November 17, 2011

Twilight Sparkle had her head rested comfortable on her pillow, nuzzling into it with a smile and a sigh. The moon was high in the sky and it was time for ponies to sleep. It was a stormy night, but in a peaceful way – the low growl of thunder was nothing close to menacing and the rain, although fairly heavy, was rhythmic in a way that hypnotized the mind and drew sleep closer. Twilight's consciousness faded and sleep was seconds away…

Suddenly, a rapid series of knocks at the door yanked Twilight from her drowsy state, and she tumbled out of bed, tangling herself in her blankets.
"Who is visiting now?" She asked aloud, hoping Spike, her number one assistant, would somehow answer. Even at this late hour, Spike was jogging downstairs to answer the door. Twilight smiled – she felt truly lucky to have an assistant like Spike. She cantered downstairs after the baby dragon. Before they could make it all the way down, another series of impatient knocks echoed through the house.
"Yeah, yeah, we're homing! Hold your horses!" Spike called. Twilight chuckled internally. Spike placed a purple claw on the doorknob and opened it, to reveal a soaked Rarity. Her groomed purple mane clung to the sides of her face and was far from fabulous. Her hooves were covered with mud and her coat was frazzled. She was panting heavily, and held a crazed look in her eyes, which were severely bloodshot. Rarity had been running, in the rain, without an umbrella. Something was terribly wrong.
"Rarity!" Twilight gushed before Spike's shock at seeing the beautiful pony in this state had subsided. "Come in! What's wrong!" Rarity stumbled inside, not even bothering to wipe her hooves or look at her friends. Spike absentmindedly closed the door behind him to protect the indoors from the rain.

Rarity sat herself down at a table, a faraway look in her eyes as a white cup and saucer hovered before her, followed by a teapot. The teapot poured steaming tea into the cup, which then assembled itself neatly onto the saucer before her and landed gently on the table. It took her a moment to realize that Twilight had used magic. With that train of thought, Rarity remembered why she was there.
"Twilight?" she said, and her silky smooth voice was shaky and worried.
"Yes, Rarity?" Asked the purple pony gently, taking a seat opposite her friend. Spike sat down at the edge of the table, looking back and forth between the two, but focusing mostly on Rarity.
"You're… you're good with magic, yes?" Rarity squeaked.
"I don't like to boast, but, yeah, I'm fairly good… why?"
"I want you to destroy this." Rarity said, an edge of finality to her voice as her tail whipped up onto the table, and from it spilled a single black cassette tape. Twilight was taken aback slightly.
"Uh… destroy it? But-"
"NO!" Rarity yelled, slamming a hoof on the table, causing Twilight and Spike to jump. "NO BUTS! JUST DESTROY IT! I WON'T EXPLAIN WHY, JUST DESTROY IT FOR ME!"
"Okay, okay! I'll do it! Just calm down, Rarity!" Twilight said, sticking her front hooves out as if to say 'slow down!' After a few seconds of frantic huffing and panting, Rarity slowed down and her breathing steadied.
"Okay… thank you, Twilight." She sighed. "I'll be off then."
"What?" Spike and Sparkle said in unison. Rarity said nothing before opening the door then galloping back out into the downpour.
"Rarity!" Spike called, stretching out his claw and running after her, but he was held back by Twilight's magic.
"Let her go, Spike. She's stressed out over something. She'll get home and collapse into bed." Spike struggled for several seconds against the magic, but quickly gave up. Nothing could overpower Twilight Sparkle's magic. Twilight closed the door, and poured Rarity's untouched tea down the sink, before turning her attention to the tape Rarity had given her.

"I wonder what's on it?" Spike asked.
"No, Spike. Rarity didn't want us to watch it. She just wanted me to destroy it."
"But, why? That doesn't make sense. Why couldn't she have done it?"
"I don't know, Spike. But it's awfully weird. We'll ask her tomorrow."
"But-"
"No. I'm destroying it and then I'm going to bed." Twilight stated plainly, and with it, their conversation abruptly stopped. Spike slunk into a corner and watched as Twilight's horn radiated its trademark purple glow. Although he was used to being in the presence of magic, Spike still waited with baited breath to see what type of magic was about to be used. There was just no way to guess what part of her vast arsenal she would use. A few uneventful seconds passed, and Twilight blinked as the glow faded away.
"Uh, Twilight?" Spike asked gingerly. Twilight stared at the tape in disbelief for a moment, before deciding something in her mind.
"I must… I must be worried about Rarity, or maybe just tired." She mumbled to herself with a definitive nod, refusing to accept that simple magic had just failed. "I'm going to bed." She cantered upstairs and let her head hit the pillow. The rain got heavier and thunder rattled the sky suddenly, but still, Twilight managed to fall asleep very quickly.

Spike had remained downstairs, eyeing off the tape. After several minutes without noise from the purple unicorn upstairs, he decided to go against Rarity's wishes and watch it. After all, something terrible must be on it to make her react like that, and he had to find out what. He snatched the tape up, analyzing it carefully for several seconds, then, deciding it was a completely ordinary tape, rummaged around for a tape player/recorder. He slotted the tape in, rewound it completely, and hit play.


Entry #1

For several seconds, the screen was black, save for the small white text in the bottom corner reading '6 25 11'. The sound flickered to life and the crunch of leaves and the breathless pant of an exhausted pony could be heard. An image burst forth, wobbling and shaking violently, and it took a few seconds to establish that the camera was being held in the mouth of a running pony. Not just a casual run or even a competitive run – a life threatening, fear induced sprint. The surroundings passed by in an indistinguishable blur, though some features were clear even in the haze. The pony carrying it had been running for some time, judging by the raspy and uneven breathing. The surroundings were simply trees, possibly a path, and a wooden structure was in the shot somewhere, though it was impossible to tell exactly what it was.

"Did… Did I lose him?" The pony asked out loud in a feminine voice as she slowed to a run – not because she felt safe, that much could be inferred from the panic in her voice. Rather, it was because she simply couldn't maintain that speed, no matter how much adrenaline was pumping though her. She spun the camera behind her, allowing herself to slow to a jog now, and her breathing gathered pace ever so slightly. With the camera being held tighter and the image shaking less, the wooden structure became more focused – it was simply an old clubhouse. Not the clubhouse the Cutie Mark Crusaders used, but one that was more battered and broken and in the middle of seemingly nothing but forest. A rubber ring hung from a rope suspended from a tree nearby as a makeshift swing. The camera spun again, just in time to see a single branch tumble from a nearby tree. "Crap…" The pony whispered. A single step and a crunch of leaves before the camera spun back to the clubhouse. She stopped cold upon seeing that the swing was now swaying in a wide arc, becoming almost horizontal. Before the swing could fall again, the camera spun once more, into a new direction this time. A single, loud, eerie shriek echoed into the forest as the camera fell, and stopped, on a white, faceless pony in a simple black suit. This pony was far larger than average, was completely white, and its arms and legs stretched further than Celestia could reach. Upon meeting this image, the camera stopped filming, and, after holding the faceless pony on screen for several seconds, the camera turned to static, with the pony's blood-curdling scream still echoing through, before the image went black, and the sound, off.


Spike put the camera down on the floor carefully, not comprehending what had happened. If not for the voice, he'd have assumed it to be Rarity. Still, the tape was strange and the faceless pony was simply horrifying. He decided then and there to go after Rarity. She must have watched it and been scared out of her mind.

"We gotta help her…" the dragon uttered to himself as he began to run upstairs.

To be continued...


Author's note: Did you hear what Spike said? "Hold your horses"? HAHA!
It's hilarious because they're PONIES and he said hold your HORSES!

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL I'm so bloody lame.