Section 1
Shining’s Log: 2:32 PM, April 4th, 991 A.N.M
Twily just came home from magic kindergarten. Smarty Pants is riding on her back and she has her face buried in her school books even as she walks; my heart nearly skipped a beat. I go up to her to try and comfort her, but - as usual - she turns me away. I really wish I could get more out of her. At least her grades are not failing. That would be bad if she failed now, especially with what mom and dad are going to surprise her with tomorrow...
Shining’s Log: 2:47 PM, April 5th, 991 A.N.M
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Twily so happy before. Mom and Dad just broke the news and she literally started bouncing off the walls. An audition for Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns is a dream come true for her. Though, I know how nervous she gets. I hope the entrance exam isn’t too hard on her.
Go for it, Twily! I believe in you!!!
Shining’s Log: 12:49 PM, April 25th, 991 A.N.M
She passed.
No, that’s not good enough. She BUCKING OWNED IT!
Not only did my little Twili hatch that dragon’s egg, but she made it grow into a huge dragon and turned Mom and Dad into potted plants. I wish I had been there to see it. But the best part is, she gets to be the personal student of Princess Celestia! How awesome is that? My friends are never going to believe this one. I can’t wait to see their faces...
Shining’s Log: 9:21 AM, May 11th, 991 A.N.M
I’m worried about Twilight. She spends all her time in her room now, studying. She had some friends her age, but now she never plays with them. Hay, she rarely plays with me anymore.
I’ve tried getting her to go out and play, but it never works. All day, she reads those books. Nothing else. Though sometimes, I swear I can hear her laughing through the walls. Laughing at a joke only she can hear.
Shining’s Log: 5:22 PM, May 15, 991 A.N.M
Now I’m really scared. Twilight has taken to drawing. Lots of drawing. That's not the scary part. No, it's what she draws.
Monsters.
There's no other word for these things. Sometimes, it's just the beast alone. Other times, she draws them ripping apart other creatures, like the monkeys in clothes or stripped cats..
All in extreme detail. Twily's drawings almost look like grayscale pictures. They're that good.
But Twilight Sparkle has never taken an art class in her life. Last week, she was drawing crude stick ponies and rainbows. Now...
I asked her to draw a picture of me once, after I had discovered her monster drawings. I came out as a stick figure; perfectly normal, she was done in five minutes. Here it it:
Then I asked her to draw me one of her monsters. Same super artist sketch. She was done in five minutes. It should have taken her hours. I don’t want that thing anywhere near my logbook...
Shining’s Log: 6:27 PM, May 21, 991 A.N.M.
Mom and Dad can't seem to see that something's wrong. They just dismiss me without even looking. I tried asking Princess Celestia when I met her when we dropped Twily off for the day. She also pretended everything was normal. No matter what I do, I can't convince them that something strange is happening...
Shining’s Log: 8:32 AM, May 22, 991 A.N.M.
Today, Twilight told me about the voice in her head. She said she'd started hearing it after getting beaten up once at school not too long ago. She called it Whisper and told me that it needed her help building a home. A home, Twily added, that was inside her head.
Those monsters she had been drawing? Toys for Whisper to play with. I couldn't help but think the room had gone really cold when Twily said that.
Shining’s Log: I forgot, I'll add it later.
Faces. Shadows. Faces. Shadows. Faces. Shadows. What's wrong with me? Everywhere I go, I see faces in places where they shouldn't be. Horrible, ugly, terrifying faces. I look away. I forget what the face looked like, only that I saw it. Then I look back... Nothing. Nothing at all.
And the shadows. They are alive... I think. They curl and sway and bend in strange ways. Always towards Twilight...
Shining’s Log: Same day as last entry, 6:30 PM.
I think she's following me. Everywhere I go, she's just there... At the edge of my vision. When I turn, she's gone. The only hint she had ever been there is her faint giggle.
I think I can honestly say that I am now terrified of my L.S.B.F.F. I want to know what's going on, but nopony will help me. Nopony believes me. And Twilight keeps getting stranger...
Shining’s Log: ???
I don't know where I am. I just woke up here. I don't remember anything.
Well, that's not entirely true. I remember my name. I remember most of my life. I'm just missing a portion at the end. That missing memory would probably tell me what is going on here.
Somehow, my logbook ended up here with me, wherever I am. Strange place... Anyway, I don't even remember writing some of those entries, especially the weirder ones. Look, I'm hungry, thirsty, and lonely. I'll write more after I've found food and water.
Shining’s Log: ???
Canned fruit tastes really good when you are scared.
It seems that I awoke in a city of some sort, though the buildings are taller than anything I've ever seen before. I counted at least three hundred floors on a moderately sized one, relatively speaking.
But as I gazed up, I noticed something very strange. Instead of curling down at the horizon, like the planet normally does, the land curled up. Up and up, steeper it goes, until it curls up and over the sun! It then comes back down on the other side, twisting a half-turn as it goes.
What did Mrs. Cosine call it? A Mooobius strip? Probably from one of the cow math geniuses.
And the sun itself... That's not a sun. That's ??????????? mark.
Odd, I can't read ??????????? name. Ok, something strange is going on here. I can't even say it...
I can't believe I just spent two pages attempting to write something. Except for a few gender-neutral pronouns and words that provide no context, the I can't read anything I just wrote. I found some really powerful magic on my logbook that censors what I write. Odd, it censors what I say as well.
Also, any attempts to write using synonyms, pictures, ciphers, or euphemisms all fail. I'll just call the thing "IT." But I noticed that it's context sensitive. Sometimes I can say it, sometimes I can't, depending on what I'm thinking at the time.
Shining’s Log: ???+1
I still don't know where I am. Also, I have no idea when it is; the sun doesn't move in the sky. I've taken to calling this abandoned city Dusk, because of the perpetual low sun here on the twist of the Mooobius.
I want to see what's on the other side. At first, I thought I would have to go all the way around the belt to get to the other side. Going north would have twisted me into Midnight, while going south would have taken me to Noon. Well, that's what the street signs called the two sides, and I can't argue with that. Noon is on the inside, so it always is day. Midnight is just the opposite.
That got me thinking. If there is a Dusk city, is there a Dawn? So, in an effort to find out, I set off north.
After two hours of trotting, I face-hooved. Immediately, I turned due east, heading away from the sun.
Shining’s Log: Entry 5
I don't know how long I've been walking. I rarely feel tired. I haven't yet stopped to use the restroom. This can of fruit - I have yet to figure out what kind it is - hasn't emptied yet, no matter how much I eat.
But still I carry on. I literally have nothing else to to. I want to get home to Twily.
Shining’s Log: Entry 6
Walkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalk...
That's all I ever do.
Walkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalkwalk...
Shining’s Log: Entry 7
I think I'm going in circles. Scratch that, I know I am. I definitely have passed this building several times. I swear I'm walking straight away from the sun, but every time, I end up back here.
I'll go a different way now. How does Noon sound? Thanks, Log, I'll go that way.
I just wish I had someone else to talk to - besides you, of course; I don't like the quiet.
Shining’s Log: Entry 7 (cont.)
Nope. Definitely NOT this way. Somehow, I made a wrong turn and ended up on the side of the building, sitting here even though I should have gone splat by now.
Even the side of the building is a maze. I have to watch my step because if I step off the narrow and invisible path, gravity flips back to normal and down I go.
Buck, I wish I was a pegasus like Flash. But noooo, I had to be a bucking unicorn. Now I wish Mom had taught me to teleport, or Dad had taught me self-levitation. That would be useful. But now is absolutely not the time to try.
Oh, Log, did I mention the hidden portals? Yeah, they are invisible until you start walking through them, and by then it's too late. They're one-way, too. In fact, that's probably why I had so much trouble down on the streets.
Anyway, Log, I'm going to try to climb down again. Wish me luck and pray that I don't go splat.
Shining’s Log: Entry 8
It turns out that breaking the glass was the answer. Good news: I won't be falling to my death. Bad news: I'm being chased through the building by something... Claws and teeth and slime and tentacles.. I think I've seen it before, but I'm not sure. Does it have something to do with IT? I wish I could remember. Maybe this is repeated to one of those entries I don't remember writing in you, or maybe not.
I'm hiding from it right now, but I'm going-
