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                       Project: USO                        
                   -by TheWalkingSkyMon-                   
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           He Opened His Eyes For A Split Second           
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He Opened His Eyes For A Split Second
“That will be five bits please.” The purple mare said.
I reached in my bag and pulled out five bits, handing them to the purple mare who then gave me my book and said good bye.
“Thanks for coming by!” She said as she waved me off. I walked to the door, her purple dragon assistant opening it as I neared it.
I stopped as soon as I exited the library and looked around, seeing ponies walking through the town. On their way to work, to grab groceries from home, or just out to enjoy the beautiful day that was upon us.
The sun was out shining, beaming down on Equestria. It looked like it was going to be a perfect day today. With the sun out and shining, and all of the flowers in bloom. Everypony was beaming with happiness that really made my lips curl into a smile.
I extended my wings and took off for my home. As I flew through the air I looked down upon the city, seeing all of the citizens walking down the streets, minding their own business. But yet they all still found time in their days to greet almost everypony they met. It always made me smile as to how kind these citizens are. In Manehattan nopony would stop and say ‘hi’, they’d either be to busy with work or just busy in general.
Growing up in Manehattan really made me think all of Equestria was full of ponies who were too busy to say hi, so when I moved to Ponyville and was greeted with open hooves I was a little surprised. I wasn’t used to it at the time, and I didn’t adjust to it for a year.
Now, three years later, I join the crowd of ponies who greet their neighbors with warm smiles and a friendly ‘hello’ every morning. It’s really nice.
I landed in front of my house and opened the door, seeing my nice little hut place that I called my home. It was a nice place, not too empty and at the same time not too crammed with decorations and furniture.
I had a couch on the left side of my house, which was pretty much my whole living room, and in front of it, a nice little table. On the other side was my kitchen, and in the middle of them was the entrance to the hallway that had my bathroom and my closet. Finally, on the far end of the hallway was my bedroom.
I put my bag on the table and sat on my couch, thinking about what I would make for dinner today. I stopped my thoughts about dinner and picked up my bag, taking the book I had purchased from the library out and placing it in front of me.
“Giver” I read the book’s title aloud to myself.
I had read this book many times as a little colt. It was a great book. It was about an Equestria that decided to get rid of everything that could make other ponies jealous of one another. Then, one day a stallion is chosen to be the ‘Receiver’. This pony was given the memories of the old Equestria and all of it’s color and diversity by an old stallion called the ‘Giver’. It was a great book. I opened the book and started reading it, the time flying by as I did.
After a while of reading the book I looked outside, seeing the setting sun. I closed the book and walked to the kitchen, grabbing an apple and proceeding to chow it down.
I finished the apple and walked down the hallway, jumping onto my bed as I entered the room. I looked up at the ceiling, pondering what I would do tomorrow. I didn’t have to get to work at the Weather Control tomorrow, so I had the whole day to myself tomorrow. And with that fact I was going to make sure that tomorrow I was productive!
But to be honest I was probably going to spend the day sitting on my flank and eating potato chips.
I felt my eyelids get heavier and heavier, leading to them inevitably closing.
I had the same dream that I do every night since I was a little colt. I never thought anything of it since it never really messed with my personal life and other ponies never commented or complained about any crazy behavior from me. The dream was I was just standing in front of this other pony.
He was older, wore glasses and had a lab coat on. His horn was surrounded by gray hair. He had a light brown coat and brown eyes that stared at me with intensity.
He stared at me with the intense look, repeating the same thing.
“Don’t open your eyes, and don’t turn around.” He repeated the same thing six times before I finally woke up. But, for some reason this night was different. This time he stopped at he reached the sixth time saying it. His mouth hung open, his intense look keeping it’s intensity as he just kept staring at me.
After a while of him staring he eventually said, “You opened your eyes.” Then I woke up.
I got up and stretched, like I do every morning. I stretched my wings, my hooves, and my back, hearing satisfying pops every time.
I opened my eyes and they immediately grew wide at the scene before me.
My room had always been just a quaint little room. Nothing really important in here, I normally keep those in my closet. But when I opened my eyes, and felt the draft crawl through my back, I was pretty thankful I didn’t have anything important in here.
My little room, which was nothing really great. All it had was a desk on the left side with a mirror and a closet that I didn’t really have any use for due to me only taking the clothes at Carousel Boutique as a friendly gesture, and a bed right in front of the door. But….. Now it was all gone.
My room was just a complete wreck. There were holes in my ceiling, letting in a draft. My closet was tipped over, all of the outfits given to me by the mare running Carousel Boutique strewn across the floor. My drawer was broken in half, one side of it on the other side of the room while the other was in the wall. The mirror was broken, the glass surrounding the area where the drawer once stood. And the whole floor was covered with papers that were either blank or had strange writing on them that I couldn’t read.
I looked around the room, completely shocked at the scene before me. My bed seemed to be the only thing intact, it staying neat and tidy while my whole room went to crap around it.
I slowly got off my bed, opening my door and entering my hallway, which was no safer from damage. There was holes all across the walls, revealing the pipes inside the walls. Some of the pipes looked like they were leaking, which was quickly confirmed when I stepped in a small puddle.
I made it to the end of the hallway, my small living room’s couch flipped over with claw markings on it that made me think some ravenous beast ran through. My table was flipped over as well. My kitchen was a mess, my oven flipped over underneath my refrigerator.
I slowly made my way to my front door, hoping not to catch the attention of any intruders that might still be inside, before I felt my hooves kick something.
I looked down and found my bag, my book hanging out of it. I picked it up and put it on, opening the door afterwards and seeing a fog in front of me.
I looked around, seeing only a fog so thick that I could only see a couple feet in front of my face.
I looked around, seeing nothing but fog. I decided that I should make my way to Ponyville, surely the librarian would be working on some way to fix this.
I walked until I reached Ponyville, which was in the same state. The buildings were broken and dark. There were holes in the walls and ceilings. There were boards on the windows and the insides of the buildings looked empty and dark. It seemed like all of the ponies in the town were getting out in a hurry.
“Hello?” I called out, no response. “Hello!?” I tried a bit louder.
I didn’t get a response.
I walked further into the town, seeing the ruined buildings around me.
I walked until I found myself in front of the library. I walked in, calling out for the librarian. “Twilight?” I called. “Twilight Sparkle? Um…. I have the book….. And there’s a creepy fog outside.” I mentally facehooved myself. Of course she would have noticed the fog, I had just said the dumbest thing one could say.
I was about to turn and take my leave before feeling something fall on my head. I turned around and saw a book on the floor, looking up I saw another book headed right for me. I dodged the book without a problem and called out for whoever was up there.
"Go away!” I heard a voice with an obvious southern accent say. “Get away from me!”
“Hey! Do you know where everypony is?” I said in a calm tone, hoping to calm things down so books can stop being thrown at my face.
“Get away!” The voice said again.
“Hey, I’m not going to hurt you.” I said. “Now, I’m going to fly up there, and I’d really appreciate it if you could not throw a book at me, okay?”
I didn’t get a response, leading me to believe the pony up there agreed to the plan. I opened my wings and flew up, slowly approaching the top.
I had just reached the top before another book was thrown. This time the book hit me right in my face. Before I fell on the ground I caught a glimpse of a small orange filly up there.
“Oh!” The filly said as I fell.
I opened my eyes when I fell, seeing the small filly looking over the edge at me.
“Ah'm sorry!” She said. “Ah didn’t realize that ya were a pony!”
“Well of course I am.” I said, getting back up. “What else would I be?” As soon as I stood back up I felt a sharp pain in my left wing, telling me that the fall had broken it.
“One of the monsters.” The filly said, her voice trailing off toward the end.
“‘Monsters?’” I asked. “What monsters?”
“They came out of nowhere! They….. They….. They…..” The fillies voice began trembling and I could see her eyes filling up with tears. I knew I had to stop this or there would be no ending it.
“Woah!” I said as I walked up the stairs, preparing if the filly threw something else down at me. “Hey, what’s wrong? You don’t have to cry.”
“Mah sister, brother, granny all got away from me in the crowd.” The filly said. “Ah called for them, but they didn’t answer me!”
What exactly happened last night? I thought.
“Then the monsters were all around me. Ah didn’t know what to do, but Twilight told me to run and she got the monsters to follow her. Ah didn’t know where to go, so I went in here. Ah don’t know for sure, but ah think the monsters are coming back.” The filly said.
“Twilight led them off?” I asked.
The filly nodded her head in response.
“And you don’t know where anypony else is?”
“No.” The filly said.
“Well, don’t worry. I’ll help you find your sister, brother, and granny.” I said. There was no way I was going to leave a little filly all alone, especially with this talk she’s saying about monsters. I didn’t know whether she was calling a gang that rode through town a bunch of monsters, or if there were actual monsters on the loose, but I do know that I can’t let a little girl wander around alone either way.
“R-Really?” She said. “You’ll help me?”
“Yeah, I’ll help you.” I said. “What’s your name?”
“Apple Bloom. What’s your name?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but found that I was unable to. I meant it, I didn’t know what was going on, but I just couldn’t seem to remember my name. I tried and tried, but when I thought I had a small hint of what it was, it was just lost to me.
“...... I don’t remember…….” I said.
“Ya don’t remember?” Apple Bloom said.
I nodded my head and looked behind me at my left wing. I could tell it was definitely broken from the way it limped and bent.
“Come on, we should go find more ponies that might be in the town now.” I said, walking down the stairs.
“What’s wrong with your wing?” Apple Bloom asked, following me down the stairs.
“It’s broken. I’m going to have to find somepony who can wrap it up.” I said, reaching the bottom of the steps. “What did the monsters look like?”
“They look like ponies, but their faces are gone.”
“‘Gone?’” I said, stopping. “What do you mean by gone?”
“They don’t have any faces. Except for their mouths.” She said, stopping by my side. “And their mouths are filled with sharp teeth.”
“Hm…. Like a vampire pony?” I asked.
“Kind of.” She said. “And their cutie marks they had are gone.”
I nodded my head and walked to the door, opening it and revealing the foggy town outside.
“Do you think this fog had something to do with it?” She asked.
“Probably.” I said, looking left and right. “But I do know that we should get out of here before the monsters get back.”
I took one step out and stopped, looking straight ahead.
Out there, far in the distance, I could see something moving. It looked like it was limping a bit. I would call out for it, but I wanted to make sure.
I let the figure walk closer for a bit before noticing something else moving behind it, also limping.
I knew what I was looking at.
“They’re…. They’re…. They’re-” I covered Apple Bloom’s mouth before she had the chance to finish what she was saying which probably would have led to her freaking out at the sight.
“Don’t worry.” I whispered. “You said they don’t have faces, so they shouldn’t be able to see us, right?”
“But they have ears!” She whispered back.
“Which is why we’re going to be quiet when they past by. Don’t make any movement.” I looked back towards the figures and found there was actually a small herd of them, and that they were closer than before.
They were just as Apple Bloom described them to be. They didn’t have faces or cutie marks, and their mouths had razor sharp teeth that protruded out of their mouths. They walked by quiet, but as they got closer I could hear something that sounded like chanting.
I didn’t hear exactly what they were saying, but I knew that they were chanting something. The only part I could make out were in a different language, so there goes that.
I held Apple Bloom’s mouth shut, but I knew she was getting scared fast. I was getting scared too as the monsters grew closer and closer to us.
As they passed by us many of them bumped into the wall of the library, causing the chanting to stop and be replaced by the sound of deep growling. Then the monsters went on their way.
I held my breath out of fear they would be able to hear it. When I need to take a breath I would do it slow, praying to Faust that I was quiet enough for the monsters to not hear.
When the monsters passed by us we stood still for a while longer, just to be safe. When we felt comfortable we took deep breaths and I let Apple Bloom go.
I looked behind the library and saw nothing but fog and ruined buildings. Thankfully, the monsters were gone. But I didn’t trust it, I knew that they’d be back soon. So that means Apple Bloom and I would have to hurry up and move before they came back.
“Alright Apple Bloom, we’ve gotta go.” I said.
“Yes please.” She said.
I took one last look behind the library, checking if it was safe, and told Apple Bloom to walk quietly.
We walked in the opposite direction the monsters went, hoping to get away from them as fast as possible.
I looked back to make sure that we weren’t being followed. When I saw nothing but fog I turned back around, seeing Apple Bloom a few feet in front of me.
“Apple Bloom, be careful.” I said. “You don’t want to get lost in the fog.”
“Ah will.” She said.
I took one last look back, beginning to get a little paranoid that the monsters would appear out of nowhere and attack us at any moment.
We wandered for a bit before I looked around, seeing Ponyville just a few feet away to the right.
“What the?” I said.
“What’s wrong?” Apple Bloom asked.
“That’s Ponyville.” I nodded to the town.
“Does that mean we just went in a circle?”
“No, it can’t be. We went in a straight line. We followed the road, why is Ponyville here?” I asked. I was starting to freak out a bit. I know for a fact that we followed the road in a line that went away from Ponyville!
“What’s going on?” Apple Bloom asked.
“I don’t know.” I looked the opposite direction. “Come on Apple Bloom, I want to test something.” I walked down the road opposite Ponyville, Apple Bloom following behind me.
I made sure that we walked in a straight line, only for me to see Ponyville in the distance again.
“What the heck is going on here!?” I said.
“Why are we just coming back to Ponyville?” Apple Bloom asked.
“I don’t know.” I said.
After a while I heard chanting, quiet, distant chanting. I knew they were coming. I looked around for them, seeing them come from the left.
I told Apple Bloom to follow me and we ran to the right, stopping when we saw a herd of the monsters there too. I thought about staying quiet, but it was too late. They had already seen us. We ran back into the town, hoping to lose them in there.
I looked back and saw they were following us, running after us as fast as their limping bodies could go.
We turned a corner and ran into a building that looked like it was made of candy. I closed the door and we hid behind the counter, praying that the monsters didn’t hear us run in.
We held our breaths as the monsters ran past the building, Apple Bloom quietly whimpering as they did.
After a while the chanting stopped. I poked my head up to look around, seeing the foggy outside completely barren and empty as it was.
I sighed in relief that we were able to hide from the creatures. I stood up and looked around, thinking about what exactly happened last night.
I walked back out into the street, looking around. Thankfully the monsters were nowhere to be found. I began thinking about how all of this could have happened, with nothing coming to mind. I then began thinking about something else, who am I? I don’t remember my name. Who am I?
“Come on Apple Bloom.” I began walking down the foggy and barren street, still with the thought fresh in my mind.