Hell's Silencing: Forsaken Innocence

Chapters

Chapter I- Nightmares
Chapter II- Waking Confusion
Chapter III- Why is This Familiar?
Chapter IV- Shades of Memories
Chapter V- Another Mare?
Chapter VII- The Other Side
Chapter VIII- World of Havoc
Chapter IX- Doppelganger
Chapter X- This Otherworld and its Madness
Chapter XI- Insanity?
Chapter XII- Snow...?
Chapter XIII- Time to Switch
Chapter XIV- The Gray Mare
Chapter XV- Hellhole
Chapter XVI- Torn
Chapter XVII- Problem
Chapter XVIII- Lunch Break, Much?
Chapter XIX- Forgotten Pain
Chapter XX- Aviation
Chapter XXI- Vortex
End of One Thing, the Beginning of Another (Prologue)
Chapter VI- What The?

Chapter I- Nightmares

HHHHYYYYAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

A girl sat up in her bed, her dark brown hair fluttering around her dark grey eyes as she panted heavily. Her legs were wet, signaling the dream being so horrid she pissed herself. She tasted those bittersweet tears, which clouded another, much more worse taste. Her body was rapidly shaking as chills ran marathons up and down her spine.

She threw the covers off of her and sighed. The girl went to the dresser to change her underwear and get dressed, taking note that her parents hadn't come to comfort her yet. Either they had earplugs or something was wrong.

She exited her room and went into the living room. On her father's computer desk sat an electric lantern that used AA batteries.

That's strange, it's never out here unless there's a power outage. Thought the girl as she picked up the lantern and examined it. She pushed the on button and the electric glow suddenly illuminated the whole room and kitchen beyond. She then noticed a note on the desk.

To find a harsh truth first requires innocence to be shattered. The light of fallen angels heralds a tragedy to come. Find the truth in a forsaken town and let it unfold before you. In some cases, ignorance truly is bliss.

The girl was appalled by the note, and at the same time, puzzled. She put it in her pocket and went to the sword rack that hung next to her parent's bedroom door. She picked up her sword and wrapped the strap onto her body. Attached to the string was her pink-and-silver radio, and it felt light in weight because the batteries had been removed and presumed dead. It had a dark tan grime that refused to come off, so it was left as is. On it was another note, oddly enough.

Flora, please don't go into the forsaken town. He who hunts you awaits at death's door.

"He who hunts?" Flora gasped, her eyes wide as she crammed the radio into her pocket. Was this written by her parents, or something else?

She looked at the door next to the sword rack. The whole thing was petrified, and thus unable to be entered considering how the walls of the house became stone. The only door unaffected was the front door leading outside, hanging open in a breeze as if leading her somewhere.

The whole world was encased in an ethereal fog, so dense she'd have to be close to an object to accurately see what it was. It was fairly bright, so the lantern was cut off. The fog suddenly lifted, though overcast still hung heavy in the sky.

Okay, now I know something is WRONG here. Flora thought as she looked at her now-barren yard. She hopped off the stone steps and walked to the driveway. Looking back at her was a creature that looked like a skinless, stitched-up dodo bird with one leg placed further back than the other. Its beak, still yellow for some reason, held a pack of AA batteries. It put them in front of Flora's feet before it took off into the street and surrounding woodland beyond. The girl picked up the batteries and put them into her pocket before her empty book-bag suddenly dropped onto her head.

"The heck?" Flora sighed as she began looking into her book-bag before loading everything inside, save for the sword and lantern. She then zipped it up and flung it onto her shoulders, tying the straps onto her waist and the lantern handle into one of the two. She then walked to the street, being careful of the slope of the hill (she lived on its foot if we're being nit-picky.)

Once on the road, she noticed there was a figure in the distance. Worse still, it was nighttime all of a sudden. Thankfully, the street lights still worked, though barely illuminating that other figure.

It was then she heard it. It was so distant, and yet, she instantly knew what this meant.

Thump, thump, thud, scrape.

Her heart dropped, her breathing hastened. Her eyes dilated as one thing rang in her mind.

Pyramid Head has come to rape.

She knew who those sounds belonged to, she knew it was coming for her. There was no getting out of this. Her feet were frozen, cemented to the ground as a bubbling, crimson liquid suddenly surrounded her as the monster grew closer. Her mind was screaming at her, telling her to run, but the liquid had surrounded her in such a way the only path of land was the distance between her and the fiend. She couldn't swim, and was thus trapped.

Is this really the end now? Flora thought as tears flowed from her eyes, her gaze moving upwards to look into the concealed eyes of the behemoth before her. The radio had been giving off static for some time now, but she took no notice thanks to her own fear.

"Wh-What do you want...?" Flora squeaked, her lips trembling as her body was stiff as a board.

The monster grunted and lifted his huge sword right over his head.

"So, I'm a bad person." Flora squeaked again before she suddenly turned around and jumped into the searing liquid right as the sword cut where she stood in two. Her vision faded, her body and mind numbing as the searing pain didn't hurt her anymore.

Another nightmare, this time of an endless hallway. Heads on platters lined the walls, some with cracked skulls and others with missing jaws. No matter the scenery in which these nightmares took place, severed heads used as sick decorations were always present.

A girl with long, brown hair tied back was running away from this hellhole, a deformed monster with a hatchet following hot on pursuit.

She took a turn to the left, and suddenly found herself blocked by a wall.

Trapped. More severed heads, this time of equine creatures of many colors, adorned the walls.

Static rang off the hook as the monster closed in on the girl. Skin from many people obscured his face like a theater mask, his head vibrating wildly. Bones jutted from his hunched backside in such a way it looked as though he were impaled with them.

He raised his weapon upwards as the girl scrunched her eyes shut and screamed in horror.

Yet death never came.

Chapter II- Waking Confusion

Flora woke up, no longer in the searing liquid. She was back on the street she thought was engulfed by the liquid. Her vision was blurry, and it was hard to move.

Her fingers and toes were immobile for some reason, and she felt the cold chills return. Hair surrounded her legs, which was odd because she never was able to grow it out that long.

Her eyes closed once more, and she was ready to accept the dismal darkness.

A soft static snapped her out of her stupor, and she groaned in pain as her vision became clear.

Too clear for comfort.

She was surrounded--and laying on--by mirrors. Her ears poked out in triangles on top of her head, which was odd because her ears were always concealed by her hair, which stayed the same. She had a snow white pelt, her grey eyes now showing meager hints of blue. She turned to a side mirror, and her hands and feet were hooves now. A tail was settled at her hind quarters, her book-bag and lantern fitting to her new body. There wasn't anything on her flank, and she had nothing to defend herself with except for her sword, whose hilt now rested in her jaw.

It was difficult getting up, her legs mocking her as searing pain racked up again. Her nerves were on the verge of shutting down and leaving her there. But her mind kept screaming at her to get up regardless. Mind over matter held true in this as she stood on all four hooves, breathing through her now-modified nostrils as her body shook. Had it not been for the sword in her jaw, she would've coughed like no tomorrow. Dust hung heavy in the air, and she was allergic to it.

The shakes refused to stop as the mirrors suddenly became bloody. More of that foul liquid began to fill the room.

The smell of death filled the room as the liquid heralded a flood.

Flora blinked once, and the street in the night returned to normal.

She shook her head in disbelief before looking at her hoof. It was still a hoof. Her sword still rested in her jaw.

Steeling herself, the girl-turned-horse began trotting up the hill and toward the bypass. She tripped once or twice because walking on all fours was a bit strange. Once she got to the bypass, it started to rain, staining the road an unusual dark crimson.

White feathers also began fluttering down, and if a drop of the mysterious rain hit them, they instantly turned black for reasons unknown.

Flora noticed something: she was no longer at home.

No, she was standing before the entrance of a town obscured by darkness.

Chapter III- Why is This Familiar?

Flora looked at the landscape of the town. A wretched metal grating made the floor where the roads and sidewalks would be. The buildings were barbaric structures that looked like places of torture, judging from bodies dangling on their sides. About two stories up, the buildings taller than such were ripped clean and swirled in a vortex above the whole place. Who had built this contorted framework, and why?

The mare glanced at each of the buildings. Bloodied, rusted, dangling bodies.... She tightened her grip on the sword, a snarling expression forming on her muzzle because of it. She hadn't meant to look mean, but she had no choice given a weapon was in her mouth. And she needed to get the lantern off of her stomach, but how was she to do that with hooves to work with?

A soft static began ringing as she quickly glanced around once more. What was making that noise? She heard nothing else aside from the static and the hushed gale of the vortex above. The rain was still hammering the ground, but it was silent in such a way it felt like the rain and the darkness were one and the same.

She shook her head again, blinking harshly a few times.

The buildings, now like normal buildings except in disrepair and wooden planks covering windows and whatnot, had stayed in the same places. There were houses and stores and even a hotdog restaurant on her right. That fog had concealed almost everything, though. The static, still soft, began mocking her. She was still a...horse-thing, and she didn't like it one damn bit.

She sighed through her nostrils and began to trot toward the restaurant, but she couldn't help but notice something was awry as the static grew louder and more distorted. The door was shut with wooden planks, but inside the mare could hear...sobbing.

Feminine sobbing no less. It sounded...like a young girl, perhaps a teenager. A full-grown woman was a very different matter, and Flora wasn't full-grown by any stretch of the imagination. Nope, she was only 14 years of age.

The sobbing intensified as muffled feet seemingly dragging along the floor were heard. Was it getting closer, or passing the door on the other side?

Flora peered into a hole the planks didn't cover and found herself jumping backwards in the same instant--with good reason. A clawed hand scratched between the planks as if searching for flesh. It was as white as Flora's pelt, though it was hideously lacerated and covered in blood. A lone shackle adorned the wrist as the chain was whipped to and fro in the winds created by the owner of the struggling arm. The sobbing became frantic shrieks of pain and terror as the arm was retracted and forced through two whole overlapping planks, which broke and clattered noisily onto the road.

Again, the arm was withdrawn and--as if defying all logic and laws of physics--forced the door open in such a way said door flew and became impaled into a wall. This caught the mare entirely off-guard as the creature proceeded to give her a body slam onto the pavement. Searing pain shot though the mare's rear leg as it was hit hardest. The thing then picked her up and threw her into a dumpster.

Flora got up and shook her head, heaving at the pain and what she saw.

The creature had no left arm, and it stood on two legs--horse legs Flora herself currently had--bent hideously awry. It should never have been standing, and on two legs no less. It was deathly white, horribly lacerated as its only arm flailed about to and fro like a reverse metronome. It had a shredded gown on its body, white that was stained red like the rest of its body. Stitches made up its legs and what remained of its neck. It had a bare skull in the shape of a horse with canine teeth that were yellow, rotted, and somehow sharp. The skull itself was bloodied, and it looked as though what little flesh attached to it was obscured by the aforementioned blood. It let off another pained cry as it awkwardly ran toward its adversary, who ran around the creature and watched as it impaled its arm into the dumpster. Taking the opportunity, the mare galloped toward the abomination and jerked her head sideways before the blade of her weapon tore into its backside--right where the heart would be. The monster kicked profusely and flailed relentlessly as it cried in pain, causing Flora to shove the blade in deeper in order to spare herself a headache. Noticing her muzzle was to the sky, she tightened her jaw-grip and threw her head down sharply in such a way the blade itself turned as though it were an overgrown key.

The monster's shrieks slowly grew quieter as the flailing stopped at a hastening rate. Seeing no reason to keep the blade still any longer, the mare took it out and reverted to all fours as she noticed the blade slid out with ease. The monster slumped down onto the dumpster, all possible signs of life were but diminished. Why didn't she break down and cry right then and there despite the fact she just killed a something pounding at her morality? This just didn't add up.

What should I do now? Flora thought as she stood there trying to make sense of this mess, the static having fallen silent.

The fog was unwavering, almost as if refusing to answer, and more chills greeted the mare's body.

Chapter IV- Shades of Memories

The inside of the restaurant was dusty and unkempt for what must have been years. It was dark and silent, the only light coming from the entrance leading to the foggy world outside. Blood littered the walls in mere droplets while the counter where people got their food was nothing but a wreck of pebbles, ruined chairs lay scattered about. Beyond this pile of debris and chairs was the cooking room, rusted with blood stains and streaks of blood before it, leading from the pebble pile as though some forgotten corpse was dragged into said cooking room long ago. Cooking utensils and stoves, microwaves, and the like looked as though they were pounded by Hercules. There was even a dead corpse of some thing laying to the side tables, sitting in a booth and looking like it was in some sort of deep, drunken slumber as evidenced by a whiskey bottle in its supposed hand.

Flora sat at an empty booth, the seat opposite of her shredded straight to Hell and back. She had removed her luggage and held something in her right hoof--a key in the shape of a cross, forged from solid gold. It was in the clawed hand of that freak of nature she finished off after she pulled it out of the dumpster. This key intrigued her in a very creepy way, but why?

On the table sat her lantern and sword, her book-bag next to the mare in the seat. The electric flicker illuminated the room surprisingly well, well enough that it might as well have been a replacement light-bulb. It was quiet as Flora glanced at the door that had a crude indent scratched in its rust. The things were put into the book-bag and hoisted onto the mare's body as with shocking ease she managed to slide the lantern onto her neck without the need for anything else. The key was also placed in the book-bag, seeing as it had no use at this time.

Something told her a useful thing was in the rubble, so the mare groggily got up from the booth she sat at and slowly walked to the ruins of the counter before her. She heard a faint melody, it sounded like a harp and violin in unison displaying some invisible sorrow.

Some deep, untold sorrow waiting to be discovered.

The clip-clop of her hooves was the only sound made in this strangely serene place of utter eeriness. Only she could hear that melody.

Untold sorrow.

Those two words rang in her mind.

A breeze flew past the open entrance, gently brushing the mare's body as her mane and tail began flying just a hare, as though the individual strands wanted to catch the faint wind.

She pushed her hooves as though she were kicking the ground, starting to search for this something.

Untold sorrow.

Her mind was numb as she kept digging. At last, her hoof felt something that wasn't metal or rock. Her left hoof picked it up, and the bright glow of her lantern confirmed her suspicions. The object was a small, toy horse that belonged on a merry-go-round, complete with the trademark pole on which the horse was seemingly impaled with. It made her smile a bit just looking at it--something that was the way it should've been in this strange place of apparent contortion.

She looked at the door once more. The indent sat there mocking her.

I'll have to come back later, I guess. Flora thought as she attached the toy to the string of her sword, being very careful not to ruin either of those or her hooves. It made her feel just a litter safer once her work was done, the hilt of her sword still in her maw should she need it.

She turned around to the entrance right as the breeze wavered. She then turned her lantern off and walked out into the foggy world beyond.

Small grey specks started falling down onto the earth.

Ash? Why? Flora thought as she remembered a childhood memory.

A little girl was drawing in class. She'd completed her work only five minutes ago and still got a perfect score on her spelling test. The kids kept mocking her, saying she was ugly, stupid, and all the other insults they had to offer.

She was drawing stick-figures with wings. She'd always wanted to have wings of her own--wings that didn't come from an airplane. She was also richer than most of the kids in her class, and most kids in said class also only had one parent while the girl had both.

Deep down in her heart, they hurt her drastically, but she had to hide it. They envied her, and she knew it.

They were jealous.

Of her. Her riches, her parents, her smarts, her beauty...but alas, they also wanted her silenced because she was a loudmouth, tattling goody two-shoes.

The teachers did little to nothing to stop their little charade.

But the girl also knew things they didn't--she was able to read before school started for her. She already knew her numbers and ABC's. To put it simply, they were already expecting someone dumb, perhaps dumber than most of the kids who went to the school, when she was enrolled.

She proved them wrong, and even the teachers ridiculed her for her intellect.

She lived in a neighborhood where intelligence was shunned heavily, sometimes feared even.

But after someone in her own family (step-grandfather, to be accurate) went and molested her, her family moved when she was 10. It was for the best then, as the accused was sent to prison for only four months out of two years.

They wanted to get away from that neighborhood. Since then, it was a hellhole for her. She never wanted to leave her precious tree behind, but had no choice as it was growing and already planted.

Her precious tree....

I miss my tree.... Flora thought as tears began welling up in her eyes.

My tree... She remembered bitterly that the all the branches of the tree were cut off once, and they somehow regrew as if the tree defied death. That was what gave her hope--a tree defying fate by merely regrowing its limbs.

But here, that hope was far away now. Those happy, faraway days spent under the shade of her tree in the heat of summer.

I want my tree. The mare sighed through her nostrils as she began trotting further down the road.

Chapter V- Another Mare?

Flora had just finished off another one-armed freak in an alleyway where said freak suddenly ambushed her. She had a few lacerations on her right foreleg, but she could manage. She looked around. An alley ridden with trash of all kinds, a dead corpse of a thing. But then, she heard a giggle.

Then, she saw a filly in a black dress with white on its whole bottom, a red obi separating the two colors. It had her mane and eyes...

Flora blinked in disbelief, shaking her head as if she were falling into some madness as something else came into her head.

Today was Easter, and all the little children went egg-hunting in a park. A little girl whose hair was braided was leading the egg-count. She wore a black dress with white on the bottom part, an obi keeping the two colors from meeting.

She was a natural at gathering eggs for her basket, but she had to restrain herself because a platoon of other kids also wanted eggs. Once she was sure she was done, she went up to her mommy and showed her.

Later, the eggs were opened up to reveal delicious candy.

Sweet, sweet candy.

Flora looked at where her...younger self stood and found in her place was another, full-grown mare. She had a black mane done much like the Japanese people (women, specifically) would do their hair. She could've sworn she saw two decorated chopsticks stick out at some point, and mere strands of bangs fluttered past her face. From Flora's perspective, the mare was very tall, almost six feet and towering over her. She had eyes of a deep earthen hue, and her pelt was deathly white. She wore half a blue kimono, complete with scarlet obi, on her torso. As if plastered with hot glue unto her forehead stood a horn that looked as though it were made of cracked bone. The mare stood with her body angled, and the younger mare saw a blue straw-person with a red thread on its neck on her flank.

"Konichiwa." The black-maned mare said.

"Hello to you too." Flora replied, her head tilted as she put her sword in its sheath before putting it on her back once more.

The other mare sighed and cleared her throat before speaking up. "Force of habit, I'm afraid. Mother Tongue doesn't like me today. Who are you?"

"My name's Flora. Do you want my full name?"

"No thank you. My name's...uh..." The other mare looked up, as if lost in thought. "Oh hell, I can't remember my own name!"

"Can I call you...something?" Asked Flora.

The mare lowered her gaze to the smaller horse-thing before her. "Name's Tsuyu."

"Ah. Do you know what the hell is happening? One minute, I was at home; next thing I know BOOM I'm here." Flora sighed.

"I could say the same thing. I don't know what's going on either. It's crazy if you ask me." Tsuyu sighed, shrugging her shoulders.

"I blinked a few times after I entered this place with a bad case of the swirlies and then there's this fog!" Flora exclaimed.

"I got separated from my friends after the exact same thing happened!" Tsuyu chimed, ears perked. "I found this object at the entrance of some sort of hospital. I hope you'll find a use for it."

Flora held a hoof out as the mare reached into her kimono and produced a key. She then put it on the waiting hoof.

"Thanks." Flora nodded with a smile.

"Anytime. Stay safe, I have to go now." Tsuyu said as with shocking speed she jumped onto the roof of one of the buildings the two stood in between. "And don't get killed!" Cried the mare's voice as she bounded off to who-knows-where.

"I will! I hope you find your friends!" Flora called back before looking at the key. She went wide-eyed in shock. The key was rusted and somewhat bloodied, and it had a clawed hand as its decoration.

She then remembered the door in the restaurant. Its indent was also a clawed hand.

Flora put the key in her mouth and began galloping to the restaurant, a soft static growing louder once more as she heard...cackling.

The mare stopped before stashing the key into her book-bag and drawing her sword. She heard more insane laughter...coming from above.

Flora looked up and found her sword clashing with two simultaneously. They were bigger than her dual-edged blade by a considerate amount. Two broadswords against her makeshift rapier. The creature was much too quick, and it didn't help that, despite the fact she went vampire hunting until she was 13, Flora was still under-trained.

The creature circled the mare and was about to strike down had it not gotten kicked in the face. It tumbled backward, but stood firm. At last, Flora got a good look at the creature.

It was deathly purple, almost like the veins in one's body. Its rear legs were normal--if anything here was to be considered such--as the front legs ended at the shoulders as indicated with stitches. The rest of the forelegs were red, and ended in sharp, elongated metal blades that were longer than the rear legs. It had a contorted tail consisting of the same metal, somewhat reminiscent of a scythe. Its eyes were stitched shut in a happy expression, though the lower eyelids had darker purple as if it were eyeless to begin with. Under the presumed sockets, it had tears of red like it was wearing some clown makeup. Its ears were stitched unto its head in the right places, but they were the same red as the forelegs and makeup. It had bat-like wings stitched on its midsection, the membranes crimson and the rest black. It had an open wound adorned with stitches on its flanks. The wounds looked like eyes, oddly enough. It had a mouth of hideous red, but surprisingly white fangs, incisors and the like.

It let off another cackle before it danced around its opponent, wicked blades slashing to and fro as Flora was thrown into the pavement once more, another set of far worse lacerations decorating her body. She let out a scream of pain as her left rear hoof twisted painfully. She was in so much pain she wondered how she still clutched her sword in her mouth without dropping it. It was about to strike the finishing blow had a familiar thing not grabbed it by the neck and hoisted it above the ground.

Flora got up painfully, a Pyramid Head with a spear actually helping her stand. He nodded, and the mare limped to the restaurant as quickly as she could as her unlikely savior dueled with the twin...no, triple-bladed thing. It hurt like hell putting any weight on her injured hoof, and the cuts and scars she'd just received didn't help either.

She was inside the restaurant again, returning to the booth she first sat at when she noticed a medical pack. There was a note on it.

I thought I'd give you this since I have no need for it. Just take care.

Tsuyu.

P.S. If you see any of my friends (they're all unicorns), give them my regards.

Chapter VII- The Other Side

Flora had to force herself to put weight on her injured hoof as she limped to the rusted door with the Claw Key in her mouth. The door was so close, and yet so far. The lantern wavered as she raised both forelegs and swung as if in a breeze every time her hooves connected with the grimy, tiled floor. Damn that laughing....thing that nearly killed her. No, scratch that, damn everything.

No, that wasn't right. That mysterious Tsuyu unicorn was actually nice to little Flora, who still had a lot to learn from the whole world and the people within. Perhaps, then, the same could be said for her friends once they saw she wasn't... one of them, at least. And then there was the spear-wielding Pyramid Head. Why'd he....help her?

Suddenly, Mr. Cackles was thrown into the room, a wicked blade sailing clean through the air right next to Flora's cheek as he landed into a stove and died instantly. The mare looked at her savior who stood in the doorway. She froze.

He walked to her and knelt next to her. He attached a few gossamer stings to his spear and wrapped the whole thing unto Flora's body, making sure not to knock anything else over. He then stroked her cheek with the back of his hand and nodded, which caused his namesake helmet to follow suit. Flora nodded as a means of thanks (otherwise she'd lose the key had she talked) before he bounded out the door with such grace it made a freaking demon look bad. Thankfully, the open entrance didn't break anymore than it already had been broken by that first one-armed thing.

The mare turned to the door, which still sat there mocking her. She could sense it doing so. That was how convinced she was. She then turned to the deceased Mr. Cackles and saw something glinting in the light of the lantern. She limped over and leaned a hoof on the wall to keep her balance as she reached to...

Flora's other hoof stopped short of where the monster's junk would be. She felt like gagging, her eyes wide as she nearly swallowed the key.

Another blade replaced the male-exclusive part. It shot straight up and made Flora think Pyrie didn't finish it off already. She was wondering how it didn't slice the flesh it was attached to clean off. It had many hideous hooks lining the otherwise-straight blade, and on one hook hung a wet piece of paper.

The hoof gingerly took the paper off of the...metal special part before she laid it down to dry. The key was removed with the hoof on the wall before being put next to the useless remains of a former tree.

Flora turned to a bucket hanging on the wall. Thankfully, she did not need to take it down as it was just the proper height to...

There went Flora's stomach. Into the bucket that found its last use. For a few minutes she did nothing but release her stomach.

Once she got done upchucking, she gasped for air as acid tried burning her esophagus away.

"OH MY GOD. JUST. No." Flora hissed, shutting her eyes as she heard liquid drop onto the floor from an unspecified height.

She looked at the paper. Now it was dry, but it stank of urine. The key remained unaffected by the horrid taste. The paper was blank anyway, no reason to get it. Or keep it for that matter.

Flora picked the key up with her mouth, making sure the lock-cracking end was out in the open. She then limped her way to the door that kept bullying her and jammed the key into the lock.

Click.

The door opened on its own accord, allowing entry. She saw nothing beyond the darkness of the rusted storage room despite the lantern being so bright she'd be blinded if she looked into it for too long.

Limping inside, the mare saw nothing.

The door slammed shut behind her, forcing her into panic.

And just when she thought it could not get any worse, that was when she heard it.

A siren began its wailing in the distance.

Chapter VIII- World of Havoc

The siren continued to wail as the injured mare repeatedly threw herself against the closed door in an effort to open it. The lantern was flickering and dimming quickly, making Flora feel as though something was going to emerge from the darkness and wreak havoc upon her very fragile soul.

"No! Open, please! Just let me out!" Flora cried in terror, tears streaming down her eyes. The door refused to budge, the walls becoming more contorted with each passing second. They seemed to close in on its chosen victim as the floor was quickly covered in blood and white feathers.

"LET ME OUT!" Flora sobbed as she rammed her side into the door once more before slumping down onto the grimy, wet surface. Her pelt became stained in a vivid crimson, but she didn't care. All she wanted was to go back home to the comfort of her parents and make sure this was a bad dream. Her ears folded back and her eyes widened as the lantern suddenly shut off altogether.

"No! Nononononono!!" The mare squealed in shock, pushing the button like a maniac as more feathers drifted down unto the ground. The world continued to change at a hastening rate while the siren seemed to die down.

It was still dark, and nothing could be seen.

Flora was in full panic now, she slowly got up and began galloping into walls headfirst.

A type of metal vibrated each time she collided with a wall or the door, and she knew now she was in a square room.

The lantern suddenly flickered to life, its glow showing that the walls and ceiling had become rotted with metal gratings and wire fencing in between said gratings holding the entire frame up. The floor was missing tiles, this pulsating flesh in their place. The remaining tiles were dirty and barely discernible from the apparent wreck that now surrounded her. The door had been ripped clean off its hinges, and in its place was another wire fencing. This fencing, unlike the rest, was black with decay and much thicker and sturdier, so, for the time being, she was safe as long as the black gate was in place.

Flora was unsure of what to make of this, it felt as if her mind went to Hell without her. She shook her head.

This world wanted her to panic.

Flora then noticed the smell of something rotting. The stink of urine made this unbearable, but she needed to breathe. She would've thrown up had she not used the bucket earlier. Speaking of buckets, the one she used was in the room, hanging in the exact same place on the wall next to the gate. It too made fun of her in an eerie way.

"Bloody hell," Flora said, acutely taking on a British accent. Unlike many others of this planet, she could change her accent at will, all she needed was to hear said accent a few times beforehoof. She limped to the bucket, taking note her leg throbbed worse than ever now due to her reckless runabout. As a result, she was slower now than she had been before the siren sang its signal. Was that the cue needed to indicate that the young horse-thing had been right?

She peered into the bucket and her heart fell into her stomach.

Blood. She coughed up blood. Black blood no less.

"I-I'm really sick now....?" Flora's voice cracked until it was all but a squeak. Her ears were still flat against her head.

She then noticed something cube-like floating in the crimson goo.

Flora swallowed hard as she reached a hoof into the bucket to at least touch the cube.

It...felt like Jell-O.

She picked it up after five minutes of pushing this new mass to the sides of the bucket in an attempt to scoop it up. Shaking it free of all the blood, the light confirmed the cube was translucent. It was crimson with green stripes. The stripes were arranged in such a way it looked like a ribbon-less, edible miniature Christmas present that jiggled left and right. And suspended in its center was... a ring.

The mare took her time to look at the flesh spots where tile had been missing. Only one had a mouth filled with many sharp daggers for teeth.

She dropped the cube into the mouth and watched in morbid fascination as the thing chewed the mass to bits. It then swallowed before the ring was spat out and unceremoniously looped around the pole of the toy horse, much like tossing rings onto bottles.

"Well, this is new." Flora admitted, not taking note she kept a straight face the whole time. She looked at the now-spik-and-span ring. It was a sterling silver adorned with a ruby in the shape of a rhombus. If she still had fingers, it'd probably fit on her index. But she just had to somehow turn into a freaking horse, so that idea was quickly scratched out of her mind.

She sighed and turned to the gate. On the other side stood another unicorn. He was a stallion with a steel-grey pelt and a black mane that concealed his left eye. His horn's front thinned out into a wicked katana, and it was half the length of Flora's sword. He wore a light beige jacket with green trimmings. A hood was folded behind his neck, and he was a head taller than Tsuyu had been. He had brown--or was it a shade of green?--eyes that looked cold at first.

"Um, hi." Flora said as she limped to the gate to meet this other pony.

"Hi to you too." Sighed the stallion as he held a hoof onto the gate. "Have you seen a--"

"Yeah, I met her not too long ago." Flora sighed with a faint smile as if she read his mind. "She gave me a key she found at some hospital."

The stallion's face perked as a grin was etched on his own muzzle, "I see. I've tried contacting the others with telepathy, and all I got in return was some freak static."

"Damn."

"Yeah, it's been a pain in the ass," The stallion sighed, eying the room the mare was in.

"I can do telepathy too!" Flora chimed in excitement.

The stallion chuckled, but his expression suddenly deadpanned. "You trapped or something?"

"Yeah. Can't break this damn gate down. My left rear hoof hurts like hell." The mare answered sheepishly.

"I never got your name."

"Name's Flora."

"I am Ichimokuren."

"Ich....Iki...." Flora stuttered, struggling to pronounce his name.

"Just call me Ren, kiddo."

"Thanks." Flora smiled.

"Anytime." Ren smiled. "Back up for a bit, I'll get you outta there."

Flora did as she was told, standing to the wall furthest from mouth-thing and the bucket. Ren turned around, revealing a crimson straw-person on his flank as he began kicking at the door. The gate caved in a bit before the dent adjusted to the hoof-pounding it was receiving. It groaned and creaked as he kept kicking. It flew into the wall suddenly, clanking loudly as it broke into a million pieces.

The stallion walked in, his short tail appearing to have been torn off. He turned to the mare. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Flora smiled. She limped to Ren and nuzzled him.

"I've seen some freaks running about." The stallion sighed, now noticing the bandages on the mare.

"I could really use a gun right now." Flora deadpanned with a frown.

"You know how to use one?" Ren asked inquisitively.

"No." Flora sighed, wishing she could lie through her teeth for once.

"Well, you'll learn one day." Ren smiled, his horn glinting in the light of the lantern.

"True."

The static started ringing again ever so softly, and both ponies were now tense.

"Shhhh...." Ren hissed, putting a hoof on Flora's muzzle. His ears perked, twitching every five seconds as he listened intently. His eyes went wide as both he and the mare heard groans...

Groans of pain and rage.

Flora's legs were stiff, her ears folded once more as the static grew louder and that familiar distortion came with.

Out from the shadows and into the light wormed another freak. This one was a rotted shade of brown, its head black with a fleshy assortment of what looked like worms. It was missing its legs altogether, feathered wings jutting out from its midsection. The feathers were the same color as the body, wicked blades making up what would've been the larger and longer feathers. A hairy tail of stained crimson was settled between its supposed flanks and it was as long as a python. It ended in a crude scythe-blade that seemed capable of turning 360 degrees without tearing the flesh to which it was attached.

"What. The hell. Is. THAT?" Ren asked, his jaw and hoof dropping.

The creature flapped its bladed wings and slowly lifted off the ground. It was a very clumsy flier, and it groaned in anger as the tail began pointing its blade toward the unicorn who made the invoking remark.

Flora's instinct kicked in as she grabbed the spear and held it in her mouth. She hated this creature as much as it hated her.

"Put that down, little filly," Ren sighed as he lowered his horn and his legs shifted into pouncing position, "I got this."

The creature groaned once more as it awkwardly flew to its adversary. The tail-blade was thrust forward but stopped short of the unicorn's throat. The horn was stabbed into the supposed heart of the abomination as it began trying to break free. It screamed in anger as the wings flapped profusely. The tail-blade had become stuck in the floor, making it useless. Ren threw the monster off of him by jerking his head to his left, panting as the creature was flung into the wall. Blood spurted out of the wound as the monster continued to wail, using its mere stumps of forelegs to try to close the bleeding gap. It slowed its fruitless attempts as life fled from its body. It let off a final scream before its head slumped onto the wall.

Flora wrapped the spear around her again. The static fell silent.

Ren took out a cloth and cleaned his horn and face with it.

"Dude," Flora started, "Just what are you?"

"I am a tsukunogami." Ren bluntly admitted. "I was once a sword."

Flora's sword started vibrating madly. The unicorn turned to look at it. His eyes went wide in apparent shock.

"You're carrying a...." Ren struggled to find words, "fellow?"

Flora was slack-jawed. And now she regretted vampire hunting.

Ren reached into his coat and pulled out a necklace. He put it around Flora's neck.

"Take care." He said before galloping out of the room.

"You too..." Flora mouthed with a nod.

Where am I?! Shouted a feminine voice from nowhere.

Chapter IX- Doppelganger

"I cannot believe I was ignored for the past four hundred sixty years!" Bellowed the female voice as the sword continued to vibrate.

"Please, calm down." Flora squeaked, "It won't do any good if you yell, Onikiri."

"Fine! Just let me say things on occasion, okay?!" Onikiri shouted.

Flora nodded before turning to the door where Ren broke down that gate. She had to admit, he was very handsome. But now wasn't the time to daydream. She limped out of the room, seeing no need to stand still and argue with her sword, as insane as it sounded. A long, bloody hallway greeted them, darkness obscuring what the lantern's glow failed to reach.

Looking both ways, Flora armed herself with the spear again before trudging to her left.

Untold sorrow once more rang in her mind.

The lantern began dimming again as a huge, incomprehensible darkness began lumping together in front of her.

"Maybe this was a bad idea." Onikiri chimed.

Flora nodded and turned around. She limped away as fast as she could, noticing the lantern was regaining its former glow.

The same thing happened at the other end of the hallway--in short, she had to go back to the room she found herself in. But instead of grimy tiles and wire fencing, she found herself in an entirely different room. Bodies upon bodies made the entire framework now, some were burned, some emaciated, some still dripping with fresh blood. One was bound in chains, dangling from the ceiling like some sick decoration. An umbilical cord served as a pinata rope for the demented, and the owner was very much pony-like despite having no skin to speak of.

The darkness cut Flora off from the hallway.

"Maybe this was a very bad idea." Onikiri commented.

Flora shook her head in agreement, rolling her eyes in doing so.

The creature in shackles began jerking itself, screaming in semi-feminine torment as the cord swayed to and fro. But out of all the screams one word struck Flora's ears harder than Mr. Cackles did.

"Sister...."

Flora shook her head again in disbelief. She had no siblings to speak of, unless dad went and cheated willy-nilly. But he didn't and was damn well honest, so that was crossed out of the millions of possibilities of having another sibling.

"Sister...."

"What do you want?" Flora said, her voice muffled because of the spear.

"Sister....remove...my chains...from your heart..."

Flora suddenly found herself surrounded by more monsters that emerged from the darkness. They stood on horse legs that were bent the right angles and they had spikes surrounding their right arm stump as a pendulum's blade ended the margins of the left. They had a mask on their muzzles--gas masks no less. A series of box-like ornaments concealed the beasts' special parts in such a way it was never seen unless the box was removed.

"Thank God for undergarments," Flora commented as she found more pendulum beasts.

There were four beasts in total, and each had a shackle on its wrist.

All four of them rushed in on the poor, injured mare. The largest of all was also the smartest: he used the smallest monster's arm to remove the boxes before the other three were eviscerated.

The chains of the supposed sibling, save for the one on the right wrist, clattered to the ground. It was dangling so low Flora could've reached it if her hoof wasn't twisted. Her eyes dilated when she saw a familiar thing dangling in the wind on the pendulum beast.

Flora turned the lantern off on purpose to avoid looking at what the boxes were hiding. The creature roared in pain as it tried to find the mare in the darkness. A series of awful crunching sound were heard shortly after, and it made Flora wince.

"It's safe to turn the light on now, sister..."

The mare pushed the button and the lantern returned to life. She nearly jumped out of her pelt in shock.

Staring back at her was a unicorn that bore an eerily uncanny resemblance to her. His short mane and his grey eyes were much the same, only more attuned to a male. In fact, the only two differences between them was that Flora had a bunch of luggage on her body and the supposed sibling--which looked more like a doppelganger--had the aforementioned horn. His pelt was much cleaner than Flora's crimson body.

"Sister....it's been so long...why have I gone ignored?" The stallion asked, ears flat and tears starting to twinkle in his eyes.

Flora was bewildered. She put the strings of the spear onto her body before speaking again. "I mean no offense, but I do not have a sibling."

"You were lied to, sister..." The stallion heaved, his tears becoming heavier with each passing second.

".....lied to?" Flora asked, now noticing her own voice sounded in the same sad chord as that of her doppelganger's.

The stallion nodded. "Please, sister, you have to believe me. You have to understand what I say if we get out of this mess...."

Flora's lips were trembling as though she were going to sob. All she could do was nod.

"Thank you, sister...but there must be something we could do to seal the deal." The stallion sighed.

Flora fell onto the ground with her forelegs covering her face. This was a bad dream! No, not bad, it was god-forsaken, down-right, Hell-trodden awful!

The stallion stroked a hoof through his sibling's mane as she wept.

"We have to push onwards." The stallion sighed, helping his sister up. "Now's not the time to mourn."

"Where do we go?" Flora whimpered, "Where do we hide?"

The stallion lowered his horn and tapped the mare's forehead with it. A faint pink glow surrounded it...and Flora closed her eyes.

A flash brighter than the lantern enveloped the room and in mere seconds it dissipated.

The mare opened her eyes. her body felt much better. She put her hurt hoof on the ground. No pain at all.

The darkness released its grip on the hallway.

"Follow the leader..." Called a child's voice from beyond.

Chapter X- This Otherworld and its Madness

Flora had finished examining the left aisle of the hallway. It was a dead end, but laying there on the floor was a strange...thing. It was made entirely of bone with a contorted, seemingly-stretched triangle forming the blade. The handle was modified for a pony's maw, and it was sharp enough for the spikes on the dull end to stab out a few eyeballs.

The mare cautiously picked it up with her mouth before slashing the air with it a few times. It felt like it made the cut, as corny as that was. In short, this...Hellish Knife was now hers for the time being. Turning around, she trotted to the other end of the grisly hallway. A metal bar greeted her in the form of nearly prying something off as she passed under it.

"The hell?" Flora asked, her voice muffled because of the Knife.

Locate your third eye, sister. Your answer lies upon your forehead.

Flora's ears perked before she backed away from the bar. Raising a hoof to her forehead slowly, the tip of the hoof tapped...something unusually hard.

"Hooray for reflections." Onikiri chimed as she suddenly unsheathed herself, her master's face being mirrored upon her bloodied blade that had yet to be cleaned. Flora turned to Onikiri to tell her to get back into safety, only for her jaw to hang open as well as the Knife to clatter onto the ground.

There was...a horn on her forehead.

Onikiri immediately re-sheathed herself, the button holding her in place snapping shut and thus confirming the lock.

Flora turned to the accursed metal bar that sat there in the air. It was also making fun of her for her apparent stupidity and lack of reflex. She snarled at it in animalistic frustration.

The bar groaned as something invisible took hold of it. It was promptly torn from whatever held it in place and jammed full force into a wall.

Flora picked up and immediately dropped the Knife onto the ground before turning her gaze upon it. She kept staring at it before it floated up to her muzzle ever so silently, as slow and cautious as a midnight assassin. The Knife, too, had a reflective sheen upon its frame. The mare got a much better look at her horn.

It was very contorted, and it was glowing a...sickening gold.

Flora gasped at the sight. She shook her head.

Had she gone mad?

That would most likely explain pretty much everything at this point.

She then realized something: only...it sounded off--incomplete in a way. This town was contorted, and...it used fear against all who entered. And almost all who left alive were mad. But how--why--was it so close to her house? Why had it turned her into a pony? What? How? Why?

Did that mean...Tsuyu and Ren were mad too?

The lantern's glow revealed a door staring Flora in the face, and it sat there mocking her.

Now madness was the only thing ringing in her mind.

She examined the door. It had a rough wood texture, splintered with age and neglect. The door knob was rusted beyond recognition.

She looked at it. It automatically turned with a click.

"Apparently my psychic powers are in full throttle now." Flora commented as she pushed the door open. She remembered that one time she was playing cards with her cousin. After reading her mind, the cousin threw the cards onto the bed and left in rage. She looked at the cards and gasped in shock that the mind-reading was no hoax. So, in theory at the time, she did have psychic powers.

But here, it was real. And she could control it all, so that was a definite plus.

She walked into the realm beyond the door and found three more blade-winged things flying in the room. They hovered around and annoyed the bug-piss out of a familiar mare.

"Tsuyu!" Flora cried, catching the attention of the hovering monsters.

"Flora?!" Cried the adult mare in shock.

The creatures flew toward the younger mare, and all were felled with a slash to the throat. They fell limply onto the ground as the Hellish Knife basked in their blood. "Yeah, it's me. And now I have this strange shit going on." Flora answered with a defeated sigh.

Tsuyu ran up to Flora and tackled her, the immediate shock of the collision causing the Knife to become stuck into a wall.

"I'm so glad you're OK!" Tsuyu cried in worry, nuzzling the younger mare as she giggled in joy.

"S-Stop!" Flora cried in joy, "It tickles!"

Tsuyu got up and hoisted the younger mare to her hooves. "I got over-dramatic there. Have you seen any of my friends?"

"Saw Ren not too long ago." Flora answered. "He helped me get out of a cage I found myself in."

The older mare smiled warmly. The younger notice blood trickling down Tsuyu's hind legs, indicating...

"It's that time, right?" Flora asked.

Tsuyu nodded. "My own...err, problem seems to attract unwanted guests. If you ever hit your time while here in this Hell, please for the love of God and Satan and all things between be careful."

Flora did as instructed before the older mare in heat bounded off into the darkness of the room Flora had just entered. Noticing the Knife still stuck in the wall, it was pried out with telekinesis and positioned next to its master, hovering silently in the air.

Last thing I needed to hear. Dammit, now I have those feelings arising in me. Ugh!

"I understand that you're a guy, but for the love of all things holy quit your fucking complaining!" Flora bellowed in the back of her mind, stomping a hoof physically.

Alright, alright. Jeez, calm down sis.

The mare noticed something glinting where Tsuyu had stood before she decided to pounce her. Trotting over to it, she looked at it.

It was a shackle. A bloodied, lone shackle.

Chapter XI- Insanity?

Flora sat on her haunches staring at the lone shackle as if she were in some sort of trance. It seemed to hypnotize her into a horrible complacency--a false sense of security. A forsaken hope, as it were. Her mind was screaming at her and so was her supposed sibling, they both were telling her to get off of her lazy ass and do something about this fine mess they landed in. But she felt paralyzed. She felt as if some invisible superglue held her hooves and rear end onto the ground. Onikiri was silent; it was as if she lost all ability to talk.

The static began ringing softly, and a faint distortion came with. Flora immediately snapped out of her stupor, getting up hastily. She held the Knife with an invisible grip as her ears suddenly perked at an entirely new sound.

It was the sound of...cloven hooves hitting the floor in an eerie manner. The sound was very menacing indeed.

Realizing the sound came from behind, the mare cautiously turned around--only for her mouth to hang open in horror.

An entirely new adversary entered the room, black-taloned feet holding up its crimson frame. Its left arm ended in three sharp, elongated claws while the right hand ended in a misfit of a butcher's cleaving knife. A long, bony tail lined with horrendous spikes and ending in the Devil's Triangle swayed behind its master while a series of long spikes stuck out from its backside, causing the beast to have a somewhat hunched appearance. A mass of pointed, contorted flesh hid its real head too well for those looking at the front.

Flora felt a searing pain in her right eye as her breathing became frantic. The static started hitting her ears full blast as the thing seemed to laugh at her. Its voice was...inhuman.

Demonic.

Flora's legs refused to move, and looking down in desperation she saw why.

More shackles held her in place as another wrapped itself upon her neck, forcing her head to look at the creature. That....hideous abomination slowly lurching its way towards her. The Knife was thrust into her book-bag because there was no way to harm this thing, given all means of escape were cut off.

The creature...actually said something, but its voice came out in a series of high-pitched shrieks that made nails on a chalkboard sound like Beethoven.

It's been much too long, Flora. It's time you paid for your crime against me!

Her ears instantly fell flat and her eyes widened. She...did something wrong to this thing? How? Why?

The pain in her eye not only got worse, but quickly spread to the rest of her body. Her legs flailed about as her cries of agony echoed into the darkness beyond. The creature proceeded to let off an evil laugh--it was enjoying her pain.

Using her mind's eye to undo her confinement, she bolted around the creature in a frenzy of terror. A familiar, stained hallway greeted her as the pursuer gave chase. Her breath quickened much more as the pains began showing their true colors. Flora became half-blind, being able to see only out of her left eye. Her left foreleg became useless, reducing her to a mere shamble. It felt like something really sharp and jagged was thrust into her private part before being forced downwards, which in turn resulted in the feeling of spilled internal organs.

Falling to her side in defeat whilst letting off a shrill cry of agony, she looked at her body.

Stained in vermillion.

Intestines coiled around her hindhooves.

Hideous lacerations all over. Did she catch glimpses of fucking bite marks?

A tail that was caked with the smell of death.

She wearily rose her gaze to the demon, tears falling down her cheeks.

Flora tried moving her jaw to speak...only to find it and her tongue had been torn off. They were in its claw.

'How did he hurt me that fast?' Flora thought in confusion. 'Is it my time to go now....? I wanna stay...'

The demon began to cackle once more as its own blade rose to the height of a guillotine.

The mare closed her eye shut, waiting for death to whisk her away.

But she heard a male voice shouting at the beast before she blacked out.

And that voice sounded very much like Ren.

Chapter XII- Snow...?

Flora's eyes refused to open. No matter how much she tried, she could not induce them to see anything beyond the darkness in which they hid. She was very cold and wet, almost as....if she'd been laying in snow from the cheeks up. More new cold flashes hit her body, so it was more than likely now. She'd always liked the snow, and for two reasons: one, it was obviously fun to play in, and two, where she happened to live, it was a very rare sight. And when it did snow, it usually wasn't enough to satisfy the urge to make even one snowball.

She was chilly, but her mind demanded warmth. It insisted she get up and find that warmth.

But...how was she to do that with those injuries present?

She was done for, and she knew that all too well. It was a reason not to get up at this point.

She heard that violin and harp play that sad, yet soothing melody again. Feeling her ears perk, Flora decided to go against the odds and at least try to stand.

The melody stopped, and was replaced with...a piano and violin. It was sadder than the first.

It actually made her want to cry.

Forcefully moving her right leg in such a way the hoof was on whatever she happened to lay on, the mare forced herself to sit up. The pain was miraculously gone. It was as though it never existed. The melody continued, and now she could notice the plucking of...strings? It made the melody that much sadder.

Now standing tall, Flora opened her eyes. She was still in that hallway, except...it had indeed been laden with snow. On top of the snow, autumn leaves lay scattered about. There were red leaves and yellow and brown and a few were still evergreen. A few tears slid down her face and hit a leaf, freezing immediately after.

This is new.

Flora could only agree. Snow in a building that didn't have any holes in its roof. Realizing she was shivering, she turned around to the room that had the shackle and trudged onwards, the snow and leaves crunching under her hooves.

A dead end. The room didn't exist anymore; or at least, that's what the mare thought.

But pinned onto the wall was... a red straw-person. Using telekinesis to gingerly put the straw person into her book-bag, she turned around once more and went forward.

Everyone, even Onikiri, was quiet. Nobody dared speak lest an argument occurred.

The melody grew increasingly louder as on the wall where the left side of the hall ended. Flora noticed it was bright now...as if something was guiding her here. The lantern was still aglow, so it helped greatly since it could help her pinpoint any of those flying things running amok. There were no monsters to be had and as such, the static was silent.

She was met with a door that bore an inscription. Pushing some snow off of it with a hoof, she got a good look at it before reading it aloud:

Lunar veils expose all forms of haven

As into the skies ascends a solitary raven;

With a flap of black wings and whisk of tail unshaven;

And carrying the burden of vengeance an omen is laden...

The door opened on its own accord. Flora was confused... a raven carrying the burden of vengeance? What did that mean?

Flora walked inside and found what looked like a padded room that also had the same snow problem. On a wall was a runic circle with a glowing sapphire flame on its left. In front of it on the floor lay a book and a key on top of that.

She ran over to the objects on the snowy floor. The key had a heart's shape. It was stored in the book-bag.

The book, however, intrigued her more. It was written in Japanese--a language Flora very much wanted to learn more about. Sadly, she could not read any of it yet, but she went and looked through it anyway. There were pictures detailing exactly six people...two of which looked like Tsuyu and Ren. One of the other people looked like a grumpy, old man who had a hat on his head and two more looked like pre-teenage children--a boy and a girl. The last was, quite simply, a toddler. The girl had...red eyes, long black hair, and pale skin. Flora thought this girl was a vampire, for crying out loud. For all she knew the girl could've been a vampire. That would explain the pale skin and red eyes quite a lot.

Between two pages--one with writing and the other without--lay a bookmarking card that had two pictures, one on each side. They were blurred and beyond recognition, so it was pretty much useless for now. But it didn't mean it had no use at a later time, according to Flora's reasoning.

The pages after the first blank were...also blank.

This is weird, sis. The book's been published, and yet, it's not completed!

Flora understood this too. "Perhaps its magical!" She cried in the back of her mind, "How else do we have horns?!"

Point taken. I think we should keep it.

The book was carefully put into the book-bag, and here Flora realized it could not hold any more items due to the holes it had. Damn overflow issue and the fact it was small to begin with. Lifting the...straw doll out of the book-bag and holding it to the circle, it vanished as well. A crimson flame was lit on the south-west star-point, just below the sapphire flame.

Another blinding flash of crimson. Like the first, it was short-lived. The circle was gone.

The static started ringing, but...Flora saw nothing coming at all. What was it, then, that had been setting the static off?

Chapter XIII- Time to Switch

Flora didn't understand how or why, but the static fell silent as she left the padded room. Snow still crunching under her hooves, she decided the room was mocking her--either that, or something was under her. On the wall where she found the straw person, she noticed in its place was a mirror. On the other side was...that world. And she saw the crimson thing and Ren still duking it out. Claws kept clashing with his horn; the blade repelled by hooves with almost no effort on Ren's part.

Flora's jaw hung open and tears fell from her eyes as Ren was finally overpowered. He was slammed against the wall on his side as the claws cut into his stomach. His intestines were spread across the width of the hall shortly thereafter.

"Ren!" Flora yelled.

The stallion rose his head and nodded.

The mare turned around and began to run. Horn aglow and at full gallop, she effortlessly phased through the wall of the padded room that bore the runic circle.

How did you do THAT?!

"I have no fucking clue!" Flora answered in her mind as her physical body nearly fell over. The static started to ring again as another one-armed thing missed her muzzle by only a few gossamer strands of pelt. In response, she grabbed the whole being with telekinesis and slammed it onto the ground. The spear was impaled into its skull shortly afterwards.

The mare fell on her side in exhaustion, her psychic power having done more than merely sputter out. A throbbing headache assaulted her mind and body. "I DID NOT sign up for this!" Flora cried in frustrated annoyance, trying to force herself to stand once more. Her legs shook with that familiar pain of shackles holding them down as her body slowly rose to full stature. Now shambling towards the corpse, she heard her sibling curse left and right.

Poking the skull of the thing to ensure its owner was dead, the mare used her mouth to yank the spear out. It was hard to hold the spear as her jaw nearly locked up on her. Flora sighed through her nostrils and opened the door with a hoof.

Next thing she knew, there was a fairly large hallway. Bloodied stains found themselves all over the place. Glass lay scattered about. There was even a dead body dangling from the ceiling via noose. It was...what looked like a nurse. Or was it a patient? That, Flora didn't know. Where was she?

Blinking once more and finding herself in a common living room, she was now under the assumption she could teleport. Either that or the town was screwing with her again. Meh. She put the spear back onto her body and groaned in annoyance.

Trotting around a ruined table and past a shredded couch, she found yet another note with a liquid medicine bottle tied to it.

Don't worry too much about me. Sure, you'd seen me get my ass kicked, but really, it's nothing I can't shrug off. I'm a supernatural being, remember?

I wonder how you got your own horn and didn't even realize it until some time after we met. That creature sure put up a fight, so if you see him, run like hell's chasing you.

I tried going though the mirror myself, but the world is toying with me. Should you find this note, heh, we're probably not even in the same place now. Well, maybe we are, but you know what they say about parallel worlds.

I don't know how else to repay you, so here's my token of gratitude.

Ichimokuren.

P.S. I saw Tsuyu (my friends and I call her Hone Onna) a while back before that thing gave chase to you. She said you were walking fine and dandy as if nothing happened. That's always good to hear, I suppose.

Flora couldn't help but smile. She calmly examined the medicine bottle. It was labeled 'health drink' and didn't say much else.

Taste it. Taste it dammit.

"I'm gonna, shut up!" Flora replied mentally as she removed the cork. Taking a whiff, it smelled like freshly diced herbs with a faint hint of that foul smell often found in common liquid medication. This was followed by sticking her tongue into the container.

Faint strawberries, more herbs, all-around horrid medicine taste.

Chugging it down in two seconds, she tried her best not to make a face. Her sibling was already cursing left and right, and she could not blame him. Hell, if the monsters had any form of reason, she was sure they would've said the same thing in a different way. Shrugging off the bad taste, the pains of abusing her powers eased somewhat. The throbbing of her head was reduced to mere afterthoughts.

She then noticed a scarlet runic circle in front of the couch. It wasn't like the ones she held the dolls in front of. It had orbs and runic writing, yes, but it also had eyes--something the other lacked. It was new to the mare, and she put a hoof on it just because she could.

A searing flash of red overtook her, and she found herself no longer in control of her body.

Nope, she saw through the eyes of her sibling now, and she was the backseat driver.

And in that moment, the static started buzzing once again.

Chapter XIV- The Gray Mare

The sibling touched the runic circle again, thus allowing Flora to regain control of her body.

It's better if you were in the driver's seat.

The static was still ringing softly, but then it...faded.

Diminished.

The mare felt safe, but she held a hawk's eye over the area nonetheless. When was the last time she let her guard down again? Opening the door and once more finding herself in the foggy world, she breathed a sigh of demented relief. Ash and snow started to intermingle along the streets, but other than that it looked and felt just as it was when she first entered. The ashen snow also gave the mare some sense of longing; but for what she had yet to know.

Looking both ways before deciding to go north, she stopped short of a silhouette in the distance. Obscured by the fog and moving towards her, whatever it was seemed to want something. She loaded the spear into her mouth, expecting another enemy. But the static didn't sound. Why was that?

The thing, now appearing to be another pony, kept approaching. Still no static.

What are you waiting for?! Go see that figure up close!

Flora did as told, keeping her pace slow and the spear handy should the other being lash out for no reason.

The figure suddenly ran full gallop towards her, skidding to a halt on dark grey hooves before eying young Flora. This mare...looked like the pale-skinned, red-eyed girl in the book. Like Tsuyu and Ren before her, she too had a horn. On her torso wrapped with a blood red obi was a black kimono with moving objects reminiscent of flowers. The sleeves ended short of the tips of her hooves. She and Flora were the same height, and this was including the horns. Her haunches had a black straw doll with a weird, circular eye-thing in its center. Those red eyes pried into Flora's soul, making her feel as if she needed to fight regardless of the static's signal. Flora's ears fell flat, her jaw-grip unrelenting. All she knew was that she didn't trust this mare, and she had no intention of giving her that trust anytime soon.

"I can understand if you do not like me, Florarena Bloodlust," Said the other mare, her face nigh-expressionless, "as I understand the reputation I have earned. But hear me out: I know for a fact you bear a very strong and most peculiar grudge."

Flora felt her jaw open, the spear clattering to the snow-laden sidewalk. She could've sworn her eyes went wide as dinner plates at that point. This mare...knew her name? But how?!

"Ah yes, how could I ignore that question of how I know you. You may not remember it now, but allow me to say we've met before." Answered the mare.

"W-Who are you? What are you?" Flora asked, her very tone of voice trembling in fright.

"I couldn't forget that as well! Where are my manners today?!" Sighed the red-eyed mare in distraught, "My name is Ai Enma, though many a person has called me Hell Girl--with good reason."

"T-That reason i-is...?"

"If a person has a grudge and they summon me at the very stroke of midnight, I will carry that grudge out in their stead--vengeance, if you will. Those who they say have wronged them in any way are ferried to Hell, and I do mean literally speaking. But it has a price: when they die, they too will go to Hell. Of course, even this has its own regulations--those not angry enough will automatically get their request rejected."

Flora's blood ran colder than the snow in which she stood. She felt her heart stop and butterflies violate her stomach.

"I am also able to sense grudges building up over time. Like I have said before--you may not remember it now, but it will eventually come back to you." Ai's horn started to glow purple and black, "And when it does, I will know it. Your powers have only awoken in the past year and you were unaware of it. Why else would my recruits and I have followed you here?"

Flora's tail shifted between her hind legs. Onikiri started screaming in anger.

Ai's horn was glowing still, and her eyes narrowed as her muzzle stopped short of Flora's own. "I too have psychic powers. Remember my advice well. You may be spared from Hell, though that isn't a guarantee regardless of what you are."

Flora's head lowered and her legs shifted. She looked as if she were the beta female in this conversation. For once, she wished she was in the other realm!

The horn's glow stopped as Ai reached a hoof and stroked Flora's cheek. "I did not mean to frighten you, and I sincerely apologize. However, there has to be a way to seal the pact. Please, stand up and do not be afraid."

Flora's body defied her will, and she stood up straight.

Ai drew closer, once more with her muzzle in front of Flora's.

All at once, the younger mare found herself being kissed by the Harbinger of Vengeance. As quick as it had come, it fled in an instant.

Flora's ears perked, she sure didn't expect the kiss. She felt some sort of familiarity, but...she hated it.

A very faint, almost nonexistent smirk crossed Ai's muzzle. "The deal has been sealed." She then turned around and bounded off into the fog, dropping something in the process.

Flora shook off the odd feelings squirming within her before kneeling to pick up the spear when she saw the object. It was another ring that bore the same strange, eye-like insignia on Ai's flank. Putting that ring on the toy horse before reclaiming her weapon, she proceeded to follow the mare's tracks to ask even more questions.

But soon, she lost that trail and found herself standing in front of a school.

Chapter XV- Hellhole

Flora looked though her current possessions. A Heart Key, a Golden Cross Key, a book written in Japanese, a 28-pack of batteries that was currently missing eight, a medipack, two notes, a Hellish Knife, Pyramid Head's Spear, an electric lantern, a toy horse, a Ruby Rhombus Ring, an Obsidian Ring, Ren's Charm, the radio...and who'd forget Onikiri even though she wasn't technically a possession now? Now content with her belongings, she replayed all the events that had happened so far in her mind.

Her first kill.

Tsuyu.

Mr. Cackles and Pyramid Head.

The siren and world shifting.

Ren.

Meeting her alleged sibling.

Realizing she had a horn.

More monsters annoying Tsuyu.

A chase that nearly resulted in death.

A house.

And the most recent: being kissed on the lips by another mare--this one from Hell itself.

She shook the memories away and tried the door that led into the building that was the elementary school and found it locked. But she saw something carved into the knob.

A valentine's heart.

She took out the Heart Key out and jammed it into the lock before turning it. Click.

Bingo.

She pushed the door open with a hoof and stepped inside, the cold of the ashen snow only starting to get on her nerves. The building was strangely warm inside, so Flora guessed the buildings in the town at least worked to some given extent. Damn herself for failing to notice this earlier. Trotting further down the hall, the door slammed shut behind her. The hallway was cut short by a very massive mirror.

The mare then noticed something else: just after she'd used the Claw Key to enter the storage compartment of that restaurant, she ran head-first into a mirror and that was when the world proceeded its gruesome metamorphosis. She'd also met that...Crimson Executioner--as she'd come to call it--in that world, meaning...

"Great, here we go again." Flora hissed as she touched the mirror with a hoof.

The siren began blaring again. And soon enough, the floor became dirtier and more horrid. The walls were replaced with that familiar grating. Blood and feathers began drifting down.

And then, the lantern went out for no reason whatsoever.

Then, its glow returned and so did the smells of death.

She turned around, only to find herself flying into a wall. The static started ringing again, and approaching the light was the reason why. It was about her height and it walked on all fours, but its skin was white and wrinkled. It maybe had eyes, but the wrinkles perhaps obscured them. A mouthful of serpent tongues in place of teeth opened wide just for her. Its ears were so laden with more wrinkles they drooped on the sides of its head. It didn't have a mane or tail, let alone a flank tattoo. Its wrinkle-heavy hooves looked much more like deformed suction cups, and the skin on its head and spinal column looked very tight--almost like they were weighed down by the wrinkles.

A bizarre familiarity hung in the air around this beast. Flora got up and ran away into an adjacent hall, finding the creature hot on her tail. It was as fast--perhaps faster--than she was, and her speed came only in short bursts. She wasn't built at all to run--especially since she had so much luggage on her person.

She turned into yet another hall as a second, black wrinkle monster joined the first in tailing her. The same thing happened when a third appeared. This one was a hue of brown.

And then...she butted right into the Crimson Executioner. She was trapped now.

The three wrinkle monsters crept up behind her and all three pounced her, hooves beating into her body repeatedly. She screamed in pain, psychic power failing her once more.

"What should we do to her?" Asked the white wrinkle beast, pausing his punches.

"I dunno. Any sssssssssuggessssstionssssss?" Asked the second, turning its head to the black one.

Flora's ears perked. These monsters had...talked?

"Fuck her up real good!" Called the black one as he picked the mare up and threw her across the hall. The other two ran after her as she flew headfirst into a wall with a sickening crack.

And then the pains that came with the Executioner decided to show up and make it all worse. She was already fucked, and that fact beat itself into her mind.

Until a man's voice stopped everything by merely existing in a shout. It sounded...somewhat hoarse.

Opening one eye, she saw balls of the hottest, raging fire rush at the wrinkle monsters. Once they collided, the wrinkles were pushed back quite a ways but didn't find themselves flying at all. In front of the injured mare was another figure.

"Back away from the mare." Hissed the figure, the echo of a hoof stomping onto the grimy tile making itself known to the world.

"She'sssssss oursssssss to do with assssss we pleassssse!" Shouted the white wrinkle.

"Yesssss! You do not ssssssee what pleasuressssss she'll bring to usssss!" Bellowed the brown one.

"He workssssss for the Jigoku Shoujo! Retreat! Retreat!" Called the black one. All three wrinkles turned tail and fled from the sight of Flora's savior. The Executioner decided to follow them rather than stand his ground for no reason at all.

The pains that were brought as a bonus just by seeing the Executioner had faded back into the nothingness from whence they came. The bruises and headache brought by the wrinkles, however, didn't cease at all. The static fell silent.

The savior, a brownish stallion, helped her onto her hooves. He had a white hat and looked very much like the grumpy old man in the book, complete with scrunched eyes and no discernible mane. On his head sat a horn of blackest charcoal; another straw doll of the same color on his haunches. His hooves were also blackened.

"I do suppose you ran into my mistress." Sighed the stallion in a composed manner.

Flora nodded. "And she went and kissed me on the lips too!"

The stallion's ears perked. "Say wha?"

"I feel ashamed about her kissing me..." Flora squeaked, her ears flat.

The stallion pet her head with a hoof. "She may seem cold at first, and being turned into a unicorn has ticked her off beyond Hell's own wrath. But she's quite decent as long as one doesn't get on her bad side."

"Hell hath no fury like an angry woman." Flora quoted, her mood lightened somewhat by the statement.

The stallion chuckled, a grin on his muzzle. "Name's Wanyudo. I should mention that when she kisses ya, it's supposed to mean something good will happen in the future."

"And you know this how?" Flora asked, cocking her head to the side and raising a brow.

Wanyudo shut up.

"Let's change the subject." Flora sighed, seeing what was written all over his face.

"The town's been fucking with me left and right. Can't leave these damn mirrors." Wanyudo stated in defeat.

"I can travel freely through them. I dunno why. Maybe I should help." Flora offered with a grin.

"Well, kiddo, let's just go our separate ways for now. Trust me, it's nice to chat and all, but there are bigger fish to fry." Wanyudo chimed before he bounded off into the darkness again.

Flora could not deny it. Wanyudo was right.

But just where was she to go in this school? Better yet, how was she going to help Ai and her friends make it out safely? Would it even be possible now?

Chapter XVI- Torn

Flora kept her spear at the ready should another wrinkle attack. The static was soft, and that kept her on edge. The whole place was a wreck, there were monsters running amok.... she could go on and on.

The hallway Wanyudo likely ran off to was a dead end. Desks upon desks blocked her way. But one caught her eye: it had a book on it. It looked like a little girl's diary, complete with pretty pink cover adorned with many a flower. It was surprisingly well-kept; much cleaner than Onikiri was at this time.

On it in marker were the words 'Florarena's Diary--DO NOT LOOK INSIDE!'

Flora held back a few giggles, "Dammit, I've been looking all over for you and you show up here in this hellhole? For what more could I ask?"

Picking up the diary with a hoof and shuffling through all the written-on pages, she smiled. This was indeed her own diary--and rather than write in the damn thing, she used the whole thing for drawing paper. All were stick people, but there were werewolves and harpies and basilisks; any mythological being in ancient Greek, Biblical, or Western history you could possibly name. Hell, a few vampires made their way into the little book in bat form!

Putting the book into her book bag and the spear on her body, she turned around and without warning let a maniacal laugh escape her lips. Her short-lived cackle echoed into the world as nothing but an eerie afterthought. Regaining her composure, she traveled back to the T-shaped intersection of the hall where Wanyudo saved her. There on its side split in half down the middle lay the brown wrinkle. All of its serpentine tongues had been ripped out and lay strewn about the scene. Jammed into one side of its head was a very dull-looking knife. Damn thing was probably forced into the skull.

"No reason to stay." Flora sighed, taking a right into the intersection the wrinkles had ran into. Another dead end--complete with the other two wrinkles being horribly disemboweled. Hanging on the blackened intestines of one of the two was a key. Flora carefully pried this key from the remains before examining it. Instead of an intricate decoration was a simple tag with the words 'Teacher's Lounge' written in small print.

Now we have access to the teachers' secrets!

Flora held back more giggles. Putting the key into her book-bag and brandishing the Hellish Knife, she turned around and went back to the intersection. Going down the hallways she turned from during her marathon, she noticed all other halls were blocked off with more desks. She then noticed that the men's restroom hadn't been blocked off or even locked for that matter.

GET TO THE LOUNGE DAMMIT!

"Shut up. I think we need a mirror." Flora replied in the back of her head as she pushed the door open with a hoof. Going inside and seeing a crimson wrinkle lurking within, she threw a nearby bloodied roll of toilet paper at it to get it's attention. The roll hit it in the back of the head, bounced off and rolled to Flora's hooves all the while leaving a trail of toilet paper in its wake. The monster turned to her quick as a whip and hissed.

"What did you do that for?!" Shouted the monster angrily, rushing at the mare full gallop. Flora stabbed its face with the knife before quickly cutting off its jaw. The monster stumbled back on its hind legs and screamed in pain. Seeing the chance, Flora ran up to it, turned around, and proceeded to kick it in the chest. It stumbled back even further before landing on its rump, front hooves grasping at its ruined mouth as if that would stop the bleeding. Flora ran up and suddenly reared up on her own hind legs before bringing her front hooves down onto its face.

A sickening crunch hit her ears. She reared up once more and another crunch followed.

The wrinkle was now laying dead before the mare. The static fell silent.

Flora turned to a nearby wall. There was an ordinary bathroom mirror. And the reflection showed the much cleaner world beyond.

Chapter XVII- Problem

Flora hesitated, her whole body shifting in discomfort. Her right foreleg tensed up mid-air, and the hoof was a good foot away from the mirror.

Another melody hit her ears....and it sounded like bells. Then, ticking hands of a clock soon joined the fray. The other instruments were beyond her own description.

Why were the sad and haunting tunes violating her ears? Why did her hoof suddenly tell her so blatantly to fuck off? Why did her whole body defy her will?

"I don't like where this is going..." Onikiri chimed.

Nor do I.

A sharp pang of pain hit Flora in her midsection. Her paralysis broke and she immediately found herself recoiling into a wall. Something...warm began trickling down her hind legs. Flora turned her head around as far as it would go.

Yep. Where were clean rolls of toilet paper when you needed them?

MIRROR! MIRROR! MIIIIIRRRRORRRRR!

Flora's head snapped back to the mirror, and on the other side standing next to her reflection was...yet another stallion. This one was looking at her in...a sick way. A wide grin encompassed most of his muzzle and his eyes were merely the size of pinheads. His greying blond mane and dark brown pelt were disheveled and there were varying degrees of filth on him. He looked like a drunkard who hadn't bathed for quite a while.

"Fuck this!" Flora shouted to the stallion looking at her. His ears perked in surprise, and wings covered in dirty feathers spread. "Yeah, YOU! As long as you're on the other half of this here room, I ain't using the damn mirror! Capiche?"

The stallion cocked his head to the side, that freaky smile unmoving. The wings flared out even wider now, and all he did was laugh. Flora could see blood on his otherwise-yellow-black teeth.

"I really don't like where this is going." Onikiri pouted.

I 'ave the feelin' a pervert's gonna die.

The stallion reached a hoof up to the mirror...and he emerged into the bathroom as the mirror's form danced around him like he was emerging from a pool. His body convulsed in freaky movements, but the static wasn't there to indicate another foe. Now, the brown hooves were on the sink and the wing-joints were just starting to emerge from the other side.

Flora found herself screaming an octave higher than a little girl. The stallion flipped over onto his backside and flailed for a bit before turning right-side up. He looked at her, that ravished grin unwavering still. Those wings spread straight out and stayed that way.

"I haven't seen such a good catch in a loong time," The stallion chuckled drunkenly, "Now, just get away from that wall over there and become my bitch."

Flora somehow knew full well what this bad pony meant, but she couldn't comprehend a single word of his at the same time. "C-Can't you see I-I'm too young for you? W-Why not get a m-mare your own age?!" She cried, her voice shaking in fright.

"Big girls aren't my thing." Chuckled the stallion, a hoof now on Flora's shoulder, "C'mon, don't you wanna be a mother?"

"YOU PERVERT! GET AWAY FROM HER!" Called a female voice as the stallion shrieked in pain and found his hoof impaled on a cracked horn. The owner of that horn wore a familiar blue kimono and she was practically infuriated. A blueish aura highlighted in blood crimson held the stallion in place as the horn was removed from the hoof and quickly jammed into his windpipe. The horn was removed once more and so was the aura, and the stallion fell limp before Flora's hooves. A glassed look overcame his once-brown eyes, indicating he was now literally dead to the world.

Flora found herself being hugged by a pair of forelegs that were now stained in blood. "Did he hurt you?!" Tsuyu asked, worryingly.

"No, but he was going to." Flora replied, her voice muffled thanks to the fact her muzzle was practically shoved into Tsuyu's chest.

The elder unicorn let the younger go. "I keep getting carried away!"

"Hormones." Flora jeered as she punched the corpse of the pervert.

"Well, at least this bastard's taken care of, so to speak." Tsuyu grinned.

"I know." Flora smiled before it became a frown.

"What's wrong?" Tsuyu asked.

"C-Could you give me more information about...." Flora lost words. A blush formed on her face. She pried the book from the rest of her luggage using telekinesis, turned to the page that had a picture of Ai Enma on it, and showed that page to Tsuyu.

Tsuyu's eyes shrunk. "How in the name of all things Lucifer stands for did you get that book?!"

"F-Found it....p-padded room....s-she k-kissed me." Flora sputtered out, her throat now dry. That melody with the bells returned.

Tsuyu's jaw dropped wide open. "Y-You were.... SHE KISSED YOU?!"

"O-On l-lips...." Flora shakily nodded.

Tsuyu regained her composure and sighed. "That means she'll protect you, if you let her." She then noticed Flora's shaking lips. She put the book along with the rest of the younger mare's luggage and gave her a bucket.

"Fill it with water and takes some looooong drinks from that water. Trust me, you need it." Tsuyu sighed before she bounded off into the darkness beyond the bathroom again.

Flora smiled, her body now calm enough to follow direct orders for once. She trotted towards the mirror but stopped so she could kick the corpse between his hind legs. Serves the bastard right for whatever he was going to pull!

Now with a clear conscious, she approached the mirror and raised her right hoof again and touched the center of the mirror. The world shook rapidly before the sides of the world swapped places.

And here she was, in the clean men's restroom. There was a clean roll of toilet paper on the sink, which she immediately put to use. And on the wall behind her was the same stallion, now crucified to the wall with the words 'Nina, 42' written in blood below his right foreleg.

Chapter XVIII- Lunch Break, Much?

Flora took out her diary and cursed herself for not having a pen on hand with which to write, even with hooves. She put her diary back and sighed.

Her throat was so dry it was hardly a miracle she made it here without a single drink of anything. She may as well drink the blood of the monsters running about now. But if she did that, then many a disease could be inflicted on her and she'd die without ever finding out what had happened. Or she'd get sick and empty her already-aching stomach again, which was now growling menacingly for some kind of food that wasn't medicine.

The mare did her impression of a whining toddler's crying during some sort of tantrum, something her whole body was now doing internally.

Using telekinesis to turn the knobs of the sink faucet on, said faucet rumbled and sputtered loudly for a good half-minute as if it would explode. Horrendously dirty water--with some possible amounts of blood and flesh--soon erupted from the faucet with such force the entire sink was soon stuck in the ceiling while the pipe to which it was attached kept sprinkling out the foul mixture onto the floor. A smell similar to black mold and bleach hit Flora in the nose, and this caused her to run out the the room and shut the door tight. Another tantruming toddler's impression came soon afterwards.

"Hell's bells." Flora sighed faintly as she looked both ways of the hall. She turned right and slowly walked down the hall, fearing that trotting could cause her to get sick again. Damn her need for food, if only she cou--

She stopped and sniffed the air ferociously. She swiveled her head in all possible directions.

There was no mistaking it.

It was some kind of baked good.

She kicked her gears into full gallop and followed the scent, her mind lost in such a haze she didn't even realize she passed a sickly yellow wrinkle who was trudging around minding his own business. The hallways formerly blocked by desks were now open and the one where she found her diary at seemed to greet her with more of that irresistible scent. She could see the end of the hallway....

....and skid to a halt before a door. She took out the Teacher's Lounge Key and thrust it into the lock. Click.

The door was flung open and the mare strode inside before noticing another red runic circle just behind it. She closed the door and--FOOD. There on that little round table was an assortment of breakfast items--biscuits and eggs and bacon and sausage patties and even glasses of tea and orange juice.

Her tongue flapped out of her mouth and excessive drool poured down it like she stood in rain. Her eyes went wide and she could've sworn that Ode to Joy was playing at that moment solely in her ears. She jumped to the big couch circling half the table and saw a note on the first glass of iced tea she laid her eyes on.

I haven't the faintest idea if you went for who knows how long without anything. On a small side-table left of the circle I saw, there are wrappers to save the food for later and a new book-bag so you can carry more things. I made this for you, and what you don't eat, you put in the wrappers and save for later.

Met Ren and Tsuyu not too long ago and I heard about this bad stallion who was apparently a pegasus, as well a tsukunogami you carry around with you to pretty much wherever.

Wanyudo.

P.S. I do not know where our friend Yamawaro went. Tell him we're looking for him when ya see him.

"YAY!" Flora shrieked as she dove right into the food and drinks provided by her new friend. She ate the eggs first because she really hated the taste. According to her, no matter how much salt and pepper the eggs were wallowing in, they always tasted like rubber. Then, she made bacon and sausage biscuits and shoved two or three at a time into her face. Next was the buttered toast and jelly that got downed in seconds. The drinks were the last things to go down the hatch.

The plates were clean, save for some unmolested pieces of toast, biscuits, bacon, and sausage. There were some packets of grape jelly as well. Flora burped, indicating she was now full. She got off the couch and trotted towards the side table before plucking the wrappers and new book-bag and returning to the main table. She stuffed biscuits and toast into one wrapper, the meats in a second, and the packets of jelly in a third. This was followed by emptying the contents of her old book-bag into her new one and then shoving the old book-bag into a pocket after wadding it up with telekinesis. The wrappers went into another separate pocket as a smile crossed her muzzle.

That sure was good!

Flora agreed. Now her stomach was more than happy to shut the fuck up for once. Her psychic powers seemed to be at a bit of ease now that there was a damn good amount of fuel to leech off of.

Great. The static came back just as she got a pen off the printing press, as well as another key. Jotting down 'Nina, 42' in her diary before putting it, the pen, and the key into her new book-bag, she eyed the door with a feral glare.

Then, the distortion came. Followed by something shouting along the lines of "Where the hell are you?! Show yourssssssself, vile horssssssse!"

"Another one?" Flora asked with a snarl as she cocked her head to the side, "Well, at least I'm in good enough shape to fight now!"

The static grew louder, and so did the shouting.

She hesitated.

The wrinkle opened the door and cast a wrinkly glare on the mare. Stupid bitch looked like a sitting duck now, all he needed to do was--

As soon as he stepped onto the circle, he screamed and recoiled in pain as both of his forelegs became nothing short of wisps like smoke and mist. He tried using his hind legs to stand upright so he could try again. Stepping on the circle again proved to be a fatal mistake as the creature let off his final death throes and the rest of him vanished into thin air.

Flora, Onikiri, and her sibling realized one thing simultaneously.

Those red circles meant that the room in which they were acted as a sort of safe haven.

Chapter XIX- Forgotten Pain

Flora looked at the key. It had a tag...labeled 'past'? The fuck? She ran out of the room with key in mouth and...into another room. There was a fire place, but the fire had long since died out. The lantern's glow revealed a vast assortment of severed heads on shelves and they were labeled by hair and eye color.

Another stench hit her shortly afterwards, but with it came....more feminine sobbing?

Flora had the uneasy feeling that she somehow recognized this room. Before she knew it, a music box began playing from a door at the end of this brief, wide hallway.

The town was fucking with her again. Wasn't it?

She sighed and...felt something stretch along her sides. She craned her head and gaped.

Bat-like wings with feathers arranged in such a way the bat portion looked like it was growing out of bird's wings now decorated her sides. These feathers were black. What's more, her backside was now covered in golden plating. She moved her wings out of the way to examine her ribs. A darker shade of gold greeted her. It was then she noticed that her hooves....no, a good portion of all four legs had holes. She felt something wet on her lower lips, so she took out the Hellish Knife and looked at her reflection.

Fangs. Sticking out from her upper lip. Sharp and not to mention vampiric in an eerie way.

The sobbing continued, yet there was no static. Her heart was beating a mile a minute now. She looked at her reflection again.

Now, her ears were longer, thinner, and lay flat against her head as if they'd always been that way. She twitched them and saw they could be upright like normal, so that was good.

Her snow-white pelt was now replaced with black, bug-like skin. Her mane had become such that it looked like there were holes in it, and her tail was the same way. She tried moving a hoof along her mangy mess that sat on her head and was relieved that the hair could act normal. Failing to notice holes in the bat membrane of her wings, she froze.

The Knife was dropped to the floor as the key flew into the lock by itself and cracked the lock.

The door opened on its own accord. Something was moving just out of the light's reach, but Flora could see it nonetheless. She put the Knife away, seeing no need for it now.

She slowly trotted over to the other creature and gaped. The creature had a longer mane, a short, sharp horn, wings attached to the wall by meat hooks...these wings were covered in bloody white feathers. This mare's hooves were chained and so was her neck, and she shared the same, mangy appearance as Flora, save for the lack of holes, bat, contorted horn, and black skin.

The other mare's right hoof grabbed Flora's left hoof and held on tight. She looked up at her doppelganger with teary eyes--or rather, a teary eye and half a bleeding, swelling face where the right eye should've been. The small horn was giving off sparks of fire.

"You're becoming a monster..." She heaved with flattened ears as tears fell from her good eye.

Flora was speechless, and tears fell from her own eyes as she looked at her look-alike.

"You can't be saved now..." Sobbed the other mare. "I'm you when it was almost a year ago...."

"Yes, I can be saved. I'll find a way even if it's with my dying breath." Retorted Flora, tears still falling from her eyes.

"You don't understand--you're cursed!!" Shouted the injured, sobbing mare before she fell limp, her hoof letting go of Flora's own.

Flora looked at her younger self. As she cried, she felt herself...becoming empty inside. But why?

She blinked. She stood in the hallway she left while going into the Lounge. Checking her hoof and sighing when she saw it still had holes dotting its mass, she wanted to ask herself who and what she really was. She began to doubt herself--was she really human as her parents said, or was she...something more?

She looked down to the floor and saw a music box. Using telekinesis, she lifted it to her face to examine it.

There was....what looked like an incubus demon in a tuxedo attacking a bride that....?

Flora's face twisted in shock. Last time she checked, she didn't get married to anybody. The bride looked so much like her though. It confused her, and in a sick way. And besides, the terrified look on the bride's face indicated hell to come.

Weren't weddings supposed to be--oh, wait, she'd went online and read about the horrors of Saudi Arabia. A place she'd never visit unless one of two things happened: One, all women and female children got equal rights, effective right then and there, or two, the women and children were evacuated and all the men killed each other in fits of fury.

Inequality was the reason she hated and would never convert to Islam even if held at gunpoint by rapists who affiliated with the religion thereof. She was sure there were decent Muslim males out and about, but were sadly almost entirely washed out by the bad ones. Damn the Taliban, damn Al-Qaeda, d--she stopped herself from using the F-word.

Shaking her head and regaining her focus, she put the creepy-as-all-hell music box into her book-bag along with the rest of her inventory. Spreading her odd wings before slamming them shut against her body, she suddenly and understandably got the urge to fly. But the hallway she was in was much too cramped--her wings spread out to it's length, for fuck's sake!

Soon enough, she was back in the snow-laden streets of town. She heard more cackling as the static came.

Nope, she wasn't going to fight another one of those monsters--at least, not in close quarters.

More cackling voices sounded. Flora drew her Knife and sharpened it on the road itself, because fuck the road! Spreading her wings once more, she grinned as she saw at least four more of those flying monsters.

"Alright, you fucking Jesters! Come on over here and get a piece of me, I DARE YOU!" Flora bellowed as she took flight and lunged at the Jester that was suddenly right in front of her.

Chapter XX- Aviation

Four Jesters. Four of the damn things.

Dead on the literal side of the road.

Flora panted, Flora heaved. Scars decorated her legs and a good chunk of her tail was gone. Good thing it was mostly hair, so it wasn't that big of a deal. She looked at her hurting hind leg and gasped in shock. A thick cut had sliced the margin between the inner walls of a hole and the outside of her leg.....in short, nearly cut the damn thing into a half, given that this hole was dead center of said leg. She painfully raised this hurt appendage, took out the last of her gauze, and hastily attempted to wrap it when she realized that she needed some fucking sewing needles because otherwise the bandages would come off!

FUCK!

Flora couldn't have agreed more. She yanked the Hellish Knife out of the most recent of Jesters and stashed it into her inventory. She looked into the medical kit one more time and saw the two exact things she needed most at the moment: a needle and a rather chunky spool of scarlet thread. She sat down on her haunches and began work, wincing in pain every time the needle was inserted and extracted out of her black, scarred flesh. She desperately needed to cauterize the wound no matter how much she hated fire against flesh because her parents told her that it killed off pretty much all harmful bacteria. But, as she stitched the bleeding gap of the bridge closed, another feeling rose inside her.

Pleasure. Coming from the pain.

She shook her head free of the odd emotion and finished her work, making sure to apply the bandages. She put the needle in the spool's thread and put that into a pocket of her book-bag.

Now standing upright, she let off a sigh and a roll of her eyes. "What the hell is wrong with me and what is Tsuyu gonna think of this shit when she sees me as I am now?!" She shrieked to nobody in particular.

The fog was mocking her. It and the rest of this hellhole wreck refused to answer.

Then, there was another silhouette. Flora squinted her eyes, noticing that there was no static.

The silhouette was that of a unicorn.

She lumbered her way to the unicorn, loading her spear--should another monster strike--into her magical grip.

Again, that unicorn galloped to her and skid to a halt on familiar dark grey hooves nearly shrouded in a black kimono with moving flower patterns.

The spear was put away. Ai Enma seemed to be shocked, confused even, at the sight before her. She circled Flora as if to study every part of her very physical being. Soon, the grey mare returned to stare face to face with the.....thing before her.

"I demand an explanation for this....this....sudden change!" She said, sounding like she was losing her cool.

"I literally have no comment for that. It just....happened." Flora retorted, on her haunches once more and crossing her forelegs.

Ai's hoof instantly connected with her face. Yep, she was definitely losing it. Then again, Wanyudo said that this whole mess was pissing her off.

"Aside from that, I....found....this thing." Flora sighed, producing the music box and showing it to Ai. The Harbringer of Vengeance grasped the box in her own telekinetic grip and studied it at every angle. She then gasped and dropped it onto the pavement.

Flora raised a brow. She somehow got the feeling that she shouldn't be, but she did anyway. Her wings shifted rather uncomfortably.

Ai suddenly reared up on her hind legs and brought down her hooves onto the box and the box cracked. She rose again before slamming the hooves into the box once more, and it broke in two. Again and again it became nothing short of a wreck, save for the actual musical part of the box and another ring. Ai loaded the music-playing thing into the book-bag and held the ring in a magical grip before Flora's eyes.

The black mare studied the ring. Yep, it was indeed a wedding ring. What's more, it didn't sit right with her.

"That wasn't you on that box. It was a doppelganger, if you will. So, therefore, this ring isn't yours; it just happens to be on your person....pony.....whatever the hell we are now." Ai groaned with a nod, slipping the ring onto the toy horse.

Flora breathed the biggest sigh of relief known to all living creatures.

"But that doesn't mean you won't hold a grudge in the near future, for you have suffered a great pain nonetheless." Ai said sternly.

Flora's face curled into a glare. "Really?" She asked, unamused.

Ai simply nodded with a rather shocked stare and away into the fog she galloped.

The static started blaring again.

Thump thump thud scrape.

Flora's heart fell into the bottom of her stomach. She slowly turned her head around...and there was a tall silhouette with a pointed head and a weapon in hand lumbering towards her. It was as if he watched everything.

There was no way she'd be able to get away. Her leg was hurt and she had already expended enough energy as is.

Fear was what cemented her hooves to the pavement.

The fearsome, monstrous beast known as Pyramid Head drew closer. It was being slow on purpose, as if to savor the moments of seeing fear on the mare's face.

Flora looked around frantically, seeing more silhouettes in the sky. She looked back towards Pyrie, whom she noticed wasn't wearing anything.

Panic took root, and the mare spread her wings. She flapped them frantically, slowly taking flight. Higher and higher she flew, away from Pyramid Head and into more silhouettes.

Silhouettes that looked and sounded like Jesters as evidenced by more insane cackles.

Chapter XXI- Vortex

Flora kept flying, her wings flapping with as much grace as that of an angel. She ignored the Jesters laughing at her as she ascended rapidly into the sky above the town. The Jesters began flying in pursuit, their wings flapping with the grace of a fruit bat on a meat diet. They were gaining ground and Flora closed her eyes, letting the air caress her holey mane and legs as she ascended still.

The Jesters had gotten closer. The leading Jester, who had yellow ears instead of red, began to cackle solely in sadistic triumph as it spread its bladed forelegs wide to prepare for slicing and dicing. It opened its mouth and licked its hungry lips in anticipation.

Suddenly, Flora heard another sound.

It was that damned siren. So distant, but apparently loud enough to carry through the entire place.

She opened her eyes, turned a solid one-eighty and shot towards the town like a meteor. That siren, scarce as it was, didn't mean anything good, and any visitor to the town learned this the hard way. She was outside and now feared the vortex in that.....Otherworld. Why was it there? What purpose did it serve? The town didn't answer; it never did. It made people--or, rather, people-turned-ponies in this case--find those answers on their own with the chance of death being ever so present (just to be a flaming dickwad, according to Flora.)

She saw the world changing drastically below her. Even the Jesters began morphing into those legless things with such haste they didn't have time to scream. Buildings began coming up and up--ripping chunks of that metal grating and dragging them with in the process--as if being sucked into a black hole, and they were obstacles in Flora's way. She dodged flying debris and found it harder to escape the thing that was sucking in those buildings: that swirling vortex. She turned around and saw its eye.....its eye......was gold. It had a sinister face and it grinned evilly.

"You can't escape me."

She turned around, finding its whatever-it-was that kept pulling her in harder and harder to get out of. She felt like screaming, but she knew it would drain her energy quicker.

A dark-and-purple aura encased the mare and yanked her towards the town with enough force to knock her out. She plummeted down to the ground and the side of her head collided with the side of the helmet of the Pyramid Head she fled from earlier....and both fell down.

It took some time to be fully awake, and Flora kept slipping in and out of consciousness. Just when she was about to wake up, before slipping out again, she heard a voice and could not understand what it was saying. It might've been Onikiri or her supposed brother; hell, it might've been a Pyramid Head for all she knew.

By the time she fully woke up, she was in a room with a bed in it. It had just that bed, and she happened to be laying on it. In the room standing next to her was a stallion with a short black mane, and his horn horn had mushrooms growing out of its crevices. She didn't see his cutie mark then, but it was a yellow straw doll with a red thread on its neck.

"Who.....are you...?" Flora groaned, blinking because her vision was blurred and had splotches of color.

"Who, me?" Asked the stallion, his voice sounding more childlike than teenager-like.

"Yes...." Flora answered, holding the side of her head with a holey hoof.

The stallion blinked a few times. "Yamawaro." He said with a sigh.

Flora tried moving, only to find something holding her hind legs down. She craned her head. It was the same Pyramid Head who gave her his spear.

"Don't move. You were pretty roughed up by that landing. I had to go down into the damn sewers to get you." Yamawaro said, a medical kit levitating next to him.

Flora suddenly felt pangs of pain in her hind quarters and she had to muffle a scream.

"I got a tip from my mistress about you. What the hell happened to you anyway?" Yamawaro asked with concern as he took out rubbing alcohol and a pint of hand sanitizer.

"I don't know...." Flora replied weakly as she had to silence another scream. The sanitizer was rubbed onto her wounds, and it stung so much that tears were coaxed out of her eyes. She felt cloth get wrapped around her hind legs.

"Tell me more about yourself." Yamawaro said as he tightened the wrappings a bit.

"I'm doubting myself. Was I lied to?" Flora asked, wiping the tears away with the pillow her head was conveniently placed on.

"Why say that?" Yamawaro asked, ears perked.

"I thought I was human. After all, I lived with a human family that I was born into, so by that logic, I shouldn't have wings, a horn, and holes like I was shot with an AK-47." Flora answered meekly.

Yamawaro blinked a few times and took a moment to think about it. "You're right about being born into a human family, but you have something they don't." He said.

"What is that?" Flora asked, ears perked. The Pyramid Head lifted a hand and began stroking her mane.

"It's a long story." Yamawaro said, softly.

End of One Thing, the Beginning of Another (Prologue)

"To think we're out of there." Ren sighed, scratching his head, "To think we ended up helping the town in a way."

"Then again," Wanyudo started, removing his hat and revealing his bald head, "The client was in that place..."

"I looked at the name of the client," Hone Onna chimed, "I have never seen that human name before."

"Isn't that human name used by the Raven?" Yamawaro asked, tilting his head.

Hone Onna thought about it for a second before she gasped. "Yes! That was her human name! Speaking of which, where is she?!"

"How the hell can she be at two places at once?!" Ren snapped, turning his head to Wanyudo.

"Fuck if I know!" Wanyudo replied as he put his hat back on.

"I've seen some tall men with big, metal pyramids on their shoulders in that town." Kikuri scoffed, "And they had really big swords, though one had a spear."

"Let's wait on Blood Raven to finish her errand, and then we ask her. Don't run around hounding her, though. We all know how she gets." Ai sighed, getting up from the shade of the tree.

"Fuck biscuit!" Broken Love shouted as he returned from the surrounding woodland.

"Mother puss bucket!" Cried Blood Raven as she emerged behind her twin, "The errand was a bust!"

"How so?" Ren asked inquisitively, confused.

"The client pulled one on us--as in, jumped off a cliff and into the ocean!" The twins cried together, "And then the person who was supposed to be our person-to-ferry-that-away said the client harassed him, not the other way around!"

"I guess she knew you are my lie detector." Ai Enma sighed, her arms crossed, "Then again, it can't be helped."

"Takes one to know one!" Blood Raven chimed, exposing her fox tail.

"So," Hone Onna started, "You've really been to Silent Hill before?"

"Yeah. It goes something like this." Blood Raven sighed in defeat, moving under the shade of the tree before sitting criss-cross-applesauce. Everyone, save for her twin, gathered around her like it was story-time! "Oh, where the hell do I begin?"

Chapter VI- What The?

Flora had just finished wrapping her wounds tightly, though not tight enough to make her skin turn purple due to restricted blood flow. There was so much medical gauze she could use it twice before the medipack became useless (and this was all said medipack consisted of). She then got out of her seat on all fours, flinching because of the pain in her hoof. Her luggage was again on her body while the Bloodied Claw Key rested in her mouth. She put some weight on her injured hoof and choked back a scream.

Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to walk right now.

Flora sat back down, noticing there was a runic symbol where she found the medical pack. It was a light sapphire, having five small orbs surrounding one large orb, like the points of a star. Many strange characters Flora assumed were of Japanese origin decorated almost every crevice of this symbol, save for the orbs.

It began glowing, quickly engulfing the whole room in its light.

Flora closed her eyes and covered them with her mane. The light became too much to bear.

It quickly faded.

Flora was torn: should she open her eyes and look, or keep them shut in hopes of returning home?

Nothing happened.

Flora kept her eyes shut still, though she did move her mane out of the way.

Nothing happened still.

Flora slowly pried one set of eyelids slightly ajar. The room stayed the same.

She opened her eyes fully and immediately sighed in relief. But she noticed something was off.

The corpse with the whiskey bottle wasn't there.

Flora got up and hobbled on all threes toward the now-alone table. The bright glow of the lantern was quickly fleeting.

She sat her book-bag down and pulled out the 28-pack of batteries. She flipped the lantern over and unscrewed its grey underside before replacing the batteries. She rescrewed the bottom back on before pushing the button.

The glow re-illuminated the room.

Flora re-loaded everything into her book-bag before hoisting it onto her backside (including the aforementioned Claw Key), albeit painfully. Left rear hoof be damned.

The mare then turned her attention to the booth. Right where the whiskey bottle was a glinting something. It was...

Flora felt her jaw physically drop and her eyes widen. It was a blue straw-person complete with the red thread.

She picked it up and hobbled back to the runic symbol. The small orb to the immediate left of the large orb was lit with a sapphire flame.

The straw-person vanished, as did the whole runic symbol.

"The fuck?" Flora asked aloud before slapping herself as she realized she cursed for the first time in her life.

This was odd.

Very odd indeed.