Chapters The man stared at the sky above him, his mind flooding with worry and fear. He looked back down at the scene around him, he stood silently on a bridge, both ends covered by a thick layer of fog. The sound of water running underneath the bridge was all he could hear, he knew it was there by the sound that it made, but the fog blocked it from sight.
"You seem lost." A voice dryly asks as the sound of footsteps echo around him.
"More then you know." The man sighs.
A woman dressed in a black hoodie and a pair of grey jeans steps out of the fog. The woman wordlessly approaches the man and leans against the railing shoulder to shoulder with the stressed looking man. They both silently stare at the fog that covers the water and anything surrounding it. Minutes go by without a single word being said.
"What's eating you up?" The woman asks.
"I... Do you ever feel that, just maybe, something doesn't feel right." The man answers as he looks over the edge of the bridge and into the fog. "It could just be my mind, I'm.... missing a few bolts."
"I have no idea what you're talking about, I don't see anything that could seem out of place." The woman replies.
"Not see, feel. Something feels out of place. The fog, the air, everything seems... A little, thick." The man explains.
"Fog? Never mind, you seem a little stressed, you should probably get home and take a minute to relax." The woman says as she rests a hand on the railing.
"Yeah, you're probably right. I'm just being ridiculous right now. Enjoy your day." The man says as he steps away from the railing and heads towards the fog.
The fog around the man seemingly pulses as he walks through it, each pulse followed by the splash of someone stepping in a puddle. The man's heart starts to race as he travels through the enveloping fog. After a while of walking the man realizes that he's walking on grass.
"What the...." The man mumbles as he reaches down and runs his fingers across the grass. "There isn't any grass near the bridge...."
The man feels the urge to continue walking, deeper into the fog. The man swallows his nervousness and continues walking into the fog, each step accompanied by the sound of a horse walking next to him. The man could feel his heart and mind begin to race with worry. After a few minutes of walking the man finally gets to the other side of the fog, only to find he's not in his hometown anymore.
"What the fuck...." The man mumbles.
In front of the man is a run down looking Victorian-era town, tall, rotten wooden houses line cobbled streets.
"What happened to Ponyville?" A gentle voice asks with a whimper.
The man looks towards the voice and sees a terrified-looking yellow horse with a pink mane and tail. The man then looks over towards the town with a look of confusion.
"Wh-What are you?" The yellow horse asks.
"I-I'm a human, what are you?" The man asks in return.
"A pony." The yellow horse answers with an audible swallow.
The man looks back towards the fog and sees a large hole in the ground, spanning as far as he could see.
"Do you know what happened to Ponyville?" The yellow horse asks.
"Ponyville? Erm, no, I just got here, I...." The man answers as he scratches the back of his head. "Where am I?"
"You're on the outskirts of Ponyville, not too far from Canterlot." The yellow mare answers.
"I, don't know where that is... Erm, my name's Sean." The man says, introducing himself.
"I'm Fluttershy." The yellow horse responds.
The pair wordlessly looks at each other before both continuing towards the town.
"Why did you ask if I knew what happened to this place?" Sean asks.
"It's not normally like this, it's normally so cheerful and clean... Now, it's rotten and sad." Fluttershy answers with a sigh.
As they approach the first building they see that the street is completely empty and filled with a mist, making seeing anything beyond eight feet away impossible.
"Everypony seemed to disappear as soon as this fog arrived," Fluttershy explains.
"The fog?" Sean asks himself.
Sean stares into the fog, his mind juggling different thoughts and worries.
"We should get to Twilight's castle, she'll know what to do." Fluttershy says as she leads Sean deeper into the town.
The journey there is filled with silence and a thick air of nervousness surrounding the pair.
"What's this 'Twilight' like? Will they know what's going on?" Sean asks.
"I don't know, I'm just hoping she does." Fluttershy answers.
As they continue to walk a tall tree made of crystals comes into a view, among the branches of the tree sat a castle, also made of crystals.
"Wow...." Sean mumbles in amazement.
"Something's not right, the crystals are dark and not as inviting as they normally are." Fluttershy explains.
Sean looks at the crystals and notices that the edges of the crystals give of the appearance of being slightly darker than the rest of the crystal.
"We should head inside anyway, they might know something about whatever's going on." Sean says as he walks towards the door at the foot of the tree.
Fluttershy follows him towards the door, her nerves nearly getting the better of her. As Sean approached the door he saw that the wood of the door was peeling and looked like it was rotten.
"Are you sure they're here? This door doesn't look like it's been touched in years." Sean asks.
"Yeah, she lives here. I saw her arriving home with some apples from Apple Acres." Fluttershy answers.
Sean then pushes the door open, revealing a room filled with books and scattered pages. The walls are damp and coated in a thin layer of grime.
"Twilight?" Fluttershy nervously asks.
No reply comes, the only sound is the sound of Fluttershy whimpering as her fear builds up. Sean gently rests a hand on Fluttershy's shoulder, calming her down for a moment.
"I'm here with you, I have your back." Sean says, calming Fluttershy down enough for her to think straight.
Fluttershy looks over towards a hallway near the back of the entrance. The hallway is dark and gives off a feeling of being endless.
"We should get out of here, something isn't right." Sean says as he gently squeezes Fluttershy's shoulder.
"I... I can't move, I'm too scared." Fluttershy sniffles as she starts to silently cry.
Sean looks back into the dark hallway, expecting to see something there. Instead, all he saw was an inky black void, staring back.
"I've got you." Sean says as he turns to Fluttershy.
He then picks her up so that they're belly to belly, as soon as Fluttershy's stomach touches Sean's she wraps her legs around his waist and neck, tightly hugging him as she cries. Sean turns back to the door and leaves the un-nerving castle. Fluttershy quietly whimpers and cries into Sean's shoulder as her fear becomes too much for her to bear. Sean looks around the town in front of him, trying to gain some sort of understanding of his surroundings, after a few minutes Sean lets out a defeated sigh. No matter how hard he looked, each building looked nearly identical to the last.
"I'm sorry, I tried not to get too scared." Fluttershy whimpers as she tightens her hold on Sean.
"It's fine.... I was scared too, I'm glad we got out of there." Sean replies as he gently pets her mane.
Fluttershy's crying had slowly turned into a quiet sniffling as she tried to calm herself down. As Fluttershy's sniffling became quite another noise crept into Sean's ears. The sound of hooves walking across stone rang through the dead streets, getting louder and louder Sean immediately knew that the hooves were getting closer.
"Hello?" Sean asks into the town.
A muffled growl echoes through the town, the hoofsteps getting louder and louder as the creature approached them.
"H-Hello?" Sean asks again.
The growling got louder, until, a large red pony walked around the corner, the large red body was colored like a rotten apple and the mane gave off the color of rotten grain.
"B-Big Mac?" Fluttershy sniffled.
The pony turned to look at the pair, it's face sent shivers down Fluttershy's spine. Its face wasn't bloodied or mutilated, but instead, it had no mouth and where the eyes should've been was skin and fur. The pony let out a muffled growl as it looked towards the pair. Fluttershy started to shake as what was one of her best friends brother, stared at the pair with its featureless face.
Fluttershy's teeth audibly chattered as her fear started to boil over again. Sean looked at the large red pony in front of him, it seemed to be blind and acted confused as to where the sounds Fluttershy where making where coming from.
"What the hell...." Sean mumbled as he watched the creature look around its surroundings.
Sean walked away from the creature, nearly tripping over one of the stones of the road. The creature looked away from the pair and continued it's journey through the town. Sean made his way back out of the town, not wanting to stay in this bizarre place any longer. He carried the terrified Fluttershy out of the town and back to the fog where they came from.
Sean sat on the ground and gently held the shaking Fluttershy against his body. Fluttershy shuddered before vomiting onto Sean's shirt. Her fear becoming too much for her to bear, she starts to cry again. Sean watched as more and more of the faceless ponies left the houses surrounding the cobbled streets. After a while, there were twenty of the creatures walking the streets, blindly bumping into each other which was always followed by the creatures growling at each other.
Fluttershy loudly retched as she held onto Sean with all of her strength, her wings standing stiff as her body tried to expel anything that was in her stomach. Fluttershy repeatedly apologized to Sean about her vomiting on his shirt between fits of shaking and retching.
Sean continued to stare at the creatures walking through the town, after an hour of watching the town, the creatures headed back to their homes, almost robotic like in their synchronization. Sean hears gentle breathing in his right ear, he looks to his side and see's that Fluttershy had cried herself to sleep. After a few minutes of consideration he decides that waiting for Fluttershy to wake up would be for the best. Sean looks up and watches the sky turn grey as clouds coated the sky.
After a few minutes, it starts to rain, the cold droplets splashing against Fluttershy caused her to shiver, her fur not enough to keep her warm. The man enjoyed the cold of the rain splashing against his face as he stared at the clouds. Fluttershy's shivering was getting worse, Sean looked around him before gently sliding his shirt off and putting on Fluttershy, it was hard sliding her hooves through the sleeves but after a few tries, he eventually got her hooves in. Sean could feel the cold against his body but he knew that without his shirt, Fluttershy could die in her sleep, especially if it got colder.Fluttershy rubbed her muzzle into the shirt, enjoying the warmth and softness of the shirt. Sean looks back at the town and watches the streets for any of the creatures. After another hour of watching the streets a wave of tiredness drags Sean into a sleep he tried to fight out of. Sean tried his hardest to stay awake, every ounce of his strength went to stay awake, but it wasn't enough and he drifted out of consciousness.
Sean jolted awake, panting and sweating he grasped at his chest, his heart racing. Sean looked around him and him was confused by his surroundings. Four tall concrete walls trapped Sean in a room, no door, no window, nothing that could be used to leave the room. He stood up, his knee's clicking as he did so.
"Where am I?" Sean asks himself as he runs a hand across one of the concrete walls.
"What in the hay...." A voice with a southern twang groaned.
Sean turned to the voice and saw an orange pony with a yellow mane and a stetson lazily sat on its head.
"Who are you?" Sean asks.
"Mah name's AppleJack, what's yer name?" The orange pony asks in return.
"My name's Sean.... Are you, like Fluttershy?" Sean asks as he leans against the wall.
"What do ya mean?" AppleJack asks with a confused look on her face.
"I mean a pony, you're not like those.... faceless things are you?"
"Of course Ah'm a pony, an' what do ya mean 'faceless things'? Ah ain't seen nothing that's faceless." AppleJack answers.
"You haven't been outside? They're everywhere, they're just like you and Fluttershy except, except without eyes or mouths." Sean explains.
"Ah ain't never heard of a pony like that before." AppleJack says, her voice hinted with doubt. "Are ya sure ya weren't seeing things?"
"Yeah, I mean. I think so. Fluttershy was there, she was scared beyond belief. I was...." Sean sighs. "I don't even know anymore."
"Are ya feelin' okay? Ya look a little lost in thought." AppleJack asks.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine, I.... Do you know a way out of here?" Sean asks back.
AppleJack walks towards the wall and presses her hoof against it, her hoof sinks into the wall, as it sinks into the wall the room around the pair changes. The wall in front of AppleJack sinks into the floor, the side of concrete scraping against a mixture of loose stones and dirt. Behind the wall stood a long unpainted corridor, the walls coated in a thick mixture of grime and grease. The corridor led to an abyss like darkness that cut the corridor off before its end.
"Tha way out is right through there." AppleJack says as she points a hoof down the corridor. "But Ah wouldn't go out there, the stuff out there is mighty strange."
"Maybe so, but I can't leave Fluttershy alone for too long." Sean says as he prepares to leave the room.
As he steps out of the room AppleJack grabs his sleeve, pulling him back.
"You protect her okay? Ah don't know how ta get back so I'm counting on you." AppleJack says with a stern look. "An' if ya see any of tha apple family ya make darn sure they're safe."
"I will, I promise." Sean says with a nod.
AppleJack lets go of his sleeve, letting him leave the room.
"You could always join me, there isn't any guarantee that it's safe but at least you're not trapped in a cramped room." Sean offers.
"Ah can't, Ah still have a lot of things Ah need ta set straight." AppleJack answers in a dejected tone.
"Okay." Sean says as he takes his first step into the corridor.
As he takes his second step the wall between him and AppleJack bursts out of the ground and closes with a loud bang followed by a metallic clang. Sean turns to look at the wall but is stopped by the sound of something gasping for air. Sean silently stares down the corridor, waiting for whatever was making the noise to step out from the darkness.
"Breathe... Can't breathe..." A voice gasped out.
Sean carefully approaches the voice.
"Can't breathe..." The voice chokes out.
As sean approaches the voice a grey pony with a grey mane comes into view.
"Breathe..."
The creature slowly turns towards Sean, coughing as it turned to face him.
The creature's body was grotesquely mutilated, it's stomach and chest had been cut open and emptied, all that remained was the creature's lungs which were tightly trapped in an iron cage. The eyes of the purple where a dim gold, whatever brightness and life were in them had been drained. On it's back sat two wings which limply laid spread out on the ground.
"Need breathe..." The creature groaned, a thick black smog escaping from it's mouth.
The creature stumbled towards Sean, it's legs shakily dragging the corpse-like body towards him. Sean panicked and ran back to the wall that separated him and AppleJack. He pounded on the wall with his fists until they were bloodied and ached in protest.
"APPLEJACK! LET ME BACK IN!" Sean shouted as he continued to hit the wall. "PLEASE!"
No reply came, not even the sound of AppleJack approaching the wall.
"AppleJack, PLEASE!" Sean shouted at the top of his lungs.
The creature hit Sean on the back of the head with its hoof.
"Breathe... Need, lungs..." The creature gasped as it raised it's forehooves, readying to bring them down onto Sean's head.
As the creature brought its hooves down Sean jolted awake, he gasped and quickly scanned his surroundings, he was back at the crack with Fluttershy still cuddled up to his body.
"What is going on..." Sean mumbles followed shortly by a rough cough. "This, can't be right. Why am I back here?"
Sean pulls Fluttershy into a hug, being careful not to wake her up.
'This place, Ponyville, it's not normal everything is wrong here. I need to get out, we need to get out. We need to find AppleJack and get out of here.'
Sean wordlessly strokes Fluttershy's mane, the pony lets out a quiet noise similar to a purr.
'It's like having a cute cat.' Sean thinks to himself with a quiet chuckle.
"Harry..." Fluttershy mumbles as she snuggles against Sean's body.
'Must be someone important to her, we'll find him, I promise.' Sean thinks to himself as he gently squeezes her.
In the distance Sean can see a creature similar to the grey-winged pony from his dream, the fur and mane were both a mouldy white. As the creature walked through the streets it released a black smog which followed it around.
"What the hell..." Sean mumbled with a gulp.
The creature approached one of the faceless ponies and knocked it to the ground before repeatedly hitting on the head, the head eventually caved in, killing the pony. The pony then used its teeth to rip open the chest of the faceless pony before ripping out its lungs, it put the tube connecting the lungs up to its mouth, giving the appearance of it breathing the air from the lungs in. As it did so the smog around it changed into a cloud that was exiting the creature through its nose and mouth.
"BREATHE!" It's screamed as loud as it could before sprinting deeper into the town and out of sight.
"What the hell happened here..." Sean gulps.
Author's Note
Following the idea behind Silent Hill each creature is a manifestation of either a fear, a memory or an emotion. If you have any questions about the creatures or characters please feel free to ask.