Hell's Silencing: Forsaken Innocence

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.