Voices of The Dark.

You look at the group of ponies. Most of them still appear to be in their restraints, one of them is strapped to a gurney and is twitching violently.

"Now lets not do anything we might regret." You chuckle nervously as you creep towards the door.

"Sic him boys." Two of his minions charge at you. You kick a nearby cart at them and rush out the door you came in from. Only one follows you, the other pinned underneath the cart. You make your way to the next hall, and navigate around the bodies. You briefly consider hiding in your room, but you realize it isn't a very secure spot. You hear the sound of hooves nearing the door, and with no where else to go you duck inside. The door open and closes quickly followed by a brief period of silence. The silence is broken by low thuds, and you realize that he is checking to make sure you aren't hiding among the bodies. You breathe a sigh of relief, but freeze when the thuds stop.

"Mmm I love caged rat." His voice close to the door. You hug the wall and wait for the inevitable. His head pokes through the door way and you immediately kick at it. Unfazed by the blow he pulls you out of the room and slams you into an adjacent wall. You gasp for air as he slowly walks towards you. You right yourself, when he is just a nose and you kick at his front knee. You recieve a hearty crack in response, and his leg buckles from the loss if support. You stand up and give him a swift kick to the head, ending his cries of agony.

"I say, good show Alex, I guess I have been rubbing off on you after all."

If you had rubbed off on me at all he would be dead, and he isn't.

"I wouldn't be to sure about that." You stare at the body, your horror slowly growing. You reach out hesitantly. Nothing.

Oh...

"Oh as in, oh yes? You felt the rush didn't you? The joy of taking a life?"

What are you doing back?

"You should really learn to read the label next time, one wrong pill, and BOOM your standing in a pool of blood, made from everyone you ever cared about."

Fuck you.

"Hey you were there, the judge said you were the guilty party." You look at the pill bottle. The dosage was significantly less then what you were given before. Your silent contemplation is broken by the sound of hooves nearing the door behind you. With no time to spare you rush toward the other end of the hallway and kick open the door.

"Don't move!" A female voice shouts at you.

"Oh look Alex an innocent bystander, you know what that means." The sharp pain once again hits your brain, and you fight back with all your strength. "WHAT? How dare you deny me my delicious ultra violence." You find the source of the voice. You look at the yellow unicorn her face stern, but her voice was nervous. She wore no clothing, making it impossible to tell if she was a patient or a doctor.

"You have to let me through" You take a step forward, and she adjusts her grip on the device she is holding. The device sparks with electricity, it seemed obvious that it was to incapacitate dangerous individuals, but had now been modified to do much more than stun.

"M-move again, and I can't be blamed for my actions."

"I don't plan to hurt you, i just need to ge-" The door behind you is thrown open and the second lackey leaps on to your back. Your attempts to buck him fail, and he sinks his teeth into your flesh. Biting through the pain you slam backwards into a nearby wall, causing him to lose his grip. You then grab him off of your back and slam him against the open door way, his neck kicks back and his lifeless body falls to the floor.

"Geez Alex you didn't have to kill him, oh wait, you totally did."

"Who the fuck bites someone?" You look at the tufts of orange fur that was ripped from your coat, and kick the lifeless body out of anger. You return your attention to the mare. "Now will you let me through?"

"How do I know you won't do that to me?" She said, her eyes shifting nervously between you and the stallion you just killed.

"You haven't tried to kill me yet." She still seems hesitant, but she soon lowers her weapon. "Does that elevator work?" You motion towards the elevator behind her.

"It should, I didn't want to risk being ambushed so I stayed down here, why do you ask?"

"I'm going to try to find a way out of here." You say, as you press the call button for the elevator.

"Wait, let me come with you, I don't belong here."

"You and me both." The elevator doors open and you both step inside. You look at the panel, the highest floor being b15.

"Why does it only go to b15?"

"Maybe they didn't have elevators when they built those floors." You shrug and you hit the button. You look up at the floor counter. 86, 71 floors to go. You continue to look at the counter, and almost a minute later the number changed.

"Soooo, you come here often?"

"What?" You stare at her confused.

"I'm just trying to make small talk."

"Usually you ask what my name is."

"Well i'm sorry if I like to be different." You both sit there silently for a while.

"Its Ludovic."

"What?"

"That's my name."

"Oh. My name is Buttercup." You try to stifle your laughter, but not very well. "What?"

"Nothing, its just that... your name is stupid."

"Well, your name is stupid." After that you both remain quiet.

So you aren't going to make me kill her?

"Oh my no, you killed two people on your own, I think that's enough headway for this chapter."

Chapter?

"Did I say chapter? I meant day, its kind of hard to concentrate for some reason there is a lot of activity going on in here. Wait, why are you thinking about dirt?"

Oh no reason. Your ear twitches nervously. What am I not allowed to think about dirt?

"No, you can think about whatever you wan... wait why are you thinking about statues now? In fact, it seems like you are trying to avoid thinking about something." Your eyes dart up to the floor counter. "Come on Alex, even if we were at the fifteenth floor, I'm still here." You take a glance at your companion but realize too late that was a mistake. "Oh Alex you dog you."

Shut up.

"Oh my no, I am going to bother you like you wouldn't believe."

Look its been awhile, you know with the whole you making me kill my family, and then being on the lamb for two weeks, and being stuck in here for... I don't even know how long. She is the first person that hasn't drugged me, or that you haven't made me kill, so yeah there might be some anticipation.

"Wait you don't remember how long you have been here?"

I only remember the first few days.

"Strange." You notice that your companion has been concentrating on a corner for awhile now.

"Umm Buttercup, is everything ok?"

"Yes!" She answers, obviously caught off guard. Her eyes dart from you and back to the corner.

"Its not a very good idea to lie, if there is a problem it would be better if I know ahead of time."

"Umm, I may or may not suffer from hallucinations every now and then." She sighs heavily. "Its how I ended up here. When I was young everyone thought I was talking about imaginary friends, but as I grew, many ponies thought I would be hazardous to society, and I was brought here. So how did you end up here?"

"I would rather not talk about."  You return your gaze to the counter. B43.

"This is boring come get me when something interesting happens." Youe lie down on the floor not wanting your legs to get tired. The time dragged on and the distance between the floors seemed to grow.

"Ok you seem way to sane to be put in here, there has to be something wrong with you." You sigh heavily.

"I hear a voice, it doesn't tell me to do things it makes me do them. I'm not going to tell you what actions brought me here, but just know, that I didn't want to do it."

"Do you hear it right now?" You shake your head. "Did it have anything to do with what happened down there."

"No, that was mostly anger." She stops asking you questions and once again the elevator car grows silent. You start to whistle softly, trying to stave off boredom, and you recieve a confused look from Buttercup. You stop whistling, and smile trying to play off the situation. Suddenly her stomach rumbles, and she blushes as you fail to hold in your laughter.

"And how is me being hungry, funny?" She asks with a playful glare.

"Umm..." You think for a bit. "Now that you mention it, I'm not sure how its funny."

"Why did you laugh then?" You shrug in response.

"Umm." You try to think of how ask this question without sounding crude. "I know this is a personal question but, when was the last time you... well you know."

"Had sex?" Her face a mixture of disgust and intrigue.

"No." You brace yourself for some form of attack.

"Been through heat?"

"Yes. I'm not trying to take advantage of you, if it happens before we get out of here that could make things slightly more complicated."

"Well..." She pauses to think. "The last time it happened, was about two weeks ago, but it has been happening very often since I have been here. Maybe the constant lighting has something to do with it." You nod in agreement.

"Then we don't have much time, hopefully we can make it the outside, or if not at least somewhere safe." She nods in agreement. There is a sudden ding, and you hopefully look up at the floor counter.  "What kind of elevator dings ten floors away from the destination?"

"More importantly, what kind of elevator takes this long to go up 71 floors?"

"I know it feels like we have been in here for hours."

"We have been in here for at least on hour, judging by the time between floors." You groan when you realize the leg you were leaning on has fallen asleep. You try to shake your leg awake, ignoring the tingling sensation. Finally the elevator begins to slow its ascent, and the counter dings again.

"Finally." You sigh. You prepare to leave the elevator but the door doesn't open on its own. "Oh dammit." You walk up to the door and try to pry it open. Seeing that you are having a hard time opening the door, Buttercup helps you pull on one of the doors. The door finally gives and you can see light poking through the crack in the door. Along with this light there is faint heat emanating from the other side. You squeeze your hooves into the crack and do your best to push the two doors apart. Both of them give way, and you are able to see into the other side of the doors but from this vantage point its hard to make out any details. You push the doors open further, and you see the source of the heat. In front of the elevator is a pile of burning mattresses. You look about the room and notice that all the windows and doors are severely damaged.

"Holy crap."

"I immediately regret this decision." Buttercup nods in agreement.