WEAKLING

I close the blinds and turn around. I gaze at the world that I have sealed away. There is no more light. No more sound. I have banished the sun from my domain. The room is drowned in a pitch black void. The noise from outside can no longer penetrate. It will never trespass in here again. I purge the tainted scent of the air beyond the walls. The windows are closed to prevent it from contaminating my home. The doors are all locked. Complete isolation. My sanctuary shall only contain those that I accept.

Only my friends are allowed to stay with me.

I trot back to the table. It is too dark. I am blind. I try to guide myself with my hooves. They bump against something. It felt like one of them. I quickly babble an apology. She tells me it's alright. She thanks me for turning the lights down. The darkness slowly creeps back into the corners as my eyes begin to adjust. I see the table before me. It is heavily laden with all the treats that I have prepared. I see all of my friends sitting around it. They haven't touched anything yet. They were waiting for me. They look at me with friendly smiles on their faces. I smile back. They make me feel complete.

I sit down among them. I bathe in the sweet smell emitted by the food before us. I revel at the sight of the decorations all over the room. Even with such little illumination they seem to brighten the atmosphere. Colors of all sorts bleed out of their surface. They begin to fill my vision. My friends cheer for me. They tell me I did an amazing job again. They tell me they could never have asked for a better friend than me.

My eyes are losing focus. I stare blankly ahead. The cheers turn into a faint murmur in the background. The air goes thin all of a sudden. I close my eyes to hide from the glowing mess of colors swirling around me. My head feels light. Empty. It swims around in a nauseating haze. I feel sick. I cannot take it any longer. I open my eyes again.

I am alone. The chairs are empty. The treats all over the table are replaced by dry and crumbling piles of filth. The smell of rot and dust and decay hangs in the air.

I scream as loud as I can. My voice is consumed by the lifeless void. I can still hear their voices. I pound my hooves against the sides of my head. I tell them to shut up. I beg them. The pain in my skull intensifies. The murmuring will not stop. Even with the characters gone they keep calling out to me. I howl from the mental agony as I fall off my chair. I see them looking down at me. They point at me and ask me what is wrong. My hooves drag me away from them. I scrape my body across the floor to the corner. I get back up. I leave the room and trot up the stairs. Rushing into the bathroom, I curl up above the toilet bowl. My stomach is empty. I cough and retch, but nothing comes out.

I stare at myself in the mirror. A pair of sunken, sad, blue eyes peek at me from behind a pink veil. A pony of skin and bones is wearing them. The hide is dirty, full of wounds and bruises. I brush a trembling hoof through my mane and smile. The touch of the silky strands feels wonderful against my skin. I never knew they could be so soft. I have never straightened them out properly before. I have never really tried to discipline myself. I have always been a clown. A joke bouncing around on four legs, waiting for someone to point and laugh. But nopony comes to laugh anymore.

I see movement. My reflection winks at me. She uses her forehooves to pull her lips into a wide grin. She breathes onto the glass. Her hot breath forms a small white island. She carves the word "SMILE" into the fog with her tongue. She repeats this process dozens of times. Behind me, I can hear my friends walking up the stairs after me. My whole body starts to shiver. My teeth are chattering. I press my hooves into my mouth. I grind them against my teeth. I chew on their tips. My gums are bleeding and raw. I can hardly breathe. My heart is pounding its way through my ribs.

This isn't real.

Author's Note

By the way: Bonus points if you can guess correctly which character is being "discussed" in each chapter.

Come on... It's not that hard...