Journal of Uncovered Truth: Day One

Journal of Uncovered Truth
Day one

Today, I prepare to embark on the most important expedition of my career. The one moment where I shall gain the recognition in the scientific community that I rightfully deserve! Yes, I had my initial moment of fame with my book The Pony Race Through the Ages: An Account of Pony Subspecies, but this will be the discovery that will land my name in the history books!

Allow me to start from the beginning, as I feel I'm getting ahead of myself. My name is Professor Uncovered Truth of Canterlot University. I've studied ancient pony history for years, but my specialty has always been where it comes to lineages, subspecies, races... One may mistake me for a genealogist from one look at my works, and I suppose in a sense it is true. However, I believe I am more of an hippologist. I study ancient cultures and pony breeds.

So far, I have written extensively on my findings, only one of my books achieving any note of acclaim. In it, I reveal the ties that bind together the six subspecies of pony: Earth, Unicorn, Pegasus, Thestral, Crystal, and Changeling. All had been theorized to have been connected, until I brought forth the conclusive evidence of my findings, showing that despite differences in physical attributes, culture, and thaumatic inclinations, all stem from the same ancestors*.

*Note: I wished to include alicorns in my study, but as it turns out, alicorns are not naturally born, but instead are an instance of one of the subspecies achieving a sort of enlightenment that causes them to ascend to a higher position in the natural order. Thus, only six subspecies.

However, over the past few months, things have been building up to my current situation. It first began when I was giving a passing glance over a late colleague's works, and found a bizarre hypothesis of his.

He claimed to have found evidence that once, long past in our ancestry, our common ancestors were omnivores, living of off both plants and animals for survival. Eventually, however, the majority of these primitive ponies began to farm, and increasingly turned away from meat, to the point it became taboo. In the meantime, they chased away their hunter-gatherer brethren, forcing them into the caves where he presumes they starved in the lifeless depths.

At the time, I mostly dismissed his claims. He did have some points, such as the fact that ponies often eat eggs and milk products without even considering the source, and he did quote some instances of ponies with severe mental disorders becoming carnivorous, in some extremes even turning to cannibalism. But ultimately, I didn't see much proof to his claims, and thus pushed them from my mind.

Then, an old acquaintance of mine related to me a strange tale. He had always been an art enthusiast, and unlike most, flocked to the bizarre and macabre works of an eccentric old artist whose name I can't quite recall. Regardless, he claimed every single one of the artist's pictures depicted horrendous pony-like creatures crawling from the depths to feast on the flesh of ponies, be it in a graveyard or somepony's cellar. Somewhere along the line, my friend caught a glimpse of a photograph, that he swears was actually the model for the pictures. He shook as he told me that it was a photo of one of the monster ponies he'd seen in the paintings. Immediately my mind flashed to what I'd read, but I shook it off once more as paranoid nonsense.

The final straw was when I began researching traditional thestral burial rites. The cave-dwelling thestrals would dowse their dead in sweet scented nectar and oil. Then, they celebrated their parted friend and kin's good life, wishing them well in the next. And finally, and most bizarrely, they would then drag the corpse to the outskirts of their cavern, into the deepest and darkest depths they dared to go, and left it there for the "eaters of the dead", or Ghouls in their native language, to come drag the body into the underworld.

I was going to pass this off as more nonsense, until I attended such an event first hoof for better knowledge, as I always believed it best to get first hoof accounts when one could. I was forbidden from staying by the body to see what would happen, much to my displeasure. But... I was unprepared for what happened next.

Late into the night, from the spot they'd left the body, came low, guttural moans, accompanied by the occasional shriek or rapid series of clicks. It was unlike anything I'd ever heard. I was completely unprepared for it, and to be honest, the sounds struck at some deep, primal fear within me, telling me to run for my life before whatever made that sound came for me as well. I fought the urge and attempted and failed to fall asleep once again.

The next day, a bloody trail led down into the depths, surrounded by the blood-ringed hoofprints of whatever did it. These hoofprints were strange, unlike any I'd ever seen. I've recorded the shapes of each and every equine variety I could, and these were unlike any I'd ever seen. For starters the hooves were similar to those of a pony, yet the stride indicated that these creatures had longer legs and moved in sort of crawling position. Even stranger was that behind each print was another small mark scraped along the ground, as if each hoof had a claw coming out the back of it to drag along with each step. In any case, the trail of hoofprints indicated about three individuals, all heading back into the depths.

It was at that moment that I realized that maybe... maybe it was all true. Maybe there was a seventh subspecies, lost to time in the dark depths of underground cavern systems. These ponies, these... ghouls... were truly the remnants of a time when ponies freely ate meat.

I had to know. If this were real, if I could find evidence of the truth, it would be ground breaking. Carnivorous ponies? Imagine the public's response! I had to get the facts and show the world the truth on this!

That is why I am here today, bags packed before the entrance of the thestral colony with a loyal crew along for the journey. Tonight, we shall delve into the caverns to find some conclusive evidence to the existence of these ghouls. I shall keep this journal to chronicle my endeavors for future reference.

I must stop writing now, for I have plans to discuss with my team. I shall start up again when I next have something to report. Until then...

Uncovered Truth.

Author's Note

Loosely based off of and inspired by the story "Pickman's Model" by HP Lovecraft, in theme and a brief reference only.

I've done two pictures of the creatures in this story. They are NSFW for gore reasons though, so I'm unsure how or even if I should share them.

Thank you to Iron Sky for letting me know that Hippology is the horse equivalent of Anthropology.

Here's hoping this goes well.