Vanishing
By UniqueSKD
Coldness.
It was the only thing Trixie felt as she slowly made her way through the corridors of centuries-old brick and rusting metal pipes.
Darkness.
It was the only thing Trixie had for company, both trailing behind her and leading in front of her, beckoning her further and further into the depths of the shadows.
Confusion. Fear. Hunger.
It was the only thing Trixie expressed as she made her way through this Celestia-forsaken place. From seemingly everywhere at once, there were occasionally strange sounds that made the frightened blue pony jump almost out of her skin, or caused her to stop with her eyes widening in terror until the noise faded away, and she could resume control of her legs.
It felt like only hours ago that she had been sitting alone in her travelling caravan, parked along the side of a commonly used road, Luna's beautiful night sky and her thousands of stars shining high above the world. Hours ago when she was sat at her dressing table, happily using her magic to run a brush through her great and magnificent hair, gazing into her mirror at the reflection of a great and powerful mistress of spells smiling back at her.
Many hours ago...
"The Great and Powerful Trixie was absolutely astounding today, if she may say so herself. Those common villagers of that Earth pony settlement were amazed by Trixie's dazzling performance and beauty. But of course, their reaction to the Great and Powerful Trixie was hardly surprisingly. After all, they -"
Tap, tap, tap...
"Hmm? Who dares to disturb the Great and Powerful Trixie as she is getting ready to go to sleep? And at this time of the night?"
Tap, tap, tap...
"Whoever you are, take yourself away from Trixie's caravan! The Great and Powerful Trixie does not wish to be distracted from her beauty sleep! Nor does she wish to help you with any 'Ursa Major'-related problems!"
Tap, tap, tap...
"AARGH! Fine! What is it that you must come and bother the Great and Powerful Tri -"
Click, click, clack. Hiss...
When she opened the door, a heavy strike to the side of her head, and a pair of small, beady glowing red spheres glaring at her, was all she could remember seeing, right up until she had woken up nearly...how long had it been? Trixie couldn't say for certain, but she had to figure maybe at least half an hour ago since she found herself on a freezing solid stone floor, with a horribly foul stench all around her.
Trixie cringed as she remembered feeling the spine-chillingly cold water dripping from the roof of her prison, and down onto her neck. She nearly screamed out her own heart when she felt the paralyzing chill explode throughout her very being. Her scream echoed all throughout the numerous tunnels, the cold dank walls yelling back at her like a hellish choir of tormented souls begging for release.
Her initial thoughts had been that this was all just a prank, perhaps set up by that accursed purple unicorn who had humiliated her during a certain incident a while back. But if this was indeed a prank, it was certainly being taken a tad too far. Whoever - or whatever - had brought her here was either a very bad joker, or else this situation was much more serious.
Trixie had wandered through the labyrinth of tunnels for Celestia-knows-how-long, her horn providing her only source of light, little good it did to frighten away the shadows behind and in front of her. For a while, Trixie tried to put on a brave face, and repeatedly told herself in her head that whatever was going on, she was going to be okay, that she was going to find the exit and then physically beat the snot out of the pony responsible for this deed. However, that courage, or what of it was genuine at least, soon withered away as she explored her prison, every turn she took leading into more and more tunnels that looked exactly the same.
However, what had really spooked the poor mare was when she came upon a dead end, faced with a solid slimy brick wall. Huffing in annoyance, Trixie had turned to follow the tunnel back to an intersection she chanced upon earlier.
To her shock and horror, when she arrived at where the intersection was, or where it should have been, she found only a single branching tunnel. The poor mare had sworn she hadn't made a mistake, and she was so certain she hadn't ventured that far from where it should have been. But the other passageways were not there anymore, as if they never existed.
She had frantically pawed away at the wet walls, hoping that it was just some sort of illusion, that her mind was just tired from all of the walking, that her brain was conjuring up some sort of trick. But to her utter grief, the walls were indeed solid, and very real.
And the same unfair torment was played on her several more times - Trixie would reach a point where several tunnels were made optional to her, and when she took one, and either arrived at a dead end, or decided to go back and try a different tunnel, the other tunnels would be gone, replaced with solid brick walls.
Trixie began to wonder if this maze was alive, sentient, and if it, or something else, was toying with her. Teasing her.
Torturing her.
Trixie felt her spirit slowly beginning to crumble as she felt a sense of hopelessness wash over her. She fell to the floor, and had begun to sob, her cries muffled by her hooves, the cold hard ground becoming wet with the poor and vulnerable Trixie's tears, gathering together to form a small little pool of her sorrow and despair.
And then, she hears it. A strange new sound to her ears, but a pleasant change to the maddening silence she has had for goodness knows how long. It is like a low gurgling sound, but it is a sound nevertheless, and where there is sound...
There is someone else other than her in this labyrinth. Someone who could help her get out of this nightmare.
Her eyes drying quickly, Trixie, feeling once more Great and Powerful, leaps onto all fours and wastes no time in tracking down the source of the noise, hopeful and thankful that somepony else is nearby to keep her from going completely insane.
The blue mare drifted around a turn and sped along through another tunnel, the gurgling sound getting louder and louder. Trixie was getting closer now. Her lips broke into a wide smile, as she flew around another corner, into another tunnel, and broke off to the left at the end of the passageway. She skidded to a halt at the sight of somepony sitting on the floor a few yards in front of her, next to a very dim light of a broken lamp that was flickering.
Trixie breathed a sigh of relief to have found another living soul occupying her prison other than herself. Assuming a more befitting posture expected of one as Great and Powerful as herself, Trixie cleared her throat as she slowly approached the pony before her. The figure froze still, its head turned ever so slightly, its attention having been gotten.
"Greetings, common pony," the Great and Powerful Trixie spoke aloud in a higher-than-thou tone of voice, trying hard to mask what fear and nervousness still was present within her. "The Great and Powerful Trixie demands to know who you are, and where Trixie is, and how Trixie may leave this wretched place. Trixie no longer wishes to be kept in such an unfitting place as this, ideal only for filthy and lowly things, as it were."
The figure made no movement, remaining as still as a dead soul, not even a slight muscle twitch, almost as if the living creature had become a statue all of a sudden. No movement, no reply.
Trixie looked at the pony in confusion, and a hint of frustration. She did not like being ignored. Great and Powerful unicorns such as herself deserved respect through response, not disrespect through silence. She approached the figure a little closer, the dimming light of the damaged lamp nearby its form making the pony's details a little more clearer.
And Trixie noticed the scars and horrid markings that tattooed the pony's back.
Such twisted and sickening scabs and putrid boils dotted the surface of the pony's back, some so hideous that Trixie almost could have thrown up her stomach contents from the sight. Sickly green and brown and mangy yellow pus-filled sacs glistening disturbingly in the dimming light of the lamp. Trixie's eyes widened, as another note came to mind.
When the creature turned around completely to face her, it was most definitely not a pony.
All of a sudden, Trixie met the very same red eyes that she encountered outside her caravan home. In an instant, her very being, even her soul, was filled with a sense of complete and utter dread. Her mind screamed at her to run, but her hooves were held in place, paralyzed and frozen by fear. She couldn't even bring herself to scream, not that anypony would hear her and come to her rescue.
The last thing Trixie ever felt was the creature's razor-sharp talons wrapping around her neck, its disgusting rancid breath breathing hot upon her face. The last sound she would hear was the clean snapping of her neck, the sound of breaking bone echoing and bouncing off the walls of the tunnels. Her horn's light disappeared immediately, her focus of the magic cut off as her body lay still in what was now her tomb.
The broken lamp's light flickered a last few times, before it died out completely, the shadows of the darkness claiming dominance once more, concealing the creature that stalked and lurked within those tunnels, its clicking and clacking the only signs of life wandering the passageways, a pair of red eyes piercing through the dark.
Wandering.
And wandering still.
Author's Note
Not a brilliant piece of work, but hey! I try my best, and so should everyone! So long as you give something a try, it is all that matters.
Hope you enjoyed this little tale at least. I'm getting a sandwich. Laters, my magnificent readers and viewers!
P.S - Go and play the actual 'Vanish' game, it is BEYOND scary!
