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                     Inside the Walls                      
                  -by Perception Filter-                   
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                           Alone                           
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Alone
He awoke with a start. Quickly looking around and taking in his surroundings, he noticed he was strapped down to some sort of bed. The straps were interconnected with a small red button in the center of his chest. Quickly pressing the button, the straps fell away and he became aware of a particular lack of gravity. He panicked, as there was nothing holding him down anymore and he flailed his hooves around, smacking against the sterile white walls, before floating away from them.
Taking a few deep breaths and calming down, realizing that panicking wouldn’t help the situation, he looked around. He was in some sort of large white cylinder-like room, the walls made of what looked like padding or some sort of electronics he couldn’t define the purpose of. Obviously there was no gravity, which he had already figured out. Chuckling a little, he tried to “swim” through the air, as it were, to try and reach the wall. After several moments of flailing limbs and frustrated swearing, he finally reached it and grabbed ahold of a small rung.
Now that he wasn’t moving, he began to feel dizzy, and the world was spinning around him. His head hurt. Quickly realizing that it was because he was upside down, he flipped himself and noticed that it didn’t help. He turned himself sideways. Same effect. Shaking his head and jumping over to the other wall, the same feeling of nausea hit him.
“Ugh, what’s going on?” He asked to nopony in particular, shaking his head trying to rid himself of the constant waves of dizziness that besieged him. Shuddering and looking around the room, ignoring the feeling of vertigo, he spotted a window and he propelled himself to it, and grasped two conveniently placed rungs, making sure he didn’t float off. Through the view of the window, he saw an all encompassing black, only punctured by a mass of white holes.
‘It must be nighttime.’ He thought to himself. ‘How did I get here?’ He jumped away from the window back to the bed he was strapped onto, and inspected it closer. The straps on it were fitted for him, his exact size actually. Ugh, there was that dizziness again.
Pushing off of the bed he grabbed some rungs on the opposite wall again. One end of the room was closed off, nothing there, save for more electrical switches and the like. At the other end was a closed door, with no apparent means to open it. He jumped over to it, before realizing that as he was sailing through the air, there was nothing to grab onto over there. Quickly trying to turn around, he succeeded in getting halfway before smacking into the door, his full momentum rebounding through the metal and sending him spinning again, towards the other wall.
As he spun in large circles, his feeling of vertigo and dizziness worsened. He smacked into the other wall again, on another rung, leaving a small bruise on his side as he gasped in pain. Quickly grabbing onto the small rung before he could fly away again, he felt his leg jerk against his momentum in the opposite direction. He clung to it like his last life-line, as a drowning man clings to a piece of driftwood. Taking several more deep breaths, he finally calmed down. His stomach heaved a few times, and he vomited. Quickly finding nothing to expel, he dry heaved several times, as his stomach vainly tried to expel the nothing that resided inside of him.
Clutching his stomach, the metal rung on the wall momentarily forgotten, he slumped over, nothing to pull him down as he sat for several moments, heaving. Finally taking a deep, shaky breath and uncurled, and gently grabbed the rung he had floated away from. He once again looked at the door on the far side of the room, glaring at it, trying to figure out how to get over there without flying aimlessly everywhere again.
“Okay...” He said to himself, trailing off. He rubbed his face with a free hoof. Carefully positioning himself against the wall, he very gently pushed off, making sure he had almost zero momentum. It might take a while, but he wasn’t to spin out of control again. As he moved slowly through the air, he closed his eyes and made sure to keep a steady breathing rate, as if it would somehow upset the balance of speed he had. Then he heard something, a small noise, that was barely a noise at all. The only reason he registered it at all was the fact that there was no other noise, save for his breathing.
Even though he could hear it, it was barely there and he couldn’t even tell what it was. Opening his eyes, he looked around. Nothing was different. He was about a quarter of the way across the room by now. The sound continued, still not able to determine its cause. Shrugging his shoulders gently, he closed his eyes and put his forehooves behind his head and smiled gently. He would find out what was going on here, no problem.
He continued this way in silence, save for the small sound. The odd thing was, it was very inconsistent. Very erratic, whatever it was, coming in small bursts, long stretches then not happening for a few seconds at all. He opened his eyes when it stopped for a good fifteen seconds or so, and looked around. He was about three-quarters of the way to the door. He shrugged again, the small motion setting him into a gentle spin, and he started to softly flail his arms to right himself. His action worked, but provided an unexpected problem that came with the solution.
He was now slowly spinning in the other direction, and he was almost at the opposite end of the room. Quickly reaching out wildly, hoping to grab whatever there was to grab, he gripped a very small ledge and pulled himself in grabbing it with his other hoof. Looking up, he saw it was the edge of the door, so narrow he was having trouble holding it. The small noise in the background was a tiny bit louder over here. Looking around, trying to discern the origin of the noiseless noise.
He stopped breathing for a moment, and flicked his ears around, trying to find out where the noise was. He finally let out a large breath, exhaling violently. Calming his breathing again, lest he fall into nausea again. He looked over at the nearby wall and he scooted over as far as he could, and brought his ear up. The noise. It was coming from that wall. He frowned and looked at it quizzically.
“Hello?” He asked. “Is anypony there?” No reply, save for the small, incessant noise. His frown deepened and he looked back towards the door. There was no handle, only a tiny window. He looked through and saw another room, completely identical to the one he was in. He frowned and backed away, looking for a way to open the door. Nothing was there to indicate any way to open it. Eying a small circular round button to the right, he quickly shrugged and pressed it. Nothing else to do. There was a small hissing noise, and small gouts of steam hissed out from points on the door, then it slid open, revealing the next room.
The small noise stopped and it was silent again. Quickly examining the next room, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. He was slightly disturbed that the room was exactly the same as the one he was currently in, but he pushed the thought away. Grabbing hold of the door opening and pulling himself through, the door slid shut behind him with a silent hiss. Seeing the same window as before, he gently pushed himself off towards it and grabbed hold of the two runs on the side. The window showed the same view as the one in the first, nothing different.
He looked away and looked back at the next door. He gently shoved off to it, and reached it fairly quickly. He was about to press the button to open the door, when that noise came again. Looking around, he discerned that it was coming from the same spot as it was in the last room. He scooted over to the wall and pressed his ear against it, and the noise got louder. It was like a small scratching noise.
“Hello?” He called out again. No response. The scratching noise continued. He backed away from the wall slowly, and gave it an odd look. Not taking his eyes off the wall, he pressed the red button and the door slid open with a hiss and bouts of steam. Slipping through, the scratching noise stopped, and the next room was slightly different.
The room was still cylindrical in shape, with a window halfway through on his left. The bed with the strange buckles was gone, replaced with the white padding. With the door shut behind him, and no button to re-open it, he cautiously pushed off to the next door. When he was almost at the door, the scratching noise started again, just loud enough for him to recognize it. He cocked his head to the noise and opened his mouth to speak, but then stopped.
Was the noise following him from room to room? He kept his gaze on the wall as his momentum carried him towards the door.
“What’s your game?” He whispered under his breath at the wall, whose only reply was to keep scratching. “What’re you trying to do?” The scratching continued. He stared at the wall with a foul expression.
“Fine.” He crossed his forehooves across his chest, “Be like that.” He then looked away and proceeded to ignore the noise. It stopped. Looking towards it again, nothing was happening. He soon adopted a confused expression and scratched his head.
‘What the hell is going on?’ He asked himself. Upon reaching the end of the room, he pressed the small red button and the door hissed open. Passing through it quickly, he was now in an intersection. There were no signs saying which way was which, and the doors looked exactly the same as the ones he had just passed through. Quickly lightly pushed over to one of the doors, and looked through the window. The room on the far side was pitch black, and he couldn’t see anything. Pushing away from the door and navigating to the second, he found that this one featured something resembling a living room. There was a small couch-like thing on the floor and a bookshelf.
He smiled. ‘Easy choice.’ And he pressed the button and floated through, the door closing behind him. Now observing the room with much more detail, he saw that the bookshelf was actually empty, and the couch was torn in some places. The whole place was covered in dirt, as if it had been abandoned for some time.
And there was that noise again. The light scratching noise, coming from the wall by the next door. He pushed off the wall over to it, but before he got close, it stopped again. When he bumped into the wall, the noise started on the other side of the room. His already seemingly permanent frown deepened. He forcibly shoved away from the wall to reach the other, where the noise was now based.
When he was about halfway across the room, the annoying noise stopped again and started up in a totally different location. He twitched a little. Not even stopping to give himself the proper trajectory to reach the noise again, he opted to simply push himself away from the wall in a best-guess kind of way. The result was him flying away from the noise instead of towards it, and he let out an infuriated scream.
“GAH!” He shouted as he flew off, scrabbling at the air in a futile attempt to slow down. He let out a loud yelp as he forcefully collided with a panel of electronics, the switches and buttons jabbing into his side. Without wasting a second, he grabbed hold of the wall before he floated off, and kicked off towards the noise, this time making sure he was going the right way.
The noise didn’t stop as he quickly approached the wall, and he let a small grin loose on his face. He could finally catch whatever was making the infuriating noise, and slap the hay out of whoever was doing it. He reached the wall in record time, grabbing hold of a nearby panel and he began to pound it.
“HEY!” He yelled with an aggressive tone, “WHOEVER YOU ARE, CUT THAT OUT!” The scratching stopped. He was shocked into silence for a brief moment. It had actually stopped. He shook his head and glared again.
“Alright...” He muttered. “COME OUT WHOEVER YOU ARE!” He commanded. The noise started again, this time only a few feet to his left. He dropped his hoof to his side again, and gave an unamused expression.
“Alright guy, this is getting old. We’ve all had a laugh, just come out and you can tell me what’s going on.” The noise kept going, regardless of his commands. His scowl returned.
“FINE!” He shouted at the noise. It ignored him.
Grumbling something under his breath, he jumped towards the next door. Not turning back, he smashed the button and went through the door, which closed behind him. He sighed and ran a hoof through his mane. The noise started again, almost instantaneously.
The room he was in now was also a complete replica of the first room he was in. Bypassing the whole room in one jump, when he reached the end, he pressed the red button by the door, but nothing happened.
“Oh, come on!” He groaned and pressed the button again, with more force. Still, nothing happened. The scratching noise got a little louder. He glanced at the wall, right beside him, where the noise was coming from. The fabric was bulging slightly.
Letting out a nervous laugh, he pressed the button again. Still no response. Eyes flicking between the button and the wall, he pressed it again. The door still refused to open, and the noise got a little louder.
Barking out another nervous laugh, he began to frantically press the button, yet it didn’t acknowledge him. The only answer he got from his efforts was an increase in the scratching noise. Stopping his jittery laughing, he swallowed and realized his mouth was dry. Letting out a hoarse breath he pressed the button again. The noise stopped and the door opened obediently, and he pulled himself through without a second thought.
Door sealing behind him, he let out a jerky sigh of relief.
Okay, this was getting creepy. He still didn’t know where he was, and the noise was seemingly following from room to room. As if waiting for a cue, the noise once again started on the far side of the room and he saw the fabric covering the wall bulging as if something was inside the walls, and trying to get out. Slowly inching along the opposite wall, he tried his best to ignore the noise. Upon reaching the window, he risked a quick glance outside and saw a small globe spinning on the edge of the window. He looked at it with interest, the scratching noise all but forgotten.
The globe was green and blue for the most part; and was slowly turning to the side. Clouds blanketed most of the surface, so he couldn’t see anything. He was wondering what exactly it was, before it hit him. That was a planet. He was in space. His mind rebelled at the thought. That still left the question, however, of where exactly was he? Before he could ponder it further, the noise started getting louder, and the wall started tearing. Whipping around, he sped towards the door, caution forgotten, and barely grabbed ahold of the small ledge of the door to stop himself from flying away. As soon as he steadied himself he began to smash the button as fast as he could, but to no effect. The door was refusing to open. Slowly, the tear in the wall began to widen and he kept smashing the button in panic. He felt a chill work its way into the air and he started sweating. Slowly, ever so slowly, the door eventually began to open and he slipped through as soon as he could.
On the other side, he once again found himself in some sort of living area, with an empty bookshelf, a torn up couch and a fine layer of dust on everything.
Only there were no other doors. He was trapped. Slowly, the scratching noise started right next to him and he scrambled away in fear. The noise tore a hole in the wall in and a long, slender, hairy digit poked through. It pulled away and a yellow eye moved up in its place.
He screamed.