Nothing.
Empty...
...
Suddenly, a void.
A dark space. No light goes in and none comes out. No definition of up or down.
It expands. Outwards, in every direction. Endless. Repeating. Eternal.
Something lurking. Beyond the border, beyond what is possible.
It growls. It comes closer.
Steps lurk in the distance. Tiny splashes of a thick, unknown liquid.
Then it stops. It bears its teeth.
You listen.
Silence. Then a drop. It falls from its mouth into the endless void. Dripping more of the thick, dark substance.
Your heartbeat quickens.
Then, all of a sudden, the noise stops. And you are left in the void.
Thoughts fly through and out your head. Never acknowledging. Never knowing.
The void, this empty space, somehow thickens like a fog.
You find it hard to breath.
Then, small, little eyes peer at you through the dark.
You try to move your legs, but they're unresponsive. You look down, but they're not there.
Looking up, something seems off. The eyes are closer.
Your breath quickens. Your heartbeat thunders in your chest.
It comes closer. Looming over you.
It reaches out a dark, slimy hand. It reaches over your face until...
A gasp filled the room. A pegasus bolted out of her bed, body sweating. She stared intensively at her hooves, still blue like the sky. Then she got up and looked in the mirror. Her mane was a prismatic color and she had deep magenta eyes, plagued by sags of darker fur underneath them.
Quickly, she left the confinements of her soft cloud bed and made her way into the hall. It was dark. For a moment, she could've swore she heard someone else breathing...
Flicking on the lights, she headed towards the front of her house with her kitchen and living room. It was comfy, casual. You could lay on it and pass out in five minutes.
Frantically, she checked outside her windows, careful to not let anyone else that might be around know she's awake. She swallowed her spit.
"H-heh... See? You're paranoid. Go back to sleep..." she spoke to no one. She fretfully pawed at her doorhandle, pushing against it, though nothing happened. "G-good..."
She slowly turned herself around and walked sluggishly back to her bedroom, twitching occasionally and glancing behind her.
"I-I'm fine... Y-you're fine!" she seemingly yelled at herself, stomping a hoof. "S-sleep. Y-you need.. s-sleep..."
As she walked, she fidgeted with her hooves before finally making it back to her bedroom door. Staring at the handle, she whimpered.
Then, all of a sudden, a loud hum resonated through the house, coming from her home microwave. She flinched away from the door and shrunk to the floor slightly, eyeing the hallway to the kitchen.
"N-no, no no n-no," she muttered to herself. She focused her gaze back to the door. "N-not tonight! I'm not going over there!"
She shoved her bedroom door open and stepped forwards, her hoof landing on... nothing?
She shrieked as her body started falling away from the doorframe and into a deep, dark void. It was greeting her. Welcoming her.
"I'm not going back there!" she shouted, pulling herself back through the doorframe and slamming it shut. She backed away, slumping against the hallway wall before crying softly to herself. "W-why..?" she whispered to herself, rocking her body back and forth.
The microwave beeped, signaling it was done.
She turned herself away from the hall, trying to hide within her own body, covering it with her wings. "N-no! I'm n-not going there!" she shouted, closing her eyes.
The microwave beeped once more, signaling again that it was, indeed, done.
"No! I said no!" she shouted again, her voice going raw.
A loud bang sounded against the door, shaking it in its frame, causing dust to fall. "Okay, okay! I'm going! I'm g-going..." she cried.
She scrambled her way towards the microwave, stepping foot into the kitchen and staring at the door. Gulping, she took in a breath of air and held her breath, reaching her hoof forwards to open it. Inside laid a tiny note.
It begins.
The note evaporated into dust as her mind finished processing what was read.
When she turned around, she noticed that outside the windows were complete and utter darkness. A thick black substance covered them, squelching as it rolled down the window, a seemingly endless supply.
"Oh, no."
A knock sounded at the front door.
Her blood ran cold as a previous memory flashed through her mind. She dashed away from the front door, immediately locking herself behind a bathroom door, but not locking it. No, that would make it too obvious. She then hid herself underneath the sink cabinet, holding her breath.
A strange, gurgle sounded voice came from behind the front door. "Hide and seek," it spoke. And a second later, the front door burst off of its hinges and squelching steps set foot into the house.
Her heartbeat quickened as she heard the thing crawl through the house, slamming open doors as it searched. Until, eventually, the bathroom door burst open.
A shallow, raspy breath came from the beast. She heard the shower curtains shoved aside as it peered into the tub. She covered her mouth with her hooves and did not dare to let even the smallest breath escape.
Slowly, its steps left the room.
Then, when she could no longer hear the thing, she crawled out from under the cabinet and stepped back into the hall. She saw the thick, slimy trail run from the front door and survey through the house, flowing into each of the rooms.
Examining it still, she also noticed the trail go into the bathroom and out again, and as she kept following the path with her eyes, her eyes widened as she realized something.
The trail never left the house.
Suddenly, her back right hoof was grabbed by a thick slime and she was pulled backwards, into the beasts grip. She shouted as she tried to hit the thing off of her, thrashing as hard as she could to get away, but to no avail. The beast merely stared with its lifeless white eyes as more substance stretched out from its dark, nearly invisible body and around her face and forelegs.
She screamed in pain as the tendrils tightened around her body, crushing her skull as the thing started to stretch her body apart. Her vision turned red as her eyeballs popped out of their socket and her jaw dislocated as her lower abdomen started to rip, leaking blood everywhere.
And then, with one clean motion, she was ripped completely in half, the struggles against the creature stopping instantly. Her intestines dangled from her lower half as her stomach acid leaked down her upper body. Then, her body was dropped to the floor to pile up blood as her body began to rot and deteriorate.
She inhaled heavily as she sat up again, touching her lower body and face, making sure that everything was still intact. She was fine. Her legs were slightly submerged in the same dark substance clouding her windows and she looked around.
She was back. Again. In the void. She could've sworn she heard whispers in the shadows.
Then, the ground started to shake and a doorway emerged from the slime, slowly showing its presence directly in front of the pegasus. She recognized it.
It was her bedroom door.
Slowly, she stood, approaching the door and examining it. The slime dripped down the frame and doorhandle. It was in rough shape, too.
Reluctantly, she opened the door and stepped inside.
It was her bedroom. That was expected, but something was off. Outside, it was lifeless, the same substance covering the windows, still. Her Wonderbolts posters had began leaking the sticky substance from the eyes and mouths. However, her bed was perfectly unscathed. Her sheets were neatly tucked, the pillows were nice and plush; everything was perfect.
And just like the darkness before, sleep invited her. Unwillingly, her eyes began to droop and she dropped to the floor.
She gasped as she awoke for the third time, though this time, it was normal. Sunlight beamed through her windows. Birds were chirping. And when she walked into her hall, her front door was not damaged. There was no blood on the floor. She shuddered as she remembered...
But other than that? Completely fine.
"Hah," she chuckled to herself. "Hahahah!" She continued to laugh, almost maniacally until her laughter died down.
With a lifeless look in her eyes and a soulless smile, she left her house to complete her work for the day, dreading the night that would come.
Author's Note
A quick one-shot that may or may not have a sequel (depending on how well it's received).
Inspired by the demo I played for the new The Joy Of Creation (the remake). And I only beat the demo in three tries! Hah! Take that!
I don't know if I wrote this good or bad, as I've never really written in this style before and I kinda just pulled this story out of my ass. Feedback is welcome! As always, thanks for reading! 