A Haunted Pony

Novella opens the door and it lets out a loud, angry -CREEEAAAAK- as if to ward away its intruder.

“Well that’s not ominous or anything,” Novella mumbles sarcastically as she steps inside. She leaves the door open, enjoying the breeze.

The inside of the house looks just as broken as the outside. The floorboards creak with every step and more than a few are broken. A couch rests against the east wall, a cushion missing and box springs sprouting out like metal flowers. The arm of the couch looks like its been chewed on. The one light in the downstairs was broken and Novella had to maneuver her way around broken shards of the light bulb. Using her unicorn magic she removed one of her quills and notebooks from her pack. She begins to jot down the description of the downstairs. Novella is very thorough in her story telling, making sure to leave nothing out.

Novella makes her way upstairs. Her hooves sounding like thunder in the quiet of the house. There is a single bedroom with the door slightly ajar. She pushes it open and her mouth gapes when she takes in the sight of the bedroom. The bed has been pushed up against the back wall, like someone had thrown it in a fit of rage. The mattress had three long gouges running the length of it, like a timber wolf had lost its temper and decided to take it out on the bed. There was a single window that surprisingly looked untouched. There had once been pillows on the bed, but the feathers inside were strewn all across the room and had turned brown over time.

In the middle of the floor was a strange drawing, the color was a sickly green and looked to be burned into the floorboards. It was a large circle with intersecting lines. The lines cut the circle into eight parts. Each “slice” of the circle had a strange symbol drawn into it’s center. Novella looked at the circle uneasily. She glances away, turning her attention to the right wall. The entire wall had been converted into a long and tall bookshelf. Her mouth gaped open at the vast collection. Curiosity getting the better of her, Novella began to go down the length of the book shelf to see what type of readings the previous owner was interested in.

There were a lot of spell books, some large, some small, and the majority of them looked like dark magic books. The covers were worn and quite a handful of books weren’t even written in any known language. She spots a few candles resting atop the shelf and quickly deposits them into her pack. She makes her way down the line until she comes to a blank spot in the shelf. Wonder what book used to rest here, she thought to herself. She shrugged her shoulders and continued on further until a book caught her attention. It wasn’t the creativeness of the book- in fact it was the utter lack of anything unique.

The book was quite standard sized and color. The book was black and the spine had no title written on it. Novella pulled it down from its spot on the shelf out of curiosity. Novella inhaled a deep breath and let loose a large puff of air to clear the book of its dusty blanket. The cover of the book held the same strange circular drawing as the floor, even the coloring on the book was the same. Novella looked between the two for a moment to confirm that it was the same symbol.

She opens the book to find it impossible to read. Not a single word is in any language that Novella knows. Greatly confused, she lets the book fall to the floor beside her. It is at this time she notices another book lying page down in the edge of the circle. Novella walks to it and turns it over. It appears to be a journal written by the previous owner. The handwriting was quite neat and clean. Based on the amount of spell books (and some quick checking of the journal), Novella was able to determine the writer of the journal was a unicorn.

With her curiosity winning over, Novella flipped to the first journal entry and began to read:

Dear Journal,

I have bought you as a fresh start to my new life. I have recently located to a small town here in Equestria, called Ponyville. I’ve been living here for a month now, finally getting out and exploring things. I discovered a strange book today whilst exploring. It was waiting for me downstairs, resting on the kitchen table. I was worried someone had broken in, but everything seems to still be here.

I am intrigued by the words written on the first page. I know this book holds great things for me.

Novella glances at the black book confused, she opens it once more and still finds the words of the strange book impossible to decipher.

“How in the world?” Novella wonders aloud. The unicorn must have been very knowledgeable indeed if they were able to read it, she thinks to herself.

Returning her attention to the journal, she continues to read through the unicorn’s entries. She sits back on her haunches, not realizing that she is currently in the middle of the strange green circle. The more she reads, the more horrifying it gets. The tone of the journal started out as the writings of someone happy and just venturing into chronicling their life on paper, with long paragraphs written just for a single day. As Novella reads on, the tone changes. The writings are now scribbled, as if the unicorn had to jot them down on the go. The tone is one who is extremely paranoid. Some of the sentences took over two minutes to decipher and understand.

Novella arrives at the last entry of the journal. It reads;

Dear Journal,

I have to be quick with this entry. I can’t trust anyone, everyone is after my book. They say it has corrupted me, but I see clear. IT IS MINE DAMN IT! I haven’t left the house in weeks. I spend every moment reading through the book. Its vast amount of pages seem to grow with every passing moment. I am consumed by it, but nearing the end of my goal. Soon I shall rule, and every pony will bow down to my power!

Novella stares at the journal. Her eyebrows knit together in concern and she shudders at the evil tone the last entry has. She is beyond relieved to know that the unicorn never succeeded in their hunt for total control. She sets the journal back on the floor. Novella is intrigued as to how much devotion the writer gave the strange black book.

Novella picks it up once more and flips to the first page. Her mouth gapes open as she reads the first line.

I hold great power within these pages.

Novella drops the book, startled by the face that the first line is now visible to her. She steps away rapidly, as if she fears the book will harm her. With what she has read from the journal that could turn out to be an all too real possibility. Knowing its probably a horrible idea, Novella packs away both the journal and the strange black book into her pack.

By this point, the sun has set below the horizon and the inky blackness of night has descended. Novella dug around for the candles she had previously packed. Pulling them free she used her unicorn magic to light them. She set the candles down on either side of her. She made fast work of scribbling down notes in one of her notebooks.

A strange breeze kicks up suddenly, threatening to blow out the lit candles. The pages of the notebook Novella’s is currently using begin to flap angrily against the breeze. Novella stands up and rushes over to the window in the bedroom. She feels a pit in her stomach when she sees that the window is shut tight, allowing no air flow to pass through. A loud ghostly wail echoes in the room, startling Novella. She yelps in fear and spins around suddenly.

The room is still once more.