Black Canvas

Canvas tried to burrow deeper into her blanket to escape the bitter cold of Princess Luna's night, it seemed like hours since they had left their home in Hayvale. Canvas was tired, the carriage bumped and shook on the dirt road.A reddish brown unicorn with a red mane was pulling the carriage, all they had was some clothes and blankets along with the odd trinket collected over the years so she had little problem pulling the luggage and tired filly.

"We're pretty close now Canvas, you can see the lights of the town in the distance."

Canvas didn't reply, she was buried in her thoughts (and blanket), she pulled her favorite stuffed bear, Nuggles, closer into her fur.

"What is Ponyville like?" she asked herself " I've never been any where so close to Canterlot. Its not big and fancy like Canterlot is it? No, Red said it was just a small town on the outskirts." She peeked out side of the blanket, the cold air nipped at her through the opening. They had just entered town, it being winter the night had come early, so most ponies were still awake most likely huddle by the fire reading a book and enjoying a warm drink of some kind. Soon they would be off to their warm snug beds, Canvas and Red didn't have a bed right now, they would have to sleep on the floor next to a space heater, not exactly the ideal way to spend a winter night.

She watched as the houses past by soothed by the warm lights radiating from the windows, she slowly drifting to sleep holding Nuggles tight in hoof.

A sudden halt ended her short rest and made her nearly fall out of the carriage, she poked her head out of the blanket to find herself looking at an old creepy house complete with broken windows, peeled paint, and a creaking wood door that opened and shut in the cold wind, the complete horror movie package. Canvas could only think of one thing "I'm going to die here." Red nudged her forward while positioning a suit case on her back

" Well are you going to stand there wide eyed or are you going to get out of this cold".

Canvas gave a slight whimper "You mean THIS is our house?"

Red grinned "Of course! Don't worry, it may look old but its got water, electricity, you know the works." Canvas held Nuggles tight, fearing her last night among the living had finally come.

About and hour later, Red was finishing up their makeshift beds.

"Okay, first thing we need to do tomorrow is get some furniture. Oh and maybe fix those windo-" Red paused, while looking out the window she saw Canvas still by the carriage with a death grip on her stuffed bear. "Canvas? Why are you still out there?".

"Okay. I can do this, its only a house. Houses aren't scary, though Red did say the housing market was, but this isn't a market.".

Canvas took a deep breath, closed her eyes and charged at the door. She ran blindly into the house and directly into Red making them both fall into a heap. "Hehe. Sorry Red."

Canvas trotted into the bathroom, it smelled like mildew. She felt the walls looking for a light switch, finally the light bulb dangling from the ceiling sprung to life stuttering a bit until it became constant.

She moved to the mirror, lucky it had survived the years and was still intact. Wiping the dusty coat away she looked at herself, she was brown with a short black mane, she had cut it short because she hated dealing with it.

Her short stubby horn protruded from her forehead above he large hazel eyes. Using her magic she levitated her tooth bush, she then began turned on the old rusty faucet, it made a sound that could only be described as a demon from hell and sputtered out a stream of water.

She then began to brush her teeth, she wasn't very good at levitating things in a quick motion so the brush mostly got the area surrounding the mouth. Spitting out the excess tooth paste she opened her mouth and looked into the mirror to inspect her work. That's when she noticed the shower curtain behind her.

It was grey with a pink floral pattern that not even a retirement home would accept, but what bothered her the most wasn't the shower curtain itself but what was behind it. There could be anything there, a murder, a monster, maybe the friend of that demon in the pipe, she didn't know what. All she knew was that something was DEFINITELY going to jump out and kill her. She dropped her tooth brush and ran out of there as fast as she could.

Canvas left the bathroom to find Red unpacking some paintings, most of which had been painted by her. She trotted over to help, she pulled a small painting from the box.

She had no desire to move paintings anymore, held up by her magic was a crude childish painting of a filly a couple years younger than Canvas was. She was gray with a puffy black mane and bright emerald eyes, this was the painting that she made when she got her cutie-mark, she looked back at her flank, her mark was a blank easel . Though the happy memory quickly faded and was replaced by bad memories, memories of who the filly was.

A tear began to swell in her eyes when Red called her from the other side of the room to help unpack the silverware. Whipping the tear from her eye she hurried over to her.

Both were tired and weary from unpacking, Canvas went to bed with no protest. She curled up in the huddle of blankets that was her temporary bed, Red did the same. The two "beds" were located fairly close to each other with a space heater facing them both. Wrapped in the warm blankets Canvas quickly drifted off to sleep.

Fire. Canvas was surrounded by nothing but fire. She could not move, she couldn't scream, all she could do is sit there and watch the flames, hear the screams for help, smell the stomach turning scent of burning flesh. The screams got louder as the stench got worse, they were screaming for her now, begging her to put them out of their pain. Then one by one they stopped, but the smell stayed. Eventually the fire burned out leaving Canvas alone with only the smell, that horrible horrible smell.

She woke with a scream, cold sweat running down her neck. Red tried to comfort her."Calm down. Its okay. It was only a nightmare." She was lying, and they both knew it. It wasn't just a nightmare. It was a memory.