Clydesdale Pie and the Doom That Came to Ponyville
West of Ponyville, the hills rise wild. It was in these shadowed backroads that Clyde encountered the stranger, warming itself before a small fire.
The stranger was malformed; it hunched forward across the narrow trail, eagerly displaying its wares.
"Here in," declared the stranger, lovingly stroking the black-bound book that it offered to Clyde, "are the secrets of the ancients. The explanation of Time. The pointlessness of Hope. The end of Love. Is this wisdom not worth a few coppers, master?"
Clydesdale Pie gave the wretched creature a few bits. He collected the black book. He considered it. Then tossed the book onto the creature's fire.
"What have you done?!" cried the stranger.
"I have saved your soul and my own," said Clyde, as he continued towards his home.
And the stranger, left in darkness, looked after him. And, in time, it followed.