Twilight’s head was spinning as she woke up, her vision was blurry and her legs were too weak to stand right away. It took a minute or two for her body to recover enough to stand up though her legs still shook slightly. She blinked the blurriness out of her eyes and looked around her, taking in her surroundings. She appeared to be in the entrance hall of an old mansion that had clearly not been lived in for decades. It was a large square room with a large staircase in the middle leading up to a second floor balcony. On the ground floor a door sat on the two walls either side of the staircase and another smaller door just to the right, hidden away in the corner of the room. The air was thick with dust and age, cobwebs decorated the walls and everything was covered in a thick layer of dust and grime. Looking behind her Twilight saw that the front doors had been sealed shut by a series of thick black chains, a single large padlock holding them in place. The large windows on each side had been boarded up with thick wooden planks sealing off any attempts to escape. Judging by the pale light coming through the gaps in the boards it was the dead of night outside. Twilight sat down on the worn carpet to wait for her legs to fully recover and try and take stock of her current situation. She couldn’t remember how she got here or the events leading up to it. She closed her eyes for a moment trying to think it over. She definitely remembered yesterday; she’d gone on a picnic with Spike and Rarity, after that she’d gone for a walk in the fields and… the more she tried to remember the events the harder it became and she eventually gave up.
“Well, there’s no use hanging around here,” she said aloud, standing up and facing the door. “A little unicorn magic and I can leave.”
A smug smile crossed the young unicorn’s face as a violet glow circled the short purple horn poking through her mane, the same glow surrounding the lock on the door. Before she could unlock it with her magic though a sudden pain shot through her head and she fell to the floor, clutching her horn as the magic faded.
“What… what just happened?” She asked aloud, taken completely by surprise.
Still rubbing her head she stood up again and looked back to the door, her eyes widening as they were drawn to the wall above. A message was beginning to form just above the door in thick, jagged black writing; it was like watching something dissolve backwards as each letter appeared slowly in a seemingly random order. Twilight felt herself shiver as the message revealed itself in full.
NO CHEATING
Twilight swallowed hard, looking cautiously over her shoulder at the room behind her, wondering if anypony was watching her.
“Is… is there anypony there?” She asked, timidly at first but then with slightly more volume. “Hello? What’s going on here, where am I?”
No answer came. The silence was beginning to unnerve Twilight and she looked back to the door again and then to the message above it, a frown crossing her face.
“If I can’t open it with magic then I guess I have to find another way,” she said, the logical part of her brain taking over. “If there’s a lock then there must be a key somewhere in here.”
She looked over her shoulder again, a look of concern crossing her face. She had no idea how big this house was and the key could be anywhere.
“Best start looking then.” She tried to remain calm but her voice betrayed her nervous state.
She took a deep breath and trotted across the room, climbing the stairs to the second floor balcony and looking up and down it finding that the balcony extended beyond the limits of the entrance hall. There was a door right in front of her, several scratches and scrapes covering its surface, it did not look the least bit inviting. She had little choice though and pushed the door open with one hoof. The door was stiff and required a bit more force before it began to open with a loud creak. The room beyond the door was too dark to see so Twilight lit up her horn, hesitating at first lest whatever force preventing her from opening the front door strike again. But nothing seemed to happen this time and she stepped into the room, her horn bathing the room in violet light.
The room was very small with a set of shelves and cupboards lining the walls, Twilight suspected it may have been some sort of storage room at one point. In the middle of the room was an old wooden chair with something sitting on it. With a jolt Twilight realized it was a stuffed toy of a purple unicorn, a neat purple mane with violet streaks decorating it, a stuffed toy of herself. Twilight took a step closer, the light from the horn bathing the toy as she inspected it closer, noticing that the doll didn’t seem to have any eyes. She spotted a scrap of paper underneath the doll and using her magic telekinetically lifted the paper out from under the doll. The paper seemed about as old and worn as the rest of the house, the ink was blotched and faded but still legible.
Hello Twilight Sparkle
I want to play a game. Do you like games, Twilight Sparkle? How about a nice game of chess? Doesn’t that sound like fun? Actually, I have an even better idea! This is a really fun one. All you have to do is find a way out, easy right? Just follow all my clues and you’ll eventually find the exit.
Good luck my little pony.
Twilight felt her stomach turn slightly, not only was there a doll that looked just like her in a house that had been abandoned for years but also a note addressed directly to her. It did at least solve one mystery; somepony must have brought her here. She scanned the room again, finding a saddle bag on one of the shelves which she gladly took, finding a map of the mansion in it as well as a red colored pen. Using her magic she used the pen to circle the room she was currently standing in and drew a crude lock above the front door, if she kept track of where she’d been and what she was doing then she should be done with this ‘game’ in no time. She rolled up the map and slipped it into her new saddle bag before trotting out of the room, thinking it best to start downstairs and work her way through the mansion. After returning to the entrance hall she took out the map again to see which of the three doors led where. The one to her right led to a dining hall and the one on her left led to a living room, the one next to the stairs appeared to be a basement. Since both the dining hall and the living room seemed to have other doors leading to the rest of the mansion she decided to clear the basement first and so she trotted over to the small door and attempted to push it open, however the door didn’t budge. She tried using her magic to pull the door open but that achieved the same result. Confused Twilight looked around and spied another message on the wall just next to the door.
If you’re stuck, try thinking sideways.
“Sideways?” Twilight repeated before slapping her own forehead with her hoof. “That one is so obvious! If you can’t go forwards or backwards…” Her magic surrounded the door once again and she slide it sideways with a triumphant grin “…you go sideways!”
Feeling a slight sense of pride Twilight stepped through the door, descending down a set of old wooden steps into the basement, using her horn to light the way again. The basement was in an even worse state of repair than the rest of the house. The walls were cracked and filthy, the floor covered with bits of plaster from the ceiling and several old wooden beams appeared to be holding the rest of it up. She began to examine the room further, finding a small safe attached to a strange device. It appeared to be a metal bar with three pins attached to it, each pin suspended slightly by a floating balloon with face painted on it, each balloon showing a different expression. The first one was a sad face, the second an angry face and the third was a happy face. Twilight examined this odd setup for a moment before the light from her horn caught something else, anther note dangling from a string on the ceiling. Using her magic Twilight tore the note off the string and began to read it, finding another message in the same blotchy handwriting as the last.
Do you like balloons Twilight Sparkle? They’re so much fun until they pop. If you can pop the balloons in the right order then you can open the safe and get a prize. I won’t tell you the order but I can give you a clue: Carlos stubbed his toe, Alex won a prize, and Billy lost his dog.
“Odd names,” Twilight muttered to herself, but thought nothing of it.
Twilight read the note several times, paying close attention to the short riddle at the end before looking back at the three balloons. A frown crossed her face; the obvious answer would be that they went in the order presented in the riddle. A person who stubbed their toe would no doubt be angry, a person who won a prize would be happy and a person who lost their dog would be sad. But the logical part of Twilight’s brain kept nagging her and telling her that answer was too obvious and there must be a reason for the names, otherwise why include them in the riddle? A sudden inspiration hit Twilight, the three names began with C, A and B, the first three letters of the alphabet. If she arranged the three based on alphabetical order then she would get Alex, Billy and Carlos, which meant the order would be Happy, Sad and then Angry. She turned to the balloons and, using her magic, prepared to pop them. The happy face burst first, revealing that it was filled with confetti.
“Odd,” Twilight muttered, but thought nothing of it.
The sad face burst next, showering the floor with poppy seeds. Twilight turned to the final balloon, her magic surrounding it. A sudden scream filled the room as the balloon burst, showing both Twilight and the walls with something thick and red and causing her to jump back in surprise, her heart racing for a moment. It didn’t take long for her to calm down as she surveyed the scene, staring at the mess caused by the last balloon.
“It’s probably just red paint,” she assured herself, though she wasn’t even sure she believed that herself.
She quickly shook herself down, clearing most of the red stuff off her mane and coat but still leaving a slight stain. Once she’d recovered from the sudden shock she turned to the safe to find it had indeed opened and Twilight used her magic to open the door further and examine its contents, finding nothing but a small square block with a letter E carved into it.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” Twilight asked aloud.
Nevertheless she put the piece into her saddle bag; no doubt it was for use in another puzzle game later. As she turned to leave she heard a loud thud from the floor above her, a few more bits of loose plaster falling from the ceiling. Taken by surprise Twilight turned the light from her horn off, plunging the room into darkness as she stood stock still, listening. Something was moving about upstairs, she could hear heavy footsteps shift around, sounding almost as if it were searching for something as it went back and forth across the room. She heard a loud bang and the room shook again, apparently whatever it was had walked into a wall or something. After a moment or two whatever it was seemed to give up, the heavy footsteps becoming more distant until the room was completely silent.
She turned her horn light back on and quickly left the basement, taking out her map to cross it off as she went. She soon found herself back in the entrance hall and quickly made her way to the door leading to the living room, pushing it open slowly and peeking through the gap in the door. The room appeared as deserted as the rest with a few pieces of old furniture scattered about as well as a large bookshelf covered in cobwebs. She pushed the door open all the way and froze, staring into the room in horror.
In the light coming through a large boarded window she could see the shape of another pony lying on the floor, their legs splayed out in all directions. Twilight took a few slow steps closer to examine the body; it was a sand brown pony with a chocolate colored mane. She approached the body and gave it a nudge with her hoof causing it to slide over, its flank now bathed in the light from the window. Where a cutie mark should have been instead there was a set of bold red letters in an all too familiar handwriting.
GAME OVER
Twilight quickly retreated from the body, looking around the room in case anything that might have caused the poor mare’s untimely demise was still around, her thoughts going back to the noises she’d heard just moments earlier. Her eyes fell on a door to the far end of the room opposite the window, realizing suddenly that whatever room lay beyond must have been where the sounds she’d heard in the basement had come from. She looked back at the body again, noticing that its eye were wide open and bloodshot and a look of horror seemed to be frozen upon its face.
Reluctantly Twilight trotted over to the door and pushed it open slowly, peering through to see a long empty corridor with more boarded up windows along the right hoof side. She crept through the door slowly, keeping an ear out for whatever she’d heard up here before and made her way along the hall. A series of paintings hung on the wall to her left, but they were all so faded with time that Twilight could barely make out anything aside from vague shapes. Eventually she spied a door along the wall and made to push it open.
“DON’T OPEN THAT!” A voice yelled from the other side.
Twilight backed away in panic, staring at the door for a moment before approaching it slowly. She could hear somepony else on the other side, apparently sobbing. It sounded like a stallion probably around her age if not older.
“Hello?” She said.
The voice didn’t reply, another sound accompanied his sobs, a sound like dipping your hoof into jelly and then something tearing, soon followed by a scream of pain.
“Are… are you okay?” Twilight called through the door. “Here, if I come in I can…”
“NO!” The voice replied. “Don’t… don’t come in… it’ll see me, it’ll know where I am!”
This confused Twilight and she tried to peer through the keyhole, but could only see the wall at the other end of the room.
“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked.
“The… the thing in the house,” the stallion replied. “It doesn’t have any eyes of its own, so it uses yours. I saw it happen with the others. They looked and it saw them and it… it…” The voice was swallowed by further sobs as the stallion tried and failed to finish his sentence.
Twilight kept quiet as she continued to listen to the sobbing stallion. The stallion then fell silent for a moment; a soft creaking sound could be heard on the other side of the door. Twilight guessed that the stallion was standing up.
“I… I tried keeping my eyes closed but…that… That doesn’t work,” he sobbed. “I… I just had to see, I had to open them. I tried everything, I tried wrapping a scarf around them, I tried keeping my hooves pressed to my head but… but I just had to see. It’s this place, you can’t keep your eyes shut you have to open them, you have to see!”
Twilight was only further confused by this explanation. She tried peering through the keyhole again but could only make out the stallion’s flank; he was dark blue with a thin white tail and a bright blue bottle shaped cutie mark.
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked. “What are you even talking about?”
“This place just feels unnatural, it gets to you somehow and… and I had to find another way, make sure I couldn’t see so… so it couldn’t see either.”
Twilight felt her stomach drop slightly as she began to piece together what the sound was and why the stallion was sobbing.
“Anyway I’m… I’m just gonna stay here,” the stallion said. “It can’t find me anymore, so I’m safe. I… I need some sleep.”
The stallion left Twilight’s view through the keyhole and she stepped back from the door, considering kicking it down to try and talk some sense into the crazy pony but decided against it.
“Well, once I find a way out I’ll come back for you,” she said, marking the stallion’s room on the map so she’d remember it later.
The stallion didn’t reply. Twilight decided not to stick around and began trotting along the hallway once more, keeping an ear out for the thing that the stallion had been talking about. The hallway was a lot longer than she’d first thought and there were several other doors along the way though all of them were either locked or boarded up and Twilight didn’t want to try and force them open with magic after what had happened earlier. Eventually she found that the hall came to an end with a small oak door. As she approached she could make out a message carved into the wood.
Are we having fun yet?
Twilight snorted in annoyance, glaring at the message with a look of distain
“I most certainly am not,” she said aloud, stomping on the floor with her hoof and glaring angrily at the message.
She probably should’ve kept her big mouth shut, for as soon as she said that another message began to carve itself just under the first.
Well, we can’t have that
The hallway shook all of a sudden and the sound of heavy and rapid footsteps met Twilight’s ears. She froze for a moment, ears flattening against her head as the footsteps drew closer. Quickly as she could Twilight opened the door ahead of her and dashed through, pulling it closed and cowering on the other side. Shutting her eyes tight and shivering with her back against the door. The footsteps drew closer before coming to a sudden stop. Twilight could hear heavy breathing on the other side of the door as the thing came to a halt, apparently searching for her. Eventually the creature turned to leave, its heavy footfalls and breathing growing ever fainter as it made its way back along the hallway. Twilight could hear sounds of it brushing along the wall and knocking a few paintings to the floor as it went. Eventually the hallway fell silent and Twilight finally opened her eyes, finding herself in a stairwell with moonlight shining through a small window on the landing above. Twilight quickly ascended the steps, not wishing to spend any more time on the same floor as a monster that was no doubt responsible for the dead pony she’d found earlier.
At the top of the stairs she found another door kept locked by a strange device with a small square indent in it. Another riddle was written across the wall next to the door.
I am the beginning of the end, and the end of time and space. I am essential to creation, and I surround every place. What am I?
Twilight read the riddle several times, running it over in her head. She had to admit, this one had her stumped.
“Perhaps I’m over thinking it,” she said aloud, sitting down on the floor and tapping her head. “All these riddles point to something so once I figure it out I just need to…”
She paused, her eyes falling on the square indent in the door’s lock. A bulb lit up in her head as she remembered something. She floated the small wooden block she’d found in the basement out of her saddle bag and examined it.
“Of course,” she said aloud. “E is at the start of ‘end’, the end of ‘time’ and ‘space’ and it’s at either end of ‘every place’!”
She floated the small block over to the lock. It fitted snugly into the mechanism causing it to open with a satisfying click. The door swung open slowly and Twilight stepped through, finding herself in a new hallway. This one branching in front of her and to her right, a faded red carpet and old wood paneled walls decorating it. Twilight looked down each hall and decided to take the one to the right, having to use her horn to light the way again as there were no windows along this one to provide any light.
“The sooner I can get out of this place the better,” she muttered to herself.
She’d barely made any progress when she came upon a series of wooden planks haphazardly nailed together and fixed to either wall, blocking her path. Twilight decided against trying to kick them down and instead turned her attention to a door to her right just next to the blockage. Placing one hoof on the door she pushed it open and walked through. It took her about a second to register that the floor in the room had completely collapsed and she almost stepped over the edge, just managing to catch herself before she toppled over. She scurried back a few paces, looking down at the hole where the floor should be and seeing a pit of sharp, rusted spikes on the floor below, a couple of other ponies lying amongst them all with the same ‘GAME OVER’ mark on their flanks. Twilight closed the door quickly and turned away from the door.
“Well, that was a dead end,” she said, not even attempting to hide the nervousness in her voice.
She proceeded back along the corridor, turning the corner to go along the other hallway at a rather faster pace than normal, getting anxious to find the way out lest she fall victim to whatever was stalking the halls. She soon came upon a pair of oak double doors to her right, a lock similar to the one she’d found in the stairwell holding them shut. A brass plaque was placed on one of the doors and Twilight was able to use her horn to read it despite the obvious age.
“A library!” She exclaimed excitedly, forgetting where she was for a moment. “That’s perfect, maybe I’ll find a book telling me what the hay is going on around here.”
She turned to examine the lock; it seemed more or less the same as the previous one meaning she just had to find a small block with the right letter on it. The other door had a riddle written upon it and she quickly moved to examine it.
What is in seasons, seconds, centuries and minutes but not in decades, years or days?
Twilight almost rolled her eyes at this one, given the answer to the last riddle had been a letter and the similarity of the set up for this one it was likely a letter as well.
“That’s easy,” she said aloud. “It’s the letter N, you have an N in seasons, seconds, centuries and minutes, but not in decades, years or days.”
She looked up and down the hallway for a moment. Even if she had the answer she still needed to find a block with the appropriate letter. She proceeded along the rest of the hall, trotting at a brisk pace now that she seemed to have a clear goal in mind rather than just getting out. She soon came to the end of the hall, the way was blocked by more planks and there was another door to her right with another strange contraption bolted to it though this one was unlike the first two. It was a large three by three square grid with a series of nine buttons set into it each with a faded design painted on them showing Fire, Clouds, Apples, Eggs, a Heart, a Cross, a Candle, Stars, and Flowers.
“How the hay am I supposed to work this one out?” Twilight asked herself.
Twilight heaved a sigh and looked over to her right, finding some more pieces of writing on the wall, each one bearing a different riddle.
I am always hungry,
I must always be fed,
The hoof I touch,
Will soon turn red
My life can be measured in hours,
I serve by being devoured.
Thin, I am quick
Fat, I am slow
Wind is my foe.
If you break me
I do not stop working,
If you touch me
I may be snared,
If you lose me
Nothing will matter.
“Well, this shouldn’t take long,” she said as she squatted down in front of the riddles to examine them. “Let’s see, the first one must be something that burns you. Of course, one of the buttons is fire, so that must be the first one.”
The other two were a little more tricky however and Twilight sat there for quite a while running them over in her head. Eventually she shook her head and stared back at the grid on the door.
“The answers must be one of the symbols on the door,” she muttered. “So, which ones match the riddles.”
Her gaze first fell on the button with the candle and a bulb seemed to turn on in her head.
“Yes, that’s it!” she cried aloud. “Thin candles are faster than fatter candles and you can blow them out. Okay, so Fire then Candle, what’s next?”
She repeated the remaining images in her head, trying to see if any of them matched up to the final riddle, eventually coming to Heart. She almost had to slap herself when she finished thinking that one over.
“A pony with a broken heart will still have their heart beating,” she told herself. “Okay, time to open this thing.”
She poked each of the correct switches with her hoof and sure enough a soft click sounded and the door swung slowly open. Twilight found herself in a large bedroom, complete with a four poster bed surrounded by faded and torn curtains, an open wardrobe covered with dust and cobwebs, some old drawers with a small jewelry box on top and a large circular mirror set into one wall and covered with dust and grime. She wandered around the room for a moment, opening each of the drawers in turn and finding nothing in them and was unable to open the jewelry box. Finding nothing she then turned to the bed and drew the curtains aside to find six baby ponies hanging by their necks.
The sight behind the curtains took her by surprise at first but after taking a moment to calm down she realized it was merely six stuffed pony dolls hanging from the ceiling by string. Upon closer inspection Twilight noticed one of them had a dark blue coat and a white mane and tail like the stallion she’d talked to earlier and another had the same brown coloring as the dead mare in the living room. Each doll had a letter sewn into their chest, the dark blue stallion’s doll had an A, the mare’s a K and the rest bore a T, a C, an M and an E. Looking at the wall just above the end of the bed Twilight saw a message on the wall with a note underneath it.
Free the innocent pony
Using her magic she took the note off the wall and held it in front of herself so that she could read it.
"Dead mares, dead mares, swinging in a tree
How many dead mares do you see?
Tongue turned blue and face gone grey
Watch them as they twist and sway
The first one killed the butcher’s colt
Then cooked him in the frying pot
Served him to his hungry guests
And gave them seconds on request
The next one with his smile and sweets
Stole poor fillies off the streets
To those who dressed unsavory
He sold them into slavery
Breaking into home at night
The thief he had a nasty fright
Filled his foolish head with ale
Woke in the morn in the county jail
The artist with his daunting skill
Tried his hoof at painting bills
But caught in rain he was undone
When the ink he’d use did start to run
With promises of great return
Taking gold he did not earn
Bundled it up out of sight
Quietly slipped off into night
Three houses into ashes burned
The sheriff with no place to turn
Did spy a stranger in his town
Locked him up and beat him down
Dead mares, dead mares, swinging in a tree
How many dead mares do you see?
Six feet long and six mares wide
Round their necks the noose be tied."
“Oh great.” Twilight almost groaned. The riddles were starting to get longer.
There were several more words written on the wall, each one beginning with a larger letter drawn in red, Arsonist, Kidnapper, Thief, Counterfeiter, Murderer and Embezzler. Twilight heaved a sigh and sat down again to think.
“Okay… there are six dolls and six words, so each one corresponds to a doll, and since each one has a letter on them then they obviously match to the crimes beginning with that letter, now the next question is…” She looked to the message on the wall again and back to the note, “...which is the right one.”
The obvious part was that each verse referred to a different crime so she spent a minute or two linking each verse with the appropriate word.
“Got it,” Twilight said triumphantly. “The innocent one is the arsonist; the sheriff in the verse just arrested a random stranger so he’s innocent of the crime he was accused of.”
She looked to the hanging dolls to quickly check the letters again and her stomach dropped slightly when she realized it was the doll with the same coloration as the stallion she met downstairs. Hesitantly she took hold of the doll with her magic, a violet glow encircling it, and tugged on it. The doll lowered slowly, the unsettling sound of creaking rope following, and once she’d pulled it as far as it would go she heard a soft click behind her. Twilight turned around and saw the jewelry box open and quickly trotted over to it, spotting another small wooden block with the letter N on it.
“Yes!” She cried excitedly, taking the block out and dashing out of the room.
She dashed back to the library and slotted the block into the lock mechanism. A second later the lock opened with a soft click and Twilight pulled the doors open. Her enthusiasm quickly melted as her horn’s light bathed the room. A scene of utter chaos was laid out before her. Bookshelves were smashed apart and scattered about the room, books were torn up, the carpet and wallpaper had been slashed repeatedly and red stains covered everything. By far the most disturbing thing though was the three or four dead ponies in the middle of the room, their coats and manes matching the colors on the dolls in the bedroom and all of them had GAME OVER written where their cutie mark should have been. Twilight felt sick, for a moment she considered simply closing the door and leaving but she still had to find out what was going on.
Taking a deep breath she reluctantly trotted forwards, stepping over the body of a mare just in front of the door. Truth be told, there didn’t seem to be anything in this room that could help her. All the books were either torn to pieces or so stained with blood that they’d be impossible to read. As she reached the middle of the room however the light from her horn illuminated something just in front of the body of a snow white unicorn. She telekinetically took the grubby book from under the mare’s hooves and lifted it up to examine it closer, finding it to be a diary. She opened it up to find a series of hastily scribbled entries, each one becoming more and more rushed as they went on. Twilight began reading the first entry.
My name is Bright Star; I found this diary in one of the rooms so I thought I’d write down what’s happening in case I don’t make it. I don’t know how I got here but I’m trapped here now, I tried using magic to open the lock on the door but it didn’t work. This place is so strange, every room I look in there are riddles and puzzles, something brought me here, it wants me to play a game. I have to get out of here.
I found some others; there are ten of us now. I don’t remember all of their names but at least its company. There’s something else in this house with us, I can hear it wandering about upstairs and I don’t think it’s another pony. I found a dead pony earlier in the kitchen too, I think whatever it is must have killed him.
I’m not sure how, but the monster seems to know where we are no matter where we go, it’s like it can see us at all times. We were in the dining room when we heard it coming down the hall and we all scattered. Me and Chocolate ran to hide in the living room, I swear the thing didn’t see us and yet the next thing I knew it had burst through the door. I hid behind one of the sofas and could barely look at what was happening. I heard Chocolate scream and the next thing I knew the thing was right next to me, I could hear it breathing. And then it left, I have no idea why but it just didn’t see me.
I think I know what’s going on. The thing chasing us, it’s not that it can see us; it sees ‘through’ us, that’s why it didn’t kill me when I had my eyes shut. I think it can see through all of us at once too, that’s how it knew we were all together. I think Blue Bottle has worked it out as well, he’s started wrapping scarves around his eyes and has locked himself in a room downstairs and won’t let us in. I think he’s been here the longest and this place has started getting to him. I think it’s starting to get to the rest of us too.
There are only seven of us left now, Blue Bottle still hasn’t come out and Gale Wind fell down a pit full of spikes. He’d already broken his wings when we were trying to get away before so he wasn’t able to fly back out. Three of the others are planning on making a break for it to try and find a way out. The rest of us have decided to barricade ourselves in the library, its big enough for all of us. It can only be a matter of time before somepony finds us, somepony has to find us.
The rest of the entries were either covered with stains or had the pages torn out so Twilight couldn’t read any more. Her gaze hovered over the body of Bright Star for a moment before she softly brushed the unicorn’s mane with her hoof.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly, sorrow leaking from her voice.
She felt her stomach drop suddenly as she heard heavy footsteps coming along the hallway, the thing was back again and Twilight realized suddenly that it knew exactly where she was, at the scene of its last mass slaughter. She quickly dropped to the floor and shut her eyes, shutting off her horn light for all the good it would do her, and tried to remain perfectly still. She could hear the monster coming closer; despite being effectively blind it seemed to know its way around the mansion pretty well, Twilight guessed it had been here for quite some time. The floor creaked as the creature entered the room. She could hear its heavy breathing as it moved along searching for her, unable to locate her visually so no doubt trying to find her through smell. Twilight was suddenly grateful for all the blood in the room as it was no doubt confusing the beast’s senses.
Twilight knew all she had to do was keep her eyes shut until the creature gave up and left, however as the seconds crept by slowly her eyelids began to itch as if something was attempting to pry them open. Twilight covered her eyes with her hooves, willing them to remain closed as the creature stalked back and forth across the room. The sensation grew steadily stronger and Twilight almost forgot about the creature standing just feet away from her as she tried to fight whatever force was affecting her. After what seemed like an eternity the creature turned and began to walk out of the room. But Twilight’s didn’t dare breathe a sigh of relief. She still had to keep her eyes shut until the creature was far enough away but she had to see, she just had to look and see what it was. She continued to fight the sensation in vain as one eye slid open just a tiny crack, not enough to make out any details, just a vague silhouette framed in a dark doorway, but it was enough. In an instant the creature turned about to face her and before she knew it the thing was charging towards her. Twilight scrambled forwards, ducking beneath the huge mass as it lunged for her and galloped out of the room as fast as she could, not even thinking as she took a right turn in her effort to evade the creature. She could hear it pursuing her down the hall, its heavy body slamming off the walls.
She spied the bedroom door ahead and charged through it, sliding beneath the bed and shutting her eyes tight, cowering in the darkness. She heard the creature enter behind her, knocking the door off its hinges due its sheer size and the force of its entrance. Twilight kept both hooves pinned to her eyes as the creature stalked the room in an effort to find her. She was cornered now and the slightest mistake could cost her dearly. She finally understood what the stallion downstairs, Blue Bottle if she was reading Bright Star’s diary right, had been talking about. Keeping your eyes shut just wasn’t enough, whatever force that ruled the house forced you to keep them open.
It was a cruel game Twilight concluded, a creature that hunted using the sight of others in a house where the victims needs more than anything to be able to see what they were doing to solve the riddles presented to them and find a way out. And all the while inducing the temptation just to see whatever it was that was stalking them when the slightest look could spell their death.
The force grew stronger still and Twilight pressed her hooves to her face so hard that stars began to dance in front of her vision. She could hardly bear it any longer, she needed to find a way to defeat whatever it was and soon. She remembered Blue Bottle downstairs and his own attempts to prevent it, Twilight did not like this idea. A new idea came to her though, unlike Blue Bottle (she assumed) she was a unicorn and had magic to help her. If she could blind herself then she wouldn’t have to keep her eyes closed and she could always use magic to heal herself later when she… no, that wouldn’t work, Blue Bottle had already tried using blindfolds and it still had the same effect. The temptation to look would still overpower her; whatever she did it had to be permanent.
She didn’t have long, the temptation was becoming unbearable and the creature still hadn’t left. Twilight felt her eyelids begin to open of their own accord, the darkness under the bed keeping her hidden for the moment. She didn’t have time to think about it and a moment later her horn glowed brightly, Twilight saw a bright white flash before her eyes just as they slipped open.
Twilight saw nothing, her eye were wide open but she couldn’t see a thing, not the bed above her, not the floor beneath her, not even her own hoof in front of her face. The realization of what she’d just done slowly began to sink in as behind her the creature turned to leave, loping down the hallway until its footsteps were no longer audible. Twilight curled up under the bed, finding her tail and brushing it softly. She lay there for a long time, silent tears falling down her cheeks.
Twilight wasn’t sure exactly how long she spent under the bed but she eventually managed to calm herself down and allow herself to think straight. She crawled out from under the bed and stood up, taking a few deep breaths to calm down. She may be completely blind but she still had a way of finding her way around. Her horn lit up once more as she cast a new spell and felt a bubble of magic expand around her, with this she’d be able to tell what was around her and where she was going even without sight, it wasn’t perfect though as she needed to give it her full attention in order to keep it in effect and even then it would slowly wear her out with prolonged use. She could feel the bed next to her and the drawers on her other side. Slowly she made her way to the door, feeling her way along with her magic and eventually leaving the bedroom and back into the hallway. This was going to take some getting used to but at least she wasn’t entirely done for.
With her sight gone the musty air was all the more noticeable, it was thick with dust and chillingly cold. As she moved slowly along the floorboards creaked softly with each step she took. She couldn’t remember how long she’d been here but by the cold air she guessed it was still night outside. Eventually she felt the door to the stairs back to the first floor ahead of her and slowly prized the door open. She wasn’t sure how well she’d be able to take the stairs just using her magic to feel her way down but she had no other choice. She took a slow step forwards and then another, feeling her way along carefully until she got to the bottom step.
The door ahead of her was already open and she trotted through it, reaching out ahead of her with her magic in case of any obstacles in her path, though the hallway seemed pretty much clear. As she trotted along she felt an open doorway to her left and paused, remembering that this was roughly the point where she met Blue Bottle. She couldn’t hear the stallion anywhere nearby though but there was a strong smell of blood.
“Hello?” She called out. “Blue Bottle, are you there?”
When no reply came she took a step further into the room and froze, feeling a shape lying on the floor in front of her. She didn’t need sight to tell what had happened. Twilight hung her head for a moment, sorrowful that yet another pony had fallen victim to this place.
“How did it even find him?” She wondered aloud, trying to ignore the putrid smell of Blue Bottle’s corpse. “If he couldn’t see anymore how could it have…?”
She froze, hearing the sounds of heavy footsteps approaching. The beast shouldn’t be able to see her, she was sure of that, there had to be something else, something she hadn’t thought of, something obvious. Her heightened sense of hearing told her that the creature had entered the hallway, its heavy breathing sending her nerves on edge as it drew closer.
Breathing.
Twilight’s stomach dropped. She was still covered in (no point denying it now) blood from the basement and even more from the library. The creature could still smell her.
Twilight darted out of the room, slamming into the opposite wall in her haste and bolting down the hallway. She could hear the creature give chase, its heavy footsteps becoming louder and more rapid, shaking the hallway as it thundered after her. Twilight heard a sudden crash ahead of her and skidded to a halt as she felt a pile of rubble in front of her, the monster’s charging had caused the ceiling to collapse, trapping her. She turned about, listening to the creature draw closer towards her.
“No,” she sobbed. “I was so close.”
She shook her head; she wasn’t going to give in so easily. Despite her shaking legs she stood up tall, lowered her head and braced herself. She didn’t know how many ponies this thing had killed but she wasn’t about to let it take her without a fight. After a deep breath that took an age Twilight shot forwards, head bowed and horn pointing forwards. She could hear the creature as she rapidly approached it but was too focused on charging to use her magical radar. Her horn soon met with something, it felt like her head was pressed up against aged leather and something warm was running down her face.
Apparently the creature hadn’t expected its prey to fight back so Twilight had the element of surprise on her side. With a sudden burst of willpower she pressed on, hearing the creature’s moans of pain above her like wind howling through a fireplace. She felt the two of them burst through the doors and into the living room, knocking a few chairs aside as they went until the finally crashed into the opposite wall, the creature still screaming in pain.
Twilight felt the adrenaline quickly fading and she darted backwards, pulling her horn free of the creature’s body with a soft squelch, feeling a set of cold sharp claws just manage skim her across the face before she darted out of reach. The creature moaned in pain, Twilight must have hit something important. As it lay in front of her she heard something fall out of the wound and clatter to the floor, something small and metal. Reaching closer ever cautiously Twilight extended her radar again and felt the shape of a key on the floor right in front of her, quickly snatched it up in her teeth and darting out of reach. The creature’s moans were growing fainter now as it lay on the floor dying. Twilight didn’t take any time to mourn for it; she merely felt her way back to the entrance hall and towards the front door.
“It was all just a cruel joke,” she said to herself. “All the clues leading to the end and it was hidden in the very thing I was trying to avoid.”
Whatever force was at work here Twilight would be glad to never hear from it again. She lifted the key up into the lock holding the door closed and turned it, hearing the lock click open and the chains falling aside, leaving the door free. With a smile she pulled the old doors open. Their hinges creaking as they were put to use for the first time in ages and Twilight felt the cool breeze of the outside on her face. She stood there, savoring the moment before trotting outside, the pride of victory still fresh in her mind.
It didn’t last long though, no further than a few yards from the house she came to a halt, feeling soft damp earth beneath her feet and a slow breeze in the air. Twilight’s mood slowly deflated as she realized the price of her own victory. She was all alone with no idea where she was and was completely blind.
She began trotting along, slowly this time, hanging her head beneath her. As she slowly made her way along, the house remained perfectly still in the night air as if watching her go. As it watched words began to carve themselves in large letters above the doorway.
That was fun Twilight Sparkle. Let’s play again sometime.
