FSE

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Chapter One

The Mistake

"You do realise that this is illegal, don't you?" Moxxie queried, almost rhetorically as she crouched down beside Cobalt as he jimmied the fencing.

"Look, we'll be in and out before you know it. With everything they say about this place, all the strange noises people hear leading up to the last day of each month? There's got to be more to it than people know - or at the very least - are willing to say."

"And you do realise why people only hear about this place, right? Cobalt, we are making a huge mistake..."

"Yeah yeah yeah, rumours are spread because no one actually gets out to speak about the hard truth, yadda yadda yadda. Now if you're done spreading those rumours..."

Moxxie was supposed to be the smart one here, yet even she found herself lulled into a false sense of security by the young stallion's nonchalant attitude. She watched with uncertainty as his hands braced the time and weather-worn chain linked fence, allowing her just enough room to crouch down and squeeze through first. Having worked her way under the fence, she pushed herself upright - brushing herself off once she'd made it onto the perimeter of the abandoned townhouses. As best she could, she held the fencing up after she'd slipped under (taking care to avoid any form of laceration from the forgotten wiring) as Cobalt more or less army-crawled under the opening after her.

"Just promise me, five minutes, then we're gone. That was the deal, okay?" She pleaded, her words spoken over her now-hushed breath as the winter sun sank out of sight behind the peaks of the buildings before them, leaving the harsh cold of October wind to grate below her fur, unabated now in the shade.

"I promise. Look:" He said, pointing to his unlocked phone, his thumb tapping the large green START button on his timer app. "Five minutes and then we're out, now let's go!"

"Wait, don't you think-" The smaller equine began to speak, anxious about the timer making a noise once they were inside. Yet before she even had time to say anything, her partner had already made tracks, right up to the very first house. With a worried grimace at her boyfriend just ploughing on ahead like any typical work horse would, Moxxie rapidly bolted from her position, following suit. Her steps were lighter and quieter than his, yet altogether faster as she just about managed to close the gap before he made contact with the portion of panelling beside the dishevelled sash window.

"Don't just dash off and... leave me like that," She whispered. Her complaint aside, he took a brief look inside before sliding the window open, hoisting his body up and rolling into the building.

"Look, we've got less than five minutes right? Let's get a move on." He said, snapping back at her. He stretched out his hand, having wasted no time slipping inside whilst she stood there, flustered by his utter disregard for property ownership and basic manners - or laws for that matter.

Moxxie begrudgingly took his hand in hers, her other bracing herself against the lower window frame as the large male heaved her inside, using his body to halt her momentum before her face had an unscheduled date with the floor.

"Woah, just stay close and hold my hand, okay?" Cobalt said, trying to reassure her as best he could as he pulled his phone out to check the time, for both their benefit.

04:23

It had already gotten dark thanks to the setting sun, but as the pair began to make their way through the abandoned living room and towards the main hallway, Moxxie turned her head back towards their exit. Maybe it was her flight instincts in an unfamiliar place, maybe an unconscious attempt to memorise their path as they walked onwards, but she suddenly noticed something that she hadn't noticed when they entered the place. It had become all too quiet, unnaturally fast. Though, that fact in itself wasn't the strangest; as she looked back - remembering the winter wind buffeting against them by the fencing, and the naked trees creaking and swaying back and forth - all she could see now from inside looking out was a darkened and grave-like stillness. It was as if the world outside this place had paused, waiting for them to return, forlorn by their departure.

"H-Hey... Cobalt? I don't like this at all." She uttered softly. Her eyes darted this way and that as they passed open doorways that lead into dark and unfurnished rooms, turning back to double check, only to find that they were in fact sealed shut behind the wandering wayfarers without so much as a single sound. All she could hear with deafening clarity was their own footsteps, echoing off of the lonely and featureless walls.

"It's fine, like I said..." Cobalt began as he drew his phone out once more, just like before to show Moxxie the timer. Though, as she turned to face him, expecting an update on the time and a continuation of that sentence, she looked at his face to see his emerald eyes fixated on his screen, the white of his phone lighting up the confusion written all over it like a ruined and misprinted newspaper.

"What's wrong?" She asked, her already heightened anxiety beginning to rise to newer and higher heights.

Cobalt's eyes turned up to meet Moxxie's before his phone turned about to face her, her more feminine features highlighted by the glow now, though her sudden understanding of his confusion caused those features to now turn her anxiety into alarm.

"No. no Cobalt, I don't like this. I'm leaving. NOW." She spoke firmly, her voice no longer quiet or hushed as her hand broke free from the stallion's grasp, her back facing him in the blink of an eye as she hurriedly strode away.

04:23

Cobalt easily caught up with Moxxie, keeping pace as she led the way back towards their ingress point, his hand stretching out for hers on the back swing. As they grasped ahold of each other's hands, they began to hear a sound that was similar to the description they'd heard others in town speak of; it was a low groan, something akin to a bear in pain mixed with the shifting of the houses' very foundations and decaying floorboards, magnified and resonating in volleys of echos - making its point of origin impossible to perceive. Cobalt tugged on Moxxie's hand firmly, pulling her backwards and into the only sideroom off the main corridor with its door ajar before closing the door behind them. Moving into the room and towards a deep wardrobe, he placed one arm around her waist to hold her back against his front, and with his spare hand placed over her muzzle - his clammy palm making a seal over her lips to keep her from making a sound.

"Mpff, Mmmmmpf!" Moxxie desperately tried to say, wanting to warn him about the doors, about how they were all pulled shut and he hadn't paid attention. He had left her just enough room for her shaking inhales and exhales to cycle as that pained groaning grew louder and louder, her chest heaving back and forth against his forearm as her breathing began to quicken, a quiet whine turning to tears as she realised it was all too late for warnings.

And then, silence.

Cobalt felt an unbelievable feeling of lethargy suddenly wash over his body, his energy sapped from him in what felt like an instant as his vision began to vignette. His heavy body swayed towards the back of the wardrobe as his arms slumped away from hers, unable to continue holding her, unable to give her some modicum of safety as his vision continued to drain away. The last thing he would remember as Moxxie's form followed suit as he slid down the rear panel towards the floor of the wardrobe was that frightful groan, now accompanied by three glowing baleful orbs that looked down at them from the furthest corner of the room, hanging in the air, their dim green light reflecting off the tears she'd shed upon his forearm. As his vision faded to black, all the stallion felt from this presence was hate, spite, and malice that ran as deep as the foundations themselves. He couldn't have known though that his hunch couldn't have been further from the truth.

00:00

The dual-beep tones of Cobalt's timer was what woke him first, the vibrating in his pocket just enough to bring him around to the world of the living as he pushed himself into a seated position on the ground. With his eyes sealed shut for now, all he could see was these vivid flashbacks of the night's events, all of them leading up to the same moment in the wardrobe.

"Those damn eyes..." Cobalt said aloud, having only meant to think those words.

"If you're awake, help me out here!"

Blinking his eyes a few times, he looked to his side to see a white coated canine kneeling beside him, but over his partner Moxxie.

"What the... Henry? Wait... where am I..." Cobalt once again spoke aloud, having not meant to. "And why am I..."

"This is not the time to lose it big guy. Help me get her into the truck!" Henry cried out, an urgency in his voice that the stallion had never heard before.

Shocked by this different side to his friend, Cobalt struggled to his hooves, but found that his muscles had yet to regain their full mobility.

"That's right... there was that noise... my energy was just gone... but those eyes..." Cobalt spoke out loud as his lidded eyes darted back and forth in vain, showing his thoughts where there was none. "... and... why can't I just think in my head anymore without speaking!?"

"I was about to say the same damn thing to you! Why the HELL did you two go in THERE!?" Henry bellowed at him as he struggled to lift Moxxie up, leaning her body weight onto his own for support as he slowly trudged towards his vehicle, soon aided by the spooked stallion.

"No, what I mean is, I literally cannot separate my thoughts from my speech right now; it's like... I can't control them at all! I'm getting all these... flashbacks, but none of the words that are coming out of my mouth are being thought of beforehand." He said, struggling to think of anything to say that wouldn't result in his lips parting at the first thought of the first letter of any given word.

"NOT. THE. TIME. COBALT!" Henry punctuated as he managed to lug Moxxie's unconscious form onto the back seats, closing the door afterwards. "Get in: We're going back to my place, and then, we're going to have a loooong chat about this." He spoke plainly now as he opened the driver's side door, watching Cobalt amble sluggishly around to the passenger's side with one hand on his head, the stallion's eyes wide in disbelief and darting about, climbing into the passenger seat before Henry closed his door last.

As the engine roared to life and the truck pulled away, Henry started in the direction that led out of town to the west, his eyes looking up to the rearview mirror to see the shrouded houses fading away into the background, yet ominously silhouetted by the rising sun in the east. Henry took a glance to his side, watching Cobalt's eyes darting this way and that, his lips breathlessly forming the beginnings of words that never left his mouth. With a quick glance over his shoulder, he saw Moxxie in a similar situation; her eyelids were only now apart, spread wide open, eyes darting about within a small cone of movement towards the back of Cobalt's seat, with her lips physically sealed shut. It was almost like she was paralysed, but at least she was awake.

"Must have been the engine that woke her..." Henry thought to himself, before stifling his thoughts and concentrating once again on the open road ahead, feeling empathy for their situation.

Though Henry was keenly aware of Cobalt's situation, what with his inability to keep his mouth closed for any meaningful amount of time before he tried to 'think' again, he had little to no idea of how Moxxie was doing right now. Every now and then, he would look over to check on her, but it was like she was experiencing something altogether opposite to her partner. It looked as though she was plagued with thoughts, scenarios and sentences rushing in through one ear before dashing out the other, with not even a second to put them out into the open for someone to hear them; and all the while, her body seemed to be locked up - knees brought to her chest, hands grasping at anything tangible or real as she was driven away from that godless property.

"This looks bad..." Henry said aloud, saying something for the first time since they set off after giving himself enough time to collect himself.

"We were only going in to take a look. Take a peek. See if everything they said held any merit." Cobalt said, stifling back any more thoughts to give Henry time to reply.

"But what you did was stupid, dangerous, and could have gotten you killed. Instead, you're... you're..." Henry said, trying desperately to search for the right words to use as his digits gripped at the steering wheel - his two rows of teeth bearing down upon one another. "Just... try not to say anything until we get back. We're almost there, so just... keep running through those flashbacks. We'll need all the hints we can get."

"I'll try." Cobalt sighed, his speech a knee jerk response that he didn't mean to say, going against Henry's request in the blink of an eye.

"I know you will..." He said after a moment of silence, letting out an exasperated sigh as he desperately tried to make sense of the situation. "What in the hells are we dealing with here..."