every movement cause cracking and snaps in her joints.
  1027. >”You know about our no tolerance policy here little one.”
  1028. >She squeezed her hand and the skull sunk in. Bone and gray matter crunched and squished between her digits and the child’s body tremored.
  1029. >Viscous blood and cerebral fluid oozed from between her claw like digits.
  1030. >You couldn’t look away from what was happening, but hay if you weren’t also trying to crawl away from the giant horror in front of you.
  1031. >”Now...what is this then? Another child lost and afraid?”
  1032. “N-no, nnonononoo. We are perfectly fine, there is no need to help us!”
  1033. >You don’t even know WHY you were trying to reason with it. It’s intentions seemed very clear.
  1034. >You could see it’s face now. It looked NOTHING like the human faces you recognize from the depictions back home, or on Anon.
  1035. >Smooth tight skin. No nose, no eye sockets, just large incisions where her eyes should be.
  1036. >To top it off, a large, way to large, toothy, yellow, grin.
  1037. >She’d put Pinkie Pie to shame.
  1038. >”Of course you’re not little child of mine. You are distressed.”
  1039. >It began to approach you.
  1040. “N-no, you must be mistaken.”
  1041. >”No...I can see it. It is MY job to help you, as faculty of the school. I MUST help you.”
  1042. >You rolled over to the other side and tried to get to stand up on your legs to run to the door.
  1043. >The front lobby was so close. Just a meter away.
  1044. >You could feel the needle like appendages wrap around your barrel and yank you back towards the horrible creature.
  1045. >It spun your around and brought you uncomfortably close.
  1046. >”Now...why don’t you just let it all out. Open up to me.”
  1047. >It brought it’s hands up and pointed its horrible sharp nails towards your chest.
  1048. >Your squirmed. It was all you could do.
  1049. >Tears were rolling down your face. What would happen?
  1050. >If it ended here you wouldn’t be able to help Anon, see your sister or subjects again.
  1051. >You pushed and squirmed best you could, you stuck out your horn, trying to pierce it through the head where the nose was supposed to be, but it just held you closer away.
  1052. >”Ah, ah, ah. No need to struggle. Just open up.”
  1053. “Eep!”
  1054. >A small pain came from one of your hind legs.
  1055. >Both you and the tall creature looked down.
  1056. >The child you crushed between your self in the locker was still alive, and biting into your leg.
  1057. >The monster holding you scowled and growled.
  1058. >”Little one...”
  1059. >Turning its attention, and claws, away from you, it skewered the skull of the child through the eyes and held it out with just two of its fingers.
  1060. >”What did I just have to teach the other BRAT about our NO NONSENSE POLICY!”
  1061. >It threw you down the main hall and sent you skidding into the main lobby.
  1062. >You immediately started to get up and scrambled your way toward the front entrance.
  1063. >The creature grabbed onto the lower torso of the other child and with a little effort ripped the other child in half.
  1064. >Its intestine and stomach spilling out onto the floor.
  1065. >You levitated the cyan key out of your pack and rammed it into the key hole and turned it.
  1066. >”Leaving so soon? You aren’t about to play hookey are you? You truant brat.”
  1067. >You pushed into the metal bar and the doors flew open.
  1068. >With out looking back you went into a full gallop down the dark street leading away from the school. A loud, familiar, screeching could be heard from dark place behind you.
  1069. >No. No looking back, no looking back.
  1070. >Just get away. Just get away.
  1071. >You were free now Luna. You just had to get away.
  1072. >Far away.
  1073. >Screw that school and everything inside.
  1074.  
  1075. ~~~~
  1076.  
  1077. >You flinched slightly.
  1078. >You continued rolling the gauze around your withers.
  1079. >Last wound to cover up.
  1080. >You sat on a sidewalk in one of the neighborhoods you were running through.
  1081. >You finally managed to escape the wrath of Anon’s school and the horrors inside it.
  1082. >Though you couldn’t help but feel that was just the beginning.
  1083. >It was dark out, it was night.
  1084. >Though it was a different kind of night.
  1085. >There weren’t as many stars in the sky, you didn’t know if that was because of the light pollution coming from the city in the distance, or if Anon’s journal or world just had less stars in the sky.
  1086. >You couldn’t feel a connection to the moon here either.
  1087. >It sat motionless in the sky.
  1088. >You used your teeth to cut the excess gauze and tightened it.
  1089. “That should do it. Should’ve grabbed some alcohol or something.”
  1090. >Not that you’d be any worse of with out it. Though it’d help.
  1091. >Superior alicorn immune system for the win.
  1092. >You packed up the rest of the items you picked up in the school and packed them into your satchel.
  1093. >You remember finding something called a ‘bus stop’ a ways back.
  1094. >You don’t know what a bus was, but you did see that it had a map there.
  1095. >While you didn’t want to back track back in the direction toward the school, you had to find out where exactly Anon’s home was.
  1096. >Assuming that’s what the address in his student file was.
  1097. >You picked your self up and walked back into the direction of where the map was.
  1098. >Finding the bus stop you studied the map closely.
  1099. >Human maps were weird.
  1100. >Human homes looked weird.
  1101. >Human streets...yea weird.
  1102. >What ever though.
  1103. >You looked at the address on Anon’s sheet again, 547 north west lane, and looked back at the map.
  1104. >The map itself didn’t show you any house numbers, or any indications of houses at all despite some buildings of interest.
  1105. >It did give you street names however and a helpful ‘you are here’ dot.
  1106. >North west lane seemed to only be a few blocks away.
  1107. >It’d be easier to fly there, if one of your wings weren’t out of commission.
  1108. >Damn heathen children.
  1109. >No use in cursing your luck now, you had to find Anon’s home.
  1110. >You decided this map would be very useful.
  1111. >You turned around reared your hind leg that wasn’t cut open or bit into, and bucked the glass the map was behind. Breaking it to pieces.
  1112. >You grabbed the map and stuffed it into your pack and continued down the suburban street.
  1113. >There was an eerie yet calm stillness in the air.
  1114. >The only noise being made was by that of bushes and trees in the wind.
  1115. >Large metal boxes with tires on them blocked parts of the wider street.
  1116. >Some of them were on fire, others had lights on their fronts flickering on and off.
  1117. >You recall Anonymous mentioning these things.
  1118. >’Cars’ you think they were called?
  1119. >…
  1120. >Human transportation was weird.
  1121. >Papers were strewn across the street, garbage poured out of their bins.
  1122. >It looked like chaos in the street, yet that calming silence persisted.
  1123. >The neighborhood seemed completely abandoned.
  1124. >Few houses had light coming from the inside.
  1125. >Streetlamps using the same fireless lights towered over you on the corners of the streets.
  1126. >Again a few were flickering.
  1127. >The whole world seemed to be in a state of disrepair and abandonment.
  1128. >It was as if a riot had just occurred and then the human populace had just vanished.
  1129. >The combined quite and goal with a path of seemingly little of any obstacles gave you some time to think.
  1130. >To really soak in where you where and ponder what has happened and what may.
  1131. >You WERE in Anon’s journal, and outside of it being used as a strange sort of therapy, and being the source of Anon’s conscious, you knew relatively little about it.
  1132. >Was the world you were in an accurate representation of the world Anon lived in?
  1133. >If so how? It seemed impossible to live in. Too dangerous and dilapidated. Too broken.
  1134. >You recall the state Anon was in when you first met him, and how he was against anypony reading through his journal.
  1135. >He must have been through here then.
  1136. >But how did HE get here? He wrote it, and humans couldn’t use magic.
  1137. >By the maker, Anon has been through this Tartarus.
  1138. >You winced recalling the memory on how you just threw him in the dungeon.
  1139. >He didn’t seem to mind anymore and was understanding.
  1140. >But after what you went through, needing help, terrified and confused, only to be thrown into a prison cell and treated like a prisoner?
  1141. >The guilt made your chest tighten.
  1142. >Throwing a lost creature that went through Tartarus and back into a prison. >Someone who needed help.
  1143. >You needed help.
  1144. >The empty streets were really beginning to emphasize the loneliness.
  1145. >A far too familiar feeling.
  1146. >Hm…
  1147. >Familiar. A strange term to use in such a different world.
  1148. >The whole world was different. It’s architecture, it’s technology, the ways human’s worked.
  1149. >You heard all of the stories from Anonymous but actually being here really put things in their place.
  1150. >You thought back to the school. A lot of it was so weird. Everything here was.
  1151. >Though you couldn’t shake the feeling of how wrong it felt.
  1152. >Assuming this wasn’t as accurate as it appeared, you could definitely tell the difference between what was just different in this world, and what was just...wrong.
  1153. >It was wrong to see those children attack you. For you to have to kill them.
  1154. >That horrible tall monster ripping the children apart with it’s horrible hands.
  1155. >The inconsistency of how one moment, a crowd of the heathens would attack you, and the next moment just stare into your soul and do nothing.
  1156. >How that could change in a heart beat as well.
  1157. >How the only creature that felt compelled to do harm was the giant, and how it thought it was helping. Assuming you can believe the words it spoke.
  1158. >You hated classes when you were younger too, but never have you wanted to just get out of a school like just a few scant moments ago.
  1159. >Bless the soul of Anonymous.
  1160. >Anonymous.
  1161. >That’s where your thoughts turned to next.
  1162. >Why must the last encounter with him be so unpleasant and confusing.
  1163. >Was that even Anonymous? He looked like a mess.
  1164. >...okay even more of a mess than he usually did.
  1165. >But there was something so off putting.
  1166. >Something wrong with this one. But at the same time far more real.
  1167. >Other than the sudden attitude change and loss of memory, the strangest aspect about this Anonymous was that blind fold.
  1168. >How was he able to see with that on? And why did there have to be crosses over where his eyes would have been.
  1169. >Would did that mean?
  1170. >You could have sworn you saw blood from a wound on his head seeping through it.
  1171. >Was it a way to cover an injury? Did he suffer cranial trauma? Is that why he was acting so different? Why he didn’t remember who you were?
  1172. >That didn’t explain the ability to just disappear out of no where though.
  1173. >You sighed and looked up.
  1174. >A blue sign reading ‘North West Ln.’ stood on the corner of one of the streets.
  1175. >Almost there.
  1176. >You turned down the street.
  1177. >You turned your thoughts back to Anonymous.
  1178. >That seemed to happen a lot. Even before coming here.
  1179. >You worried about him.
  1180. >Ever since the night he expressed an increased feeling of comfort being around you and the acknowledgment of your similarities with each other, you two seemed to be inseparable.
  1181. >He was the best friend you ever had minus your sister.
  1182. >Yet thinking of him even as ‘the best and possibly only friend you ever had’ seemed so...disappointing?
  1183. >Not that you were disappointed with Anonymous. Heavens no!
  1184. >You just wanted...something more.
  1185. >You were fooling yourself. Beating around the bush.
  1186. >You knew what you wanted, what you felt. You just never explicitly thought it.
  1187. >Or said it aloud.
  1188. >You had feelings for Anonymous.
  1189. >The species difference was odd, but that wasn’t an unheard of occurrence in Equestria.
  1190. >Humans were the only intelligent creatures in his world though. The concept may be too foreign to Anon. Perhaps even borderline immoral to him.
  1191. >The thought of that hurt. It cut deeper than any rusty pair of scissors could.
  1192. >That didn’t even touch on the mortality of Anon.
  1193. >He was still mortal. And would eventually leave the living world.
  1194. >The thought of that hurt a lot more.
  1195. >Even if the possibility of you two ever being more than friends was slim, or actually an impossibility, the loss of a friend as close as him would be devastating.
  1196. >If only the friendship could last forever. If only it could be more than that.
  1197. >You stopped in your tracks and just stared at the ground.
  1198. >A horrible feeling in your chest.
  1199. >A feeling as though you had already lost him.
  1200. >Impossible to imagine. He was still fine outside the book right?
  1201. >But the wound he had, the change in behavior.
  1202. >The fact he was a mortal.
  1203. >Your vision began to become blurry.
  1204. >You dropped onto your haunches.
  1205. >You could feel tears rolling down your cheeks.
  1206. >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H0U7fgFMK4
  1207. >If all of that were true...the purpose in all of this felt hopeless.
  1208. >It couldn’t be hopeless though. Could it?
  1209. >You wrapped your hooves around your face and lowered your head to the ground.
  1210. >You lied there sobbing our heart out for a good half hour. Not sure how to handle all of these feelings.
  1211. >Curse your immortality, curse your body, curse the Tartarus you found yourself in.
  1212. >Curse the unrelenting loneliness you felt.
  1213. >It’s times like these you really needed somepony to hold in an embrace.
  1214. >Something Anonymous was usually happy to fill.
  1215. >But he’s not here. And if the last interaction you had with him was anything to go by, he may have despised the proposition.
  1216. >But. There were times he didn’t.
  1217. >Every other time.
  1218. >Why were you so focused on the Anonymous of now?
  1219. >That wasn’t the Anonymous still in Equestria. You hoped.
  1220. >There was still an Anon outside this journal.
  1221. >There was still an Anon alive, there was still a reason to be here, RIGHT NOW.
  1222. >You aggressively rubbed the tears out of your eyes and picked your self up.
  1223. >To hay with feeling sorry for yourself. No more selfishness of what you want or what may happen to YOU.
  1224. >You loved Anon and wanted nothing but the best for him. You were here to help HIM.
  1225. >And if your time was short with him, you had to help him with these demons.
  1226. >You’re too far in now.
  1227. >You pumped your self up, punching the mailbox in front of you with your hoof.
  1228. >Right in the numbers.
  1229. >The numbers…
  1230. >547.
  1231. >Wait.
  1232. >You pulled out the address on Anon’s record.
  1233. >547 North West Lane.
  1234. >You looked back to the numbers on the mailbox.
  1235. >WHAT AN AMAZING COINCIDENCE!
  1236. >You conveniently decided to stop and cry like a foal in front of the place you needed to be!
  1237. >…
  1238. >Okay focus.
  1239. >You turned and studied the house in front of you.
  1240. >An average sized home, it looked similar to every other house on the street.
  1241. >It didn’t have light coming from the inside.
  1242. >You took a deep breath in, and then out.
  1243. >It’s time.
  1244. >No more crying. You had to do this.
  1245. >For a friend.
  1246. >Your straightened yourself, filled with determination.
  1247. >One hoof in front of the other.
  1248. >You walked up to the door.
  1249. “I will help you through this Anonymous. Or die trying.”
  1250. >You entered the house.
  1251. >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLhtDJnPKBs
  1252.  
  1253. ~~~~
  1254.  
  1255. >You honestly expected the door to be locked.
  1256. >Even if it were, you probably would’ve just kicked the door down.
  1257. >It was flimsy any ways.
  1258. >The inside of the house was...honestly fine.
  1259. >There was dust everywhere, a little messy, and dark but hey give yourself a day of cleaning and it’d be livable.
  1260. >No boarded up doors, no mold, no rot.
  1261. >Honestly relatively nice.
  1262. >Entering the door led to a small hallway before giving way to the living room.
  1263. >Now that you were there you had to find...something.
  1264. >You really wanted to just find Anon but not knowing where he was, you decided finding clues about where he COULD be had to suffice.
  1265. >And no one seemed to be home.
  1266. >What ever. You first searched around the living room.
  1267. >Nothing of note really.
  1268. >Two sofas faced a large black box on a dresser. In the middle was a small table, some magazines, some books.
  1269. >Nothing that would have helped really.
  1270. >Ah! The kitchen and dining area.
  1271. >Entering it your nostrils were invaded with the horrible smell of decay.
  1272. >Thankfully it was just the food that was left on the counter and a refrigerator left open.
  1273. >The food was black and shriveled. Or green and fuzzy.
  1274. >A bowl of chowder had its own ecosystem, how tantalizing.
  1275. >The worst of it was a slab of meat that had maggots crawling through it.
  1276. >Though with what you had previously went through, it was only enough to make you slightly cringe and gag.
  1277. >You decided to close the fridge so as to not smell the rotting food any longer than you had to.
  1278. >Hm. What was this? A note mentioning Anon!
  1279. >’Anon’s job phone number and address: 555-240-1209, 1576 South Elroy Street’
  1280. >Not to sure what a ‘phone number’ was, but hey a new address.
  1281. >No doubt that this must’ve been where Anon lived.
  1282. >Before leaving you decide to explore a bit. No doubt you’d find something useful here.
  1283. >You exited the kitchen and went down the hall way closer towards the back of the house.
  1284. >All the doors were open fortunately.
  1285. >A quick peak into one room showed an average family bed room. Nothing really spectacular. Queen sized bed seemingly big enough for two humans.
  1286. >You were about to continue down the hall way when something caught your eye.
  1287. >No. That can’t be.
  1288. >You entered the bedroom and picked up one of the pictures on the dresser.
  1289. >By the heavens it is!
  1290. >Awwwwwww.
  1291. >It was a picture of Anonymous as a little foal.
  1292. >A much better looking child than the ones back at the school.
  1293. >A quick glance over and you found a family picture.
  1294. >His father looked so tired. He was seemingly staring off into the camera.
  1295. >His mother appeared the same. Anon stood in the front disinterested. As if he had better things to do to occupy his time.
  1296. >They were cute pictures none the less.
  1297. >…
  1298. >You placed the one of the young Anon in your bag and placed the family picture back onto the dresser.
  1299. >It wasn’t creepy. It was sweet. This house? This street? Hay, probably the whole neighborhood? That was creepy.
  1300. >You exited the master bedroom and entered the only other one in the hall.
  1301. >Anon’s bedroom you had to guess.
  1302. >It had another one of those boxes. Smaller this time.
  1303. >Posters hung on the wall, mostly for what appeared to be films and bands.
  1304. >Pills and a glass sat on his night stand.
  1305. >His bed was a mess.
  1306. >The sheets were tossed around. Clothes covered it, and a guitar sat leaned up against the edge.
  1307. >Being here carried with it an almost surreal feeling.
  1308. >This is where Anonymous must have spent most of his childhood.
  1309. >You stood there for a moment, taking in the atmosphere.
  1310. >The subtle familiar smell of Anon allowing you to relive the few memories you experienced with him.
  1311. >*click*
  1312. >*creak*
  1313. >The sound of the front door opening snapped you back to reality.
  1314. >”Home...”
  1315. >You hid out of sight from the door to Anon’s room.
  1316. >Half way in his closet.
  1317. >You could hear the front door slam and heavy foot steps approach down the hallway.
  1318. >You could hear them enter one of the rooms and another door closing and then, the faint sound of running water from a faucet.
  1319. >Was one of Anon’s parents home? The voice you heard after the door opening sounded male.
  1320. >But weren’t his parents were dead.
  1321. >Did another Human family live here?
  1322. >But, Anon’s name was on the fridge!
  1323. >Were there other Human’s named Anonymous?
  1324. >You peered down the hall way.
  1325. >None of the doors seemed to be closed.
  1326. >Quietly stepping out of Anon’s room you peered into the master bedroom.
  1327. >The bathroom door was shut, and a faint bit of light poured through the small crack underneath, as well as the sound of running water.
  1328. >It was probably best to finally leave the house.
  1329. >Before you could fully turn your head however, the faint sound of more footsteps could be heard approaching the hallway.
  1330. >Moonrocks, no time to dodge back into Anon’s room.
  1331. >You managed to sneak quickly back into the master bedroom and hide behind the bed.
  1332. >The foot steps stopped.
  1333. >The door to the bedroom slowly shut.
  1334. >By the heavens please no.
  1335. >You weren’t trapped in here with some monster or something were you?
  1336. >Did the tall woman find you?
  1337. >You looked from underneath the bed and past the sheets.
  1338. >No legs.
  1339. >Taking a chance, You peaked your eyes from behind the bed.
  1340. >You were alone.
  1341. >Did the thing in the hallway shut you inside the bedroom?
  1342. >You were really beginning to not trust your own judgment when placed in these situations.
  1343. >You didn’t see any where another creature could be in the house, and you’ve already made enough noise.
  1344. >And if your ears weren’t playing tricks on you, why did it shut the door with out entering?
  1345. >You just then noticed that the water had stopped running in the bathroom.
  1346. >The light from the night outside got very dim.
  1347. >The house and atmosphere seemed to get a lot quieter. If that were possible.
  1348. >A calm set in that you really weren’t comfortable with.
  1349. >*SLAM*
  1350. >You snap your attention to the bathroom.
  1351. >The door opened with enough force to throw itself from its hinges.
  1352. >Light from the inside bathed the room in a soft yellow glow.
  1353. >Inside the bathroom was...by the ground you walked on.
  1354. >The tub portion was overflowing with water and a mixture of blood.
  1355. >The bathroom was caked in mud and dirt.
  1356. >In the shower, from a noose, hung the mangled and stripped corpse of a human.
  1357. >Most of the flesh and muscle had been stripped from the bone.
  1358. >The eyes, still in their sockets stared directly at the floor.
  1359. >It’s lower jaw, somehow still attached, hung open in what seemed like a terrifying mid scream.
  1360. >What remained of the digestive system, laid scattered across the floor.
  1361. >Yep. You were definitely getting the hay out of this house.
  1362. >Screw the front door you were going to break a window.
  1363. >You turned away from the closest window towards you and got ready to buck it out of its frame.
  1364. >You reared back, stabilized yourself, and kicked with all the force your could.
  1365. >You fell to your face.
  1366. >What? How did…
  1367. >You looked behind you.
  1368. >The wall was about three meters further away from you than it was just a few seconds ago.
  1369. >How was...that shouldn’t be possible!
  1370. >You launched yourself back up to your hooves.
  1371. >The house was growing.
  1372. >What in Tartarus?
  1373. >A horrible sobbing could be heard from somewhere in the house.
  1374. >It sounded horrid. As if somepony were being tortured.
  1375. >Nope! You definitely were NOT leaving through the front door.
  1376. >You focused towards the window and broke out into gallop, sprinting with all the energy you had in you toward the window.
  1377. >The house seemed to be growing faster and faster.
  1378. >Not fast enough though.
  1379. >Once you felt you were close enough, you shut your eyes and lept, keeping your forehooves in front of you.
  1380. >You crashed through the window and landed onto the back lawn outside, knocking the wind out of you.
  1381. >You picked your self up and ran toward the fence.
  1382. >You jumped over it and landed into the yard of the house behind it.
  1383. >You jumped their fence and finally reached the street of the neighborhood right next to the one Anon’s house was on.
  1384. >You turned and galloped down the street.
  1385. >Despite the running and distance between you and Anon’s house growing, the tortured wailing didn’t seem to be getting fainter.
  1386. >It actually started to get louder.
  1387. >An expletive Anon would commonly use popped into your head as realization struck.
  1388. >For some reason you felt compelled to use it yourself given the situation.
  1389. “OH SHI-GUHH!”
  1390. >Something tackled you from behind, wrapping its arms around your neck.
  1391. >”PLEASE, NO PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. YOU’RE ALL I HAVE LEFT! PLEASE, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU. MY BABY, JESUS CHRIST, MY BABY!”
  1392. >The grip around you was tightening, choking you out.
  1393. >You struggled to fill your lungs with air as you thrashed around.
  1394. >Much like the children in the school, what ever latched on to you had a vice like grip.
  1395. >Those children however gave you the know how with how to deal with this situation.
  1396. >Your reared yourself up and fell backwards.
  1397. >*CRUNCH*
  1398. >You were really beginning to like that sound now, whenever you were the one causing it at least.
  1399. >”GUKHHH!”
  1400. >The grip loosened it self and you gulped down what felt like gallons of precious oxygen.
  1401. >You quickly scrambled to your feet and booked it. Not even looking back.
  1402. >”PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME! YOU’RE STILL MY CHILD! I LOVE YOU! I CAN’T LOOSE YOU TOO!”
  1403. >Are you kidding?
  1404. >Keeping your gallop you turn down the main rode and dashed over a few cars.
  1405. >You could hear the slapping of feet approaching you.
  1406. “Buck this!”
  1407. >And that’s exactly what you did.
  1408. >You made one final buck, a wet splat could be heard and felt on your backside.
  1409. >”Plushckk!”
  1410. >*Thump*
  1411. >You were pretty sure that did it.
  1412. >The horrible crying stopped and the pair of feet giving chase with it.
  1413. >What ever was giving you chase was hopefully, finally, lying dead in the street behind you.
  1414. >You weren’t dumb enough to stop though.
  1415. >A single glance behind you, and you could see a corpse of...something, lying motionless in the street.
  1416. “Thank the maker!”
  1417. >You focused back to the street in front of you, never letting up.
  1418. >New mission and destination.
  1419. >Reach downtown, catch your breath, find Anon’s place of work.
  1420. >The trees whizzed pass you.
  1421. >You were dodging and jumping over those car things left and right.
  1422. >You kept your eyes forward and focused.
  1423. >Focused on the skyline and buildings of the city in front of you.
  1424.  
  1425. ~~~~
  1426.  
  1427. >Another ‘bus stop’, another map, a new direction.
  1428. >You found yourself just outside the city.
  1429. >Again a feeling of emptiness.
  1430. >Again a a feeling of emptiness.
  1431. >For the city that was.
  1432. >Your determination was keeping you strong throughout everything, even if you only just arrived.
  1433. >The night seemed to last forever though.
  1434. >The moon hasn’t moved since you’ve arrived.
  1435. >The city, much like the school and suburban neighborhood, looked like it had seen the bad end of one of Discord’s “pranks” and then left abandoned.
  1436. >Some doors and windows were boarded up, even had bars over them.
  1437. >Some of the windows that weren’t covered showed signs of life with light coming out of them.
  1438. >Though you were reluctant to trust it.
  1439. >You never thought you’d see the hour where the light proved to be more terrifying than the dark.
  1440. >Though in a way you were thankful, as the streets were light up, if only occasionally, by the lamps.
  1441. >The buildings seemed to tower over you.
  1442. >They reminded you have the skyscrapers in a city like Manehatten, or even your castle back in Canterlot, but so much bigger.
  1443. >Even with a map the streets seemed to be just a confusing maze with the occasional sign to tell you where you were.
  1444. >A few of the buildings were different, some boutiques, some hole in the wall drug stores.
  1445. >At the intersections of streets, wires would hang across the lamp posts with boxes hanging off of them that would occasionally flash on one of three colors.
  1446. >Red, yellow, or green.
  1447. >h
  1448. >Some of the paths had those cars blocking the way but were hardly and obstacle for you to climb over, unless they were larger or on fire. In which case you had to find another way around. Which usually wasn’t an issue.
  1449. >You scrunched your muzzle as you looked at the map again.
  1450. >This map made less sense than the last one you found in the neighborhood.
  1451. >You felt like you were going in circles at some points.
  1452. >How did Anon live in a city like this?
  1453. >The roads and paths in even the largest cities back home had some logic behind them, yet were still able to feel natural.
  1454. >Here it’s all the same sized blocks, with the same buildings, hardly changing.
  1455. >You thought back to home.
  1456. >The welfare of Twilight, and her friends. Your sister.
  1457. >Anonymous was probably still in the woods unconscious.
  1458. >Moonrocks. Anon was still in the woods.
  1459. >There you go with not thinking.
  1460. >You were usually a lot better than this but you just were not on your A game today.
  1461. >Thinking of poor Twilight Sparkle going through all the same horrors as you were was depressing. Poor mare probably wasn’t expecting any of this to happen.
  1462. >You could only hope she was healing and comfortable in a hospital bed, surrounded by her loyal friends.
  1463. >You left your sister back at the castle in a state of confusion.
  1464. >You just canceled the get together she had planed because of an unexpected emergency.
  1465. >She must have also gotten a letter from Twilight’s friends as well.
  1466. >She had to.
  1467. >Oh no. What if she had decided to visit Twilight and see her in such a state?
  1468. >What if she decided to go and search for you after realizing you went to go look for Anonymous?
  1469. >What if she found the location of Anonymous and the book?
  1470. >The location MUST be obvious by now!
  1471. >The veins, the peeling away of natural land and living matter, only to reveal corroded metal that shouldn’t be there?
  1472. >Anon’s body out cold and motionless.
  1473. >What if she tried to break you out like you did Twilight?
  1474. >While you didn’t want to stay here any longer than you had to, Twilight said you had to live through Anon’s troubles.
  1475. >Anon said the same thing in the school.
  1476. >You quickened your pace down the quite street.
  1477. >The wind having completely died and leaving you in a familiar heavy silence.
  1478. >You could only hope your sister didn’t find the book until you’ve reached Anon again and find out at least what had happened to him to cause him to write all of this.
  1479. >You take one more turn and reach a large clear area. A park was in the middle of it all, a proud clock tower and statue dominated the area with their size.
  1480. >You noticed something a little off about the statue.
  1481. >Was...was that Human on top of a pony?
  1482. >…
  1483. >You were going to have to remember to ask Anonymous about that.
  1484. >Well, you were down town. Which according to the map meant you were half way to South Elroy Street.
  1485. >You think.
  1486. >You took a seat in the park near a fountain so you could better read the map.
  1487. >South Elroy seemed to be another seven blocks away, and though you’ve been lucky so far, you don’t know if any obstacles would be in the way.
  1488. >*dong dong dong dong dong*
  1489. >The crashing sound of a bell made you jump a little bit.
  1490. >You looked up at the clock tower.
  1491. >The hour marker pointed to the numeral five.
  1492. >Five? Like five in the morning?
  1493. >You looked back up in the sky.
  1494. >The moon was in the wrong position.
  1495. >Anonymous mentioned the moon on his world moved by itself.
  1496. >And if that were the case they should really do something because the moon was not in the correct place at all.
  1497. >It was still at its highest point in the sky.
  1498. >You shook your head and looked back down at your map.
  1499. >Your your yourrrr map.
  1500. >You could feel a migraine coming on.
  1501. >You blamed all of the physical trauma.
  1502. >You grumbled and rubbed your flank.
  1503. >The number of times you feel on your butt, you swear.
  1504. >It didn’t help the writing in the map was written APPARENTLY for ants.
  1505. >Even with this part of the city being more well illuminated you had to squint and lean in just to read.
  1506. >A soft glow from a light source behind you illuminated the map thankfully and helped with the ability to read the extremely fine print.
  1507. “Ah. Much better.” You let out with a sigh.
  1508. >You dead panned.
  1509. >Where was that light coming from?
  1510. >You looked behind you, and instantly regretted the decision to do so.
  1511. >Looking back at you, if you could say it could look, was another humanoid creature.
  1512. >Its skin pulled impossibly taught across its body and appeared sickly.
  1513. >It lacked any clothing and muscle for that matter.
  1514. >Its flesh tightly gripping its bones. It appeared malnourished.
  1515. >The distinctive lack of any facial features was what really shocked you.
  1516. >No eyes, just sunken sockets.
  1517. >No nose, nor nose holes, just indents caused by the impossibly tight skin.
  1518. >Teeth from the skull inside made an impression against the flesh wrapped around its head.
  1519. >No openings no holes, no cartilage, no hair.
  1520. >Just skin pulling against the bones, the features of the skulls protruding and leaving impressions. Hints as to where the openings should be.
  1521. >And the faint light source that helped you in the reading of your map?
  1522. >Came from the faint flame of a candle the monster was holding in its hand.
  1523. >The light from which it was seemingly using to inspect you.
  1524. >You scrambled.
  1525. >Moving away from the demented being before coming to stop after you ran into something else.
  1526. >Looking up, you could only stare in horror from the feet of another one of these creatures.
  1527. >It brought its free arm up and swat at you.
  1528. >Despite the lack of any muscular development, it managed to throw you a full meter away, knocking the wind out of you.
  1529. >Rolling to a stop, you scrambled back up and ran towards the closest bastion of safety you could.
  1530. >A tree with low branches.
  1531. >Better than nothing.
  1532. >Doing your best, you scampered up the tree and held on for dear life.
  1533. >Humans may be monkeys but they lived on the ground.
  1534. >They couldn’t reach you from here...right?
  1535. >The two creatures you ran into gazed at you form the ground.
  1536. >Even with outeyes, their stares managing to pierce your very being.
  1537. >And after a few seconds they...started to walk away?
  1538. >Minding their own business as if nothing happened or was out of the ordinary?
  1539. “What in the name of...”
  1540. >”You’re still here!”
  1541. >A familiar voice was calling out to you.
  1542. >Your looked forward toward the statue at the center of the park.
  1543. >There, holding the hind leg of the pony statue, was Anonymous.
  1544. >Still wearing that blindfold too.
  1545. “Anonymous! You’re okay! Thank the heavens. Anon, what are these things? Why aren’t they attacking like the monsters previously? And speaking of, what in Tartarus WERE THOSE!”
  1546. >Anonymous stayed silent for a moment.
  1547. >”Even after all you’ve been through you’re still here. Why?”
  1548. “Anonymous, please, I am not in the mood nor condition to fool around. This is serious, there are monsters in these streets and you are in need of help. I’M in need of help. We can help each other, but first we must find a way to get past these things!”
  1549. >Anon motioned his blind gaze towards the monsters on the ground and then back to you.
  1550. >”Just a bunch of fools. All of them going through the motions, they think they can navigate the chaotic streets of this city and life with just a flame, wick, and a small amount of wax.”
  1551. >W-what?
  1552. “What?”
  1553. >”But look at me, at both of us. We are not so lucky to have a light to guide us.”
  1554. >You looked back over at the creatures and jumped down off the branch.
  1555. >More of them seemed to be roaming these streets, but all focusing on themselves.
  1556. >You looked back toward Anon in confusion.
  1557. “You mean that they don’t want anything to do with us? Why? Anonymous please tell me what is going on!”
  1558. >”I answered YOUR question. Answer mine. Why are you still here?”
  1559. >WHAT DID THAT MEAN?
  1560. “ANONYMOUS! I am NOT in the mood for this over the top and ominous language. You know very well why I am here! To help you. You asked for my help, and I care for you greatly. All of this will be made easier if you just tell me what is going-”
  1561. >”NO, YOU LISTEN HERE YOU GOD DAMN BARN ANIMAL!”
  1562. >You flinched and shut your muzzle.
  1563. >”Do you have any FUCKING idea what you’re doing? How much this hurts? Don’t think I’m not reliving every moment of this place a long with you. This. Is. My. Hell. I had to live through this TWICE before, and just like you I thought I could use this idea of myself to fight through these demons my first time through this horrible shit hole! You’re in MY world, through MY eyes. And every time one of you four legged SHIT STAINS come through here and make me open up this world I have to relive it EVERY SINGLE TIME! And look at you! Learning about what I lived through my whole life is hurting you too. So why don’t you just do the smart thing leave?”
  1564. “Anon, you don’t need to be so harsh! Look, I-i’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. We don’t need to insult each other and fight. I don’t mean to hurt you I just want to help!”
  1565. >”I don’t give a damn. Just leave!”
  1566. “No! I am going to help you! I don’t precisely have a way to leave either you know!”
  1567. >Anon glared at you. You can feel the anger through the blindfold.
  1568. >Then he paused and regained his composure.
  1569. >”Then do what I did...and make your own way out.”
  1570. “What?”
  1571. >”Just leave. I still have my own persona to deal with.”
  1572. >And with that, Anon walked behind the leg of the statue and seemed to vanish in thing air.
  1573. “Anon wait! Please don’t go! What do you mean make my own way? How would I do that? Anon, please, I’m scared and in danger alone.”
  1574. >You tripped over the raised concrete path through the park.
  1575. >He was gone, again, just like that. And all you two did was fight.
  1576. “We just want to help you...so we can be friends again...”
  1577. >You picked yourself up. You felt defeated.
  1578. >Why was he acting so differently? Why on the earth you stood on was he being so hostile?
  1579. >Was he some fake? Created by the world to scare you or fool you? Beat you down mentally?
  1580. >Or was this actually his true self and you were actually friends with a fake monster?
  1581. >No. That couldn’t be, that wasn’t.
  1582. >Anonymous was acting harsh and rude but he is clearly in a dark place, he had to be.
  1583. >You sounded like you were making excuses.
  1584. >But you also had a monster in you. You also used to be filled with hate and spite.
  1585. >But you were in a dark place, and you needed help. You were finally able to get that help and managed to move past it thanks to the love and dedication of those around you.
  1586. >And here was Anon, in a dark place, and like he said it hurts him just as much and clearly doesn’t want to go through this again.
  1587. >Who would you be if you couldn’t show the same dedication and love that managed to help you change?
  1588. >Were these similarities not why you two were friends?
  1589. >Why Anon was compelled to befriend you in the first place?
  1590. >You picked your map up off the ground.
  1591. >You wouldn’t let this darker Anonymous distract you.
  1592. >You would remain loyal!
  1593. >You knew what Anonymous was really like. He helped you through so much, you HAD to do the same for him.
  1594. >You looked around you.
  1595. >Those creatures were becoming more numerous.
  1596. >But they seemed to ignore you.
  1597. >Just don’t run into one of those things again and you should be fine.
  1598. >Seven blocks.
  1599. >Seven blocks between you and your next goal.
  1600. >You slid the map back in your pouch and started walking.
  1601. >The power of friendship saved you.
  1602. >And bet your flank it was going to save Anonymous as well.
  1603. ~~
  1604. >Darkness.
  1605. >Darkness surrounded you.
  1606. >It was a familiar feeling at this point.
  1607. >And then. Light.
  1608. >A ringing could be heard.
  1609. “Ugh. Fuck, what happened?”
  1610. >You placed a hand up to your head.
  1611. >You were Anonymous.
  1612. >And your temples were throbbing.
  1613. >Memories came flooding back.
  1614. >You were in White Tailed Woods.
  1615. >Why? Oh yea, you were running away. Something terrible happened.
  1616. >Twilight had read your journal and saw the horrors inside it.
  1617. >Quite literally.
  1618. >How the hell that happened you weren’t sure of but she had apparently been sucked literally into the book and lived through the same horrors you did shortly before showing up to this strange horse world.
  1619. >Fuck what else happened?
  1620. >Luna tracked you down and begged to help you after she found out.
  1621. >She pleaded with you but you didn’t want it.
  1622. >Look at what happened to Twilight you couldn’t put your closest friend through that!
  1623. >Hell the incident with Twilight was just proof that there were things you couldn’t get help with.
  1624. >But, she finally convinced you, you didn’t feel as though you’d be able to convince her any other way.
  1625. >Oh Luna, you hoped she was okay.
  1626. >The light began to blur and faint shapes could be made out.
  1627. >Furniture.
  1628. >You rolled over to your side.
  1629. >You grabbed your stomach as it began to twist inside of you. You felt like you were going to blow chunks.
  1630. “Ohhhhh, shit, I don’t feel good.”
  1631. >You rubbed your eyes and blinked.
  1632. >Your vision was beginning to become clear again.
  1633. >You sat yourself up, making sure you didn’t move to quickly and lose your lunch.
  1634. >You really shouldn’t have eaten so many sweets at Pinkie’s party.
  1635. >But you learned very quickly that, when in party mode, saying no to Pinkie Pie was a near impossibility.
  1636. >You took a look around.
  1637. >You were...wait.
  1638. “My apartment? What the fuck how could I have...oh. I must be back in the journal.”
  1639. >But why here? The first memories you had of being in the journal was waking up in an alley way.
  1640. >Why where you back here?
  1641. >You slowly picked your self up and leaned against the couch.
  1642. >The room looked just like it did when you last left it.
  1643. >Minus one mess, but you didn’t want to think about that.
  1644. >Fuck, if Luna is in here with you and she found out about that...even if she sees and survives everything like it was nothing, you wouldn’t be able to look at her.
  1645. >You gathered your self and stumbled into the bathroom turning on the faucet, splashing cold water in your face.
  1646. >Alright focus.
  1647. >Luna didn’t seem to be in the apartment with you.
  1648. >Your suite was small enough that it would have been obvious.
  1649. >You’d have to find her.
  1650. >You stared into the mirror.
  1651. >God you looked awful, how long were you out?
  1652. >Your hair was a mess, you’d grown some stubble on your chin…
  1653. >Your blindfold was stained?
  1654. >Wait...no...it couldn’t be.
  1655. >You reached your hands over your eyes.
  1656. >Nothing.
  1657. >The reflection looking back at you in the mirror furrowed its brow.
  1658. >”You have got to be shitting me.”
  1659. >YEA NOPE YOU WERE OUT OF THERE!
  1660. >Not him again. Even if he was who he was.
  1661. >You ran out the bathroom and to front door.
  1662. >Locked.
  1663. >Shit.
  1664. >You banged and yanked on the door knob, trying to get out.
  1665. >”Where do you think you’re going?”
  1666. >You paused and slowly craned your neck to look behind you.
  1667. >”We will be needing to have a heart to heart. You have some explaining to do.”
  1668. >Fuck.
  1669.  
  1670. ~~~~
  1671.  
  1672. >You are Princess Luna.
  1673. >And you were slightly confused.
  1674. >You stared at the two creatures in front of you.
  1675. >Pedestrians you took to calling them.
  1676. >Mostly because all they seem to do is wander the street.
  1677. >You took a slight break in your travels to witness the odd creatures and their behaviors.
  1678. >These two were just touching each other.
  1679. >Not sexually...you think.
  1680. >You weren’t sure what to think.
  1681. >They were sliding their boney hands across their faces.
  1682. >Their digits exploring the smooth tight skin across their bodies.
  1683. >Feeling each imprint from the skeletal structure of their skull across their face.
  1684. >Honestly you couldn’t say you were terrified of them anymore.
  1685. >Unsettled sure, but not terrified.
  1686. >They acted too odd, too unpredictable to strike terror into your soul.
  1687. >They were actually kind of silly.
  1688. >A nice change of pace from the horrible gore and life threatening danger you’ve experienced since your time here.
  1689. >You haven’t let up your guard though.
  1690. >Despite the occasionally silly though mostly unsettling attitude of these monsters, you still didn’t trust the environment around you.
  1691. >They could still attack you, and not just for running into them at full speed like last time.
  1692. >Just a slight bump is enough to make them attack.
  1693. >Even if it is just enough to get you away from them, it’s proven difficult to walk down the street.
  1694. >You weren’t sure what Anon was supposed to be getting at.
  1695. >Neither from their representation in the journal nor what he said at the park.
  1696. parparparparparparkkkkkkkk
  1697. >You groaned.
  1698. >You shook your head and turned your attention away from the two pedestrians to continue your journey.
  1699. >A slight headache was coming back.
  1700. >All this blunt trauma can’t be healthy.
  1701. >A sign reading ‘North Elroy Street’ caught your attention.
  1702. >Finally! Just another block until-
  1703. >*BOOM*
  1704. >A large explosion cut your internal celebration short.
  1705. >The sound was coming from the direction South Elroy was supposed to be.
  1706. >Oh Tartarus.
  1707. >You cantered down the street, dodging the creatures as you did so to figure out what exactly happened.
  1708. >By the heavens.
  1709. >Fire.
  1710. >Fire and rubble and ash.
  1711. >And a few dead pedestrians.
  1712. “What in the hay?”
  1713. >A crowd of pedestrians began forming around the flames, crowding around it and staring like it were a spectacular bonfire.
  1714. >You looked around for the cause of this.
  1715. >One of those large car things, which seemed to have a large metal cylinder on its back, was split in two.
  1716. >Metal was twisted and most of it was on fire.
  1717. >You could make out a sign on one of the halves of the large tank through the bellowing smoke.
  1718. >’DANGER! GASOLINE! No smoking or open flames!’
  1719. >Looking at the candles the pedestrians were holding it wasn’t hard to piece together what had happened.
  1720. >Large amounts of structural damage to the surrounding buildings left a large amount of rubble in the street.
  1721. >That coupled with the new crowd of the monsters made it a near impossibility to get through.
  1722. >With an annoyed sigh you reached into your pouch and grabbed your map again.
  1723. “Great. Not a thing in this universe is allowed to be straight forward, could it?”
  1724. >You grumbled bringing the map closer to your face.
  1725. >This side of the city was actually very run down, you were surprised the explosion didn’t bring the whole block down into dust.
  1726. >So, you had made some markings on your map to denote where obstructions and dead end paths were so you had an easier time knowing where you could and could not go.
  1727. >Every street seemed to be cut off from South Elroy, all accept for North Elroy, but that isn’t exactly an option now.
  1728. >You noticed a large building on the map that took up both sides of the block.
  1729. >Hauke University Hospital.
  1730. >It was just on the other street over, maybe they had an entrance on both sides?
  1731. >Only one way to find out.
  1732. >You walked around the block and over to the other street on the side.
  1733. >Checking first to see if you couldn’t just walk around the block so you didn’t have to go through a building falling apart.
  1734. >Nope, more large trucks. A pedestrian was caught in a loop climbing up and falling off of it over and over again.
  1735. >Welp. Hospital it had to be then.
  1736. >Walking up you studied the exterior.
  1737. >Much like the rest of the city, dilapidated, falling apart, signs of structural damage all over.
  1738. >Huge for a hospital though.
  1739. >Twice the size of the one in Canterlot.
  1740. >Why where human buildings so massive?
  1741. >You approached the front door expecting to just push through them.
  1742. >You were given a minor fright and a miniature heart attack when it just slide open on its own. In a very creepy and slow way.
  1743. >You stepped back a bit half expecting a monster or other sort of demon to come running out.
  1744. >The door closed again.
  1745. >You approached.
  1746. >The door opened.
  1747. >You got startled and flinched back again.
  1748. >The door closed.
  1749. “What in the world?”
  1750. >You approached the door a third time.
  1751. >The door opened.
  1752. “I-is it supposed to be doing this?”
  1753. >Great now you’re talking to your self.
  1754. >What ever.
  1755. >You stood there inspecting the entrance.
  1756. >Would it try to cut you in half if you tried walking through?
  1757. >You pondered this for a moment.
  1758. ”Pfft.”
  1759. >That was all ridiculous!
  1760. >The door was moving much too slowly.
  1761. >…
  1762. >But what if that’s what it WANTED you to think.
  1763. >Buck it.
  1764. >You needed to get to the other side of the street, and there was literally no getting around this.
  1765. >A few quick breaths, and some final words of self encouragement, you ran through the raced through the two doors and flinched.
  1766. >You were fine.
  1767. “HAH! Couldn’t get us! You’ll have to try harder than THAT world. Hahahaha-”
  1768. >*beep beep*
  1769. >*click*
  1770. “Huh?”
  1771. >You glanced behind you to see the glass doors were now closed.
  1772. >You approached it and it didn’t open like before.
  1773. >You pushed.
  1774. >Wouldn’t give.
  1775. >Wait, it opened by sliding.
  1776. >You tried to slide the door to the side. It wouldn’t budge.
  1777. “Come on, open!”
  1778. >You tried using some of the little magic you had to help.
  1779. >Still wouldn’t open it self.
  1780. “No matter! We will simply kick our way out.”
  1781. >You spun around so your plot faced the door, reared up, and bucked.
  1782. >Your hooves made contact with the glass and a sharp pain fired down your nerves.
  1783. >You bounced off and landed on your face.
  1784. “Guh!”
  1785. >You looked up in confusion. The glass wasn’t broken.
  1786. “What!”
  1787. >You shook your head and reared up again.
  1788. >Buck, bounce, fall on your flank.
  1789. “Buhhh. The maker must be making a joke out of me. I’m trapped in here!”
  1790. >You got up and tried to rediscover what balance was.
  1791. “No matter. We will just find the rear exit. We have to leave through there anyways, hopefully it is not also locked...or indestructible.
  1792. >You observed the room in front of you.
  1793. >The remains of what used to be a waiting room were rotting away. All of the front desk windows had metal shutters closed shut and rusted through.
  1794. >A few had holes.
  1795. >Lights were fighting an uphill battle to stay illuminated. A stretcher laid on its side and covered in mildew in a small children’s section.
  1796. >You approached the front desk.
  1797. >Papers and medical waste littered the counter.
  1798. >That was rather out of place.
  1799. >You knew this place had to be abandoned, but why so many needles at the front desk?
  1800. >A lot of them were broken, the contents spilling out and mixing, the needles themselves covered in brown rust.
  1801. “Disgusting sight sure. But I must obtain a map for this place.”
  1802. >You said, still talking to yourself for some reason.
  1803. >Ah! There we are. You could see a small map on the other side of the counter through one of the rusted holes in the shutters.
  1804. >Using your magic, you pushed the shutter out of place.
  1805. >It took far less effort than expected, the corrosion really helped you out there.
  1806. >Using telekinesis, you grabbed it and levitated it in front of your face.
  1807. >There WAS an exit on the other side of the hospital, a straight shot through the hallways.
  1808. >You didn’t want to get to excited though, it wouldn’t be as easy as it looks if previous events were anything to go by.
  1809. >You walked past the front counter and out of the front waiting area.
  1810. >Wheelchairs were tipped over, stretchers were rusted and thrown about at random areas along the hallway.
  1811. >You passed one that had a mattress that was underneath a leak.
  1812. >The brown water slowly dripped onto the bare sheets creating a horribly rancid puddle. Black mold covered the surrounding collection of water, and you swore you could see the larvae of some insect swimming in the water.
  1813. >Ugh.
  1814. >The more you traveled down the hall way the more it seemed to fall apart.
  1815. >You began to get this strange feeling running down your spine, freezing your bones and making you shudder.
  1816. >It wasn’t just that you had the feeling something horrible happened here.
  1817. >Clearly something bad had happened. Bad things were happening quite a lot here.
  1818. >But something a lot more sad, a lot more depressing.
  1819. >Something heavy and...painful.
  1820. >What significance did this place spark in Anon?
  1821. >The strange rectangular lights above you hung just from the wires, and more and more of the squares in the ceiling were beginning to go missing.
  1822. >The paint on the walls were cracking and peeling away, revealing horribly infected walls covered in more of the black fungus.
  1823. >The smell was unbearable.
  1824. >The usually clean smell of a hospital was replaced with dust, mold, and rot.
  1825. >And then insects started to crawl from their hiding spots.
  1826. >Large centipedes and bugs, a few as a large as the base of our hooves, would scurry and make horrible clicking noises.
  1827. >You were beginning to feel more and more uneasy, the stale air of the place wrapped around your throat. The atmosphere was suffocating.
  1828. >Yet no monsters, no loud noises, no locked doors even.
  1829. >Just an eerie silence, broken only by the tapping of your hooves on the linoleum, and the skittering of the bugs on the walls.
  1830. >You pushed open the last pair of doors in front of you and walked into the ER, which had its own convenient entrance for the large cars humans used as an ambulance.
  1831. >You pushed against the entrance, only to discover that it was locked.
  1832. “Of course. We are only surprised this didn’t happen sooner.”
  1833. >What to do now?
  1834. >Maybe this door wasn’t indestructible?
  1835. >You tapped the glass of the sliding doors, turned around and kicked it.
  1836. >Just like at the front, you bounced off the glass and landed on your back.
  1837. “No...still can’t do that.” you sighed.
  1838. >You picked yourself up and searched the desk area in the middle of the room.
  1839. >Just a bunch of paper work and boxes with large dark screens. Similar to the one you found in Anon’s house. Only smaller.
  1840. >A piece of paper with a reminder to the staff caught your eye though.
  1841. >”ATTENTION ALL STAFF! Don’t forget to have you I.D. on you at all times! They are your identification and key to get to otherwise locked areas in the hospital. We’ve been having too many instances of the staff misplacing their cards. A nurse had to be given a written warning for leaving her card in the lounge. Signed by: Care team leader, Jessie Kauffman.”
  1842. >Huh. So their ID cards were used as keys?
  1843. >How in the hay was that supposed to work.
  1844. >You didn’t find any IDs in this room.
  1845. >Perhaps if these workers were as complacent as they were described, you could probably check their employee lounge for any IDs.
  1846. >Were medical workers usually this incompetent in the human world?
  1847. >You pulled out your map and looked for the lounge.
  1848. >The map was telling you to go all the way to the third floor.
  1849. “Again, nothing in this world can be easy can it?”
  1850. >With a groan you packed your map away and continued to the stairs.
  1851. >Entering the stairwell you looked up.
  1852. >Moonrocks! These steps went up by tens of meters! It seemed impossible to even fit in the building!
  1853. >There wasn’t even any consistency in the spacing between the doors to other floors.
  1854. >It seemed to go on almost forever!
  1855. >ever
  1856. >eVer
  1857. >You started your ascent, your hooves tapping against the grated steps and causing a nauseating echo.
  1858. >After five minutes you looked up. It didn’t even look like you made a dent in traveling.
  1859. >In fact the second floor look only a little bit closer than at ground level, how far were you from, WOAH!
  1860. >Spiraling darkness.
  1861. >The steps seemed to just keep going down and down and down forever.
  1862. >A sharp pain pulsed in your skull, and then left as soon as it came.
  1863. “Ah! What is with these strange occurrences within the building?”
  1864. >You continued your journey upwards.
  1865. >Each step causing a loud clang between your hoof and the metal, which in turn reverberated among the long and deep walls of the stairwell.
  1866. >The sounds aggravated your headache.
  1867. >You began to get extremely sick of the metal, the horrible rotting walls, and the darkness.
  1868. >Your alicorn eyes were really being tested at this point.
  1869. >And then, finally after all that climbing.
  1870. “The third story. Thank the gods!”
  1871. >You pushed into the bar across the door.
  1872. >*clink*
  1873. >It was locked.
  1874. >You had to hold in your scream, every nerve and fiber in your body was at a stress point you’ve never felt before.
  1875. >Every door, EVERY DOOR, the smallest obstacle between you and the one thing you needed was always LOCKED!
  1876. >The throbbing in your head was reaching points of becoming unbearable.
  1877. >You could hardly concentrate on anything with the burning pain in your head.
  1878. >You felt like something was inside of it and trying to break free by eating itself out.
  1879. >NO, BUCK IT! YOU WERE GOING TO GET THROUGH THIS DOOR WITHOUT GOING ON ANOTHER SCAVENGER HUNT.
  1880. >Hay, you were already on one.
  1881. >With a mixture of just wanting to let out anger, and a bit of desperation in hoping it’d work.
  1882. >You reared your hind legs back, and with all your might, with every bit of strength in you, even the limited amount of magic you could use in this maker forsaken world, you gave the door a hard, loud buck.
  1883. >*BANG!*
  1884. >The doors flew open, one of them came off one of its hinges.
  1885. >The sound from the loud bang of the kick vibrated off the walls and assaulted your ear drums.
  1886. >You dug your hooves into your temple and rubbed furiously.
  1887. >After the pain died down you looked behind you and sighed.
  1888. “I should feel joy from something finally going our way, however it’s about time this all ends.”
  1889. >You picked yourself up and finally walked into the hallway.
  1890. >Walking down it caused the rooms and walls to become even worse for wear somehow.
  1891. >Exposed boards and insulation spilled unto the tiling.
  1892. >Drywall dusted the floor in a carpet of white.
  1893. >Eventually all the lights stopped working, and the darkness was too much for even you to see through.
  1894. >Luckily, you had torch on you from the school.
  1895. >You grabbed it from your pouch and switched it on.
  1896. >A beam of bright light punctured the darkness in front of you.
  1897. >The eerie feeling you felt first coming in was back, and even worse this time around.
  1898. >A lot more off than before. A lot more uncanny.
  1899. >Walking past a few rooms something made you stop.
  1900. >It was faint, you almost missed it, but you could definitely hear it.
  1901. >Sobbing, coming from one of the shut rooms.
  1902. >You looked toward the door of the room in question.
  1903. >The faint weeping of a young girl was coming from behind the door.
  1904. >You tensed up and put a hoof forward to step away.
  1905. >The sobbing grew louder.
  1906. >You did it again.
  1907. >It grew louder.
  1908. >It was a pained sobbing. The crying you’d hear over a lost loved one, or a child lost in the woods.
  1909. >Every muscle in your body was tensed, contracting past mere uncomfort and into pain.
  1910. >You picked up your hoof to take one more step forward, and the sobbing stopped.
  1911. >You didn’t like that.
  1912. >It rubbed you in all the wrong ways.
  1913. >It coming out of nowhere was one thing but then disappearing and being replaced by the horrible silence was another.
  1914. >You held your breath for a long while, waiting for something to happen.
  1915. >One of those heathens. That lady from the school, the woman that chased you out of Anon’s house, hay even a pedsestrian.
  1916. >But nothing happened.
  1917. >You attempted walking again, and when there was still no odd occurances, you continued.
  1918. >Now thoroughly on edge and uncomfortable.
  1919. >Never knowing from what or why these things happened.
  1920. >The darkness seemed to move around you with every step at that point.
  1921. >Finally, you reached the lounge.
  1922. >Finding the ID wasn’t difficult, a doctor had left his in one of his coats.
  1923. >You inspected it. The ID was the cleanest thing in the building you’ve come across so far.
  1924. >The card itself shone a bringht pure white. And on the back, a purple bar.
  1925. >The text was in a soft baby blue.
  1926. >You grabbed it and shoved it into your bag.
  1927. >You walked back down the hall way, the darkness was closing in now.
  1928. >You took a slight detour to another stairwell.
  1929. >Crossing into another hall and taking a right.
  1930. >Coming upon another room that was out of place.
  1931. >Deep black roots crawled up and around the frame of the door, bark covering the walls.
  1932. >The uncanny feeling that stuck around you seemed to consume you into a deep depressive state.
  1933. >Fear over what could be in that room swarmed in your mind…
  1934. >But…
  1935. >You had to go in.
  1936. >You just had to go into this room. You felt as if not doing so would be...wrong.
  1937. >Woah woah woah. Luna, listen to your self. You cant…
  1938. >Cant cant cant cant canterrrrrrrrrrrrrrr lot lot lotttttltoltlotloltoltol.
  1939. >The headache came back.
  1940. >You began to approach the door.
  1941. >You had to go in. You had to check on who was in there.
  1942. >You didn’t even know who was in there.
  1943. >B-but you had to check. You didn’t want to. You didn’t want to see them. But you needed to see them. You’d be horrible otherwise.
  1944. >You pushed the door open.
  1945. >Not even your flashlight could illuminate the black in this room.
  1946. >It was like stepping into a demented version of Twilight’s library.
  1947. “I-I’ve come to see you...”
  1948. >The roots twisted and turned, growing into a large mound of rotten wood and bark.
  1949. “I can’t be too late can I?”
  1950. >The roots compressed into each other, the wood crunched and snapped.
  1951. “By God...I am.”
  1952. >You didn’t know who God was. You had no idea what you were saying, but at this point you felt so compelled to do so.
  1953. >With a final crack, bark and roots gave way and fell onto the floor.
  1954. >A dark silhouette of a human woman was now standing there.
  1955. >A shadow being that seemed to shutter in and out of existence. But the eyes themselves were read and large. They took up more of the face than they should have.
  1956. >The sight alone seemed to snap you out of what ever possessed you to enter in the first place and you shook your head.
  1957. >No words, no thoughts, no waiting for it to do anything, just running.
  1958. >You turned and scurried away, passing and jumping over cots, stretchers, and wheelchairs a like.
  1959. >The roots from the door were following you, matching your pace.
  1960. >As they did, the walls turned to black and more bark seemed to grow in its place.
  1961. >You finally made it to the stairwell and raced down.
  1962. >The roots twisted around the metal, and from wood they turned to rusted pipe, and instead of bark, the metal corroded and scraped away.
  1963. >You didn’t even run down the steps, you just jumped from one platform to the other.
  1964. >Almost there.
  1965. >The door to the hallway was one more flight.
  1966. >You reached it and pushed it open. Something grabbed your hind leg and tripped you.
  1967. >Some of the piping.
  1968. “UGH!”
  1969. >You looked back in horror at...nothing.
  1970. >Did the shadow woman not follow you.
  1971. >You looked back up into the stairwell and pointed your torch up.
  1972. >No, there she was staring back. Not moving an inch.
  1973. >The roots and pipes however, were still inching their way towards you.
  1974. >You freed your hoof from the metal snagging it and rushed toward the exit of the ER.
  1975. >Finally reaching it, you had an epiphany.
  1976. “HOW DO THEY USE THESE THINGS AS KEYS?”
  1977. >You pulled the card out with our teeth and looked around the door.
  1978. >A black box was near the frame of the door, just to the left of it.
  1979. >The box itself had a red light on top and a slit inside it.
  1980. >You pushed the card along the slit nothing.
  1981. >Maybe you have to slide it back and forth?
  1982. >You aggressively slid the card up and down inside the slit.
  1983. >*beep beep*
  1984. >*click*
  1985. >The light turned green, and the doors opened.
  1986. >Running out of the exit you missed a wheelchair blocking the path and tripped.
  1987. >You skid and rolled onto your side.
  1988. >Half in and half out of the exit.
  1989. >Before you could get up, a sharp pain pierced your side.
  1990. >One of the roots had stabbed into you, and a horrible black stain was spreading along your coat.
  1991. >You glanced back into the hospital.
  1992. >The shadowy, almost two dimensional women was standing on the far opposite side of the room.
  1993. >It’s eyes the most visible thing about it.
  1994. >It stood still yet its form was still vibrating and seemingly jumping into and out of this reality at parasitic moments.
  1995. >A large toothy grin spread across the figures face, giving you flashbacks to the school.
  1996. >Its teeth were stained yellow and gums cut a deep red.
  1997. >The roots continued to approach you, growing out of the exit.
  1998. >You bucked a few of the roots and they went flying.
  1999. >You pulled the root still lodged into your side out of you and scampered away, out side of the exit, and down the street, the fire from the explosion of the street opposite of the one you were now on illuminating your way.
  2000. >You ran and ran and ran.
  2001. >You were beginning yo find yourself in this situation way too often.
  2002. >Looking behind you, you didn’t see the woman or the branches giving chase after that.
  2003. >You finally made it to South Elroy and took rest at a bus stop.
  2004. >You took a moment to collect your self.
  2005. >Your breath was heavy and quick. Your heart was close to popping in your chest.
  2006. >You winced and grabbed your side in pain. Cuddling up into a fetal position.
  2007. >You checked the wound from the branch.
  2008. >It broke skin and pierced muscle but it actually wasn’t that deep. Not deep enough to reach anything major.
  2009. >You covered it in gauze and poured some alcohol on it you snatched from the ER.
  2010. >The black coloration of your coat, flesh, and blood however was of a concern.
  2011. >A wave of depression and loss fell over you.
  2012. >Loss of what you didn’t know.
  2013. >...you tried not to think about that.
  2014. >You looked back into the direction of the hospital.
  2015. >Another horrible place, another horrible monster evaded.
  2016. >You were beginning to notice a pattern.
  2017. >You were getting yourself into a lot of these horrid situations.
  2018. >Maker forbid you get too used to this.
  2019. >You were safe now, and you were at South Elroy.
  2020. >You had to continue. You could FEEL yourself getting closer. You knew you had to be.
  2021. >It was a deep metaphysical feeling. In a way, it felt like this book was running out of pages, what was at the end, you didn’t know, but you had to find out.
  2022. >Anon was acting strange, and he doesn’t want you here.
  2023. >But at the same time he want’s you to “make your own way out.”
  2024. >What ever that means.
  2025. >You looked down South Elroy Street.
  2026. >The streets were calm now, not even the pedestrians seemed to be wandering around.
  2027. >You slide back against the glass of the stop and rest your self for a minute.
  2028. >Your eyes were beginning to grow heavy.
  2029. >Just a little bit of rest.
  2030. >You rest your head back onto the ground.
  2031. >You couldn’t sleep...too...dangerous.
  2032. >You finally allowed your eyes to shut.
  2033. >No sleep. Just...just to rest your eyes.
  2034.  
  2035. ~~~~
  2036.  
  2037. >You wrestled with your bindings, trying your damnedest to free your self.
  2038. >Your breathing was made difficult through the gag in your mouth.
  2039. >You are Anonymous, and you were tied up and locked in the dark bathroom of your old apartment.
  2040. >The other you had knocked you unconscious and left you there.
  2041. >You had no idea what he wanted to do with you or where he went, but you could only assume it was something very bad.
  2042. >Last time you saw him he...well, no use dwelling on that or what it could mean.
  2043. >You had bigger things to worry about than the fabric of reality. Of what was real or not.
  2044. >No. Luna was trapped in this hellish world and you needed to find out where she was.
  2045. >If she was okay or not.
  2046. “God damn it. This rope is tight as fuck.”
  2047. >The sound of a closing door and foot steps approaching the bath room door caught your attention.
  2048. >The knob twisted and the door was pushed open.
  2049. >”Now that she’s been taken care of, I can deal with you.”
  2050. >He grabbed you and dragged you out of the tub, pulling you into the main room.
  2051. >He threw you against the sofa and ripped the gag out of your mouth.
  2052. “WHERE IS SHE!?”
  2053. >”Doesn’t matter. The both of you won’t be here very long anyways.”
  2054. “You piece of shit, if you did anything to her I’ll-”
  2055. >”Do nothing. You will do nothing but leave. I don’t want anything to do with either of you, and I don’t really care about how or why you came here. I just want peace.”
  2056. “Peace? You weren’t very peaceful last time I saw you! I don’t know who you are or why you look like me, but you can’t be good!”
  2057. >The other Anonymous straightened himself and looked down at you with a disappointed expression.
  2058. >You didn’t know how you could describe it as looking with the blind fold on.
  2059. >You really didn’t care though.
  2060. >”You really don’t know who I am? Do you even know who you are?”
  2061. “Fuck you and your cryptic bullshit! My last visit here had me at my limits.”
  2062. >”If you’ll recall, I did nothing to you my last time here other than...vent my frustrations. I hate this place just as much as you do. When I couldn’t fight my way out-”
  2063. “Fight your way out? Are you seriously telling me you had to go through everything I did? With what you can do? You can go where ever you want, do what ever you want.”
  2064. >”I fought in my own way. We both did.”
  2065. “Listen, just tell me where Luna is, is she okay?”
  2066. >”If you are referencing the unicorn, pegasus hybrid thing with the dark coat and weird mane, then hopefully not for long. If what she has expressed has any truth.”
  2067. “You faggot, what did you do to her?”
  2068. >You struggled a bit more with the rope tying your feet and hands together.
  2069. >”It’s not just what I did to her, but what I did to my self, what we both did...”
  2070. “That doesn’t make ANY sense. Stop with the ominous bullshit and just speak normally. What the FUCK did you do to Luna?”
  2071. >The other Anon leaned into your face and grimaced.
  2072. >”We opened up. We opened ourselves to blank pages and mapped out our frustrations. She’s at the mercy of our psychie now.”
  2073. “So you’re saying you just left her out there? With all of those fucking...things, with no help? No way of protecting her self? And stop saying WE, we aren’t the same.”
  2074. >”Wow. You really do not know who you are do you? Not the same in body. I’m actually surprised you have one. No, we inhabit the same mind.”
  2075. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
  2076. >The other Anonymous sighed and took a seat beside you.
  2077. >”I really don’t want to talk about this. Why can’t we have some weird mind connection thing to make you understand.”
  2078. >You spat at his shoe beside you.
  2079. “I refuse to believe we are the same in ANY form of the word. If you are a part of me, if you do come from my mind, I had to struggle every day of my life to keep you down. I hated myself because of you.”
  2080. >”I know what you mean...you’re catching on at least. But you can’t stay here. You’re supposed to be gone.”
  2081. “What do you mean?”
  2082. >”Forget it. Like I said, I don’t want to talk about any of this. I hate opening my self up. I only seem to cause pain when I do so. And now some innocent bystander is going to succumb to my pain...or find a way out.”
  2083. “Where is the way out?”
  2084. >”If I knew that I wouldn’t have made my own way out of this place. Unfortunately it seems when ever someone wants to be nosy about this book, my troubles, I end up back here.”
  2085. >You stared up at him. He just stared out in front of him, at nothing in particular.
  2086. “Look. If us being here hurts you. We can make a deal.”
  2087. >”That’s not how this works.”
  2088. “THEN HOW DOES IT? I don’t want to be here again, I’m sure Luna hates it here, and from what you are saying, you hate being here just as much as us. None of us know the way out apparently, and if that’s the case, why don’t we pass the time doing something useful?”
  2089. >The other Anon sighed again.
  2090. >”I suppose I should listen to you.”
  2091. “Really? Then how about you untie me?”
  2092. >The other Anon pinched his chin.
  2093. >”Alright. I only ever did this as a precaution. Just know there isn’t anything you can do to escape this apartment. And trying to harm me will do more harm than good.”
  2094. “Fine, whatever, just untie me!”
  2095. >”Alright.”
  2096. >He reached down and undid your restraints.
  2097. >You rubbed your wrist, motherfucker tied those knots so tight they left bruises.
  2098. “First off. Where is Luna, is she okay?”
  2099. >”Last I saw of the horse she was in the park. A little beaten up, but she made it out of our old elementery school and house just fine. She is hell bent on ‘saving us’. Heh, if only she understood.”
  2100. “She’s fine then?”
  2101. >”She’s alive.”
  2102. “Good. And yea, by the way. What do you mean, ‘understand.’ Are we in the book? My own mind? What?”
  2103. >”As far as I know, we are inside of our journal. Everything happening here, is what is written in there.”
  2104. >He pointed to the book laying on the dining table.
  2105. >Great, that thing was here too.
  2106. “Alright. So Luna is safe, and it turns out I was in my journal the whole time. That leaves two more questions I have.”
  2107. >”If you insist.”
  2108. “Who are you. And how did I end up in the journal in the first place?”
  2109. >The other Anon’s brow furrowed.
  2110. >”Every writer needs a main character Anon.”
  2111. >God damn it he was being ominous again.
  2112. “What does that even mean? Jesus H. Christ! You are so fucking weird.”
  2113. >”I-”
  2114. >A terrible groaning side shuttered throughout the whole apartment.
  2115. >A sharp pain pulsed in your skull.
  2116. >It seemed to do the same to the other Anon.
  2117. “AGH! Fuck, what was that?”
  2118. >The other Anon rubbed his head. His mouth began to open as he came to a sudden realization.
  2119. >He walked over and opened up the journal and flipped through it.
  2120. >He looked toward the door and threw the book back on the table.
  2121. >”THAT BITCH! AND SHE DIDN’T DIE FROM THAT?”
  2122. >He looked over at you and pointed an accusing finger.
  2123. >”NO MORE QUESTIONS! NO MORE TALKING! All you and her are is terrible continuation of my pain. Both of you had better find a way to leave. You know where the kitchen is. I have to go and talk to this bitch!”
  2124. “HEY FUCK YOU! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING! DON’T YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT HURTING HER!”
  2125. >He opened the door and looked back at you.
  2126. >”Hey before you do the right thing and leave, remember this. Wherever you end up next, just fucking stay there, like you were supposed to.”
  2127. >With that, he slammed the door shut.
  2128. >You ran over and fiddled with the handle.
  2129. >Locked from the outside.
  2130. “GOD DAMN IT!”
  2131. >You pounded on the door of your apartment.
  2132. “DON’T YOU LAY A GOD DAMN HAND ON HER!”
  2133. >You had to step back and collect your self.
  2134. >Okay, okay. There had to be a way out.
  2135. >After a few minutes of looking and throwing things at windows, nothing worked.
  2136. >You pulled out a chair at the dining room table and sat down.
  2137. >You looked at the journal in front of you.
  2138. “He read that before leaving. What did it say?”
  2139. >You grabbed it and started reading.
  2140. >”You finally made it to South Elroy and took rest at a bus stop. You took a moment to collect your self. Your breath was heavy and quick. Your heart was close to popping in your chest. You winced and grabbed your side in pain. Cuddling up into a fetal position. You checked the wound from the branch. It broke skin and pierced muscle but it actually wasn’t that deep. Not deep enough to reach anything major. You covered it in gauze and poured some alcohol on it you snatched from the ER.”
  2141. >What?
  2142. >You don’t remember this ever happening.
  2143. >Was...was this about Luna? She made it through Hauke?
  2144. >From the sound of it she also encountered...that must be why the other Anon was upset.
  2145. >What else did this journal have?
  2146. >You flipped through the pages.
  2147. >Most of it would be incoherent to the average reader. But you were able to relate to everything written here. You wrote it after all. But there were apparently stuff in here you didn’t remember writing.
  2148. >You flipped to the front.
  2149. >”It’s dark and lonely. I always felt alone. I hated that feeling. I was always too awkward to make any real friends. Last one I had was a fake bitch.”
  2150. >You flipped through a few more of the pages.
  2151. >Wait.
  2152. >What was this.
  2153. >”I need to fight back. I have to try. These thoughts are too much. The things I go through are too much.”
  2154. “Weird.”
  2155. >”I wake up...in a dark alley way...”
  2156. >You don’t remember writing this. But...this was almost like...
  2157. >”I don’t know where I am or how I got here. Leaving this place, all I see are the struggles I deal with. The things I’m afraid of that no one seems to understand. They confuse me. They hurt the same but they are far more real. I can touch them. They can touch me now.”
  2158. >This was too familiar. You don’t remember writing this though. You remember living it.
  2159. >”I exited the alley way. I had to find my way home. But every twist and every turn I made there was another one of them. So hostile, so terrible. They cut deep with their knives like my anxiety does just trying to go to work.”
  2160. >You flipped through more of the book.
  2161. >No...you didn’t write this you realized.
  2162. >You lived through this. This is a retelling of what you did when you found your self here.
  2163. >Every monster, every location.
  2164. >It recalls how you escaped the alley way. How you found your self at the ER, the school, your old home. The streets.
  2165. >Everything you did to the smallest detail.
  2166. >What the other Anon said before leaving went through your mind.
  2167. >”Every writer needs a main character.”
  2168. >Main character…
  2169. >You dropped the journal back onto the table and looked at your hands.
  2170. >You tried to remember what had happened shortly before showing up in that alley way.
  2171. >You couldn’t. You had the memories. Your childhood, your mother, your father, your job and co-workers. Your doctor. Living here. But...what was the last thing you remember doing before showing up here the first time? You didn’t know.
  2172. “Every story...needs a main character...”
  2173. >You could feel yourself begin to shake.
  2174. >You brought your hands up to your head and pulled at your hair.
  2175. “Every story...”
  2176. >Your breath began to get quicker.
  2177. “A main character.”
  2178. >You felt as if you were just struck by a train mentally.
  2179. >The walls seemed to shake just a little bit.
  2180. “Who...who am I?”
  2181. >Your sense of reality began to break down.
  2182. >It really couldn’t be true was it?
  2183. >You could feel things! You could feel your hair, the table.
  2184. >You even had memories of feeling things.
  2185. >Like...like...hugs!
  2186. >Hugs from your friends. From Luna.
  2187. >Luna. Was she real? Were your friends?
  2188. >You leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling.
  2189. >What the fuck was going on?
  2190. >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9f29-J4gU0
  2191.  
  2192. ~~~~
  2193.  
  2194. “Mmmm. Anonymous...”
  2195. >You scrunched your nuzzle up.
  2196. >Something was licking your nose.
  2197. “Anon, it’s cute to wake me up like this but you have the breath of a dog.”
  2198. >*pant pant pant*
  2199. >You cracked an eye open.
  2200. >*bark*
  2201. “Agh!”
  2202. >You shot your head up and backed away.
  2203. >It was a dog!
  2204. >And it woke you up from your, mmmmmm, personal dream.
  2205. >You looked around.
  2206. >The fire in the distance from the explosion had died down by this point.
  2207. >*bark*
  2208. >You looked back to the canine in front of you.
  2209. >It looked so happy to see you.
  2210. >You were suspicious though.
  2211. >You haven’t exactly seen anything friendly in this place yet, and you weren’t about to trust a random dog waking you up either.
  2212. >You took a look at the name tag.
  2213. >”Claire.”
  2214. >Wow. Nice job “Claire.” She woke you up from a very comforting dream.
  2215. >…
  2216. >WAIT!
  2217. >You got to your hooves.
  2218. “Did I...was I...how long was I resting?”
  2219. >You looked around for something, anything to tell you the time.
  2220. >The moon was still of no help.
  2221. >Buck it, you need to get to 1576 South Elroy Street.
  2222. >You dug the map out of your bag and opened it.
  2223. “Alright, we are at this bus stop here. Just two blocks to the south and we will have made it.”
  2224. >The dog poked its head out from underneath the map and smiled at you.
  2225. >*bark*
  2226. “Uh. Good girl. Please, go away. We are busy.”
  2227. >*bark*
  2228. >You stuck the map back into your bag and started heading south.
  2229. “Really, you are a, uhm, pretty hound. But we must be on our way.”
  2230. >The dog began to follow you.
  2231. >*bark bark*
  2232. >You looked back to the dog.
  2233. >Its tongue was hanging out of its mouth.
  2234. >You stopped and turned to face it.
  2235. “By the maker, how did you end up here? Really, you may run along now.”
  2236. >The dog jumped up and rest its front paws on your legs.
  2237. >*bark bark*
  2238. “Shoo! Shoo!”
  2239. >You backed away, this was getting rather irritating now.
  2240. >You looked over to a stray branch in the middle of the road.
  2241. >You picked it up with your telekinesis.
  2242. “Oh! Look at this! Look at this! Do you wish to have the stick? Do you?”
  2243. >The dog began running around you and barking, excited at the brown twig in your aura.
  2244. “Well, go get it!”
  2245. >You levitated the stick down and behind a back alley.
  2246. >The dog yipped and chased it.
  2247. >Once out of sight, you cantered off further down the street.
  2248. >Once you were a block away you looked back and sighed.
  2249. >She didn’t follow you.
  2250. >Good. It looked like an innocent and normal animal.
  2251. >It was a nice change of pace.
  2252. >Well, the rats and insects in the buildings you went into didn’t seem too different from the ones in Equestria, but the dog wasn’t a vermin or pest.
  2253. >You didn’t want it getting in the way though.
  2254. >You hope it stayed safe.
  2255. >You continued down the road, you weren’t too far now.
  2256. >The streets seemed eerily empty.
  2257. >You haven’t seen one of those pedestrian creatures for a while now.
  2258. >Though they weren’t here when you first arrived in the city either.
  2259. >Strange. What could it mean? What could any of this mean?
  2260. >You thought back to what Anonymous had said in the park.
  2261. >”Just a bunch of fools. All of them going through the motions, they think they can navigate the chaotic streets of this city and life with just a flame, wick, and a small amount of wax.”
  2262. >Was he referring to other humans? Then why the candles? Some dramatic allusion to guiding their way through life?
  2263. >They acted so strange though.
  2264. >Well, if you were Anonymous, anything anyone else did may seem strange.
  2265. >Ah! Finally building 1576!
  2266. >It was clothing shop. You did recall Anonymous saying he had a job in retail.
  2267. >*clunk*
  2268. >A rolling can caught your attention.
  2269. >You looked toward the alley way it came from.
  2270. >A pedestrian came out from behind the walls.
  2271. >Ah, there one was.
  2272. >It thrashed about and ran into one of the cars.
  2273. >You winced.
  2274. >That had to hurt.
  2275. >Its hands clawed at its own face. It appeared to be in a state of distress.
  2276. >You slowly walked backwards, cautious of what it was doing.
  2277. >Sure these things acted strange, but this one was acting...so much more different.
  2278. >In fact, where was its candle?
  2279. >It let out a deep and pained groan.
  2280. >That’s a noise you’ve never heard it make before.
  2281. >The creature dug its nails into where it’s mouth was supposed to be, finally piercing skin.
  2282. >A brown bile poured from its new mouth.
  2283. “Oh goodness!”
  2284. >It smelt fowl. Like the worst vomit you’ve ever had the misfortune of smelling.
  2285. >And you’ve smelt what Celestia hacked up after one of her cake and wine binges.
  2286. >The creature heaved and stabilized itself against the car, seeming to catch its breath.
  2287. >It turned its head up to you and twitched.
  2288. >Its whole body started to twitch at an unnatural speed and angles.
  2289. >It began to approach you, you stood your ground ready to stab it through with your horn.
  2290. >When all of a sudden.
  2291. >*Bark bark*
  2292. >A gray blur pounced on the creature, knocking it over.
  2293. >The dog from before had pounced on it.
  2294. >The creature groaned and thrashed around, trying to get the animal off of it.
  2295. >The dog bit into its neck and chewed away at the flesh.
  2296. >You were amazed by the surprising lack of blood.
  2297. >In fact, there was none. Just flesh and bone.
  2298. >After a minute of struggling, the pedestrian finally stopped moving, and went limp.
  2299. >The dog sat next to the creature and looked at you expectantly.
  2300. >Its tail wagging side by side with excitement.
  2301. “Oh! You!”
  2302. >You smiled for the first time in what felt like a while.
  2303. “Good girl!”
  2304. >*bark*
  2305. >It went over behind the car the pedestrian vomited on and came back with the stick.
  2306. “Ah! The stick! Of course.”
  2307. >The dog walked up and placed it down in front of you.
  2308. >You picked up the stick again and looked at it for a moment, and then back at the hound.
  2309. >You COULD throw the stick away again and continue into the retail store on your own.
  2310. >But as it turns out, this dog may not get in the way as you expected.
  2311. >It had actually just proven itself to be of some use.
  2312. “Hm. Hows about this, Claire, instead of playing the game of fetch, you come and follow me?”
  2313. >The dog tilted its head in confusion because it’s a freaking dog Luna and can’t speak Ponish.
  2314. “Uhh. Just, follow me girl!”
  2315. >The dog yipped and jumped around, following you into the store.
  2316. >You pushed the door open and walked in.
  2317. >It was so dark.
  2318. >Had to use your torch again.
  2319. >The store seemed to be twice as large as the hospital waiting room you were in just a while ago.
  2320. >Venturing further inside, you looked around and inspected the clothing racks.
  2321. >Shirts of all different shapes and sizes, all able to fit human proportions, hung on large racks.
  2322. >The most striking thing about this store was how clean it was!
  2323. >No mold, no leaks, no rot nor decay.
  2324. >Just dark.
  2325. “Oof!”
  2326. >You tripped over something.
  2327. >Your dog rushed over and pulled at your leg trying to help you up.
  2328. “What in the hay was did we trip on?”
  2329. >You looked down.
  2330. >A shallow trench ran through the tiled paths in the floor.
  2331. >Well less of a trench and more so a,
  2332. “Rut...I wonder what THIS is supposed to mean.”
  2333. >Ah sarcasm. The only thing keeping you sane at this point.
  2334. >Stepping over the rest of the hole you continued.
  2335. “Now...I suppose I should be looking for an office or employees’ lounge or the like. That may have something I’ll need.”
  2336. >You made it to the back of the store, hitting a dead end.
  2337. >Following the wall you made it to a door that said ‘employees only.’
  2338. >Pushing it opened revealed a small warehouse area. It was filled with boxes and carts.
  2339. >There was a bin filled with hangers.
  2340. >You pointed your flashlight around.
  2341. >Ah! An office.
  2342. >”Ughhhhhhh.”
  2343. >You could here the clattering of boxes somewhere in the other end of the warehouse area.
  2344. >Claire growled at this sudden noise.
  2345. “Shh! Do not make a sound. Follow us!”
  2346. >You whispered as you wrapped a hoof around the dog and dragged it toward the office.
  2347. >Once inside you shut the door and locked it and closed the blinds to the window.
  2348. >You peaked through the shutters and stared into the large room.
  2349. >You could hear more shuffling around, but it was still localized on the other side of the building.
  2350. >You sighed and looked back at the dog.
  2351. “You must be quieter. We know you are willing to help, but there is no need to draw attention when not needed.”
  2352. >Claire whined and laid on its stomach and looked up at you with those puppy dog eyes.
  2353. >Oh no, not those, not your heart.
  2354. “Please do not give us those eyes. Now you must hush, we can’t have one of THOSE pedestrians interrupting us.”
  2355. >You got behind the desk and started to open up drawers.
  2356. >Bills, a check list, a pornography magazine.
  2357. >…
  2358. >Hm...what do humans like?
  2359. >You just needed to look through it for uh...research.
  2360. >Curiosity! Purely scientific, not at all trying to figure out what would please a human male because the only human male you know is a good and platonic friend anyways.
  2361. >Totally.
  2362. >Ugh. Forget it. You threw it back into the desk and shut the first drawer, opening another one.
  2363. >You picked up a folder from the other drawer.
  2364. “Now this should contain useful information.”
  2365. >The folder said ‘Employee Records and Roster’ on it.
  2366. >You opened the folder and flipped through.
  2367. >Lisa Cunningham, Mason Sanders, Claire Adams, hey one of the employees had the same name as your new friend!
  2368. >You continued to scan the paper. AH! Here we go, Anonymous.
  2369. >You began reading his records.
  2370. >”August 5th, 2019. Anonymous was late for work. Given a verbal warning. September 1st, 2019. Anonymous was caught slacking in the Men’s restroom. Given a verbal warning. September 10th, 2019. Anonymous was late for work again. Given a verbal and written warning. September 25th, 2019. Anonymous failed to show up to work. Given a final written warning and placed on Probation. Note: Anonymous has been taken off of probation and had his last written warning excused upon phone call from his psychiatrist. Employer’s Notes: Anonymous is hard to have around here. He’s rather subpar at his job so I just keep him on the night shift. However, his shrink just recently informed me that Anonymous needs “special consideration”, whatever the hell that means, and needs a job like this. If I didn’t have a conscious I’d have fired him. But I don’t feel right firing an employee that is sick, and can at least do SOMETHING around here. Claire seems to be a good enough friend and influence for him. I’m placing her on the same shift as Anonymous as well as giving Anonymous small jobs that are hard to fuck up. Janitorial jobs, stocking jobs, what have you. He’s too anxious around the customers. I’ll have to make sure to update the shift manager.”
  2371. >Hm. And this Claire seemed to be a close friend of Anon’s. What happened between them? Was she the coworker Anon spoke of?
  2372. >Poor Anon. You remember him mentioning not enjoying his job. If this was the only way to earn a living he had though, no wonder he stayed.
  2373. >You recalled the days before your banishment. How you grew to resent lowering the moon, your subjects not caring a small bit about the night you provided them.
  2374. >Caring only for your sister’s day.
  2375. >Even now you hated night court. It was so boring, nopony bothered to show up with their problems outside of a few petty squabbles from nobles too full of pride who didn’t schedule themselves soon enough to make it onto day court.
  2376. >And they made sure to tell you how “awful it was” to have to stay up at such a “grueling hour” when really all they were fighting over was a percent of inheritance.
  2377. >At least one person appreciated your night…
  2378. >You flipped over to the roster section of the folder. It included more of those strange phone numbers, something called an “E mail”, and employee addresses.
  2379. >You looked underneath Anonymous’ name.
  2380. >”23 Saxon Ave. La Casa Apartments, Room 201.”
  2381. >Could this be it? Finally?
  2382. >Please let this be it. This wasn’t seemingly located in the suburbs like his previous house.
  2383. >No, that must be where he just grew up!
  2384. >Anon’s house! His home!
  2385. >You hoped, how much you hoped he would be there!
  2386. >Then maybe then you’d find out how to actually help him!
  2387. >You grabbed the list and placed it in your satchel. You then closed the folder and picked it up with your telekinesis.
  2388. >*clink*
  2389. >A plastic baggie with an orange key fell out of the folder and onto the desk.
  2390. >Moving it the folder to the side you picked it up and read the note taped to the bag.
  2391. >”New key for the front door. Don’t lose it.”
  2392. >Well, might as well take it just in case.
  2393. >Sticking that in your bag you went up and checked through the blinds again.
  2394. >You couldn’t hear anything this time.
  2395. >You shined the flashlight out into the dark.
  2396. >Nothing but boxes.
  2397. >Area seemed clear.
  2398. “Psst. You ready to go little one?”
  2399. >The dog lifted its head up and started to wag its tail.
  2400. “Good. Now remember, do not make a sound.”
  2401. >You crack the door open and peer through.
  2402. >Still clear. You walk out and take a sigh.
  2403. >Claire walks out and sniffs and stares deep into the darkness.
  2404. >Oh maker, please don’t.
  2405. >Claire starts growling.
  2406. >As Anon would say.
  2407. “Shit.”
  2408. >Your new companion starts barking and runs into the darkness.
  2409. “Wait, no, stop!”
  2410. >You reach out your hoof.
  2411. >Too late now.
  2412. >You point your torch in the direction he went in, but you couldn’t see her.
  2413. >You could hear the struggle.
  2414. >The groaning, the snarls, boxes being pushed over.
  2415. >Claire whimpered.
  2416. >And then silence.
  2417. >Against your better judgment, you ran into the darkness to fine the poor thing.
  2418. >Seeing the pedestrian, you skid to a halt.
  2419. >Though covered in bite marks, the pedestrian still stood, its new mouth wide open.
  2420. >The dog was caught in between the fingers off the creature, staring back at you.
  2421. >The pedestrian raised one of its long thin fingers at you and let out another groan.
  2422. >The pedestrian released its grip on Claire, and she fell onto the floor.
  2423. >Your new companion got back onto its legs and glared at you, exposing its teeth.
  2424. >She began to snarl. Foam dripping from her mouth.
  2425. >You slowly began to back away.
  2426. “N-nice dog? Good girl?”
  2427. >It pounced, barking wildly.
  2428. >It bit on to your leg and thrashed its jaws.
  2429. >Screaming you kicked it against the metal shelf next to you and threw her towards the pedestrian, knocking the creature over with the poor pup.
  2430. >Ignoring the pain you bolted towards the exit of the ware house area and into the main part of the store.
  2431. >The exit was close but seemed so far away.
  2432. >You dashed in between racks, shelves, and mannequins.
  2433. >Claire caught up and bit you the leg you were stabbed in at the school.
  2434. >Moving forward, your hoof fell into the rut in the path of the store and you tripped over.
  2435. >Groaning could be heard all around you.
  2436. >The smell was pungent and sickening.
  2437. >You flailed free from the grip of Claire’s jaws, but weren’t able to dodge a swipe from one of the twitching pedestrians, punting you into another one of them. Who in turn threw you into a clothing rack.
  2438. >You tried to pick yourself back up, only for the dog to bite you in your flank.
  2439. >You used your front hoof to bash him in the face, giving you time to run closer towards the exit before the twitching horrors could get in closer to you.
  2440. >You were limping the whole way there.
  2441. >You could hear Claire behind you getting closer.
  2442. >You reached the door and pushed.
  2443. >Locked. To be expected honestly.
  2444. >You pulled the orange key out of the bag and slid it into the hole.
  2445. >You looked behind you, Claire was in mid pounce.
  2446. >With out thinking you kicked her and she out a cry that pierced your heart.
  2447. >You turned the key pushed the door open and slammed it shut, locking it again.
  2448. >You lay down on the ground in front of the store and look back.
  2449. >You flinched as you moved your legs. Blood covering your coat where the bite wounds were.
  2450. >You looked back toward the entrance. Crawling backwards away from the door.
  2451. >Expecting the dog or one of those twitching things to come and break it.
  2452. >Claire limped herself to one of the glass door and peered out and stared at you.
  2453. “You can stay locked in there you beast!”
  2454. >Instead of snarling and barking back at you, she whimpered and licked the window.
  2455. >Its face was mangled. Blood was mixing with her saliva, and you can see that a blood vessel ruptured in his eye.
  2456. “Oh! Now you want our sympathy? After you tried to maul us?”
  2457. >Claire began pawing at the window and yelping.
  2458. “Forget it!”
  2459. >The pace she was pawing at the door became quicker as she glanced behind her.
  2460. >The yelping and whining becoming louder until a hand came from the darkness and pulled Claire back in.
  2461. >The horrible noises coming from behind the door made you splay your ears back.
  2462. >The cries from the dog soon replaced with crunching and tearing.
  2463. >It was the blood that splattered across the door that made you jump and run away down the street. In a full gallop towards Saxon Avenue and Anon’s apartment.
  2464. >On the way you couldn’t help but tear up.
  2465. >Poor dog. Even if it attacked you, you didn’t know what possessed it.
  2466. >She probably did so against her own will. And to die like that?
  2467. >You only had her for a short hour or so. Was that negligence?
  2468. >Or was it the book trying to convey something else in Anon’s life? Maybe that was why she had the same name as one of Anon’s co-workers.
  2469. >You opted to just forget it and focus on getting to Saxon Avenue as soon as possible, and praying to every god that might exist that Anonymous would be there.
  2470. >You didn’t want to stay here any longer.

All Ends With Beginnings Pt.1

by SaltAnon

All Ends With Beginnings Pt.2

by SaltAnon

All Ends With Beginnings Pt.3

by SaltAnon

All Ends With Beginnings Pt.4 (END)

by SaltAnon

Monk Anon [This Green has been Abandoned]

by SaltAnon