This journal was found in Pendant’s possession after she barged in on the session between Dr. Blue Sky and Verdant Vines. It is unknown where the journal was found, due to Pendant’s current state after the altercation. If she awakens in Canterlot, it is requested that she be questioned on how it came into her possession. However, Pendant was assigned to the investigation at Town Hall and may have discovered it there, though the logbooks show that she was at several other locations in the town assisting with fellow investigators over the past few days.

The journal is in a heavy case binding and severely worn from use, as well as possible exposure to the elements, indicated by several water stains on the cover and pages. There are a total of 147 short, straight scratches on the front and back cover, grouped into sets of five. 100 are located on the front cover, with the remaining 47 on the back.

Due to the content of the journal, it is believed to belong to one of the three original investigators sent to Ponyville: Solace. Several entries at the beginning are related to cases that records show he was assigned to; these have been omitted as they do not pertain to the current case.

We’re headed into Ponyville early tomorrow morning for a new case. Spanner and Sugarcane are going with me. It’ll be good to work with them again. It’s been over a year since the last case we were put on together. There isn’t much information we have at the moment other than that ponies are going missing, and there’s no sign of anything normally associated with a foalnapping. No ransom, no demands, no trace.

There’s a few possibilities left I have in mind based on what information we have, but those may change when we get to Ponyville and have the bulk of information we’re missing. Spanner and I both think some kind of animal attack isn’t a likely possibility, since there would be more left to go off of. It could still be a foalnapping, if they had something malicious in mind and weren’t really looking for material gains. There’s also the likelihood that the disappearances aren’t all related to one another, but the chance of an occurrence like that happening is unlikely enough to leave it a last ditch idea.

Whatever the case may be, we won’t know until tomorrow. For now I’m just going to settle my affairs before I leave, just like always. Hopefully Mrs. Brew can actually look after Witchy this time. I would hate to have to leave her at the shelter again.

Spanner apparently received some of the case files from Ponyville late last night. He’s still reviewing them on the train ride, but hopefully I’ll have the chance to give them a glance before we get into the thick of it. From just the sounds of it, we’ll probably be mobbed at the train station unless we’re lucky. Thank goodness they assigned a few more guards than we normally have to “escort” us.

In the meantime, I had a chance to catch up with Sugarcane. She’s been doing fine since the last time we worked together. Apparently she got a new pet cat. Maybe I can take Witchy over sometime for a playdate, if cats even do those. Some of the guards kept asking for details, but while Spanner was still combing over what info we had, I could only give a brief overview.

Our welcome at the station was more quiet than I expected. Sure, we had a few reporters asking questions and the look of a victim’s loved ones never ceases to put things in perspective, but it was a lot less of a crowd than you see coming into Manehatten. After getting situated at the hotel and having a chance to glance over the case files, we had to go and talk to the mayor. She was more than happy for our assistance, and the police chief in attendance shared the same sentiment. Spanner is in charge of getting some more detailed information while Sugarcane prepared for a meeting at Town Hall.

Safety is a major concern, but Sugarcane thinks a volunteer patrol is the best way to weed out some locals from the suspect pool. Anyway, this is what we have for now:

Laffy Taffy - E - March 31
Cloudchaser - P - April 5 +
Thunderlane - P - April 5 +
Lily Valley - E - April 7 X
Daisy - E - April 7 X
Echo Wave - E - April 9
Starry Streak - U - April 13*
Copper Circlet - U - April 13*

Commonalities:
No trace left behind
Cloudchaser and Thunderlane seemed to disappear around the same time
Lily and Daisy disappeared at the same time

The town is located close to the Everfree Forest, but I don’t think there’s any beast (magical or mundane) that would be capable of kidnapping ponies without a trace. Still, it’s one of the better theories that the local authorities have. I think they just doubt the lengths some ponies can go to if they have the will and intent.

The meeting went well. It seemed like most of the town was actually in attendance. We even got more volunteers than we expected to patrol the town at night. Hopefully we can glean something from working with them, and it should help with everyone’s safety. Then again, all the authorities working overnight haven’t found anything yet. Sugarcane and Spanner are already taking a nap to get ready, but I just have to keep looking over these files.

There’s nothing at first glance that suggests a pattern, which is maybe why they’ve considered some animal. Pendant would probably know more about creatures that could be behind this; she’s always had her nose in some book during breaks.

After last night, I think an animal is definitely still a possibility. I haven’t seen a guard terrified like that in years. It not only adds two more missing to our list, which I’ve added to the last entry, but adds a few more clues that we can consider:

Regardless of the clues, the curfew will be a lot more strict and we’ll have to up security. Sugarcane is even talking about using Town Hall as an emergency shelter for citizens who don’t feel safe at home. It’s looking like that and our hotel will be our base of operations. For now, we’ve gathered up what lights we can and have put them around town. This way it will hopefully keep whatever it is off of the rooftops and streets, even if the place will look like Nightmare Night for a few days. Spanner also sent out a guard with a request for more personnel to Canterlot. They should be here in two days if we’re lucky.

Spanner and Sugarcane are set up at the hotel with the rest of the guards, which means I’m left to run things at Town Hall. I may have drawn the short straw, but I always seem to do my best work when I’m not holed up in a few hotel rooms for hours a day. Then again, I don’t exactly have a bed now, even though the mayor gave me one of the old records rooms as a temporary office. A little privacy is nice compared to the cots and sleeping bags out in the hall.

With the local officers, the two guards with me, the mayor and her staff, and a few volunteers that agreed to help (plus some ponies who just wanted somewhere to feel safe) we have twenty-six ponies total living here. The place was meant to be an emergency shelter as well, so that means a lot of food, water, and supplies stored in the basement.

For now, between enforcing a curfew and keeping everyone calm and safe, we’re just trying to coordinate our next plan of attack. If the patrols at night find anything, good, but we need some other clue or resource to go on. Sugarcane suggested a sweep of every building in town, but I doubt with how many ponies are missing that there’s anywhere big enough to hold them all. That just means that what we might find could be worse.

I think we should be trying to look in the surrounding area. The Everfree could be a possible place that something is taking ponies, and the outskirts of Ponyville could have some structures or caves tucked away in them.

For now though, we’ve spent all day setting up, so we’ll have to see what we can find in the morning.

Two officers and a guard were sent out overnight as one of the patrols. We haven’t seen any sign of them since then. We can’t open the front door or any of the windows. They might break, but we haven’t tried yet, just because we don’t know what’s out there. Worst of all, we can’t see anything past the edge of town. No stars. No moon. No sun. No Equestria. I think the farthest building we can see is the farm on the edge of town: Sweet Apple Acres.

Good news is that the lights in town seem to still be on, including the ones we strung up along the streets. I don’t know how long they’ll stay on, really, but it’s a bit of good news. I can still see the lights in the hotel on as well, so hopefully Spanner and Sugarcane are still okay.

Mayor Mare and the officers have been helpful in keeping the townsponies with us calm, even if only for a bit. It at least gives me some time to try and get my bearings. I had Tinder take stock of the supplies we have, and it seems like there’s enough for 1680 meals, give or take. Divided between the 23 of us, with two meals a day, we can last about 36 days or so. Hopefully we’re not here for that long.

Still, there’s no way to get that door to budge. We tried for hours, but there has to be something on the other side. Otherwise we wouldn’t be able to see the town outside, right? I’d try and teleport through, but I never got that far with magic. Maybe one of the guards or volunteers can, but I’d never force a civilian to do that on their own.

Is all of this happening because of the same creature Sundial saw? Could it have enough magic to keep us locked in here, is it doing that to everypony else? If it is, kidnapping half a dozen ponies seems like child’s play.

We’ve also set up watch with some of the volunteers. Hopefully we’ll see or hear something that can help us get out.

Nothing overnight of importance. During the day I’ve been trying to see if I can get in touch with Spanner or Sugarcane. I found a light in the basement we didn’t use around town that should be bright enough to reach the hotel. I can try a message in Morse code, but it would require they’re still stuck inside of their building and watching. It would also be hard to do manually, but I’ve put it here for reference:

I also talked to the mayor and officers about a unicorn that would be capable of teleporting past the door, and it seems like one of her aides might be able to. I won’t force a civilian to risk life or limb for this, but if things end up desperate enough, it may be our only option.

For now, we keep trying the door and do our best to keep watch. There’s not exactly much more “investigating” that I can do without books to comb for information on a creature or spell that could this. If only I’d been stuck in the library.

I didn’t notice it at first, but Tinder did overnight. Three lights have gone out in houses that we can see through the windows. They just happen to be the furthest away to the west. Is that the direction this thing is coming from? Did the ponies there leave and head somewhere else? The hotel is off in that direction and pretty close. Could be that Spanner and Sugarcane are out trying to find ponies too. We haven’t seen anyone on the streets though, but the hotel is far enough away not to notice them.

I was able to find a telescope down in the basement as well and confirmed it: I can’t make out the shape of anything past the town and woods nearby. No mountains or Canterlot or Cloudsdale. This can’t be an animal anymore. I don’t think this is even a pony. It’s just unnatural.

I talked to a few of the civilians and even the mayor’s assistant. They all seem like good ponies and they’re understanding when I tell them we don’t have much new information. I didn’t bring up trying to teleport to the other side of the door though, it just feels too soon.

“Morning” meeting with the mayor and officers
Trying to open the door for two hours
Set up watches for the night and record which houses are still lit as best we can on the map
Set up a light and send the message three times to the hotel (1000/1600/2000)
Pour over the case files for some clue and end up finding nothing
Socialize with everypony as best as I can

It’s almost useless to really write anything at this point. Maybe if something important happens to take note of.

More lights have gone out around town, but there’s been no change here. Except for the mayor’s assistant. She apparently told him about me inquiring into the magic he was capable of a few days ago, and it seems like he has as bad a case of cabin fever as the rest of us. Still, we’ll need to take some precautions.

We packed an extra lantern and a few day’s rations in a bag, and had him practice in one of the vacant rooms upstairs:

He’s done it fifteen times, so it doesn’t seem like there’s anything affecting his magic here. After he gets some rest, we’ll give it a try tomorrow. I don’t want to risk someone’s well-being, even after this long, but he’s determined.

I haven’t gotten a reply from the hotel so far. About twenty percent of the lights we think were on when we woke up on the 16^th are gone now. None of the ones in the street have gone out though. I didn’t make note of it before, but I can’t see any silhouettes in the windows. Is anyone out there? Are we the only ones affected? Is this even all limited to Ponyville? Is it even limited to the ponies that went missing?

Several questions are written in the margins of this page: Did the mayor tell him? One of the guards? Was he with any of the volunteers?

It was 1156 when we gathered at the door. Quill had practiced another five times since waking up. It was sure to go fine, back then. We both felt that.

I had two officers with us, and Tinder, who thankfully had some field dressing training in case something went wrong. At noon, I told Quill to go and he vanished in a flash. The closest window we had to get a look at the other side was ten feet away, but we could see the glow of his lantern on the other side.

After five seconds, though, he didn’t come back. We knocked and pounded on the door, calling out to him, but we couldn’t hear anything on the other side. We tried to open the door, but it still wouldn’t budge.

No one else could follow him to the other side to try and grab him, not even me, but I kept pounding and shouting for him. It was three minutes before he appeared again, lantern dim and his breath ragged. He was whispering about a figure on the edge of his light and a fear that kept him frozen in place. It looked like a pony, but it wasn’t, and he heard this terrible screeching before he could manage to teleport back.

He’s stable and resting, according to Tinder, but I swear he wasn’t out with us that night. We kept what happened to Sundial as quiet as we could.

Quill is back on his hooves again, but he’s been quiet. I wonder if he would have come up with the idea to try without me bringing it up. Still, he’s safe for the moment, if rattled.

I’ve had most of our supplies of lanterns and oil brought up from the basement, in case the power we have goes out. If it hates the light so much, it might do something to rob us of what light we have, so it’s best to stay prepared.

I’ve asked the mayor to move down to the main hall as well, but she seems adamant about staying in her office for the time being. I can’t blame her: I don’t want to move out of the records room just yet.

I heard Quill muttering to himself about whispers and shadows. He’s clearly still frightened, but when I asked if he wanted to talk about what he saw and went through, he said no. In fact, he said he could barely remember what he saw.

One of the guards on watch said he saw a pegasus running through the streets, but he couldn’t see them clearly. They seemed to be running through the shadows and towards the Everfree. It’s at least a sign there’s some life out there, hopefully. Maybe it means we’re the only ones actually locked in, though.

I don’t want to risk it, but the subject of trying to break through the windows keeps coming up during the meetings we have with the mayor and officers. Without knowing exactly what’s going on out there or if something is waiting for us to leave, I can’t recommend trying to break one of the only barriers we have between us and it. Still, sitting here and waiting with no sign of rescue coming isn’t going to get us anywhere.

There is something still nagging at me though. When Quill came back, his lantern was nearly out of oil. I know how much I put in there before he went out. It could have lasted for hours. Did he spill some it? Did that thing drain it out somehow? There wasn’t any sign of a leak on the lantern.

I’m still trying the messages daily, and while the lights are still going out around town, the hotel, library and farm are all still lit. Maybe whatever this is can’t take ponies out in a large group. Could it be why the abductions only seemed to happen with single victims or pairs? Even with whatever it’s done to the world around us, it still can’t attack us when we’re together? If it’s one creature, maybe it can only handle so many victims at once. Even worse, maybe it needs to do something with the ponies it takes before it tries to grab more.

It seems like anytime I try and think on what exactly is happening, my mind just wanders to a place of dread. It’s impossible not to assume the worst with so little to go on. Still, at least the others don’t seem to be worrying the most about it. They actually had a bingo night. I guess no one can say ponies can’t keep their spirits high. Still can’t believe I was one space off winning at the end.

On a serious note, the food supply is still lasting as long as we hoped, so far. We’re able to stay put for another three weeks, but I doubt everyone will be willing to wait that long. Maybe for just a few more days I can keep the mayor waiting for something, anything.

I didn’t think it was possible for things to get worse, but here we are. It’s not just the sky and the moon and the sun and Equestria that are gone now. It’s everything. Tinder woke me up in the middle of his watch. He said he was walking between the main hall and the upper floors to send out the message again and he couldn’t see any lights. He couldn’t see anything. I took a look, and it’s true. There’s nothing out there. We don’t even have the power to try out the flood light anymore, but with a lantern shined out of the windows downstairs I can’t even see the ground outside.

I asked Tinder if he heard or felt anything that would help explain it. He said all he could hear were the snores from downstairs and the creak of the staircase. Of course, I woke the mayor and the officers up and explained the situation. We had to be prepared for when everypony else woke up.

I should have expected them all to be more terrified. At least the day before they could see something outside: the town, the lights, the hopes their friends and families were out there, but now it’s all snatched away at once. We had to stop a pony from slamming a chair into one of the windows in desperation. Now more than ever we have to keep the barriers we have. I haven’t even had anyone try the door yet.

Maybe this is what happens when the lights go out? We’re taken with the very place we’re locked inside to some other place, alone, to be hunted? Even if I had the faintest shred this was some animal acting on instinct alone, it’s gone now. You’d have to be intelligent and twisted to do something like this.

Maybe it actually is a pony? The odd shape could just as easily be an illusion. This entire nightmare could be one. Maybe we aren’t even in Ponyville, or we never were after that night.

And then there’s the cold. I only felt it when I woke up and followed Tinder. I didn’t notice his shivering until we walked into the glow of a lantern and stopped. I told everyone to keep the lanterns and candles we have lit. We can’t risk that thing getting inside and the lights have kept it away so far. Who knows how long that oil will last though?

I don’t know if it will help, but I switched to putting up an S.O.S. with one of the lanterns. Maybe someone can see us out there, but with none of the unicorns, even myself, being versed in actual magic theory and analysis, there’s no way to really tell with whatever is affecting us.

I had Tinder check the walls to see if there was some draft to explain that chill I felt, but he didn’t come back with anything. Maybe it’s nerves or a sense of dread, but it went away instantly in the light. I had to check again to be sure. I took a break in my room and dimmed the lantern. Any part of my body outside the light felt cold from the inside out. It was wholly unnatural, dreadful, and something I’d prefer not to feel again.

The oddest thing though, was that I felt something else in the dark, like there were eyes watching me. It reminded me of standing on a stage for a performance back in school: not being able to see the crowd past the stage lights, but knowing they’re there.

I’m going to try and work with Tinder to see if we can get an idea of just how long the lights we have will last.

I helped try the door again today. It still won’t budge, and I’m thankful for that. Pushing with all of your might and then plummeting into a pitch black void is something I’d prefer to keep in the overactive nightmares I keep having. Some others have been complaining about restless sleep, but I think it’s just to be expected. Over two weeks stuck in here, there’s only so much to do besides letting your mind wander to the darkest places.

Quill was sitting near the door, staring at it when we weren’t trying to open it. I think he’s still shook-up about what happened, even if he tells me he isn’t. Even if he claims he doesn’t remember exactly what he saw or felt.

And of course, the mayor keeps bringing up the idea of breaking our way out. I can’t leave it as anything but a last resort though. We still have light, shelter, food, water. It may be a claustrophobic, dull place we’re stuck in, but it’s safe. Right?

I find myself asking that question a lot lately. With whatever this thing(s) is capable of so far, what if it’s toying with us? I’ve seen ponies take that sort of thrill before, so it isn’t impossible. If anything it’s more frightening than thinking that it can’t get to us. Choosing to sit there, waiting, watching.

Quill is gone. We were about to try opening the door again and I saw him standing there, watching it, staring at it. I was going to ask him if he was alright, but I didn’t even get close before I saw his horn light up. In a flash he was gone. No lantern. No supplies. Just him. I shouted out through the door, banging on it. This time, I swear I heard an echo, but he didn’t come back. He didn’t say anything, if he could hear me.

I’m trying not to dwell on it. A lot of them are trying not to think about it. Why would he want to leave? Why would he not say anything? Did he think that it was just an illusion and chose to leave?

The mayor wants to know if I have any ideas, but I honestly can’t say anything. I know nothing about these creatures, what they want, what they can do. I think I keep having dreams about them, my mind wandering, but I can’t say for sure.

I always kept this journal to help with my cases, but nothing I have adds up to something concrete.

It opened. I don’t know when, maybe it was overnight, but one of the volunteers running watch, Pokey, came to me while I was sleeping. We did our best to stay quiet while walking to the hall, and there it was. The doorway was wide open, but it wasn’t the void I expected on the other side, or Ponyville. It was a hallway. It was unlit, of course, aside from the light pouring out of the room, but it was real. I stepped out just past the doorway and the walls seemed to be made of the same wood as Town Hall itself.

I did the only thing I could think to do then: I closed the doorway as quietly as I could. No one woke up, thankfully, and it gave me the time I needed. At our meeting with the mayor, I invited Pokey in and we explained what we had found. She was excited to find a way out, of course, but I did my best to temper her expectations. There was no way to tell where the hallway led, if anywhere, and it could just as easily be a trap set by this creature for us. Still, with over three weeks here, it was the only lead we had and our food was sure to start wearing out soon, even with one less mouth to feed.

So, after talking it over with the officers and Tinder, we agreed on an expedition, but first that meant telling everyone about it. We wouldn’t risk trying to perform some trip in the middle of the “night” and having ponies panic if we weren’t there in the morning. Thankfully, most of them seem understanding. We’ll plan a trip inside tomorrow morning, for only a few hours, and we’ll make sure to do our best to map it all out.

I wonder if Quill is in there somewhere. Did he know what was on the other side when he blinked through? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

The expedition went well. I guess that’s as much as I can say, really. We left at 1000, according to the time we’ve been doing our best to keep. The first hallway didn’t go very far until we came across something, but it was fairly straight. What we found though, was just an empty room (1). It was circular, with a few windows similar to those in the offices of Town Hall, and it had three more hallways that went away from it in other directions. I had a few supplies with me for keeping track of our directions, and so we left a numbered mark on the hallway we came from before inspecting the room.

There wasn’t anything there that we could find on first glance; it was just an empty room. The floor was the same, the walls were the same, and out of those windows we still couldn’t see anything but blackness, and, well, the other hallways. The same is true back in Town Hall: we can only see the walls of the hallway extending out into the black, at least with the lanterns we have. There aren’t any windows in the hallways, so it’s the best we can see. I’ll have to try on the next expedition to see if anyone can see our lights in the distance through the windows.

Regardless, we continued, mapping rooms as we went. I decided we wouldn’t go more than three rooms away, so we were only able to map out some of them. Some hallways were straight, some curved. Some rooms had four hallways, some two. One even only had the path we came down. Each time we made sure to mark where we came from if we continued on, and I numbered each room in the middle to match the map.

My drawing skills aren’t the greatest, but hopefully it’s something to go on.

When we came back around 1300, everyone was still there and fine. We explained we hadn’t found a path out, but that it seemed like a maze. A few of them were eager to start packing up and finding our way out, but with no idea how large it is or if there is a way out, it’s a poor idea. We’re just as likely to end up stranded out there with no food or water. To say nothing of trying to lug fifteen days of food behind us.

Still, if we’re going to get out, if there is a way, we’ll have to set up some camp deeper in. I’ll mention it to the mayor after we have another trip tomorrow.

This expedition went as well as the last one. We lengthened our trip to a few more hours and took some rations with us so we wouldn’t have to try and return in the middle of the day. It’s all the same in every direction though: rooms, hallways, windows, and blackness. I have no idea how far it could go. All of our markings were still there, so we had to erase the ones at the entrances to the room to be sure we didn’t get confused. I only have so much chalk, but it should last us a while. If worse comes to worst, we can always etch something into the floor for a permanent path back to Town Hall.

During our journey, I’ve been keeping an eye out for any sign of Quill. Besides our markings, I don’t see anything, but with how many days he was out here alone, he couldn’t have gotten far, unless he managed to pick a path that kept going and going, and he ran the entire way. If we do get out, I have to apologize to what family he has.

The other worrying thing, however, is that the others traveling with me seem to be a bit more superstitious than I expected. With all that happened, I can’t blame them. I still feel like I’m being watched out here, to be honest, but I don’t see the shadows they say they can see in the halls and outside the windows.

I did have the mayor keep an eye on the windows for us while we were gone, however, and it seems like they can faintly see our lanterns. That means this place is all connected, and it isn’t some other place.

I did find somewhere on the map (O) that I think would make a good outpost if we decide to start searching much farther away. I’ll see what the mayor thinks tomorrow morning.

The mayor agrees that my idea seems sound, and we had a meeting with everyone to discuss our plans. We’ll have a few ponies, probably five at most, go with me into the hallways and set up somewhere to sleep and keep our supplies. Tinder and the two officers both joined up, of course, but Pokey did as well. The last volunteer was a bit hard to find, but I wasn’t going to force somepony to come with us. Finally, a mare named Minuette volunteered. She seemed wary, but after a one on one to make sure, she’s eager to help.

We’ll gather up enough supplies for us to be out there a week; this includes lanterns, oil, candles, food, water, and miscellaneous sundries. Then we’ll spend tomorrow carrying it all out there. The only thing I’m unsure of is how we’ll be able to keep in contact with everypony here. If we find some kind of exit, who’s to say that we can make our way back to tell them? It’s why we plan to leave clear records at our camp for them to find.

If that gets ruined in some way though, maybe keeping notes in this journal as a backup won’t be a terrible idea.

Setting up camp went well. We’re only an hour or so away from Town Hall at a slow walking pace, so it wasn’t too far to carry everything. Thankfully, having six bodies and three unicorns saved a few trips. While traveling, I had a talk with everyone, just to make them feel at ease. Personal things like friends, family, pets, etc. Even if the entire situation we’re in puts us away from them, it’s good to remind yourself of what you have, and it did a good job of distracting me, at least, from the feeling of being watched. It’s still there, every second walking through those halls, but it seemed to fade when we got to our camp room and back to Town Hall. I wonder if the light stops them from seeing us the brighter it is?

Anyway, we have the camp set up: enough cots for all of us, a few crates in the corner where we’ll keep our food, water, and lantern oil. We even had enough boxes for a makeshift table. Anything to make it feel a bit more like home, right? Just like back at Town Hall, we set up shifts to keep watch. We’ll change them each night, but if we go in three hour chunks, we should only need three ponies per night.

I made sure to set up some candles and lanterns at the entrances to the hallways too. It helps fight off that darkness that makes them seem impossibly deep. That and it might be an early warning system if something goes wrong.

We also decided that we’ll only go out in groups of four when we’re exploring. The other two will stay back at camp to guard everything. We can’t risk this thing coming and stealing everything we have while we’re out exploring.

For now, if anyone from Town Hall is reading this, my maps going forward will only use our camp as a starting point. You can see how we’re connected back to Town Hall from the copies of my old maps I left behind, or the ones in this journal if something went awry.

Tinder and Nickel stayed back at camp today. We decided to pick one “direction” and do our best to follow it. We don’t exactly have a compass, and I don’t think it would work, so we decided to do our best to travel as straight as we could. The hallways seem to be curving a bit more the further away from Town Hall we are. Maybe it’s meant to be like that. Still, it was easy to mark our path and the few rooms we visited. We had one dead end early on, but by moving in another direction, we were able to make some distance. Still nothing new outside of the windows and no trace of Quill or anything else. It doesn’t even seem like the level of the rooms changes either; there’s not even the faintest slope in the hallways and rooms.

After a full day of walking, we ended up maybe twice as far from our camp as it is from Town Hall. It’s a little daunting thinking we traveled so far. Tinder and Nickel said there was no sign of anything odd at camp, and they could only see our lanterns through the windows of one or two rooms.

I’m on watch rather late tonight. I have a bit of time, but I wanted to write about a dream. It’s odd to describe, because it still feels foggy; it was even hazy just moments after I woke up. I was sitting in one of the hallways with just a candle in front of me, and a voice was talking to me, but I couldn’t understand it. Somehow I talked back to them, but I can’t even remember what it was about. I wish my imagination wouldn’t roam this badly, but it’s worth writing down. Quill was dreaming about something too, wasn’t he, before he left?

Pokey and Marbles stayed behind today. They had nothing to report at the end of the day. We decided to pick a new direction to travel in after discussing it over breakfast. We couldn’t see any end in sight yesterday, but maybe a new direction will let us find some pattern about these rooms. They aren’t dangerous or anything, but if one direction has more dead ends, maybe it will mean we’re close.

I’ll admit we did find more dead ends in this direction, but I can’t say if that honestly means we’re any closer. There’s nothing to even distinguish the rooms apart from the markings we leave in them too. Apparently the path we took didn’t show much from the windows back at camp. Marbles said he only caught sight of our lantern once. It matches up with our map too. A lot of the paths just took us further along, where we wouldn’t be able to see the camp out of the windows.

Still no sign of an exit. Still no sign of Quill. We’re only two days in but it’s starting to feel not fruitless, but aimless. There’s no pattern that I can see, but we’ll have to keep trying. We’ll see how the team does without me tomorrow.

Minuette and I held down camp today. After the others left to explore, again in another direction, it was quickly quieter than I expected. I looked over the maps we have so far, and this seems like the quickest way to eliminate paths, given that other than the path back to Town Hall, we have three ways out of this room.

After an hour of that though, we started talking some more. I offered to play cards if she wanted, but I don’t think she was interested in a game. We talked about where she was from, and I didn’t realize that she actually lived in Canterlot. I guess she picked a terrible time to come visit Ponyville, but when I asked why she volunteered, she said she couldn’t just stand by while others were in danger. She asked me after a few hours if I knew what “it” was. Given that she was out here with me, Tinder, and the officers, risking life and limb, it only made sense to tell her what we knew.

She took it fairly well, I suppose. She understands we didn’t have that much to go on, given how little time we were investigating. I don’t think all of my speculation on its “abilities” put her entirely at ease, but she said that she felt that chill about the same time as I did, when Ponyville disappeared outside. She woke up shivering and then it went away in the light.

Maybe I need to bring it up to the others when they get back. It will still be an hour or so, hopefully.

We had a talk about it among ourselves after we updated the larger map we’re keeping. We’ve been clear on the need to keep the lights on and stay in them already, but explaining why put everyone, oddly, at ease, at least for Pokey, Marbles, and Nickel. I still haven’t mentioned the dreams I had or that Quill might still be out here, but I think we have all been thinking about him. Marbles and Nickel apparently worked with him on a daily basis. Even Pokey knew him at least a little. I’m not sure about Minuette though.

We’ll have to talk in the morning about which of the three paths to pick for tomorrow.

Minuette asked to stay back at camp again today, so I had Nickel join her. I think she needs another day after learning all of this information about what we’re dealing with. I wonder how many of the ponies back at Town Hall are curious about what it is. I didn’t want to let them know nothing but baseless speculation, but is that better than letting them come to their own horrific conclusions?

I think we might be getting somewhere in our search. It felt like the hallways were sloping a bit towards the end of what we managed to walk and map out. I don’t think I can really mark it well on the map, but if I think of something, I will. Maybe we’ll even find a staircase that leads to some other level. The map we have at camp is little more than a massive plot of circles connected by lines at this point.

Pokey kept talking about seeing something moving outside of the windows in one of the rooms, and I had to calm him down. We’ve been out here for so long that even a shimmer off of a pane of glass can look like anything to a desperate mind. Even I think I saw something on our way back to camp, but I can’t be distracted.

When we got back Minuette seemed in better spirits, which is good because Tinder is already eager for another day off from exploring. All I can think about is that we’ve used half of our time and we don’t seem closer.

I woke up before one of my shifts again. It was a nightmare this time. I can remember it clearly. I was running through the halls, or somewhere, afraid. My heart was racing and my eyes darted everywhere. I swear I could hear laughing, or was it crying? I think I recognized someone though, outside of a window. Was it Vines? She would have come here with the other ponies we requested, maybe. Maybe our dreams are connected to the outside world, just a little. Could I get a message to them?

Tinder and Marbles stayed back at camp today. As we made our way in the same direction as yesterday (we chose it because of how the hallways started to change) everything was okay. We were making our way as quickly as we could to where we left off and everything matched with the maps. We mapped out what we could for an hour or so, and then stopped for a short break. I could swear I heard something in the distance, but it could have just been the creaking of wood. These hallways still make noise even if there doesn’t seem to be anything outside.

Then we went towards a new room, but it wasn’t. We’ve been marking the rooms we’ve been through to match our maps, and at least mark which paths lead back towards camp, but the room already had a mark in it. Even stranger, it was one of the marks I made back in the first two days, before we went out to our encampment. It had to be this thing messing with us, I thought. So we scratched out the marks and made new ones. Then the next room was the same: another room we’d already been to, and one sixteen hallways away from where the last one “was” on the map. It even had the same number of entrances. I looked outside to see if anything seemed different, but it was still nothing but darkness out there.

Not every room we came to was marked, but every few hallways we’d find another, and then we came to the room where we’d scratched out the markings. We hadn’t been heading back in that direction at all, but the way it was scratched out, the way we entered the room, the entrances, the windows, everything was the same. There’s so little in these rooms, but it was the same, I know it. To say we were panicked would be putting it lightly, but we did our best to stay calm.

Even with the repeated rooms, I marked the path we walked. As we headed back towards camp, we came across the same rooms we had traveled through. We agreed not to keep exploring further after that, so we went back to camp.

We came in through a different doorway. Tinder and Marbles didn’t notice at first and they looked happy that we came back so soon, thinking we might have found a way out. Our “route” was hard to describe to them while Minuette was sobbing in the corner and Pokey comforted her.

This isn’t natural. This isn’t right. This can’t be real, right? Maybe that noise was the rooms moving, that thing shifting them around. Is there a hole somewhere back at Town Hall now?

Is it even safe to leave this room if it isn’t simply making the rooms look similar? But it has to be moving them. We came back in through another door.

I didn’t feel hungry this morning. I don’t know if it was nerves or what, but no one else did either. I guess it means an extra meal for us to stay out here on, for what, half a day?

We didn’t step hoof outside of the room, not even into a hallway. It isn’t worth the risk, not if we all aren’t together. Thankfully nothing eventful happened during our watches.

We’ve tried discussing what to do, and the most common idea is to just head back towards Town Hall. If we stick to our map and move quickly, we should be able to make it in an hour or two. That’s assuming that the path is the same. If it isn’t, well, we can’t sit here. The food we have will only last us another day.

We could also pick a direction and wander aimlessly, but there’s no guarantee we’d end up anywhere at all.

We decided to try and make our way back to Town Hall. We packed up everything we could carry without weighing us down. I still don’t feel hungry, but I forced something down to make the load lighter. It’s impossible to tell for sure, but I think we’ve been walking for fourteen hours. I keep seeing marks from other rooms and some that are vacant, but none of it lines up with the map at all. I swear we even passed through the same room three times in a row. I wouldn’t leave someone behind to be sure, but I know we came out of that door again and again.

All of these rooms are the same. There’s always something watching. Maybe they’re just out of our vision in the hallways too. I swear I heard hoofsteps when we were taking a break in a room, and the floorboards creaking off in the distance as we walked down a hallway.

I don’t know if we’ll ever get out if they can keep this up, leading us in circles. It’s like being a laboratory rat.

No one can keep it together. I want to try and tell them to stay calm, but when I’m shaking and exhausted and shivering

We’re going to be out of lamp oil soon too. What’s going to happen when we’re in the dark? I can make a light from my horn, but it can’t protect everypony. Not even the three unicorns we have together can do it.

Do the dates even matter anymore? It seems impossible to track time. I swear that an hour has passed, but when I check my watch it’s barely half of that time. Maybe it’s done something to the watches too? For all we know it’s still the 19th, or it could be days after that. However much time it’s been, I still don’t feel hungry or thirsty. No one does. We still have a day’s worth of food and water, but no one wants to touch it. About the only things I do feel are exhausted and lost.

We’ve picked one direction to walk in, but it seems to be getting us nowhere. Some of the rooms are still marked and I’ve done my best to mark the others we move through, but even that feels pointless now. There’s no imminent danger out here for now, and even if we try to keep a map it could just change at any moment.

It’s to the point where I have to force the others to keep moving. I have to force myself to keep moving. At least Tinder is still willing to keep watch with me when we decide to rest.

I think Tinder dozed off during his watch. The food and water is gone and so were the watches we were using. They didn’t take the lamp oil and the lanterns didn’t go out. How did they get that close without us knowing? Why didn’t they take us?

Everypony else thinks they can hear things while we’re walking. I’m starting to hear it too. It’s not just the creaking anymore, though. Like hoofsteps far away or the wind, I think.

The light in the lantern is barely enough to write by now. There isn’t even anything worth writing though, is there? More halls. More rooms. No way out.

It’s hard to believe that I’ve slept this many times without eating or drinking. Even with how much I manage to sleep, I still feel exhausted. Maybe it’s the dreams. I can’t remember them, but I always wake up frightened.

The others are just as worn out. The hoofsteps seem closer all the time, but we haven’t found anyone.
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I’m worried I’ll wake up alone.

We found him. Quill. He was lying in the center of a room, resting. I thought it was one of them at first, I was too afraid to approach it. His fur and mane were filthy, like he’d been gone for months. I almost didn’t recognize him. When he woke up screaming, we did our best to calm him down, but he kept muttering and shaking. I couldn’t even get a word out of him that wasn’t about shadows, circles, or whispers. If he’s been out here for three weeks alone in the dark, I can’t imagine what he’s seen.

After a bit of waiting, though, he seemed fine enough to move, even if he wouldn’t stop shivering. After another dozen rooms and getting nowhere, we stopped.

The last of the lantern oil might last us another day or so at most. Even the ink I have is close to running out.

I think it’s keeping us alive to torment us. Maybe when the light fades it will come for us.

Now I know it’s messing with us. We were walking, like we always have been, and when we came to a room, there was oil there. It works in the lantern. It’s enough for a few days, maybe. This doesn’t make any sense. It’s trying to hunt us, harm us, right? Or is this something else? And then it leaves more ink.

I’ve never noticed, but the hallways are getting stranger. They’re tilted. Curved. More often than not I can’t see a room until we turn and the doorway is in front of us. The light seems to not reach as far too.

Quill always hangs near the back, barely in the light. I try to wait for him to catch up, but I think it’s all he can manage to not leave us. He still won’t talk and I’ve seen him toss and turn every time he sleeps.

It’s the same room.
Left right left
Left right forward
Forward forward forward
Left left forward

I was waking up to change shifts with Tinder and he was gone. I woke everypony up and we tried to look for him, but something happened. We were walking through a hallway and then they were all gone.

They have to be around here somewhere, don’t they? I can try and look. I can call out to them.

I thought about writing for a while. I thought that maybe it was what it wanted and doing that was giving it satisfaction. It was hard for this long to talk to myself. It’s gone by in a blur.

I think it actually thought I threw the ink away, because I kept finding more of it.

I spent three days sitting in a room at first, waiting. The most likely chance I have that one of the others could find me again is to do that. Then the nightmares got clearer.

Wandering the halls and swallowed by darkness. Finding a candle alone in the dark. Seeing something staring back at me. Empty. Soulless. Unfeeling. It smiled. It tried to touch me and my body went cold. But it was only for a moment. Then every part of my body ached and writhed in pain. The creaking got louder when I woke and I could hear that screeching in the distance. That and the laughing.

I’ve been walking since. Long enough until my legs give out. I sleep easier then. Maybe because I’m too exhausted to really dream.

I wonder if Sugarcane and Spanner went through this. I wonder if the mayor and the others at Town Hall did. Are they still? Are they all? Is the entire world doomed or just us?

Speaking of progress, most of the rooms are unmarked now. Maybe it is getting somewhere.

I tried breaking one of the windows today. I didn’t have anything but my body. Even if I’m alone, the light keeps me warm. Of course it didn’t do anything. I think I have bruises now too, but at least it’s new.

What are the effects of hunger? Nausea? Irritability? Fatigue? My stomach doesn’t feel empty, even after weeks.

It sounds like I’m delirious, right? I slammed the lantern into it and ran. That was two days ago. Two cold days.

Then I woke up. I woke up to a lantern, ink, and a journal same things I wrote, the same marks on the cover.

So I tore it up. I ripped every page out and shredded them. I even ate some to spite it.

I hope you’re enjoying yourself. I hope you fucking choke, if you even have a throat.

I guess filling up the cover warrants an entry. What a surprise, it’s the same as every other one.

Aimless

Worthless

Can you rip my mouth off so I can stop? I’d love that. It wouldn’t shock me to find you can make me live without breathing too.

How long did you have Quill out here alone until you sent him to us? And for what, to just tear us apart again?

Are you going to show me the way back to them in another 300 days and what, they’ll have missed me for all of a week? Bet it’ll be fucking hilarious.

Happy birthday to me, if it’s been that many days. Maybe it’s half as much. I can’t remember how long it is before I pass out, walking or laying here.

I didn’t think much of it at first, the mark. It was just another marked room. Marked “1.” So I picked a hallway and there it was.

Everything is gone. They all left. They’re all out there. Everything and everyone except for her.

The mayor’s office was locked. I didn’t notice the smell at first. I barged my way in and

It’s impossible to tell how long. The floor is stained by it. There’s nothing but bones left. I know there was a noose.

(We found the words after our original transcription was completed. The writing style is notably different from Solace's, and appears jagged and uneven. Meadowbreeze saw the words being written, appearing suddenly on the page, and contacted me. After a discussion, we decided to respond to them.)

hello

is anypony reading this?

if you are
there is a chance
please respond

good good
I worried it had not
worked

I do not know who this is
but I need your help
We need your help

my name is Twilight Sparkle

Pray, Hope and Wander

by Flashgen

Battered Journal