There was nothing but darkness ahead. Thick shadows pulsated like the veins of a living being, something from another dimension. Something with maws a big as the world itself, and it could swallow her whole any second. But it didn’t. It remained still and silent, waiting for its prey to make the first move. Just a few steps into the dark, and it would snap shut, its teeth burying themselves in her body.

But if she stayed in her place, it couldn’t do anything. Despite this otherworldly creature being the most ancient being ever to walk the earth, its belly big enough to swallow the planet, it was still dependent on the prey coming to it, not the other way around. It wanted her, no, needed her to step forward into its gaping mouth.

The longer she stared into the darkness, the more she felt something within her slip away, slowly but surely leaving her.

If sanity was a tangible, visible creature, it would be dragging behind her in a thin, bloody string. Like a feetus clinging to its mother.

The thought disgusted her, and almost instantly she felt a rising urge to run blindly into the darkness and escape that sickly creature hanging on to her, that writhing mess that was left of her sanity.

With a deep sigh, Lilly entered the darkness in front of her.

It enveloped her, drowned her in its abysmal depths.

Every little sound became as loud as a battering ram, every sensation felt alien and terrifying. Her hooves clonked hollow against the floor, which she guessed was concrete, echoing loudly through the vast nothingness, bouncing off of walls that didn’t exist within the shadows. Her ears started to hurt from the constant noise, and she didn’t even feel her own body kick into gear. Never felt her brain telling her to run, never felt her legs work spastically to get away.

She ran as fast as she could, her body pounding in pain together with her beating heart, and she could almost feel the streams of warm blood trickling through her, and she could feel something tugging on it. Something within the shadows that hunted her, something that made her blood want to rip out of her body and leave her empty.

Her entire body ached and she felt herself starting to go numb, and the only thing she could think of was getting away, getting away from the darkness and back to him. Where she would be safe.

Then without warning, something gave way and Lilly tumbled forward like a ragdoll. She kicked wildly in an effortless attempt to keep her balance, screamed in pain when the side of her head slammed against something hard. Then she fell.

At first, she thought it was her body giving in and going limp from exhaustion or fear, but it wasn’t she understood right after she hit her head that she had tripped over something on the floor, and was now falling downwards. A hole in the darkness that pulled her deeper down.

She hardly had time to finish the thought of whether or not this would be her last moment alive, before she slammed hard into the ground As she did, she could’ve sworn she heard her back crack, and nothing but a weak hiss came out of her throat before she started to moan and cough.

And still, there was nothing but darkness. Lilly rolled around on her stomach, her back numb from the pain. But despite the shadows surrounding her and her growing fear and pain, her situation had now changed dramatically. She’d been stupid, careless. Like a scared little filly, she’d been running from nothing but her own phobia and that stupid behaviour had now landed her in a truly dangerous situation.

Cringing, she managed to pull herself up on her hooves, and looked around her out of instinct to see where she’d fallen. Nothing but darkness. She cursed herself for being so childish and immature. Maybe Duskshine had been right that day back in Ashcraft. She did act like a stupid little foal.

Ashcraft. Life had been so simple back then. Back home.

She looked up in the hopes of seeing the hole she’d fallen through, but again, she saw nothing but black. Straining herself, she did her best to focus every bit of attention into her horn. It hurt a lot more than she thought, and she almost lost her concentration, but she managed to hold on long enough for a few sparkles to burst forth, followed by a faint blue light.

It wasn’t strong, but it was enough to give her a momentary view of the ceiling above her, where a big hole gaped down at her, but she couldn’t see further up into it. Her light was too weak to spread beyond the darkness above, but now she could at least see that it was too far up for her to reach. She’d have to find another way back up.

She reared up on her back legs to see further up.

Ashcraft. Home

Her light started to fade as her concentration wavered

That one time Duskshine tried to kiss her.

Her head started to spin and pound and her horn sent out more sparkles.

Anton.

She lost her balance as the light died out and she tumbled backwards. Yet again she landed on her back, and this time she couldn’t hold back a scream of pain. Quickly she got back on her hooves. Anton was the reason she was even in this situation in the first place. He’d saved her life; she couldn’t just let that favour go unpaid. Especially not with the state he was in.

Again, she focused herself into her horn, and the pale blue light returned. It painted a barren floor around her, no more than a few meters before the darkness became too strong. She couldn’t see any walls, just the endless darkness surrounding her tiny bubble of light.

Lilly spun around, and found herself face to face with a wall. An actual, concrete wall, not one made of shadows. It was a barren as the floor, with a few dusty cobwebs dotted here and there. Very big cobwebs.

Just as she started to imagine what kind of spiders would’ve made those webs, she heard the sound of hoof steps. Right behind her. She gasped and spun around in fear, and lost her magic light in the process. What she saw in that fraction of a second was enough to send her trembling backwards into the dusty wall.

Light, careful hoof steps. Like the gentle pitter-patter of a foal.

After a few moments of complete silence, Lilly dared herself to fire up her horn again. The instance she did, a scream pushed itself out of her throat before she darted off to her left.

She’d seen it, and it sure wasn’t a foal, or even a pony for that matter. Least, she hoped it wasn’t a pony, but it looked an awful lot like one. The moment her light touched upon it, it had scurried away from her, but she still caught a good look at it. It had walked upright on its hind legs with its fore legs hugged close to its chest. It looked bent over, crooked in a way she couldn’t explain. But the head had been the worst.

Just a swarming mess of what looked like dozens of thick, hairy spider legs that twisted and moved.

She ran through the darkness yet again, but this time she wasn’t running from a childish fear, but from a very real threat. With some strained effort, she managed to shrink her bubble of magic light into a beacon that shone right on front of her, focusing all her strength into it, making it that much more powerful and bright.

And she could see clearly. All around her, those creatures emerged from the dark, their spindly legs reaching out to her as she passed them.

It was almost too much for her to take, and she felt a strong urge to just crawl up into a ball inside her cloak and hope that they’d leave her alone. But that would probably only make her an easier target for them to wrap in a cocoon of silk.

Lilly rounded a corner and headed down a narrow hallway. When she looked up, she caught a glimpse of what looked like a pony hanging above her, lifeless and thin like a twig, strung up in the cobwebs of those creatures. She forced herself not to think about it and focused only on running and keeping her light going.

She could hear those things behind her, screeching loudly. It reminded her of wailing infant foals, and it made her sick to her stomach.

Seeing the end of the hallway approaching, she started to panic. It was a dead end, she had nowhere else to run. Just as she was about to stop and turn around and accept her fate, she saw the handle of a door sticking out from the wall on her right. The door was covered in so much cobweb that it was almost impossible to see, but it was her only chance.

Not thinking ahead of what might hide behind it, Lilly threw her entire body into the door, and it came open instantly. She tumbled inside, her horn now dark again from the impact, and slammed the door shut behind her. In a moment’s notice, the creatures started to bang on the other side of the door. Lilly, who was trying to catch her breath, shrieked and pushed her own body against the door, rammed her hooves into the floor and tried to hold back the tide of disfigured bodies hurling themselves against the thin metal frame.

Each new bang against the door sent Lilly’s body into ripples, and the back of her head hit the door over and over as the vibrations caused it to shift.

“Oh, please, help me…” She whispered to herself, her legs starting to quiver and buckle under the weight. “Celestia, Luna, anypony, please… Willow, Anton, help me!”

No help came, and the creatures became more frantic in their assault. Any moment they would burst through the door and overpower her. Lilly’s heart raced a mile a minute, and she was too weak to cast her magic light again.

“Please, help me!”

The door gave way. Lilly screamed as the weight of dozens of bodies pressed down on her.

She kicked as much as she could into the darkness, hoping to at least take one or two of them out. Hooves grasped at her, wrapped themselves around her and tried to hoist her up from the floor, but her kicking and flailing made it difficult.

Long, thin appendages groped around her face, and the realization of what it was sent Lilly into a fear-fuelled rage. The hairy legs tried to push into her mouth and nose, poked at her eyes and dug at her ears in frenzy.

Lilly twisted her body spastically, threw herself back and forth in an effort to roll out of their grip. She felt one of her hind legs touch something, and through her own rabid writhing; she heard a body fall to the floor.

But the creatures refused to give up, and the spindly legs begun to engulf her entire head instead of just touching and poking it. It was trying to smother her, or worse.

With a loud scream, Lilly pushed herself up, up into a sitting position. The thin legs instantly crawled into her mouth, and she bit down on them hard, causing some foul liquid to pour into her mouth as the legs tore off. The creature they belonged to screeched in agony, and in the assuming commotion, Lilly pushed herself to the side and finally fell out of their grasp.

And so she ran. With tears streaming down her face, she ran, but didn’t get far. Her hoof smashed into something and she fell forwards yet again. Her entire body hit something hard and spiky, and pain enveloped every inch of her. She pushed back up and continued on, realizing that she’d stumbled on a staircase, one leading upwards.

She followed it until it stopped, then turned to her right where she felt it continued, and ran.

Three flights, four flights, five, six.

Hallway up the seventh one, something grabbed her hind legs and pulled. She yelped in surprise and fear as she was dragged down the stairs by one of the creatures. Her hooves slammed against the steps to get a grip, then to the side to find some sort of railing to hold on to, but nothing was there.

Instantly, the creature was on her, but this time, she was ready.

With a roar of pain and frustration, Lilly curled herself upward, twisting her body up and away from the stairs. She pushed herself forwards and over the creature, causing it to reach for her and topple backwards with her.

The pair of them tumbled down the stairs, and Lilly tried to use the creature’s body to protect herself from harm. The rolled over the floor and came to a stop when they slammed into a wall, and Lilly instantly moved to get up and keep on running. She got only a few steps away when the creature once again threw itself on her.

From the force of the impact, Lilly stumbled to the side, and felt the cold steel bars of what she assumed was the railing hit her. She spun around frantically as the creature climbed all over her as if it was trying to encase her. Just like a spider.

Lilly started to jump in place, buck her hind legs as hard as she could, but it refused to let go. She rammed her back into the wall, but all she got was a muffled moan of pain as the creature clanged unto her. Again, the spindly, thin legs started to grope at her face.

Seeing no other options, Lilly rushed forward in the direction she hoped would be the railing.

With another yelp of pain, she hit it straight on and her fore legs bent from the pain. The creature’s back slammed into the railing, finally letting go off her. Through the darkness, she could hear its frantic shrieking as it clamped itself to the railing.

Lilly turned around and kicked the railing as hard as she could. Her hooves connected with several thin legs, and screams of agony filled her ears. She kicked again, and again and again, until she couldn’t feel her legs any longer.

Panting, she heard the creature fall, its screeching echoing loudly between the walls. And then nothing but complete silence.

She darted back up the stairs again.

A massive headache grew in her as she hurried away, and she tripped and fumbled her way through the dark. After a while, she thought she’d come long enough to not be in any immediate danger, and took just a moment to stop and catch her breath.

Hesitantly, she let magic flow through her horn again. Not enough for her to be spotted, but just enough for her to see in front of her. There was a doorway, leading into an hallway that seemed to resemble the one she came in through.

Quickly, she made her way through the door.

After what felt like an eternity floating through space and time, Lilly emerged on the other side of the darkness, and she collapsed on the floor the moment she felt the shadows let go off her. She remained on her side on the cold floor; panting and wheezing when she finally could control her body again, felt exhaustion build up in her. The darkness remained behind her, and before her, nothing but bright light.

She blinked slowly, trying to focus her eyes against the wall of light.

Daylight.

She had made it through the night, and was now staring into the rising sun. It shone through the broken glass of a window at the end of the hallway, particles of dust floating slowly through the rays. Lilly pushed herself up from the floor, and lumbered her way over to the window.

In the brilliant light of the golden sun, the snow-covered world on the outside didn’t look as terrible anymore. Crystals in the snow sparkled in the light, giving the street in front of her an almost magical look. The snow and ice wasn’t terrible anymore, and the barren and filthy walls of the buildings didn’t look intimidating at all.

It was beautiful.

If only he could’ve seen it…

She turned from the window as memories once again forced themselves upon her, causing her body to shiver ever so slightly. Lilly blinked away the tears that had almost built in her eyes. It had been a rough night, but she’d made it. And now she was all alone in the frozen wastes. No one to look after her, no friends by her side. Completely on her own.

Lilly took a quick look back at the darkness she’d just traversed, and felt her insides twist the moment her eyes touched upon those terrible shadows. She pulled herself away from it, and hurried down a doorway to her left, deeper into the maze of corridors and rooms that she felt hopelessly lost within.

But she had to keep going. She couldn’t stop or turn back now, not ever. She had to be strong. For herself, but also for him.

It was strange, what she’d felt within the shadows earlier. Never in her entire life had she been afraid of the dark, despite knowing the horrors that in this time and age could lurk beyond them. Darkness had never bothered her like it would other ponies.

Things were different now, though. And so they would always remain. Different.

Every new room she entered, every hallway she snuck through, silence followed each and every move she made. It was a pressing silence, one that almost hurt her head. The kind of silence that was so deep that it felt loud to ones ears. Oppressing, in a way. A silence packed with both fear and anticipation. Fear for what would be around the next corner she rounded, fear for what might hide beyond the next door.

Yet, anticipation for what she could find. Something that could help her in her current endeavour.

She pressed on through the narrow hallways. She crept up dusty old staircases and crawled beneath windows to remain hidden.

Eventually, she snuck up to a door with a rusty old sign hanging above it. It was old and covered in dust and cobweb, and so she couldn’t make out the writing, but the thick, red cross on the side was unmistakable.

She took a peek through the doorway, and deemed the room secure to enter. Inside, she found rows and rows of dusty tables of cabinets, some toppled over and broken, others covered in webbing. The tables blocked her way, and she had to resort to crawling underneath them to get through. The cobwebs that instantly touched her face almost made her fly into a panic, but she managed to calm herself down. She was alone in there, she was sure of it.

As she emerged on the other side, she took a few seconds to shake the dust and webs off of her cloak before venturing deeper into the pharmacy. Cabinet after cabinet she examined, finding bottles of medicine and drugs, covered in labels she couldn’t understand. She’d never seen anything like them before, but decided that she wouldn’t need them anyway, and turned her attention away from them.

With help of her magic, she managed to pry open something that looked like a clothes cupboard, an inside, she found something she could use. A tattered old saddle bag hung limply from a hook on the side of the cupboard, covered in age-old dust.

She grabbed it and pulled it down, opened it up to examine it closer. When she did, she could hardly contain a squeal of joy.

The satchel was full of gauze wrappings. Exactly what she needed.

Lilly carefully closed the bags again, and proceeded to wrap it around her body. It took some fidgeting to make it work together with her cloak, but after a few minutes of struggling, the beige old bags hung snuggly on either side of her body.

For a while she stayed in the deserted old pharmacy, going through cabinets and cupboards, but found nothing of actual value besides a blank can with no labels, which she suspected contained some sort of food. Once she was done, she crawled back under the tables and hurried out through the doorway.

After a few more minutes of silent sneaking, Lilly emerged into a massive room that spread out before her like a cathedral, and several rows of empty chairs and tables stood lined in the middle of the room, further enhancing the image.

Up above her head, a big hole gaped through the ceiling, casting an almost ethereal beam of light straight downwards, encircling the chairs below. Ice hung from the edges of the hole, making her conjure up the image of teeth inside her mind, an almighty maw about to rain down upon its non-existent disciples.

Lilly crept forward, taking care not to step too hard, as the sound would probably be amplified through the room’s empty corners, and that echo could be enough to tell anypony in the near vicinity that she was there. Or anything, for that matter.

It was first when she was close enough to the chairs to see the properly that she realized that they weren’t empty as she had first thought. Dried and withered bones rested in some, others just piles of dust. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the full skeleton of a pony, still sitting in the chair he or she had died in.

She couldn’t help but feel disgusted, but she walked towards the skeleton anyway. When she came closer, her eyes met the hollow openings that once housed the pony’s eyes, now nothing but empty space. Its head hung limply back over the chair, its jaw hanging open, giving an eerie look, almost as if it was smiling at her.

There was something about that skeleton. Something that seemed to draw her in, call to her. Without even realizing that she had done it, she was sitting down in the chair next to it, staring at it. She’d seen several dead bodies earlier in the Bleakers hideout, but at the time she’d been in some sort of adrenaline and fear induced trance, and the things she’d seen just a few hours ago didn’t even feel real to her anymore. More like distant nightmares

But the skeleton was real. So very real. The perfect image of everything, right there in front of her.

Death.

Nothing but death. That was her world now. In a way it had always been her world, that death, but now more so than ever. For the longest time, death had belonged to Equestria, to other ponies.

Now it belonged to her in full.

Lilly slowly turned herself towards the dried construction of bones that once had been a pony like her. A living, breathing creature.

“Whoever you once were… I’m sorry that this happened to you. I’m sure you probably didn’t deserve it.”

The skeleton remained quiet.

“Or maybe you did deserve it.” Lilly said, turning away from it again. “Maybe you were nothing but a ruthless killer or rapist, and justice found you. You could have been a Bleaker. Or a Stalker. But I guess that in the end, who we are doesn’t matter anymore. We’re all going to die anyway.

She stood up from the chair, wiped her eyes and threw one last glance at the skeleton.

“Maybe I’ll see you again someday. Maybe you could tell me what happened to you.” She took a few steps away from the gathering of chairs. “Or maybe we’ll both just wither away into dust. Because who we are, or once were, has no value anymore. Nopony cares about you or your life.”

Lilly made her way to the other side of the room, towards a dark doorway in which the door hung askew on only one hinge.

Death belonged to her in full.

“Nopony cares. ‘Cause we’re all devils on the inside.”

It had chosen her the moment that it took Duskshine away from her.

She stepped through the doorway and let the darkness engulf her. This time, she felt no fear of it.