She couldn't understand it, not even a little bit. It had never been a problem before. She didn't think she was, no, she knew she wasn't going insane. Ever since that day by the lake she just couldn't ignore the constant whispering in her ear.

"Embrace the darkness"

Every day at random times it would begin. It would say "Embrace the darkness" and then just like that it was gone. She sighed, it was pointless. It clearly wasn't going away any time soon, so might as well get used to it. She laid her head down on her hooves and stared out her window. The moon gave the town a beautiful shimmer. The silver roofs reflected the moon light, bathing the town in a shimmering, iridescent gray light. Hundreds of stars twinkled in the sky, creating a show that could dazzled it's spectators indefinitely. As she marveled at the beauty of the night she began to think about her problem. If she recalled correctly, it had all began on that day at the lake. She hadn't even thought it was that big of a deal. It was nothing but a harmless bet, at least she was pretty sure it was harmless.

She had been spending the day with her friends at the lake when one of them dared her to swim to the island in the middle. Being an earth pony, this wasn't an easy task, but then again she wasn't the kind of mare to back down from a challenge. After several minutes of struggling she managed to reach the island. She turned to the shore, waving to her friends to prove that she had made it. They waved back, signaling her to return to the shore with them. If she had just made the right choice and swam back then, none of this would be happening. Unfortunately, her curiosity got the better of her. She decided to take a look at what was on the island.

It was a small island, taking no more than ten minutes to explore the majority of it. After about five minutes of exploring, she stumbled upon an odd looking amulet that appeared to be made out of a black rock of sorts. She decided that it was of no use on the island and slipped it around her neck so she could carry it back to shore. The amulet felt cold against her side. The amulet seemed to have no heat in it whatsoever, sucking the heat out of her body and chilling her to the bones. She shook it off, thinking she was just being paranoid, and swam back to the shore anyways. Once there, she showed her friends the amulet she had found and told them goodbye, as she had decided it was time to head back to her house and get some rest before work.

At that point she remembered what had really started all of this. It was that stupid amulet. If she hadn't taken it, none of this would be happening. She instantly got up, slipped the amulet around her neck, and left her house into the cool night, determined to return the amulet to where she had originally taken it from. When she reached the edge of the lake she felt it as though it was being pounded into her head.

"Embrace the darkness"

She shook it off and slipped into the lake. The water was colder, but not so bad that it was going to make it impossible to swim to the island. She very slowly made her way through the chilly dark waters. She pulled herself to the shore and began walking back towards the center of the island. Overhead the moon began to be covered up by some passing clouds, obscuring her view. She slowed her pace, being careful not to hurt herself because of her now hindered perception. She felt her hooves push against something solid and smooth, marble of sorts. She instantly recognized it as the place she had gotten the amulet from. She slipped the amulet off of herself and placed it in the center of the marble slab. Satisfied, she turned and began heading towards the edge of the island.

"Embrace the darkness"

It pummeled her ears and caused her to wince slightly. She began to increase her pace, fear very slowly taking over her body.

"Embrace the darkness"

Her pace increased even further, going from a fast trot to a gallop. She felt her body go limp with fear as she realized that a layer of fog had began to creep along the island, blocking her view of the path in front of her. She gulped and charged head first into the fog. Everything was a blur or a shadow. Trees whizzed by, rocks jabbed her hooves, and the fog swirled around her creating a blur of gray and black.

"Embrace the darkness"

She could have sworn that one came from somepony. She turned to see a dark figure, a blurry black silhouette of a earth pony. She turned away and bolted in the other direction. Fear completely consumed her body.

"Embrace the darkness"

She turned to see that the figure was now even closer. It didn't seem like it was physically moving, yet it was making ground on her. She put her head down and galloped as fast as she could, tears running down her face. This wasn't how she had wanted to die, killed by some creepy, unknown figure who was following her because of a dumb bet with her friends.

"Embrace the darkness"

She stopped dead in her tracks. She slowly turned her body so she was facing her follower. It stood on its two hind hooves, front hooves extended in a way that one would when wanting a hug from another pony. She had had enough. She sighed, deciding it was no longer worth the struggle. She trotted towards it, it's dark crimson eyes picking her apart as she approached. She stood on her hind legs and embraced it. For a moment it felt as though she was hugging any ordinary pony, but that quickly changed. Its body turned to a goo that began to spread across her body. She tried to scream, but it wrapped itself around her throat, crushing her windpipe and effectively cutting off her ability to speak. It began to contract, crunching her body and compacting her bones until they were practically splinters. It let go of her, leaving her mangled, lifeless body on the island. Just like that the fog began to recede, and with it went the mysterious figure, fading into the darkness, taking the amulet with it to claim its next victim.