Octavia has been left alone for an entire month, and, during her routine shopping run, she comes across a young stallion setting up an art kiosk in the town square market. Approaching, the young stallion, by the name of Colour Palette, offers her a painting that was left to him from his uncle, and after reluctantly accepting the painting, Octavia notices strange things happening around her house.

She begins to experience nightmares and paranormal activity that she can't begin to explain, and she has no clue what's happening. Terrified, Octavia is determined to figure out what is haunting her home and terrorizing her with sinister intent. Digging deeper, she uncovers some shocking secrets and history relating to the mysterious painting.

Twilight Sparkle wakes to a wasteland. Equestria as she knows it has been destroyed. Her friends have scattered to the winds.

Twilight must find out what happened, where the Princesses have gone and what has happened to her friends. To do that, she must fight through a toxic gas that has changed ponies into something unrecognizable. Have her friends survived at all?

There's a dark secret behind all of this, and in a journey that heralds only pain and turmoil, does Twilight really want to know the truth? Or are some things best kept close to a pony's chest?

"It's 4 PM and the moon is still in the sky."

That's how it all begins. With a single line spoken into a tape recorder by a very confused and scared dragon. But that's not even half of it.

Ponies start disappearing. Spike hears strange noises all through the day. He tries to contact the princesses, but the rest of Equestria seems to have gone dark.

All Spike has is an old tape recorder and a box of blank tapes he found in the basement. At least he feels safe within the walls of the library. But just how long will that last?

Twilight has given you a new book to read. Well, she didn't exactly give it to you, you actually just found it in the back of the library. Behind a shelf. On the ground. It looks very old, downright ancient, and it smells like moss and rot. The binding is a little cracked, and there's no title on it. You can't help but wonder what might be inside, and the only way to find out is to keep reading.

Just turn the page.

You can do that much, can't you?

Please?

WARNING: This story contains brief depictions of blood, mild violence, and death, and has ARG aspects to it. It plays with formatting, and includes images. Some "pages" are long, some are only a few words. It is written in first person, to you, the reader, and is a slow mellow horror. You've been warned.

This story relies on unusual formatting for some parts, and thus may not be as enjoyable on a tablet or phone, or if you have specialized custom Fimfic settings.

If you post spoilers, hints, or answers in the comments, please be sure to spoiler them out or warn others. You don't want to ruin the fun, right?

Audio reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28TqbHFchLg

Derpy Hooves is rumored to be passing through the Everfree Forest on hoof faster than a pegasus can fly. What's her secret? A journalist from the Manehattan Herald intends to find out.

When a spook named Mr. Mean tries to scare Applejack, she drives him off, only for him to confront her friends in their rooms. As they all fall prey to Mr. Mean, unable to drive him off the same way Applejack did, they begin searching for a way to stop him. When they get captured one after another, Twilight finally goes to visit Applejack, only to learn that this goes much deeper than just a single night.

Fluttershy buys a painting from a new stall in Ponyville markets. It's a quaint picture of a rural cottage surrounded by grasslands and farm animals. It fills her with a curious feeling of longing that she hasn't felt before. Why should she? Her life is already like it.
But new animals start appearing around her home, and her own animals begin disappearing. Why and how she doesn't know, but she has to save them. She has to save all of them.

Down by the water where the sand does blow, shoreline licked by waves from below. If the sea you love and desire, ensure you stay under the suns watchful fire. Or you might by evenings light see, the trail of another appearing by thee.

- a more classical tale of horror and the sea.

"Faster," whispered Twilight as she cleaned up the mess. "They need to be faster."

Immortality, to many, is seen as a gift. A gift to those who have earned it, to those who deserve it. Celestia, now counting millenia, merely sees her age as nothing but a number. Her lover, however, is not so gifted.
These thoughts eat at the Princess of the Sun, and they keep her awake at night.