Pony Horror Anthology

by LoreLove

Hushed Sky

With the long nights and short days of winter fast approaching, Twilight had found herself settled in her room and making small notes on various items and topics that came to mind. Being a princess hardly gave her much time to just put aside a moment for herself and she was relieved to have it at any point she could manage. Lucky for her, she had just learned of a meteor shower to arrive within a few months.

Twilight, obviously enthralled at the idea of setting plans to see it, had started writing her notes on the occasion. It was a rough estimate on the actual day but she did think it could be close enough with her predictions. As the weeks would go on she could more accurately judge the arrival. The whole idea had made her giddy with excitement.

“The girls probably aren’t as interested as I am in this,” she muttered to herself but smiled all the same.

It was true that they wouldn’t be as invested as the dear purple alicorn in the situation but spending time together was certainly something they all loved. Any reason to do so would have them eager to meet up. It just so happened that it involved something Twilight herself had a piqued interest in. Nothing but coincidence is what she excused herself with.

Several times she had to check and make sure things were written down properly. She would have called on Spike but at the hour it was would mean she had to wake him. It was best not to disturb him after a long week. He earned his rest.

With a small hoot and light tilt of the head, Owlicious watched as the pony enjoyed her little hobby. Perched on the balcony railing, the owl stood mostly quiet in the cool night air. The window was open to bring the refreshing air inside and reminded Twilight how sorely she missed the relaxing autumn weather.

Perhaps the picnic could be turned in a small camping night out on the hills instead. The idea perked up those purple ears as the magically floating quill scribbled down a few more notes. How cozy that sounded already made the lavender horse smile and wiggle in her seat. Even though it still seemed months off, planning ahead certainly was the best course of action for it. There was a small moment Twilight gave herself a pat on the back within her mind, priding how productive she felt even outside of her princess duties.

Scooting over, she peeked into the eyepiece and let her tongue slip out between her lips. It was hard to pinpoint the exact location for every light nudge sent her trying to position it again. Her magic shifted the cylinder ever so slightly as she tried finding the meteors once more. A little magical enhancement to increase her focus should help.

There was a brief moment where she inched the telescope over, and suddenly startled looked up quickly. Her eyes glanced around the room before she tilted her head and looked to Owlicious. The owl seemed to be perfectly fine and taking no heed of anything going on around him.

A small shrug and the pony went back to looking through the lens. Her focus returned from the small disturbance as she began following constellations and trying to remind herself where things were and would be eventually. Another shift of the view and slight adjustments here and there. She felt she almost had it, but then abruptly jerked her head up again.

“What?” she asked aloud causing the owl to stir and look at her.

With a somewhat comedic ‘who’ phrased back at her, Twilight smiled and shook her head. She could have sworn she heard somepony saying something. Of course, it was rather late and it could easily be her mind being slightly overworked or just simply her own tired mind being silly.

Her look back to her bed was what sealed the deal. Pushing away from her desk and setting down her quill in the inkwell, Twilight gave a small grunt and yawned widely. Her owl fluffed slightly and stayed where he was as she closed the window and trotted over to bed. It wouldn’t be hard to pick things back up the next night and continue.

It felt all too welcoming as she slipped on her pajamas, blue with purple polka dots and a matching cap all given by Pinkie Pie, and quickly crawled up into her bed. Spike stayed slumbering in his own bed nearby, hardly making a noise. There came another yawn as tears nearly formed in the corners of her eyes before the Princess of Friendship giggled quietly to herself. Oh yes, she was indeed more tired than she realized.

Without any fuss, her body scooted under the covers and she cuddled up snugly beneath. A small flick with her magic extinguished the lamp and she was out like the light itself.

•••••

The next few days and nights had been spent of Twilight telling the idea to her friends and doing her best to make sure they could try to make it. Of course it was a bit off to be certain if they could but at least they agreed to do their best and that’s more than she could ask. Spike had even asked if he was invited to which they all had a small giggle over.

“Of course you are!” Twilight told him and rubbed the top of his scaled head with her hoof. “It wouldn’t be the same without you.”

The blush rising through those purple scales was a clear sign he admired being thought of. There was a light kick of the dirt with his foot as she stared at the ground and smiled, thanking them. It could be like old times, before Twilight had become a princess with so many things she had to do.

When she couldn’t take time to study the stars or jot notes or even read in her personal time, the lavender alicorn was plenty busy doing her royal duties as was expected of her. She was thankful that Celestia and Luna didn’t drown her in so much work but it was still more than she expected a lot of times. Being weary after a tiring day would often have her pass out in bed without so much as saying goodnight to Spike, if she was lucky.

The little dragon understood though. He had been there by her side for years and planned to be there for many more, should she still need him. There was plenty of joy to get out of seeing her happy from the small things he did for her.

“I should probably be going,” Twilight mentioned to her friends, glancing at the sun’s position. “I would love to take a break more often.”

The other mares giggled and bid their farewells as they usually did. It did help Twilight liven her spirit more just taking time out of her day to talk with them however short the stay might be. Spike tagging along just made it feel like a big family getting together. Sadly, she knew she would be extremely tired when night fell but her own mind insisted she enjoy her hobby just a bit before bed. A small nod to herself and it was set as she walked along to her next meeting.

As the day slowly drifted by and the sun began to set, the purple pony indeed found herself rather tired soon enough. Her steps carried her along as she walked back to castle, not in the mood to teleport her and her assistant instantaneously. The less effort, the better, she thought.

It seemed as if Luna could almost read her mind as the sun set and the moon stood within the sky shortly after she arrived at her castle. The stars began appearing soon after while Twilight made her way up to her room and gave Starlight Glimmer a smile and a nod as they passed in the halls. The skies were clear which meant she could settle in and stay to scour around with her telescope for a while.

Perhaps the fact she could stare up in the sky uninterrupted renewed her energy, or maybe just that she now had the time to at all. Whatever the case, the pony quickly trotted across her room and sat herself down in the chair at the desk. It had been a few nights since she last had a chance to read the stars so surely she would have to find her floating rocks again. As she pulled over some parchment and an inkwell, her mind stopped worrying about anything else and relaxed as she lost herself within the speckled darkness above.

Minutes turned to hours as time seemed to blur and was lost. Twilight couldn’t remember when Spike had told her he was going to sleep but he was already curled up in his bed when she glanced back. The stars shone as lovely as they ever did while she made small adjustments to the eyepiece and telescope as a whole. Despite losing track of the spectacle to be it was rather nice to simply gaze among stars without too much thought behind it once in a while.

It wasn’t until she nudged the telescope that something else caught her attention. Twilight’s ear flicked as she turned back to her room with a confused look. Her eyes scanned the room slowly before she looked to Spike laying on his back and mouth open as he snoozed. The confusion changed to humor as she smiled and shook her head.

“Little guy must make odd noises in his sleep,” she said quietly as she shifted her focus back to her telescope.

A small but noticeable magic enhancement on the lens let her see a bit farther as she tilted it this way and that. Brief lapses in the tiny noises she heard were when she passed it off as Spike’s slumbered nonsense or light snores. It was pretty funny as she thought about it a little more. Then something happened.

Her hoof gave the slightest press to the metal cylinder and changed the view when her eyes slowly grew wide. Twilight sat upright and stared down at the eyepiece before glancing up at the sky. The dark blanket seemed uncaring of any discoveries made within it, continuing as it always had been. It took a moment for her look back to Spike and quietly whisper his name.

“Spike,” she called hardly audible to herself. “Spike, are you awake?”

Nothing. The small dragon was not part of her world currently. His body shifted as he turned over and faced away from her and the lantern on her desk. As she watched, he made no more than a few muffled grunts as he got comfy which only brought Twilight to ponder her possible discovery.

There was a brief moment of almost feeling excited over the fact she had maybe found something extraordinary and could even bring it to the attention of scholars and the like. That was until she peered into the eyepiece once more. Her brow furrowed before she jolted up and took in a deep breath.

She was tired. That was all. The Princess of Friendship had been worn out and just simply needed her rest. Twilight kept her perturbed look about her as she levitated the lamp over to her nightstand and got ready for bed.

In her mind, she repeated to herself how there was no such thing and that she was far too out of it to think properly. Her mind was just being a little silly and some rest would cure it all right up. Little nods reassured her things were fine as she hopped into bed and lifted the glass of the lantern to blow the flame out. It was late anyway and she was staying up far past when she should have gone to bed.

Excuses and small moments of reasoning filled her head that night. Uncomfortable as she was, the pony did manage to find herself capable of going to sleep. After all, there was no way it made sense, so it had to be something silly. Right?

•••••

During her day, Twilight had gone through her various routines and lists as usual. It was about midday, when she found her scaled assistant munching on gems, that she remembered the night before. Her eyes shifted away for a moment before she trotted herself forward and made an awkward smile.

“You sleep well?” she asked the small dragon.

Spike merely gave a nod and continued his snacking before looking up questioningly.

“Hm,” Twilight replied to his silent answer, giving a nod. “You make funny noises when you sleep. What were you dreaming of?”

“Huh?” Spike asked, finally swallowing the last bit of his gleaming food. “I thought you said I was a quiet sleeper once. I don’t remember any dreams I had, actually. Did I talk?”

“Uh, no, not words,” the purple pony said, suddenly a bit uneasy about the topic. Perhaps she had just been too tired and imagined things.

“Well, like what? Was I screaming? Yelling?” the little dragon asked before glancing around cautiously. “Did I cry?” he added in a whisper.

“What?” she asked in disbelief, “Oh, gosh no! I’m sorry, Spike. I think I was just really tired last night is all. Could have been the wind or something.”

Even though she knew there was hardly a gust during the night she was awake it was at least something she could pin the explanation on. The whole matter almost seemed like if she had kept quiet then there wouldn’t be a need to worry as much. Perhaps she just needed to get it off her chest and it would help her relax later. The nagging at the back of her mind might just be at ease from doing so.

While the day continued, Twilight found herself at peace for a good bit of it. It didn’t seem as if anything were any different until the sun began to set once more as it always did with Celestia’s guidance. Soon, the pony found herself becoming more tense at the time drawing near.

What if something akin to last night happened again? What if it was linked the few nights or so before? Her mind was almost toying with her stress and causing it to rise as she did her best to appear calm and collected. Despite her best efforts, Spike had begun to inquire if she did need to head home early. Clearly something was amiss.

During their trek home, Twilight was torn between wanting to hurry and trying to drag out the walk as long as possible. She was curious as to what it all was but afraid at what she might uncover if just the smallest bit had disturbed her so. It could have easily just been due to her not expecting such a thing, she tried to reason with herself.

The thought did almost brighten her mood. Knowing about something that could happen could probably have her not be as shaken from it. The only issue that still pressed her was why it shook her at all. It was just a noise. A simple noise at that, from what brief instances she heard it.

Before she knew it, the doors to the castle were upon them as she sighed inwardly and opened them. Spike scurried in quickly and made his way up to their room, possibly to read his comics and nod off peacefully. Twilight smiled at the thought while she walked in and magically shut the doors.

There came another passing greeting with Glimmer as Twilight moved along. Though she didn’t see, Starlight did give a slight glance back at noticing her friend’s slightly worn look but eventually continued on. Twilight just wasn’t as good at hiding her feelings or emotions it appeared. The peek into her room showed her dragon doing exactly as she anticipated with his blanket around him and comic in claws.

Moving to the desk near the window, Twilight let out a light sigh as she sat down and stared at the notes neatly set before her. She found herself strangely weary of using her telescope. Maybe reading over her plans would help set her mind at ease.

The nightly twilight hours curled past as the lavender pony read her own writing and admired her work. Everything was tailored just right to account for timing in areas and what days certain plans were to be set in motion. It wasn’t until she got to the last few pages of parchment that she found herself lightly biting her bottom lip.

To make sure of what hours the meteor shower could possibly occur she would have to check again. Closing distance and time passed would clearly narrow down things easier and easier. Before long she could probably tell what date down to the minute, should she study it close enough. It would make any sudden changes to their outing far more manageable.

A glance to her telescope made her frown. She was overreacting. It was nothing other than her tired mind playing tricks. Other ponies have had instances of mishearing things or just being too tired to work, why wouldn’t the same happen to her? Twilight shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“This is ridiculous,” she said to herself then looked back to Spike.

The dragon was resting comfortably in his bed, sleeping soundly with his discarded comic to the side. She almost felt jealous of him. Before long, her head turned back and she scooted near the metal object as her magic opened the window. Just long enough to gauge the position and adjust the date accordingly, she tried thinking.

It took several long and tense minutes to find out where the hurling rocks were. So many beautiful constellations were drawing her eye more. It was peaceful to see the vastness of space and the splendor it offered. In fact, she found it relaxing after a while.

Then those slowly moving rocks came into view after a small adjustment. She tried not to focus long and moved away to scribble down some notes. Catching the objects between two constellations prior to being in one did seem odd at their trajectory plus the speed. Would they be arriving sooner than she thought?

Another look into the glass piece to make certain of the space around them and she froze. It was louder. She could hear it again but this time almost make out something. Those purple ears drooped as she stared into the eyepiece and listened to the distant wailing. That was what it sounded like. A cry or wail far off but ever so close when viewed.

What was she viewing to cause it? The meteors to be? The space before or after it? Her heart sank as she tried to come up with an excuse or explanation on what was going on. How could she hear something that far off when viewed but not otherwise? At first she tried blaming her magic but she hadn’t used it to focus then.

The thought of waking Spike to having him listen crossed her mind but she didn’t want to frighten him either. It would be best to let him keep his peaceful rest. Thoughts came and went as fast as their could in her mind as she continued thinking. Starlight? It did seem that she might be able to help should she ask.

Twilight pulled herself away from the viewer breathing deeply. She had been holding her breath during a large bit of her checking. Quickly, she hopped off her seat and ran out of the room to the halls. It wasn’t long before she managed to find Starlight’s room and peeked inside.

“Starlight?” Twilight called out softly, hoping that she wasn’t asleep.

“Mm?” came a mumbled response from the bed, stirring slightly.

“Starlight, I need you to come see something. It’s important,” the purple princess said as she lit a candle.

“Twi?” Glimmer asked in her waking state. “What time is it?”

“Late. I’ll let you get back to sleep after I show you, okay?” Twilight urged, trying to get her friend to come look. It would help immensely if she could have just one other pony to talk to about it.

There was a small groan as Starlight sat up and rubbed her eyes with a foreleg then nearly tumbled out of bed. Twilight did her best to help as she almost started tugging her along the hall. There a small bit of fuss as they encroached the still lit bedroom of Twilight’s before the two came to the desk.

“What did you want?” Glimmer asked as she had already forgotten why she was awoken.

“Just look through the telescope and tell me what you hear,” Twilight said simply in her eager wait.

The bed maned head of her friend looked to the object then back and sighed. It was obvious she wasn’t in the mood to do much especially after being woken up and nearly dragged along the floors to the room. It also didn’t make sense to her.

“Twi,” Starlight began, “this is a telescope. Not an ear trumpet.”

“Huh? Oh, I know! I meant just look. Please? It’ll help me,” the princess pleaded and did her best to smile.

There was a moment of silence before Glimmer rolled her eyes and tilted her head. Her eye peered into the offered piece of glass and metal while she stared for several long and agonizing seconds. Twilight was almost feeling her heart hammer away as she waited for a response until finally her friend looked back to her.

“This it?” Starlight asked in a confused tone.

“I… What? What do you hea-I mean, see?” Twilight asked, inching closer.

“Your lack of focus on a constellation. What did you want?” her friend responded before turning around. “I appreciate wanting to stargaze but I really need my rest, Twilight. Don’t you too? Please don’t drag me out of bed again unless it’s an emergency.”

With that, Glimmer turned tail and began to trot away albeit a bit clumsily in her foggy view of the world. Twilight was at a loss for words, darting her head between the telescope and her friend until the latter had left the room. Was she going crazy?

Moving over, the alicorn looked into the eyepiece and tensed up but found it was for naught. There were no moving rocks through the blackness above. No wailing or screaming. Did she actually imagine it all for a few days? Her hoof touched the cold metal of the instrument while she tried to adjust things properly.

It wasn’t long at all before she found them again. The rocks did seem closer than moments before. She would have written it off simply brushing against the telescope in her haste to get her friend but the focus was wrong too. She could hear it too. Faint but droning as if muffled. Then they came into focus and with them the wailing.

Her whole body tensed as she sat nearly petrified of the unknown screaming from beyond. How she was able to hear it or how it was possible to hear in such specific ways she knew not. There wasn’t much more she could do other than try and adjust her log of their position once more. Somehow they seemed closer.

She almost thought the more she listened the close they got. Crazy talk. It was peculiar but there had to be a reasonable explanation to it all. Maybe she could write a letter to Celestia detailing her findings and then.. And then, what? Be admitted to her own personal padded room?

Nopony would believe her if she tried telling them. Would none be interested in actually waiting to see themselves? Sitting in silence, Twilight waited and stared into the abyss. The only company being herself and the terrifying screams from above.

•••••

The two weeks the passed were filled of nothing but stress and terror for the pony who knew not what lurked above. She knew something resided there and it was making itself known but nopony else could seem to understand or cared to listen long. Twilight had quickly learned to shut herself in her room for days on end with only partial breaks between stargazing and ruining her sleep schedule.

Various notes were given to her through Spike to which she never replied. Spike himself had to make up excuses or write back. The small dragon could do little other than watch his friend scribble down hastily notes and references that only confused him. The purple pony was clearly driven by something but any and all were at a loss as to what it could be.

“Twilight, you should really think of getting some rest,” Spike told her one day. “You’re going to mess up your whole routine even worse and possibly miss hanging out with your friends.”

The pony uttered some response but whether it was acknowledgment or disinterest Spike couldn’t guess. He sighed and looked over what she had written recently only to become lost. It looked as if she was trying to constantly correct a mistake over and over again. Something appearing closer or perhaps further away. Considering the structure and the way it was done in such quick lashes of the quill it made it hard to distinguish.

“I guess just watch yourself, okay? You’ve been acting strange for a week or so now. Besides,” Spike added, “you said yourself during one of those days the meteor shower was coming this week. Right?”

The sudden stop of all frantic scribbling and checking set the dragon on edge. Twilight had gone completely motionless as she sat there and dropped the quill from her magic grip. The silence was unsettling until she turned her head just enough to peer at him through the corner of her eye.

“The meteor shower?” Twilight asked in almost a whisper.

“Yeah, you know? The one you were making plans for weeks ago?” her scaled assistant mentioned, taking a step back from how uneasy things were feeling.

There was long and uncomfortable silence between them as Twilight stared at the small dragon. Her eyes didn’t blink but did seem to lose focus and shift for a bit. The mare made a small noise as her eyes with their sunken look and dark circles beneath traveled around her desk through the mess of parchment and scrolls. A hoof wiped away a large portion of the clutter onto the floor, accidentally tipping the inkwell with them.

Spike automatically began to hurry and pick them up to avoid the staining on anything important she might need. There was a muttering beneath Twilight’s breath as she scoured over the notes until finding the needed piece at the very bottom of it all. In neat and almost foreign writing compared to her recent notes was her own penmanship about the event.

“No,” she said softly and shifted herself to the telescope. Her face made a grimace as she peered into it and seemed to be forcing herself to keep looking.

“Twilight, what’s wrong?” Spike tried asking as he tidied the floor up the best he could. “Why are you-”

“I can hear them,” she answered simply. “I can hear them so close now. It’s too soon.”

“What? What’s too soon?” the little dragon inquired but was ignored.

The pony breathed deeply and pulled away from the telescope as she looked out the window of evening. How she could see anything with the sun so close to the horizon was anypony’s guess. Spike didn’t question it and just waited with a worried look.

There was a quick motion before Twilight was soon writing things down once more. Her face wore something akin to dread. The little dragon held his tongue for a bit longer before slowly slinking away and backing out of the room. The last few words he heard as he closed the door were something about her hearing ‘them’ without it.

As much as he worried and tried getting her to get away from her desk, Spike knew it was useless. The only thing he could do was wait and hope her friends could help once he let them know.

•••••

As the girls readied themselves for the streaks of light above, many ponies around the hillside were also interested in seeing the spectacle. Spike had informed them of the shower coming much sooner than later and they had taken to making the whole week a fun nightly picnic each night just to anticipate it. Word must have traveled to have the other ponies waiting and looking up at the darkening sky, some even making multiple appearances through the nights.

It didn’t take as many days as they had thought while they waited. Twilight had refused to come to any gathering as much they had wished to enjoy her company. Starlight had taken her own place along with her friend Trixie as they all settled in for the night. Applejack and Pinkie Pie brought their refreshments and some food as they gossiped and talked waiting for the first streak to appear in the night sky.

Considering the past coupled nights, it was quite a surprise to see and hear Twilight galloping her way in their direction. Her eyes looked as if she hadn’t had a proper sleep in ages and her mane was frazzled mess. Though they could easily distinguish the fear plastered upon her face as she hurried over.

“Twi, what in the hay is going on?” Applejack asked, trying to get her to calm down.

“It’s here!” Twilight yelled, tears threatening to flow down her cheeks. “It’s here! You have to go inside! You can’t be out!”

Fluttershy looked immediately uneasy as Rainbow Dash and Rarity began asking questions. The two tried hard to make sense of what the purple princess was rambling about but it just sounded insane. Twilight took in choked breaths as she begged and pleaded for them all to go inside and not come out until daybreak. The confusion left them sitting there trying to pry answers from their friend.

“I can’t stop it,” Twilight cried as her tears finally fell. “I don’t know how to! It’s coming! It’s out there and it’ll come!”

“Twilight, dear, please calm down. You’re beginning to startle me,” Rarity admitted with a face of worry.

“Please, don’t stand around and just go! I can hear them without it! I can always hear them now!” Twilight nearly yelled.

They were about to attempt to understand more until a pony nearby called out they could see them meteors coming in. All other ponies looked to them and followed their outstretched foreleg to the sky. Indeed, there was a glint that shone brightly and slowly moving at first.

“No! No, no, no! Go inside!” Twilight cried out, shoving one of her friends aside. “Everypony needs to go inside!”

The commotion brought the pony’s attention around them from the starting show to the panicked princess raising her voice. None of them knew. None of them could have known. The first shooting star moved slowly before flying overhead. The screaming of Twilight was profusely loud.

“IT’S HERE!” she shrieked.

With that, the rest of the sky lit up in a beautiful array of horror. The ponies could no longer hear the incessant screams of Twilight over the ones they knew no origin from. The sky wailed and shrieked with them all.

Twilight cried, broken and lost as she laid down and covered her head listening to the screams of her friends and abhorrent nature of the unknown.

Silence.

Author's Note:

Inspired by a couple of things, one of which being a small snippet of something similar but I decided to take it further. I also seemed to keep a Lovecraftian theme through this year's tales.

Comments

[Nemesis01]

This is really good work! Love the general unknown aspect in several of the stories. My personal favorite was Unnatural Embrace. I featured this on episode 240 of my podcast, Pony 411.

[LoreLove]

9218557
Oh wow! That's awesome! Thank you so much! I'll be adding another story to this Anthology today, so keep an eye out. In fact, a story will be added every Monday this month and an extra one on Halloween. Hope you keep enjoying them!