All Ends With Beginnings

You are Princess Luna.

Princess of the night. Co-ruler of Equestria. And you feel like your head was about to split open.

You began rubbing your temples with your hooves and tried your best to open your eyes. Dry mucus caked your eye lids. Making it just a little more difficult to open them. It didn’t help that you felt as though all of the magic and life had been sucked out of you.

You haven’t felt like this since awaking after your thousand year slumber in your moon.

Rubbing out all of those eye boogers, you let your eyes get accustomed to the light in the room around you. Well, what little of it there was anyways. The room you were in was...well, it looked abandoned.

A strange rectangle in the ceiling of the room was giving off a very faint light source, though it seemed to go out and come back in small flashes.

You got the feeling it wasn’t supposed to do that. The walls had porcelain tiling and the ground you lie on is wet and clammy. Looking closer you could see taps coming from the walls. The ceiling appeared moist, black splotches of mold were…

Oh...oh heavens.

“Hrk!”

By the maker. It just hit you like a slab of marble. The dank musk and decay invaded your nostrils. The hint of the mold was light, but just enough to make it a thousand times worse than what it would have been. “Oh good graces, what in...hrk!”

Aaaaand you just emptied your stomach on the floor. Now was probably a good time to get up and figure out where in the hay you were. Maybe a towel to wipe off any vomit that may have gotten onto you. The shower area seemed communal. Something you’d see in a locker room.

Upon exiting the shower area, you find that a locker room is exactly where you were. Lockers lined the walls, though they were stacked to heights far taller than it’d be expected for a pony to use. Looking at the place, it seemed to be slightly big for any sort of locker room.

Even if you were in Cloudsdale where Pegasi could just hover up to reach, the taps, faucets, and benches all seemed to be out of place. Hay, the room was slightly bigger than for a mare your size.

Okay okay.

Enough of sizing up the room. Where were you? Like, exactly?

Yea duh, you were in a locker room. But why? Oh! You remember now. You must be inside of Anon’s journal. Why would it send you here?

Some smelly locker room where the benches are rotten, the lockers bent in and rusted, some of their doors fallen off, and mold infesting the ceiling? You remember Anonymous warning you of this place being terrifying, and of Twilight also having been here. She didn’t seem to have a very pleasant experience either.

“I suppose...I will just have to find a way out of here?”

Good...idea? Better than nothing, and it gives you a goal to work towards. You really should’ve asked Anonymous more about the book.

But he was already VERY adamant you not even open it. And when you freed Twilight Sparkle she was adamant that you HAD to go through the book to help him. Given her distressed state and injuries, she really didn’t appear to be able to give any more details than what she did give out.

You make your way through the rows of lockers and happen upon a small room. It appeared to be an office with a little desk inside.

Probably where an instructor or coach would sit. The light inside was far brighter and a lot more stable. You pushed the rotting door open slightly and took a few steps inside.

The walls had writing on them.

”OPEN YOURSELF UP!”

Smeared in...was that? You sniffed the air. Please don’t let it be what you thought it was. You got a little closer to the lettering and sniffed one more time.

“Oh by the maker that’s...Hrk!”

You caught the vomit in your throat and managed to swallow it back down. Yep...feces.

Someone took their dung...and smeared that message on the wall. What in the heavens pushed someone to do that? As cryptic and strange as the message was, it really didn’t help you. Though you’d stick a pin in that and remember it for later.

You looked over the desk to find something that could help you. A long and black cylinder that seemed to stretch in a conic shape at the end.

The chair behind the desk had a satchel draped over the back.

“How convenient.”

You threw the satchel on and tighten the strap so it’d fit snug around your lower neck and barrel.

“This should prove useful in my journey. As for THIS strange object.”

You look over the odd wand device and find a switch near the base.

Switching it on caused light to flash out the end.

“This...should prove VERY useful in my journey.”

You switched off the torch and placed it in the satchel. You didn’t need it quite yet, being princess of the night had it’s perks which included better visibility in the dark. Though assuming the luminosity of the environment you find your self in now is anything to go off of. You don’t think it’s going to get any brighter.

Leaving the office you notice a small hallway that was close to the door. A small and dark hallway. With a small cage in the wall that seemed to be holding cones, exercise equipment, and various balls for sport in it.

Yep, it probably won’t get much brighter from here on. At the end of the hallway was a door that had a sign saying ‘exit’ on it though, and that’s what you needed.

You walk down and pull the handle.

Locked.

Moonrocks. There was probably a key back in the-

”Another horse huh?”

“AH!”

You back into the wall of the corridor opposite of the source of the strange voice. Which was the cage.

“Who’s there! We demand you to identify yourself!”

Having a mini-heart attack and having your back against a wall is no reason to NOT be authoritative to a strange voice coming from the darkness. Oddly enough not your first time.

”I’m assuming you already know me...sort of.”

Wait. You did recognize that voice. You squint into the darkness and see the vague shape of…

“A-Anonymous! Is that you in there?”

”You know, the last one of you asked the same question. I hope you don’t get as excited when I give you the same answer.”

“There is no need to be cryptic. I know that voice!”

The dark figure inched his way closer into the soft light coming from down the hall way.

He...looked like Anonymous.

Though his normally white hoodie was gray and covered in stains.

It looks like he hasn’t shaved in days, which was odd given the fact Anonymous usually kept himself clean shaven when he could. And he was wearing...uh.

“Anonymous? Why are you wearing a blindfold? And why the crosses on them?”

Anonymous furrowed his brow.

”I’m not going to answer a stupid question like that.”

You cocked your neck back slightly. What? Why was he acting so rude? Were you two not close friends? Your last memory with him was him fearing for your safety if you recall correctly.

“Anonymous there is no need to be abrasive. I’m sure we can help each other. I see that the cage is locked, maybe there’s a key in th-”

”I don’t need YOUR help with the cage.”

“Oh?”

”I don’t need your help with anything.”

”What? I don’t think I understand. You allowed me to read your journal. I did not force my way in like Twilight. Though please understand when she did so she was only doing it out of love for a friend.”

”You were allowed to read it? Don’t tell me you’re trying to help too! You weird multicolored horses are just gonna make everything worse!”

“We make...what? Anonymous please calm down, surely you know that you let me read the journal! It occurred less than-”

”Oh, Shut up! You want to try and help? Go ahead. You can’t, and you’ll become absorbed and suffer the same pain as I do, and probably die like the purple bitch who just came through almost did. But by all means, give it a shot.”

“W-well, isn’t that what you wanted? And what’s so dangerous out there?”

Anon slipped his hand in his hoodie pocked and took something out of it.

”Here, this is all I’ll give you. Don’t expect anymore help. Now if you excuse me…”

Anon flicked the item into your face and turned around. Making his way to a large bin in the corner of the cage. ”I need to have a serious...heart to heart with my self.”

Anon stepped into the bin and crouched down out of sight.

You pressed your face up against the cage.

“Anon? Wait, what do you mean? Why must you act so aggressive?”

No answer. “Anonymous?”

Still no answer.

“Anon please speak to me!” You shook the cage, which in turn shook some boxes next to it and caused a medicine ball to come out and hit the bin Anon just climbed into.

The bin tipped over and...nothing inside.

“What in the name of…?!”

Huh. Guess he really didn’t need help getting out of the cage? You call out his name a few more times before giving up. He really wasn’t in there anymore.

Why was he being so rude? And what was with that blindfold with the crosses? With a sigh you turn your attention to what ever Anon threw at you on the ground.

It was a key. Picking it up in your aura you inspected it. It gave off a purple glint when bringing it to the light.

Was this too the cage lock? A quick attempt was all that was needed to rule that out.

Okay so this must go to the exit then. You put the key into hole in the door and unlocked it.

“Well...even if it seems you don’t remember, I will help you out of this mess Anonymous. No matter what.”

You push the door open and walk through, entering a gymnasium. Much like the locker room you just exited, it was in shambles.

In fact, it looked like it would collapse at any second. Beams and railing bent and rusted. Stagnant water dripping from various places.

The wooden floors rotten and torn from the floor. Very little light. The stench of rot and mold still hung in the air. You settle on trying to find a way out of this place as well.

What Anonymous told you before disappearing was of very little help. Hopefully on finding your way out of this abysmal place you’ll find a clue towards something. You make your way across the gymnasium and exit the door, leading into a large hallway.

Billboards hanging on by a single rusted nail, papers strewn across the floor. The fancy electrical lights continued to flicker, all emitting inconsistent amounts of light.

This was definitely a school. The few doors that weren’t boarded up had paintings seemingly done by small children, and the decorations among the hallway were depictions of rainbows and green fields.

Well, those that had color or weren’t peeling away from the apparent years of neglect. You choose a direction and hoofed it.

Had to find the exit of this place.

The deeper you went into the school the danker the environment became. The occasional bug would scurry, water was soon replaced by a black sludge coming from pipes. Some of the tiling from the ceiling were just gone and exposing a dark void above.

Nothing about this place sat right with you. Not at all.

Though, there were little signs of any hostile creatures or monsters. The only signs of life was the occasional insect or vermin.

And who ever in Tartarus was smearing their own excrement on the walls of the school. There was enough of it, that it couldn’t have been any rat. And fresh enough that it had to have been placed within the last few hours. Finally, after a few jumps from rats, and having a miniature heart attack from a roach falling into your mane, you found what must have been the exit.

Two large doors with a sign above them.

’WELCOME TO INCOGNITO ELEMENTARY’

Why a welcome would be given above the front doors you were seemingly supposed to EXIT the school through was odd. Though at this point hardly a concern.

A quick push against the metal bar across the door revealed the doors were locked.

Figures. Of course you could always break through...the solid wooden and glass doors.

Making a lot of noise. No. And though you had the energy to walk and move around fine, maybe even get into a little bit of a fight or run away if it came down to it, your magic reserves remained at critical levels. Weird, you should have enough to preform basic spells at this point.

Which meant you couldn’t just teleport. Darn. Telekinesis seemed to work fine though.

Maybe the headmaster’s or principle’s office had a key to the front door. Fortunately the office was right across from the front door.

Unfortunately the door to the inside was boarded and chained up. Of course. You’d have to find another way inside. You idly tap the chain with your hoof and give out an exasperated sigh.

“If this is a cruel joke, I’m not laughing.”

Snickering could be heard. Now you were annoyed. First the universe decides to be intentionally difficult and now somepony was laughing at...

Wait.

You snap your head to the source of the laughter and immediately take a defensive stance. A small figure just out of sight moved back down towards the hallway you came from. You continued to gaze intensely down the hallway and into the dark.

Alright, you weren’t dumb enough to go back down that hallway again. You look around the area you were in.

Front door locked. Office boarded up. Same story for the other hallway. Doors closed and boarded shut. Which meant the only other way to go was…

“You must be joking.”

You inch your way back to the hallway. Rustling could be heard. More giggling. With a gulp, you made your way back into the hallway.

You peak behind the corner. Nothing.

You let out the breath you were holding in your chest. There was movement from out of the corner of your eye. You snapped your head around.

A door that was previously closed was now open. Dare you look inside? Curiosity killed the cat Luna.

If the injuries on Twilight told you anything about the creatures of this world, it was best to just stay away and not interact unless absolutely necessary. You decided to inch your way to another one of the classrooms.

Not a much better decision. But there was a 50/50 chance of there being nothing inside the closed classroom, and an absolute certainty of something being in the classroom where the door was now opened. That was good reasoning, right?

Okay maybe not, but you made your decision and you were going to follow through.

You inched your way backwards toward the other door, keeping your eyes locked on the open class. Each step was slow and precise. Every few seconds you looked around yourself to make sure you were still in the clear.

Your hindquarters made contact with the door behind you.

You take a quick look inside the window to make sure nothing was immediately inside. Looked clear.

You enveloped the knob in your aura and slowly turned it, as to not make too much noise, and pushed the door open. One last check around you to make sure you were clear, and then back to the open door. You froze.

Two small white eyes staring back from the door frame opposite the classroom you were about to enter. You catch your breath in your throat as you and the figure across the hall stare each other down.

Not one to feel threatened by a thing of such size, though not foolish enough to underestimate it, you furrow your brow and straighten yourself, though keep a defensive stance. The black figure began to move from out of the class room and into the small amount of light in the hallway.

A small human, a child it looked like. The hair on it’s head disheveled, and its skin a sickly gray. The clothing it wore was torn and covered in filth.

Dry mucus and snot covered it’s face. It eyed you with growing suspicion. You kept your authoritative demeanor. Keeping your brow furrowed, you squinted at the human young. A part of you felt sorry for the poor thing, but understanding the context of the situation you were in, you stayed vigilant.

The child’s face began to twist from suspicion, to a scowl. It reached behind it self and from seemingly no where pulled out a pair of rusty scissors.

It began to hyperventilate, taking in deeper and deeper breaths. Anticipating what was probably about to happen, you made a slight movement to back further into the classroom behind you.

That did it.

The child took in a final deep breath and let out a shrieking cry. The sheer volume from something so small took you off your guard a bit and you flapped your ears back and flinched. The crying became progressively louder, and louder, and was soon joined by more distance screaming.

A quick turn of the neck down the hall way showed shadows moving in the distance.

“Moonrocks!” You swore.

The child in front of you reared back and prepared to leap.

You quickly dodged back into the class room and slammed the door shut, locking it. The child hit the glass and fell unto the floor outside.

About a dozen more of the children joined it, screaming at the same eardrum piercing volume.

“HA! CAN’T REACH US IN HERE YOU HEATHE-URK!”

Your celebration was cut off by child grasping onto your neck. Turns out the room wasn’t as empty as you’d thought.

You rear back and slam into the wall. You hear something metallic fall against the floor. The child had a knife. Struggling, you kept back up against the wall and shaking violently to remove the hell spawn off of you.

The little horror had an iron grip however and held on tightly.

It was screaming that horrid cry into your ears at an increasing volume. The sound was akin to cutlery scratching against a plate.

You thrashed around the classroom. You crashed into the tables and desks within. Slamming into what ever you could to get the heathen off of your back. It began to dig the nails of its fingers into your neck and tried to reach your eyes.

“OH NO YOU DON’T!”

With one final slam against the black board of the classroom, you could hear a crunch, and the child’s scream became muted.

The shrieking replaced with a horrid hollow, wet, gasping noise. The human young finally released it’s grip and fell onto the floor.

You backed away to the other side of the classroom and scanned the area. No other children, just the one’s still outside, and the one trying it’s best to gulp air into it’s lungs. You kept your eyes onto the convulsing mess on the floor. The sound was awful. Tears poured form it’s face and it was sobbing profusely interrupted only by the coughing. A small amount of deep crimson blood came splattering out of it’s mouth.

“B-by the maker!”

*CRACK*

Your neck snapped from the injured child and toward the door.

The children were throwing books at the window and managed to crack the glass. You quickly inspected the room once more. Looking for some way out. There was a slight breeze coming from above you.

A vent. A large vent. Would you even be able to fit through there?

*CRACK*

Well, only one way to find out. You used the little amount of magic you could to rip the grate out of the wall near the ceiling.

*CRACK*

You took position slightly away from the vent and reared back.

*CRASH*

The window broke. The children were coming through. With hardly any time before they latched onto you, you made a leap of faith and managed to somehow get half way through the grate. You placed both forelegs on either side of the wall and managed to keep your self in. A weight could be felt dragging on one of your hind legs.

Tartarus! One of them was on you. The screaming from the children reverberated in the metal vent amplified the horrid volume. You thrashed your hind legs and bucked wildly as you tried to crawl further into the vent. The child kept it’s iron grip onto you.

You were finally almost entirely in the vent. Though you were also pulling the child latched on in with you.

“GAH! Get off of-AHHHHHH!”

A sharp pain was flared near your haunches. A warm liquid could be felt staining your coat.

“YOU LITTLE PIECE OF-”

You reared your hind legs back one more time. The heathen lost it’s grip. You bucked as hard as you could.

*CRUNCH*

Shrieking replaced with a horrid gurgle and a thud. More of the warm liquid could be felt as it splattered against your backside. You pulled yourself further and further away from the entrance.

You didn’t look back. You really couldn’t either. The vent was just big enough for you to fit in, but moving within it was another story. You crawled and crawled your way through. The shrieking began to get further and further away.

The vent was too high up for the hell spawn to get in...you hoped. After a few difficult turns through the vents, you found another grate. You peered through the opening and into the room.

It was the front office.

“Thank the maker!”

You used one of your forehooves to bust the grate open and crawled out, falling onto the floor. Using your magic, you placed the gate back in place, and covered it with a large filing cabinet.

You lay on the floor, catching your breath. After a minute of heavy breathing you try to pick yourself up.

Try.

The sharp pain in your hind leg flared and caused you to buckle.

“AhH! Hnnng!”

The little heathen got you with the scissors. You searched the area of the office. All that was around that could help was a filthy sweater. What ever, it’ll do for now. You ripped off a piece with your teeth and wrapped it around the wound.

With that over, you slowly picked your self up again to sit in a better position. You took a few deep breaths and made sure to inspect the office for any more of the little creatures, or anyway for them to get in.

Nothing. For good this time. The shrieking seemed to have died down. You were left in the well illuminated office in silence. Free to catch your breath and process what just happened.

Your heart was still racing. Adrenaline pumping and coursing through every vein and artery. The sounds of what just happened went through your head over and over again.

The shrieks. The breaking of glass. The crunching.

By the maker, the crunching. The horrible noises of the two children’s lungs filling with blood too. It was all just so…By the gods.

You looked yourself over. Dark crimson caked your hindquarters. The gravity of the situation was beginning to set in.

You stared at the ceiling, still trying to catch your breath. Two children.

You just crushed the chest and skull of two small children.

Sure, two children that were trying to harm you. Just like the rest of them. And they in fact did harm you.

But still, two children all the same. Heavens above, why was this all in Anon’s journal? Why did you have to do that? Did you have to?

What was that supposed to mean? When you thought dangerous monsters you were thinking of ones you’d find in the Everfree or even Tartarus. Not children.

Why? Why children Anonymous? What did they have to do with his problems? What did they do to him?

You lowered your face to your hooves. Your vision was blurry. You wiped the tears away the best you could.

No.

No tears. No crying. Anon was in trouble.

He was probably some where here. And not the Anon you had first spoken to. The Anon YOU know. The real Anon.

The one who wanted help, and would help you. The Anon who stayed up through the night in the dream realm with you.

The Anon you…

You picked your self up and brushed off the dust from the vents. You took one last breath in through your nose.

Focus on Anon. That’s why you’re here.

Anon.

Now, time to look for this key. You opened up a few of the drawers and cabinets.

Papers, penciles, folders, student records.

...hmm.

You flipped through the student records.

Sally, Carter, Mordecai, Sarah, Jason.

Human names were weird.

Jessie, Juan, Anonymous, Parker...Anonymous?

You pulled out the folder. Yep. These were Anon’s records. So this was Anon’s school.

Let’s see then. This may have a clue of where to go next. You opened the records and began reading.

The records gave some basic information. His height, weight, age. This was back when he was 11 years old.

He was given something called an IEP. He was apparently given a special education program based on issues he was having.

Well, nothing inconsistent here then. It reports that he had trouble confessing his problems with his teachers. Whenever they tried to help, he’d shy away.

You recall Anon talking about that. Medical information, all missing.

Oh! An address. 547 north west lane.

Human addresses are weird. You take the page with his address and place it in your satchel.

All you needed was a map of the area and you’d have your new destination. Though, that’d have to wait. Need to go and find this key.

The office area itself was just a large room for the front desk and small hallway area that lead into different smaller offices. Which included the nurses office. Gauze and painkillers, very useful. Now in your satchel.

In terms of finding a key however, all of the offices were empty. Time to actually check the front desk then.

Oh...well, should’ve checked here first. On the wall next to the front desk was a key rack with keys labeled for different doors. Library, Cafeteria, Gym, Office, FRONT DOOR!

You grabbed the key with telekinesis. This one had a slightly off light blue or cyan color to it.

Into the satchel it went. Might as well look around the rest of the front office for anything befor-

*Thud*

You quickly ducked behind the desk. You slowly peaked out from under it and out the office window into the main lobby where the front door and noise came from.

A tall lanky figure obscured some what in the darkness was approaching one of those heathen children. The child was very distraught and seemed to be panicking. It was crying, though not as loud as when you first encountered them.

The figure outstretched one of its arms and grabbed the child. It cooed and tried to comfort the crying heathen.

”Shh. Shh. Little one. I must help you.”

The child shook its head violently and thrashed in the long arms of the thing.

”I must help you child...just, open up to me.”

The child screamed in that familiar shriek. The creature impaled the child’s chest with it’s long digits and raised the heathen above it’s head.

The heathen was crying and violently thrashing around trying to get away.

”I said...open up to me.”

The taller creature ripped open the child’s chest cavity and began to pull out the organs. Slowly, one by one. Sniffing them, bringing it to it’s face which was hardly visible and blocked by long blonde hair.

The creature paused and slowly began to move its head upwards and towards the office window. You took cover once more behind the desk, out of sight. Your heart began to race again.

”Ah. Another young soul in need of help?”

NonononononononononononooooooNOPE!

You could hear movement coming closer to the window. A slow knocking. Your heart threatening to explode in your chest.

Just go away, just go away just go away.

”Little one, if you are inside, I must help you.”

The voice was raspy and feminine. You curled up behind the desk, looking for a way out if it decides to break through the glass.

”Hmm. I must have...made a mistake.”

You could hear the creature move away, slowly, heavily. The movement began to get quieter, and quieter, and quieter.

Then silence. Silence for three very long minutes. Your chest was burning. You shakily release the breath you’ve been holding. With a gulp you peak up from behind the desk and into the main lobby.

Gone.

It was gone. Leaving behind the gored heathen.

What ever in the nether regions of the maker herself that was, that was the last you EVER wanted to see of it.

A little bit more of exploring of the office, making sure to keep out of view from the window, lead to nothing, and it was now probably time to make your way back to the front lobby. You decided to grab the rest of the keys just in case.

They were all a bronze color, separate from the front door key, and had emblems on them for the respective doors they opened.

You found a school map and discovered that the library was only a hallway away from the main lobby. Perfect.

Map in your bag, and a destination to reach, you decide to enter the vent from the nurse’s office and make your way to the school library.

Twenty minutes. That’s how long it felt just to get through all the vents.

You could hear the rustling of those heathen children outside and that was about it. Though they didn’t seem to hear you, you didn’t know whether to count yourself as luckier to be within the vents or not. Insects and rodents of various sizes would crawl over you.

You were pretty sure one of the times you took rest you laid your muzzle into a puddle of rat piss by mistake. Hopefully it was just dirty water.

The entire place was beginning to just smell the same, and you were finally getting used to it. It was as if there was nothing more to smell. Desensitization from the musk of a decaying school aside, looking through one of the grates you could see that you were finally inside of the library.

Graces and thanks to the heavens. Waiting patiently and staring out into the large room you decided the coast was clear and climbed out.

You made your way through the rows of rotting book shelves with extreme caution. You didn’t want to have a run in with a heathen...or worse.

Goodness, if Twilight had to go through the same environments you did you could have only imagined what her reaction to the library of the school would have been. Books lay haphazardly across the floor.

Apparently one of the heathens used an anatomy book as toilet paper. What was it and these children with relieving themselves every where except a toilet?

You know for a fact you passed several bathrooms when you first roamed the halls.

*creak*

At the sound of a door being pushed open you hid behind the shelf closest too you. Observing between the book shelves you could see one of the children running across the room with a human doll.

Giving chase to the young child was another young child screaming and crying.

If the creatures weren’t so dangerous you’d face hoof.

No. You were going to do it anyways. Tartarus spawn or not, children acted like children.

They ran into a room with the sign above it reading ‘COMP LAB’. Whatever that was.

Staying as quite as you could, you inched your way over towards the exit of the library. Keeping your eyes on the COMP LAB You could hear the two children fighting each other over the plastic toy.

Carefully, you pulled out the library key from your bag and unlocked the door.

One look through the door window, the hall way was empty. You carefully applied pressure to the metal bar across the width of the door.

Carefully...carefully…

*Squeaaaaaak~*

You cringed. The audible struggle in the lab ceased.

Oh Tartarus no.

You spun around to see the two little demons staring at you. You couldn’t move. Anticipation and fear froze you. All movement ceased and the air between you and the children became still.

A staring contest. You and the two children. Seconds passed. You waited for the scream.

A minute. You waited for the scream.

Two long agonizing minutes. You waited for the scream.

They just stared at you. No hyperventilation. No sharp objects. No scowling. They just...stared at you? Maybe it was because you were staying so still?

The first heathen you encountered jumped you and screamed because you moved slightly. You couldn’t just stand there forever!

The stand off continued for an agonizingly long amount of time. Movement could be heard coming from underneath some stray tables and from inside the same lab. Two more showed themselves. Three more. By the maker, five, now six!

Eight of the cryptic human children came out and were just staring at you. You were sweating profusely. It felt like it were as hot as your sister’s sun.

You legs began to shake a bit, then your torso, and with that your breath. Your eyes darted around to each one of the little children. They just stared at you. A few of their mouths hung open.

Ten more minutes. You dared to try and move. Just like last time, one hind leg back, toward the door.

Nothing.

Another step.

Nothing.

They continued to just stare at you. You let out a breath. They were doing nothing. You weren’t exactly sure why, or what you were doing differently, but they weren’t doing anything. You lay your hoof down on the metal bar on the door and continue to push it open.

Still nothing.

You exit into the hallway and they continued to stare. The door closed. You stepped further away. Walked a bit aways.

You were good. YOU WERE GOOD! HUZZAH!

You have no idea why this group of children were so docile, but they just let you go without so much as screaming.

And you were in the hall way! You could see the light from the main lobby from here. The home stretch! Finally, you could just exit the door.

Hyperventilation. Behind you. A deep breath in.

“Help.” You mutter.

Screaming. You didn’t even look behind you. You took off down the hall way. Something flew into you. One of the children T-boned you coming down one of the hallways you had to pass to get to the main lobby.

“NO! AHH! UNHOOF US YOU HEATHEN FROM TARTARUS!”

You slammed into a set of lockers against the wall. The child was shrieking in your ear.

You slammed again. The familiar crunching of bone and rupturing of internal organs. The child from right behind you grabbed a hold of something.

You couldn’t see the sharp object he was wielding but he managed to used to slash at a tendon in your wing.

You screamed. You fell to your side. Burning pain pulsated from your withers.

The child who was wielding the sharp object, a piece of broken mirror, climbed on top you. It raised the shard in the air and let out one of its ear drum rupturing cries.

You raised your hooves in between the two of you, ready to block.

It thrust down. You blocked, though he managed to give you a good scrape. He slashed across. You blocked again. He really shouldn’t be messing with a princess who took jousting as sport. He stuck his fingers into your nostrils.

“AH!”

You sneezed. The child climbed further up to your neck and wrapped its legs around you, tightening his grip. He was chocking you.

You tried roll over in attempt to throw him off but you ended up just rolling over onto your new wound and instinctualy flinched back. You tried to use your hooves but he was too far up your neck and managed to use his iron grip to latch on.

As a last resort you used up the little bit of magic you had to force him off you, but his grip around your trachea was choking you and you couldn’t concentrate on making the spell manifest. The child raised its glass shard into the air and let out one more scream.

It made sure to get right into your face for this one. Before the child could attempt to cut open your jugular however, it froze and began hacking blood into your face.

It dropped the mirror shard on the ground and convulsed a bit.

Looking down at its chest to see what had just happened, you could see long skinny digits piercing through the chest of the child. The grip around your throat loosened. The child’s arm fell.

His eyelids began to droop. It let out a few more coughs before it began to be lifted up.

”Now now sweet child. We do not allow bullying on THESE school grounds.”

This can’t be happening. This can NOT be happening. The tall anorexic figure of the human woman came into view as she moved the small child out of the way and up close to her.

She moved her large disgusting hand over the child’s skull, wrapping its fingers around it completely. Every movement cause cracking and snaps in her joints.

”You know about our no tolerance policy here little one.”

She squeezed her hand and the skull sunk in. Bone and gray matter crunched and squished between her digits and the child’s body tremored. Viscous blood and cerebral fluid oozed from between her claw like digits.

You couldn’t look away from what was happening, but hay if you weren’t also trying to crawl away from the giant horror in front of you.

”Now...what is this then? Another child lost and afraid?”

“N-no, nnonononoo. We are perfectly fine, there is no need to help us!”

You don’t even know WHY you were trying to reason with it. It’s intentions seemed very clear. You could see it’s face now. It looked NOTHING like the human faces you recognize from the depictions back home, or on Anon.

Smooth tight skin. No nose, no eye sockets, just large vertical incisions where her eyes should be.

To top it off, a large, way too large, toothy, yellow, grin. She’d put Pinkie Pie to shame.

”Of course you’re not little child of mine. You are distressed.”

It began to approach you.

“N-no, you must be mistaken.”

”No...I can see it. It is MY job to help you, as faculty of the school. I MUST help you.”

You rolled over to the other side and tried to get to stand up on your legs to run to the door. The front lobby was so close. Just a meter away. You could feel the needle like appendages wrap around your barrel and yank you back towards the horrible creature.

It spun your around and brought you uncomfortably close.

”Now...why don’t you just let it all out. Open up to me.”

It brought it’s hands up and pointed its horrible sharp nails towards your chest. Your squirmed. It was all you could do. Tears were rolling down your face. What would happen? If it ended here you wouldn’t be able to help Anon, see your sister or subjects again.

You pushed and squirmed best you could, you stuck out your horn, trying to pierce it through the head where the nose was supposed to be, but it just held you closer away.

”Ah, ah, ah. No need to struggle. Just open up.”

“Eep!”

A small pain came from one of your hind legs. Both you and the tall creature looked down. The child you crushed between your self in the locker was still alive, and biting into your leg.

The monster holding you scowled and growled.

”Little one…” Turning its attention, and claws, away from you, it skewered the skull of the child through the eyes and held it out with just two of its fingers.

”What did I just have to teach the other BRAT about our NO TOLERANCE POLICY!” It threw you down the main hall and sent you skidding into the main lobby.

You immediately started to get up and scrambled your way toward the front entrance.

The creature grabbed onto the lower torso of the other child and with a little effort ripped the other child in half. Its intestine and stomach spilling out onto the floor.

You levitated the cyan key out of your pack and rammed it into the key hole and turned it.

”Leaving so soon? You aren’t about to play hooky are you? You truant brat.”

You pushed into the metal bar and the doors flew open. With out looking back you went into a full gallop down the dark street leading away from the school. A loud, familiar, screeching could be heard from the dark place behind you. No. No looking back, no looking back. Just get away. Just get away. You were free now Luna. You just had to get away. Far away.

Screw that school and everything inside.

~~~~