Day Six

BLAST THAT SHIELD BREAKER HE'S DOOMED US ALL!!!

We're trapped we're surrounded dear Celestia why why did that damned fool have to bring that ghoul's head into camp with him.

They came screeching in the night to get it back they killed the worker and Shield Breaker.

Only I and Silent Scribe remain now. They're circling our tent, I can hear their clawed hooves on the stone floor, hear their clicking throats.

Oh gods one is poking its head inside oh Celestia why is this happening to me DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!!!

I've... awoken in a hospital bed. My head is wrapped, apparently I took a hit to the head somewhere along the line. The belongings from my pack, including this journal, were found and brought with me. No word on what happened to Scribe...

I'm trying hard to remember what I went through down there after I fainted in my tent. Why am I still alive? How did I reach the surface?

And why do the doctors tell me I was found with a strange series of lacerations on my left flank, right over my cutie mark, so deep they would permanently scar?

So many questions...

I'm being let out of the hospital now, they say there's nothing more they can do for me.

Good. I hated this place. Haven't been able to keep down any of this slop they keep feeding me...

I'm so hungry...

I shall not say a word of this disaster of an expedition to anyone. It never happened, as far as I'm concerned.

I've returned to my estate. The first thing I did when I arrived was request my favorite dish from my personal chef.

Strangest thing though. I couldn't stand the taste of it. In a fit of rage I blamed it on her and fired her on the spot... it's too late to go back on it...

Gods above I'm so hungry... something smells delicious, but I don't know what...

...

I've realized what smells so good.

My staff.

Dear Celestia, what's happening to me?! Why do I have these cravings all of a sudden?! I sent them all off, I don't want to think like this. But the hunger is so great...

I need to eat... So hungry...

I remembered something... something from those tunnels...

I woke up... in a large cavern... a chamber... there were holes in the walls... nests... I was in the ghoul nesting grounds... I saw taller ghouls, about Cadance's height... females... tall and serene looking compared to the vicious stallions. They had glowing symbols on their flanks, bioluminescent I believe.

There was... Scribe... Silent Scribe... I saw her... feasting on a corpse... transforming... dear gods, she was becoming one of them...

There was one ghoul... taller and more impressive than the rest, with a writhing cape of tentacles... the... the ghoul queen?

She gave me visions. Visions of the savage life of a ghoul. Of being driven on by relentless hunger, to the point where you will turn against your own brother just to get an easy meal. Of having to hunt down an unwilling mate to mark him as your own. But mostly of the hunger... the hunger... the hunger is what dominates their lives at all times... always starving...

She left me with a final request, in simple telepathic thoughts. The basics of it were... did I wish to stay safe with them and join the pack... or did I wish to leave... I remember choosing to leave...

Right before Scribe attacked me. Scribe... forced me onto my side and began to attack my flank with one of her claws... she's the one who carved this strange symbol into my flank... I feel like I should know why but... it's meaning escapes me.

I think I fainted again at that point... the next thing I remember is the hospital... did they carry me back to the surface? Why then do I still feel like this?

My... my mind grows heavy... it's getting harder to think straight... maybe a good night's sleep will put all of this behind me...

Author's Note

One chapter left!