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All Ends With Beginnings Pt.4 (END)

By SaltAnon
Created: 2020-12-08 05:05:36
Expiry: Never
/aie/horror

  1. >You finally made it to Saxon Avenue.
  2. >Only to be greeted by a large wall running through the alley ways and across the street, blocking you from the building.
  3. “Looks like I will have to find another way around...again.”
  4. >You sigh and turn around intending to walk around the block and to the back.
  5. >”You will not find a way in that way.”
  6. >You stopped.
  7. >”That way is blocked as well.”
  8. >Not again.
  9. >You couldn’t believe you were saying this but please, PLEASE, not again.
  10. >You didn’t want a repeat of last time in the park.
  11. >You turned around to face Anonymous.
  12. >You were going to have to be calm.
  13. “Anonymous?”
  14. >He was standing on top of the large wall.
  15. >”You somehow managed to survive both the hospital and the shop. I told you, you need to leave.”
  16. “Yes. And it was hard for me to do so. I in fact came very close to being ripped open.”
  17. >”But you’re not.”
  18. “You say that as if it is somehow a problem.”
  19. >”It IS a problem!”
  20. “Why? Why would me being okay be a problem to you! Are we not close friends Anon?”
  21. >”I don’t even know you! Just leave! I don’t want you here!”
  22. “Anonymous that...t-that really hurts!”
  23. >”How the fuck do you think I feel? You being here prolongs the problem! You being here hurts. Revealing my problems hurt. Having to live through this all again when I found a way out of here hurts. All I can do is hope you are consumed by my problems or find the only way out of here like I did. I don’t want others hurting because of me, I just want to be left in peace!”
  24. “ANONYMOUS! I am here to HELP you with your problems! If you don’t tell me how I can NOT!”
  25. >”God...DAMN IT! Can’t you see what I’m doing? If this is all too much for you, you should just FUCKING LEAVE! If you can’t find an exit, just leave, like I did!”
  26. “That does not make any sense! And even if it did, if you did that before, why can’t you just do it again?”
  27. >Anonymous hesitated. He seemed to get a little anxious.
  28. >”I...I don’t think it works like that. You can’t do that twice.”
  29. “Have you even tried? What did you do?”
  30. >Anonymous put a hand up to the back of his head, you assumed where that wound you first saw in the school was.
  31. “Anon...Anon what did you do to escape the first time?!”
  32. >Anonymous lowered his hand and looked back down at you.
  33. >He looked almost saddened by something.
  34. “Anonymous?”
  35. >He furrowed his brow and pointed to the building next to you.
  36. >”If you go through there...you’ll learn what ever you need to know, and hopefully find a way out, or forced out. If not, then it will lead to the back of the apartments I-I need to leave.”
  37. >You were about to call out to him, but, knowing the previous encounters, you knew it would have been pointless.
  38. >Why did he look so upset when you asked him how he got out?
  39. >A bad feeling began to swim around in your stomach.
  40. >What did he do?
  41. >And why was he helping you all of a sudden?
  42. >You looked toward the building Anon pointed towards.
  43. >”Incognito Psychiatric Clinic.”
  44. >Why was a mental clinic so close to Anon’s place?
  45. >Oh.
  46. >You recalled back to why Anon wasn’t fired from his job. The call from his doctor.
  47. >He also must have set up Anon’s living arrangement.
  48. >You really were not keen on going into another building. But it seems as though you had no other choice.
  49. >You approached the door and let out a deep sigh.
  50. >Anon apparently wanted you dead, left at the mercy of those creatures.
  51. >He seemed to be in pain just by you being here, and claims to not know you.
  52. >You hesitated.
  53. >This...thing, that claimed to be Anonymous, or at the very least looked a lot like him, wanted you gone. In some way. Whether you found a way out, died, or “made your way out.”
  54. >You still didn’t like the sound of that.
  55. >He also apparently has no memory of you.
  56. >So, is he even really Anonymous?
  57. >Should you trust him?
  58. >khm
  59. >mmmhmhmhmhmmkkkkkkkk
  60. >Your temples flared again.
  61. >Another headache.
  62. >You looked at the door.
  63. >Regardless, you really had no other option.
  64. >If he wasn’t the Anon you knew, the Anon who was your closest friend, the one you loved, then that meant your Anonymous was still in trouble.
  65. >If he was, then you had to find out why he was acting so strange.
  66. >Why his actions seemed to make NO SENSE.
  67. >And the last obstacle between you and your, hopefully, final location, was this clinic.
  68. >You took in a deep breath, held it and let it out slow.
  69. >You furrowed your brow, grit your teeth, and pushed the door open.
  70. >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYQpPvkVaLM
  71. >The inside of the clinic looked no different than the rest of the buildings in the city.
  72. >Dark and rundown.
  73. >There was a waiting room, a counter, and a door that lead to the offi-----
  74. >ceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
  75. .anav ainmos irgeA !ciH<
  76. >Your head throbbed in pain.
  77. >You SWORE you could hear whispers.
  78. >You shook your head and looked forward.
  79. >First things first. Find the rear exit.
  80. >You walked through to the offices and proceeded onward.
  81. >Subverting expectations, while there WERE holes in the wall, and the wooden beams were rotting, the usual sour stench and mold were not to be found.
  82. >Sure, a musk was heavy in the air, but not of mold.
  83. >The usual black splotches were instead replaces by incoherent scribbling on random areas of the walls in various sizes and clusters, separated from each other by a considerable margin.
  84. >They all seemed to be about different things.
  85. >Some were sayings about some God that was foreign to you.
  86. >Others were about time.
  87. >Others seemed more personal and called out to family members or friends.
  88. >You didn’t bother paying close attention to them.
  89. >You resigned to following the exit signs.
  90. >You could still hear the same whispers from when you first walked in.
  91. >More disjointed from before.
  92. >A dull pain radiated in the back of your skull.
  93. >You must have finally started to go insane.
  94. CiH<
  95. ciH<
  96. irgeA<
  97. ciH<
  98. anaV<
  99. icH<icH<icH<icH<icH<icH<icH<
  100. >You rubbed the back of your head and pressed onward.
  101. >Finally you reached the exit and pushed against the door.
  102. “Locked. As expected.”
  103. >You turned around to go back the way you came.
  104. “I suppose it is now time for me to...huh!”
  105. >You were...back in the waiting room?
  106. >But, all you did was turn around.
  107. >You looked back behind you.
  108. >The door to the offices remained closed.
  109. “How in the name of the maker!”
  110. >You darted your head around.
  111. >Looking for anything else out of the ordinary.
  112. >You spun around back to the offices door.
  113. >You slowly approached it and peered through.
  114. >The hallway looked the same...you thought.
  115. >There did appear to be more writing.
  116. >You walked through the door once again, checking to make sure you really didn’t close it and walked again through the hallways.
  117. >The whispering and migraine seemed to have calmed down now.
  118. >You tried to open a few of the doors, most of them were locked.
  119. >One door you opened, revealed an office with all of the furniture slammed against the wall and just staying there.
  120. >As if gravity didn’t affect it what so ever.
  121. >The chairs, lamps, and tables were just glued to the right most wall.
  122. >You walked down the corridor, you were about to take a right when something caught your attention.
  123. >A clump of hair. Purple hair to be exact.
  124. “This is peculiar.”
  125. >You wouldn’t have bat an eye at it if it weren’t for the fact you knew humans didn’t have purple hair naturally.
  126. >Orange or red on rare occasions, but purple?
  127. >There seemed to be a trail of them.
  128. >You followed, those few strands seemed to give way to a pile of purple and pink hairs, sometimes covered in blood.
  129. “By the maker...Twilight Sparkle must have been here.”
  130. >Those were the colors of her mane and tail, and if you recalled, half of her tail was missing.
  131. >The tiny splotches gave way to a trail of smeared blood all the way down the hall.
  132. >Down the hall to a door with a red hoof print on it.
  133. >No doubt in your mind now. Twilight must have been here.
  134. >The trail stopped at this door however.
  135. >This one must not have been locked.
  136. >You opened it and pushed your head through.
  137. >Everything in here seemed to be on the floor, as it should.
  138. >You entered and approached the desk in the center.
  139. >A box with buttons on it laid on the desk.
  140. >It was one of those new tape recorder things.
  141. >There were buttons for rewind, fast forward, play, stop, and record.
  142. >Curious, you hit the rewind button until the tape stopped winding and pressed play.
  143.  
  144. >”Let’s see here, Alright, should be working. Hope Dr. Hash is right about these things. Ahem. Dr. Hill, September 26th, year 2019 of our lord. I will be keeping these audio logs as a way of note taking. My arthritis has been getting in the way of me keeping written and typed notes, so a fellow colleague here in the clinic was kind enough to give me one of his old tape recorders. Honestly, I’m surprised the damn thing still works. Anyways, I wish to record my thoughts on a recent patient. Anonymous. He was brought in here by the daughter of a patient of mine who had recently just passed away, bless her soul, with complaints of feeling anxious, and a lack of motivation. During a session I can already see what he is referring to. He shows visible signs of both anxiety and depression, I’ve decided that I’d be taking him as another personal patient and have already scheduled future visits. During one of our two previous sessions he claims he was put on probation by his boss at work and I decided to intervene. The man was very...irritable, but conceded in taking Anonymous off of probation and striking a written warning off of his record. Speaking to the fellow psychiatrists in the clinic they ask why I haven’t given him some pills to help with his problems already. I was, understandably, taken aback by this. I understand the ease and how common it is to just throw some Prozac or Celexa at a patient and call it a day until our next meeting, but I never believed in throwing drugs at a problem so quickly. I’ve been in this field for 36 years! Drugs alone can’t be expected to help a person. They should be used as another option, as an auxiliary to other methods. I don’t even need the studies, which are good to have don’t get me wrong, but I’ve had amazing success by offering far more practical solutions. A few cases, I didn’t even need to prescribe pills. Falling back to Anonymous, his story is very intriguing to me. Another patient who doesn’t like to open up, but the allusions he makes just peak my interest. I will be creating more audio logs in the months to come to document Anonymous and his progress.”
  145.  
  146. >With a click and some mechanical movements inside the machine, the tape stopped.
  147. >So this Dr. Hill figure was Anon’s doctor.
  148. >You grabbed the tape recorder and placed it in your bag, it may come in handy later.
  149. >You rummaged through the doctor’s desk. You found a key, but it wasn’t the exit key.
  150. >It was to the office of that Dr. Hash previously mentioned in the tapes.
  151. >Placing it in your bag you left the desk and opened the door back into...a janitors closet?
  152. >You peaked your head inside and looked around.
  153. >Yep, this was a janitorial closet. Filled with cleaning liquids, a faucet, mop, etc.
  154. >You backed out of the closet again and closed the door.
  155. >Maybe you opened the wrong one?
  156. >You circled back toooooo the hallway?
  157. >You were back in the hallways of the clinic.
  158. >You really didn’t like what this building was doing.
  159. >Were you dropping in and out of consciousness?
  160. >Were you being teleported around?
  161. >You scanned the hallways to look for the hair trail and Dr. Hill’s office.
  162. >You seemed to be in a completely different part of the building.
  163. >Well, whether you were being transported around instantly, or fading seamlessly from one moment of awareness to another, you had better find this Dr. Hash’s office really soon.
  164. >You choose a hallway and started walking down.
  165. >The writing on the wall was beginning to get very...dark.
  166. >”Wars, the horror of mothers.”
  167. >”Robert, Robert I’m sorry! Please do not blame me for the death of our child! I did it, I did it but it wasn’t me! Possesion overtakes us all at a point!”
  168. >”Ah, human cares! Ah, how much futility in the world!”
  169. >”We crawl and slide through this world. We are but faceless nobodies holding a candle to guide ourselves through days as dark as night, and nights as blinding as days. We loose the wick and from our mouths we spew the bile within us that keeps us human. Now we twitch and thrash, lost monsters in the dark, in pain.”
  170. >”Why does Mommy lie to daddy about the men who keep visiting us? They keep saying they are mommy’s friends, but then they go into the bedroom and start to hit mommy. I can hear her screaming.”
  171. >You had to stop there.
  172. >It was too haunting, and distracting you from your goal.
  173. >you notice a black rectangle on a metal tray resting in one of the hallways.
  174. >A white label was taped on its side. The writing on it read,
  175. >”Dr. Hill October 3rd, 2019.”
  176. >You placed it into your bag. You’d have to listen to it later.
  177. >You began reading the names on the doors as you passed them.
  178. >Walters, Shoemaker, Jackson, Nguyen, Fuchs.
  179. >Hash!
  180. >You pulled out the key to his office and slid it into the door.
  181. >A heavy thud was heard down the hallway to your right.
  182. >You shot a glare down the corridor, a shadow was making a move towards the intersection you were near.
  183. “Moonrocks.”
  184. >You quickly turned the key and shot into the room.
  185. >You made sure you closed the door quietly and locked it.
  186. >You backed away slowly as the sounds of movement out side the door began to grow louder.
  187. >From underneath the door you could see the moving shadows of the feet of whatever was wandering the halls with you stop at the door.
  188. >You held your breath.
  189. >Your vision began to be filled with odd lines and vibrating grains.
  190. >A horrible static hissing began to assault your eardrums.
  191. >You splayed your ears back and backed away further from the door.
  192. >Your migraine came back with full force, you grunted slightly as you squeezed your temples between your hooves.
  193. >The whispers joined soon after.
  194. .roignol tif silam des tse ativ aspi siverB<
  195. >You stared at the shadows from underneath the door.
  196. >Eventually, a loud groan, akin to what you’d hear from two giant pieces of machinery rubbing against each other shook the walls of the building.
  197. >The shadows began to move again, and the thudding resumed, eventually getting further and further away.
  198. >And with them, the horrible clouded vision and whispers. Even the pain began to subdue itself.
  199. >Gasping, you leaned against the desk to collect yourself.
  200. >Once your head stopped spinning and your breathing came back down to a normal rate, you began to inspect the area of Dr. Hash’s desk.
  201. >Another tape, this time dated October 12th.
  202. >Desk first.
  203. >You rummaged through.
  204. >A note to Dr. Hill about not leaving his tapes around the clinic.
  205. >…
  206. >Makes sense as to why you found a tape just lying on a tray.
  207. >A key! This one was too the front desk area of the clinic.
  208. >If previous situations were to go off of, the front desk area probably had a key to the exit!
  209. >Painkillers!
  210. >You dropped those into your bag.
  211. >Nothing else in the desk though. Tape time it looks like.
  212. >You took out the tape recorder and set it on the desk.
  213. >Ejecting the previous tape, you levitated out the tape you found in the hallway and placed it into the player.
  214. >Closing the tape into place, you pressed play.
  215.  
  216. >”Dr. Hill, October 3rd, 2019. I’ve gotten to speak with Anonymous again today. We have a regular check up twice a week. Not the most frequent patient, however he’s increasingly proving himself to be the most interesting. I’ve managed to get a basic over view of his life story, finally. Those three decades as a psychiatrist are really starting to pay off I guess. Heh. I’m proud to have had a mentor like my professor. If he wasn’t dead I’d be thanking him everyday for turning me to Carl Jung and his work. How interesting it is to read deep into the psychological and philosophical work of a man such as him. Though I can gush about my idols at a later date. On Anonymous, he has come to me with new developments. He claims to be seeing things. Things he knows aren’t there. Several tests and an episode during one of our sessions have pushed me to add ‘light psychosis’ to his list of problems. The good news is, medication does seem to be helping. Despite what I believe, I don’t think medication is nonsense. I understand and support its use. I simply believe it’s abused these days is all. Anyways, Anonymous has apparently been slacking in applying the methods I’ve given him to help with his anxiety and depression. I’ve had to arrange his living conditions to be in the building right next door to us so it’d be easier on both me and him to visit each other. He prefers for me to see him at his apartment. I am not against doing such things, I already do it for a few patients. His apartment on another note, is littered with bottles of alcohol and cigarette butts. Relatively free of any other garbage however. I’ve had to stress that alcohol can cause adverse side effects to the medication I’ve given him, which he’s taken to account by drinking less of it...for a while. He doesn’t meditate like I’ve asked him too. He says when he tries he only seems to focus on the guilt he feels over his mother. When I’ve asked him on the hobbies he’s picked up, he says he still plays the guitar and is learning how to play the piano but refuses to give a demonstration. I suspect he is lying to me, though I can not say for certain. He apparently had to get rid of this stray dog he had found, which bugged me since it seemed to be helping immensely with his anxiety. The most effective treatment so far are our little talks. However Anonymous is becoming more and more insistent that he wants more of the pills. I understandably refused...at first. But decided, against my own better judgment, to prescribe him more antidepressants anyways with the promise he’d throw away ALL of his alcoholic beverages. I had to remind him to only take the correct dosage. He said he would comply. I remain suspicious.”
  217.  
  218. >The tape stopped there.
  219. >Anonymous was seeing things?
  220. >Could that be what inspired this whole thing?
  221. >You knew and understood he was taking medication for depression and getting help for his anxiety.
  222. >You had to know more.
  223. >You popped the tape currently in the player out and replaced it with the one on Dr. Hash’s desk.
  224. >You pressed play.
  225.  
  226. >”Dr. Hill, October 12th, 2019. Bad news...good news. Bad news is that apparently Anonymous and his friend Claire, the daughter of my late patient, have had a falling out. I don’t understand as to why, neither will give me details. As nosy as I feel, I can’t be having things like these interrupt my progress with Anonymous. However, that may not matter anymore. Good news! A revelation, which I had not thought of before. Cognitive therapy! I was speaking recently to a colleague from Sweden I had met sometime ago at a conference who had his own patient with similar problems as Anonymous. He’s told me that he’s been making decent progress in learning the problems of his patient after giving him a book and asking him to write down all of his problems. So, that’s what I did with Anonymous! And how glad I am that I did. Not only have I been able to see deeper into Anonymous’ mind than before, but I am now able to talk about Jung! See, the way Anonymous writes shows signs of him trying to reconcile what in Jungian psychology we call the self, the ego, and the shadow. I’ve had to ask him if he has ever read any of Jung’s work, perhaps in school, and he says he hasn’t. I was gobsmacked! Not to mention the way he’s been dealing with his problems is interesting as well. We have another session tomorrow, I will be asking him how the book has been treating him! I hope- knock knock. Yes? Come in! What about Anonymous...what happened? My god...nurse, go and fetch Dr. Hash for me, I mus-”
  227.  
  228. >The tape stopped there.
  229. >You could feel your heart drop.
  230. >What on earth caused him to act like that? What happened to Anon!
  231. >You stared at the recorder on the desk for what felt like hours.
  232. >Hundreds of dark thoughts running through your head.
  233. >None of which could really be true...could they?
  234.  
  235. ~~~~
  236.  
  237. >The hallways seemed to be getting longer.
  238. >The writing has become so numerous and clustered together that the walls had nearly been painted red.
  239. >You can’t even read what’s been written anymore.
  240. >The horrible feeling in your stomach hasn’t gone away.
  241. >SOMETHING happened to Anon, and you didn’t know what.
  242. >Maybe if you found him and calmed him down you’d be able to solve this mess. Find out what happened and help him through it.
  243. >*knock knock knock knock*
  244. >You jumped and backed against the wall.
  245. >*knock knock knock*
  246. >Something behind one of the doors you were walking past began wrapping against it.
  247. >A quite sobbing could be heard from beyond it.
  248. >You swore you could make out words, but the presumed trembling of lips made it impossible to make out.
  249. >Staying around would probably just cause misfortune.
  250. >You sped up to almost cantering away from the door.
  251. >The front office shouldn’t be too far away if the signs are to be believed.
  252. >Get to the front office, get the key that was hopefully there, get out.
  253. >Then you could go to Anon’s apartment and finally get out of here.
  254. >You were so close.
  255. >You finally turned down the hallway that led back to the waiting area. The door to the office was right there.
  256. >Before reaching the door you found another tape lying on the ground.
  257. >You stopped and inspected it.
  258. >This one didn’t have a date at all on it.
  259. >”Vixit.”
  260. >Hm. What did that mean?
  261. >You placed it in your bag.
  262. >You approached the door and unlocked it.
  263. >Entering the room, you noticed the papers scattered about everywhere.
  264. >Chairs flipped over, a moldy sandwich half eaten.
  265. >There was no writing in this room however.
  266. >Strange.
  267. >You walked over to the desk and rummaged through it.
  268. >Nothing in here.
  269. >The next drawer had nothing either.
  270. >You walked over to the next desk and rummaged through it.
  271. “What is this?”
  272. >You pulled out a small object in the shape of an ‘L’.
  273. >It had a narrow barrel and the broad short end of it had a hole you assumed something was supposed to go into.
  274. >It had a loop and a small trigger inside of it.
  275. >There was a tag written on the broad side.
  276. >”For emergencies only.”
  277. >You placed the two objects in your bag and continued searching around the office.
  278. >More of those small boxes with screens were on each desk. Boards with letters on them sat in front.
  279. >Human technology was a fascinating thing you were beginning to regret not asking Anonymous more about before coming here.
  280. >They must have been useful for something, perhaps these things could have cut the amount of time you had to spend here in half.
  281. >You scanned the walls.
  282. >A key rack!
  283. >But...no keys.
  284. >You couldn’t find a key anywhere in this office!
  285. >You let out an irritated huff.
  286. “Well, while I am here. Might as well listen to this new tape.”
  287. >You ejected the previous tape from the player and placed in the one labeled “Vixit”, and pressed play.
  288. “OH! BY THE MAKER!”
  289. >You had to cover your ears.
  290. >Horrible scratching and mechanical whirring filled the room you were in.
  291. >It was like industrial nails on a metal chalkboard.
  292. >Soft wet sounds began to overlap the horrible metallic screeching.
  293. >You stopped the tape and ejected it. Throwing it across to the other side of the room.
  294. “Well. That was pointless.”
  295. >You sighed and took in your surroundings again.
  296. >Your luck on just finding keys in the front area of a building had run out it looked like.
  297. >Maybe if you went back to either of the doctors’ offices you’d find a-
  298. >A loud thud could be heard from back in the hallways, right outside the door.
  299. “Moonrocks.”
  300. >You backed away from the door, slowly, hoping whatever was out there wouldn’t realize you were in here and would leave again.
  301. >The grainy vision and loud scratching noises came back, along with the migraine.
  302. >The whispering was louder this time, you would have described them as almost screaming if it wasn’t for their hushed nature.
  303. .tauqea srom ainmO<
  304. >A loud bang and the door to the office flew open.
  305. >But nothing was in the frame of the door.
  306. “Where in Equestria did-”
  307. >A horrible blunt force flew into you from behind, pushing you all the way across the room.
  308. >You slammed into the legs of one of the desks.
  309. “AGH! Ughh. Gods above, what was...oh, moonrocks...”
  310. >A large creature, had to be at least two and a half meters high, towered above you.
  311. >Another humanoid in a filthy straight jacket.
  312. >Its legs were covered in linen caked in dried deep red blood.
  313. >Its midsection was covered in rusted barbed wire.
  314. >The head, or lack of one was the most striking part about it.
  315. >Instead of a head of any sort, a broken, hoof held mirror was in its place.
  316. >The worse part about the monster though, was the yellow key hanging around its neck.
  317. >The one with “exit” written on it.
  318. >A terrible groan shook the walls of the building.
  319. >Pieces of the wall cracked and fell off, exposing the drywall underneath.
  320. >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj7iMk88Nh0
  321. >You scrambled to your hooves.
  322. >Great, you really couldn’t just run away from this monster could you?
  323. >You got into position, ready to take on what ever the beast had to throw at you.
  324. >Another mechanical groan shuttered from the creature as it slowly made its way toward you.
  325. >Its gait similar to that of a wounded animal.
  326. >You levitated one of the boxes from the desk and threw it at the monster.
  327. >It made contact and shattered into pieces.
  328. >Green circuitry and wires scattered over the floor.
  329. >The horrible thing let out another industrial groan and paused.
  330. >Gaining its bearing it began to approach you again.
  331. >That didn’t seem to do anything.
  332. >You dragged a desk with your magic in front of the beast to block its path.
  333. >It simply raised one its large feet and broke the desk in two.
  334. >Okay you were running now.
  335. >You exited the room and ran down the hall way.
  336. >SHIP!
  337. >Or no wait, what was it?
  338. >Oh yea, SHIT!
  339. >What else could you do to take it down? Blocking its path seemed to not do anything.
  340. “WOAH! AHH!”
  341. >The ground gave out in front of you.
  342. >The hallway seemed to bend into the ground as if it were made of elastic rubber.
  343. >You fell onto the wall in front of you.
  344. >The building seemed to be on its side now.
  345. >You looked upward.
  346. “OH TARTARUS!”
  347. >The thing had followed you and slid down the same way.
  348. >You jumped to your left as the thing crashed into the wall, now a floor.
  349. >It picked it self up and turned in your direction.
  350. >The turning of gears and blowing of steam could be heard, but no industrial equipment could be seen.
  351. >And the creature seemed to be organic minus the head.
  352. >You slowly backed away, glaring at the creature.
  353. >Think quick, think quick.
  354. >Buck it.
  355. >You charged, aiming your horn directly at the torso.
  356. >It began to raise its leg to kick you away but you managed to move out of the way just in time to pierce it in the gut.
  357. >Horrible black ooze flowed from the puncture wound.
  358. >The sounds of large machinery grounding flesh was deafening.
  359. >It was like the maker relieving herself on your soul.
  360. >You unsheathed your horn from the creature and made the attempt to stab into it again.
  361. >Its foot made contact with the side of your barrel and pushed you away.
  362. >You collided with the wall behind you, knocking your breath out of your lungs.
  363. >You coughed and sputtered as you started to get back up.
  364. >The giant pinned you against the wall with one of its feet and grabbed you.
  365. >With impossible flexibility, it brough you close to its mirror face.
  366. >You stared into it.
  367. >Your face was stained with splooches of blood and bruises. The black oil stained your mane.
  368. >It slowly began to tighten its grip around your barrel.
  369. >You grunted.
  370. >In desperation, you reached down and grabbed the key between your teeth and ripped it from the beasts neck.
  371. >You then immediately punctured in once again in the shoulder.
  372. >The deafening sound of metal crashing against metal again shook the halls.
  373. >It threw your across the hall.
  374. >You landed on a doorknob coming up from the wall floor and cracked a rib.
  375. “AHHHHHH!”
  376. >The pain was excruciating.
  377. >You held your side as you picked your self up again, you stumbled and slipped back over onto your side.
  378. >You were covered in the black ooze the poured out from the thing.
  379. >The thing had slipped over after throwing you. It tried its best to get up, but the slick viscous liquid was giving it just as much trouble as you in terms of getting back up.
  380. >You used your magic and threw a drug tray at it.
  381. >It slipped again and fell onto its back.
  382. >Using the ceiling and floor as leverage, it placed a foot onto either one and started to move toward you.
  383. >The oily substance pooling out of it.
  384. >You opened one of the doors in the floor.
  385. >Its chest got stuck in the door way.
  386. >Its lower limbs began to thrash.
  387. >You kicked down on its neck area and the thing dangled into the room in the floor.
  388. >You turned and began to run away, limping the entire time.
  389. >You twisted and turned down every hall you could to find the exit.
  390. >It was made difficult seeing as how the building was turned ninety degrees on its side.
  391. >Still, you hoped down and turned through every hall way you could.
  392. >Then, all of a sudden, gravity decided to correct itself.
  393. >You fell back onto the floor.
  394. “Guh! Shit.”
  395. >You landed on the rib.
  396. >You picked your self up again and quickly tried to regain your barrings.
  397. >You could hear thudding coming from back down the hall way.
  398. “CAN WE NOT GET A BREAK IN THIS MAKER FORSAKEN TARTARUS!”
  399. >You limped through the corridors, following every exit sign.
  400. >Certain doors threw themselves open, forcing you to dodge them.
  401. >You enveloped one that almost got you with telekinesis and ripped it from its hinges in anger.
  402. >You turned down the last hallway.
  403. “Finally, the exit!”
  404. >You moved towards it.
  405. >The pain in your head and chest burning and pulsating within you.
  406. >You were running off of adrenaline at this point.
  407. >You didn’t have any more energy in you.
  408. >*Thud*
  409. >*rip*
  410. >*Crash*
  411. >A door soared from behind you and hit the exit, the wood shattered and flew splinters in every direction.
  412. >The mirrored faced giant was limping toward you.
  413. >The blaring of a horn echoed down the walls of the cursed clinic.
  414. >Like Tartarus it was going to pull that shit on you!
  415. >Using your magic, you opened every single door in the hallway before turning back towards the exit.
  416. >Ignoring every ache and broken bone, you dashed into a mad sprint towards the exit.
  417. >So, bucking, close.
  418. >You unlocked the exit and started to push through.
  419. >A door came slamming down onto your back.
  420. “GAHHH! BUCK!”
  421. >It threw another door at you.
  422. >You looked back in terror as it began to low crawl like an ant towards your position.
  423. >The squeaking and whirring increasing in volume.
  424. >You pushed the exit wide open, falling onto the pavement outside.
  425. >Using your good hind leg, you kicked the door closed with all your might and backed up against the wall of the alley way.
  426. >The exit door rattled and shook.
  427. >Dents forming from the incessant banging it was unleashing against it.
  428. >You crawled your way to the back alley of the apartments toward its rear entrance.
  429. >Using the last of your strength, you picked yourself up and escaped into the building.
  430. >You closed the door behind you and locked it.
  431. >A final, mechanical screech could be heard from next door.
  432. >And then.
  433. >At last.
  434. >Silence.
  435. >You panted as you slid down the door of the apartments rear entrance.
  436. >Grasping at the broken rib, curling up into a fetal position.
  437. >You looked down the hall way.
  438. >You were in the main lobby of the building.
  439. >The inside was...beautiful.
  440. >The lights were on. The walls were neat and seemed to be freshly painted.
  441. >Pictures and paintings hung from them.
  442. “Finally.”
  443. >You panted as you rest your head against the door.
  444. “Finally...I’m here.”
  445. >You took out the painkillers you found in the clinic.
  446. >You downed what you pretty sure was over the recommended dose.
  447. >You didn’t care.
  448. >You picked yourself up and walked into the lobby.
  449. >Quiet, muffled music played from some unknown source.
  450. >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LxNFjups_o
  451. >The light shewn beautifully against the orange walls of the place.
  452. >The scent in the room was of a sweet citrus.
  453. >You found a comfortable looking couch and laid upon it.
  454. >You cleaned and reapplied the dressings to your wounds.
  455. >The black mark from the hospital still stained your coat.
  456. >You sat up and took a deep breath in, allowing the calm nature of the area overtake you.
  457. “It’s so...different here.”
  458. >You looked over towards the front desk.
  459. >You had a near heart attack. Though upon further inspection, you didn’t know whether to feel dread or laugh.
  460. >There stood a pedestrian, holding his candle, in a bellhop outfit.
  461. >It just stood there, as if it were its job too.
  462. >You stared at it lazily.
  463. “Why Anon came up with you creatures is hard to say...and why you must be so violent with out those candles is of another mystery.”
  464. >A smile touched your lips.
  465. “But sometimes, you can be rather silly.”
  466. >The pedestrian stood there in silence.
  467. >You chuckled and took in another deep breath.
  468. “Though I am finally here. And after what just occurred. I need a little rest.”
  469. >You took in the calming and finally clean and neat atmosphere the lobby had to offer.
  470. >You frowned.
  471. “I should make good use of this time. I do not know what this calming environment is supposed to mean to Anon. Perhaps it was the only place he felt safe?”
  472. >You sighed.
  473. “What ever it means. I still have this horrible feeling of what happened to my Anonymous...and that this may be the calm before the storm.”
  474. >You leaned your head back and listened to the comforting music, waiting for the painkillers to take their effect.
  475.  
  476. ~~~~
  477.  
  478. >You let out a deep sigh as you picked your self up.
  479. >The pain has subdued itself, while not entirely, to a point to where you could move with out the feeling of being flogged by hot nails and sharp glass with every step.
  480. >You picked yourself up and grabbed your bag. Heading over to the door in the main hall that led to the stairwell.
  481. >You pushed up against it.
  482. >You weren’t surprised. Locked.
  483. >You expected such, but you grumbled under your breath all the same.
  484. “Great...now I must go and fin-”
  485. >*ding*
  486. >You turned your attention to the front desk. Its bell having been rung by the pedestrian behind it.
  487. >With out breaking its thousand yard stare, it used its free hand to reach under the counter and grab a small pink key and an envelope.
  488. >It reached its bony appendage out towards you.
  489. >You inspected the monster for a moment, looking at the items in his hands and back towards its face.
  490. “Is that...for us?”
  491. >The monster didn’t move. It maintained its empty and emotionless expression.
  492. >The candle it held casting a soft warm light onto its face.
  493. >You slowly approached the items in its hands, unsure of how it would react.
  494. >You reached out and grabbed the items in your teeth and pulled away.
  495. >The creature slowly let his arm back down by his side.
  496. “Mmhmm…”
  497. >You used your telekinesis and took a look at the key.
  498. >A bright hot pink covered most of the body, while the teeth were painted a baby blue.
  499. >You placed the key behind the envelope and opened it.
  500. >”You have made it this far. You have not yet failed. Though beware. Though half the clime is over, half the clime yet remains. And these are steep cliffs. Graviora manent!”
  501. “Is this really all we need to continue? No monsters guarding it, no horrible hallways full of vermin? Could it really be this-”
  502. >You looked back up to the pedestrian to find him further back in the office.
  503. >He was...um...you were not entirely sure.
  504. >Holding a book in his free hand, he placed his face within the book, in between its pages, and was pulling back and forth on the book massaging its head between the paper.
  505. >It stopped only for a second to slowly look at you before turning its attention back toward the book. Pulling the book away and pushing it back towards its faceless head.
  506. >You slowly began to back away and placed a hoof on the door handle to the stairwell.
  507. >You bid fare well to the strange character you were witnessing with just a slight bit of awkwardness in your tone.
  508. “Well...we see that you are busy. We appreciate your help, but we will be on our way. Fare well! And uhm...have a good rest of the shift, yes.”
  509. >With a nod you unlocked and pulled open the door, closing it with a roll of the eyes.
  510. “Why Anonymous made them so strange is beyond me. Are the strangers he see everyday really this strange or is it poetic hyperbole?”
  511. >You weren’t really sure. Not that it mattered now.
  512. >You stared into the hall way ahead of you.
  513. >It maintained the same level of warmth and cleanliness of the front lobby.
  514. >The smell of indigo and oranges matched the look of the hallways, all painted in a magnificent orange only slightly darker than that of Element Applejack’s coat.
  515. >You pulled out the roster you obtained from Anon’s previous place of work.
  516. “Room 201. Only one floor above me.”
  517. >You looked up toward the ceiling.
  518. “Maker! Please give us fortune that paths will not be locked, and neither doors locked. And if they must be, then we pray for the strength to overcome them.”
  519. >You looked ahead down the softly lit corridor.
  520. “I’m coming Anonymous.”
  521. >You pressed on down the corridor.
  522. >This building was filled with unusually sweet things.
  523. >The aroma was nice and filled with a mixture of scents that went surprisingly well together.
  524. >The ambient temperature was a nice and toasty warmth.
  525. >The newly discovered white circles in the ceiling, which were probably speakers, played more of the muffled soft music, calming and fitting to the atmosphere.
  526. >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r8VtP5kdoo
  527. >Human music was...nice.
  528. >The carpet underneath your hooves were soft and relaxing.
  529. >The whole environment made every tense muscle in you relax.
  530. >Your body moved slightly with the beats of the music playing from the ceiling.
  531. >You let a nice, warm grin grow on your face.
  532. >You whipped your head back, getting some of your mane out of your face.
  533. >You were going to enjoy this amazing change of environment.
  534. >The numbers started at 100 at the beginning of the hallway and got higher as you walked down it.
  535. >The stairwell itself was actually somewhere in the back from what the signs said.
  536. >A little bit nonsensical and an inconvenience to those living on higher floors.
  537. >But hey, if the apartments seemed this nice all the time, you wouldn’t complain.
  538. >You made it to the stairs and ascended them. Each wooden step had the appearance of dark oak. The lacquer on each on making them shine.
  539. >Reaching the top second floor, you went back down the hall way to make it to your final destination.
  540. >You allowed your self to get lost in thought for a minute.
  541. >If this is where Anonymous lived, you wouldn’t mind living here yourself. If this was supposed to be some run down mess, you could only imagine what the other buildings would look like if they weren’t as run down.
  542. >Your dopey grin grew a little wider.
  543. >Living here...with Anon.
  544. >Imagining a world where you were an average mare just to come home to a cozy and welcoming apartment, just to greet Anonymous and fall asleep in each other arms on a couch in front of one of those black boxed, that all sounded so blissful.
  545. >You enjoyed the warmth that built in your cheeks as you blushed over the thought.
  546. >Though maybe this was all just you fantasizing over sweet thoughts while the moment was finally peaceful.
  547. >A true break from the horrors you’ve been through.
  548. >You turned down the next corner.
  549. >*skksssssssssss*
  550. >The music coming from the speakers stopped suddenly.
  551. >You irked a cringed back a little bit.
  552. >The static catching you off guard.
  553. >A still silence filled the void once occupied by the calming music.
  554. >You looked around for a moment to see what could have caused it.
  555. “This can’t be good.”
  556. >The all too familiar feeling of unease came back to you.
  557. >Nothing really seemed to change. But the silence had come on so suddenly you couldn’t help but feel unnerved.
  558. >The bad feeling in your stomach came back, you felt a lot worse now.
  559. >The itching dread washed over you, something felt so wrong.
  560. >Like something horrible was about to happen.
  561. “Well...the calm was good while it lasted.”
  562. >You had to get serious again. This all must have been a sign.
  563. >You only had a hallway and a door to get through and you’d be in Anon’s apartment.
  564. >You could feel it in your bones, THIS was the end.
  565. >You were about three meters from the door when you heard it.
  566. >From one of the rooms you could hear thudding and banging around.
  567. >”Gah! Fuck!”
  568. >You could hear something heavy hit the ground from across the walls.
  569. >One of the lights in the hall way began flickering, all the way down at the end.
  570. >You cantered over to the door.
  571. >”You were NEVER supposed to come back!”
  572. >A loud crunch was heard, followed by a thud.
  573. >You stopped at the door, by the time you got there the light flickered and went out.
  574. >Room 201.
  575. >This door was far different from the rest in the hallway.
  576. >The wood was rotting and the knob was rusted.
  577. >The only thing to your left was a small area that lead to a patio. You were at the end of the hallway.
  578. >”F-fuck! W-where did he? FUCKING BASTARD!”
  579. “Anon? Anonymous!”
  580. >You worked the door handle.
  581. >It appeared to be unlocked but it was so rusted it would barely give.
  582. >No, you weren’t about to be stopped by a door knob.
  583. >You backed up and slammed into the door, opening it with a loud slam.
  584. “Guh!.”
  585. >You fell onto the floor, your poor bag having been through so much finally ripped open and spilled some of its contents out.
  586. >You picked yourself up, rubbing the part of your shoulder you used as a battering ram.
  587. >Across the room laid Anonymous, slowly getting up off the ground.
  588. >It had looked like he had just gotten into a fight.
  589. “Anonymous! I’m here, I’m final-”
  590. >”You!”
  591. >He stumbled, propping himself against the table.
  592. “Y-yes, me! Anonymous, I’m here to help I really mean it!”
  593. >”NO! N-no...no you’re here for something else, I KNOW it!”
  594. >He wiped his nose with his sleeve.
  595. >He looks like he had previously been weeping.
  596. >And...in a fight?
  597. >A blood splatter stained his gray hoodie.
  598. “Anon, are you alright? Why do you have dried tears on your face? What’s with the blood?”
  599. >”FUCK OFF! I KNOW WHAT YOU WANT!”
  600. “S-so you will let me help you?”
  601. >”Help me? ME? No, I know why you’re REALLY here!”
  602. >Anonymous pointed an accusatory finger at you.
  603. >He seemed far more angry than before.
  604. >You quickly tried to diffuse the situation.
  605. “Anonymous, please, rest easy. I have come far and have been through a lot of horrible situation just so I could find and help you. What I do, I do out of love...a-as a friend.”
  606. >Anonymous gave a fake chuckle, not noticing your slip up.
  607. >”No! No, you are probably here for the same FUCKING reason the purple shit stain came. You want me to “open up”, right?”
  608. “Anonymous please, you must cooperate with me. We are both rational animals with a voice.”
  609. >”No! You know what? Fuck you, fuck purple shit, and fuck myself!”
  610. “Anon, you mustn’t be obscene, we can-”
  611. >”No! I’ll give you what you fucking want! You want me to open up, you want me to tell you what happened to me...and look at that.”
  612. >He grabbed the ‘L’ shaped piece of metal on the floor.
  613. >You don’t know why, but your heart began to sank.
  614. “Anonymous...Anon, I don’t know what that is, but please put it down. Yes, I want to know what happened and I want you to open up, but it’s nothing to be scared of. I care for you!”
  615. >”NO! No. Nononononononono, NO NO NO!”
  616. >Anon grabbed his head in pain and screamed.
  617. >”You don’t get it! I don’t want help! I was free! Free from everything you just went through! I hate opening myself up, I hate discussing or showing this! It makes me have to relive every gruesome memory of my FUCKED life!”
  618. >You shrank back.
  619. >Thinking back in hindsight it was almost funny that you almost died at the hands of those monsters. Greater demons wouldn’t have phased you in Equestria, though to your credit, you were wounded and constantly low on magic.
  620. >But here in front of Anon was a different story. This was someone you had a deep emotional bond with. A young but close friendship. And he was screaming at you like you were a naughty foal.
  621. >You could only whimper out pleads now. Fresh tears moistened and matted the fur under your eyes.
  622. “A-anon, I only w-wish to help you i-in your troubles.”
  623. >”Oh...I’m about to give you all the fucking help you’ll need. You asked me before why I didn’t try to leave like last time. I didn’t think it could be done, but might as well try now.”
  624. >He pulled out another long piece of metal with what appeared to be metal pellets inside.
  625. >He slid the metal piece into the broad end and then pulled back the metal on the barrel.
  626. >Your eyes remained fixed on the object in Anon’s hand.
  627. “A-anon, w-what is-”
  628. >”You want to help me SO fucking bad? You want me to open up! YOU WANT ME TO SHOW YOU HOW I GOT OUT OF HERE? YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT FUCKING HAPPENED TO ME?”
  629. “Anon I-I...”
  630. >”YOU WANTED THIS! HAVE FUN CLEANING MY BRAINS OFF THE WALL! FUCK YOU!
  631. “ANON!?”
  632. >Anonymous turned the barrel end of what he carried into his mouth and pulled the trigger.
  633. >*BANG*
  634. >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrM2PK7eXFc
  635. >It all happened so fast. Way too fast.
  636. >The loud sound of an explosion, the red and pink matter splattered against the off white walls.
  637. >And Anon’s body falling to the floor.
  638. >The speed of it all is what caused your lagged reaction.
  639. >You had to stare at the corpse for several long seconds before you could fully grasp what had just happened.
  640. >You began to hyperventilate, then tears flowed from your eyes freely.
  641. >And then the screaming, the horrid, ear piercing screaming.
  642. >You wailed at such a volume you could hear the windows shake.
  643. >You began to choke on the sobs. You cried out his name over and over again.
  644. >Begging for the sight in front of you to not have been real.
  645. >You crawled slowly to the body of your friend.
  646. >Everything you went through. All the challenges you faced. The monsters, the buildings. For this?
  647. >You hovered over Anon’s body.
  648. >Blood pooled from the wound in the back of his head.
  649. “W-why! Why why why why why...”
  650. >You nuzzled your snout into Anons necks.
  651. >You squeezed his body as you rocked back and forth.
  652. >You never got to express your true feelings to him.
  653. >You couldn’t help the shaking running through your body.
  654. >You shuttered and choked on tears.
  655. >Anon’s blood soaked into your fur as it began to pull around and spill onto you.
  656. >The muffled screaming and sobbing felt like it went on for hours, your throat as hoarse, it itched with pain.
  657. >You nuzzled deep into him and squeezed your eyes tight, embracing your Anonymous.
  658. >Squeezing him into you.
  659. >Soon the sobbing died down.
  660. >You lay there a husk of what you once felt like.
  661. >You didn’t even try to think about it, you couldn’t. Rationalizing it would be too much.
  662. >No memories on the past, no dwelling on what anything in this damned book meant, just your clutching on to Anon in a world you still don’t know the way out of.
  663. >You sniffed as fresher tears came to water your cheeks.
  664. >You were still here. In the journal, with a dead friend, and plenty of demons waiting to peel off your skin outside.
  665. >Something brushed up against you.
  666. >You pulled in Anonymous close as you shot a glare behind you.
  667. >Nothing was there. You glance down, terror and confusion washed over you.
  668. >Anon had rested his hand on your flank.
  669. >A tug from your mane pulled you back down to Anonymous’ chest.
  670. >You struggled to pull away. Screaming and crying, begging to be spared.
  671. >Anonymous replied with covering your muzzled with his hand.
  672. >”It still hurts.”
  673. >The floorboards began to splinter and crack.
  674. >The paint on the walls began to chip and become rapidly infested with mold.
  675. >You desperately tried to free yourself from Anon’s grasp.
  676. >The floor gave out from underneath the both of you.
  677. >You began falling.
  678. >Falling into darkness.
  679.  
  680. ~~~~
  681.  
  682. >The world around you was hazy.
  683. >The walls and ceilings of Anon’s apartment room around you appeared as though a film of grease was coating the surface of your eye and the world around you was cast in a blur.
  684. >The light in the room scattered in fixed beams.
  685. >You didn’t feel right.
  686. >You raised a hoof to your temple and began to gently message.
  687. >You felt groggy, as though you had just woken up.
  688. “W-wha? What happened?”
  689. >You managed to croak out.
  690. >You had to think back to what had just transpired.
  691. >You had finally made it inside the apartment after making it through the psychiatric clinic.
  692. >You shuddered as you recalled the metallic groaning and whispers from that horrid beast stalking its walls.
  693. >After surviving that Tartarus, you entered the building and managed to finally make it to Anon’s room.
  694. >You remember that short walk so fondly. The music, the bright lights, the deep orange color of the walls, the smell, the temperature.
  695. >It was all an amazing change of pace.
  696. >However...something bad happened after that.
  697. >A familiar twisting sensation could be felt within the deepest parts of your stomach.
  698. “Anonymous...what happened to Anonymous?”
  699. >You sat on your haunches and wrapped your hooves over your head.
  700. >You could feel deep inside your heart that something happened.
  701. >You recall seeing him throughout the travels of the book.
  702. “Why must I feel like I’ve fallen from several stories in the air?”
  703. >The room around you had begun to get dimmer.
  704. >Your thoughts have consumed you by this point. A specific human saying Anonymous brought up.
  705. >Why did he bring that up again?
  706. >The room around you has begun to blur to the point every shape and angle was nothing more than a vague blob. The light had dimmed to almost darkness at this point.
  707. >A soft static tickled your eardrums.
  708. >How did that saying go?
  709. “The road to somewhere was paved in something.”
  710. >You didn’t notice the figure standing in front of you until you heard the click of a switch on the firearm it branded.
  711. >You flinched and snapped your attention towards it, meeting its gaze.
  712. >The human towered over you, its hoodie stained in wet dirt and perhaps a liter of crimson blood.
  713. >The face was covered by shadow but the blood shot eyes seemed to illuminate on their own. It’s stained teeth equally visible.
  714. >In the hand by its side was a piece of cloth with two black crosses on the band.
  715. >The other hand it used to point the barrel of the weapon directly between your eyes.
  716. >The darkness within the hole seemed to stare back into you.
  717. “A-anon?” You manage to shakily whimper out.
  718. >The last thing you heard was the pained croak of that familiar voice.
  719. >”Welcome to Hell.”
  720. >*Bang*
  721. >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXv1qDPWtx8
  722. >A door bust open, slamming against the concrete wall across from you.
  723. >Your eyes shot open.
  724. >You jumped to your hooves.
  725. >Light shown above you, light shown from the hole in the floor of Anons apartment from dozens of stories above you.
  726. >The static you heard from before was far more violent.
  727. >You could hear the panicked sobs from some unknown source paired with the screaming of a deranged psychopath screaming of sickness and violence against yourself.
  728. >A red glow penetrated the door way, the shadows of twitching bodies and the bars of cages danced across the wall in a horrible ballet.
  729. >Red scribbling repeated it self on the ground in front of you and made a path a long the floor and snaked out of the door.
  730. >”The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
  731. >Adrenaline surged through you.
  732. >You galloped out of the room your were in.
  733. >Hundreds of cages littered the void you rushed into.
  734. >Pedestrians lie in pain, digging their fingers through their skin and tearing apart the flesh and bone in their abdomen. Exposing the gore of their chest cavity.
  735. >Large meat hooks were suspended from a nonexistant ceiling.
  736. >You continued to gallop, sprinting down the path of words.
  737. >You had no idea why you were doing any of this. You may have been running towards certain doom.
  738. >However the new environment you found yourself in was not a very pleasant one to be in, and you didn’t dare think about what you would do just staying here listening to the cries of pain invading your ears.
  739. >The whole world was covered in shadows, the only assurance you were walking on a floor was rust and the path written in the red writing.
  740. >”The road to hell, the road to hell, the road to hell-”
  741. >Paths moved and twisted above and beside you.
  742. >The area you were in was moving as though it were alive.
  743. >Alive and in an extreme amount of pain.
  744. >You just wanted to leave. To get out.
  745. >The cages and twisting bodies within them became no more than a blur.
  746. >Your body betrayed you and moved on its own.
  747. >Not that your mind was in any shape to control it.
  748. >You could feel your psyche being ripped and torn into shreds.
  749. >Not a single lucid thought crossed your mind.
  750. >Just images of the macabre and a fear of what may happen if you remained in this place longer than you wanted.
  751. >Pieces of wood and metal appeared in blinding speed along side you, fixating themselves into place as walls and a ceiling, forming a long corridor.
  752. >At the end another door.
  753. >Something was following you.
  754. >You could hear its heavy foot steps.
  755. >You took a quick look behind you.
  756. >Something was coming after you and gaining on you, FAST!
  757. >You picked up as much speed as you could.
  758. >Door
  759. >Door
  760. >Door
  761. >Door Door Door doordoordoordoordoor.
  762. >You crashed into it and out the other side of it.
  763. >Recovering from the fall you kicked the door closed and pressed your back against it.
  764. >Silence.
  765. >Tears fell from your face, your chest heaved. Your throat burned from the aggressive attempts to suck in the air as you ran.
  766. >You fell to the floor and absorbed the still quietness of the room you now found yourself in.
  767. >Something like an abandoned warehouse.
  768. >Crumbling and stagnant.
  769. >The only light shining through the windows were from the pale alien moon from above.
  770. “S-shit!”
  771. >You stumbled over your hooves. Cantering further into the large building.
  772. “I must continue. I need to find a way out, I must find help.”
  773. >You moved beyond a grated door and into a larger area of the warehouse.
  774. >It was enormous. You’d estimate as large as the Canterlot gardens.
  775. >You stopped as soon as you saw something in the middle of the room, in chains.
  776. >It groaned and attempted get up.
  777. >You frantically scanned the area of the room you were in for an exit.
  778. >It placed a hand up to its head.
  779. >”Fuck me, that bastard can punch...”
  780. >Your heart dropped.
  781. >That voice…
  782. >”What the? Chains? How in...where am-”
  783. “Anonymous?”
  784. >You couldn’t help yourself.
  785. >Despite what you had experienced, your heart still yearned to find and help the friend you were here for.
  786. >The figure faced the direction you were in.
  787. >”Who the-”
  788. ”A-anonymous, is that you? Is it really you?”
  789. >The figure didn’t say anything for a minute.
  790. >The moment of quiet allowed you to collect yourself after the jarring series of events that had just played out.
  791. >You needed to gather yourself and focus now that you were out of what ever void you were in between here and the apartment.
  792. >The human figure lowered its hand to its side.
  793. >Inspecting you to make sure you really were who it thought you were.
  794. “Luna?”
  795.  
  796. ~~
  797.  
  798. >You are Anonymous.
  799. >An epiphany had just befallen you.
  800. >You kept your hands over your head.
  801. >You weren’t sure what to believe any more.
  802. >After reading your own journal and seeing what very well may be the truth caused you to question a lot more than what you were bargaining for.
  803. >The front door opened and that blindfolded version of you came in and slowly closed it behind him, shutting it with a sigh.
  804. >He appeared to have been disturbed by something.
  805. >You stood up and threw the chair out from behind you.
  806. “Hey!”
  807. >The other Anonymous looked up at you, and furrowed his brow.
  808. >”What?”
  809. >The word spit like a snake’s venom.
  810. “Luna. Where is she? And what did you do?”
  811. >The other Anon glared at you for several long seconds before answering.
  812. >”She is in the clinic next door...I informed her the only way to get here is through that place.”
  813. “You WHAT! The clinic? Hey last time I was here, that was the place I came the closest to dying! And you told her to just go in there with that freaky mirror faced mother fucker?”
  814. >”I just want her to leave, same as you. And you are still here.”
  815. >He maintained a calm voice. But he seemed to be getting at the end of his nerves.
  816. “So you ARE trying to kill her! Why the fuck would you do that? She’s just trying to help, an-”
  817. >”I don’t WANT to kill her I just want to be left ALONE!”
  818. >He slammed his fist against the wall.
  819. >”I can’t bring myself to out right say it either! You know how hard it is for me...for us to do something like that! After what happened with Claire and seeing how hurt she was after we did nothing to help, or didn’t visit mom enough it...I don’t want others to get caught up in this. I can’t bring myself to just murder someone or something else...not even tell them to do it to themselves. Not after seeing someone as distressed and confused as her.”
  820. >You could see the material of the blindfold become darker and moist, tears began to fall from underneath the flap.
  821. >He moved over to the table and leaned over against it.
  822. >”It’s not me...it’s not who I want to be.”
  823. “Then what is this world then?”
  824. >He looked up at you for a moment and wiped his nose on his sleeve.
  825. >”What do you mean?”
  826. “I read the journal.”
  827. >”Then you already know...you know who you are, what you were supposed to be.”
  828. “Look, which one of us is the real Anon?”
  829. >He wouldn’t look up at you.
  830. >He began to quietly sob into his sleeve.
  831. >He leaned into his arm for support against the table.
  832. “Who are we? You apparently know something I don’t! So what’s going on!”
  833. >”Stop FUCKING screaming! Look, I wrote it! Okay, I wrote the journal!”
  834. >He lashed out at you, becoming more and more animated with every word.
  835. >”I needed a way to cope. To fight back. Write down what I felt I was going through. You were supposed to be how I did that! You were supposed to be what Dr. Hall called my “Ego”! But that FUCKING BOOK made it possible to look back at how shit life was, all of the horrible things I did! We didn’t make it!”
  836. “Then why are we here? Why am I still here?”
  837. >”Being a pussy makes you do stupid things...things that are overly dramatic in the moment...I had to leave Anon. I had to get out, but I couldn’t let all the work I did go to waste.”
  838. “What does that mean?”
  839. >Tears were flowing down the blindfolded Anon’s face at this point.
  840. >His voice began to become interrupted by choked sobs.
  841. >”I...I w-was long gone. I k-knew what I had to do...but you? You went through too much, you were that f-fighter in me...I had to give you a happy end. Hoping you’d continue o-on in a world better than this.”
  842. “In a world better than...”
  843. >You paused.
  844. >He couldn’t really be meaning what he was saying...was he?
  845. >A large metallic screeching could be heard from next door.
  846. >Oh lord no.
  847. >Both of you clenched your heads as a massive headache threatened to split your skull open came on.
  848. >She was in trouble.
  849. “Luna! Fuck, that thing is going to get her! I have to go!”
  850. >”Hell no!”
  851. >The other Anonymous grabbed you by the hood.
  852. >”I can’t have you going back out there again! It will only hurt worse! He’ll show up!”
  853. “H-hey! Let go! Who the fuck is “he”? I’m your ego or conscious or something right? We need to help her!”
  854. >”NO! No more pain!”
  855. >He pulled back, your ass had a very rough introduction to the ground.
  856. >You reached up and pulled at the Real Anon’s hands.
  857. “Hey! Achh! Let GO!”
  858. >He began dragging you away from the door and tackling you.
  859. >”LIKE HELL I’M ABOUT TO LET THAT HAPPEN!”
  860. >You struggled against him, desperately trying to free your hand.
  861. >”Damn it why couldn’t you just stay where you were?””
  862. “Because!”
  863. >You grunted as you freed your left arm.
  864. “We needed the help!”
  865. >You swung at Real Anon’s jaw.
  866. >Pain surged through your cheek bones.
  867. >Both of you cried out in pain.
  868. >The Real Anon released his grip allowing you to scuddle across the floor away from him.
  869. “Gahh! What the fuck?”
  870. >You rubbed your cheek.
  871. >”We are the same person retard.”
  872. “Oh...yea.”
  873. >You got up and hurried to the door.
  874. >Before you could pull it open, the other Anon reached around and grabbed your arm with both hands, pulling you back.
  875. “Gah! Fuck!”
  876. >”Why can’t you just help me? Why do you have to make this longer than it has to be?”
  877. >You grunted and squirmed.
  878. >The other Anon readjusted his grip and threw you across the room.
  879. >You fell backwards and tripped over the coffee table, rolling over onto the floor.
  880. >You grabbed your ankle in pain as you picked yourself up.
  881. >”You were NEVER supposed to come back!”
  882. >That was the last thing you heard before the other Anonymous’ fist filled your vision.
  883. >…
  884. >*Slam*
  885. >You awoke with a start.
  886. >The loud slam of a closing door brought you back to consciousness.
  887. ”Ugh. Fuck.”
  888. >Your head fucking hurt.
  889. >You groaned.
  890. >You moved up, trying to get to your feet.
  891. >You placed a hand on your head.
  892. ”Fuck. That bastard can punch...”
  893. >You eyed the restraints tying keeping you on the floor.
  894. ”What the? Chains? How in...where am-”
  895. >”Anonymous?”
  896. >You turned towards the sudden voice calling out your name.
  897. “Who the-”
  898. >You paused.
  899. >”A-anonymous, is that you? Is it really you?”
  900. >Standing just a few yards away from you was your friend.
  901. >The equine in question had definitely seen better days.
  902. >You couldn’t help but feel a heavy guilt as you saw her.
  903. >She was covered in bruises and medical dressings, blood stained her coat.
  904. >Her usual flowing mane was like a rats nest and didn’t give off the same glow as before.
  905. >What really hurt you were the blood shot eyes and the tears coming from them.
  906. “Luna...”
  907. >”Y-yes?”
  908. “Luna, is that you? Holy shit, are you okay?”
  909. >Relief practically beamed from her.
  910. >She flew like a bullet toward you and pulled you into a bear hug.
  911. >Well...MARE hug would probably be more accurate.
  912. >She nuzzled and cried into your shoulder.
  913. >”By the maker! I knew it, I knew it HAD to be some demon taunting me! Tricking me into thinking you hated me.”
  914. >You wrapped your arms around her and returned the hug.
  915. “Uh...yea. No, it’s me, it’s me Luna, I’m here, I’m okay. Luna, you look hurt! What happened!”
  916. >”I won’t talk about it! It doesn’t matter. What matters is that I am finally here with you and I can help. I can help you and we can leave and put all of this behind us together.”
  917. “Help me? Luna, you are seriously injured! Where did all this blood come from?”
  918. >She pulled you in tighter.
  919. >”No! I must help you! That’s why I am here.”
  920. “Luna...”
  921. >You broke the hug and brought her eyes to yours.
  922. “Luna, you’re hurt. You can help me out of these chains but after that we need to find a way out and to the closes hospital. Okay?”
  923. >”B-but.”
  924. “N-no...I can’t have you suffer like this anymore, we need to-”
  925. >”NO! Anonymous, I WONT have you refuse my help again! I had thought I lost you!”
  926. >She started to cry again.
  927. >”I thought I failed! After having to live through every dark problem you had to go through, it gave me the determination and drive to finally reach you and help. I thought I...I thought...you...*sniff* I witnessed you die Anon!”
  928. >Fuck.
  929. >You could feel your heart sink to your stomach.
  930. >Did Real Anon really…
  931. >Jesus Christ, why would he even…
  932. >You shook your head. It didn’t matter now.
  933. >You’ve let Luna be hurt by your journal for long enough, but now you had to get out of these chains and get out of here.
  934. “Luna, I’m fine! Look at me. I understand what you saw may have been...frightening, and I’m sorry you had to see that but help me out of these chains! Who knows what would happen if we stayed here!”
  935. >”Sorry? Why are YOU sorry, I was merely deceived! Anon, tell me that never happened, please tell me I saw only an illusion.”
  936. “Luna, we need to go! I don’t want to talk about that right now.”
  937. >Luna looked so desperate and worried.
  938. >Having to go through all of what she did and having to witness your...”escape” must have fucked with her in ways she’d need someone like Dr. Hill for.
  939. >”A-Anonymous, I don’t want to lose...*sniff* no, you are correct, I shall unshackle you. Please hold still.”
  940. >You held out your arms and let her fiddle with the chains.
  941. >It took some work but with a little bit of magic she managed to undo the lock from within the chains and undo them.
  942. >As the shackles fell you rubbed your wrists.
  943. “Alright, good. Now, follow me we need to...Luna? What are you looking at-URK!”
  944. >A rope had found itself around your neck and pulled you back.
  945. >”Anonymous!”
  946. >Luna grabbed a hold of you and pulled you back.
  947. >You grabbed at the rope and pulled at it, trying to keep it from cutting off air to your lungs.
  948. >With a quick pull of the rope you were snatched from Luna’s grasp.
  949. “Gah!”
  950. >You reached up and grabbed a hold of the rope pulling it towards you.
  951. >You glanced over to where the rope had come from.
  952. >Behind a cement pillar in the shadows was...is that the Real Anon?
  953. >But no, you could see his eyes, not the rest of his face though.
  954. >He wrapped the rope around the pillar and tightened it.
  955. >”RELEASE HIM FROM THOSE BINDINGS YOU FOWL BEAST!”
  956. >Luna picked her self up and ran past you.
  957. >This other Anon dipped back behind the pillar just as Luna reached it.
  958. >She glanced over and around it.
  959. >”He’s...He’s gone?”
  960. >From the shadow behind the next pillar, the other Anonymous seemed to materialize from no where and approach your friend.
  961. “Luna! Behind you!”
  962. >Before she had a moment to react, the other Anonymous went up and kicked her into the side with unnatural force.
  963. >You ran up to try and tackle him, but again he slipped into the shadows and was just gone.
  964. >Yes, INTO the shadows, you were sure of it this time.
  965. “Hey! Come out here fuck stick!”
  966. >Luna coughed and stumbled to pick her self up.
  967. “Fuck. Hold on! I’m- HRK!”
  968. >As you attempted to run over to Luna’s side, the rope tightened and you fell to the ground.
  969. >You were like a dog tied to a leash with this rope around your throat.
  970. >You fumbled with your rope attempting to free yourself so you could aid your friend.
  971. >”Back away!”
  972. >You pulled your attention toward Luna
  973. >From the other side of the building the weird shadow version of yourself, who’s face was still unable to be seen, was walking up towards her.
  974. >Brandishing a large fire axe.
  975. >Fuck.
  976. >You quickened your attempts to undo the knot.
  977. >The mother fucker tied a good one in the rope.
  978. >The sound of metal hitting stone reverberated through out room.
  979. >Luna had just managed to duck away from the swing of the Shadow Anon’s axe.
  980. >Angered, he swung towards Luna’s neck again, and again Luna ducked out of the way.
  981. >Luna charged the assailant, throwing him and his axe to the floor.
  982. >Luna began to crush his ribs and break his right arm.
  983. >The Shadow Anon grunted in pain but managed to reach out with his left arm and grab Luna by the throat.
  984. >Squeezing his grip he brought her extremely close to his face.
  985. >Luna flailed and let out choked screams. What ever this Anon looked like didn’t seem to be pleasant.
  986. >Apparently able to brush off the broken ribs and arm like it was nothing, he got up to his feet and threw the equine princess into a cement pillar head first.
  987. >Luna grunted and attempted to regain herself but cried out in pain and head to bring a hoof to her temple.
  988. >The Shadow Anon walked over to his axe, grabbed it, and made his way towards her.
  989. “Oh, hell no.”
  990. >You wrestled with the knot on your rope for a few more seconds before finally managing to get undone.
  991. “Fuck yes!”
  992. >Finally you got up and went in at a dead sprint towards the Shadow version of yourself.
  993. >You jumped and grabbed him just as was about to bring the axe down.
  994. >With a grunt, both of you fell to the floor.
  995. >You wrestled with him and managed to pin both of his arms to the floor underneath your legs.
  996. >You grabbed him by the collar and pulled him towards you, removing his hood in the process.
  997. “What the fuck!”
  998. >This Anon looked like he had just come from the bad end of a belt sander.
  999. >Chunks of flesh and muscle were missing, exposing the white bone underneath.
  1000. >The eyelids were seemingly missing, as well as his lips, and his teeth were stained.
  1001. >Blood poured profusely from these wounds, making the area around the head and neck of the hoodie soaked in the crimson liquid.
  1002. >The shadow Anon wrestled to try and get his arms free.
  1003. >Before he could however, you formed a fist and punched him directly in the jaw.
  1004. >Punching this Anon didn’t seem to hurt you for some reason.
  1005. >Which was good because not only were you giving him friendly and repeated introductions to your fist, but he also had his rib cage and right arm turned to dust by Luna.
  1006. >A few good punched in made blood splatter from his mouth and made a few teeth fly from the gums.
  1007. >The Shadow Anon managed to bend his legs up with impossible flexibility and wrap them around your chest.
  1008. >He thrust his legs back down, pulling you onto your back.
  1009. >He managed to free his left arm and pull you off of him.
  1010. >He wrapped both hands around your throat and begin to squeeze.
  1011. >You choked and gasped for air, reaching at his hands and trying to pry them off.
  1012. >You began to get tunnel vision, your periphery being consumed in darkness.
  1013. >Your heart raced, your vision got hazier and hazier, your mind felt like it was about to give out.
  1014. >You were reaching to point of no return.
  1015. >”LET! HIM! GO!”
  1016. >Luna ran full force into the side of your would be executioner and sent all three of you into the ground.
  1017. >All of you let out a grunt as you flopped to the side of both Luna and the Shadow Anonymous.
  1018. >The mare unleashed her fury onto him.
  1019. >It actually scared the ever living shit out of you.
  1020. >Yes, more than anything you’ve seen in this book.
  1021. >You watched her lay into him with everything she had.
  1022. >You could feel the anger in her eyes behind the tears.
  1023. >All of the pent up stress and frustration from whatever she had been through in this journal finally coming through.
  1024. >She thrashed and tore, hell, she bit into his jugular and ripped off a piece of throat.
  1025. >Whenever it looked like the Shadow you was going to over power her, she’d scream and dislocate one of his joints.
  1026. >Finally, she finished off with a hard, swift, and gnarly buck to the cranium.
  1027. >Shadow Anon’s skull caved in, gray matter flew into different directions, the horrid sounds he made would have made you vomit if you weren’t already recovering from the brink of death.
  1028. >With Shadow Anon’s skull caved in, Luna rushed over to check on you.
  1029. >”Anonymous! Are you okay? Can you breath? How hurt are you?
  1030. >You had to take a few deep breaths before you could sputter out anything.
  1031. “I *cough* yea, I’m fine, I just feel light headed.”
  1032. >”Are you sure? No new wounds? Nothing life threatening”
  1033. >Life threatening? Is that was even applicable to you.
  1034. “I’m fine Luna, honest. I’m more worried about you.”
  1035. >Luna sighed and embraced you in a firm hug.
  1036. >”I am fine Anonymous. Now that the horrid deceiver who mislead me in my travels and tried to make me believe you had died is gone and away from you.”
  1037. >Damn. You really have to break the news to her huh?
  1038. “I...well, about that...”
  1039. >”It was horrible Anonymous...to see you like that. I wouldn’t know what to do if I had lost you. That was much too close...Anonymous, I must make a- AHH!”
  1040. “Luna!”
  1041. >Luna had just been pulled away from the embrace.
  1042. >Shadow Anon pulling her by the hind legs.
  1043. >His face contorted and pulsated. New flesh and bone rebuilding the skull and brain that had been lost.
  1044. >”I am not your demon bitch.”
  1045. >He pinned Luna down on her back and broke her leg.
  1046. >Luna let out a horrible cry of pain that cut deep into you.
  1047. >The Shadow Anon kicked her to the side and grabbed his axe again.
  1048. >You scrambled to your feet and got into a defensive position.
  1049. “What the fuck was that for! Who are you?”
  1050. >The Shadow Anon began to croak.
  1051. >”We all have those parts about us Anon. The things we don’t like about ourselves. They build up, and the damns gotta break sooner or later.”
  1052. >The Shadow you swung his axe and you managed to duck under it.
  1053. >”You’ve had your run, now its my turn.”
  1054. >You tried to jump toward him and grab him by the collar but he managed to block you with the handle of the axe, which you managed to grab.
  1055. >You two pulled on it back and forth for a while until he pushed you over onto the ground.
  1056. >He stepped onto your foot and using the broad end of the axe, gave your leg the same treatment he gave to Luna.
  1057. “GAHHH! FUCK!”
  1058. >You could hear your shin fracture in two.
  1059. >You kicked him in the legs and managed to make him stumble off of you.
  1060. >You began began to back up as far and as fast as you could as he regained his footing.
  1061. >The Shadow you walked casually up and pressed his foot on your broken shin.
  1062. “GAH! Ahhh! FUCK!”
  1063. >Shadow Anon raised the axe above his head.
  1064. >You flinched and raised your arm above your face.
  1065. >Fuck. This was it. Left to die in the world you created for yourself.
  1066. >Why couldn’t you have done what Real Anonymous wanted and stayed in the new utopia he willed you to?
  1067. >”Gah! Hrk!”
  1068. >You dared to open one eye into the direction of your killer.
  1069. >He coughed out and grunted in pain.
  1070. >A long dark horn came out the front of his chest.
  1071. >He was thrashed off of you and dropped his axe in the process.
  1072. >Luna looked at you with a pleading urgency in her eyes.
  1073. >”Anonymous! Quick!”
  1074. “Quick? Q-quick what!?”
  1075. >”I do not know! But hurry and do SOMETHING!”
  1076. >You looked down at the axe on the ground.
  1077. >You furrowed your brow and reached for it.
  1078. >You grabbed it and used it to help you to your feet.
  1079. >You accidentally placed too much pressure on your broken shin and you winced in pain.
  1080. “Ah! Fuck!”
  1081. >”Anonymous hurry! His thrashing about will soon get the better of me.”
  1082. >Luna stuck more of her horn through Shadow Anon’s chest.
  1083. >You limped over to be in front of him and got a good look at his face.
  1084. >He stared back at you with loathsome intent.
  1085. >”Even if you get over me here...I won’t be gone forever. Everyone has something like me in them.”
  1086. >You spat in his face.
  1087. “Maybe. I have those I love to help me though.
  1088. >”You are a piece of shit.”
  1089. “Well, “
  1090. >You swung the axe back and aimed at his head.
  1091. “fuck you too!”
  1092. >You put all the strength you had remaining into behind this swing.
  1093. >The axe went clean through the still fresh wounds and buried itself in his skull.
  1094. >The world around you began to vibrate and seemingly glitched in and out existence.
  1095. >You fell to the floor and grabbed your head in pain.
  1096. >A horrible coarse static like from an old TV stabbed into your ears.
  1097. >You tried to look up to find Luna but the world was too chaotic to really see anything even 3 feet ahead of you.
  1098. >Your head met the ground and you finally passed out.
  1099. >…
  1100. >*gasp*
  1101. >You awoke with a start.
  1102. >You sat up and immediately started to take in your surroundings.
  1103. >It was day time, that was good.
  1104. >You where in White Tailed Woods.
  1105. >Thank fucking Christ in his heaven.
  1106. >You let out a huge sigh of relief.
  1107. “Its fucking over.”
  1108. >You find Luna laying on the ground still covered in bruises.
  1109. >You crawl over to check on her.
  1110. >She’s fine, just asleep.
  1111. >A sense of relief filled your soul.
  1112. “Luna! Luna wake up!”
  1113. >You hear a twig snap behind you.
  1114. >You snap your attention towards the sound.
  1115. “Y-you? What? How-”
  1116. >”So...this is where I sent you? Gotta say, it does look...nice.”
  1117. >The Real Anon stood there with a guilty expression on his face.
  1118. “What do you want? Why are you here?”
  1119. >Real Anonymous looked at you with deep regret and guilt at first.
  1120. >But then, a small sad smile touched his lips.
  1121. >”I...well, wasn’t expecting this. But I’m glad it happened. A part of me continues at least. I guess a new story for us?”
  1122. “What? What do you mean?”
  1123. >The smile on the Real Anon’s face grew wider as he reached for his blindfold and finally took it off.
  1124. >His irises were the purest milky white. It was almost unsettling how it looked like he only had pupils.
  1125. >”I’ll let you find out what I mean by your self. But, I can finally rest now. I don’t hurt anymore.”
  1126. “W-what? What does that mean for me then? Are you going to be staying here? Just give me a straight answer!”
  1127. >He shook his head and smiled.
  1128. >“Look just...Thank You, I can rest easy now, and you can go on and live a happy life, like we always wanted...just make sure you keep the bad side of us in check, please?”
  1129. “That doesn’t answer-”
  1130. >”PLEASE?”
  1131. >You were taken back by the sudden desperateness.
  1132. >You shook our head.
  1133. “I don't...yea, yea sure.”
  1134. >”Thank you. Here, before I go, have this. You’ll need it.”
  1135. >The real Anon sighed and took out some object from his hoodie and tossed it to you.
  1136. >You reached up a caught it.
  1137. >You turned it over and inspected it in your hands.
  1138. >A red pencil.
  1139. “I don’t understand...why would you-”
  1140. >You looked up to speak to the Real Anon again, only to find that had vanished.
  1141. “What the...”
  1142. >You scanned around the clearing.
  1143. >He was gone.
  1144. >Luna mumbled and moved beside you.
  1145. >”Ugh. W-wha? Anon? *Gasp* Anonymous! W-we’re back? We are in Equestria again!”
  1146. “Woah, woah Luna. Don’t move too much. Yes we’re back.”
  1147. >”And you’re alright? Oh thank goodness!”
  1148. >Luna wrapped her hooves around you, bringing you into a tight hug.
  1149. >You panicked a bit and had to position yourself so you wouldn’t put any weight on your broken leg, but once you found a good position, you returned the gesture and squeezed her tightly in a hug of your own.
  1150. >The princess buried her muzzle into your shoulder, repeating over and over how happy she was that the two of you were finally out of that place and you were alright.
  1151. >You held on to her, running your hand down her mane.
  1152. >You cooed to her, whispering that everything was fine now, and there was no reason to be afraid anymore.
  1153. >Both of you were safe. Finally.
  1154. >”I think I heard it from over here!”
  1155. >You looked up over the trees.
  1156. >Was that...that was Rainbow Dash!
  1157. >”Hey! Guys, I found them!”
  1158. >The pegasus swooped down into the clearing and was followed by the rest of her friends, minus Twilight and...fuck.
  1159. >Celestia.
  1160. >She approached you two, horrified by the conditions you two were in.
  1161. >”Anon! What they HAY was that? You just ran out of the library screaming about not wanting help anymore and hurting others! Half an hour later we could hear a huge explosion from Twilight’s room in the hospital! What’s going on?”
  1162. >You just stared at Rainbow dash.
  1163. “Uhhh. I-”
  1164. >”Oh my goodness! You two look hurt! What happened? Did a bunch of mean timber wolves attack you! Oh, you look worse than you did back at the castle!”
  1165. “Wha-, well, Fluttershy-”
  1166. >”ENOUGH!”
  1167. >Celestia spread her wings and reared back.
  1168. >That fucking Canrerlot voice as well. Nearly made you deaf.
  1169. >Celestia approached Luna, who was still in your arms.
  1170. >”Sister? You’re injured! What happened?”
  1171. >Luna tightened her grip around you, almost as if afraid something would happen to you.
  1172. >”W-we were helping our Anonymous dear sister.”
  1173. >Celestia cocked her head in confusion.
  1174. >”How does this explain your wounds?”
  1175. >Luna didn’t answer her this time, she covered her face with her mane and went back to nuzzling into your shoulder.
  1176. >Celestia glared into you.
  1177. >It felt like she was staring into your soul.
  1178. >”Girls...all of you fetch medical ponies to help Anonymous and my sister to the hospital to get their wounds treated.”
  1179. >With a collective nod, the rest of your friends hurried off to go and fetch help.
  1180. >”As for you Anonymous, you will be answering a lot of questions.”
  1181. >You gulped.
  1182. >Luna glared at her sister from behind her mane, whispering something about what she’d do if she laid a hoof on you or something.
  1183. >You really were not looking forward to what Celestia had in mind for questions, nor what Luna may do if she didn’t approve.
  1184.  
  1185. ~~~~
  1186.  
  1187. >You stared at the white ceiling above you.
  1188. >This was it. This was possibly the end.
  1189. >At the very least of your freedom, for a while.
  1190. >You didn’t think Celestia would KILL you, or worse.
  1191. >Hell even if that was what she had on her mind, you weren’t quite sure if she’d be able to succeed.
  1192. >You were waiting now. In your hospital bed alone.
  1193. >Your friends visited you but then had to leave upon the request of Celestia, they were probably all in Twilight’s room.
  1194. >They told you they found your journal, but it was empty, and there seemed to be nothing wrong with it.
  1195. >No more ponies being sucked in. Though Celestia refused to release it from her custody.
  1196. >The last you saw of the Sun goddess, she entered your room and told you to “prepare” after she had dismissed the Elements.
  1197. >She’s visiting Luna now.
  1198. >No doubt worried for her, it would explain her attitude and actions.
  1199. >You couldn’t blame her. You allowed Luna to go in and almost get ripped to shreds by…
  1200. >No. NO, You can’t have those thoughts.
  1201. >Should you though?
  1202. >Your newly discovered wisdom of not trying to blame yourself and trust your friends was currently in a fight with your usual self blame and fear of dragging others down with you.
  1203. >You just hoped Luna was okay. She didn’t deserve anything she went through, but because of her you managed to realize things about yourself.
  1204. >It’s like you were blind before but could see for the first time!
  1205. >…
  1206. >Hm. Deja Vu.
  1207. >You rubbed your hands down your face.
  1208. “The real concern is what Celestia will do to me.”
  1209. >The door swung open, the monarch breaching the entrance alone and shutting the door.
  1210. >Speak of the devil, and he shall appear in the form of horse princess.
  1211. >You sat straight and tensed up.
  1212. >Celestia approached the end of the bed and stared into you.
  1213. >Her face was stern and stoic, but you could feel the fire of rage on her eyes.
  1214. >”Anonymous.”
  1215. >You gulped.
  1216. “Y-yes ma’am?”
  1217. >”Why does my sister trust you?”
  1218. “I...uhm, what?”
  1219. >”WHY does my sister TRUST you?”
  1220. “Uh...I don’t...I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting a question like-”
  1221. >Celestia sighed and dug her hoof into the bridge of her muzzle.
  1222. >She straightened her self one more and began to speak with a sense of authority and matter of factness that made you feel like you were on trial in a formal court.
  1223. >”Anonymous, you appeared in our world without warning, it was my sister and co-monarch, Princess Luna, who had found you in a private section of our castle gardens covered in blood, and wielding a weapon, poised to attack. Anonymous, you are from a species while once though only to be mythical in our land, was still considered dangerous. Anonymous, you have been insistent on being difficult in giving us information that we desperately needed. Anonymous, you, to add on to the fact of with holding information, with held the important matter of fact that the journal you begged to keep as though your life were at stake COULD SUCK PONIES WITHIN IT AGAINST THEIR WILL. A journal Anonymous that once sucked in, apparently, did NOT have an effective means of escape from the monsters within who are so dangerous a goddess of the night who can raise and lower the moon with ease, almost faced certain doom on multiple occasions. A journal Anonymous that apparently has evils within it so dark and gruesome that both my sister and faithful student, who was also trapped within its bindings, refuse to speak on what exactly they’ve witnessed within the book. All of this done after we have given you the benefit of the doubt and trusted you because you appeared a distraught victim of circumstance. Plagued with nightmares and depression both my student and sister aided you with no other reason outside of their virtuous altruism and eventual compassion as friends. Two of the closest mares to you, were allowed to be sucked into your journal on separate occasions because of your negligence to to get rid of or hide it properly, or educate us as to why merely reading this book would bring a fate worse than death. A book Anonymous that is linked DIRECTLY to you on a spiritual and conscious level. Meaning all evil in that book came FROM YOU! I’ll ask you one more time Anonymous. Despite all of what had transpired, WHY. DOES. MY. SISTER. TRUST. YOU?”
  1224. >You were at a loss for words.
  1225. >Celestia looked at you with expectancy.
  1226. >Though her horn only came up to eye level when standing, from your bed she towered over you.
  1227. >She was right. Everything that happened could have been avoided, if it not had been for your own flaws.
  1228. >Luna’s trust did come into question. And you know about more situations, like Luna having to deal with both the real Anonymous and that horrible Shadow version of you.
  1229. >But how would you know such a thing?
  1230. “I don’t mean to avoid the question, your highness, but wouldn’t this be a better question for her instead?”
  1231. >She sneered at you.
  1232. >You winced.
  1233. >”I ask you this question for a reason Anonymous. My patience is running thinner.”
  1234. >You twiddled your thumbs and looked down at your hands for a moment before answering.
  1235. “She...I think she trusts me because of all that we have in common?”
  1236. >Celestia raised an eyebrow.
  1237. “Think about it. From our talks, both Luna and I are...or were, lonely. We were disconnected from the others around us and have a troubled past. A part of us that we aren’t really proud to have. We both suffer over what we’ve done, and even if we have those willing to help and listen now, we fail to find those who would understand. Couple that with the fact we were both willing to listen to each other, probably because of those similarities, a bond formed from this similar experience.”
  1238. >”So that is what you believe then?”
  1239. >You furrowed your brow.
  1240. “Y-...No.”
  1241. >”No? Anonymous I’m not in the mood for games.”
  1242. “No. No, because I don’t just “believe” that’s what’s going on! I know that’s the reason! You weren’t there when Luna finally found me in the book! Hell, you weren’t there when she was going through any of it! I get that you fear for your sister but she went through that, all of that, because she wanted to help. She begged me to let her help! After I warned her by the way! Which I did do. You were right about one thing though. I’m the idiot for not expressing this sooner. She poured her heart out to me on occasion in her dream scape thing while I was too much of pussy to do the same. Even then she was willing to go through what she did so I’d get better. She…”
  1243. >You paused for a moment as a sudden realization started to catch you.
  1244. “She was willing to literally walk through hell in back just to help me. And I tried to push her away initially...she fought to help me before even entering the book. I was so concerned about hurting others I didn’t give a shit about myself. Not knowing doing just that, I did hurt others. When she finally did find me...despite HER wounds, she was concerned about me.”
  1245. >You sighed and fell back onto your pillow.
  1246. >There was a strange feeling in your chest, you’ve never felt it before.
  1247. >Though it warmed your cold heart. A very foreign feeling.
  1248. >The more you thought about Luna the more the weird feeling in your chest radiated.
  1249. >You felt a flurry of weird warm chest emotions and feeling like a jack ass at the same time.
  1250. >”I see. In any case Anonymous, whilst I have more questions for you, mostly regarding your book and what was inside. I must take my leave. I hope you make a speedy recovery, but you WILL be guarded, and will be prohibited from seeing my sister until AFTER recovery.”
  1251. “What? Why?”
  1252. >”She has been through enough Anonymous. Both her and Twilight Sparkle and her friends. And until our interrogations are through, I can’t allow the risk of anything else happening. I have already informed the hospital staff. Once my sister is in a stable enough condition, she will be transferred over to the ward in the castle. You will remain here with a garrison however. I don’t think you are evil Anonymous. Just grossly negligent.”
  1253. “Fine! You should take me with you then! If I’m so negligent.”
  1254. >”You ARE! And I shall not. I can not have you be close to Luna for now, and she must be in Canterlot.”
  1255. “Fine! Fine.”
  1256. >You crossed your arms and looked out the window.
  1257. >Disrespectful sure. But what was she gonna do?
  1258. >Kill you?
  1259. >Pff. Beat you to the punch sweet heart.
  1260. >Celestia glared at you for several more seconds before taking her leave.
  1261. >Before exiting the door though she paused and looked back.
  1262. >In a stern tone, like a mother berating a child almost, she repeated her wishes of recovery.
  1263. >”We DO hope you recover soon and well Anonymous. Maybe you and my sister can be friends in the future.”
  1264. >She closed the door behind her.
  1265. >You snorted.
  1266. “Yea...magic of friendship my ass.”
  1267. >You continued staring out the window, letting the soon to be setting sun to melt your lingering anger away.
  1268. >Replacing them with thoughts of Luna and everything she’s sacrificed for you up and to this point.
  1269. >That warm feeling in your chest came back.
  1270.  
  1271. ~~~~
  1272.  
  1273. >You lie there in your hospital bed.
  1274. >The dark room slightly illuminated by the moon and lights of Ponyville.
  1275. >You couldn’t sleep.
  1276. >You were tired. Extremely tired.
  1277. >However the sandman must have been having issues with pulling you into a comfortable slumber.
  1278. >Something was just missing.
  1279. >And not just your clothes minus your underwear. Thank god the docs didn’t need to take THOSE off.
  1280. >You lazily gazed out at the streets of Ponyville.
  1281. >The Hospital being on a hill allowed you to take in its sites.
  1282. >You enjoyed the comfortable aesthetic of the wholesome and friendly town at night.
  1283. >Those were the exact sights you enjoyed seeing so much.
  1284. >It’s why the head of your bed back home was right next to the window.
  1285. >There is something about a city’s skyline at night that was so comforting.
  1286. >If it were raining, all the better.
  1287. >Though back at home it was just a small thing that distracted from your usual life.
  1288. >Something you took for granted.
  1289. >You sighed and rolled your head over to inspect the ceiling. Counting all the tiny holes in the white cardboard tiles.
  1290. >You’ve been wrestling with questions.
  1291. >As diverse as they were overwhelming.
  1292. >The question Celestia asked you.
  1293. >Her future interrogations.
  1294. >The well being of Twilight and your other friends.
  1295. >Luna...just in general.
  1296. >There’s that warm feeling again.
  1297. >That red pencil the Real Anonymous gave you too.
  1298. >Well, can you even call him the real one?
  1299. >You never understood what Dr. Hill was talking about when he said shit about The Ego or the Self, or who ever the Jung guy was. You didn’t care.
  1300. >This “Real” Anonymous wrote the journal. Wrote your story. But you were able to live outside of it. And he’s gone now. And the Shadow Anon?
  1301. >Maybe you were all just manifestations of a singular part of a personality?
  1302. >Man, fuck this philosophy bullshit. As if it matters...does it?
  1303. >You were pulled from your existential dread by the sounds of hooves approaching your bedside.
  1304. >You shoot up to see who was approaching.
  1305. >”Good evening...Anonymous.”
  1306. “Luna!”
  1307. >The night princess shushed you, covering your mouth with a hoof.
  1308. >”It is best not to speak with such a high volume, lest one of the guard outside the door hear us!” She whispered.
  1309. “Luna, what are you doing here? How did you get here?”
  1310. >She allowed a soft chuckle to escape her.
  1311. >”My sister thinks a few guards and a protective barrier can keep me inside my room. However she forgets that I still posses my wisdom of when she’d try to trap me in my room when we were foals.”
  1312. “W-well...still, why are you here?”
  1313. >Luna turned her head away slightly and rubbed one foreleg with another.
  1314. >”I longed to see you.”
  1315. >She blushed and scrunched her muzzle.
  1316. “Well. Why didn’t you just visit me in my dreams?”
  1317. >Luna composed herself and gave you a dead panned look.
  1318. >”One must be asleep to dream Anonymous.”
  1319. “Uh. Right. Heh, woops.”
  1320. >”Besides.”
  1321. >Her blush came back.
  1322. >”I wished to see you in a more...”genuine” manner.”
  1323. “You mean, in the real world?”
  1324. >”The dream realm is as real as this realm Anon!” She spoke in a matter of fact tone.
  1325. >”But yes, I did want to be...closer to you.”
  1326. “Well, why?”
  1327. >”U-uh. Well. We both had just escaped the brutal world of your journal and I, uhhh, worried for your well being.”
  1328. >She scrunched her muzzle again and stared at you expectantly. Her blush deepening.
  1329. “What would Celestia do if she found out though? She’d be livid if she caught the two of us in the same room.”
  1330. >At this Luna grew irritated.
  1331. >“I refuse to dwell on what my sister’s opinion may be. It is none of her concern. I am harming nopony. And if she were to lay a hoof on you she’d face the consequences.”
  1332. “Luna, I’m fine, I don’t want to see you and your sister fight over this.”
  1333. >Luna’s irritation grew, but she let out a sigh and looked at you again with tired eyes.
  1334. >”My sister will not punish you if I were to be in this room. I will make sure of that. Please Anonymous, I want to stay beside you.”
  1335. >This took you off guard just a bit.
  1336. >You knew Luna had grown protective of you, but now it looked like she was close to begging to stay.
  1337. “I just don’t understand. I really am fine, the doctors are doing a good job. You don’t need to check up on me.”
  1338. >”I-i’m sure the staff are excellent at their work. Still however, my mind would be a-at ease if I were to stay here and make sure.”
  1339. “I know. But we are in enough hot water as it is. I don’t understand why you would need to take such a risk to be here with me? Later, we could-”
  1340. >”Anonymous I’m scared.”
  1341. >You stopped.
  1342. >That was...unexpected.
  1343. >Her pleading eyes began to grow moist.
  1344. >”A-anonymous, I’m still in shock over the trials in your journal. It is uncomfortable alone, and after what I witnessed happened to you within the journal I...*sniff*...Anonymous my mind betrays me by dragging itself back to that one occurrence. Not to mention having to see you hurt so gravely. I’m scared of what happened to me, and what may happen to you.”
  1345. >Fuck.
  1346. >Fuck fuck fuck fuck why.
  1347. >WHY did she have to bring up that?
  1348. >You understood and should have expected it.
  1349. >And you’d need to explain the reality of it sooner or later.
  1350. >You looked into Luna’s pleading eyes for a moment.
  1351. >She leaned in with an expectant face.
  1352. >You pondered for a moment.
  1353. >Fuck Celestia. You could not blame her for her worry over Luna, or her lack of understanding that you DID in fact try to get rid of the book. Though you admit there could have been better ways of handling that.
  1354. >But you couldn’t watch one of the closest friend you have here suffer like this.
  1355. >You sighed.
  1356. “Luna. You can stay...but, I need to explain something to you first.”
  1357. >You needed to say this though.
  1358. >You watched Luna’s face beam with excitement for half a second before dropping in worried confusion.
  1359. >”W-what is there to explain?”
  1360. >Your gut twisted.
  1361. >You cringed at the reaction.
  1362. >Luna was probably worrying herself to death over you for a long time before seeing what she did.
  1363. >While you’d love to lie to her and say what she saw was just to scare her…
  1364. “It was real.”
  1365. >”W-what? What was real-”
  1366. “What you saw Luna, was real.”
  1367. >”W-w-what do y-you-”
  1368. “That actually happened Luna. I couldn’t take it anymore.”
  1369. >You weren’t looking at her anymore, you just stared at the sheets on her bed.
  1370. >But you could almost feel the wet tears in her eyes. Her voice shook and stuttered.
  1371. >”Y-you...no, you are here. You are h-healing, I c-can feel you-”
  1372. >You wrapped your arms around her neck, attempting to pull her in for a hug when she pushed away and placed her hooves on your shoulders.
  1373. >”N-no. You’re real and talking to me. How could that have been real if I am touching you?”
  1374. >Her voice began to get a little louder.
  1375. >A noise outside, probably the guards, made the both of you flinch a bit.
  1376. >After a few stressful seconds of nothing happening, Luna turned back to you.
  1377. >Worry and distress poured from her eyes with her tears.
  1378. >You reached up and placed a hand on one of the hooves on your shoulders.
  1379. “I’m not sure. Yea, I can get hurt, I can talk, others seem to see me. And at first I didn’t believe it either. But...”
  1380. >”But?”
  1381. “Luna, I don’t mean to scare you or upset you more than you were a minute ago...but I needed to tell you. I...really did kill my self.”
  1382. >It probably took everything it had in her not to scream.
  1383. >Her face twisted in pain, she hyperventilated, the tears from her eyes began to soak through the blankets and wet your skin.
  1384. >She buried her face into your shoulder, grabbing your head and pulling it close.
  1385. >Her pained sobs were made worse at her attempts to keep them quite.
  1386. >She squeezed you tightly as you hesitantly returned the gesture.
  1387. “H-hey. Luna, I’m still here, it’s all going to be okay.”
  1388. >All the mare in your arms could do is whisper inaudible questions as to why that had to happen to you between her sobs.
  1389. >She let out loathing whispers to the idea you thought your life was bad enough to end it.
  1390. >She expressed in depressing whispers how she couldn’t understand why you would do such a horrible thing to yourself.
  1391. >Her body began to move awkwardly
  1392. >You peered down at her hooves.
  1393. >She was continually shifting her hind legs as she leaned into you as she cried.
  1394. >An idea popped into your head. An idea that made you blush slightly.
  1395. >The warm feeling in your chest came back.
  1396. “Luna? Hey, look at me.”
  1397. >For a moment, she ceased her tears and looked up at you with pitiful bloodshot eyes.
  1398. “Do you want to...lay in the bed next to me? Like...under the covers?”
  1399. >Like under the covers?
  1400. >Jesus, you awkward motherfucker. First you confirm her worst fears to be true, and then you-
  1401. >”I...I-i...*sniff* Yes. I w-would enjoy that immensely.”
  1402. >Huh.
  1403. >Well...it worked.
  1404. >You pulled up your blanket as Luna climbed into the bed and underneath the warm cover with you.
  1405. >She wrapped all her legs around you and stretched her good wing around the both of you. She placed her head right next to yours. Her muzzle just underneath your jaw.
  1406. >Her soft coast brushed up and tickled your bare skin.
  1407. >She was so warm.
  1408. >She pulled you in close, sniffing and wiping away her tears from her grief.
  1409. >Your heart was beating at a million miles an hour.
  1410. >That warm feeling in your chest was burning now.
  1411. >You stared vigorously at the ceiling above you.
  1412. >But at the same time you felt an odd calmness.
  1413. >A very comforting and sweet feeling, completely alien to you.
  1414. >You’ve hugged her before, you’ve hugged other ponies before.
  1415. >But some sudden realization made it different.
  1416. >Some change in context.
  1417. >Like a shift in your relationships made you feel very close to her in some way.
  1418. >Luna must have noticed this. The beating in your chest was very audible by this point.
  1419. >”Anonymous?”
  1420. >She nuzzled into your cheek to catch your attention.
  1421. “Y-yea?”
  1422. >”I-I love you.”
  1423. >You turned your head over to meet hers.
  1424. >The very next thing you did shocked the both of you.
  1425. >Now having no control of your body, you leaned in and placed a kiss on Luna’s lips.
  1426. >Though in shock at first, Luna graciously returned the gesture.
  1427. >You were freaking out in your head. This was so weird.
  1428. >The embrace held for several long seconds before broken.
  1429. >The both of you stared into each others eyes, unsure of what to do next.
  1430. >Fuck it. Who cares if this was weird?
  1431. >You were in a land of magical talking ponies.
  1432. >You are just a manifestation of a personality probably.
  1433. >You managed to trap two of your friends inside your journal.
  1434. >You had to fight a bunch of nightmareish monsters.
  1435. >THEY had to fight a bunch of nightmareish monsters.
  1436. >YOU BLEW YOUR OWN BRAINS OUT AND ARE STILL WALKING AROUND! YOU’RE DEAD PROBABLY!
  1437. >Yea, who cares if this is weird. Out of all the weird things, being in this warm bed, right beside this mare, this princess of the night, it felt right.
  1438. >It felt good.
  1439. >And God in heaven knows for a fact feeling anything good just isn’t something that happened to you.
  1440. >You leaned in and gave Luna another kiss, which again she returned.
  1441. >She placed a hoof behind your head, and you cupped her cheek with your hand.
  1442. >Both of you embracing each other warmly, allowing any outside stressors to melt away completely.
  1443. >All that mattered to either of you was the other, right now, in this moment.
  1444. >Both of you fell asleep that night panting, and in a loving embrace.
  1445.  
  1446. ~~~~
  1447.  
  1448. >You stared at the empty book in front of you.
  1449. >You clinched the red pencil in your hand, knuckles turning white.
  1450. >You let out a deep breath.
  1451. >It has been two months since the incident.
  1452. >Two months after Luna had delved into the darkness of your book and had to relive a story meant only for you.
  1453. >Here now you sit in her chambers, only one thought on your mind.
  1454. >You were about to take one of the biggest chances in your life.
  1455. >There was a compulsion in you though.
  1456. >A great need.
  1457. >A queer libido to write these things down.
  1458. >You don’t know whether or not the real Anon has anything to do with these feelings.
  1459. >This great desire only being held back by your hindsight and rationality.
  1460. >The last time you wrote down your thoughts you’ve managed to create a dark and horrible depiction of how the world around you seemed to be back home.
  1461. >A dangerous reality that unbeknownst to you could effect others, and by some odd twist of luck or supernatural force, could pull those you loved into it.
  1462. >Now you sit here with the means and uncanny desire to do it again. Though with a twist admittedly.
  1463. >You did not desire to write down any dark thoughts.
  1464. >No. In fact, you wished the opposite. You wanted to write down and rationalize your effort in healing. An effort you only have no doubt because God or some other higher power managed to allow a happy ending in what would otherwise be a horrible miscommunication between the sovereign of this world.
  1465. >A happy ending that allowed you to stay here in your lover’s chambers.
  1466. >A happy ending that allows you to sit in front of this book and ponder to make a daring decision.
  1467. >Would this new diary turn into a dangerous and horrible artifact of arcane power?
  1468. >Were you yourself cursed to turn such things into that?
  1469. >Was it only because you wrote down dark aspects?
  1470. >You weren’t sure. But you had the desire.
  1471. >You had a goal in mind to. To actually heal. To use it as a way to finally open up.
  1472. >No weird stories. No over dramaticism. No dark creations. Just the honest truth.
  1473. “Fuck it.” You said under your breath.
  1474. >You touched the now empty pages of your old journal with your pencil, and began writing.
  1475.  
  1476. ~~
  1477.  
  1478. >”Dear Journal. It is January now. I have a lot of explaining to do. I don’t tend to go into detail as to how I got into this world or why because I’m hoping this book to be used with outside context. The context of who I am and what had happened. Coupled with the understanding of why I’m writing in this. To get better. Mentally.”
  1479. >”I guess I’ll just start at the end of the incident then. After both Luna and I managed to get out of this journal. Once I managed to finally win over the Shadow part of myself, with a great help from Luna, both her and I were finally out of that place. We were found injured in the forest by my friends, the Elements of Harmony, and Celestia.”
  1480. >”Speaking of Celestia, it looked, at first, like she wanted to tear me limb from limb. She accused me of not attempting to warn others nor getting rid of or destroying the book. Both of those are false, though to be fair, I could have done better, and Celestia really didn’t have that information.”
  1481. >”She tried to set things up so that I would be far away from Luna, and kept under a more watchful eye in Ponyville. Not the worst punishment, but I don’t think I deserved one. Well, LUNA didn’t think I deserved it. She was at first unable to explain the needed context to Celestia to help calm her nerves, as Luna was mentally disturbed over the incident, as was my close friend Twilight. A fact which I still feel guilt for.”
  1482. >”Though I still feel the guilt of being responsible for the mental and physical scarring of those closest to me, I won’t deny the gratitude I feel for their willingness to help me. I no longer reject the help of others because of my fear for their safety. It is still there, but I won’t refuse help from others when I need it. In return I do all I can to help them, despite what may happen to me.”
  1483. >”I never really cared what happened to me anyways. That’s why I’m here in the first place. And that apathy towards my well being may still be a problem, at least in the eyes of those who love me.”
  1484. >”I was still responsible however, add that to the fact Celestia found both her student and sister injured and disturbed and she can only assume the worst. She separated me from Luna and Twilight and had guards posted at my door. Though despite these precautions, and most likely a word of warning from her sister, Luna managed to sneak out of her room and into mine. At first I was worried about her being there. I didn’t want things to get worse nor Celestia to get angrier. But after Luna expressed her fear of being alone after what had happened, I caved and allowed her to stay. She probably would have anyways, and I wanted her to.”
  1485. >”I had to confess something that night though. Confess on how I really did end my life, and what Luna saw wasn’t just some illusion or trick to scare her. At first she denied it but eventually realization struck and she hugged me tight as she cried.”
  1486. >”I wasn’t the only one to confess something that night. Luna expressed her feelings towards me in that bed after she calmed down from the revelation of my death. It was in the bed I experienced my first kiss. And my second, and third...so on. It was strange to me but I let it happened, and accepted it. I realized I had similar feelings, though I never realized I did until then. Love and affection was always foreign to me, any time I had something close to that feeling it was all blurred and seemed the same. Friendship, romantic love, paternal love, all seemed to just be a part of the same thing I never got to have save for rare occasions. And until now, at least I hope, always left as soon as they appeared.”
  1487. >”We fell asleep in that hospital bed in each others arms. Or hooves? You know what I mean. The next morning wasn’t pleasant. I woke up to Luna standing over me in the bed and screaming at her sister who had just walked in on us. I’m not exactly sure how it happened but in the midst of the screaming, I wasn’t able to get even a few words in with both of rulers ignoring me or screaming over my words. Eventually they calmed down and an actual discussion was allowed to happen. Luna was finally able to fully express her side of the story now that she was in my company and was able to vouch for the actions I did. We both managed to get through to Celestia and she rethought a lot of her actions to that point. Though she was still had a lot of questions for me, and while I wouldn’t be locked away in Ponyville, I am restricted to the castle for the time being. She even allows me to stay in Luna’s chambers due in part to a very adamant Luna.”
  1488. >”After several days of discussion, Celestia became increasingly open to solving the issue in a more pragmatic way, and though my friends are upset to see me leave, they are happy that I’m alright and won’t be banished.”
  1489. >”I apologized countless times to Twilight and what she had to go through, but she kept insisting that it wasn’t my fault and that she shouldn’t have broken my trust and looked into my private journal in the first place. She says she’s glad that I’m at least all right and managed to fight back against my problems.”
  1490. >”In what I can only assume it typical Twilight fashion, she soon devolved from sympathetic and understanding despite what had happened, into inquisitive and curious. Wondering how all of what had just happened worked and what it means. We still communicate through letters, she asks me a lot of questions about my world and my condition. Once she fully recovers she says she’ll want to make a visit to the palace to visit and “study me.” The study aspect about that one letter sent a shiver down my spine, but I trust her.”
  1491. >”These days however I find myself in a comfortable routine. I’ve managed to suggest providing music during ceremonies and parties on the palace grounds to a willing but cautious Celestia, and work on original music during the night with Luna when she isn’t busy. When she is, I’m usually by her side, she is still very nervous with out me, which I hate to see, but being there with her seems to comfort her and I’m more than happy to help her. During the day, both Luna and I fall sleep in each other’s embrace.”
  1492.  
  1493. ~~
  1494.  
  1495. >You gazed over the writing on the pages.
  1496. >There was something else you had to say. Some thing else that needed to be said.
  1497. >This would not be the last time you wrote in this book.
  1498. >Far from it. You felt as though this was the beginning of a new chapter in your life.
  1499. >Though all new stories must come with the closing of books.
  1500. >”Anon? Will you be coming to bed soon?”
  1501. >You looked over to your mare in her bed. She looked to you in a tired longing, her eyelids beginning to betray her from a long and busy night.
  1502. “Of course I will. I just need to finish this. I’ll only be a minute longer.”
  1503. >”Please finish with haste. *yawn* I can only sleep comfortably when next to you.”
  1504. “I’ll hurry and finish up.”
  1505. >You looked back to your book.
  1506. >Something in your head clicked and you smiled.
  1507. >Once again, pencil touched paper, and you wrote out the closing thoughts of this major event in your life.
  1508.  
  1509. ~~
  1510.  
  1511. >”I went through some of the worst trials in my life back home. I do not resent it however. I loved my family, I appreciate the work Dr. Hall did to try and help me. In the end it didn’t matter however. I succumbed to my anxiety and depression, to my dependency on alcohol, my desire for an end. Though, even though my old life ended, I can see a new one beginning. Was I right to end it? I wouldn’t have found a new life here if I hadn’t. Well, it probably wasn’t. But it happened. I accept that now. And I’m willing to accept what ever comes my way, and with the motivation to do better. So, even though my other life is over, quite literally, a new life has started for me, and I’m ready to live it. With great friends, an amazing lover, and this time, a book that will be used to heal and bring me up, other than hurt and smother me in my own self defeatism. I’ll have to start this new life with some rest. Asleep by her side.”
  1512. >”I suppose the old adage is true.”
  1513. >”All Ends with Beginnings.”
  1514.  
  1515. END.

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