Hell's Silencing: Forsaken Innocence

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.