It was a beautiful autumn morning in Ponyville as the sole resident of a house just about at the outskirts of town. The dark purple-coated Unicorn mare had woken up with a light yawn as she looked out the window to see the sunrise. Smiling, she raised a hoof so that she could rub the sleep out of her tired brown eyes only to stare at it in shock. She did not sleepwalk, but somehow, the hoof had a splash of blood on it. She stared for another minute or two before putting the hoof down as well as sitting upright.
“Not again…” she groaned as she used the other hoof to straighten out her brown mane.
~~~
Twilight Sparkle was sitting at the Cutie Map, checking over it for any upcoming Friendship Problems. After a while, she looked up to see Spike walking up to her with a piece of paper.
“This is for you,” he said as he handed it to her. “The pony that gave it to me said to get it to you and to mention that it was urgent.”
Twilight levitated the paper and looked at it.
“What did the pony look like?” she asked.
“Unicorn, dark purple coat, brown hair, brown eyes, and I think one of her hooves was covered by some kind of bandage.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow before she started reading the words on the paper.
Twilight, I really need to see you right away! It’s urgent! Come to the house at the outskirts! -Evening Quill
Twilight’s eyes widened as she realized something.
“Spike, did you see the pony’s Cutie Mark at all?” she asked.
“Yeah, it was a black feather with little white dots on it,” Spike answered.
Twilight only got up and began to frantically move around.
“Tell anypony that comes here that I won’t be back in a while!” Twilight said as she got her saddlebags ready and was about to leave.
“Why? Is something wrong?” Spike asked.
“Yes, and I need to hurry!” Twilight only said as she ran out of the Castle of Friendship.
Spike could only stare in confusion as he looked at the letter before thinking a bit.
~~~
Twilight soon reached the house after what felt like hours of galloping. She panted a bit before knocking the door.
“Evening?” she asked as she looked. “It’s me, Twilight.”
The door opened a bit to show a brown eye looking at her.
“Can I come in?” Twilight asked.
“Sure,” the pony only said as the door opened just enough for Twilight to enter.
Twilight looked as the pony led her to the living room.
“I came as soon as I got your message,” Twilight explained.
“Okay,” the pony only said before looking out of the window. “I think it’s happening again.”
“What do you mean, Evening?”
Evening Quill only looked before raising a hoof up and removed the bandage from it. Twilight recoiled in surprise as the hoof had been splashed with blood.
“Did you hurt yourself?” Twilight automatically asked.
“No. I already checked to be sure and there was no open wound at all. I… I think I’m hurting ponies again.”
“But that can’t be right. You’ve been turning to writing and that’s curbed your tendencies a bit.”
“Yeah, emphasis on bit,” Evening Quill said. “I don’t even know what caused it to resurface, but it did.”
Twilight thought for a minute before looking at Evening Quill.
“Have you told the Princesses yet?”
“You’re the first one I’ve reached to. Was I supposed to tell the other three?”
“Not really, but I think it helps. Don’t worry, I’ll go ahead and tell them myself.”
“Okay,” Evening said with a nod as she walked into the kitchen. “I’m going to see if I can’t wash this off.”
“Okay,” Twilight said as she took out a scroll and wrote down something on it.
As she wrote, Twilight could hear the sounds of doors opening, items being taken out, and the sink turning on as the water flowed. She eventually sent the letter out as Evening Quill walked back into the living room, feeling agitated.
“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked as she noticed.
“It didn’t come off,” Evening Quill said as she looked at her hoof with disdain.
“What? That’s not right, it should’ve come off. Let me see what you have on hoof.”
Evening Quill led Twilight to the kitchen, where the counter was now covered with bottles of cleaning fluid with the window over the sink open. Twilight noted that the bottles were opened and looked at the sink to see it still wet with water and leftover fluid from the apparent rigorous cleaning session Evening Quill did, draining from the sink.
“Hm…” the alicorn said as if pondering something. “Which of these did you use?”
“… All of them,” Evening Quill admitted. “And not a single one worked.”
“I see… Evening Quill, I think this is more of a magical nature. I don’t think this can be solved alone. Come on, let’s head back to the Castle of Friendship. We can work out something there.”
“Okay…” Evening Quill said, a little unsure.
Twilight only reassuringly patted the Unicorn on the back, an action that earned her a smile from the latter. Evening Quill then went to try and hide the hoof, eventually settling for a bandage once more. The two then left the house and started walking, though not before Evening Quill locked her door, citing the ‘you can never be too careful’ mantra she always told other ponies. Twilight never blamed her for that, due to the Unicorn coming from a cautious family. As the pair walked, Twilight had noted that Evening Quill was staring at ponies with a intense look she was always seen having whenever she was reading a book. She then made an attempt to ask.
“Is something the matter?” Twilight asked, snapping Evening Quill out of her stupor.
“Er, nothing,” she said hastily. “Are we at the Castle, yet?”
“Yes, it’s just over there,” Twilight said as the two walked up to it.
As soon as they entered, Spike ran up to them.
“There you are!” he said before noticing Evening Quill. “Oh, you’re that pony that gave me that message to Twilight.”
“I am,” the Unicorn said.
“What is it?” Twilight asked Spike.
“Well, the others came by about the Nightmare Night preparations,” Spike stated.
“Oh, right,” Twilight said with a face-hoof. “I forgot we were going to meet about that. Evening, why don’t you make yourself at home?”
“Uh, sure,” Evening Quill only responded as she let Spike guide her to another place in the castle.
Twilight watched before she went to meet with the others.
~~~
The next morning, Evening Quill laid upon her bed, glaring mutinously at the ceiling. She knew something was wrong with her, but this is too much. Once Twilight had finished her meeting with her friends, she and Evening spent the rest of the day, looking through anything that might provide some clue to Evening Quill’s hoof getting covered in something that wouldn’t come off by normal means. The search came up empty by the time the sun was about to set and Evening decided to call it a day as well as return back to her house.
She breathed out a sigh as she looked at the hoof that had blood on it. It was still there, but it had somehow spread towards her knee. She took the other hoof and lightly touched it, just to be sure. She looked at it before being surprised. The other hoof did not pick up any of the blood that was on the first hoof. She groaned as she got up and went about her morning routine. This was going to be a long day.
~~~
In the days leading up to Nightmare Night, everypony had noticed something was wrong with the young writer that had moved into town some time ago. Applejack had noticed it in the way she walked, Rarity noticed that it was in the fact she had all of her legs in socks, even Pinkie Pie noticed that it was in the way she acted around the party pony. However, Evening Quill could not bring herself to tell them what was wrong with her. Even Twilight was having trouble trying to get Evening Quill to open up, that she had sent word to the Princesses about this further development. She knew it was a long shot at best, but she also knew that it was only a matter of time before Evening Quill would eventually relapse.
“Evening?” Twilight had asked the Unicorn during one visit to the latter’s house.
“Hm?” Evening only responded from her spot on the couch.
“You do know you can talk to us, right?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, then. Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”
“No.”
Twilight only stared at Evening Quill’s answer, resisting the urge to groan out of frustration to the Unicorn’s one word answers. She knew that it was a longshot, but if she had not asked, then she would not have gotten anywhere with Evening Quill. After a while of brief but polite conversation, Twilight stood up and prepared to leave.
“Anon-A-Miss,” Evening Quill suddenly said.
“Huh?” Twilight asked as she looked at the Unicorn, who was now sitting up and looking at the Alicorn.
“That’s why I was glaring at the Cutie Mark Crusaders earlier,” Evening Quill only said.
“Yeah, but… How did you know about-?”
“It’s hard to explain. I’d rather not bore you with the details, but I can tell you that I just know what others have done, regardless of what world they’re in.”
“I see…” Twilight said before giving the Unicorn a polite good-bye and left.
Evening Quill watched her go before she laid back down onto the couch, looking out towards the sun.
“It wouldn’t be long now…” she muttered to herself.
~~~
Eventually, the day of Nightmare Night had come as Evening Quill looked out of her bedroom window in disdain towards the sunset. She then looked at her four legs, now sporting the same blood red that had initially started on her hoof and the red is still spreading onto her body. On the one hoof, she was thankful she still had those socks she had gotten from her last trip to Manehatten, but on the other hoof, it was a sure-fire way of tipping ponies off that she was hiding something. She let out a sigh. She never wanted this, so why now? Why this time of all times did her tendacies decide to resurface?
She stared at the sunset once more. It was almost below the horizon now. She knew that the moment the last sunbeam hits her, there would be no going back. She had not figured it out, Twilight could not figure it out, no one would have figured it out. As the last sunbeam touched her face, her mind was suddenly flooded with memories she thought she had abandoned.
The teenaged Evening Quill had stomped up to where she knew her grandfather kept his guns. She took one sole pistol out and then walked back to her room. She took out her quill and a piece of paper and decided to write.
“My family,” she began as she wrote. “If you’re reading this, then I’m already gone. I just couldn’t take it anymore. If I had to spend one more day with her… I just couldn’t. We’re only friends because this family’s working for hers. When no one from both sides weren’t watching, she pushes me around, calling me names, and worst of all, told me every single line that was in the book. The last straw was when I tried to ask this stallion out, but then she had to go and cut in, even though she knew I was going to ask him out. I was so upset that day, I decided that enough was enough. I was going to do it, no matter how many times you would’ve tried to stop me. Love, Evening Quill. P.S. Spoiled, if you’re the one reading this, then burn in Tartarus, you lying snake!”
She then set the quill down and sat quietly. Slowly levitating the gun to her head. This is it. There would be no going back once she does this. She hesitated a bit. ‘Would they miss me?’ she thought to herself. Probably, but she knew that they would move on eventually. With that in mind, she pulled the trigger.
Her eyes slowly opened up, and she looked around. It was still the same bedroom that was hers since she had moved to Ponyville. She looked at the horizon to see that night had come at last. She then looked at a sole mirror and admired herself a bit. She always missed doing these transformations, but it had been way before she was given a chance to give up on her quest for vengence. Now, however, she was tired of waiting. She then walked out of the bedroom and up to the door that was an entrance to her home and an exit to the world beyond. Her revenge was reignited the minute she saw the one pony that had given her trouble in the past, and this time, she was not going to miss this chance.
She opened the door and started to calmly walk.
~~~
Twilight was just putting on the finishing touches on her Nightmare Night Costume when she heard both Spike and Starlight cry out in surprise. She hurried down from her bedroom to see that Princess Luna standing in the room with the Cutie Map, with both Starlight and Spike staring in surprise.
“Good evening, Twilight,” Luna said. “Have a seat, we need to speak.”
Twilight knew that if Luna was in the castle instead of in town, then it must be serious. She walked over to her seat and sat down, with Luna taking the seat next to her.
“What did you need to see me for?” Twilight asked.
“Did Evening Quill ever confide in you about anything she did?” Luna only asked.
“Just that she had violent tendacies, but I managed to convince her to start writing again after I noticed that she had a talent in it.”
“So, she never fully told you?”
“Told me what?”
Luna looked at both Spike and Starlight before looking at Twilight.
“What I’m going to tell you is going to be shocking,” Luna started. “Evening Quill is no ordinary pony.”
“WHAT?!” Twilight, Spike, and Starlight said at once.
Luna only nodded as she used her magic to conjure up an image.
“She is a pony-like creature known as a Revenant. They only live to seek only one goal: revenge. The only way a pony could become a Revenant is if they die with extreme hatred towards anyone that gave them a reason to hate them. Evening Quill had committed suicide after she was pushed around too many times by one specific pony and she would’ve gotten a chance to, had you not advised her to pick back up on writing.”
Twilight’s eyes had widened as she realized her.
“That first day,” she said. “She showed me that she had somehow gotten blood on one of her hooves.”
“That was how she knew her powers were resurfacing,” Luna stated. “Her need for revenge has been reignited.”
“But,” Spike spoke up, “who in their right mind would drive Evening Quill to such extremes?”
Starlight’s face paled as soon as he made his inquiry.
“I think I know,” she said.
“Who?” Twilight asked.
Starlight only frowned. Later, the three ponies and Spike made their way towards their destination, narrowly avoiding the various foals and other ponies out and about. They soon made their way to one specific house as Twilight noted something.
“Something’s wrong,” she said. “It’s too quiet.”
“Maybe nopony’s home?” Spike asked.
“No, she’s here,” Luna said. “I know it.”
They then hear a scream loud enough for the entire town to notice. Everypony stopped at stared in the direction of the scream. Twilight then ran up to the door and opened it with her, deciding that common courtesy was not necessary in this case. She then took careful steps as she walked around, taking note of anything that was out of place. She had never gone to the Rich family’s home, but from what she heard, it was no different from the rich ponies in Canterlot. So far, nothing was out of place up until she reached what she guessed was the living room. She gasped at what she saw.
Laying on the floor was the familiar pink pony that Twilight knew was Spoiled Rich, not moving nor breathing. Standing next to the body was a pony that Twilight recognized from Luna’s imagaes. It was a Unicorn with a blood-red coat, a black mane and tail, but the one thing that made Twilight do a double-take was the pony’s eyes. They were entirely white with no irises or pupils and glowing as if somepony had lit a candle in the pony’s head.
Twilight could only stare at the pony as they stared back. But then, the pony spoke.
“Never be cruel to others,” the pony said cryptically. “Never cause their deaths. Tell someone what you’ve done. They always know who never tells.”
With that, the pony suddenly vanished, leaving no trace of their being there aside from Spoiled Rich’s body. Twilight took a shaky breath and then left the house, several thoughts swarming her mind. Evening Quill had known that it was too late for anyone to stop her. She had always known ever since that first day. Twilight let out a soft sigh as she walked up to Spike, Starlight Glimmer, and Princess Luna.
“We were too late,” Twilight only said solemnly.
Author's Note
Yay, my first Halloween Special fic for this site! Anyway, I thought I might as well give it a shot, because it's a good time for horror and what not. This may not be expanded upon, but I will get to that if I feel the need to. Also, Evening Quill belongs to me.