.b..a...c....k.....r......o.......o........m.........s..........
by shortskirtsandexplosions
First published
Nothing belongs here unless it's meant to be fixed, Twilight Sparkle.
Nothing belongs here
Unless it's meant to be fixed
Twilight Sparkle
and backrooms
Author's Notes:
You breathe and you breathe
Musk and dust and
Dust and musk
Something itches
Something crawls
A buzz
Your skull
A never ending buzz
Like cicadas
Crawling on the ceiling
Then the floor
Sizzling on hot metal grates
Your skull has been on for too long
Open your eyes
The world slides in through narrow slits
A narrow corridor
Urine colored carpets
Fluorescent bulbs
Bright and bright and buzzing
An air of stale gold
Faded
Stiff as hay
A fitting diet, don't you think, Twilight Sparkle?
You feel like choking
Move
On stiff legs
You stand
A flick of the tail
And you feel nothing
No wind
No breeze
No coolness or freshness whatsoever
Just the mildew
And the buzzing
Buzzing and bright and buzzing and bright and
It found you
Or maybe you found it
You exhale
There's a narrow partition up ahead
Where a yellowed wall meets a yellowed wall
You trot forward
The buzzing comes and goes
A slight flicker to the lights
Or maybe you imagined it
You reach the partition
You turn the corner
And
Musk and dust and
Dust and musk
Something itches
Something crawls
A buzz
It is your head, Twilight Sparkle
After all, you brought it here as well, didn't you?
You rub your temple, leaning against a wall
It's neither warm or cold
But lukewarm
The walls
The walls
Your head or the room?
Both are the same
Would you expect any more?
Would you deserve any more?
Maybe the next room will be different
How did you know there would be another?
Only one way to find out
You move forward
Four hooves tiredly shuffling
Padding
Trotting without echoes
The buzz follows
and backrooms
Author's Notes:
Take a right
Take a left
Take a right
Take a left
Take a right
Take a left
You stand in place
The buzz is above you
The buzz is behind you
The room splits
A fork in the yellow
In the yellow
In the yellow
There's a right turn up ahead
There's a left turn up ahead
A left turn behind you
A right turn behind you
You think about turning around
A complete one hundred and eighty degrees
But
The right will look left
The left will look right
Only the buzzing would remain
Only the buzzing would remain true
And then what?
At least it would be something different than what you've been doing
It would be retracing steps
Or have you actually been stepping?
You have been moving in one direction this whole time
Or has the rooms been moving?
And you have just been
Floating
Forward
As the buzz shifts
You close your eyes
You try to think
Past the buzz
Past the dust and musk
And dust and musk
And dust and musk and
You are better than this, Twilight
You are a clever unicorn
You've been through tougher situations
Crazier straits
More chaotic labyrinths
Think about your friends
Imagine that they're stuck here with you
What wouldn't you do for them?
Wouldn't you get them out as well?
Wouldn't you work your hardest?
You really
Really
Shouldn't have closed your eyes
Silly pony
A gasp
Your eyes flash open
Dust and musk
Mildew and yellow
A narrow corridor with mildew and mildew and
There's a fork
A right turn
A left turn
But which is right?
And which is left?
Only the buzz remains
Bright lights
Fluorescent and following
Silly pony
Must keep going
Just make a turn
Any old turn?
You do so
With
Your eyes closed
The buzz shifts
And it's just like floating
and backrooms
Author's Notes:
Stairs
The stairs lead up
But they do not pierce the buzzing
As you ascend
One hoof at a time
The buzz climbs
It carries on
And it carries on
Your ears flick
The buzz carries forward
On fluorescent waves
Or maybe it isn't climbing
It's just a sound
Maybe it is sinking
Sound goes in all direction
Then why are there no hoofsteps?
Your eyes widen
A stab of pain
Brightness and brightness
Piercing gravity
And as you look down
And as you look up
You lose track of either
Are these stairs going up?
Or down?
You pause
You lean against the wall
With your hoof
It's barely even there
Your hoof?
The wall
The walls are everywhere, Twilight Sparkle
They're your only friends now
The walls and the ceiling
Six sides, forever receding
Yet forever devouring
And one day they will sink inwards
And swallow you into nothingness
It was always bound to happen
Maybe
Maybe somepony got tired of waiting
And brought you here before your time
Unless
This is the time
The buzz
Lights flicker
The stairs tilt
Back
Forward
Somewhere
Teetering
No
Do not wait for the walls
You are not surrounded
You can't be
The sixth barrier
It
Is always receding
It is an exit
Must
You must find it, Twilight
You must find it and break free
The stairs tilt up
The are stairs in front of you
Climb
You climb
You ascend
Past the buzz
Through the buzz
The buzz follows
There's a hallway up ahead
There's always a hallway up ahead
Keep an even pace
Get on even hoofing
Even now
Even now
Even now
Do you seriously believe her?
A slight shudder
But
You keep moving
You ascend
And
The buzz
and backrooms
Author's Notes:
You're a clever unicorn, Twilight
A string
A yellow string
Why didn't you think of this before?
You lead it through the empty corridor
Over carpet and tile and mildew stains
The fluorescent lights catch the fibrous track
A golden glow
It is so very simple
The string goes around a wall
And takes a left
You turn left with it
The string will show where you've been
And where you haven't been
That's why you've left it
That's why you've been leaving it
Your pace quickens
The string drapes in a straight line up ahead
Until it doesn't
It goes around a wall
It takes a left
You turn left with it
Such a clever unicorn, Twilight
You would have to be
To fashion a string out of nothing
Was it the carpet?
Did you unravel it?
If so, from where?
You blink
You follow the string
But slowly, now
There's a wall up ahead
The string takes a left
So
You follow it
You
You made the string
You left the string here
Or did the string leave you here?
It leads straight ahead
Until
It doesn't
There is a wall up ahead
Such a clever pony, Twilight Sparkle
It turns left
So
You turn left
And
There's a string
It goes straight
Until it doesn't
There's a wall up ahead
It turns left
So
So
So
So
You
and backrooms
Author's Notes:
There's a chair here
You have stopped
There's a chair here
Why is there a chair here?
It's an empty room
With the lights
And the buzz
And
A chair
And you remember
Ten rooms ago
Or was it ten hundred rooms ago?
There were two chairs
Facing a wall
Facing each other
Facing nothing
Just like this one
It faces the wall
And the corner
But neither
It breaks up the symmetry
It is empty
As this room is empty
But why is it here?
Why were the other ones there?
Who is it for?
You're the only pony here
You're the only pony anywhere
The rest of the chamber is empty
Full of nothing
But fluorescent lights
And buzzing
Pointless
Purposeless
Forgotten
Crooked
Broken
It had to have been placed here
Or dropped here
Like you
Twilight Sparkle
Twilight
Who would miss a chair?
Twilight, you have to keep moving
Who would miss you?
Turn around and pick a direction
Any direction
But what if you find more empty chairs?
Just go
Move
What if you chose to sit in one?
Move, Twilight
You turn
You trot down the corridor
If you waited long enough
Would someone come sit beside you?
Move
Or would it take you somewhere deeper
Further
Someplace more broken than here
Than you?
Move
Move
Move
You trot faster
and backrooms
Author's Notes:
Ascending
Descending
Tug and push
Gravity
Deflating
The walls are the floor are the ceiling are the walls
You know why you're here, Twilight Sparkle
Don't listen
You know what brought you to this broken place
Don't listen to her
Just
Move
Ascending
Hoofsteps
Without echoes
Without
Without
Think about it, Twilight Sparkle
Nature doesn't have tests
Nature has nothing to prove
Nature just is
Don't listen
Don't listen
Just
Trotting
Step by step
Up through the buzz
The lights
A flicker
Nothing about this is natural
Nothing about this is right
The geometry
The decay
It's trying to implode upon itself
It yearns for collapse
The six walls shrink
Hungry
Devouring
But
You
You
You have to keep moving
You're the only thing keeping it from dissolving into infinitesimal nothingness
Hoofsteps
Ascending
Descending
Past the buzz
It floats
It
A rock in the stomach
A pit
A center of gravity
Upon which all things spin
All things here
That shouldn't be here
That shouldn't be anywhere
Think, Twilight
Think about it, Twilight Sparkle
Think about your friends
Think about how wrong this place is
Think about how they're missing you
Think about how wrong you are
The sixth wall recedes
It will lead you out
It will lead you to them
You are here because of a test
A test that you are failing
Just keep moving
Hoofsteps
In
The buzz
And tests don't exist in nature
Buzzing
Because nothing in nature is bound to fail
Buzzing
Stepping
Hooves
Like you are
Don't
Broken
Don't listen
Broken
Keep moving
Broken
Just keep moving
Broken
The light flickers
and backrooms
Author's Notes:
No
Yes
No
Yes
It's
Starting to make sense
No
Now
No
It's
Starting to make sense
Now
You stare at them
Feathers
Lavender feathers
That's
It's not
Look at them
Scattered
Across
The carpet
Lavender against yellow
A cold contrast
Left in a hurry
A flurry
There
There must be
No
A pegasus
Somewhere
With your coat color
No
Lost here with you
They don't leave a trail
They're just
Scattered
Like leaves
Lavender leaves
Soft and freshly-plucked
Yes
We all know
No
Yes, we all know why they're here
No
Just
You shudder
We all know why you're here
Just keep
You stumble
So broken
Just keep moving
You limp forward
Hooves over feathers
Hooves over carpet
Such a failure
Don't
Just
Please
You quicken your pace
The buzz follows
More feathers
After all, Twilight Sparkle
More feathers
Nothing belongs here
More feathers
Unless it needs to be fixed
More feathers
and backrooms
Author's Notes:
Branches
There are branches here
But
But how
There was a tree here
But where
There is a tree here
When
In pieces
Twilight
Twilight Sparkle
All across the room
Scattered across the corridors
Teetering off the stairs
Charred and burnt
Beneath
The fluorescent lights
Twilight
Don't
Look at it
You trot forward
You see fragments of books
Tattered lengths of bedsheets
The broken remnants of a telescope
And
A wooden horsehead
Cracked down the center
Look at all of it
Don't
Isn't it starting to make sense
Twilight Sparkle
Don't
You shake
Your heart
Your heart
It doesn't belong
Branches
And splinters
Scattered
Blasted
As you never belonged
Leave
Your heart beats
And that's why
You were brought here
Leave this place
You backtrot from the branches
But you only bump into more
Because you are a failure
They scratch and they claw
You must leave this place
Because you are broken
Twilight
Twilight
Leave
You hobble over the chunks of wood
You flee
You gallop
So broken that
You couldn't even be fixed
No
Twilight
The world blurs
The fluorescent lights sting
The buzz
Encompassing
Twilight
Don't cry
You were replaced
Don't cry
Just move
Galloping
They replaced you
Twilight Sparkle
Stumbling
Bumping
Just move
You
You will find them
They replaced you
You will find them
They replaced you
You must find them
Collapsing
Crying
Musk and dust
The buzz
Get back up
You get back up
Sniffling
And go
You gallop
Silly unicorn
and backrooms
Author's Notes:
A corridor
Just keep moving
Another corridor
Just keep moving
Walls and walls
Halls and halls
Fluorescent bulbs
And
Buzz
And
Buzz
Don't stop
The same way forward
The same way backward
There has to be an exit
There is always an exit
There is
They replaced you
No
Don't
They replaced you
Twilight Sparkle
Keep moving
Twilight
Twilight Sparkle
Twilight
Just
Imagine if you could fly out of here
Gallop
Keep
Galloping
But you can't fly
Keep
Galloping
Can you?
Down the corridor
Until
A scrap
What?
In the center of the floor
A scrap
It lies there
What
You stumble to a stop
Limping
Panting
And you look at it
No
Leathery
Translucent
Dragonskin
Oh no
Oh yes
Molted dragonskin
In the shape
Please no
Yes
Yes
The shape of wings
Please Celestia no
Broken
Failure
They replaced him too
They replaced him too
You cry
Nothing but buzz
So you run
They replaced him too
They replaced him too
They replaced him too
They replaced him too
You run
and backrooms
Author's Notes:
They replaced him too
They replaced you
They replaced him too
They replaced you
They replaced him too
They replaced you
They replaced him too
They replaced you
They replaced him too
They replaced you
They replaced him too
They replaced you
They replaced him too
They replaced you
They replaced him too
They replaced you
They replaced him too
They replaced you
They replaced him too
They replaced you
They replaced him too
They replaced you
They replaced him too
They replaced you
They replaced him too
They replaced you
They replaced him too
They replaced you
They replaced him too
They replaced you
They replaced him too
They replaced you
and backrooms
Author's Notes:
Go right
Go left
Go right
Go left
Go right
Go left
Go right
Go left
Go right
Go left
Go right
Go left
Go right
Go left
Go right
Go left
Go right
Go left
Go right
Go left
Go right
Go left
Go right
Go left
Go right
Go left
Go right
Go left
Go right
Go left
Go right
Go left
and backrooms
Author's Notes:
Leave a string
Silly unicorn
Just follow a string
Silly unicorn
Have you tried using a string
Silly unicorn
Leave a string
Silly unicorn
Just follow a string
Silly unicorn
Have you tried using a string
Silly unicorn
Leave a string
Silly unicorn
Just follow a string
Silly unicorn
Have you tried using a string
Silly unicorn
Leave a string
Silly unicorn
Just follow a string
Silly unicorn
Have you tried using a string
Silly unicorn
Leave a string
Silly unicorn
Just follow a string
Silly unicorn
Have you tried using a string
Silly unicorn
Leave a string
Silly unicorn
Just follow a string
Silly unicorn
Have you tried using a string
Silly unicorn
Leave a string
Silly unicorn
Just follow a string
Silly unicorn
Have you tried using a string
Silly unicorn
and backrooms
Author's Notes:
You're a failure
Just keep moving
You're broken
Just keep moving
You've been replaced
Just keep moving
You're a failure
Just keep moving
You're broken
Just keep moving
You've been replaced
Just keep moving
You're a failure
Just keep moving
You're broken
Just keep moving
You've been replaced
Just keep moving
You're a failure
Just keep moving
You're broken
Just keep moving
You've been replaced
Just keep moving
You're a failure
Just keep moving
You're broken
Just keep moving
You've been replaced
Just keep moving
You're a failure
Just keep moving
You're broken
Just keep moving
You've been replaced
Just keep moving
You're a failure
Just keep moving
You're broken
Just keep moving
You've been replaced
Just keep moving
and backrooms
Author's Notes:
Like a room
Like a tomb
It is nothing
This is nothing
Without a space
Without a breath
To give
To take
To forget
To make
Sometimes right
Sometimes left
Sometimes up
Sometimes down
Forward and backwards
Around and around
We tried
We failed
We cried
We wailed
And in the end
As in the beginning
We can always start
We can always start over
With you
Without you
The form
The formless
But always
But unless
A backup
A backroom
To pick from
To throw away
With
Without
The buzzing