Ponyville is covered in complete darkness. Everyone is gone except for Twilight, Starlight, and Trixie. Together, the two ponies search for answers as they walk into the black.

An atmospheric horror and suspense story. I wrote the first half of this a year ago and decided to finish it on a whim. Based on a dream I had, pretty much beat for beat.

Sometimes, running is a very efficient method not to run out of time. And Twilight certainly has every interest in making sure she doesn't run out of time, and therefore in doing things as efficiently as possible. She wouldn't want to be late, after all.

A strange book written in a script not linked to any known language is given to Moon Dancer by a mysterious stallion with dark spectacles and a charming smile. Wary of what lay within yet curious nonetheless, Moon Dancer enlists the aid of her old friend Twilight Sparkle in deciphering the script and unlocking the truth behind the book's origins.

What follows is a detailed account of the endeavor and its tragic and terrifying conclusion, penned by the broken mare who survived to tell the tale.

After an expedition into the Everfree Forest ends in disaster, Applejack and Rainbow Dash take refuge in an abandoned cabin until morning.

This is probably a poor decision, but it's only one night, after all. How bad could it be?

A journal was found. Old and weathered with years untold. The first entry was dated yesterday:

My name is Twilight Sparkle, and for the last 33 days I've been stuck in a time-loop, repeating the 23^rd of March, 2 A.R. It is still unknown how the loop started, nor how I can end it. All I can say with any amount of certainty is that time for the rest of the world resets every night, and every morning I wake up it is the morning of the 23^rd.

Now with a reading by ObabScribbler. Link!

The most innocent things can alter the very course of our lives.

Consider; an ordinary, albeit strangely configured, piece of art acquired from a distant land and sent to a seamstress in a small town. She vaguely recalls the relative who has sent the gift, but cannot fathom the reason for the giving of said present.

A closer inspection of the item reveals a bizarre series of symbols inscribed upon the surface, simultaneously repulsive and yet attractive to the young mare's eye...

///////////////////////////////////////

Day 4 of the Seventh Anniversary Story Bomb... and sister story to 'The Thirteenth Hour'.

Twilight had never questioned the nature of the Tree of Harmony. To her at least, it stood as a sentinel, a silent guardian watching over Equestria and keeping disharmony at bay.

She soon starts to have questions and misgivings when she inadvertently witnesses the horrifying fate of hers and the rest of her friend's twisted doppelgängers. Did something happen to the Tree of Harmony, or was it always this way?

Twilight aims to resolve this mystery once and for all. Little does she realize that this mystery goes far deeper—the truth far more terrifying than she can imagine.

Will she be able to solve this nightmarish mystery with her sanity intact, or will she surrender and be lost to madness?

After some deliberation I chose to put a Crossover tag as the whole story uses many assets from several stories in the Cthulhu Mythos (most of them written by authors other than Lovecraft).

Fantastic cover art done by Mix-up!

Equestria can be a scary place. Just ask the ponies who find themselves center stage in these unusual tales of horror.

Special thanks to everypony who offered an idea and/or writing prompt for this anthology

Happy Halloween/Nightmare Night to you all!

There is no such thing as a gut feeling, not really. If you suddenly start to feel afraid for no apparent reason, it's very unlikely to be anything serious. But it doesn't make it feel any better does it?

Twilight is up burning the midnight oil again, when suddenly every sense she has tells her that something is terribly wrong. There can't be anything really wrong though, not in reality.
Can there?

A short experiment in atmospheric horror.
Featured in the Royal Canterlot Library on 26/04/19
Now featuring readings by ColonialPone here, and by MrSnarky here.

When Bon Bon and Lyra get to have a busy little getaway deep under the southern ocean, they think it'll be a lot of work and a good amount of alone time together. What they don't realize is that they're sharing this deep, dark section of the abyss with creatures that enjoy music, and now that they've heard Lyra, they don't want to let her leave...