Even now I can't tell how long I sat there in that endless dark, I think there was screaming, maybe it was just in my head. I wasn't anywhere near sane. When I was in the basement of Sugarcube corner, I thought for a moment that I might've lost my mind, this time I know I did. I was a gibbering mess. I would lay there quietly for a while before hearing something move in the darkness then I would start crying and shaking again and I wouldn't stop for hours, by the time I really came to I felt weak as a filly.

"H-" I coughed as I got used to my voice again, it was parched and dry, "Hello?" I called out, in vain I knew but some part of me hoped…

I shook my head, concentrating I called up light by reflex only to quickly shut my eyes and banish it, I had spent too long in the darkness, the small ember I summoned had nearly blinded me.

I concentrated again. This spell was the very first I had ever learned, before telekinesis, before trans-location, I learned to call up light, and now I focused on it like I hadn't done since I was a filly in Celestia's tutoring chambers. Slowly, painstakingly, I summoned up a tiny flicker as I opened my eyes. I began to perspire from the effort of controlling the minute energy flow that was maintaining the little light. Carefully I increased its magnitude, slow enough to allow my eyes to adjust to the new light source, wherever I was I knew blinding myself at the start wouldn't be a good plan. As I summoned up light to see by I began to relax my control, the light was reaching a level I could manage on an instinctual level now. I started to notice other things about my environment, namely the stench. It stank of filth, not blood or viscera or any of the things the terrified part of my mind had begun to associate with Her. Just filth, like the stink of a trash heap in the summer sun. I tried in vain to shake the smell out of my nose, it wasn't horrifying, just immensely unpleasant, I will admit though that such a regular everyday smell set my mind at ease as much as it unnerved me. It was familiar, but something familiar in a place like this was strange in a wholly different manner.

Satisfied with the degree to which my eyes had adjusted I finally focused a bit more power into the light that sat at the tip of my horn, radiance bloomed but I quickly diffused it out so as to make the light in front my face less intense.

I choked back whatever was left in my stomach as I saw where I was.

Some kind of ruined building. It looked like the floors, walls, and ceiling were all rotting; there was a moldy mattress in the corner stained with something I didn't bother to define. Something about the building seemed familiar but I couldn't quite put my hoof on it, I shook my head again, now more to clear it of stray thoughts than of the smell which I was quickly learning to ignore.

*sniffle… sniffle…*

I froze at the sound, looked around but didn't see anypony.

*sniffle* I… ss my… ents…

The room was empty, completely empty, there was no furniture except the moldy mattress and there were no other outlying rooms. I craned my beck forward and listened, trying to figure out where the sounds were coming from. I stood there feeling foalish for a few moments before stepped back a few hooves.

"It must have just been in my head…" I laughed bitterly, "It's not exactly the most stable place anymore." I continued my observations of the room.

The more I looked at the structure now the more that nagging sense of familiarity plagued me though, regardless of that thought though I decided that I couldn't understand how this room or, if this was the state of affairs all over, how the building itself was still standing. By the volume of its decrepitude it should have fallen over long ago. A quick scan showed a door, still miraculously on its hinges, in the corner. As much as I feared leaving this known space I knew my friends were out there, I heard their distress before I blacked out, I couldn't leave them… I couldn't lose anypony else.

I gently nudged the door open hoping to sneak a peek into whatever lay beyond, a futile endeavor since at the pressure the door finally gave in to its natural inclination and fell inward with a resounding crash. I stood frozen for a moment, paralyzed with fear, my ears straining to detect any movement that might hint that the noise had been heard. I couldn't tell you what I was listening for exactly, some horrible imagined nightmare creature haunting the halls, a fearsome ghast ready to jump from the shadows and devour me.

'Move Twi.' I thought to myself, 'Come on… move, move, move, move.'

"Move!" I almost shouted before choking back the volume, if there was something out there it might have thought that door falling over was nothing, surely bits and pieces of this place must collapse on their own all the time, but a voice was a dead giveaway. Fortunately the shock actually shook me out of my own paralysis and I moved into the next room which, as it turns out, was in fact a long hallway. An incredibly dark and disgustingly rotted hallway but at least it wasn't the lair of some hungry thing. The light barely illuminated more than a few hooves in front of me, I could see bare shapes out in the shadows, there were no windows though, it's funny how no one really considers windows until they're trapped somewhere without them. It's incredibly claustrophobic.

I chose a direction and began walking. I took the left path, I knew it didn't matter, everything looked the same in the dark anyway. The feeling of oppressive weight didn't lift no matter how far I walked; I must have been walking for almost ten minutes before the passage branched.

'Left or right?' I thought to myself, I didn't like choosing at random, it felt so disorganized, but then again I had no idea where I was and no means of orienting myself so there wasn't a lot of choice. The smell and the shadows were cloying and my mind felt like a lump of lead was imbedded in my skull, I needed to find water or something, otherwise…

A noise interrupted my train of thought.

Drip

Drip

Drip

I blinked and shook my head. 'Impossible, I'm just hearing things again…' I thought, unwilling to readily believe such a coincidence.

Drip

Drip

Drip

It continued to the point that I decided I must be hearing something, I hoped it was water, partially for my thirst, partially because… I didn't want it to be anything liquid other than water…

The sound was coming from the right so I took the passage and followed the noise. The dripping was maddening with its consistency but I never seemed to be getting any closer, I got so frustrated that when I did reach the source I almost went right past it. I stopped as I realized the sound was suddenly coming from my right, I turned and put a little more power into the illumination spell to reveal a sullen looking doorway, the door being long since gone. The dripping sound continued, I moved into the room warily, casting my gaze about for the source of the dripping, at once seeking and fearing what it was I sought.

A faucet and a bucket.

I let out a breath I hadn't even realized I was holding, it was just a leaky faucet dripping into a bucket. I smiled at myself and moved over to it, the water was viscous, dark, and it smelled foul. I grimaced but slowly tipped my horn to the water, submerging the tip of it into the liquid. With a concerted effort I surged magic into the water, purifying it as Celestia had taught me; I remembered her words fondly as I worked the magic.

"Now Twilight, this is the next spell you are to memorize, it's called 'The Boon of Purity' and it's used to clean water and make food edible despite its age or quality." The regal alicorn instructed as she sat a small book in front of my nose. I was barely tall enough to see over the desk.

I grimaced as I read over the spell, it wasn't hard, but the spell took several minutes to cast correctly even when you mastered it, making it very tedious, especially if the quantity of water or food you were trying to cleanse was great.

"But Cele-", her eyebrow crooked upward with such startling speed that it caused me to fake a fit of coughing before starting over, "But Princess Celestia, it's such a boring spell, and besides when would I ever use it? Our water comes from clean rivers and our food comes from farms. It's all very clean already."

She smiled that same beatific smile that always filled me with a sense of warmth,

"Twilight, you never can know what dangers you'll face in life, and I would be remiss in my own duties as both your sovereign and your mentor if I didn't give you the means to at least feed yourself in any situation."

I sighed and nodded, no getting out of this one... I sat down and grumpily began studying.

I counted down from four minutes before removing my horn and checking the water, it was crystal clear, and I silently thanked the Princess for being so strict with me during my training, I sipped at the water a bit before drinking down the whole bucketful, I mentally had to pace myself though, I knew drinking too much after being dehydrated could lead to some bad side effects even if the water is perfectly fine. It took a few minutes but I finished it all, I felt like a new pony, the headache was still there but it was manageable now, I called up the light again began searching the room I was in, it seemed to be a storage room… that sense of familiarity was stronger than ever here…

Heeheheee… sh… ver find m… re

The whisper set my haunches up and I whipped around, I knew I'd heard something; it had almost sounded like the voice of a filly… it sounded like the voice from the first room. I shivered for a moment before banishing images of ghostly fillies from my mind. No time for such thoughts, I had to get Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy and get out of this place.

I stepped out into the hall, turned to my right to continue forward…

And froze.

It was Her.

In her… 'dress'.

Smiling at me.

"Oh THERE you are Twilight! I thought I'd lost you silly-filly," she giggled maniacally for a moment, and then a moment more, and then her laughter overcame her and she fell to the floor in a fit of laughter.

"Heheheheeeeheeeehehehehehee, oh Twilight, you were almost late for the PARTY!" I couldn't move, I knew I should run but the idea of turn my back on that… thing… was out of the question, I settled for slowly backing away.

"Hehehe, silly-filly, the party isn't THAT way, it's THIS way," She twitches her head back gesturing behind her, and with a sickening *CRACK* her neck dislocated, sagging horrifically.

"Heehee, oops, I forgot that happens sometimes," she looked only slightly perturbed, I just stared for a moment before letting out the loudest shriek of my life, and hoofing it down the hall as fast as four legs could take me and damn the consequences.

"TWIIIIILIIIIIGHT" I heard her call out, the playful tone never leaving her voice. Is that how she sounded while she carved up Rainbow Dash? Is that bubbling laughter the last thing she heard before she… I choked back the water I'd drank earlier as it threatened to make a return. I couldn't afford to think about Dashie, not right now, I had to focus I had to-

*WHACK*

I saw stars for a moment as I dropped like a load of apples, Pinkie Pie stepped out of a side-room and leaned over me grinning, something crusty and… brownish-red… stained her lips, her eyes were lit with insanity.

"Geez Twilight, I TOLD you, the party isn't THIS way, I mean I know you're excited but you could at least go the right DIRECTION." She moved over me, I saw a bloody length of pipe resting on her left haunch, her head was back where it was supposed to be.

"ANYWAY I guess if you're going to be so excitable I should just TAKE you to the party, so you need to go to sleep now," she clambered on top of me and started trying to pry my mouth open with one hoof while brandishing a vile-looking cupcake in the other, I suddenly spasmed; I remembered the cupcakes on the table in the basement, I knew the foulness that created them. I felt her lose her grip in that moment, just long enough to…

I kicked out with all the force in my back legs catching her full in the chest, I felt a few of her ribs give way as she slammed against the wall, I got up, seized the dropped pipe and swung it savagely against her head, it cracked again, dislocating and flopping unnaturally to the side.

Despite all that punishment she started trying to get up again.

"Owie-ow… Twilight that hur-" I cut her off as I swing the pipe again, this time at her legs, I hear the sickening crunch of her kneecap collapsing and she falls to the floor again, I swung the pipe again and again all the time there was a constant droning in my ears.

Half-way through I realized it was me, whispering with every swing…

"I'm sorry" *CRACK*

"I'm sorry!" *CRACK*

"I'm sorry!" *CRACK*

"I'M SORRY!" *CRACK*

I finally stopped, she didn't move anymore, not that I left anything capable of movement.

"Oh Celestia… I'm so sorry Pinkie…" I started crying, hot tears streaming down my face as I stared down at the ruin of my friends' corpse. I turn my back on the wrecked mess I created towards the direction of the 'party' and start galloping, the tears kept falling as I tried desperately to ignore the conscious gurgling sounds coming from behind me.