//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: Stone Parasprites 
// by TheBigBob 
//------------------------------//

	saterday, october 27
my name is appul blum. i live with my sister applejak, my brother big maccintosh, and my grandma granny smit. i live in a town called ponyvil. my best frends are sweety bell and scootaloo. my teecher at school is mis cheerily. 
my frend twilite told me to rite down evrything i can rememer in this jernal. i cant reely think of much tho. i reccanize this room, so i ges its mine. i didnt even now i had a jernal, but i so it lying on top of my bed and it had my nmae on it. ther was a note besid it to that siad for aplejack. i didnt no wat the note was toking abot when i red it, so i thru it away.
im tyring to think abot wat hapened befour i got home. i rember wakling with twilite sweety bell and scootaloo. we wer all wering sum kind of hood and cape taht was all torn up. they kep talking to each ohter and asking me a bucnh of questons. when i coundlt anser them, twilite seem reelly weried, so thats why she tlod me to rite as much as i cood in my jernul.
i jsut looekd at my clok and saw how ltae it was. i beter go to bed. and i shoud shwoer in the monring becuz my fur is reelly ditry.

Sunday, October 28th
When I woke up this morning, I felt a lot better. At least, I thought so. I accidentally tripped and fell down a few steps when I was coming down the stairs. Applejack got some bandages for me fast, but us Apple family folk are pretty tough. I did notice some other bruises and cuts on me. Applejack asked me about them and I couldn't remember how I got them. I don't think I fell down the stairs that hard...
I still feel like I'm missing something. After brunch, Applejack asked me to clean the dishes, but I accidentally dropped three of them and broke them. She just sighed and took over for me after that. I wanted to make up for it somehow, but when I suggested it Applejack just asked me to keep to myself. She was right, because I did feel kind of dizzy all day.
Twilight came by in the afternoon and talked to me. She mostly just asked questions about how I felt and what I remembered, which wasn't much. Some other details came back to me today, like how Scootaloo is obsessed with Rainbow Dash and Rarity is Sweetie Belle's older sister, but that's about it. Twilight asked me if I remembered a wedding that I supposedly went to in the spring, but nothing came to mind. As we talked, I noticed that she had some bruises on her waist. I asked her about them, and she just evaded the question.
Twilight took me on a walk away from town. There, she introduced me to this pony named Dark, who wore a hood and a cape. He looked scary to me, but Twilight promised me that he was friendly. He asked me a lot of questions, but what was weird is that I felt like he was examining me. He asked me to open my eyes wide so he could get a good look at them. He also tested my hearing by speaking at various distances away from me. I felt really nervous as he was doing this, but Twilight told me over and over that it was okay and that he was just checking up on me. I don't know why she would take me to this weird-looking pony outside of Ponyville instead of the town doctor.
I overheard some parts of her conversation with him, too. They mentioned a bunch of names I can't remember, and Twilight seemed really worried about me. I'm not really sure what to think either, because I can't remember anything besides the ponies closest to me. That hooded pony talked to Twilight a bit, though I don't really remember what they said. They just kept looking at me funny.
After Twilight brought me back to the farm, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle came over later and hung out with me. We tried playing catch, but I kept tripping and missing the ball, so we stopped after a while. However, none of us really talked that much. I don't think that they had problems remembering things like I did, but they were both really quiet and nervous. I asked them if they knew what happened to me and they said they didn't want to talk about it. I saw that Scootaloo had a bandage on her right front limb, but I don't remember her getting hurt. Also, I noticed that Sweetie Belle was moving a lot slower than Scootaloo and me. I almost looked like she had a limp or something.
I don't know how long it'll take for me to get my memory back. Tomorrow's Monday, which means I'll be in school again. Maybe being in the building will help me remember more. I hope miss Cheerilee doesn't give us a pop quiz or anything.

Monday, October 29th
I was worried that I wouldn't be myself in class today, but miss Cheerilee and the other students didn't treat me any differently than normal. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were still acting funny after yesterday, though. At least we didn't have any hard tests or anything.
Something really weird happened to me during class, though. I was listening to miss Cheerilee go over some math problems, when suddenly I got this really bad headache. I closed my eyes for a moment, and when I opened them again, I was the teacher! But instead of being in our little schoolhouse in Ponyville, I was teaching in a big room with lots and lots of students who looked way older than me! I kept talking and talking about magic spells and our souls and the inherent energy within us, but most of the ponies in the room looked really bored. I shouted one of them to wake up, and he just gave me a mean look. But then I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, I was back in the schoolhouse with miss Cheerilee.
I guess I was just daydreaming, but what kind of dream was that? Sometimes I'll remember dreams if they're really scary or funny, but this one seemed kind of ordinary. Like it wasn't a dream, but a memory I had a while ago. When I woke back up, it didn't look like anypony had noticed, so I guess it was all just in my head.
Something else weird happened at home not too long ago. Applejack and I were cleaning up after dinner when she accidentally dropped the pickle jar on the floor. When I heard the jar break, I yelled and cowered on the floor. Applejack was really apologetic, though she did think that I overreacted a bit. To be honest, I think I did too. Stuff like this happens every once in a while, so why was I so bothered by it? When I heard that glass shatter, I just wanted to hide. I felt really scared.
I think I'll just go to bed. Maybe I'll feel better tomorrow.

Tuesday, October 30th
I can't think straight. Something is happening to me, and I just don't know what's going on. All day long I feel like I've had to look over my shoulder no matter where I was. When I was walking to school, I felt like everypony was staring at me and murmuring. They were scared of me. I don't know what I did to deserve it. I just wanted to run and hide, but there was nowhere I could go. And I didn't want to go back home.
In class I couldn't pay attention at all. I just stared directly in front of me the whole time. Miss Cheerilee called my name a few times, and I guess I snapped out of it long enough to answer her. But she seemed really worried about me. At lunchtime, I think I was really worrying Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. They kept saying things to me that sounded like responses to things I had said, but I couldn't recall saying anything. At one point, I looked at the two of them funny and got a really weird feeling. I thought about how Sweetie Belle was such a great singer, but felt bad for her because all her friends would be beneath her. Then I thought about Scootaloo and how she's different from other ponies and doesn't even realize it. I shook my head out of it and things went back to normal for me for a while, but I still don't know why I would think such terrible thoughts about my best friends.
The worst part of my day came when I was walking through town after school. I passed by some fruit stands and got really hungry. I snuck over next to one of the pear stands and when nopony was looking, I stole one, put it in my bag, then ran off. I went into an alleyway and ate the pear as fast as I could. I felt like it had been forever since I had last had something to eat. I threw the pear aside, and when I walked out of the alley, I found Twilight standing in my way, glaring at me.
She was really mad at me and wanted me to explain why I had just stolen food. I tried to explain to her that I was really hungry and didn't know what else to do, and she asked me why I didn't just go home and have an apple from the farm. When she said that, I realized that she was right. I had never had problems getting food before, so how come I was so desperately hungry this time?
I guess Twilight knew what was going through my head, because she stopped being angry and started looking very worried. She decided to walk me home, because at that point neither of us knew what to do. She also bought another pear from that stand, and paid extra for it to make up for the one I took. I told her a bit about the weird experiences I'd been having all day, and she just stayed silent. When we made it back to Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight told me that everything would be alright, and that I should just take it easy the rest of the day. So far, nothing else has happened. I hope tomorrow will be better. I hate these visions.

I was really hoping that would be it for tonight. After I wrote that journal entry, I turned off the light in my room, and I suddenly felt really scared, like there was something in here with me. But at the same time, I was just... giggling to myself. I sat there and just quietly laughed at the darkness. After several minutes, I had to force myself to get back up and turn the light on. I'm really scared, Twilight. I hope that you can help me, because I don't know what's happening to me.

Wednesday, October 31st
This will be my last journal entry. I have to write down everything that I can right now, because if I don't, then my story will be lost forever.
When I left home last Saturday, I believed that I might not return. I hugged Applejack and Big Macintosh tightly, and even Granny Smith, though I went a little easier on her. I packed my bag full of food and left Sweet Apple Acres. When I walked outside, I saw that rather than the bright, sunny days we've been having, it was overcast. I guess the pegasi knew exactly what I was about to get myself into. Once my home was out of sight, I made my way over to Twilight's library, where the longest night of my life began.
When I knocked on the door, I didn't get an answer. I knocked again, harder, and still got nothing. Finally, I opened it up and saw Twilight frantically running around the room, hovering books overhead. Sheets of paper were scattered everywhere. She looked like a complete mess, and didn't even notice that I had come in.
“Is everything okay?” I asked her. Then I realized how stupid a question it was. We could die that night.
“Oh! Apple Bloom!” Twilight stopped what she was doing and looked at me. “Sorry... I've been looking everywhere to see if there's any spells I've missed that might help us tonight. So far, the unbinding spell is all I could find.”
I heard a pair of voices come from the side of the room. “We're here too!” I looked over and saw Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo sitting in the corner. They got up and ran over to me.
“What are you girls doing here?” I asked them. “You can't come with me and Twilight! You'll just get yourselves hurt! Or worse...”
“No!” Scootaloo shouted. “We saw what happened on Thursday! We're not leaving you alone!”
Twilight sighed. “I tried talking to them already, Apple Bloom. They won't budge.”
“Please let us come with you!” Sweetie Belle whined. “I don't care what happens to us!”
The two of them looked at me with tears in their eyes. I realized that I needed them. I was scared enough as is, and just having them by my side may be enough to get me through this.
“Thanks, girls.” I hugged them tightly. Then I turned my head towards Twilight and asked, “Did you already tell them everything?”
“As much as I can,” she said. “I still don't know what we'll find when we're out there.”
As Twilight went silent, I looked around the library. Papers and books were scattered everywhere, but she seemed more depressed than worried. Applejack liked to tell stories of how Twilight would obsess over minor details and assignments, and the way she described them, they always sounded far worse than what I saw in front of me. I guess when Twilight is faced with a real danger instead of a hypothetical one, even she knows when to stop.
“We're almost ready,” Twilight said, packing up as many notes and supplies as she could. “Just let me do one last thing.” Twilight wrote a full letter on a sheet of paper, then curled it up and cast a spell on it that made it vanish into thin air.
“What did you just do?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Just a small time-travel spell,” Twilight explained. “It will appear here tomorrow at noon on Spike's bed. If everything goes fine, I'll stop it and he'll never know. If I'm not here, he'll find it, and he'll contact Princess Celestia. I don't think she knows much more than I do about dark magic, but if things go wrong, she needs to know.”
A moment of silence passed before Twilight spoke again.
“Is everypony ready?”
Soon, the four of us were heading out of town towards the Everfree Forest. However, the problem was that I was leading the way. I had only been on the path one time before, and that was a few days earlier (though it felt like a lot longer than that). After we all walked along the perimeter of the forest for a while, I found the pathway that would lead us back to the cabin.
As we walked along the path, Sweetie Belle thought aloud to herself. “I wonder who this cabin belonged to.” She turned to address me. “Did you see any pictures on the walls or anything while you were there?”
“The walls were pretty blank,” I told her. “Just a bunch of leftover furniture. It was pretty big though, and I only saw a few rooms. Maybe there's a picture or something in a different part of the house.”
“It seems like it's pretty far from Ponyville,” Scootaloo said. “Maybe it's just a getaway spot? I can't imagine living there.”
For a while, the three of us talked about the cabin, speculating on who it belonged to and how long ago it had been abandoned. It was just mindless chatter, but it helped take my attention off of what we were about to face. My friends and I were just having one of those silly moments, like we used to. After a while, I noticed that Twilight had been silent the entire conversation. She just kept her eyes on the road in front of her.
“Is something wrong?” I asked her.
“It's nothing, Apple Bloom,” she said, smiling. “Don't worry about it.”
“What in Equestria could you possibly be keeping a secret about?” Scootaloo asked.
Twilight frowned. “It's just that... using the unbinding spell will take a lot of energy.”
“Don't worry, Twilight!” Sweetie Belle smiled. “I'm sure you can handle it!”
“Yeah!” Scootaloo cheered. “You've done magic like that before! You remember how you handled the Ursa Minor?”
Twilight closed her eyes. “You don't understand, girls. Dark Magic isn't like normal magic. To use it, I might have to tap into my very soul.”
The three of us got quiet, not sure of how to respond. As we walked, I looked down and noticed a few black feathers on the dirt path.  I guessed that Flash and Brock must have been telling the truth when they said they were bringing Dark to the cabin. As we walked further down the path, I kept my eye on the road, hoping to see if there were any other feathers. I didn't find any, but they would have been hard to see with the increasingly thick branches overhead.
After a while, Sweetie Belle broke the silence. “Twilight, are you going to be okay?”
Twilight gave a weak smile. “I will. A pony's soul contains immense energy. Even a tiny fragment of it should be enough to help me perform this spell. And just like normal wounds, the soul will heal over time.” Twilight sighed. “I'm sure it will be painful, though.”
“Do you really think the unbinding spell is all it will take?” Scootaloo asked.
Twilight continued looking straight ahead. “If worse comes to worse, I'll use some of the other spells I deciphered from the book. They won't be pretty, though...”
Sweetie Belle frowned. “Wouldn't it be better to ask Princess Celestia? I mean, she's really powerful...”
“I can't get Princess Celestia involved,” Twilight told her. “She's the ruler of Equestria. She needs to be at full strength to raise the sun every day.” Twilight took a deep breath and straightened herself as she walked. “If I can protect her, I will, no matter the cost.”
At that point, I realized something uncomfortable. “Hold on,” I asked her. “If this Dark Magic you'll use will hurt your soul, does that mean that Ebony... you know...”
Twilight gritted her teeth. “I'm afraid so. Her soul is probably severely damaged... possibly beyond repair.”
“What will happen to her?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“I don't know,” Twilight replied. “Ponies shy away from Dark Magic for that very reason. I don't know if there's even a documented case of it happening.”
The whole group stayed silent after that. I thought back to when Ebony was using the mind thing on me. I remembered how angry she was during the slender pony's summoning, how she felt they were incompetent and demanded that she be in control of the experiment. And after the fight at the library a few days earlier, Dark and Brock almost seemed like they were scared of Ebony.
After a long walk where nopony talked, we finally arrived at the cabin. The four of us just stared at it, bracing ourselves.
“Maybe it's just me, but has it gotten darker since we entered the forest?” Sweetie Belle observed.
We all looked up and saw that she was right. It was true that the branches were thicker there than they were at the entrance, but even then, there was very little light shining down between them. We had all left early so we wouldn't have to face Ebony at night, but now it felt like there wouldn't be much of a difference.
“Ready?” Twilight asked. We all nodded.
She walked up to the door of the cabin and slowly pushed it open as we huddled behind her. Twilight lowered her horn just in case something happened, but nothing did. The cabin was silent. She took a few steps forward and looked around, but she saw nothing. My friends and I slowly followed behind, but we kept our distance as Twilight scouted the rooms. After a few minutes of total silence, she came back looking both relieved and confused.
“I don't get it...” Twilight said. “They said they'd be here, but there's no sign of them.”
“Um...” Sweetie Belle murmured. We all looked at her. “I think they just told us to come here...”
Twilight suddenly braced herself as if she expected an attack, but nothing happened.
“Well,” Scootaloo thought out loud. “They didn't give us an exact time to come. Maybe they just aren't here? Should we wait for them?”
Twilight growled and turned around. “If they can't be bothered to be here for us, then I'm just going to... huh?”
“What is it?” I asked her as she stared at the side of the house.
Twilight pointed towards a window on the side of the house opposite where we came in. “Is it... darker over there?”
The three of us looked over to the window and saw that she was right. There was no light shining in from the other side.
“Told you it was getting darker,” Sweetie Belle said.
“I bet that's where the slender pony is!” I said. “We gotta go save him!”
“You're right,” Twilight said, heading towards the door. “It's now or never.”
“Oh sure,” Scootaloo complained. “Let's all go into the scary forest where we can barely see! THAT'S a smart idea!”
“You coming?” I asked her as Sweetie Belle and me headed towards the exit.
Scootaloo shoulders sank, but she followed us. “Yeah... I am...”
The four of us walked outside into the dark. Clouds were packed tightly overhead, and it seemed like the trees had lost most of their leaves. A few rays of light filtered through the clouds, but not enough for us to see far ahead. We walked forward into the forest, making crunching sounds on the leaves as we stepped on them. Every so often we'd see a large boulder or discarded wheelbarrow that had been rotting for some time. However, at the same time, we all suddenly felt a chill.
“He's near,” Twilight said.
My friends and I gasped.
“Keep quiet, girls,” she whispered. “I'm going to take a look around. I won't go far.”
The three of us kept our heads down and huddled together as Twilight scouted the landscape. Our hesitation felt weird. We knew that the slender pony wouldn't harm us, but we would never forget that night we first encountered him. How his presence made even the closest friends fight with each other. But at that moment, we were with him again. We all took deep breaths to try to calm ourselves, but it was futile. We looked around the landscape and saw how many leaves had fallen the past few days. I guessed if he had an effect on ponies, he may have been able to disturb nature as well.
After a few minutes, Twilight came back looking disturbed. “I found him,” she said. Her face was white.
I could only imagine what it felt like for her. She had finally run into the monster that traumatized her as a child. However, this was no time to talk about it. Twilight shut her eyes and took a deep breath. She opened her bag and levitated the notes she had taken from the book she'd been studying the previous few days.
“He's... in a clearing over there.” Twilight motioned her head towards a spot opposite us. “I don't know how well I'll be able to concentrate, but here goes nothing.” She took a deep breath, then turned around to walk off.
“Wait!” I squeaked out. Twilight turned to look at me, and I ran up and gave her a hug. Soon, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo joined in.
“Thanks, girls,” she said, forcing a smile.
We held on to her as long as we could, but Twilight gently forced her way out. The three of us watched her walk off, and held our breaths in anticipation of what would happen next. After a few minutes, we heard Twilight speaking. She didn't say any words we understood, so it must have been the ancient Equestrian language that was written in the book. The same language I remembered Ebony speaking when I was in her body, summoning the slender pony into this world. I shuddered hearing Twilight speaking those words, but I understood that it had to be done.
However, my thought process was interrupted when we all felt a gust of wind so strong that it made a noise as it blew through the trees. We heard Twilight scream, and without hesitation, we ran towards her. The wind kept blowing as we rushed towards her. When we arrived in the clearing, we saw no sign of the slender pony, but Twilight was curled up on the ground, looking like she was in a lot of pain.
“Girls...” she said. “I don't know what happened, but I didn't get to finish the spell.” Twilight coughed and continued. “The pages scattered when the gust of wind blew. Please... get them back so I can save us.”
Twilight shut her eyes and rested her head on the ground. She was still breathing though, so that was one less thing to worry about.
Sweetie Belle spoke up. “I think I saw a page fly past us! Hold on Twilight, I'll go get it!” She ran off the way we came, leaving us alone.
Scootaloo looked around. “I guess we don't have a choice.” She pointed into another section of the woods, saying, “I'll go search over there, okay?”
Before I could say anything, Scootaloo ran off into the woods. I looked at Twilight and hoped that by the time we recovered them all, she would have regained her strength. I quietly turned her head into a more comfortable position for her, then wandered off into the woods opposite of Scootaloo.
The woods were creepy enough as is when I was walking together with my friends and Twilight, but when I was by myself, I was alert at all times. I would turn my head towards even the tiniest of noises, only to see nothing there. The crunch of the leaves beneath my feet made me constantly feel exposed. My heart raced even though I wasn't running from anything in particular. I don't know what happened to the slender pony, but I knew that he wasn't out to hurt me.
After several minutes of walking, I finally spotted one of Twilight's pages caught in a hole in one of the trees. After I pulled it out, I looked over it. The top section was written in the ancient Equestrian language while the bottom was written in modern pony language. I saw a lot of instructions on how specific words were pronounced, but most of it seemed like gibberish to me. In the bottom right corner, I saw that Twilight had wrote the number '4'. I figured she must have numbered the pages. I did my best to wipe the dirt off, stuck the page in my mouth, then turned around and quietly trotted back toward Twilight.
Getting back to her turned out to be harder than I thought. There wasn't a sun or moon in the sky to guide me, and I had never been in this part of the forest before. However, I managed to make my way back to the clearing where Twilight was still laying there undisturbed. As I put the page I had found into her bag, I noticed a few pages stuck underneath her. I gently pulled them out and saw that they were numbered 1, 2, and 8. I didn't remember Twilight having many pages, so I guessed that there were only eight. Still, I saw no sign that Sweetie Belle or Scootaloo had gotten here, so I had to keep searching.
As I put the pages back in the bag, I heard Sweetie Belle's scream in the distance. Without even thinking, I bolted towards the sound. I hoped that she was just fine, and that the slender pony had just startled her without meaning to. Even though I knew he wasn't our enemy, it would have been a bad idea to get anywhere near him. I galloped through the trees, hoping to see Sweetie Belle terrified, but safe. Instead, when I rounded a corner, I found her body laying on the ground. Her eyes were wide open, and didn't blink or notice me when I walked up to her.
“Sweetie Belle!” I yelled as I tried to shove her awake. “Sweetie Belle! Wake up!” It was no use. Sweetie Belle didn't respond. I almost wanted to cry before I noticed that she was still breathing. She spasmed and drooled, but she was okay.
Just then, Scootaloo ran up carrying a sheet of paper. She let it down and asked me, terrified, “Is she... okay?” I nodded yes, and Scootaloo sighed a breath of relief.
“I don't know what happened to her!” I said. “She's not responding to anything I do!”
“Don't you get it?” Scootaloo asked. “The slender pony attacked her!”
“What?” I argued. “No way!”
Scootaloo glared at me. “Didn't you say that that Ebony unicorn wanted to use his power or something? I bet you he's under her control! He could be watching us right now!”
When Scootaloo said that, both of our eyes went wide. We frantically looked around for the slender pony, but didn't see him. Still, I conceded that Scootaloo was right. Ebony wanted to control him, and now he was being used to hunt us.
Scootaloo looked at Sweetie Belle. “Did you find a page on her?”
I realized that I had forgotten to check. I took another look at Sweetie Belle and noticed that her leg had gotten caught in a vine on the ground. No wonder she was attacked. She probably tripped on it and couldn't get away. I searched the ground around Sweetie Belle and found a page that she must have been carrying. “Here, she had one,” I said.
“Good,” Scootaloo replied. “I found one too. What about you? Did you have any luck?”
I nodded. “I was dropping it off at Twilight's when I heard the scream.”
“Let's go and give these back to her,” Scootaloo said. “We're still not done.”
She started to walk off before I asked, “What about Sweetie Belle?”
Scootaloo frowned. “I think she'll be okay. Besides, what else can we do?”
I grumbled but realized that Scootaloo was right. The two of us walked side by side in silence back to the clearing. Along the way, we kept an eye out for the slender pony, but we didn't see or feel anything. However, both of us had become noticeably cold. We shivered as we walked, both from the atmosphere and from our paranoia. Scootaloo and I made it back to Twilight, who murmured as she slept. As far as we could tell, nothing happened to her. We put the pages in her bag and tried to figure out what to do next.
“Hey Scootaloo,” I said. “Let's stay together in case something happens. I don't want to run into the slender pony on my own.”
“Agreed,” she said.
We picked a direction that none of us had gone in. As we walked in a straight line, we looked around for another lost page. However, we did our best to keep our attention focused right in front of us, because even a glance at the slender pony would be a problem. We walked in a straight line for what seemed like forever, until we found ourselves in front of a barbed wire fence.
“What's this doing here?” Scootaloo asked.
“Well...” I thought about it for a moment. “There is a cabin nearby. Maybe this place used to be for cattle or something?”
“Whatever.” Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Let's just follow it and see if we find anything.”
The two of us followed the fence, which seemed to circle around the forested area. As we walked, I looked through the wires off into the distance. It was hard to tell, but it looked like the dark clouds overhead started to disperse, and I think I saw just the tiniest bit of sunlight. However, it had been a long walk out here, and it was hard to tell how much time we had spent trying to find the pages. Maybe the sun really was setting, which meant we would be trapped in the dark for good.
Scootaloo broke me out of my daydream by yelling, “There's one!”
She ran ahead of me to a white page that had gotten stuck to one of the wires. When I caught up to her, I saw that it had scratched a hole in the middle of the page.
“Hrm...” I whined.
“It'll have to do,” Scootaloo said.
As she tried to get the page free from the fence, I saw how sharp the barbed wire looked. “Careful, Scoots,” I said. “You might accidentally-”
“OWWW!” she yelled. She fell to the ground and rubbed her right front limb.
“Are you okay?!” I asked, kneeling down beside her.
“I'll be okay...” Scootaloo growled, grimacing in pain. “Is the page free?”
I looked at the fence and saw that the page had fallen free. “Yeah,” I told her. “I'll grab it. You can still walk, right?”
“Yeah, I'm fine,” she said, standing back up.
I picked up the page in my mouth, then the two of us turned and walked away from the fence and back towards the clearing.
“You know,” Scootaloo complained as she rubbed her cut. “I am getting really sick of wandering around creepy forests at night.”
“Mm mmm,” I agreed. I hated walking with a sheet of paper in my mouth.
“Maybe I should get a cutie mark for a lumberjack,” she continued. “That way I can chop down trees and make everything safer for ponies like us!”
I rolled my eyes, but Scootaloo didn't notice it. However, she did get noticeably quiet. I couldn't say much, but I did manage to squeak out a, “Hm?”
Scootaloo looked back at me. “Apple Bloom?” Her voice was much quieter than it was a moment ago. “What do you think will happen after this is all over?”
I looked at the ground after she asked that, hoping an answer would just write itself in the dirt.
“I mean, even if Twilight does get better and we stop Ebony,” Scootaloo continued. “What'll happen then? Will we just go back to our normal lives?”
I shrugged. I didn't know how to answer her question.
“Are we supposed to just keep this a secret and not tell anypony? Or do we let them know? Even if they're safe, they'll be terrified knowing there are ponies like Ebony and the slender pony out there. And what about you?” Scootaloo pointed at me. “You've been kidnapped and you had that weird mind-thing done on you. At this point, getting your cutie mark seems like the least of your worries!”
I couldn't respond, but she was right. Even if everything turned out fine, this adventure would stay with us the rest of our lives.
Scootaloo sighed. “No point in worrying about it now. Let's just focus on...” Her eyes suddenly widened. “Uh oh.”
At that moment, I felt it too. He was nearby. I could feel my vision blurring and my head aching, and I saw Scootaloo also trying to stay focused.
“Where is he?!” she yelled, looking frantically around.
The two of us panicked as we turned our heads in every direction. Finally, he appeared. We saw the slender pony standing in the path to the clearing. I only glanced at him for a second, but I knew to quickly look away.
“Go around him!” Scootaloo shouted to me. “You have the page! Get back to Twilight, now!”
“Mmm-” I said.
“Forget about me! Just GO!” When she said that, Scootaloo shoved me as hard as she could off to the side. “Run!”
I had no time to think about it. I regained my balance and ran the way she pushed me before I turned and headed toward the center. I had to get back to Twilight as soon as I could.
In the distance, I heard Scootaloo taunting him. “Come get me you faceless freak! I'm not scared of you! I'll do whatever it takes to protect Apple Bloom! So just come and- AAAAAAAH!”
I winced when I heard her scream, but I kept moving. Sweetie Belle looked like she was okay, so hopefully the slender pony would spare Scootaloo as well. But at that point, I was alone. All of my friends were out cold. My only hope was that I could recover the last page and Twilight would be conscious enough to cast the spell.
I managed to make it back to the clearing, but Twilight was still out, and didn't notice me putting the seventh page in the bag. I decided not to waste anymore time, so I picked a section of the woods and went in it. I had been wandering around so long that I couldn't even tell anymore where I had and hadn't been. It all looked the same – dark. I trotted along carefully looking for the sheet of paper, but I couldn't shake the feeling that the slender pony was right on my tail. I didn't sense him, but I knew better than to look behind me.
In my search, I avoided dense clusters of trees where I could be cornered. Even if there was a page, I would have been cornered anyway. As tired as I was, I didn't stop moving. I was in no shape to gallop, but I was able to maintain a steady trot as I searched. My paranoia began to overtake me, as I expected him to appear behind every tree, every bush, every piece of debris. I imagined his tall, thin form blending into the scenery. The unearthly tentacles protruding from his back that looked like branches on a tree. His blank face obscured by the shadows, only visible once it was too late.
I became so caught up in my delusions that I didn't even notice the page in front of me, laying on a tree stump. I grabbed it and looked it over. More notes, mostly written in the modern language. The number '3' was written on the bottom corner. I was done. All I had to do was get back to Twilight and this nightmare would be over. I turned around, and I didn't even have time to react when I saw him standing in front of me. My vision blurred, and I fell over onto the ground from dizziness. I held my head, but it was no use. I felt like I was going to die, and nopony was there to save me. I shut my eyes and expected the worst.
Except, after a moment, the headache went away. I opened my eyes, and the slender pony was nowhere to be found. The note page was exactly where I left it. I didn't even think I had passed out. I looked around for him and didn't see him. However, the feeling of clarity didn't last long. I began to feel that nausea and irritation again, but this time I decided not to dawdle. I picked up the page and galloped as fast as I could back to the clearing.
As I moved, I tried to figure out what just happened. I was at the slender pony's mercy. He showed no hesitation in attacking Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, but why me? I remembered Dark telling me that the slender pony showed up in my room for a moment only because he wanted to see my face. He protected us a week ago when we were lost in the woods. He sacrificed himself to save me from Ebony. That must have been it. Ebony's magic is strong, but her power couldn't be limitless, and the slender pony came from Tartarus, which has all sorts of unknown magic. He must have been able to resist her spell, even for just a moment. Long enough for me to get back up and run.
When I made it back to the clearing, I was panting as hard as I could. I went over to Twilight and tried to wake her. “Twilight!” I yelled. She stirred in her sleep. “Twilight! Get up!” I didn't know how long I had. All eight pages were there and ready for her to use. I was about to try hitting her to wake her up when I heard a voice from behind me.
“Congratulations.”
I recognized the voice. I stopped what I was doing and slowly turned my head. The clouds over the clearing had parted, allowing the moonlight to shine onto the pony in the clearing. The figure's cloak cast a shadow onto the ground underneath, but the hood was pulled back to reveal a messy gray mane and unicorn horn.
“You won the game, Apple Bloom. Don't you feel proud?”
As Ebony's horn glowed, my vision blacked out.

Several hours later, I woke up to the feeling of a cold wind blowing against my body. I opened my eyes and realized that my legs were tied together with rope. I looked around me and saw that I was still in the same clearing, except that Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Twilight were lying there with me, tied up just like I was. Not only that, but Dark was there too. His cape had been taken off of him, and I saw him painfully lying on his broken wing.
His eyes opened and saw me looking at him. “Apple Bloom...” he whispered. “I'm sorry...”
“It's okay...” I whispered back.
It seemed like the cold wind had woken all of us up. I looked towards the center of the clearing and saw Ebony there, casting a spell while standing in front of a summoning circle. Brock and Flash stood on each side of her, watching. The slender pony was nowhere to be seen, though I assumed he was close by. The concentration of clouds that had blocked out the sun earlier were gone, and instead the moon was shining brightly.
Twilight groaned as she tried calling out to them. “Ebony...”
Ebony's horn stopped glowing as she turned around to address us. “Well, well, look who's finally waking up? Do you remember me, little miss Twilight?”
“I do now,” Twilight groaned. She struggled to get to her feet, but the ropes made it impossible for her to do anything but lie there. “Because of you, I could have been traumatized for life!”
Ebony scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Oh really? A quick mind-wipe spell and you were good as new.” She glared at Twilight. “But because of YOU, I lost everything I had!”
“What?” Twilight asked.
“Don't act like you don't understand!” Ebony yelled. “At worse, I would have gotten a suspension! I had the proper permission for that experiment and everything!” She squinted at Twilight. “But no, the princess's prized student just happened to wander in that day, because some IDIOT didn't shut the door!” Ebony's eye twitched.
Twilight looked to the side. “I was just... I didn't mean to...”
“I was even banished from Canterlot!” Ebony continued. “Everything I had worked for my entire life, gone in an instant!”
“So this is what you do now?” Scootaloo snarked. “Kidnap fillies and scare them senseless for no reason?”
“Nopony is innocent,” Ebony replied. “Even the ones you hold closest to you can betray you in an instant.” She turned her head to look at the ponies beside her. “Isn't that right, boys?”
Flash and Brock stayed perfectly silent. They didn't smile or frown. The only movement I saw was a brief glance between them.
“Take Brock here,” Ebony said, stepping towards him. “He was a fine, upstanding citizen growing up. Very friendly, very helpful.” Her frown turned into a grin. “Until one day, he figured out that he wasn't quite -like- the other colts.”
Brock sunk his head, and instinctively pulled his cloak over his cutie mark even further.
“He did his best to hide it,” Ebony told us. “Until one day, his secret got out. And as a young adult, he didn't quite understand what strength he had.” She turned her head and looked straight at him. “But I'd say that bully got what was coming to him, wouldn't you agree?”
Brock stayed completely silent, not even acknowledging her.
“And here we have Flash, the performer,” Ebony said, walking over to her other companion. “As a young colt, he discovered he had a voice that would make angels weep. I seem to recall he showed you some of his talents.”
Like Brock, Flash didn't even acknowledge her.
“Over time,” she continued, “he made quite a name for himself as an actor and a singer. With riches and adoring fans, he had everything a pony could ask for.
“Of course... it's lonely at the top,” she said, grinning again. “All that money, and yet he couldn't find himself with a single friend. Every time he went out, paparazzi stalked him. He no longer had a private life, and the friends he had were hoping to make a name for themselves by leeching off of his prized name.”
Flash's shoulders drooped and his head sunk.
“He hasn't had a performance in years,” Ebony finished.
“Hold on.” Twilight's eyes widened. “You're Flash? As in, Flash Bang?” Her voice picked up in excitement. “I remember you! You performed at Canterlot a few times, right?”
Flash didn't respond to her. Ebony laughed.
“I don't think he'll be giving you an autograph, miss Sparkle.” Ebony's voice suddenly got loud. “And don't think I haven't noticed you using your magic to untie Dark!”
Ebony's horn glowed, and Twilight gasped as she floated up and flew several feet, slamming into a tree. I looked over at Dark and saw that the knots around his legs were almost undone.
“Oh Dark, if you wanted to be free, you should have just asked!” Ebony's horn glowed, and the ropes around Dark's legs came undone. “Now get up!” she said. “I don't have all day.”
He rose to his feet as quickly as he could, though I still saw his legs shaking. He looked straight at her, unsure of what to do.
“Here, let me help you,” Ebony said. We all watched as she hovered a thick tree branch in front of her. Her horn glowed brightly, and layers of bark peeled off to form a wooden knife. She then hovered it in front of Dark, handle facing him. “Take it,” she ordered.
Dark picked up the knife and looked at it with uncertainty. Ebony laughed.
“You were planning to kill me tonight, weren't you?” she asked. “Well now's your chance!”
Dark backed up as Ebony took several steps closer to him.
“No need to be shy!” she said. “I'm just making it easy for you! No magic protecting me or anything! Just you, me, and that knife.”
She stopped directly in front of him. Dark grimaced and pulled the knife back as if he was about to thrust it. I heard Sweetie Belle gasp. Scootaloo's teeth were chattering in anticipation. I just laid there and watched him hesitate.
“Well?” Ebony asked. “I'm waiting.”
Dark's hoof trembled as he held it. His eyes shut tight and he took a deep breath. Then, he dropped the knife. “I'm sorry, Twilight,” he said, lowering his head. “I can't do it...”
“Well of course not,” Ebony said, walking back towards the summoning circle. “I knew you wouldn't be able to.” When she made it back to her spot, she turned her head back towards him and spoke in a low tone. “Because without me, you wouldn't even be alive.”
Everypony was silent. Dark looked at the ground.
“Is that true?” I asked him.
He slowly nodded his head.
“What happened, Dark?” I said.
“Indeed, Dark,” Ebony said, grinning and turning around to face us. “Tell them all what happened. After all, you're much better at explaining things than I am.” She looked at the summoning circle behind her. “If you share your story, I'll even hold off a bit before I cast the spell to control the being from Tartarus.”
Dark sighed, staring silently at the ground.
“Oh, and little miss Twilight?” Ebony said, looking behind me, toward her. “I'd recommend you put the notes down and listen to Dark speak. It's rude to not pay attention when somepony is talking.”
I shuffled my body around to see Twilight, and saw her with a shocked look on her face as the notes we collected hovered in front of her. Then, they burst into flames. All the work we had done had gone to waste.
“Well, Dark?” Ebony asked. “We're all waiting.”
Faced with no other options, Dark decided that it was time to tell us.
“I grew up in Fort Cirrus,” he began, “a cloud city far away from here. I had a next door neighbor named Light Sky, a mare with gray fur and a white mane. Light was the polar opposite of me. While I was shy and reserved, she was outgoing and energetic. Despite our differences in personality, we quickly became the best of friends.
“Light pushed me to try out for the weather team as we were growing up. We found that both of us were adept with controlling clouds. She was great at controlling the wind, and I found that my specialty was the creation of storm clouds. Hence, my cutie mark.” Dark motioned at his flank. “We became the star performers in town, and ponies from all over Fort Cirrus would come to see the storm shows we made. We wound up becoming lovers. If not for her, I'm not sure I would have ever discovered my cutie mark.”
I looked at Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle as he said that. While we still weren't anywhere close to finding our cutie marks, we all knew that we'd be nowhere without each other.
“One day,” Dark continued, “I was asked to create a powerful thunderstorm, as the pegasi who were supposed to be on rain duty that week had not been doing their jobs, and the surrounding area had been overdue for rain. After putting all my effort into creating a thunderstorm that would last, I returned home to the apartment where Light and I had been staying. I walked in on her sleeping with a colt I had never seen before.”
Dark grimaced when he said that. Everypony stared at him in silence. I didn't know too much about grown-up pony relationships, but even I could tell how much it hurt him to know that his very special somepony wasn't his after all.
“I didn't say anything when I saw them together,” Dark said. “I left immediately. Light called out after me, but I wouldn't listen. I flew out into the storm I had created and started kicking several of the clouds in frustration, causing lightning to strike much more rapidly than normal. Light followed me into the storm, but I refused to stay near her, so I fled deeper in. Eventually she chased me to the eye of the storm, where the two of us were alone in silence. She begged and pleaded with me to listen to her, but I had none of it. In a panic to get away, I flew out of the eye of the storm, and I was struck by a bolt of lightning. As I lost my balance and started falling, I saw Light in the corner of my eye, horrified. Afterwards, I lost consciousness.
“I woke up in the forest below with the most excruciating pain I had ever felt. While pegasi have been known to have soft landings, my wing had gotten caught in a tree branch as I fell, twisting it horribly out of shape. I laid there for hours, crying in pain. I couldn't tell what were tears and what were raindrops. Everything I had ever known was taken from me in an instant.”
“Poor, poor Dark,” Ebony interrupted, shaking her head. “A broken heart, broken dreams, and a broken wing. Such a cruel fate life has dealt you. Now, care to tell everypony where we came in?”
Dark glared at her, but Ebony was unimpressed. He looked to the side and continued his story.
“The pegasi in Fort Cirrus searched for me, but with what little strength I had, I tried to remain hidden. There was nothing left for me in that city. Without my wing, I couldn't fly. Ponies would have taken pity on me. I didn't want to see Light ever again. Just when I was on the verge of starvation, Ebony, Brock, and Flash found me. They took care of my wounds without my permission, and fed me what few supplies they had. I found that they had also been wronged in their lives, and so I decided to start a new life on the surface with them.”
I looked directly into Dark's eyes and saw a few tears. I tried to get up, but the ropes still bound my legs together tightly. Instead, I squirmed toward him.
Ebony took notice and rolled her eyes. “Fine, I guess I'll let you two have your 'moment'. I don't know what a filly could do to stop me.”
To my surprise, she undid the knots around my legs. I awkwardly stood up and walked over to Dark. I wrapped my front limbs around him, and he put one of his around me.
“I'm sorry,” I whispered to him.
“I'm sorry too,” he said.
“Now then!” Ebony stated. “It's about time this gathering got interesting, wouldn't you agree?” She turned to the summoning circle and her horn started glowing.
“Ebony...” Twilight groaned, gathering what little strength she had to speak. “You don't have to do this. Just because you had a traumatic childhood doesn't mean you have to take it out on everypony!”
“YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT?!” Ebony yelled, turning around and glaring at her. “My father was a selfish drunk that I was happy to be rid of. My mother was pathetic for never having the courage to stand up for him. The day that child protection took me away was the best day of my life, because it meant never seeing that pitiful excuse for a home ever again!”
“Then why?” Scootaloo asked. “Why kidnap us and make us play your stupid game? What's the point?!”
“Because you have no idea what it's like to suffer!” Ebony yelled. “All my life, ponies have looked at me in fear. Despite my abilities, they treated me like a freak! Everywhere I went, I was made fun of! Gossiped about! I studied every day, working as hard as I could to accomplish something, anything with my life! But that was an uphill battle, because most ponies went out of their way to refuse to help me!
“I thought things would be different once I was accepted at Canterlot.” Ebony started nervously pacing back and forth. “For once, my talents were recognized! I was one of the most powerful, most intelligent unicorns in the entire school! But instead, it was the same old story. My fellow professors feared me. Students disobeyed me. Conversations would grind to a halt whenever I entered a room. All because of my cutie mark!” Ebony stopped and looked at the pentagram on her flank. “They never realized that without this mark, I wouldn't even be alive.”
Ebony stared off into the forest. “The only pony who would ever be able to understand my suffering is the one from Tartarus. Ponies flee at the very sight of him. His presence makes them question their sanity. We're both abominations, wandering Equestria. And it's time we did something about it.”
Ebony's frustration turned into an evil grin. “I want ponies to know what it's like to be afraid wherever you go. Do you realize what I can do with the Tartarus being's power? I can turn friend against friend, mother against child. Towns would go to war. Soon, nopony would be able to trust anypony else. I would stand tall amongst the chaos. All because they didn't know how to treat a pony with some proper respect!”
We all stared at her with our mouths hanging open. Brock and Flash just stood there in silence, neither approving or disapproving what she said.
“Not to mention, do you think you are any better?” Ebony told me. “I saw what you wrote in that journal. Before you said even a single word to Dark, you assumed that he was up to no good. You branded him a villain when all he was trying to do was protect you. And who would have thought that the faceless creature stalking you in the forest was just doing his best to keep monsters at bay?”
I looked up at Dark, who lowered his head when she spoke. We shared a brief glance that said everything. Once we were all silent, Ebony smirked.
“Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a world to destroy.”
Ebony turned back toward the circle and began casting a spell. Her horn glowed brightly, and she began speaking the ancient language. Dark bolted toward her, but when he got close, she picked him up and tossed him aside without even flinching. I looked around at my friends. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle laid there with their legs tied, looking utterly helpless. Twilight watched from afar, but it looked like she was too weak to do anything. We were out of options. Ebony would take over the slender pony for good, and Ponyville would become her first target. Dark tried to attack her, but she repelled him effortlessly.
I slowly walked toward Ebony. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle cried out for me to stop, but I didn't listen to them. Brock and Flash watched me as I approached their leader. The wind from the spell did a number on my hair, and I watched as Ebony's cape billowed from the gust. I stood in front of her and looked up at her for several seconds before she opened her eyes and saw me.
“Is there something I can do for you?” she said. “I'm kind of busy at the moment.”
Without hesitating, I hugged her.
“Wh-what are you doing?” she asked, her voice trembling. “G-Get off of me!”
I ignored her and hugged her front leg tighter.
“D-do you think you're going to change my mind with a single hug?” she yelled. “You should know that my soul is far too rotted away to care about a stupid show of affection! Now let go!”
It didn't matter to me. I held onto her.
“W-well then!” Ebony yelled. “I guess I'm just going to have to finish this spell faster!” She began speaking in the ancient language again, and I could see a bright line shining from behind me. Suddenly, everypony screamed. Brock, Flash, and Dark backed away. I could sense it. The slender pony was standing right behind me. Ebony continued to chant with tears running down her face. As terrified as I was, I couldn't let go of her. I just held on and hugged her as tightly as I could.
Then, Ebony's spell stopped. She screamed. And everything went black.

When I woke up, I was being carried on Twilight's back. But I couldn't remember anything, and I'm pretty sure I was speaking gibberish. I was a little better when I got back to the Apple Farm, but I was still really clumsy and couldn't think straight. That's why the journal page for that night was so weird. I'm sorry about the misspellings, by the way. The next few days, I was starting to get my memory mixed in with Ebony's. I got really scared and paranoid, and had no idea why I was acting the way I was. When Twilight realized what was happening to me, she talked to Dark and figured out how to help me.
We were having a festival for Nightmare Night today, which gave Twilight the opportunity to slip me, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo out of school. I was really scared and nervous, and I think I lashed out at my friends, but they took care of me as we headed away from town. Eventually, we met up with Dark in the edge of the forest. Dark took me by the hoof and led me not far into the forest, where I met Ebony.
Now, I didn't recognize Ebony at the moment, but seeing her was bizarre for a number of reasons. It was like having an out-of-body experience, for one thing. But the second reason it was weird was that she stood there, completely motionless. She didn't acknowledge me or Dark, and stared straight ahead. Dark told me to stay right next to her and not to move, no matter what happened. I obeyed him, not knowing what was going on, but after a moment of silence, the slender pony showed up. I screamed and wanted to run, but I obeyed Dark and stayed by Ebony's side. I cowered as the slender pony stood over us, and I felt his tentacles wrap around me and Ebony. Then, there was a flash, and I could think clearly again. The slender pony disappeared, and Dark came back to get me. Ebony, however, remained motionless. She would walk when guided, and I saw her eyes blink naturally, but she was completely unaware that anything had happened.
Once I was back with Twilight and my friends, Dark explained to me what happened that night. Ebony's soul had mostly eroded away, but the hug I gave her touched the one part of her that still longed to be loved and appreciated. As powerful as her magic was, deep down she couldn't bring herself to do it. The spell went haywire because of her lack of focus, and the slender pony used the opportunity to jump in and attack her, effectively erasing her memory. But because I was so close, some of our memories got mixed up, and that's how I got so messed up in the head.
When I found out that the slender pony had erased Ebony's memory, I had a bunch of other questions. Dark said that because her soul had whittled down to almost nothing, she had become an empty shell of a pony. She was incapable of holding a conversation or performing basic tasks. Dark didn't know what he would do with her, but he assured me that he would find some way to take care of her.
In addition, Dark and Twilight came to another conclusion. Since the slender pony could erase memories, they wanted me to forget all the things that have happened to me this month. They said that there's no way I could forget an experience as traumatic as this, so the best thing to do was to just start with a clean slate. I argued as much as I could about it, but they said that it had already been done, and when I wake up tomorrow morning, I won't remember anything. That's why I've been sitting here writing for the last few hours instead of playing outside on Nightmare Night.
Dark assured me that I would turn out okay, and used Zecora as an example. She had gotten into a fight with Dark and the slender pony, and they wiped her memories so they wouldn't be disturbed further. Twilight, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo also agreed to have their memories erased so they wouldn't have to keep this secret from me in the future. I was sad that I wouldn't be able to remember Dark even though he protected me so much, but he assured me that it was for the best. Besides, his own nightmare is over, and he can finally stop running away now. When I asked him what would happen to the slender pony, Dark said he would be okay. He told me that as bad as having everpony run away from you on sight is, it's still better than being trapped in Tartarus. After that, we all gave Dark a tight hug and said goodbye as he disappeared into the forest with Ebony.
Am I forgetting anything? Oh yeah! Brock and Flash! Apparently, Dark doesn't know what happened to them after the incident in the forest. They just ran off somewhere. I guess that means that they're probably okay, but who knows? I didn't think they were very nice, but they seemed like they had been through a lot, too. And I doubt they'll come to kidnap me again anytime soon. I wonder if Applejack has heard of Flash Bang.
I'm getting really tired. I've been staying up really late writing all this, and it's hard for me to keep on going. I've been fighting sleep as long as I can, because I know when I wake up I'll have forgotten everything. But I don't know what else there is to write. It's no use. I'm going to fall over on this book if I don't stop writing right now.
Goodnight, Dark.