A Name in the Darkness

by electreXcessive

Rating: mature
Tags: Tragedy, Main 6, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark
Length: 5103

The thoughts of a mare who was forced to live through hell, in a world that never should be.

When the world is falling apart around you, and you have no idea what is happening; what do you do? What goes through your mind as all hell breaks loose, and everything that you have come to know and love is shifted upside down? How will you react? How will you survive in a hostile world; a world that should never have existed? In a place so vile and twisted; how will you keep hope?

Take a trip through the eyes of Twilight Sparkle as she struggles to find the answers to all of these questions. See her thoughts as she lives through a living hell, and see what she had to go through... Before she became just another name in the darkness.

Authors Notes: Here's a special treat for everypony for Nightmare Night season. Inspired somewhat by "The Mist" and the creepypasta "Faces in the Storm." Hope y'all enjoy, and have a good Nightmare Night season everypony. And please ignore the formatting error in the description above, I don't know why it does that, and I can't fix it. It's some kind of glitch or something.

Published 2012-10-14 01:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-10-14 01:50:01 UTC

The Diary

Wow... It's been a long time since I've kept a diary like this. I was just going through a couple of old boxes I found in the basement today. Apparently I forgot about them after moving to Ponyville, everything was so disorganized during the whole Night Mare Moon incident that I left them there in a small corner. Yes, I know what you're thinking... Me? Disorganized? Well, everything was just so crazy during that time with me freaking out and running around everywhere, that I just couldn't be bothered to keep everything straight. The whole "end of the world" fiasco was eating up all of my attention after all.

Spike found the boxes while he was dusting off all of my equipment for me. Of course, being the curious little dragon that he is, he poked around in them for a little bit before asking me what they were. I was surprised, and walked down the stairs and into my basement. Behind a few Erlenmeyer flasks, some beakers, and a couple of my machines, I found a pair of old, dusty, plain looking cardboard boxes.

There was nothing too special about them other than a few pictures of Princess Celestia and me, and a few of me and Shining Armor and my parents. The rest of the contents were just books that I had packed with me from the library when I had left Canterlot. I've been looking for those for quite a while... I'm glad that Spike found them, I'll have to give him some kind of treat later; maybe I'll ask Rarity for a few sapphires.

Anyways, at the very bottom of the second box was my old diary. I remember writing in here all the time when I was just a little filly. It always felt so good to just write my thoughts down on paper at the end of the day, it was an easy way to remember what I had done and everything that I felt. I don't know; it just felt good to be able to tell everything to someone without being judged, even if it wasn't real. When Spike suggested that I start writing in my diary again, I of course jumped at the opportunity. It could be pretty helpful if I ever start having another break down like when I didn't send Princess Celestia my letter on time.

Thursday, January 17th

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Today, something weird happened, and when I say weird, I mean very strange. Scarily strange in fact, something that has me worried out of my mind right now. When I was walking with Fluttershy down to Sugar Cube Corner, I saw a cloud moving by itself! I didn't see any pegasi, and it wasn't windy at all, the cloud was just moving! I told Fluttershy and she said that I was probably just seeing things. She knows that I haven't gotten much sleep lately with all of my studying. I really hope that she's right and that I'm just seeing things.

I also noticed when I was picking up Fluttershy from her cottage on the edge of the Everfree Forest, that the clouds above the forest seemed to be a little darker than normal. The Everfree is known for defying the laws of nature, so it might just be another one of those weird things that the forest does from time to time. Either way, I think I'm going to have Spike send a letter to Princess Celestia later, just in case something weird really is going on. Other than those two occurrences, it's been a relatively normal day.

Fluttershy and I chatted with Pinkie for a while before she asked us to help her with all of the orders coming in. What a fiasco that was! Fluttershy wasn't looking behind her as Pinkie was mixing the batter for a batch of cupcakes, and ended up accidentally backing into her. Long story short, we got cupcake batter all over the ceiling and floors; Fluttershy apologized profusely of course. After a few hours of scrubbing the walls and floor with soap and water (sometimes I'm really glad that I'm a unicorn), we actually got it spotless. It looked even better than it had before! Anyways, that's everything that's happened today, so I'll write again later.

Saturday, January 19th

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Okay, there's something serious going on right now. Even Rainbow Dash noticed that the clouds have started moving on their own... I don't know if it's just me, but the sky seems to be getting slowly darker, just a little bit each day. Rainbow says that she doesn't know what's going on, but that she'll get to the bottom of it. Knowing her though, that'll take at least a month if I don't constantly badger her everyday.

Celestia responded to my letter that I wrote a few days ago as well, she apologized for the late reply, as she had been very busy with the royal court. She did, however, admit that my findings were indeed very strange. She told me to keep an eye out for any more changes like the ones I described before and to report every single detail to her. Apparently what I've reported is somewhat unnerving even to Princess Celestia, which scares me.

I feel... something weird in the air too. It almost feels thicker; almost ominous in a way. I don't know what to make of all of this... I've never seen anything like it before, not even in any of the history books in the library. The tomes about weather didn't have anything to say about the subject either; apparently it's never happened before. It's supposed to be impossible for the clouds to move on their own... I'm worried that something bad is going to happen, I just have this nagging feeling in my gut, telling me to get ready for something. What that is however, I'm still not sure of.

Saturday, January 26th

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The clouds have been getting bigger and they're starting to blot out the sky. I can barely see the sun anymore, and the wind is starting to pick up as well. It's getting even chillier than it would be normally in winter, which is really weird. The clouds are definitely starting to move on their own now too. It's also so bizarre; Celestia wrote me a letter today which effectively said this:

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I've read your recent reports on the strange weather patterns that you've been observing in Ponyville. I'm afraid I don't know what to make of this whole situation. I've never seen anything like what you are describing during my entire time in Equestria. I would advise you to keep an eye out and report to me if anything more sinister starts to occur. I don't know what we are dealing with here, but I'm afraid that it can't mean good news. I trust you to keep an eye on things, as I'm still addressing problems within the royal court. Be strong Twilight, I'm afraid that harsh times might be coming.

Your loving mentor,

Princess Celestia

I have no idea what to think, but the whole town seems to be on edge. I hope that this just passes over as stray storm clouds from the Everfree accidentally stumbling over Ponyville, but I know better than that. All of this is really putting me on edge; I swear that it just got darker outside as I'm writing this...

Wednesday, February 7th

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It's so dark now, I can't tell the day from the night any more... Celestia's sun is being blocked by all of those clouds, and it's so cold... It looks like it's about to start snowing any day now; no matter what the weather patrol teams do, they can't get rid of them. Whenever they try to buck them or push them, they just go right through... I've never seen anything like it before in my life, it's like they're not even there. Whenever a pegasus pony tries to fly above the clouds... Well, they can't. They say when they start to get near the top, their wings get so cold, that they have to stop or risk plummeting to their deaths.

Ponies have started moving away due to the weird occurrences, but the clouds seem to be spreading outwards and away from Ponyville. I'm getting a bad feeling about this, I feel like something terrible is going to happen. I can't abandon my new home or my best friends though; I'm going to stay here with them and try to stick out the storm. Hopefully this will all be over soon so that life will go back to normal.

It's so sad seeing all of the closed shops and vacant homes where neighbors and friends used to be. I haven't received any letters from Celestia lately either... I've been thinking that it's probably just her being swamped with work again. After all, a few... strange weather problems shouldn't distract the princess from ruling over Equestria.

It looks like it's actually started snowing as I'm writing this. From the looks of things, it looks to be a heavy snow storm. I hope that Applejack and Big Mac have taken the proper precautions to protect their crops. Fluttershy too; I hope that all of her animals will be okay in this storm, I know how much it would devastate her if any of them got injured. We'll probably all have to use Applejack's cellar as a storm shelter; I know that it could be dangerous if we stayed in our homes with all of this wind. Especially those of us that live in trees...

Monday, February 19th

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I was right, we ended up having to use Applejack's basement as a temporary storm cellar. It seemed like it was only a normal storm at first... but then everything started going awry when the wind picked up. Spike was just making breakfast in the morning, and I was shutting all of the windows tightly when a large branch broke through the wall. It... It wasn't natural. Those were gale force winds, not normal storm winds; not even the strongest storm that I've seen could rip a perfectly healthy branch off of my tree and send it crashing through the wall. I've only seen that happen one other time; at my sleep-over with Rarity and Applejack, even then all of the branches had already been loose.

That branch nearly impaled Spike! That was when I knew that we had to go to Applejack's because we wouldn't be safe in this storm. When we got outside, the wind was blowing crazily fast; I had to struggle just to keep myself on the ground and Spike was nearly choking me to death with his grip on my neck. Running as fast as I could, I looked up at the sky to see... Nothing... There was absolutely nothing, it was completely black. All I could see were the snowflakes dashing about rapidly and buffeting anything that they could.

When we got there, we saw that Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack were already there. Apparently as Applejack explained to us later, Rarity had left town with Big Mac to take Sweetie, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo to safety when they had seen the storm starting. The basement smells musty due to all of the snow around, and the only light in the room is a small light bulb on the ceiling. The smell of all of the apple cider down here mixing with the musty smell of wet wood is almost unbearable, but we have to stay down here until things clear up outside... I hope that will be sometime soon, Rainbow Dash is getting quite antsy being cooped up down here.

Tuesday, February 20th

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Everypony is getting really antsy down here now, it's been... Well I don't exactly know how long. It feels like it's been at least a week that we've been down here, and the storm is only just now starting to let up. Pinkie has been trying to cheer everypony up from being "mopey-wopey" due to being stuck down here the whole time. Rainbow is getting antsier everyday; it's taking almost everything that Applejack has to hold her back and keeping her from just busting out of the cellar.

I think that even Rainbow knows that it's not safe to fly in weather like this. It would be suicide to even try it. Still, none of us are used to being so trapped down here like this. Spike is worried about everything; today I tried to have him send a letter to Celestia. I ripped a page out of my journal since I didn't bring any parchment with me when we came down here... When he tried to send it, it just... burnt up. There was no magical green dust that would transport it to the princess, it just burst into flames and burned to dust.

Fluttershy is just sitting in the corner and staring up at the light on the ceiling. We're all scared, but she's showing it more than any of us are, she just sits there whimpering and we've tried to comfort her but she's still worried. I think that she's worried about her animals... Fluttershy, always caring and kind... She probably thinks that they all ran away and into the Everfree or something in or to escape.

She also said the other day that she was hearing strange noises outside in the storm. Rainbow and Applejack told her that she was worrying too much, but I think that I'm starting to hear them too. It sounds like somepony is moving around out there in the storm, but it doesn't sound like a normal pony... I don't know how to explain it, but I'm almost as scared as Fluttershy is now. Since I don't know what day it is anymore, I'm going to start over with the dates and just label this entry as day one. It will be easier to go on from there... I hate to be so disorganized though, it drives me crazy.

Day One

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This Celestia forsaken storm still isn't letting up at all! I don't know how much longer that we can all take down here... It's been a long time, and everypony is going absolutely nuts. Fluttershy's practically catatonic, Rarity won't stop complaining about the smell, Rainbow Dash is going insane from all of the inactivity, and Pinkie... Well, she's still trying to cheer us all up, but I can see her mane and tail starting to droop a bit.

To top it all off, we're running out of food, and we only have enough to last another 2 weeks or so with all of us. From how this storm is looking, we might be stuck here way longer than 2 weeks... I'm starting to fear that the storm may not let up at all; it's obviously not natural, not storm would be able to continue on this long. Still no response from Celestia either, no messages telling us that assistance is coming, or even that she still cares about us. It's like she just forgot us here...

We've managed to keep Dash from bursting out of the cellar by giving her cider. At least now she finally gets to drink her fill like she's always wanted to do. The sounds outside are starting to get louder too, but the others still say that they can't hear anything... I'm convinced that something's outside those cellar doors though, and that it has something to do with this storm. This better end soon, because I know that something bad is going to happen if we stay trapped down here. My eyes have actually started to adjust to all of the darkness down here.

Day Twelve

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It finally happened just like we all feared that it would, Rainbow couldn't take it anymore. Being cooped up and not able to fly for weeks on end is something that she's never had to deal with. I guess she just couldn't take it anymore, not that anypony else is fairing any better. She just yelled that she was "going crazy down here" and that she would be back in a minute... That was three days ago... She still hasn't come back yet.

Everypony is getting worried about her. Maybe she went to find help for us or something? I don't know... All I know is that Rainbow Dash is the Element of Loyalty, and she would never leave us behind, no matter how bad things got. I think that that's part of why we're all so worried about her; she shouldn't be taking so long to make it back to us.

Applejack wants to go outside and look for her herself, but I told her that it's not a good idea. I mean, we don't even know what's out there, or where to even look! She just yelled at me, and told me that if we were out there, that Rainbow wouldn't stop at anything to bring us back home. She's getting ready to go out right now; hopefully she'll find Rainbow... I'll let you know what happens. I just hope that Rainbow is ok...

Day Sixteen

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Applejack... She's... she's dead... We hadn't heard anything from her all day, and then we heard her screaming and shouting for us to let her in. I was right next to the door... I... I tried to open it... I really did. Crying... I remember her crying so much, begging me to open the door for her, praying to Celestia that I would save her. The door was stiff from the cold, and I had to struggle to open it; it took a good few minutes for me to get it open. I remember thinking, 'What could be making Applejack, the toughest mare that I know, cry like a little filly?'

I finally managed to get it open and I saw her, all cut up and bruised. Her foreleg and cheek were bleeding profusely. I will never forget that look in her eyes as she looked behind herself and then back to me... Absolute terror... A primal, undying fear showing through her glistening eyes, wet from the tears. We all rushed up to her and tried to pull her inside... But... Oh Celestia... Her eyes...

Some... thing grabbed her, and we tried to pull her back inside... We... It was too strong; whatever was out there started to pull harder, and started dragging me outside too. I... I had to let go of her. Oh Celestia forgive me; I let her go! It pulled her right out of my hooves and I heard her screaming out for help. I will never forget what happened afterwards; that horrible crunching sound!

I shut those damn doors as fast as I could; there was nothing that we could do for her anymore. I wasn't about to let whatever the hay got AJ get us too, I had to close the door, I just had to. Now everypony is terrified to go outside now, and I don't blame them. Something is out there, and it is not friendly, we have to stay in here or what happened to Applejack will happen to all of us. It's my job to keep them all safe, I was the leader of the group, and I just let two of my best friends die.

I'm sorry. I can't write anything else today, it's just too much.

Day Seventeen

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Can still her face in my dreams, haunting me, begging me for help. Every second of the day I think about how I failed her, how I got her killed. Everypony else is scared out of their minds and for good reason. Whatever the hay that thing was, I can hear it moving around outside, slinking around and looking for something, probably for us. We know that Rainbow Dash is probably dead now too, and that's not helping morale at all.

I'm worried about everypony, but Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie the most. Fluttershy won't eat or sleep, she just sits in the corner rocking back and forth, whimpering every few minutes or so. She hasn't eaten in three days, and I'm afraid that she might be depressed. Pinkie on the other hand... She just sits by the door, her mane and tail hanging limp around her, and looks at all of us with this blank face. I think that she's starting to lose it, and we can't afford to have anypony going crazy down here, that will get us all killed.

Rarity doesn't say anything either, but I can tell that she thinks it's my fault that Rainbow and AJ are dead; I can see it in her eyes. She and Spike have been spending most of their time talking with each other. I guess that it helps them keep their minds off of everything that's going on. I just sit here writing in my journal, and rereading the entries over, and over, and over, and over again.

I was hoping that somepony would come to save us, but it's clear after what happened yesterday that nopony is. If they did, they're obviously dead, if that thing could take down AJ so easily... I don't even want to think about how long the royal guard would last... And what if there are more of those things out there? I don't know what scares me more; the thought that Celestia and Luna have abandoned us, or the thought that they are trying everything in their power to help us, and they still can't. I'm not just writing this journal for my own thoughts anymore, I'm writing it so that anypony who reads this can know about everything that happened here.

Day Twenty

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I had to do the unthinkable today... Pinkie finally snapped; she just went absolutely crazy. It's been a few days since AJ died, and for a while Pinkie was just sitting there with that horrible blank face, staring at me. Today, I woke up and she was standing over me with this huge, demented smile on her face and she's was holding one of AJ's gardening tools. She kept telling me how it was my fault that they were gone and that I was supposed to be the leader, that I was supposed to protect them.

I told her that it wasn't my fault; I couldn't keep AJ or Rainbow from going outside even I wanted too! Everypony else was still asleep and she just kept scooting towards me, holding her damn shears. I couldn't really see anything in the darkness aside from her face, and her eyes which seemed to glow a dull red due to the light reflecting off of her pink coat. She... She tried to kill me! She leapt at me with those shears and tried to plunge them into my chest, but I was too fast for her.

Then... Then I hit her on the back of the head to knock her down... I swear that it was just to knock her down! She didn't get back up, but I could still hear her mocking me, telling me how everything was my fault, that all of this is my fault. She wouldn't shut up... I kept hitting her and hitting her to make her stop, but she wouldn't shut up! I kept on hitting her until my foreleg got tired, and then I looked down at her broken body; the body that I destroyed with my own hooves. There was so much blood, and bits of brain from her caved in skull lying around her body.

I can't believe that I did that, how could I kill one of my best friends? How could I be so violent and angry, and let it take control of me? I've never been that angry... But she was going crazy, and we can't have that in a place like down here in the cellar. She could have killed everypony else after she was done with me, or worse, she could have opened the door and let the things outside in! I had to kill her; the needs of the few don't outweigh the needs of the many right? We can't have a crazy pony like her down here...

I think that the others are scared of me now though... They're all avoiding me and sticking together and they keep looking at me like I'm the insane one! They didn't see the whole story; they didn't see her try to kill me. They think that I was just beating up an innocent mare, but I know what happened. Spike especially looks at me like I'm somepony that he never knew before... Why can't they understand that I'm just doing what's best for them, that I'm trying to protect them?

Fluttershy looks even more depressed than she did before, and I'm worried about her. They're still my friends, even if they don't see me the same way that they did before... We're running out of food too, soon we'll be all out. I don't know what we're going to do then. We can't survive for much longer down here, if help doesn't come soon, then we'll all die down here. Celestia, why have you forsaken us?

Day Twenty-three

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I woke up today, and Fluttershy was just standing next to the door with her hoof on the handle. She was pale and distraught... Before I could even try to stop her, she opened the door and walked outside. I couldn't do anything as I watched; my mind still too asleep to reach out and grab her with magic. She turned around to me and mouthed "I'm sorry" before she closed the door. No screaming, no pained shouts or begging for mercy; she just... died.

I just watched one of my best friends commit suicide, and did absolutely nothing at all to stop it. Numb... That's all that I feel right now. I know that I should be feeling pain or at least something, but I don't. This can't be real, none of this can be real at all, it has to be a dream. Otherwise... I can't do this anymore. Everypony that I loved is dead or waiting to die, and I think that I'm dead on the inside too.

We... We've run out of food and we're out of water. The only thing to drink is the water dripping from the melted snow leak in slowly, and the barrels of cider down here in the cellar. The only thing that's left to eat... No, I won't do that. I can't disrespect Pinkie like that, even if she tried to kill me. Another thing that's bothering everypony is the smell... That musty scent is mixing with the scent of death and our despair.

Whatever was outside knows that we're here now even if it didn't before. Fluttershy showed it where we were, even if it was an accident. I can hear it outside now, trying to get in to us and make us into its next meal. Scratch, scratch, scratch, every single second on the cellar door. I have to stop this... I have to save Spike and Rarity so that they don't suffer at the hands of this... creature outside! They're sleeping right now, and the shears are lying just where Pinkie left them when she died.

I'll save them from the monsters... I'll send them to a better place than here, a place where they will be safe and happy. I have the shears in my mouth now... I have to be strong, for them.

Day ?

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It's done now... They're gone, I killed them both. Rarity struggled a bit after I got Spike, but I just held her down with my magic and did the same thing that I did to Spike... I can still see all of their faces in my mind, asking me why I killed them, why I led them to their deaths. I have no answer, I can't; I know that all of the death and despair was because I didn't lead like I was supposed to.

The light on the ceiling finally flickered out the other day, so it's completely dark down here except for the light that I'm using to write this entry. I'm all alone now, here in the darkness. That's fine though; I'm fine by myself in the darkness. It's not so bad... I still have the bodies to keep me company down here until the monster gets me. I deserve their dark, blank faces boring into my soul for what I've done.

I think that this will be my last entry in this diary. The things are coming for me, bashing on the door with all of their strength. Even with me blockading the door, they will break in any second. The bangs and cracks of the frame as they ram against it echo in my mind each time, reminding me of all that's occurred here. They're... They're whispering things to me now, telling me to open the door and let them in. I won't listen to them, they killed my friends and now they are here for me too. Well you know what? I won't listen to you, you hear that? I won't listen to you!

What a pathetic idea it was to write this so that somepony would remember me. I'm going to die down here, just like everypony else has, and everypony will forget me. No... I'm writing this as a warning now, to anyone who is reading this. If you are there, and everything has gotten better somehow, then please, spread our story and tell everypony what happened here. Tell everypony so that nopony will ever forget what we had to go through... But if it isn't and you came here to rescue us...

Stop reading right now, and go back where you came from. Whatever you came here to save isn't here anymore, you're too late, you always were. Everything that used to be is gone; there is no use in coming to rescue us. Everypony is dead, even the ponies who might still be alive, and you can't save the dead. So you put this journal down and get the hay out of here RIGHT NOW! Do you understand me? There is nothing here worth saving anymore, whatever you came to find is dead and gone. So just turn around and go home... Before you become just another name in the darkness.