All Ends With Beginnings

You let out a deep sigh as you picked your self up.

The pain has subdued itself, while not entirely, to a point to where you could move with out the feeling of being flogged by hot nails and sharp glass with every step. You picked yourself up and grabbed your bag. Heading over to the door in the main hall that led to the stairwell.

You pushed up against it.

You weren’t surprised. Locked. You expected such, but you grumbled under your breath all the same.

“Great...now I must go and fin-”

*ding*

You turned your attention to the front desk. Its bell having been rung by the pedestrian behind it.

Without breaking its thousand yard stare, it used its free hand to reach under the counter and grab a small pink key and an envelope. It reached its bony appendage out towards you.

You inspected the monster for a moment, looking at the items in his hands and back towards its face.

“Is that...for us?”

The monster didn’t move. It maintained its empty and emotionless expression. The candle it held casting a soft warm light onto its face.

You slowly approached the items in its hands, unsure of how it would react. You reached out and grabbed the items in your teeth and pulled away. The creature slowly let his arm back down by his side.

“Mmhmm…” You used your telekinesis and took a look at the key.

A bright hot pink covered most of the body, while the teeth were painted a baby blue. You placed the key behind the envelope and opened it.

”You have made it this far. You have not yet failed. Though beware. Though half the clime is over, half the clime yet remains. And these are steep cliffs. Graviora manent!”

“Is this really all we need to continue? No monsters guarding it, no horrible hallways full of vermin? Could it really be this-” You looked back up to the pedestrian to find him further back in the office.

He was...um...you were not entirely sure. Holding a book in his free hand, he placed his face within the book, in between its pages, and was pulling back and forth on the book massaging its head between the paper. It stopped only for a second to slowly look at you before turning its attention back toward the book. Pulling the book away and pushing it back towards its faceless head.

You slowly began to back away and placed a hoof on the door handle to the stairwell. You bid fare well to the strange character you were witnessing with just a slight bit of awkwardness in your tone.

“Well...we see that you are busy. We appreciate your help, but we will be on our way. Fare well! And uhm...have a good rest of the shift, yes.”

With a nod you unlocked and pulled open the door, closing it with a roll of the eyes.

“Why Anonymous made them so strange is beyond me. Are the strangers he see everyday really this strange or is it poetic hyperbole?”

You weren’t really sure. Not that it mattered now. You stared into the hall way ahead of you.

It maintained the same level of warmth and cleanliness of the front lobby.

The smell of indigo and oranges matched the look of the hallways, all painted in a magnificent orange only slightly darker than that of Element Applejack’s coat.

You pulled out the roster you obtained from Anon’s previous place of work.

“Room 201. Only one floor above me.”

You looked up toward the ceiling.

“Maker! Please give us fortune that paths will not be locked, and neither doors locked. And if they must be, then we pray for the strength to overcome them.”

You looked ahead down the softly lit corridor.

“I’m coming Anonymous.”

You pressed on down the corridor. This building was filled with unusually sweet things. The aroma was nice and filled with a mixture of scents that went surprisingly well together. The ambient temperature was a nice and toasty warmth. The newly discovered white circles in the ceiling, which were probably speakers, played more of the muffled soft music, calming and fitting to the atmosphere.

Human music was...nice.

The carpet underneath your hooves were soft and relaxing. The whole environment made every tense muscle in you relax. Your body moved slightly with the beats of the music playing from the ceiling. You let a nice, warm grin grow on your face.

You whipped your head back, getting some of your mane out of your face. You were going to enjoy this amazing change of environment. The numbers started at 100 at the beginning of the hallway and got higher as you walked down it.

The stairwell itself was actually somewhere in the back from what the signs said. A little bit nonsensical and an inconvenience to those living on higher floors.

But hey, if the apartments seemed this nice all the time, you wouldn’t complain. You made it to the stairs and ascended them. Each wooden step had the appearance of dark oak. The lacquer on each on making them shine.

Reaching the top second floor, you went back down the hall way to make it to your final destination. You allowed your self to get lost in thought for a minute. If this is where Anonymous lived, you wouldn’t mind living here yourself. If this was supposed to be some run down mess, you could only imagine what the other buildings would look like if they weren’t as run down.

Your dopey grin grew a little wider. Living here...with Anon. Imagining a world where you were an average mare just to come home to a cozy and welcoming apartment, just to greet Anonymous and fall asleep in each other arms on a couch in front of one of those black boxes, that all sounded so blissful.

You enjoyed the warmth that built in your cheeks as you blushed over the thought. Though maybe this was all just you fantasizing over sweet thoughts while the moment was finally peaceful. A true break from the horrors you’ve been through. You turned down the next corner.

*skksssssssssss*

The music coming from the speakers stopped suddenly. You irked a cringed back a little bit. The static catching you off guard. A still silence filled the void once occupied by the calming music. You looked around for a moment to see what could have caused it.

“This can’t be good.”

The all too familiar feeling of unease came back to you.

Nothing really seemed to change. But the silence had come on so suddenly you couldn’t help but feel unnerved. The bad feeling in your stomach came back, you felt a lot worse now. The itching dread washed over you, something felt so wrong. Like something horrible was about to happen.

“Well...the calm was good while it lasted.”

You had to get serious again. This all must have been a sign.

You only had a hallway and a door to get through and you’d be in Anon’s apartment. You could feel it in your bones, THIS was the end. You were about three meters from the door when you heard it.

From one of the rooms you could hear thudding and banging around.

”Gah! Fuck!”

You could hear something heavy hit the ground from across the walls. One of the lights in the hall way began flickering, all the way down at the end. You cantered over to the door.

”You were NEVER supposed to come back!” A loud crunch was heard, followed by a thud.

You stopped at the door, by the time you got there the light flickered and went out.

Room 201.

This door was far different from the rest in the hallway. The wood was rotting and the knob was rusted. The only thing to your left was a small area that lead to a patio. You were at the end of the hallway.

”F-fuck! W-where did he? FUCKING BASTARD!”

“Anon? Anonymous!”

You worked the door handle. It appeared to be unlocked but it was so rusted it would barely give. No, you weren’t about to be stopped by a door knob. You backed up and slammed into the door, opening it with a loud slam.

“Guh!.”

You fell onto the floor, your poor bag having been through so much finally ripped open and spilled some of its contents out. You picked yourself up, rubbing the part of your shoulder you used as a battering ram. Across the room laid Anonymous, slowly getting up off the ground.

It had looked like he had just gotten into a fight.

“Anonymous! I’m here, I’m final-”

”You!”

He stumbled, propping himself against the table.

“Y-yes, me! Anonymous, I’m here to help I really mean it!”

”NO! N-no...no you’re here for something else, I KNOW it!”

He wiped his nose with his sleeve. He looks like he had previously been weeping. And...in a fight?

A blood splatter stained his gray hoodie.

“Anon, are you alright? Why do you have dried tears on your face? What’s with the blood?”

”FUCK OFF! I KNOW WHAT YOU WANT!”

“S-so you will let me help you?”

”Help me? ME? No, I know why you’re REALLY here!”

Anonymous pointed an accusatory finger at you. He seemed far more angry than before. You quickly tried to diffuse the situation.

“Anonymous, please, rest easy. I have come far and have been through a lot of horrible situation just so I could find and help you. What I do, I do out of love...a-as a friend.”

Anonymous gave a fake chuckle, not noticing your slip up.

”No! No, you are probably here for the same FUCKING reason the purple shit stain came. You want me to “open up”, right?”

“Anonymous please, you must cooperate with me. We are both rational animals with a voice.”

”No! You know what? Fuck you, fuck purple shit, and fuck myself!”

“Anon, you mustn’t be obscene, we can-”

”No! I’ll give you what you fucking want! You want me to open up, you want me to tell you what happened to me...and would you look at that.”

He grabbed the ‘L’ shaped piece of metal on the floor that fell out of your bag.

You don’t know why, but your heart sank.

“Anonymous...Anon, I don’t know what that is, but please put it down. Yes, I want to know what happened and I want you to open up, but it’s nothing to be scared of. I care for you!”

”NO! No. Nononononononono.!” Anon grabbed his head in pain.

”You don’t get it! I don’t want help! I was free! Free from everything you just went through! I hate opening myself up, I hate discussing or showing this! It makes me have to relive every gruesome memory of my FUCKED life! Just like with that FUCKING book.”

You shrank back. Thinking back in hindsight it was almost funny that you almost died at the hands of those monsters. Greater demons wouldn’t have phased you in Equestria, though to your credit, you were wounded and constantly low on magic.

But here in front of Anon was a different story. This was someone you had a deep emotional bond with. A young but close friendship. And he was screaming at you like you were a naughty foal. You could only whimper out pleads now. Fresh tears moistened and matted the fur under your eyes.

“A-anon, I only w-wish to help you i-in your troubles.”

”Oh...I’m about to give you all the fucking help you’ll need. You asked me before why I didn’t try to leave like last time. I didn’t think it could be done, but might as well try now.”

He pulled out another long piece of metal with what appeared to be metal pellets inside. He slid the metal piece into the broad end and then pulled back the metal on the barrel.

Your eyes remained fixed on the object in Anon’s hand.

“A-anon, w-what is-”

”You want to help me SO fucking bad? You want me to open up! YOU WANT ME TO SHOW YOU HOW I GOT OUT OF HERE? YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT FUCKING HAPPENED TO ME?”

“Anon I-I...”

”YOU WANTED THIS! HAVE FUN CLEANING MY BRAINS OFF THE WALL! FUCK YOU!

“ANON!?”

Anonymous turned the barrel end of what he carried into his mouth and pulled the trigger.

*BANG*

It all happened so fast. Way too fast. The loud sound of an explosion, the red and pink matter splattered against the off white walls. And Anon’s body falling to the floor. The speed of it all is what caused your lagged reaction.

You had to stare at the corpse for several long seconds before you could fully grasp what had just happened.

You began to hyperventilate, tears flowed from your eyes freely.

And then the screaming, the horrid, ear piercing screaming. You wailed at such a volume you could hear the windows shake. You began to choke on the sobs. You cried out his name over and over again. Begging for the sight in front of you to not have been real.

You crawled slowly to the body of your friend. Everything you went through. All the challenges you faced. The monsters, the buildings. For this? You hovered over Anon’s body. Blood pooled from the wound in the back of his head.

“W-why! Why why why why why...”

You nuzzled your snout into Anons necks. You squeezed his body as you rocked back and forth. You never got to express your true feelings to him. You couldn’t help the shaking running through your body. You shuttered and choked on tears. Anon’s blood soaked into your fur as it began to pool around and spill onto you. The muffled screaming and sobbing felt like it went on for hours, your throat was hoarse, it itched with pain. You nuzzled deep into him and squeezed your eyes tight, embracing your Anonymous. Squeezing him into you.

The sobbing died down. You lay there a husk of what you once felt like. You didn’t even try to think about it, you couldn’t. Rationalizing it would be too much. No memories on the past, no dwelling on what anything in this damned book meant, just your clutching on to Anon in a world you still don’t know the way out of. You sniffed as fresher tears came to water your cheeks.

You were still here. In the journal, with a dead friend, and plenty of demons waiting to peel off your skin outside.

Something brushed up against you. You pulled in Anonymous close as you shot a glare behind you.

Nothing was there.

You glance down, terror and confusion washed over you. Anon had rested his hand on your flank. A tug from your mane pulled you back down to Anonymous’ chest. You struggled to pull away. Screaming and crying, begging to be spared.

Anonymous replied with covering your muzzled with his hand.

”It still hurts.”

The floorboards began to splinter and crack. The paint on the walls began to chip and become rapidly infested with mold. You desperately tried to free yourself from Anon’s grasp. The floor gave out from underneath the both of you. You began falling. Falling into darkness.

~~~~