Ponies always said to follow your dreams. That's all this brown stallion could think about as he dug deeper into the ground. He never thought this would be his job. He always dreamed of being a waiter at a fancy restaurant in Canterlot. The only thing he was good at was digging, represent by his cutiemark, a dirty shovel.
It was quiet that night. A light wind was blowing through the trees, Luna's moon hung low in the sky, and the stars twinkled brightly. The stallion always did his digging at night. He felt strange when ponies watched him work. Nothing made him more uneasy than the feeling he was being watched. The feeling that he just felt.
He looked around, his bright red mane blowing the wind. Nopony was around. He was all alone. He still couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. He glanced towards town. Ponyville was dark. The lights on were at the library. He always looked at the library when unease set in. The glowing bright lights looked like beacons in the light. A promise that rest soon follows his work.
He turned his back to the library and continued digging. He had to dig. He was in the cemetery, slowly but surely digging a grave for a funeral late tomorrow. He was almost done when he felt his shovel hit something. It wasn't hard like a rock, it was softer than wood. He could almost always tell what he was digging up. Years of experience gave him a sixth sense of knowing what he was digging. This time however, he couldn't make it out.
Grave Digger brushed the dirt aside. He found what was underneath. It was a leather book, almost the same color as the dirt around it. Grave picked it up, examining the cover. He felt as if he should bring it to the library, picking it up gave him a sense of unease. The wind slowly picked up around him and the shadows seemed to swirl slowly around the brown stallion. Grave opened the book hesitantly. The wind opened the book the a page in the middle of the book. The book rose out of Grave's hooves into the air above him.
Grave panicked and backed up, hitting the wall of the grave. The swirling shadows engulfed Grave Digger and he felt a dark presence pushing at the ends of his consciousness. He tried to resist but the more he tried, the more it pushed. His mind collapsed as the presence forced its way into Grave's mind. Grave fell as the new thoughts took over.
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Twilight Sparkled sat in the middle of the library. She had been studying the Everfree forest ever since it invaded a few weeks earlier. She wanted to find out more about how it works and it fundamental properties. Her books have been proving to be lacking on the matter. No matter how long she looked, she couldn't find anything. Twilight sighed and put down the book she had been analyzing. A fruitless search, much like the other books piled around her.
It was nearly midnight. Spike had been in bed for a few hours and Twilight was sure she was the last one awake. With a stretch and a yawn, she got up and headed upstairs to her bedroom. She carefully tiptoed to her bed to avoid waking up Spike. Casting a glance out her window, she laid her head down on her pillow.
Twilight bolted back up almost immediately. Peering back out her window, she saw that her eyes were not playing tricks on her. At the edge of town, near the cemetery, a cloud of shadows seemed to twist and dance. Twilight raced back downstairs and out the door. Whatever this thing was, she was going to stop it.
Spike awoke at the sound of rushing hoofsteps. He blinked several times, looking around the room. The bed was empty. Spike figured that Twilight was still studying and flopped back into his bed, falling back into his dreams.
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Grave Digger's head was pounding. He couldn't see or hear anything. He stood up, or at least, he thought he stood up. He couldn't tell which way was up. He tried to take a step forward. His entire body was numb. He took another wobbly step before gaining the courage to run.
Grave's face hit the other edge of the grave. Disoriented, he climbed out and took off. The shadow's followed him, slowly dissipating into his body. With each piece if shadow absorbed, a hunger grew inside of his being. It wasn't a craving for food, but for power.
Grave tried to shake the dark thoughts in his. No matter how fast he ran, they were always there. His hoof hit a rock and he tumbled forward. Grave laid there, panting and sweating from the running. He opened his eyes and found that he could see. Taking a look around, he determined that he was in the middle of the Everfree.
Grave Digger stood up on shaky hooves. He had never been in the Everfree before. Turning around, he couldn't see a path out. He just went in the direction he thought he came from. Howls pierced the silence causing an uproar of nocturnal birds. Startled, Grave bolted forward.
Bounding out a bush, Grave fell into a small pond. He climbed out of it, soaked to the bone. He looked into the crystal clear waters. His reflection peered back. His once pure red mane was streaked with black and his once green eyes were red. He opened mouth in a gasp and saw that his teeth had sharpened themselves to a point. Grave fainted.
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Twilight ran to the edge of town as quickly as she could. She jumped over carts and turned sharp corners. If something was attacking, she could stop it. Almost smashing into cart, she skidded to a halt. She was near the cemetery. Any shadows that were there, were gone. Twilight couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss. She cast a spell, one that could detect magic. Her horn led her into the cemetery, straight to a freshly dug grave. The energies stopped and faded. Twilight lit up her horn to look around. She didn't find anything out the ordinary. That only thing she found, was an old shovel next to the grave.
Author's Note
I know this took longer than expected but here it is. As soon as I finished it, I posted it. If anyone finds any errors, feel free to tell me were you find them and what they are so I can fix them.
Grave Digger awoke. His vision blurred and his thoughts askew. He took a look around. His eyes rested on the pond again. His reflection startled him before he had a chance to remember what happened before he woke up. He took a better look at his reflection. His pupils looked narrower and his gaze looked sharper. His unicorn horn ended in a terrifying point. Grave had to wave a hoof in front of his reflection to be sure that it was his and not some monster's.
Grave felt like his head was going to burst. it was like someone cranked up the pressure in his skull. It all seemed to be localized near the base if his horn. He put his hoof up to his horn and applied pressure to the base. He hissed as pain coursed through his body like a wildfire.
There were hoofsteps, slow meaningful ones coming towards Grave Digger. In a panic, he ran to a bush and hid. A green earth pony came out the bushes and laid down by the pond. She had light yellow saddlebags that matched her mane. She opened the saddlebag on her right and pulled out a book. Seemingly flipping the pages to a random spot, her eyes danced over the pages as she read.
Grave watched her and felt like approaching. If anypony knew the way back to town, it was her. He almost took a step from his post. Recoiling, he remembered his own reaction to his appearance. He took a step back, pondering his next action.
Kill her, a voice sang in his head. Rejoice in her suffering. Grave shook his head. His head felt like exploding. He didn't know what to do. The pain was so unbearable he couldn't stand and dropped to the ground. His back legs started to shake. A green hoof burst into his hiding place and moved the leaf cover aside, "Are you alright?"
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Twilight Sparkle woke up in her bed. She had been exhausted from her late night excursion. She got up and stretched her wings. She listened to the joints pop and felt the muscles loosen. Sleeping was hard with her new wings. Twilight yawned and levitated a brush to her mane and sorted out the tangles.
Her mind traveled back to last night. What she had seen could not be passed over as a sleep deprived hallucination. Twilight didn't know what she was dealing with but she was determined to figure out what it is. In the midst of her thoughts, she didn't realize that she had been going over the same spot of her mane for the post few minutes. Snapping out of her thoughts, she brushed the rest of her mane.
Moving downstairs, Twilight made her way to the kitchen. Her stomach was protesting as she had missed her midnight snack last night. She opened the fridge and inspected its contents. She had eggs and milk. Sighing, Twilight made her way out of the kitchen.
Twilight ran into Spike when she left the kitchen. With a thud, Spike bounced back onto the floor. Twilight levitated him back upright and brushed some dirt off his shoulder.
"Sorry, Spike," Twilight apologized. "I guess I was a little lost in thought."
Spike grinned, "Don't worry about it, Twi. I was to busy thinking about eating a sandwich." Before Twilight could say anything, Spike buzzed past her into the kitchen. With a disgruntled groan, Spike stormed out of the kitchen and back upstairs.
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Grave Digger was looking down at the beaten and bloodied corpse of the mare who tried to help him. He couldn't remember doing it but the blood on his hooves said otherwise. Panicking, Grave rushed to the pond to wash the red stains off his hooves. Seeing his reflection almost made him burst into tears. His horn and mane were covered with blood and bits of flesh. Grave shakily looked over to the mare. Puncture wounds dotted her sides. Staring back into the pond waters, memories returned.
"Are you alright?" a concerned voice asked. Grave looked up into the amethyst eyes of the green earth pony. Upon eye contact, the green mare stumbled backwards. Grave stood up. Hunger flared deep inside him as he gazed upon the pony. Smiling, he took a step forward.
"I'm quite alright," Grave responded. Grabbing the back hooves of the mare in his black colored magic, he snapped the legs forcing chucks of the bone to break the skin. "Are you?" The pony screamed and tried to crawl away with her front legs. Grave walked up to the mare and placed a hoof on the small of her back. He bent down to her cutiemark, a peppermint sprig. Grave licked the cutiemark and placed his mouth around it. He bit the mark, his sharpened teeth tearing through skin and muscle. The mare screamed even louder and redoubled her attempts to flee.
Grave Digger took a step back, relishing in the pony's pained pursuit of escape. Tears were streaming down her face and blood was rushing out of her flank. Grave lowered his head and took quick steps forward. His horn was jammed into the mare's side as she screamed again. He withdrew his horn only to drive it back in to a different spot. He didn't stop until the pony's struggles ceased and any life left the body.
Grave vomited at the memory. He can't believe he did that. No. He didn't do that. He would never do that. He thought of the voice in his head, telling him to take a life. He thought back to the shadows and the darkness feeling alive. He also felt the pressure in his horn fade.
