Pony Horror Thread #7: I was busy and it died, edition.

>>30324584
“I don’t know. The two of them must have a very complicated relationship. I’m definitely not putting myself in a position to affect that. Especially with the way he treated me. I don’t need her or his drama on me,” Rarity said. “It is a shame, though. He is very good-looking, and quite well-dressed.”
“I’m sure there will be others Rarity. Don’t you still have other events to attend while you’re here? There’s bound to be stallions interested in you somewhere,” Coco said.
Rarity sighed and sat down on the podium Coco had been working on. “I know there will be. This one was just so straightforward I thought I’d gotten an ‘in’ finally.”
“Was that all you were hoping for?” Coco gave Rarity a sidelong glance.
Rarity glared back at Coco. “Of course not! But whether or not he would have made good marriage material has nothing to do with the fact that he would have been an excellent introduction into the fashion elite of Manehatten. I’m still new, and an endorsement by somepony of his stature would have gone a long way to moving my career along.”
Coco laughed at how defensive Rarity had become. “I’m sorry Rarity. I shouldn’t laugh. You’re trying your best, and everypony knows it. We’re making a steady profit here, so don’t fuss so much about it so soon. It will happen I’m sure.”
“Oh Coco, thank you. I know it will, but if I can help it along in any way I’ll take that chance. It just need a little bit of work,” Rarity said. “For now, though, let’s focus on creating until tomorrow! I could use an opportunity to channel some of this frustration!”
Rarity flipped her mane and went to stand next to Coco. The two of them looked through a list of orders and each picked out something to work on. The two of them took turns helping customers as they came in, and the day passed quickly.

>>30324588
The evening was a bit more of a fun affair. When they closed up shop, Rarity pulled Coco to a place a customer had told her about. It was a small bar just off one of the main streets of Manehatten. Not too well known, but Rarity said the customer had mentioned that some big names could be seen here occasionally.
“It’s just for a few drinks, Coco. We’ll leave before it gets too late,” Rarity said.
It passed midnight before they decided to leave, and Rarity was quite tipsy. Coco had to support her as they left the bar, with Rarity trying to dance some more as she was pulled out the exit.
“Ahhh, nopony showed up. What a disappointment. Disappointing, disappointing, disappointing. Who decided to come to this place?” Rarity said.
“That was you, Rarity,” Coco said.
“Hmmm, I’ve been making bad decisions these past few days,” Rarity said.
“Yes you have,” Coco said.
Rarity frowned. She opened her mouth to speak, when she stopped. She sniffed the air and moved away from Coco, trying to figure out where the smell was coming from.
“Do you smell that, Coco?” Rarity said.
Coco sniffed the air, trying to smell what Rarity was talking about. “I’m not sure. What does it smell like?”
“It smells like Weak Stitch’s shop,” Rarity said.
Coco followed after Rarity, trying to pull her toward home. “Rarity, that could be anypony who might have gone to his shop today. It might still be clinging to them.”
“No, no. This is far too strong to be residual scent. This is like that pomander he had on him,” Rarity said.
Rarity followed the smell, yanking the more petite Coco along with her as she went. She followed the smell down a street, and into an alley. She continued deeper, until she bumped into a couple of mares standing at a corner.

>>30324598
“Well look what the cat dragged in. You drunk enough to pay 30 bits for a night of fun?” one of the mares said.
“I’m not into mares, no. I’m looking for somepony. Perhaps you’ve seen him? Weak Stitch? Fashion icon of Manehatten?” Rarity asked.
The two mares looked at each other. One seemed confused, but the other sneered at Rarity.
“I know of him, yeah. What’s it to you?” the sneering one said.
“It’s no business of yours what it is to me, but I ‘smelled’ his particular smell coming from this direction and thought I would seek him out,” Rarity said.
“His smell, eh? So you two have been close?” the other mare winked at Rarity and licked her lips.
Rarity sighed. “Not everything is an innuendo, and no, we haven’t. He carries a pomander with him, a small container for scents. Not something you see every day.”
“Oh, you mean like this?” the loud mare held up a gold chain attached to her skirt. At the end was a small ball, similar to that worn by Weak Stitch, but much fancier.
“Ah, yes precisely,” Rarity said.
“They’re not as rare as you think, doll. Weak Stitch is a fashion icon for a reason,” the mare said.
“Well, if you are wearing that because of his influence, can you tell me anything about him?” Rarity asked.
The mare shook her head. “Sorry doll. He’s reclusive, that one. Doesn’t come out much, but when he does, he’s always looking for something. Something very particular, and he won’t stop until he gets it.”
“Hmmm. That is actually useful to hear. Thank you very much.” Rarity floated the mare a gemstone from a pocket of her saddlebag as payment for the information.
“Woo-ee! That’ll save me a night of trouble! Maybe the both of us! Thanks, miss…”
“Rarity. I own the boutique Rarity For You. If you’re looking for clothes for ANY reason, please do stop by,” Rarity said.

HOLY SHIT OP~!

>>30324608
Reposting Rarity and Coco's nighttime fun because I was busy and the thread died.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/0eYuLsAK

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>>30324619
>>30324252
Are we being raided or something?

>>30324619
>>30324995
When I noticed the thread had ben archived, the last post was only 54 minutes old

>>30324995
>>30325033
Yeah. Last post was me bumping it for safety. Then I came back and it died. I think the place is getting spammed. Keep an eye on it tonight, and I will too. Sorry chaps.

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>>30325041
No problem.
Also link to the previous thread:
>>30268291
>>30268291
>>30268291

Boop

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>>30325726

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>>30324619
“Will do, doll! Thanks again. Hope you find him sometime,” the mare said.
Rarity and Coco turned away and started walking back to Coco’s flat. There was silence for much of the trek, but Rarity broke it with a question.
“How much of the news covers fashion, Coco?” Rarity asked.
“There are several magazines that cover fashion scoop. I can get you copies of each if you’d like,” Coco said.
“Do any of them try to get inside the personal lives of the top designers?” Rarity asked.
Coco gave her a strange look. “Don’t tell me you want to know more about Weak Stitch’s personal habits.”
“Not strictly that. I want to know about him, personally,” Rarity said. “He has a favourite restaurant, and his style is well known, and yet ponies call him reclusive. Does that mean he isn’t seen on the streets often, or does it mean that nopony knows anything about his personal life?”
“Well, from what I know it’s that nopony knows anything personal about him. The interviews he actually chooses to go to are rare, and personal questions are brushed aside. Why are you so interested?” Coco asked.
“I’m curious what it is about him that gets ponies so interested, even though he rarely makes appearances these days. His shop smells terrible, he was rude to me as a colleague immediately after being polite. He has something, and I mean to discover what it is,” Rarity said.
“Rarity… it sounds like you’re falling for his trap,” Coco said.
“What do you mean?” Rarity asked.
“He’s pretending to be mysterious after being rude to you, and now you want to know more. It’s a classic Manehatten bad-boy maneuver,” Coco said.
Rarity mulled over her words for a moment as they walked, she was feeling a lot more balanced now that she had some fresh air. The drinks were wearing off, and she had to nod in agreement with Coco.

>>30326717
“You’re right, Coco, my dear. You are indeed right. I’m sorry. I got carried away by the fact that anypony would have spurned my advances. It hurt a lot more than I realized,” Rarity said.
“Don’t worry about it Rarity. It happens to the best of us,” Coco said.
“Indeed. Let’s get back to your place and get some rest. I have work I wish to take care of tomorrow,” Rarity said.
They walked back home, got into Coco’s flat and prepared for bed. As Rarity lay herself down to rest, she cracked open a window to let in some night air, and curled up to sleep. Right before she drifted off, she could have sworn she smelled the awful and telltale scent of Weak Stitch’s pomander wafting in the window. It disappeared, and she thought no more of it before she fell asleep, dreams claiming her in their grasp.
In the morning, she was feeling fresh and ready for the day. Coco made breakfast again, although Rarity insisted she could help. The younger mare had been used to serving Suri Polomare and found that it helped her relax to cook for somepony else, as strange as that seemed. It allowed Rarity to write out her plans for the day, and before they knew it they were both off to Rarity For You to open up for business.
The day passed slowly at first, but by the time the afternoon grew late ponies were coming in one after another and business sped up until evening. With Rarity helping Coco, most of the work was finished on the same day, and Coco wouldn’t have to schedule things days ahead of time, which she was thankful for. It was one of the reason Rarity made these trips.

>>30326723
Once the traffic slowed down, Rarity took a break and stepped outside to watch the night life begin. She observed taxis roll past, ponies trot along the sidewalk, and a few walked past her and spared a glance. Most of the time it was stallions, but a few mares looked at her as well. The stallions had a hungry look in their eyes more often than not, but some of the mares did too. It pleased Rarity to know that no matter where she went, she was always an object of attention.
As she stood outside, Rarity caught a whiff of that familiar smell again. The acrid scent of Weak Stitch’s pomander-filled shop wafting by on a stray breeze. She looked around, but couldn’t see him nearby, so she followed it. Her nose was in the air and she sniffed every so often to make sure she was on the right track. She followed it down the street to a portable food cart, where the smell of some foreign food she couldn’t ever pronounce properly mixed with the sweet-ish pomander smell.
Rarity looked about and still couldn’t find him, but the smell, despite being so close to the food cart, was here. She was sure of it. There were three ponies sitting at the cart, but none of them were Weak Stitch. They didn’t have the build, nor did they have the same sense of fashion that he had.
“Can’t help but notice you lookin’ miss. You ever have falafel before?” the cart’s owner asked.
“Oh, once, I believe,” Rarity said.
“You believe? Usually four bits, but I’ll let a fine mare such as yourself have one for only two bits, just so you get the taste on your tongue again. I promise you won’t regret it,” the stallion said.
“Thank you, but I came here looking for somepony. He has a very particular scent to him and I thought I smelled it over here,” Rarity said.

>>30326730
Rarity smells it again.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/0eYuLsAK

Woah, don't die again

>>30327879
bump

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>>30326735

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>>30329016

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>>30326735
The stallion sniffed the air and shrugged at Rarity. “I don’t smell anythin’ but this fiiiiine falafel!” He picked up one of the wraps in front of him and brought it up to his nose, then sniffed deeply and laughed.
“Well, I apologize for bothering you. By way of apology I think I shall take you up on your offer after all. May I get two at that price?” Rarity asked.
“Absolutely, miss,” the stallion said.
Rarity waited while the stallion cooked some fresh falafel. She watched as he pulled out some strange ingredients she didn’t quite recognize, mold them into balls, and dip them in boiling oil. He was right, it did smell good, but she could swear she still detected the pomander Weak Stitch used somewhere around here.
Rarity took a look around the immediate area, looking for some sign of Weak Stitch’s fashion or that distinctive mane style he had. She couldn’t see any of it, and sighed. The food cart stallion wrapped her food up in a paper bag, and hoofed it to her with a flourish. Rarity leaned forward to grab it and noticed out of the corner of her eye that one of the other stallions sitting at the counter was surreptitiously watching her. She was flattered at first, but she saw that he had hanging around his neck a brass sphere pomander.
Now that she knew the source, Rarity’s sense of smell told her that yes, that was where the smell was coming from. He must have heard her ask about the smell, so why hadn’t he brought it up? Why had he been watching her so surreptitiously?
In the end, Rarity didn’t ask, and left with her two falafels. Something about the stallion’s eyes had creeped her out, and it was late in the evening. Coco would be wondering where she’d wandered off to.

>>30329861
Rarity returned to the boutique with the falafels and stepped back inside. Coco perked up at the smell of the food and put down what she was working on.
“Oh, thank you Rarity. You’re too kind,” Coco said.
“You’re quite welcome Coco. I thought I’d take a little walk, and I encountered a very convincing food vendor,” Rarity said.
They ate their food in near silence, with only a few small comments about their day and their work together. Rarity didn’t bring up the smells, because at this point she wasn’t sure if it was just her or if pomanders had always been a part of the fashion around Manehatten and she just hadn’t noticed.
The second possibility seemed unlikely. She was a mare of fashion, and she hadn’t seen them regularly, nor smelled them. She was certain she’d have noticed both, so why were they suddenly to be found everywhere she went? It seemed too convenient, but she didn’t know what to make of it yet.
Rarity and Coco cleaned up shop, closed, and traveled home. There were no unusual smells that Rarity detected on their walk, nor as she went to bed, even with the window open. She still wasn’t willing to dismiss it as her being unobservant, because that was something Rarity was definitely not. Not when it came to clothes and jewelry.
In the morning, Rarity woke up before Coco did, and prepared breakfast. Coco woke up and was rubbing her eyes as she entered the kitchen. She gratefully took the proffered bowl of sliced fruit and ate it in silence, staring into her bowl.
“Didn’t sleep well? It’s not like you to be so tired mornings,” Rarity asked.
“Not really. I had my window open and there was this smell coming in the window. It smelled like something rotting outside, so I had to close my window. It had already permeated the room, unfortunately, and it’s summer, so it became rather hot quite quickly,” Coco said.

>>30329867
“A smell like rotting?” That wasn’t the smell of Weak Stitch’s pomander, but it was still odd. “Was it there in the morning?”
“No, it was gone by then. If something had been dumped in the alley, it’s been taken away by the trash by now. It’s garbage day anyway, so it was probably somepony’s leftover food. We’re not in the most optimal location, you know,” Coco said.
Garbage day. That made sense. Rarity chided herself for assuming every odd smell out of place was caused by Weak Stitch. That smelly shop of his had caused her so much confusion. She really needed to calm down.
“Well, I hope you’ll be ready for another day of work. I’m going to go meet Sapphire Shores today, so I’ll be missing late in the afternoon, but I’ll be there to help during the first half,” Rarity said.
“Oh, that will be fine Rarity. You know I can take care of the shop by myself,” Coco said.
“I know, I just like to help,” Rarity said.
They got ready to go and headed out to the shop once more. It was opened without a problem and customers trickled in as the morning progressed. Everything went smoothly until Rarity smelled that stench of Weak Stitch again.
“What in Tartarus is that?” Rarity slammed her hooves on her sewing table.
Coco jumped at the sudden movement. “What is what?”
“That smell! I keep smelling that awful stench of Weak Stitch’s shop everywhere I go,” Rarity said. “Even bathing hasn’t gotten rid of it.”
Coco sniffed the air. “Oh, that. I don’t know. I just thought it wafted in from the street. Manehatten is a place of many scents.”
“Well at least I know I’m not imagining it,” Rarity said. “That’s still small comfort, because it’s an awful smell.”

>>30329872
Smells everywhere she goes.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/0eYuLsAK

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>>30329880

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>>30331357

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>>30329880
Rarity stood up from her seat and started sniffing around the boutique. She walked about the shop trying to smell where it was coming from. She sniffed around the middle of the floor, around several ponies, and underneath a few clothing racks. She got a few strange looks from some of the patrons, but nopony really bothered her about her strange behavior.
She stopped one of them and asked: “Excuse me miss, do you smell something strange?”
The pony sniffed for a moment and nodded. “I do, I thought it was just me. It’s a smell that kind of insinuates itself into your nostrils isn’t it?”
“Yes, precisely. I’m a little concerned by it,” Rarity said. “Thank you, I just needed to confirm that it wasn’t just me.”
Rarity went on her way, leaving the mare to herself once more. She sniffled around the building until she had pinpointed three places where it was strongest.
“Coco!” Rarity yelled.
Several ponies in the shop looked her way but turned back to the clothes when they saw it was just Rarity calling for the shop supervisor.
Coco trotted over to Rarity. “Yes, Rarity?”
“I’ve figured out where the smell is coming from. Unfortunately, it appears to be coming from the ducts. That either means that something is in the ducts, or it’s coming from a separate part of the building. I’m going to go ask upstairs in the club, I want you to get a screwdriver and pull the covers off so we can investigate,” Rarity said.
“Certainly Rarity,” Coco said.
While Coco went off to get a screwdriver and open up the three vents, Rarity stormed outside and went upstairs to the club her store had been built underneath. It usually wasn’t too much of a problem except on weekends, and she had come to an agreement with the DJ that they would have certain music at specific times of day to put Rarity’s customers in the mood to shop.

>>30333594
Right now, this was not a pleasure call or a business call. Rarity felt like somepony was stalking her, and she did not appreciate it one bit. That smell was everywhere, and she couldn’t shake it. It wasn’t her. She’d established that by bathing and applying all sorts of scented oils into her mane and fur. She wasn’t the cause. Somepony else was following her, she was sure of it. It was likely Weak Stitch, but she couldn’t prove it beyond that smell. That was distinctly him, no matter what that mare had said a few nights ago. He’d probably given it to her as a gift or something like that.
Rarity trotted up the entrance and the bouncer let her in with no fuss. It was still midday, so there wasn’t much going on except some soft music and a lot of ponies chatting with each other. Rarity was welcome whenever she wanted, but in exchange she had to cater to the clientele that came to the club. That wasn’t a problem for her. Although it wasn’t her preferred fashion, it was still something she was willing to make. Everypony should feel fashionable and comfortable with themselves.
In the club, Rarity sniffed about, earning her some strange looks from a few patrons. She stopped up at the DJ’s booth and asked if she had smelled anything strange. The mare was a pony of few words, but she looked pensive for a moment, then pointed in the direction of a table off to one side of the flashing, multicolored dance floor. Rarity thanked her and trotted over there.
Once there, Rarity trusted her nose, and walked slowly about the dark corner. She smelled it. Faint at first, but getting stronger the deeper into the corner she got. She sniffed the air every so often, but it wasn’t necessary, she was headed in the right direction. As it reached peak strength, she found herself next to a booth where a lone stallion sat. He looked young, and was very well dressed from head to hoof.

>>30333613
He looked up at her and smiled a toothy smile. “Well hello there pretty, petite, and porcelain. What brings you to see me today?”
He was good-looking, but Rarity was not in the mood for flirting right now. “I’m here because I smell a singular scent on you, and I want to know why.”
“Well, I have been complimented on my—“
Rarity cut him off. “I swear if you say ‘musk’ I will rip your balls off. I am referring to an artificial scent kept inside a pomander. It is the scent used by a colleague of mine, by the name of Weak Stitch.”
“I don’t know who you’re talking about, doll, but if you like the scent you can have a seat and you can smell me as much as you like. I’ll pay for drinks, of course,” the stallion said.
Rarity rolled her eyes. She looked the stallion over. He was wearing a rather tight vest with several bulging pockets, any one of which could have held the pomander she was looking for. His pants were mostly hidden underneath the table, but as a fashion guru herself, she could imagine what the rest of them looked like based on his choice of fashion and venue. Still, she couldn’t go jumping to conclusions without proof.
“Alright, I’ll sit and talk for a moment.” Rarity slid into the booth across from him, avoiding sliding too far in. It was a horseshoe shape and she didn’t want to give him the impression that she wanted him close to her.
The moment she sat down he slid himself around the booth and pressed up next to her. The smell of the pomander was overpowering from this close, and she had no doubt in her mind anymore that it was the same one used by Weak Stitch. It was too much of a coincidence, and who in their right mind would want to smell like that besides him?

>>30333622
Rarity finds the source of the smell, and he's a bit overbearing.

Updated my journal:https://pastebin.com/edit/0eYuLsAK

>>30334189
Whoopsie

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>>30333631

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>>30335641
“So babe, my name’s Alto Sax. What’re you into? Dancing? Music? Fashion?” Alto Sax asked.
“Fashion, actually, and don’t call me babe,” Rarity said.
“Fashioooon! That’s awesome! But you gotta give me a name to work with, doll,” Alto said.
“It’s Rarity,” Rarity said.
“Rarity! Well you sure are a rarity to see here!” Alto chuckled at his own pun. “I make music. Write it, if you want to be specific. Got lots of ponies interested in my work, just waiting for somepony to pick it up. Got several recordings planned out, too,”
Rarity tuned him out as he talked and used the opportunity to look him over more closely. He wasted no time in pulling her closer, and she had free access to look him over.
While he talked she looked at his vest, trying to investigate his pockets. The vest itself was tight, and exposed his forehooves. It had several pockets on the front, many of which bulged a small amount due to their contents, but she couldn’t pinpoint if any of them had the pomander she was looking for. His pants, which she could now see properly, appeared to be as tight as his vest and it was a wonder how he fit into them. It did nothing to hide anything, as he was most clearly aware of, as he kept his legs spread wide. He caught her looking at grinned, then spread them wider. Rarity sighed but didn’t say or do anything. He took this as a good thing, and kept talking. He even draped a hoof across her chest and pulled her head closer to his chest so she was halfway on top of him. He was taking quite a few liberties, but something was off about this whole situation, and Rarity meant to figure out what, no matter how utterly impossible this stallion was to deal with.

>>30336792
Rarity couldn’t see any pomanders or other scented things on him, so she surmised it must be in one of his pockets, else how would it permeate him so thoroughly. She felt her bile rise as the smell started getting to her, and struggled to keep it down.
Rarity looked up at Alto as he kept babbling on about this music thing and that music thing. She wasn’t interested, but she feigned it, and put a hoof on his chest and stroked it. He made a pleased sound and put more pressure on her, pulling her further on top of him. Rarity tried to pull back, but his pressure was getting insistent. It was obvious what he wanted her to do.
Rarity couldn’t focus on trying to find where he was keeping the pomander, and was forced instead to put her energy into keeping her head away from his lap. She needed to figure something out to distract him.
“Kiss me,” Rarity said.
“What?” Alto Sax said.
“Before we go further, show me you know how to kiss a mare,” she said.
“What… does that have to do with it?” Alto Sax said.
“Despite how easy it was to get me into your booth, you can clearly see that I am a mare of refinement,” Rarity said. “I will not suffer myself to be ponyhandled unless I am sure that my partner is capable of providing me the attention I so rightly deserve. That includes knowing how to kiss a mare. Can you do it?” Rarity turned her head up toward his and looked him in the eyes.
Alto Sax seemed unsure of what to do. He was likely hoping to just get some attention, maybe a quickie, and then be on his way. He wasn’t expecting a request of any sort from her, hoping instead that she’d be willing to do what she was told in exchange for free drinks.

>>30336816
“Babe, look—“
“Don’t call me ‘babe’. My name is Rarity, and as you so quaintly said yourself, I am a rarity, now can you kiss me or not?” Rarity was moving her hoof over his pockets, looking for one that felt like it was harboring a sphere.
“Rarity, you seem like a swell gal, but we just met,” Alto said.
“Oh, so ‘just meeting’ is enough for a blowjob but not for a kiss?” Rarity moved her head closer, her hoof going down to his pants pockets.
“That’s… uh…”
Rarity couldn’t find anything. Surely he had one, surely this wasn’t a waste of time. Where else could he keep it? “Look, it’s very simple Alto, kiss me, then I go down. Right?”
Alto shifted in his seat, seeming unsure of himself. His reaction was almost as interesting as her search for the source of the smell. He was hiding something beyond just the source of the smell.
“Look, I just… don’t want to,” Alto said.
“No? But you’ll have my lips elsewhere? You were all over me before, why not a kiss?” Rarity asked.
“I…” Alto fidgeted further, and started to pull away.
Rarity grabbed him by the head, and pulled his face down to hers. Their lips met, and she kissed him hard on the mouth.
Almost immediately after she tasted him, she pulled away and spat, rubbing her mouth with her hoof.
“Gah! What in Tartarus?! Sweet Celestia’s royal hindquarters!” Rarity yelled.
A good portion of the seating area had now turned to look at them. Alto pulled himself out of the booth, bumping the table and spilling his remaining drink. He took off running for the door, but not before Rarity saw the dock of his short tail, where the pomander she had been searching for had been hanging. She had found it, and she was right once again, and she had learned something else. Something she was concerned deeply about.

>>30336827
The stallion is very forward, but also recalcitrant.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/0eYuLsAK

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>>30336839

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Is Elo dead?

>>30338737
He better not be, he's got a green to finish.

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>>30336839
Rarity rubbed a hoof over her tongue and rushed over to the bartender. She was given a glass of water of which she took a quick swig, gargled, swished, then spat delicately into a napkin. After she did this several times, she felt better and motioned to the bartender.
“May I get something to wash this awful taste out of my mouth please?” Rarity asked.
She was presented with a glass of some dark liquid, and downed it, not caring what it was. It was strong, and very bitter, but much better than that taste she had found in Alto’s mouth. He had tasted like rotten meat smelled. Meat wasn’t a common occurrence around any pony city. It was usually only encountered on farms that had livestock, when one of them would accidentally die, or in special foreign sections of big cities where griffons could be found visiting.
Rarity had first encountered the smell on Applejack’s farm, when one of the cows had strayed too close to the Everfree forest. Timberwolves had gotten to the poor creature and left its body lying in the sun. The other cows had been loath to talk about it until a few days later, and Applejack had been forced to go hunt her down herself. Rarity had been visiting and offered to go along, which was when she had smelled it. She had fainted almost instantly at the sight, leaving poor AJ to carry two bodies back to the farmhouse.
But that smell had never been forgotten, and this was what she had imagined that smell would taste like, to a T. Why had his mouth tasted like that? Would he have smelled like that if it weren’t for the pomander? Was that why he had it on him? Rarity had so many more questions, and still no answers, and the only way it looked like she was going to get them would be to go to the source of all the questions; Weak Stitch himself.

>>30340534
Rarity ordered another drink, finished it, and then ordered several more. She was tired, frustrated, and had a million separate questions banging around inside her head. She was in no mood to deal with them tonight.
Night must have fallen by the time Rarity finished drinking. The dance floor was livelier, the lights were dimmer, and the music was thumping far more heavily. She bumped through a crowd of ponies as she made her way back to the stairs. The bouncer caught her as she fell on the first few steps, and escorted her down to her shop.
Coco looked up as she stumbled inside. “Rarity where have you been? I was so worried but I knew you had just gone upstairs, what’s going on?”
“I have an thinkling, Coco, a dangerous, frightening, thinkling, and I’m shhhhhhhure I hate it. I wish to go to darling bed darling. Thinking’s… not fun at the darling moment,” Rarity slurred.
Coco sighed and closed up shop, ushering out the final customer with promises of discounts on their work which should be finished first thing tomorrow. Once she had the place closed up, she carried Rarity back to the apartment, shoved water down her throat, and tucked her in for the night.

The next morning wasn’t as painful as Rarity had expected it to be. She was up bright and early, and although she felt a bit crusty and covered in alcohol and spit, her head wasn’t hurting. In fact, after yesterday’s troubles, she felt clear-headed and driven. Something was rotten in Equestria, and she meant to figure out what.
She had showered and groomed herself for the day when Coco woke up. Breakfast was cooking, and she placed it down in front of Coco first, before serving herself up an omelette and sitting across from Coco. The two picked at their food in silence for a moment before Rarity spoke up.

>>30340539
“First, thank you for last night, Coco. I appreciate what you’ve done for me, and I need you to know I do appreciate the work and help you provide. I am sorry for coming in drunk like that,” Rarity said.
“Apology accepted,” Coco said. “What spurred you to drink that much, anyway?”
Rarity was silent for a moment. “I think Weak Stitch has ponies following me.”
Coco choked. “A-and you’re calm about this why?
“I spent all yesterday getting drunk when I realized what was going on. I couldn’t tell you the details of why, but I think it has to do with him and knitting needle stating I’m ‘his type’,” Rarity said.
“How do you figure that’s what’s going on?” Coco asked.
“The only place I’ve seen or heard of the pomander thing is from Weak Stitch. He’s the highest profile pony I’ve seen using one, and the stallion from last night had clothes similar to those worn by Weak Stitch. No matter what those mares from several nights ago said, I’m certain the one who had the pomander was more familiar with him than she let on,” Rarity said.
“So you think he’s putting them up to following you?” Coco said.
“I do,” Rarity said.
“It sounds like you should get the police involved, Rarity,” Coco said.
“I will, today, but I had no idea what to do last night. The stallion I encountered, Coco, in order to figure out what I suspected, I had to sit with him. He wanted a blowjob, so I kissed him to distract him, but the kiss… Coco, he tasted like rotten meat smells,” Rarity said.
Coco made a face and retched. “Are… are you sure?”
Rarity nodded. “Very sure. I remembered the cow Applejack and I found on her farm, and that just doesn’t disappear. She had been several days in direct sunlight, and you don’t just forget a scene like that. His mouth tasted like rotten meat.”

>>30340549
Rarity thinks she has things figured out, but it's not a pleasant discovery.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/0eYuLsAK

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>>30340555
“That’s really disturbing Rarity. The whole thing is disturbing. I mean, the only thing these ponies all had in common was the pomanders, right? Are you sure it’s Weak Stitch setting it all up?” Coco said.
Rarity sighed. “I suppose I can’t say for certain that it is, but the smell Coco. That smell is unique. I hadn’t encountered it at all before Weak Stitch, and now suddenly it’s everywhere? In a single week? That seems like too much of a coincidence.” Rarity pushed her omelette around on her plate. “If Weak Stitch is having me followed for nefarious reasons, I wish to know why. I’ll go inform the police, but meeting three different ponies on three different occasions doesn’t exactly make it sound like a completely unrelated pony is following me.”
“That’s true, but at least they’ll know you lodged a complaint about it,” Coco said.
“Small comfort, but if my body turns up somewhere they’ll know I saw it coming,” Rarity said.
“That’s… macabre,” Coco said.
“Well, I’m no stranger to having ponies follow me, Coco. It is with no small amount of pride when I say that I am attractive and I know that other ponies find me so,” Rarity said. “I’ve had stalkers before. But this one…” Rarity gave a frustrated grunt. “This one doesn’t make much sense. It’s as I said, the only thing connecting the ponies to Weak Stitch is the pomander, but I’m positive the connection is there. The question is why? Why have them all carry this pomander?”
“I don’t know, Rarity. I’m sorry,” Coco said.
“Oh, it’s nothing I’m blaming you for, Coco. I just feel like something is creeping up behind me and there’s nothing I can do about it,” Rarity said.
“Just go to the police and see what they say,” Coco said. “After that, don’t travel alone, okay? Especially at night. If you want to go anywhere, let me know and I’ll come with you.”

>>30342866
“Thank you, Coco. I appreciate it,” Rarity said.
The two ponies ate breakfast, cleaned up, and trotted down to the police station to file Rarity’s complaint. As expected, the police admitted there was nothing they could do. Ponies were allowed to be where they were as long as they weren’t disturbing the peace, and there was no law against smelling like a clothing store or wearing pomanders. The two mares left only slightly satisfied with the results, and made their way down to the boutique.
They opened up the shop for the day, ready for their customers. Work went smoothly, with the pony from the night before coming back to pick up her clothing, and being so pleased with the work they did that she set up three more orders for new outfits. There were only a few dissatisfied customers they had to handle, and by the end of the day, they’d built up a significant backlog of customers, even with Rarity there working as well.
The day was finished with the both of them very pleased with themselves, and there hadn’t even been strange smells around to ruin it. Rarity wasn’t convinced it had ended, but at least one day passed without her having to deal with somepony stalking her and smelling like that awful shop of Weak Stitch’s.
They closed up shop, went home, ate dinner, and went to bed all without anything going wrong or smelling that awful smell. Before going to bed, Rarity pulled open the windows and sniffed lightly. Not smelling anything, and knowing they were on the second floor, she felt safe enough to leave it open and relieve the stuffy confines of the flat. A summer’s day is still a summer’s day, and Coco’s apartment got quite warm during the warmer months of the year. Rarity laid herself down on top of the sheets and drifted off, enjoying the cool breeze.

>>30342872
Rarity was awakened the next day by Coco bursting in and shouting madly.
“Rarity, wake up! Weak Stitch was murdered!” Coco shouted.
Rarity started awake, and it took her a moment, but her eyes widened in surprise. “What? How? When?”
“His ‘body’ was found inside his shop in the back room. Ponies were concerned when he didn’t open shop for several days, and nopony could contact him or Knitting Needle. Police burst inside and found, and I quote: ‘a grisly scene’,” Coco read. “There’s no further details than that just yet, but news sources speculate there’s more to it. It’s been ruled a murder, and Knitting Needle is the primary suspect.”
“Well I can’t say I’m surprised. He treated her so poorly and for so long, dangling himself in front of her. It’s no wonder she snapped,” Rarity said.
“Yeah, I guess so. But at least you don’t have to worry about him anymore,” Coco said.
“That’s true. I guess the ponies he hired to follow me tipped off the police when they couldn’t contact him,” Rarity said.
“It’s a load off my mind, at least. I’ve never had fans like that, and I had no idea what to do. I was so scared for you,” Coco said.
“It’s scary for me as well, but I’ve learned how to deal with it,” Rarity said.
“That’s good, I guess. Shall we head to work, though? We have a lot to do,” Coco said.
“Yes, let’s do that. Get our minds off this whole messy business,” Rarity said.
The two made it to the shop in good time, and work began. They stitched, sewed, and fabricated with expert precision, and work was getting done on time. Rarity didn’t give Weak Stitch much thought through most of the day, until she smelled his particular scent once more, this time coming from within the shop. She groaned in exasperation.
“Sweet Celestia, don’t you read the damn news? There’s nopony to report back to. Leave me be,” Rarity said.

>>30342881
Rarity receives some good news, but it apparently isn't over.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/0eYuLsAK

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>>30342888

>>30344506
that's rad

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>>30343827

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>>30346008

>>30346008
no eyes

>>30341456
>2017
>Not submitting to the soil of the earth
I shiggy diggy

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>>30342888
“Rarity? What’s wrong?” Coco asked.
“I smell it again. I don’t know where and I don’t know why, but I smell that awful smell again,” Rarity said.
Coco sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose. “You’re right. Do you think it’s somepony in the shop?”
“If it is they certainly don’t read the news. There’s nopony to return to with information about me. Just ignore it. They’ll figure it out soon enough,” Rarity said.
Coco obliged, and the two of them went about their day as usual. The smell persisted, and some of their customers even complained about it. Rarity assured them that it was merely from some touch-up work on one of the back walls and it would be gone soon enough, there was nothing to worry about.
She was lying, of course. It definitely was something to worry about, because it hadn’t gone away all day, and she still couldn’t pinpoint the source. It had lessened at one point, but it had come back stronger than ever, and she didn’t know which pony it was. She had watched the customers come and go, and none of them had stayed here all day. Everypony who had come in had left at one point, which meant the one that smelled strange was elsewhere. That was worrying because this was stronger than when that weirdo had been sitting in the club upstairs. Rarity didn’t this the pony was outside the shop. They were somewhere inside.
“Coco, can you run and get the police before we close up shop? I don’t want to be stuck in here with just the two of us and that smell. I’m certain somepony is hiding somewhere in here,” Rarity said.
“Are you positive?” Coco asked.
“I cannot prove it, but the smell is much stronger than when the pony was upstairs, this is a pony hiding inside the shop, though I’ve no idea where,” Rarity said.

>>30348257
“Okay, if it’ll make you feel better.” Coco put down what she was working on, and trotted outside to the police station.
She was only gone a few minutes, but Rarity didn’t feel safe with only the two other customers that were still in the shop. She kept scissors on hoof just in case until Coco came back. She did return soon enough, but only with a single officer. He tipped his cap at Rarity and approached.
“What seems to be the trouble miss? Something about a pony hiding inside the shop?” The officer sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose. “What is that smell? Phew!”
“That is actually what I want to talk to you about officer,” Rarity said. “I believe I am being followed, because that smell has been following me for several days. Not all in a row, but I frequently smell it, and it is very distinct, and quite unique, and it’s not me, and it’s not my friend Coco Pommel here. Now it is inside my shop, and that leads me to believe that somepony is hiding here that smells of that, and it makes me worry for my safety.”
The officer scratched his head. “Well, that’s quite the story. But you say it’s just the smell?”
“Yes, and before you tell me ponies are allowed to smell how they please, can you honestly say somepony would willingly smell like that? I can only think of two, and one of them was murdered this morning by the other,” Rarity said.
He turned to look at her. “You’re talking about Weak Stitch and Knitting Needle.”
“Yes, a big name in the fashion industry, like myself. He was well-known for his unique scent, which this is,” Rarity said.
“Hmmm…” The stallion paced back and forth while he thought. “What makes you think Weak Stitch or Knitting Needle were following you?”

>>30348267
“One week before his death, I visited with Weak Stitch at his shop. We had lunch together,” Rarity explained. “Knitting Needle told me I was ‘just his type’, and Weak Stitch himself admitted that I am. It didn’t go further than that, but his smell has been following me ever since, on ponies that I have encountered,”
“That’s a good connection, and a fair assumption. We’re limited in what we can do, but if it will make you more comfortable, we can scour the premises after you close up shop,” The stallion said. “Can you leave a key with us?”
“Absolutely. Use mine. Coco is the supervisor of the shop and needs hers.” Rarity passed the officer her key to the shop.
“Alright. We’ll return it tomorrow if that’s alright,” the stallion said.
“Thank you, officer. I appreciate it,” Rarity said.
Rarity and Coco ushered out the last of the customers while the police officer waited, they left him inside after Rarity had gotten his name and badge number, and traveled home to Coco’s apartment.
“Do you think he’ll find anything?” Coco asked.
“I hope he does, but if I wasn’t able to pinpoint the source of the smell, I have my doubts he will. I’m actually hoping that whatever is in there doesn’t hurt him. He’s trying to make me feel better by saying he’ll look, but if he’s alone in there, who knows if the pony stalking me will hurt him or not,” Rarity said.
“He’s trained for this sort of thing Rarity. He’ll be fine,” Coco said.
“I certainly hope you’re right Coco. I certainly hope you’re right,” Rarity said.
“I think I am. Let’s get supper, relax with a nice bath, and then get some sleep okay? We’ll know for certain tomorrow,” Coco said.

>>30348282
Rarity gets an officer to investigate her shop, because that awful smell is back.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/0eYuLsAK

>>30348290
Let's dig deeper

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>>30348290

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>>30350076
Might be late today. Probably going to finish the current story. I'll take any suggestions for what's next while I'm working on the ending.

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>>30350718

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>>30352217

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>>30348290
They traveled to Coco’s apartment and the rest of their day was normal. Coco went to bathe first while Rarity prepared the ingredients for supper. Once Coco was done, they switched and Coco cooked the food while Rarity showered. Dinner was rather quiet, with neither pony very comfortable talking about their day, so they ate in silence. They retired to their beds without much chatter, with Coco cleaning up the dishes.
“Good night Rarity. Sleep well,” Coco said.
“Good night Coco. Thank you for being a friend,” Rarity said.
Rarity opened the window and laid herself down on the bed, drifting off to sleep almost immediately.
She was awakened later by an intense smell filling her nostrils. It was so strong, and it was so bad, she choked as she tried to breath, coughing endlessly as she tried to evacuate her sinuses to no avail.
Past the choking, she realized the smell meant that whatever or whoever it was that had been at her shop, had somehow escaped the building and followed her and Coco home. The thought sent her into a panic, and she tried to sit up out of bed, only to realize that she was being held down by something. She pulled at her restraints, but they had little to no give, making her attempts fruitless. She tried to bring her magic to bear, only to feel a splitting pain in her skull.
“Ah!” she cried.
“Mmmm…” an unseen voice said.
“Who’s there?” Rarity said.
The voice laughed. A high-pitched giggle at first, then shifting into a low tenor. “You don’t remember me doll? We got real cozy at that club above your shop,” Alto Sax said.
“Alto? What are you—“ Rarity stopped and started shrieking for help. “Coco! Help! Get the police!”
Alto let her shriek and cry and yell as much as she liked. He didn’t even panic. There was no response from Coco, so Alto had probably already dealt with her. She kept screaming anyway, not willing to give him the satisfaction of shutting up.

>>30354114
She kept going for a while, but Alto had had enough, and magic silenced her by sealing her mouth shut. “Didn’t think you’d go on that long, babe, but I need you to stop. We got a date, and I’m on a time limit.”
Rarity grunted in frustration and wiggled in her bindings. She still couldn’t see anything, but wiggling more told her that she wasn’t tied up with anything, she had on a full-body suit of some sort that kept her hooves tight against herself, like she had been stuff in a constricting sack.
Alto left the magic sealing her mouth on and a sack came down over her head. Everything went dark, and she heard rustling. She felt herself being lifted up with nothing supporting her, telling her that magic was what was being used. She heard movement, followed by hoofsteps. There was a long pause, then a thump, and she thought she felt wind. The fabric covering her didn’t leave much feeling for her to determine what was going on, but she began hearing telltale nighttime city sounds. The occasional clop of hooves on cobblestone. A rare cart rolling by here and there. Alto was dragging her through backstreets and alleyways she was sure. Being seen with a pony-shaped bundle is a good way to get in trouble.
They traveled for some distance, then Rarity felt herself being placed on the ground, and there was the sound of zippers cloth rubbing against cloth, the sound of cords being untied. All of these sounds were ones she recognized, but she was confused why Alto would stop to undress himself. Unless he was wearing a disguise of some sort? Breaking into apartments without camouflage gear would be foolish, that was true. She listened and tried to discern if anypony was nearby. Would mumbling through the gag help in this case? Would anypony hear her?

>>30354121
Rarity then heard the sound of somepony putting some kind of clothing back on, and she was even more confused. What was Alto doing? Why had he stopped to change clothes? What good would a disguise do to help him kidnap her? She could do nothing but listen and wait, but she was eventually lifted off the ground again, and they began moving.
They took a very circuitous route, and Rarity couldn’t follow it. It was likely through a series of alleys. Rarity didn’t know Manehatten very well, and she swiftly got lost. Even if she could get free, she’d not be able to find her way home again without help.
Rarity heard an extra set of hoofsteps coming closer, and she felt herself stop moving. She was thrust into a pile of something, and cried out into the gag. She couldn’t let a chance like this slip by, no matter how slim it was. Anypony in an alley this late at night might not help, but she wouldn’t lie here and do nothing.
Rarity mumbled, screamed, and thrashed as much as her bindings would let her, shifting the pile of things on top her as her hips shifted back and forth. The hoofsteps were right on top of them!
“Twenty bits to join in with her if you want, or five to just watch, stranger,” a feminine voice said.
That voice wasn’t Alto. She didn’t know who that… wait.
Rarity flashed back to that drunken night when she’d first smelled the scent following her, and she and Coco had bumped into that duo of mares in the alley. But, she hadn’t been a unicorn! Neither of them had. Come to think of it, neither had Alto Sax! Rarity was getting more and more frightened. What was she dealing with? Was this a changeling? Was she being taken back to the changeling nest? Had one of them been left behind to take her place? What would happen to her?

>>30354128
The owner of the other set of hooves grunted in disgust and moved on down the alley. Once they were gone, Rarity was lifted up once again and they continued their trek. They bumped into no other ponies, and she heard a set of keys open a door. She heard them pass inside and heard the door lock behind them, then they descended a set of stairs. She heard the faint sound of trickling water, and then was dropped onto a table. There was bustling, clinking, and then she felt straps being pulled tight over her body. After they were securely in place, the sack was removed from her head.
Rarity’s blood ran cold as soon as she saw where she was. The first thing she noticed were skins hanging from the far wall. Pony skins, impeccably preserved and cared for, with sets of clothes next to them, designed to cover any blemishes or holes made by removing them. There looked to be about four of them. Five if you counted the one that was standing there looking at her.
It was indeed the mare from that drunken night. She was looking at Rarity with wide eyes and a big smile. An unnatural one at that. She didn’t visibly move, but her skin bulged in awful ways, and the zipper on her tight clothes opened. Out of the mare’s torso crawled none other than Knitting Needle. Weak Stitch’s assistant.
Or… Rarity realized, Weak Stitch himself.
“Figure it out yet?” The small mare said.
Rarity couldn’t speak, but she nodded slowly.
“When I said you were his, or my, type, I meant it,” Knitting Needle said. “You’re a fashion designer, up and coming, popular with the stallions, and you’re most importantly: Fresh.”
Rarity shook her head in denial.
“No, when I say fresh I mean that ponies aren’t tired of you yet. Weak Stitch can be dead, and they can blame me for his death all they want, because I won’t be around.” Knitting Needle said.

>>30354140
“I’m going to move on, and I’ll be somepony else. They’ll never see me, and I’ve grown so proficient at this you probably won’t start to smell strange for at least three or four years.” Knitting Needle put the skin up on the wall with the others and floated over a bevy of awful-looking tools.
Rarity struggled against her bonds, pulling and yanking as hard as she could, but she was securely tied, and her horn didn’t work. There was nothing she could do, but she wasn’t going to let it happen quietly.
“I really wish you’d stop that, the head is the most delicate part and it’s hard to fix mistakes on ponies. Not like cloth,” Knitting Needle said.
When Rarity didn’t calm down, Knitting Needle cast a spell on her that paralyzed her entirely, and Rarity couldn’t even move her eyes. She could only watch as Knitting Needle lowered some dangerous spike toward her face.
“There we are. I’ve grown exceedingly proficient at this over the years, so I do hope you appreciate what I’m going to do with you. It’s art, no? Your friend Coco should really appreciate it,” Knitting Needle said.
Rarity could only scream inside her head as Knitting Needle’s macabre work began.

>>30354158
Coco woke up and pulled herself out of bed. She first went to the restroom, then grabbed herself a glass of water. She then went to go check on Rarity. The poor dear had such a terrible day yesterday, Coco was afraid she was going to stress herself to death. Upon finding Rarity’s room empty, Coco almost panicked, when she heard a knock at the door. She hurried over to it and hoped that it was the police, or she’d have to run down to the station herself.
She opened the door to see none other than Rarity, smiling at her in the doorway.
“Good morning Coco, I hope I didn’t wake you. I just thought I’d go for a little walk and clear my head, but I neglected to bring the spare apartment key,” Rarity said.
Coco stepped aside and let her in, confusion plain on her face. “Are you okay, Rarity?”
“Oh, I’m feeling much better. Sleep and a brisk walk were exactly what I needed this morning. How did you sleep?” Rarity asked.
“I… slept well, thank you,” Coco said. “Rarity, what are you wearing?”
Rarity looked down at herself in her tight-fitting black outfit. “Just a new outfit I thought I’d try on. Do you like it?”
“It’s… unique?” Coco said.
“Thank you. Now, how about breakfast, then we can head off to work. I’m sure the officer is eager to tell us what he found or didn’t find,” Rarity said.
Coco nodded and sat down at the table while Rarity put together breakfast. Through it all, Coco watched Rarity move about, and tried to figure out what was wrong. She seemed fine, she sounded fine, she looked fine, beyond the strange clothing. What was it? What was it!
Oh… that was it. The faint smell of something cloying and strong.
Rarity looked at Coco from across the table, and grinned.

The End

>>30354177
Coco and Rarity enjoy breakfast after a terrible night.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/0eYuLsAK

That's that one done. Hope you enjoyed it folks. If you did or did not, please let me know. It was difficult to keep psychological horror going on with no actual supernatural effects going on, but I hope I did a good job.

>>30354190
That ending...
Masterfully done!

>>30354575
It wasn't too sudden? Was the buildup good and suspenseful? I'm the writer, so I knew what was going to happen, and I honestly thought it felt a bit weak. The buildup, that is. The ending I was happy with.

>>30354755
It was good timing. Great for a short story. The buildup was perfect and the end was a twist. I figured out what was going on when the hood was removed, right when she saw the skins, witch was only a few lines before the reveal. I still expected Rarity to escape or get rescued because so far your stories have had mostly happy endings. I was pleasantly suprised with what you did. Can't wait for the next one!

>>30354876
Well good. Thanks for the feedback. That's the perfect time to figure it out, right before I whip out the answer, so that's great.

As for the next story, I think I might make it something pretty traditional with some supernatural horror. Angry haunted buildings and such. Haven't fully decided yet.

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>>30354190

Bump before sleep

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>>30356232

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>>30360062
Alright. I think I have a good plan for the next story. Supernatural horror, but I'm a bit torn. Do you guys prefer seeing canon characters get into trouble, or are OC's okay? It's a tough choice, and you're the ones reading it, so I want you to have some input on your enjoyment of it.

>>30360659
OC's are good, so are cannon character's. You seem to be able to write both well. I'll enjoy watever

>>30360659
Two stories before this had OCs, so why not another story with canon characters.

>>30361017
>>30360875
A'ighty. I'll get some canon characters in there then.

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>>30361058

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E2, Elo, Mshakezilla, LukeDaDuke... Where are they all?

>>30362643
I'm actually starting to worry about Luke. Haven't seen him in a month or so. He usually dosen't disappear for this long

>>30362910
>>30362643
I don't look at names much, and I don't know what threads they frequent, but they haven't appeared in any others? They may have just moved to another thread.

>>30363054
I think Elo is in the dadonicus thread? Luke writes for Heart of War, and i know he's usually on the Trixie threads and /moon/ but I haven't seen his trip in a while. He might just be laying low. I haven't seen the others anywhere else.

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>>30362014

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A Rose by Her Own Name

Roseluck was quite happy with the day so far. She’d sold a lot of flowers and her garden was coming in nicely. The flower plots were well cared for, and there hadn’t been any vermin trying to destroy them yet. The same went with her personal garden at home, where she grew a lot of her food. She’d been concerned about a few molehills nearby, but if they got bad she could contact Fluttershy and she’d move them somewhere else.
Her sisters were doing fine as well. Their gardens weren’t quite as pristine as hers, if she did say so herself, but they were doing well. Daisies and lilies weren’t roses, but they still sold well enough. They didn’t have personal gardens at their places, though, so Rose had that one on them. She was proud of herself for her work growing flowers, and her sisters and herself didn’t really compete on their sales. They even worked together sometimes, but Rose was proud of herself for her own work, and didn’t feel like she needed help that often.
The best part of her day, of course, was when that handsome brown stallion with the green tie came by and bought a full bouquet. He probably had a special somepony already, but she could dream. In the downtime between sales, she had nothing else to occupy herself, so she could dream all she wanted.
She dreamed in between her flower sales, and spent her day thinking about how she might coax her vegetables to grow a bit bigger. She was also trying to grow some roses of other colours, or maybe make a new-colored rose. It was difficult, but she’d read some things that included help on doing something like that, and with her earth pony growing prowess, she might just have the latent magic to do it. It would be a bestseller if she could, she was sure.

>>30364310
>>30364310
She wasn’t a botanist, and she didn’t fully understand everything there was to know about genomes, and alleles, and all of that, but she knew how to make roses grow, and that should be enough.
The day came to an end, and Rose and her sisters packed up their carts, waved goodbye to each other, and went their separate ways. Rose hitched herself to her cart and pulled it back to her house, where she locked it up and went inside her home. She started some supper cooking and slipped out back to check on her vegetable garden. The molehills hadn’t yet spread into her yard, but they were still prevalent in her neighbor’s. She might alert Fluttershy to them ahead of time instead of waiting for the inevitable. If her neighbor wouldn’t do anything about it, she would.
She sprinkled some water over her plants and went back inside for supper. Boiled cabbage, dumplings, and some garlic toast. She ate with gusto, picked up her dish, and went back toward the kitchen. She stubbed her hoof, slipped forward, and the plate fell out of her hoof. She cried out as she saw the plate falling through the air in slow motion. That was one of her favourites!
She cried out, watching helplessly as her face fell slowly toward the wooden floor, and the plate tumbled ahead of her.
And she watched.
Then she realized it hadn’t yet landed. Also she hadn’t yet hit the floor.
She looked around in confusion.
Her rear hoof was still caught on the table leg, which is what had caused the fall in the first place. Her left forehoof was in the air, reaching out for the plate it had lost, and her right forehoof was tucked underneath her out of reflex to catch her when she hit the ground. But she wasn’t moving except for her head.

>>30364319
“What?” Rose said.
As soon as she spoke, she sped up and completed her fall. Her right forehoof caught her and she stumbled forward, bumping into the plate where it hung in midair. The plate shifted, but once she stopped pushing on it, it stopped moving as well. She caught herself and looked at the plate again. It was just hanging there, suspended in the air.
She reached up and grabbed it, and it moved without any resistance. She looked at both sides of it, the dirty top, and the clean bottom, and realized she didn’t know where her fork was. She looked around and found it floating by itself out in the dining room where she had originally dropped the plate. She reached out to grab it.
As her hoof clutched at the fork, the fork dropped out of the air like a stone, clattering on the wooden floor. Her hoof grabbed nothing, and she looked at the fork like it had betrayed her.
“The plate waited, but you couldn’t? How rude,” Roseluck said.
She picked it up off the floor and looked at the two dishes, confused. Neither one felt any different than normal, and they didn’t look out of the ordinary. They were dirty, but that shouldn’t cause them to float.
What on Equestria had happened? She was affected at first as well, but she was able to move with just a little effort, so was something attacking her?
Roseluck put the dishes on the counter and went to the front window. She pushed open the shutters and took a look outside.
Everypony was walking and going about their business as normal. None of them seemed panicked about something strange like that, so was it directed only at her? Had she herself done it?
She went back to the counter and picked up the fork, then tried to make it do it again. She tossed it up in the air, pretended to trip, even threw it across the kitchen, all to no avail. It didn’t happen again.

>>30364327
Alright, gonna do some supernatural horror. I hope you enjoy Roseluck living her normal life.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/V61htWpp

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>>30364332

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>>30364332
Such an underrated cutie.

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>>30365210

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>>30366752

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>>30366752
>that pic
Jesus Christ how horrifyingly cute.

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>>30364332
Rose looked at the fork in confusion, but gave up trying to force the incident and cleaned up the kitchen. She kept glancing out the window to make sure other ponies were moving just fine, and none of the bubbles stopped moving, or the water in the sink, so Rose chalked it up to some wayward magic from Princess Twilight or somepony, or just a bit of confusion on her part.
She read a book until bedtime and went to sleep without thinking too much more about it.
The next morning there still didn’t seem to be any further troubles. She tossed her blanket up into the air to experiment, but it floated down like normal. It had just been a fluke, she surmised, and thought nothing more of it.
Rose had breakfast and went out to her plot of flowers. She went through her daily routine of care; watering, feeding, and taking cuttings of the flowers. She cut the ones that were reaching their peak, and a few that were undersized, but not yet blossoming. She had to cater to those who liked their roses beautiful immediately, and those who wanted them to grow a bit more so they could admire them. The cuttings were to grow new rosebushes, and sell a few small ones to customers who might want to grow their own. Not her best flowers, of course. Those were hers.
She waved to Lily and Daisy across the field, working in their own patches. They had a much easier time of their work than Rose did, as their flowers weren’t covered in painful thorns and harsh brambles. She didn’t resent them for it, but she did sometimes wish she were a unicorn. That would make her work a lot less painful, not to mention much easier. Floating a pair of clippers around instead of using her clumsy hooves or her teeth would be pretty nice.

>>30368122
It was while using the pair of clippers with her hooves that she saw an adorable little bumblebee buzz up to her, it flew to the flower she was going to clip and she waited, letting the little fellow do his work before she cut. He buzzed back out and she tightened the clippers, slicing the flower off its stem. It toppled to the side, slowed down, and stopped.
Rose gasped and dropped the clippers, but they too didn’t move. She looked over at the bumblebee for confirmation. It hadn’t made it very far, and was hovering in midair nearby. Its little wings were still moving, but barely, as if the poor thing was trying to fly through molasses.
Rose stuck her head up above the bushes and looked around. Lily and Daisy were off in the distance, and they were standing still as statues. The clouds in the sky hung motionless, and there was the occasional dot of a Pegasus floating in the air, unmoving. There was silence, and there was no motion save herself. Even the wind had been frozen, and there was nothing to ruffle her mane or tail.
“Hello?” Rose called out.
There was no answer, and she wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but her heart raced. She didn’t know if she wanted a response or not. If something did respond, would it be a pony? At the thought there might be something else, she ducked back down so her head was level with her rosebushes. Her eyes darted back and forth. There was no motion, no sound, nothing. Nothing except for her.
Why her? Why could she move? She wasn’t any more special than anypony else, was she? She slept, ate, drank, parties, and groomed herself like any other pony. She wasn’t even a unicorn or Pegasus. Why could she move while everything was frozen?

>>30368130
Then another thought hit her: How long would this one last? When it happened last night it was only about twenty seconds, this one had almost hit a minute and still hadn’t stopped. She didn’t want to be stuck like this forever! Would she age? Would she be able to eat or grow food? How would she handle not being able to talk to anypony?
Just as these thoughts flew through her panicked mind, things started moving again. The shears fell to the dirt, bumping against her hoof. The rose fell to the ground, and bumblebee buzzed away, ever patient.
Rose stuck up her head and looked around again.
Clouds floated in lazy paths across the sky, pegasi zipped about moving them here and there, and the sound of wildlife, work, and ponies going about their business filled the air. It was only small comfort, however, as Rose had no idea what was causing it, and no idea how to fix it.
Rose collected her basket of flowers, stuffed her tools back in her saddlebag, and trotted over to see Daisy.
“Daisy! Did you… see anything strange just now?” Rose asked.
“Strange? Like what?” Daisy said.
“Like, things… seeming to move in slow motion?” Rose said.
“Noooo, I can’t say anything seemed slower than usual. It is a lazy day, though, I’ll agree with that.” Daisy said.
“Yeah… yeah… it is a lazy day. Yeah. Okay. Thanks, Daisy,” Rose said.
Daisy looked at rose with concern. “Is everything all right, Rosey?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine. I think I’ve just been in the sun too long. See you in the market later, Daisy,” Rose said.
“Yeah, you too, Rosey,” Daisy said.
Rose left Daisy to her work and plodded home. If Daisy hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary, then she couldn’t very well bring it up. What would she say? “Everything but me froze for a minute there!”. How much sense would that make? She couldn’t prove it. She’d sound crazy.

>>30368138
Things freeze again, except for Rose.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/V61htWpp

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>>30362643
I am very well alive, working on what I promised almost a month ago.

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>>30369035
>54 pages
Wow.

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>>30369035
>54 pages

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>>30369035
>54 pages

>>30369453
I planned the pages by posts, and there were 54. 1 sketch down, 53 to go. Kudos to Waxworks for segmenting the story just right.

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>>30368145

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>>30368145
Rose made her way back home and prepared her cart for work. She was distracted, and made a lot of mistakes. She bumped her head on the awning, banged her shin on the wheels, and tangled the harness as she was putting it on. She kicked the cart in frustration, and winced as all it did was hurt her shin even more. Something weird was going on, and she couldn’t do anything about it. She hated that feeling most of all. She was helpless.
She pulled her cart out of its stall and limped off to market despite her feelings, and set up in her usual spot. Daisy and Lily were already there, smiling and cheery as could be. Rose set up her cart, pulling out the shelves and opening the awning. Her roses were set up in a display that was as ideal as could be and drew the eye directly to her own face. It was supposed to lure in stallions, and it usually worked; when she wasn’t scowling.
Her regular customers stopped by to chat, but only a few of them bought something. Roses were okay for eating, but she hadn’t cut as many of the ones intended for eating as she usually did, due to the strange occurrences of the day, so she sold out of those very soon, leaving her with the ones meant for decoration or gifts. It was the middle of the week so she didn’t expect to sell many of those.
She was watching a stallion flirt with Lily, and he was getting all touchy-feely, reaching across the counter. Rose was prepared to step in when she noticed the stallion was starting to move slower. She sat up straight and looked around. Sure enough, everypony was moving slower.
“No no no no no! Not again!” Rose said.

>>30372431
Everything came to a halt, and Rose was once again the only person, thing, or animal that was able to move.
She darted out from behind her cart and ran up to Daisy.
“Daisy! Daisy please, can you hear me?” Rose waved her hooves in Daisy’s face.
There was no reaction whatsoever.
“Oh no… no no no,” Rose said. “What do I do? Can I do anything?”
Rose pounded a hoof on her head as she tried to think of something that might help…or somepony. Rose lived in Ponyville after all, and Princess Twilight had taken up residence here! If anypony could help her figure things out, it was a princess!
Should she wait for things to go back to normal first?
Rose looked at her cart, and at Lily and Daisy still frozen where they were standing. She looked at the stallion leaning in toward Lily and sighed. If things started back up and she wasn’t here, there was no telling what mischief that stallion might cause. Daisy wasn’t the strongest in personality, and would likely be no help to Lily if the stallion tried to take a few liberties. Rose opted to wait for things to go back to normal before she went running off. If it was anything like this morning, it should only take two minutes at the most.
Rose went back to her cart and waited. She waited for two minutes past the time she had spent fretting, and everything was still frozen. She was starting to get agitated. She was in her original position, and she had waited, ponies should be moving again by now. What was wrong? Was Princess Twilight affected by it too? She was relying on the princess being able to move to get help from her. If she couldn’t talk to her she couldn’t explain it. She was a princess, so she should know why time was stopping, right? Could she break a time stop? Was she even aware of it? There were too many questions, and no answers.

>>30372435
Rose promised herself she’d wait a few more minutes, then she’d leave her cart and go check on the princess to try and get help. If it hadn’t stopped in the next few minutes, she didn’t know when it might, and that wasn’t good.
She was idly tapping her hoof on her counter when she heard something. It started out quiet, then rose in volume, then got quiet again. It was a strange susurration coming from nearby, and it sounded like it was coming closer. She decided it would be best to hunker down behind her cart until whatever it was had passed, and ducked down until only her eyes were above the countertop. She watched, waited, and listened.
The sound became louder just down the street, and something that looked like a pony stumbled into view. It moved with jerky motions, at first galloping, then stopping, then walking a few steps, then trotting. It didn’t go in a straight line either. It moved sideways, then maybe it would take a step or two backward, and then it would dash forward.
Its head was tilting from side to side, and Rose was reminded of a dog looking at somepony, the way a dog might cock its head to the side to look. This wasn’t cute, though. This was… disturbing.
Rose breathed as slowly and quietly as she could, inhaling and exhaling as slowly as she could manage. She didn’t know what this pony was, or what it was doing, but she got a chilling feeling down her spine that it would not be something she wanted to tangle with. She wasn’t a fighter in the first place! She was a lover, through and through!
The pony tottered in her direction, the hissing sound getting louder as it got closer. Rose stayed where she was, ducking down a bit more to hide.

>>30372439
Rose is still unsure what's going on, but it became that much more dangerous.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/V61htWpp

>>30372446
Is this... Quantum Break? That twitchy pony is a Shifter?

>>30373325
Huh. I've never played Quantum Break, but that seems almost exactly like what I've been writing so far. I don't know the plot, but the short video I watched of a shifter looks pretty close to what I imagined.

Funky.

>>30372446
The pony’s head whipped back and forth at different speeds each time, looking around at all the frozen objects and ponies around it. As it jittered forward, Rose got the impression it was looking for somepony. It would shuffle close to a pony, examine them for a moment, then move on to the next. In this manner it was getting closer to Rose and her sister’s carts.
Rose panicked and ducked fully behind her cart. She crawled beneath the undercarriage and looked out at the hooves of nearby ponies. She was breathing hard, and her heart was thudding in her chest. The pony was unsettling to look at and she had a horrible sinking feeling that it wouldn’t treat her with the same disinterest as the other frozen ponies. With them all it did was shun them once it had given them a once-over. What would it do to a pony that could move?
She watched those strange, twitchy hooves as they came to her section of the market. The pony moved first to Daisy, it’s unnatural rhythm pulling it up next to her. Rose’s breath caught as it stuck its blurry muzzle up next to Daisy’s face and sniffed. Its whole body rippled for a moment, then to Rose’s relief it moved away.
Next it shuffled over to Lily and the stallion that was reaching over the counter at her. It moved up behind the counter to Lily and started sniffing at her. It made a strange noise above the hissing whisper and turned to the stallion. It sniffed at the stallion, then at Lily, then to Rose’s horror, it reached out and touched the stallion with a hoof!
The stallion began moving backward, pulling back across the counter away from Lily! The pony kept pushing until he had returned to his spot on the far side of the counter before he had begun groping at Lily.

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>>30374462
Rose gasped at the sight, and immediately regretted having made the noise. She covered her mouth with her hooves, but it was too late. The pony’s ears had perked up at the sound, and it was tilting its head from side to side again, turning this way and that as it tried to pinpoint the source. In an otherwise silent world, any sound other than yourself was going to be out of place. Rose herself had heard this thing coming long before she had seen it.
Rose cowered as it left Lily behind and moved toward her cart. She could see its face, with its blurred features and strange, toothy grin. Then she realized; if she could see it, it could see her. She froze and looked straight ahead, avoiding looking at its face. She held her breath and kept her mouth covered, not daring to move a muscle.
The strange pony moved to her cart and stood in front of it. The noise it was making was grating to Rose’s ears with it this close, and she had to consciously work to prevent them from lying back on her head. Her eyes wanted to focus on the legs directly in front of her, but she forced them to relax and focus on nothing at all. She felt her heart speed up as the legs moved from the front of the cart and walk around the side. She could hear the hoofsteps, marching in that stuttering rhythm, moving behind her cart and she wanted to scream. She wanted somepony to come help and get this thing away from her. She wasn’t a hero or a fighter or strong or magical. She was just a flower mare! Why was this happening to her?
Against her better judgement, Rose squeezed her eyes shut. She didn’t want to see anything if the pony behind her decided to attack her. She shut her eyes, and waited.

>>30374467
The susurrating hiss stayed behind her for some time, but much to Rose’s relief, it eventually moved away from her. She kept her eyes shut until she could no longer hear it, then slowly opened them. Things were still frozen around her, but that pony was no longer about, which was a huge relief all on its own. She could handle being frozen, but dealing with monsters like that, that wasn’t something she could take.
Rose crawled slowly out from underneath her cart, and was startled when there was sudden noise from all around her!
She jumped and banged her flank against the underside of her cart, which elicited a laugh from Daisy.
“Rose, what are you doing under there? You can’t sell flowers by hiding,” Daisy said.
Rose felt a little bit of embarrassment, but she pulled herself out from underneath her cart without saying anything in response. She wasn’t really in the mood for banter. Daisy seemed to sense this and came out from behind her cart to help her the rest of the way to her hooves.
“Are you all right, Rose?” Daisy asked.
“I’m… fine,” Rose said. What was she going to say besides that? She still couldn’t explain it to any regular pony. None of them would believe her.
“That’s not the kind of thing a pony who is actually ‘fine’ would say,” Daisy said.
Rose sighed. She was right, but there was still no way to explain it. “You’re right, but I will be all right. I just… think I need to go see a nurse or somepony. It wouldn’t make sense to you.”
“Oh! Are you sick?” Lily had finished with the strange stallion and come to check on her as well.
“No, it’s just weird stuff,” Rose said.
“Well, okay,” Lily said. “Speaking of weird, that stallion paid for his flowers twice, then insisted he hadn’t yet paid. I couldn’t convince him otherwise.”

>>30374472
Rose survives the encounter, and things are normal once more.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/V61htWpp

Alright, so my father has come to visit me for a week or so. Updates my be late, or they may not come at all some days, but I will still try my very best. The big problem is keeping the thread alive. I will not be able to keep an eye on it as much as I usually do, so it's up to you guys. If it dies, I'll remake the thread once I'm free, and I'll update with everything I have written during my vacation. Best of luck, chaps.

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>>30374486
I'll do my best. Enjoy some free time dude.
Also link to the full pic to see the details because that's actual gouache: http://fav.me/d694nk1

>>30375189
This artist is amazing. I love their work.
Also, I am at the campground with my father, and it has internets, so I should be able to post tonight. Will let you know at least.

>>30377444
Huh, guess on a different computer it doesn't give me the same tripcode. Oh well. Unless I misremembered what I used.

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>>30354190
Literally.

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>>30377451
I caught a big fat toader, saw some fireflies, and caught a big ol' cockaroacher at the campground with my dad so far. Good times. I'll have an update tonight if nothing goes bad.

>>30374486
I am flying abroad, and will be offline for at least 10 hours from now. Hold it up for us.

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>>30378358
I was going to suggest you take some pics and post them to the critter thread on /out/, but apparently i don't know how to link posts across boards.

Guess i should lurk more

>>30378687
>>30378629
>>30378601
Well sadly I did not take pictures of them while I was holding them. That was not the first thing I thought of when I grabbed them. Next time, chaps.

Also, I've been informed my tripcode shouldn't change based on platform, so I must have gotten it wrong, let's see what this variation gives me.

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>>30374486
Rose didn’t know what else to say. They wouldn’t believe her if she told them the truth. Heck, she wouldn’t believe herself if she hadn’t been the one experiencing it. She needed to speak to somepony who knew more about weird magic, and that would be a princess. Who knew more about magic than an alicorn who was Princess Celestia’s star pupil?
“I’m sorry girls, but I think I need to go speak with Princess Twilight about this. It’s not really something any of us have any experience with. I promise I’ll explain once I get answers myself, okay?” Rose said.
“Well, if you’re sure. Do you want us to take your cart home for you?” Daisy offered.
“Yeah, that’d be nice, thank you,” Rose said.
“You’re welcome, Rosey. I hope you feel better soon,” Daisy said.
“I hope I will. Thanks again.” Rose turned and galloped down the street toward the Crystal Castle where she should find Princess Twilight.
She approached the giant crystal doors and hesitated. The princess wouldn’t turn her away would she? This was a strange and unique problem, but Rose had to admit, it sounded a little crazy. She really hoped you couldn’t get arrested for asking weird questions. She didn’t know how princesses worked. She’d seen Princess Twilight around town and even at the local hayburger join. She’d just have to find out.
She rapped on the door and waited.
She waited for a good thirty seconds, unsure if she was interrupting something royal, or if maybe the princess wasn’t in. She must have princess duties, and those might take her away from Ponyville and her castle sometimes.
She lifted her hoof and knocked again, waiting for an answer. It took another thirty seconds, but eventually she heard the padding of little dragon feet and the Princess’s assistant, Spike, opened the door.

>>30379389
“Good afternoon, miss. How can I help you today?” Spike said.
“Hello Spike, uh, I need to talk to the princess about something strange that’s been happening to me. I think it’s magic, but I don’t know,” Rose said.
“Strange magical occurrences? Twilight would love to learn more about it! Right this way,” Spike said.
“Oh, that’s… great,” Rose said.
She wasn’t exactly happy to hear that Princess Twilight would be super interested in the things going on around her, but at least that meant she would be trying to understand it. She wanted it, and that creepy pony, gone from her life forever. It hadn’t been any sort of fun or interesting.
Spike led her to Princess Twilight’s study, where she was currently muzzle-deep in a book, reading about something called ‘luminiferous aether’ if Rose read that right. She turned away from her book as soon as Spike entered with Rose.
“Oh! Hello there! Thank you for bringing her in, Spike. How can I help you today miss… Roseluck, isn’t it?” Twilight said.
“Oh, yes. I’m surprised you know me,” Rose said.
“I’m the princess of friendship, I make it my business to know. Now what seems to be the trouble you’re having today?” Twilight asked.
Rose shifted back and forth on her hooves for a moment. “Well… something weird started happening to me last night. I thought it was harmless at first, but it’s continued happening for longer and longer durations today, and just the last time it happened I saw… something. I think it’s dangerous, and I need help,” Rose said.
“Alright then. I’ll do everything I can. Can you describe the events?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah, it’s like everything stops moving. Time stops, or freezes, or I speed up to where everything just seems like it’s stopped. I can’t be sure,” Rose said.

>>30379394
Twilight pulled out some parchment and a quill and started writing, the quill almost a blur on the page. “Time stops, you say? How do you know?”
“Well, I dropped a plate and fork, and they just floated in the air. At first I was affected as well, but it somehow stopped affecting me and just affected everypony and everything else. No wind, no clouds, nopony talking or running, or anything!” Rose spread her hooves wide for emphasis.
“Nopony moved, no wind, nothing. Okay. That could either be a localized freezing spell or a time stop. Usually the user has to have magical talent or item to speed up, so we can probably rule that out,” Twilight said. “And this dangerous thing you encountered, can you describe that?”
Rose felt a chill up her spine when she thought about it, but forced herself to speak. “It was blurry, and moved in fits. At one moment moving slow, then speeding up for several steps, then slowing down to almost slow-motion. I don’t know what it—“ Rose stopped when she noticed Twilight’s quill was no longer moving. “Twilight?”
Twilight didn’t look up, nor did her eyes move at all. She was, to Rose’s horror, frozen.
“Oh Celestia no!” Rose sobbed. “Not again! Not again!”
Rose looked around the room at the books, and other objects. None of them should be moving, so they were no indication of whether it was localized to her immediate area, or if it was everything again. Rose opened the door and looked down the large empty halls.
“Spike? Hello?” Rose called.
There was no answer, but she heard a rapid-fire tapping of hooves on the crystal floors, and in a flash, that blurry pony from before was standing in front of her.
“Ahhh!” Rose slammed the door and pressed her back up against it, hoping the creepy thing might not be strong enough to push the doors open. There was no hiding from it this time, it had heard her yell, and seen her move. It knew.

>>30379401
Rose is heard and seen.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/V61htWpp

I can't figure out what's wrong with my tripcode. I thought I'd just typed it wrong, but I don't know anymore. Every variation seems to give me a different one. I don't know how it works, and I don't care at this point. It's me, though, and there's the update. This trip will be my brand new lappy, so there you go.

File: stranger danger.png (1MB, 1280x1920px) Image search: [Google]

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>>30379413
The door shuddered several times in rapid succession as the pony tried to break in, but Rose managed to hold it. The shaking stopped after several attempts, but Rose could hear the uneven cadence of the pony’s hooves outside the door. It paced back and forth for a short while, then pattered away down the corridor. Rose let out a sigh of relief, but didn’t move away from the door. If it had arrived that quickly, it could return that quickly, and she wasn’t nearly as fast as that it was.
Rose waited a few moments more, but heard nothing. Then, as suddenly as she had frozen, Twilight started writing again.
“Moved in fits, you say? And wha—“ Twilight stopped again mid-sentence.
“Twilight?” Rose felt her hopes rise, and then get dashed as Twilight froze again.
The freeze lasted only a few seconds this time, and then Twilight started speaking once more.
“—t did it seem to… Rose?” Twilight blinked at where Rose had been, then looked over at Rose holding the door in place with fear plain on her face. She gave her a confused look and moved to stand, but froze mid-motion.
Rose heard the rapid-fire tapping of hooves on the floor again, then swift banging on the door she was holding. Tears of fright rolled down her cheeks, but she held the doors closed despite the insistent pounding. The hooves retreated once more, and time started again.
Twilight finished standing up, and Rose shouted at her. “Twilight it’s here! Help!”
“Rose? Is that how you moved over there so quickly?” Twilight asked.
“Yes! Please help! It’s trying to get in!” Rose said.
“Okay, hang on, I ca—“ Twilight was interrupted as time stopped again.
The hooves came back and there was more pounding on the door. It was less insistent this time, more of an exploratory few shoves. There was no noise other than the sound of its hooves on the floor and then against the portal Rose was holding shut.

>>30381887
The hooves retreated and Twilight moved once again. “—n create a shield.”
Twilight’s horn glowed and a purple bubble appeared surrounding the two ponies. Rose looked at the bubble and sighed with relief, but remained wary.
“Will this prevent you from being frozen if time stops?” Rose asked.
“That I’m not sure of, but it will at least protect you from the thing that you say is attacking you, can you explain what’s happening in greater detail?” Twilight asked.
Rose relaxed away from the door and came to sit next to Twilight. “Well, while we were talking, you froze, and I went to look for Spike and to check outside to see if everything was affected again or just you. When I called for Spike, though, the thing showed up just outside the door, so I held it shut, and then time’s been stuttering since then.”
“I’ve been freezing on and off, you mean?” Twilight asked.
Rose nodded. “But here we are, and I think your shield is working. I would have expected time to stop again by now.”
“Hmmm, that could be because what it’s doing is a magical effect,” Twilight said. “I still know nothing about this creature, but with power like that, you would think it would have done something bigger. What does it want?”
“I don’t have the slightest clue. It was wandering around sniffing and staring at ponies. I don’t know for what purpose,” Rose said.
“Curious. But for now we need to focus on making sure you’re safe, because it’s focused on you.” Twilight said.
Roseluck simply nodded, not sure what else to add. She had no clue how to proceed. Twilight, however, was wracking her brain and looked to be deep in thought, one hoof scratching her chin, and her magic quill scratching at the parchment.

>>30381899
“Let’s go find Spike. Maybe I can send this letter to Celestia, then we can do some research in the library until we get a response. She may have some information on what’s happening, or my books may,” Twilight said.
With no other options. Rose nodded, and the two of them opened the doors and stepped out of the room. Twilight’s magic bubble wasn’t very big, but it encased the two of them as they walked. She didn’t let it hesitate for even a second, which Rose was very grateful for. She felt exposed out in the long hallways, and she couldn’t possibly defend herself when that thing could move so much faster than her.
“Spiiike! Where are you?” Twilight called out.
There was no answer, which made Rose worry. Twilight seemed nonchalant about it, though. The two walked in relative silence as they searched the castle for Spike, with Twilight leading the way to what she thought were his favourite places. They eventually found him, gems in claw, with one frozen in mid-air above his waiting mouth.
“Oh no, everything’s frozen again! That means that thing is out there somewhere!” Rose said.
Twilight had a thoughtful expression on her face. She didn’t seem worried at all about the threat of whatever the creature was. She just looked curious.
“That’s so fascinating. And I wouldn’t have even known this creature was out there if you hadn’t come to ask me about it. I wonder how long it’s existed?” Twilight said.
“Twilight please, we need to get rid of it! We can’t live like this forever!” Rose pleaded.
“Oh, of course! You’re right.” Twilight walked up to Spike and covered him with her shield.
The gem above his mouth fell down into it, and Spike chewed with gusto. He opened his eyes and jumped when he saw Twilight standing next to him.

>>30381905
Rose gets a little bit of help from a curious Twilight.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/V61htWpp

>>30381916
Now I'm getting posting errors when trying to post things. Here's a bump instead of an image.

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>>30383769
Weird.

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>>30383769

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>>30381916
“Gah! Twilight, don’t do that! I could have choked,” Spike said.
“Spike, we have a possible crisis on our hooves! I need you to send this letter—“ Twilight floated her parchment with the notes from her conversation with Rose on it to Spike. “—to Princess Celestia.”
“Okay, but what’s going on?” Spike took the parchment and rolled it up.
“That will have to wait until later Spike. Send it immediately,” Twilight said.
“Wow, okay,” Spike blew flame on the parchment, and it burned up into a small glittering trail of smoke, which flew up and out of the protective bubble surrounding the trio.
The smoke stopped once left the bubble, and hung suspended in the air. The group could only watch in dismay as it hung there, unmoving and unhelpful.
“I really should have seen that coming,” Twilight said. “Whatever is going on, it is happening outside of my protection right now, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“What... what do we do now, Princess?” Rose asked.
“Now…” Twilight scratched her chin with a hoof. “Now we do research. Until I see the thing or figure out what it is we’re up against, I can’t possibly fight it.”
“Oh! I’ll go set up your favourite studying table!” Spike ran off out of the bubble and froze in mid-stride.
Twilight groaned and moved closer to him, putting him back inside the bubble. “Spike, don’t go running off. You have to stay with me okay?”
“Uh, alright? Nothing happened though,” Spike said.
“I’ll explain while we walk,” Twilight said.
The three walked toward the library in Twilight’s new castle. The silence was palpable, pressing down on them from all sides. Not even the singing of birds came through the windows, and certainly no wind. There wasn’t even the movement of the sunbeams through the stained-glass windows to mark the passage of time. Twilight observed this with increased curiosity.

>>30385753
“If the sun isn’t moving, that means that either the effect covers all of Equestria, and possibly further, or the light isn’t reaching us,” Twilight said. “That would mean that all that light and other things are accumulating at the edge of the effect though, which would then hit us all at once, and that would possibly kill us, so I doubt that. It has to be a worldwide effect. How powerful must it be to do that?”
“Princess Twilight?” Rose asked.
“Oh, yes, Roseluck?” Twilight said.
“I realize you’re very curious about it, and you’re trying your best to come up with a plan, but it’s all making me very uncomfortable. Could you possibly, talk quieter? This… this isn’t normal to me, and I’m very scared,” Roseluck said.
“Oh, sure, sorry. I’m used to talking my problems out loud. I’ll try to be more considerate,” Twilight said.
Despite saying that, Twilight continued to talk. Most of it was mumbling, but Rose picked up a lot of it, and it was disheartening to hear how powerful the thing doing this must be. Rose had no chance to take it on herself, and Twilight didn’t seem to have a plan other than to look up information on it. The only thing that made her feel any better was that the pony out there hadn’t killed everypony yet. It could have many times, but it hadn’t, and that, while scary, was a hopeful sign.
The three of them entered the library, and Spike and Rose clustered around Twilight while she perused her books. They had no idea what she was looking for, so they just followed her about.
While she was looking, there came the rapid-fire hoof-tapping that Rose recognized from behind them in the hall. “It’s here!”
Twilight turned to look, and gasped when she saw the strange pony enter the library double-doors behind them. It hissed for a second, then jerked quickly to one side, skittering sideways behind some of the bookshelves.

>>30385764
“That’s the pony that you saw?” Twilight said.
Rose swiveled her ears and looked around, trying to see where it had gone without leaving Twilight’s bubble of protection. “That’s it! I don’t know what it wants, and it doesn’t seem to talk much beyond that awful hissing.”
“Does it look blurry to you as well?” Twilight asked.
“Yes, why?” Rose said.
“Okay, I was curious about that,” Twilight said.
“Do you know what it is?” Rose asked.
“Not a clue,” Twilight said.
“So what do we do?” Rose asked.
“I think for starters we should—“ Twilight was cut off as the hoofsteps came closer and stopped right in front of them.
The blurry pony hefted a piece of parchment into the barrier that Twilight had erected, then smiled an awkward smile. “Row-sluck,” it said.
“It knows my name?” Rose cried.
“Is that my letter to Celestia?” Twilight picked up the parchment and glanced over it. “It is! But the letter was frozen as smoke in the time freeze, how did it get it back?”
“Now is probably a bad time, but I was scared and in a hurry to explain. I saw it touch somepony and… move them… backwards in time? To a point before they had done something. I don’t know if that helps,” Rose said.
“Well, I’m not sure if it helps, but it at least means I know I can’t let it touch me,” Twilight said. “It also explains how it got my letter to Celestia out of the air.”
“What do we do now, Twilight?” Spike said.
“Now I research, I guess, and pray to Celestia that it can’t get affect anypony inside my barrier,” Twilight said. “I think if it could have it would have done it by now, but you never know. Keep an eye on it and let me know what it does. And don’t stray far away from me!”

>>30385773
Twilight is trying to help, but she's a little too curious for her own good.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/V61htWpp

I'm going to watch the first two Hellraiser movies. Shame Netflix doesn't have The Thing anymore.

ded

anybody remember poor unfortunate foals?
the horror tabletop RPG we were suppoesd to be making with /tg/ like 3 years ago?

>>30387191
I do! I've played it with some friends, and I mentioned it several threads back. I modified it but I am unable to find the modifications, sadly. It's a solid set-up, but with Tails of Equestria out, you can easily just use that as well if you wanted to allow death. Tails of Equestria is a solid system on its own, and even has stats for foals.

>>30385916
Hellraiser is good if you're into body-horror. Not really my thing, but I've seen them anyway. No sense denying myself different types of horror. Let me know what you think of them!

>>30386652
I'll be traveling about a lot today. No idea when I'll be back at home, but an update probably isn't coming until much later. Best of luck keeping things going until then chaps.

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Relevant:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IDaM1UXCWM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp75SUWxFV0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXCjdZ-UaQA

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>>30387191
>>30387583
Speaking of tabletop RPG, I just finished reading this >>30354190 (great story as usual btw Wax) and I feel like the whole "everything is fine in Manehattan but wtf with all these stinky pomanders everywhere" thing would make a great starter for a Call of Cthulhu campaign, just have to replace Knitting Needle with eldritch skinwalking creatures. I should try to write it.

>>30390645
I was going for skinwalker, so I'm glad that's what it made you think of. It would work perfectly with Call of Cthulhu, so go nuts! Let us know how it goes if you get to play it.

Also, I figured out what was wrong with my tripcode, so that's a plus.

"I can't believe this! How?! How did so much money and effort get so wasted in such a short amount of time??"
>You take your coffee mug off your desk and throw it across the room, shattering it upon the wall just a few inches away from the front entrance to the room.
>The head office of Fertile Fields inc.
>More accurately, /your/ office. Being president and CEO of such a company gave many responsibilities.
>And with that comes stress. A lot of it.
>"Sir, we still need to take into account the employees lost as well, some of our best technicians and floral engineers were in the lab when the accident happened."
"Don't remind me Pedal hoof, if theres anything I'm /not/ in the mood for its having the obvious pointed out too me!"
>The office chair lets out a small squeak as you lean back and take a deep breath. Regaining your composure from your outburst just a moment ago.
>You let out a deep and frustrated sigh adjusting your tie and business coat. This incident would not only do irrefutable damage to your reputation as a business pony, but may even bankrupt you as well...
>The office door opens, and in walks another executive. Holding a small book on his back.
>"Mr. Soil, sir? Is now a bad time?"
"No Tiller, what is it?" You say in an annoyed tone, rubbing your temples with your hooves.
>Tiller adjusts his glasses and clears his throat as he walks to the front of your desk. He was sweating bullets and couldn't stop scratching parts of his neck and shoulder.
"You feeling okay? What are you so nervous about?" You ask, noticing the beads of sweat going down his face.
>"Y-yes sir, I think I just got a cold or something from one of the employees that was part of the recovery team." He replies, wiping the sweat from his brow and scratching his shoulder.

>>30391377
"Whatever, just show me what you've got."
>"Well sir, the recovery team we sent out to the lab managed to bring back a diary of one of the employees working there during the time of the incident."
"Ohh good, a diary!" You lean forward up in your chair, raising your tone and venting your frustration, "That will surely save us all from the unemployment office in the coming months!"
>Tiller gets flustered by your sudden outburst, almost dropping the diary from his back and re-adjusts his glasses.
>"W-well sir," He says taking the book from his back and hiding behind it, "th-the owner of this diary documented her day-to-day duties while she was there, and it gives clues as to what happened. If word of this gets out, not only will we be unemployed, we might go to jail!"
>Pedal gives the nervous earth pony a curious look.
>"What do you mean jail??" He asks in a panicky tone, almost leaping from his chair, "I-it was just a gas explosion! F-from a faulty pipe!"
>"Yeah I know, but its what happens to everypony as described in this /after/ that that could ruin us!"
"Both of you calm down!" You say banging on your desk. "Word of this won't get out!Whatever it is, we can handle it!"
>You take a moment to fix your mane, all this stress was getting it's normal "business tidy" look out of shape.
"None of the media outlets have gotten word of this yet, and before that happens were in cover-up mode."
>You shoot a glance to both of your executives as you speak.
"As far as the public is concerned, as of right now, this incident hasn't even happened. And as for the families of the employees lost at the lab; they will know that a gas explosion took place, and thats all."
>"B-but the boo--" Tiller says.
"But nothing!" You cut him off, making him jump and drop the book on your desk, "Now, both of you get out, I have thinking to do..."

>>30391382
>The two earth ponies glance toward each other and nod in compliance, exiting the room and leaving you alone with your thoughts.
"Ughh Celestia..." You say in a whispered tone, "What a mess."
>You notice the out-of-place book sitting at the front edge of your desk.
>Your curiosity aroused, you pick up the book and look over the cover.
>It had been frayed and there were scratch marks embedded into it's hardback surface.
>The brown leathery texture had spots of reddish yellow on it, giving small sections of it's surface a sort of rough feel.
>What happened to this thing? Had it always been like this? Where did this scratch come from? Were these red spots...blood? And most importantly, if it was a gas leak that killed everypony there, why wasn't it destroyed?
>Opening up the diary, you see a message on the front, partially obscured by spots of red and black, reading:


To Bell Blossom,
We are proud of you! Your father and I can't wait too hear about the things you acco during your time working for such a prestigious com you can document what happens while y there.
Sincerely, your mom, Lilly.

>You turn the page and read on, seeing that most of the pages are still legible.

Day 1:
I can't wait to start my work here! Even though I'm only going to be taking care of other employee's pets and doing upkeep. Mostly janitor type stuff. I'm still glad for the opportunity. This will look great on a future resume when I'm done here. There aren't many others working here, curiously. Mostly sciency type ponies consisting of unicorns and some other younger ponies like myself also to do janitor type stuff. One of the unicorns in particular though, seems almost too enthusiastic about the work they're gonna be doing. Supposedly its for a special crop that can withstand all forms of bad weather, either way its not that important to me! So long as I get a good reference from this...

>>30391393
Day 2:
Fed the dogs today, didn't know the ponies from the company would bring only dogs when I volunteered, they're all kept up in a pin just outside the side entrance to the facility. And might I add, the view from here is great! When they told me it was gonna be in the mountains close to Neighagra Falls, it made me assume it'd have a good view but this is just awesome! I can see so much from being so high. Still though, I wish it wasn't so secluded. The nearest building to this place is like an hour and a half walk away.

Day 3:
Caught a small glimpse of what the scientists have been working on today while taking the trash bins from the lab. They have all kinds of flowers here, most of which I have no idea what they are save for some of the more common ones like roses and what not. I even got up close to one of them which prompted a quick "chewing out" session from one of the scientists. Saying something along the lines of "don't get near this, its company secrets, its above your pay grade, blah blah blah." Still though, the head scientist that works here, Dr. Herbaceous, was nowhere in there. Come to think of it, I've only seen him a few times since we got here. And anytime I do see him, hes always talking to his plants... Oh well, as long as I don't get fired before whatever they're working on is done I don't care how mysterious or secretive they are.

Day 7:
What is it that Dr. Herbaceous is researching all the time? He has this really weird interest in these flowers. Interest...? It seems like love at times... Rumor going around some of the volunteer ponies like myself is that theres something dangerous about those flowers. The scientists are always keeping them, or us, completely separate. I'm not even allowed down in the lab anymore unless I'm accompanied by one of them... I dared Silvermane to touch one for a couple bits. He chickened out of course, why are stallions so superstitious sometimes?

>>30391401
Day 10:
Played cards with some of the other volunteers today, even one of the scientists. She said he was tired of being cooped up in the lab all the time and wanted to just mingle for awhile. Her name was Rafflesia, kind of an oddball but, if I dedicated all my life to studying something I'd be weird too. Nopony asked any questions about what they were working on though. I assume everpony was too nervous about losing our jobs here...

Day 14:
I guess its true about those plants being dangerous. The other day, the only Pegasus among the volunteers, Gustywinds, touched one and got ill with a fever. We haven't seen her since it happened. Its been 2 days and shes been in the medical ward. The only word we keep getting on her is thats shes sick because she liked to fly around the falls during off time and caught a cold. But no way, I saw her touching one of the flowers while her escort wasn't looking. Whats up with those flowers anyway... I thought they were making crops?

Day 16:
Silvermane woke me up in the middle of the night, scared the shit out of me, too. He was wearing some kind of protective suit and gave me one and said to put it on. When I asked what happened he said there was an accident in the lab. A small gas leak caused an explosion and made some of the, what they called, "Floral specimens" leak into the air. I guess that explains the bang I heard earlier in the night. I just assumed it was the scientists working, those bastards never sleep! Even on holiday!

Day 17:
I've been wearing this dumb suit since yesterday. My skin and fur feel grimy and itchy all over. The damn dogs are looking at me funny now also, so I decided not to feed them today, screw'em.

>>30391413
Day 18:
Went to the infirmary today because by back is all swollen and feels itchy. One of the scientists put a big bandage on my back and told me I didn't have to wear the suit anymore. I was relieved at first but they told me I wasn't allowed to leave the infirmary... Weird thing is, I haven't seen Gust in here or anywhere... I'm starting to get a little scared.

Day 20:
I've managed to keep my diary hidden these last two days. Hidden from the "scientists" so I could keep documenting whats been happening. And again today... I could hear those awful moans and screams from the other room beyond the door. Please, don't be what I think it is... Come to think of it, the voice faintly sounds like Gust's, what could they be doing to her in there? How sick could she really be? When I get out of here, I'm gonna expose whats been happening!

Day 21:
Silvermane ended up in the infirmary with me too, he has the same symptoms as me, only he looked a little worse then I did. He also said that a couple of days ago, one of the other volunteer workers had tried to leave and go home, saying that he quit because he didn't want to die here. The next morning, all his stuff was still in his room but he was nowhere to be found. I'm really starting to worry now... What could he have meant when he said he didn't want to die here? I shouldn't have taken this damn job!

Day 22:
My skin and coat feels hot and itchy all over, and I'm sweating all the time now. Last night before going to sleep on the infirmary cots they gave us, I noticed a big sore on my forehoof. It was all red and swollen, and it leaked with puss whenever I scratched it. Now my cot is all stained with this yellowy puss. Makes me stay awake at night. I feel so tired... All I wanna do is sleep.

>>30391421
Day 23:
They still haven't found my diary, thank Celestia for that. But when I woke up, the blister on my forehoof was completely numb. The puss and blood had dried up and clotted all around it, leaving only a big reddish black bulge. When I rubbed it, a clump of fur and rotten flesh just fell right off, exposing muscle and a little bit of bone too... My hoof doesn't even hurt from it. What the hell is happening to me? I just wanna go home... Mom, Dad, I miss you so much.

Day 25:
Wake up and fever gone but still itchy. Scientist all gone so look fr food. Found doggie food. eat. I no want end up like Silver... that poor bastard scratching and scratching. make me itch jost watch him.

Day 26:
Itchy itchy Silver came ugly face so killed him.

//4/ must who but go /
silver gone I go hunger/
Help.
Mom.

>>30391430
>The last pages are stained with what you can confirm is blood, and are mostly illegible.
>You lean back in your chair, staring at the bloodstained pages.
>You place the book down and take a deep breath. What the hell happened up there? They were supposed to be working on crops! Not flowers! Dr. Herbaceous was in charge of oversight there. You'll have his flank for this!
>You take another deep breath and open the bottom cabinet in your desk, taking out a bottle of apple whiskey and a shot glass.
>You poor a glass and take a shot. Then another. Feeling it burn going down, just sitting there for a minute thinking of what you've read.
>If word of this gets out, you would indeed be done for. Not to mention Dr. Herbaceous is still out there somewhere.
>What else could he have done? Or even what more could he do?
>This was much more serious then you could've imagined. And theres no telling if anypony from the recovery team couldn't have gotten the same sickness from that place!
>They must all be quarantined. This must be contained, whatever it is. With any luck, this won't spread beyond the boundaries of that lab...


Really short I know, but I've always liked the whole "found journal" type thing in scary movies or games. Hope you all enjoyed this little quickie.

Yay! Mshakezilla's back. Nice short story. The random creepy journals and stuff you find in rpg type games are my favorite things. Reading someones thoughts about what's going on around them and filling in the rest with your imagination is lots of fun.
Thanks for writing!

>>30391444
This was nice! Thanks Mshake. Short but sweet is always good.

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>>30385782
Rose and Spike did as Twilight bade them and stayed as close to her as they could, pressing up against her flank while she pulled down book after book from the library shelves. The blurry pony outside the barrier wandered in fits around them, sometimes plodding along, and sometimes rushing in a flurry of hoofsteps. But it stayed close and seemed unwilling to move away. It had found something interesting, and it wasn’t going to let them get very far away.
As Twilight moved down the stacks, leaving books in her wake, the pony outside seemed to take great pleasure in touching the books she left and making them travel back up to the shelves. Rose cringed every time it did. The casual show of power had her terrified. A princess might have a chance, but Rose was helpless.
Twilight went through book after book, looking for something, anything to help. “I’m not seeing much of anything. Time stops, time travel, time acceleration. I need something on time beasts. Time beasts time beasts time beasts.”
Twilight tried to use her magic to grab books from shelves outside of her protective bubble, but each time she lifted one off the shelves, the pony outside kept rewinding them and forcing them back onto the shelves. Twilight had to walk over to them, bunting the weird creature out of the way with her barrier. It didn’t seem particularly scared by the barrier, just… inconvenienced by its presence.
Twilight moved back and forth among the stacks like this, until Spike climbed a step stool to look at some, and Twilight bumped him when she stretched up to look. Twilight wasn’t quick enough with her magic to catch him, as distracted as she was, and Rose fumbled her attempt to catch him as well. Spike tumbled to the floor and rolled to the edge of the barrier, where his tail stuck outside of the protective bubble.

>>30392621
Quick as a flash, there was a BRRRT! of hooves on wood and the blurry creature outside was at Spike’s tail, touching it.
Before either of the two mares could register what was happening, Spike was a blur of motion, disappearing in and out of places in the room as he walked backward, the creature at his shoulder the entire way, even passing through the current location of the protective bubble until Spike was nowhere to be seen.
“Oh my goodness, Spike!” Twilight yelled. “What did you do to him?”
The creature was back as quickly as it went away, leaving Spike the only one missing from their little group. It smiled at the two of them, its blurry teeth shining dully in the dim light.
“Ssssssspah-eek. Row-sluck,” the thing said.
“What do you want?” Twilight narrowed her eyes at the thing.
It lifted a hoof and pointed at Rose. “Row-sluck.”
“Why?” Twilight demanded.
It just shrugged, and its head vibrated and twitched to the side. “Row-sluck.”
“That’s not very reassuring,” Twilight said.
Rose clutched Twilight tight and stared with horror.
“I don’t think Spike has been hurt. If it could have or if it wanted to hurt him, it would have done so in front of us. I think it just put him back where we found him when we collected him to help us do research,” Twilight said. “I’d like to go check on him just to be sure.”
“Okay, that’s fine. I’ll come with you,” Rose said. “Not like I have much of a choice.”
Twilight walked with Rose back to the area they found Spike at. He was back there, in the position they had found him the first time, with the gem in the air above his mouth. Twilight tried to walk back up to him to encase him in the bubble, but there was that rapid-fore hooves-on-wood sound and the thing was next to Spike with a hoof outstretched.

>>30392628
“Don’t you dare!” Twilight said.
The thing glared at her and pushed its hoof closer. It didn’t say anything, but the gesture was clearly a threat. Rose didn’t want to see what it might do if the thing kept rewiding Spike. How far back could it go? The thought was very disturbing to think about. If it could regress Spike back to an egg, what else was it capable of, and why was it only doing any of this now?
Twilight didn’t move any closer, but she stared at the thing next to Spike. She lit her horn and fired a beam at it. The beam passed through the barrier and stopped, bunching up in one spot. The thing reached out a hoof, touched the beam, and it all rewound back to being in Twilight’s horn.
Twilight twitched. “That… was an incredibly odd feeling.”
Twilight cast another spell, trying to grab the pony in telekinesis. She only succeeded in grasping air, after which the spell froze in time and the pony sent it back in time into Twilight’s horn again. Twilight twitched, and for a split second her barrier spell flickered.
There was a rapid tapping of hooves and Rose screamed in fright. Twilight recovered and got the barrier spell up as soon as possible. For a split second when she opened her eyes again, there was a blurry hoof right in front of her muzzle, but it was gone just as quickly.
“Twilight! Twilight are you all right? You still exist and I still exist, right?” Rose asked. “You still remember everything I told you?
“Yes… yes I do. Though it was a near thing. Where did the creature go now?” Twilight asked.
“It broke inside the barrier when you dropped it, but you got it back up just before it managed to touch you. I don’t think it’s gone, but I can’t see it,” Rose said. “I think it teleported away before your barrier could do much harm to it. I don’t think it appreciates having its time messed with in the same way it messes with our time.”

>>30392631
Spike fumbles, and Twilight almost gets caught.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/V61htWpp

>>30392634
It wants her blood! It want to mash her up and spread her like butter all over it's next meal! Oh god Twilight better stop it!!

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>>30391444
Very nice. Any chance for a pastebin?

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>>30392634

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>>30396450

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>>30392634
Twilight moved toward Spike again now that the thing was gone, but in a flash the creature was back, staring her down. Twilight grimaced and stepped away.
“It seems we’re at an impasse, but I fear the creature has much more time than we do. I will have to sleep eventually, so we’ll need to find an answer before that happens,” Twilight said. “Let’s go back to the library, where I can search for some answers. It seems it’ll leave Spike alone if I stop trying to get him out of the time freeze.”
Rose followed Twilight back to library, not saying much, but watching the thing as they left it behind. It didn’t follow them, much to their confusion, but they continued searching through Twilight’s books for some sort of help to their predicament. Without the weird pony there to stop her, Twilight could float books out of their slots from outside her bubble, and was able to research that much faster. Rose, not knowing what else to do, stayed next to Twilight inside the bubble and just waited. It was all she could really do, seeing as how she had no special abilities to help out, and a distinct lack of knowledge on time and space.
Twilight kept researching, and Rose kept waiting, and time passed for them. Rose was unsure how much time, seeing as how the day did not pass. Nothing moved, not even the sun, so there was no way of marking it. True to her word, Twilight didn’t stop studying, but she was growing more and more frustrated as time went on, unable to find anything about what it was that was happening, and what the creature was that was hounding Rose.
Unfortunately, Twilight’s prediction came true, and she was starting to feel the weight of the many hours she had spent studying beginning to weigh down on her. Her yawns became more frequent, and her eyes were starting to look heavy. Rose, conversely, didn’t feel tired at all, which she found strange.

>>30397696
“It’s probably because like that thing out there that is somehow responsible for the time stop, you’re somehow stepping outside of *yawn* time.” Twilight explained when she asked. “I’m merely holding back the effect, and it’s exhausting. As such, you aren’t affected by the passage of time in the same way. I cannot say for certain, though. I’m still quite firmly in the dark about a lot of this.”
Rose looked out at the empty library with trepidation. Soon enough Twilight would fall asleep, or make a mistake and let the spell down for a brief moment, and Rose would be alone once again. Rose looked at Twilight, working hard to see if there was a way to stop the creature and save Rose from it. It didn’t seem to care about the rest of them. It was leaving them all alone. All save Rose, because she had seen it, and it couldn’t control her the way it controlled everything else.
Rose couldn’t think of a better way around the situation, and resigned herself to wait. Maybe she could kick it really hard in the face. It worked with belligerent stallions, maybe it would work with this thing.
Rose was thinking of possible ways to fight the creature when she noticed the bubble of protection around them was flickering. She looked up at Twilight to see the princess nodding off, her head lolling to the side. Rose jumped up and shook her, trying to get her to wake up.
“Twilight please! Have you found anything that might help us yet?” Rose asked.
Twilight jerked her head up, startled, and in that moment she lost control of the spell. She was only able to mutter a startled “Wha-?” before she was frozen in time like everypony else, leaving Rose all by herself once more.

>>30397705
“Oh no. No no no. What do I do?” Rose looked at the entrance to the library. She didn’t see the pony coming, and if it had known everything that had happened, she was sure she’d hear its hoofsteps long before she saw it. Still, she decided not to take chances and snuck away from Twilight to hide behind the stacks elsewhere.
She tip-hoofed her way to the entrance and peered down both ways. She couldn’t see anypony out there, nor hear them, so she thought it might be safe. She didn’t know where she was going to go, but if Twilight’s library had nothing, maybe the royal Canterlot library had more books on the subject. It wasn’t like she didn’t have scads of time to waste. That was all she had at this point. Time, and the encroaching horror that was hunting her in this wasteland of frozen moments.
She checked in on Spike as she crept out of the castle, and was glad he was still sitting where they had left him. He was untouched, just put back where he had been originally.
Rose made her way to the front door as quickly as she dared, and pushed them open with a creak. She took one last look into the castle, and to her dismay saw Twilight zipping backward through the halls, the pony likely moving her back to where she had been when this whole mess started. Twilight would likely not remember any of their conversation when things started back up again.
Rose shook her head and bit her lip as she held back hopeless tears. She slipped out the doors and galloped for the train station. She might have to hoof it all the way to Canterlot, but there was no better option at this point.

>>30397711
Rose loses all her allies, and tries to run away.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/V61htWpp

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>>30397717

>>30397717
What if that pony just wants to keep the timeline coherent? To prevent desynchronizations of stuff. Maybe it can help solve Roseluck's time problems, maybe it wants to help?

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>>30397717
Rose made it to the train station without incident, and walked up to the platform. She looked down the track both ways and saw the Friendship Express a short distance down the track on its way to Canterlot. She trotted after it, clopping along the tracks until she could climb up into the motionless engine. The conductor was idle, just sitting and staring at the controls he was sitting behind.
Rose looked them over and fiddled with them a bit, but none of them made anything happen.
“I’m not sure why I expected them to. Moving them doesn’t do any good if the things they’re attached to don’t move after I’ve done so,” Rose said.
With a sigh, she hopped out of the train, looked at it wistfully, then started down the tracks. She made it a short distance when she heard the skittering sound of hooves on loose gravel. She leapt into the brush on one side of the tracks and looked back at the train.
There, standing next to the engine, was the strange pony who had been following her. Its head was lolling back and forth, and it was making those strange noises again. It hopped into the engine, and she figured it was probably resetting everything she had just messed with. It then climbed on top of the engine and looked around, tilting its head back and forth as it looked up and down the tracks.
Rose stayed stock-still, hoping against hope it wouldn’t notice. It seemed to be able to catch her no matter where she was, like she was some sort of beacon for it. She wasn’t one right now, or it would have known where she was. It probably just got some sort of ‘general area’ of where she was, and not the direct spot.
It decided it had waited long enough and jumped down, hissing and chittering as it made its way away from the station. Rose took that opportunity to gallop down the tracks, heading to Canterlot.

>>30399824
She traveled for a long time, though she wasn’t sure how long, but she was coming up on Canterlot and without riding the train that was a good day’s trip on hoof. She clambered along the rails that were hugging the wall of the mountain and tried not to look down. She really just wanted to be at home, tending her garden or selling her flowers. She didn’t want to be dealing with this.
“You’re a real jerk, you know that? You stupid… time, twitch… thing,” Rose said. “Now I’m bloody well talking to myself because I can’t talk to anypony else.”
She sighed and entered Canterlot station, where the crowd of ponies was much thicker, but still easy to navigate thanks to the fact that they were all stock-still. Rose pushed one of them and watched the pony totter back and forth. She giggled and took off the unicorn’s hat, then placed it on a neighboring pony. She laughed and pulled other hats off and stacked them on top of that hat, until there was a towering pillar of hats on one stallion in the middle of Canterlot Station.
Rose laughed, but it turned into a sigh almost as fast as it came. Despite her mirth she still had a job to do, and nothing would change until she did it. She could live out eternity in the blink of an eye if she didn’t get this fixed.
Rose started making her way to Canterlot Castle, but stopped and ducked when she heard the tell-tale tapping of hooves on cobbles. She watched as the pony zipped through the crowded streets, stopping and starting erratically until it was standing next to her towering pillar of hats. It looked at the hats with clear curiosity, then reached out a hoof and touched the top one, returning it to its owner. After that one was back, it looked at the next one, tilting its head the other direction, then touched that one, putting it back where it started.

>>30399828
It hissed and chirped, and to Rose’s horror, a second one of the creatures appeared. They conversed in what must be their language, twitching and tilting their heads back and forth as they returned all of the hats to their rightful places.
Rose stayed down, watching them work with terror clutching at her heart.
There were more of them! It wasn’t just one! It was a whole community, and they were everywhere! What were they doing? What did they want? How could she stop them?
Rose backed away and bumped into a carriage, making it rock a small amount. The creatures turned toward where she was hiding at the same time, and tilted their heads in unison, then walked jerkily toward her position, spreading away from each other to maximize the amount of land they covered.
Rose jumped up and pushed the crowd apart, breaking for Canterlot Castle. She found her way onto the middle of the street and started galloping as fast as her hooves could carry her. She heard one of the ponies behind her let out a high-pitched screech which was answered from ahead, and more of the creatures started pouring out of the alleyways and buildings up ahead. They poured into the road, blocking her path, until they had her surrounded on all sides.
Rose kicked and bucked at them, but they were too quick and dodged her blows. One of them pushed forward out of the circle and approached her. She swung a hoof at it and hit nothing but air. She heard movement behind her and bucked backward, spinning to look to see if anypony was sneaking up on her. With her eyes off the one in front of her, she had to spin back around to make sure the one near her wasn’t trying to touch her either. She spun in a blind panic, trying to make sure nopony was getting close, snorting and frothing at the mouth as her eyes rolled wildly in her head. Finally, she could protect herself no more and she felt a hoof touch her flank.
Her vision exploded.

>>30399836
Rose awoke with a splitting headache and pulled herself up from the floor. Her plate lay on the floor in front of her, shattered, and her fork was lying next to it, covered in dirt and hair from having bounced off the ground.
She hefted herself to her hooves and went to find the broom and dustpan. She stumbled through her house and grabbed the items to clean up, then returned to the kitchen and swept the pieces up. She disposed of them safely, then flopped down in a chair.
Her head felt like a lead weight, and throbbed with a steady and painful rhythm. She… remembered something strange. A half-formed though, that she had been trapped for some time, and had been harried by creatures that were enigmatic and frightening. She remembered a chase, and hiding, and trying to figure out what was happening.
She had ended up in Canterlot, though. Why did she remember all that? She wasn’t anywhere near Canterlot. She was in her house in Ponyville. That made no sense.
Rose pulled herself up, cleaned up her dishes, and went to bed early. She slept soundly, and in the morning her head was feeling much better. Rose had breakfast and went out to her plot of flowers. She went through her daily routine of care; watering, feeding, and taking cuttings of the flowers. She cut the ones that were reaching their peak, and a few that were undersized, but not yet blossoming. She had to cater to those who liked their roses beautiful immediately, and those who wanted them to grow a bit more so they could admire them. The cuttings were to grow new rosebushes, and sell a few small ones to customers who might want to grow their own. Not her best flowers, of course. Those were hers.

>>30399844
Rose stopped.
She was getting the strongest feeling of déjà vu. She looked around, trying to figure out what was wrong. Something moved out of the corner of her eye. Something dark in colour, blurry, and moving in strangely quick motions. Rose tried to catch it in her vision, but it kept disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.
Lily called to Rose. “Rose, are you alright? You look distracted!”
“Oh…” Rose looked around once more, trying to follow the phantom with her eyes. “I’m… I’m fine. Thank you Lily.”
Rose turned back to her flowers and continued clipping. This was all she wanted in the first place. She should stop worrying and focus on right now instead of the future. It would arrive whenever it chose to.

The End.

>>30399851
Rose discovers there's more than just the one thing out to get her.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/V61htWpp

Is it a good ending? Is it a bad ending? Does it imply that everypony does not have as much control over their lives as previously believed when every second of every day is carefully monitored for discrepancies and changes by a band of time-controlling creatures with inscrutable designs? You be the judge.

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>>30399866

>>30399866
I say they are just doing their job, "Time keepers".

>>30399866
Good ending I think, kind of makes you wonder why you get the sense of deja vu to begin with.

>>30399866
Déjà vu is freaky. Now it's even more freaky. Thanks!

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>>30404658

>>30404658
We haven't had vampire ponies

>>30406149
I can do vampires. Might be short, but I'm distracted this week anyway what with family visiting. I'll do some vampires.

>>30406530
Aw yeah, some blood sucking

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>>30406530
I had been invited to visit the duchess’ manor, after several letters requesting permission to come and visit the castle. I was a historian by trade, and recording, compiling, and transcribing details about all aspects of Equestrian history was a goal I worked tirelessly to achieve. It was in pursuit of this I came upon an old map detailing the location of a castle high in the Smokey Mountains. To my delight, I found out after further research that the castle still stood! I immediately set out to investigate the castle, only to find my travels arrested in the village at the foot of the mountain.
The townsfolk were unwilling to assist me in my climb up the side of the cliffs, and refused to tell me how far up the castle was. They knew of it, that much they admitted, but they certainly weren’t going to help a mere visitor up to it. It was important to them. Sacred, it seemed, though they never said as such. They saw me as a threat to something and so I resigned myself to staying in an inn as I tried to find somepony willing to lead me up to it.
It was during this stay that I received a letter, addressed to me directly, from a ‘Duchess Lepidoptera’. She claimed to be the current resident of the castle, and wished for me to please leave her in peace. She wanted nothing more than to live out her days alone, and unmolested by the outside world.
I made note of her existence, but I couldn’t leave without some sketches or photos of the castle. Nopony would believe me if I just said a castle existed up on the sheer cliff faces of the Smokey Mountain without some photo evidence to back it up. I was determined to get that proof before I left.

>>30407473
On the first day I attempted to scale the mountain myself. Being a unicorn, I thought I could use my telekinesis to help me set the pitons and pull myself up. That idea was out the window as soon as I got to the cliff faces. There had been pitons set up before by the natives, but the path was not obvious, and there were many choices. I made it to the first one only to find a dead end, and turned back. The cliffs were much too dangerous for a lone pony who was unfamiliar with the area. I didn’t want to get lost or stuck without somepony to get help, so that option was out.
The second day was one I was not proud of, but I attempted to bribe the locals to help me up, but they wouldn’t take my bits. One of the younger ponies, who looked young enough to have just had his cuteceneara seemed interested, but his mother yelled at him, and that option was gone as well. Whoever Lepidoptera was, she commanded great respect among those she looked after.
Day three I gave up trying to find my way up to the castle and proceeded to just ask questions about it, hopefully finding out the history of the castle. Nopony was willing to talk about it. They hadn’t been to recalcitrant to my interest before, and I had to assume that the duchess had ordered them to avoid talking about it.
Day four was the first day I sent a letter to the duchess. I had no idea if any of the ponies would take it to her, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they were indeed willing to do so. I had only to suppose that they found a letter much more harmless than taking an actual pony up there. It worked out for me, though, so I wouldn’t complain.

>>30407477
There was no response the first day, so I asked if I might send another one, and they agreed. I didn’t know how far up the mountain the castle was, but it couldn’t have been very far at all if they were able to make the trip so frivolously.
The ponies here, I feel I should say, were very sure-hoofed. They reminded me a lot of goats, with their willingness to just clamber over sheer cliff walls, and with such ease. I wondered at the age of the village, and the inhabitants therein if they had adapted so much to their environment.
Despite my interest in them, they were still unwilling to talk to me about much that pertained to the village itself. They were willing to talk about the Smokey Mountains, which was a treat, but most of what they told me could already be found in several other history texts. Not to mention the fact that the mountains weren’t very exciting. They were beautiful, but not exciting. No cave systems to speak of, and just cold and windy year-round. Nothing significant was gleaned from my queries. The castle was the big thing, as well as the village, and I wasn’t going to leave until I ran out of funds, or had an audience with the duchess.
So the third day, I sent yet another letter.
The fourth day, another one.
The fifth day, a letter and a picture of the village to illustrate what I wanted to do. I only wanted to record information about the castle, the village, and the mountains themselves, and nothing more. I did not want an interview, though if she was willing to give me her family information, it would be recorded for posterity. History would remember her existence if she would but let me in to see, record, and photograph.

>>30407484
A visit to an unrecorded castle site.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/TtiDc7tZ

>>30407473
This pic is friggin cute

>>30407487
Can already tell this one will be good.

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>>30407487

>10

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>>30408885
Just got back from a day out with me dad. More story soon.

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>movie trailer is out
The board's gonna be fast. Safety bump before bed.

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>>30413574

woah

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>>30407487
It was then with much surprise that I got a response to my fifth query. It was brief, and terse, but it was a response! It wasn’t even a very good response. It simply said: “I appreciate your interest. Please wait for further correspondence. Your room and board will be provided free of charge until a decision is made.”
It didn’t commit to anything, but the mere fact that I had received a response that didn’t say no was cause for celebration in my book. I was also being provided for while I waited on the duchess to make a final decision, and I appreciated that. She seemed a very conscientious yet protective sort.
So I waited. I did not badger her with more letters, as doing so after she was poised to decide the future of my expedition seemed tacky, but I must admit I found the experience of waiting tiresome and quite frustrating. Beyond the daily grind which I was not part of, and climbing up and down the mountain, there did not seem to be a lot to do for an outsider such as myself.
There was some farming going on in small plots spaced out over the mountain, but I wasn’t welcome to help in any of it, and they weren’t willing to tell me how they managed to make things grow at this altitude. I contented myself with taking photographs of their work, their homes, and their multitude of ropes and pulleys attached to the mountainside for transport while I awaited a response.
That only lasted me about a single day, however, and the rest of the time I had to content myself with talking with the few ponies who were willing to communicate with me, and whiling away the hours in the local pub as I wrote my experiences in my journal.

>>30415933
Several days after I had received the response from the duchess, I was informed I could come up for a visit. It was the best news I had received in a long while, and I immediately picked up my saddlebags and put them on, eager to make my way up to the castle.
It was much to my chagrin that I was informed we would not be leaving until just before nightfall. Having had the wind blown out of my sails, I put my saddlebags down and waited, writing about the news in my journal.
When the time finally came, I was getting quite eager, and it was plain from the way I paced back and forth in the pub. The Pegasus who came to fetch me for the trip glowered at me with a look that told me I was merely tolerated and not welcome, and even then only because of the word of their duchess.
Thankfully such an extreme attitude was not the most common one. I had been welcomed by most of the townsfolk with a distant but kind manner. As long as I did not ask many questions about the duchess or the castle, they had usually been forthcoming with their answers.
As I gazed upon my guide, a strange thought struck me: This was one of the few pegasi that I had seen during my stay here. Most of the town was populated by earth ponies, and only one unicorn that I had seen thus far. This pony counted as one of less than ten pegasi that lived at this altitude, which was quite strange. With such heights, it would have been more beneficial for a Pegasus pony to live up here than earth ponies, but the population suggested the opposite had happened. I resolved to ask the duchess about it at some point, but followed the Pegasus out the door.

>>30415946
She, I discovered, was one of the duchess’ hoofmaidens. She had personally been sent down to gather me and lead me to the castle. I took another look at her to try to determine some form of marking of identifier, because I would not have guessed that she had come directly from the duchess herself. I was beginning to feel the slightest bit more important, though I didn’t know if I should.
The Pegasus brought me to the climbing ropes and bade me begin my ascent. She would lead me along the path to the castle to ensure I didn’t get lost. If, however, I were to fall, I was not her responsibility.
“So, you’ll just let me drop, then?” I asked.
“Indeed. If you cannot complete such a simple task as climbing to the castle, you are not worth the effort to allow you the visit,” she said.
“Charmed, I’m sure. Fair enough.” I began my ascent, moving as one of the ponies from the village had shown me, keeping the rope securely tied to the belt they had convinced me to buy. I probably could have rented one, but I felt they could use the patronage, and I had bits to spare.
The ascent was harrowing, and moving up the sheer cliff face had me light-headed and frightened in places, such as whenever the wind blew stronger. It was one of the more frightening things I had done in my life, but I did not, as you might have surmised, fall to my death. As night fell, I could see the edge of what I assumed was the castle ahead of me, carved directly into the rocky face of the mountain’s stone. The imposing visage stared out at the craggy cliffs of the Smokey Mountains, nestled inside a circle of rocky spines that hid it from the rest of Equestria.

>>30415954
A guide to the castle.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/TtiDc7tZ

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>>30415965

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>>30416642

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>>30415965
The final few meters were a struggle, and true to her word, the Pegasus did not help me climb at all. In fact, it almost seemed like she was hoping I would slip and fall, saving her the trouble of introducing me to the duchess.
“Well, I was hoping you would have fallen. That would have saved me the trouble of introducing you to the duchess,” she said as I pulled myself up onto the stone plaza.
“Well, I am sorry to disappoint you,” I said. “Thank you for your guidance, nonetheless.”
She landed next to me and pulled me to my hooves, not giving me a chance to rest. “Come with me. Night has fallen and Duchess Lepidoptera will not be kept waiting.”
I obliged her and followed her up to the massive stone doors. Beside them stood several columns that appeared to be flush with the mountain itself, looking to have been carved out of the stone surrounding the castle itself. There were friezes and statues placed nearby, gargoyles that looked down upon the valley and the lake below, nestled inside the mountainous maw beneath us.
The double doors, much to my surprise, did not actually open, and we stepped inside a smaller door set within the wall next to it. I supposed they did not want to make a scene for a guest they had not anticipated nor wanted. My guide said nothing, so I made nothing of it and looked around at the inside of the castle I had just entered.
The inside, much like the castle’s front face, was covered in carvings. The walls had an impressive array of styles, and there were paintings on the ceilings. The dim light inside did not give me much to see by, but the colours appeared to favour crimson, with almost all of the paintings awash in red of one shade or another.

>>30418884
I was led to a larger room with a red carpet going down the center of the room. There were two lines of ponies, all pegasi, on either side of the carpet, and all of their eyes were trained on me. There was a seat in the middle on a raised dais beyond them where the carpet ended, and I assumed that was where the duchess would be seated.
The mare who had led me up the mountain and into the room left my side to join the ranks of ponies on either side of the red carpet, leaving me to stand in the center by myself. I shifted under the penetrating gaze of the ponies as I waited for whatever was supposed to happen.
While waiting, I noticed that all of the ponies were mares, and all of them were looking at me with undisguised disdain. If the duchess was also a mare, that put me in the distinctly uncomfortable position of being the sole stallion here in the castle. The pegasi part I understood, but the fact that they were all mares was unusual. The royal sisters in Canterlot employed stallions as guards and serving staff in almost equal measure to mares, so this was quite a difference. I just assumed I hadn’t seen any stallions, and that made me feel a bit better.
The waiting went on for some time, with me shifting on my hooves as I waited for some form of order, request, or for the duchess to show up. It was maybe ten minutes later that I heard the slow clopping of hooves on stone coming from somewhere behind the throne. It was common ancient royalty to make their subjects wait if they were displeased, so I was not unfamiliar with the tactic, but I had never been on the receiving end. It was quite effective.

>>30418893
The hoofsteps approached the dais, but I couldn’t see much of anything in the gloom. They turned the corner and… nothing.
They just stopped.
The hoofsteps should have continued with me seeing the duchess or whoever it was come around from behind the throne, so where had they gone? Were they taunting me now? I frowned.
“Welcome to my castle, historian,” a voice next to my ear said.
I had been tense from the unrelenting stares of the pegasi mares, and the promise of seeing the duchess come around the corner. Needless to say, I jumped away from the voice and stumbled on the carpet.
“Oh my. You’re quite skittish aren’t you?” she said.
I collected myself and tried to put on a more polite front after my first impression had been so poor. I bowed while I took a better look at my host.
She was tall. About half a head taller than myself. That made her much taller than your average mare, and she was slim, which gave the impression that she was taller again than first glance would imply. She wore a blouse that was buttoned up to her chin, and a simple set of slacks, with fine shoes adorning her hooves that glimmered in the torchlight. Her features were severe and angular, and her eyes were sharp, much like the rest of the mares I had seen in the room. Her fur was the white of sun-bleached bone, and her mane an inky black, pouring down her withers to the bottom of her barrel. Her tail was likewise long, so much that I could see it dragon the floor behind her.
The most striking feature, however, was when I noticed that she lacked both wings, and a horn. The Duchess Lepidoptera, ruler of the Smokey Mountains, one might venture, and overseer of the small town of Bluestone sitting at the hoof of the moutains, was an earth pony!

>>30418905
I've finally met the duchess, and she's an Earth pony!

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/TtiDc7tZ

I missed an 'N' in mountain. Fixed in the pastebin. Also, my brother arrives for our visit today. Updates might be even more sporadic. I will keep trying, though.

>>30418919
Surprise, surprise

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>when you're so edgy you start cutting yourself in order to paint ponies with your own blood
http://kopaleo.deviantart.com/art/Blood-Art-Paradox-of-the-Beast-587496496
This both fascinates and disturbs me.

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>>30420428
Those are pretty fucking great. I don't want to encourage self-harming behavior, but damn that's cool.

I wonder how long the 'paint' will last.

>>30420428
That is very interesting. The artist says they used the cephalic vein, which is a good choice if you're looking to draw blood. It's quite macabre, but it's very good art. I appreciate this artist.

>>30421421
Using the cephalic vein means it's unlikely they'll do any permanent damage, as that vein is the one used for access by most medical devices. The artist seems to just have an interest in painting with blood.

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>>30421884

>>30420428
I enjoy this guy's art.

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>>30418919
“Welcome to the Fluttering Court, Historian,” the Duchess said. “You asked to see it, and I have granted you this request. You have one week, beginning upon the morrow in which you will be given free reign to come and go around the castle as you please. You may sleep wherever you wish, eat whatever you wish, and do whatever you wish.”
She was giving me free reign to do whatever I wanted inside her castle? This was odd and seemed too good to be true. “That’s… incredibly generous, and a little strange, if I may say so. What is it you want in return?”
“What do I want?” She turned and walked down the red carpet to the throne at the far end. “I want nothing but that you should record the existence of my castle and share the information with Equestrian citizens far and away from these mountains.”
“That’s all?” I asked.
“That is all,” she said. “You are simply not permitted to leave the castle until the week is up. Any attempts to do so will receive harsh punishment. Are these terms acceptable?” She seated herself in the throne, one foreleg crossed in front of the other.
“Punishment? For leaving? I hadn’t planned on leaving until my documentation is done. I’m not sure how quickly I could get it done either, seeing as I don’t know the extent of the castle,” I said.
“You must choose. No matter what you see, no matter what you hear, you must stay in the castle for the full week, but in exchange you will have my word that you can go anywhere and do anything you wish,” the Duchess said. “You may even destroy the castle if you please and no retribution will be visited upon you, though I doubt I need worry about that.”

>>30423810
“Celestia no! Your castle is a treasure of Equestrian history!” I said.
“Then you accept the agreement?” The Duchess asked.
“I suppose I do, yes,” I said.
“Then our contract is sealed. Enjoy your stay, Historian.” She hissed the last words with undisguised venom, and a hint of mockery. It made me cringe.
The Duchess stood up from her throne and stepped behind it, disappearing from view. The pegasi mares surrounding her spread their wings in unison and took off, flapping about the ceiling of the castle, dodging in and out among the columns as they fluttered about, disappearing one by one into various doors, windows, holes, and other parts of the castle until I was once more alone.
I reflected on the Duchess and the exchange we had shared. She had promised me free reign of her castle and the freedom to do whatever I wanted while I was there. I was promised food, room, and board, and diplomatic immunity no matter what, which sounded good by itself, but I had to wonder what the ulterior motive might be.
I resolved not to let it deter me from my original goal in coming here, which was to document the existence of the castle, it’s ruler, and the surrounding countryside. The first order of business, however, was the find a place to set up my base of operations. Sketches, a small darkroom for developing photos, and also someplace to sleep.
I looked around and picked a direction. I chose one that did not lead in the same direction as the Duchess herself. I would be lying if I said she didn’t intimidate me. I was considered a large stallion, but she towered over me, and her features were quite unusual. The whole effect was a pony that seemed almost otherworldly. Sort of like the fey creatures found in Earth Pony culture that performed miracles and laid curses.

>>30423819
Maybe sometime later during the week I was to be here I would find the gumption to go see where she lived. If I was going to make a full record of the place I would have to, but I did not relish the thought of speaking with her or even seeing her at the moment.
I passed into one of the other halls, and trotted down the corridor, looking to see what could be seen hidden amongst the columns and statues that filled the path. There were benches interspersed down the hall that looked as though they had seen a lot of use over the years, and the statues had their heads worn smooth and polished, as though something, or somepony, had perched on them for extended periods of time. The thought of the many pegasi in the castle sitting on top of the statues was an amusing thought, but I did not laugh. The looks they had given me before made the thought much less humorous than it otherwise might have been.
As I traveled down the hall I peered into each of the rooms I passed, making note of what lie where. I located the ballroom, the music hall, and a room that was maybe the dining hall. The table in the latter room was laden with a spread of delicious-looking food, but I refrained from indulging just yet. Once I was settled, then I could make use of the food provided.
I found a suite of rooms eventually that had pre-made beds, and I decided I would make use of the one closest to the hallways. I wanted to be able to come and go quicker rather than slower, and being close to the main path I expected to be taking would make things a lot more convenient for my research. I just hoped I wasn’t putting out any of the pegasi. Despite being told it was okay, I didn’t want to be rude.

>>30423822
I am given free reign of the castle. It feels like a deal I will regret.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/TtiDc7tZ

>>30324584
>my little pony movie.jpg

>>30426641
Reminds me of Tokyo Ghoul

>>30423836
I settled myself in with the meager belongings I had brought up with me. I also made a mental note to ask if one of the pegasi might be willing to fetch the rest of my luggage from the inn down in Bluestone. According to the agreement we had made I wasn’t allowed to leave, so I had to take that at face value. She must have meant it, or she wouldn’t have said it. It was a curious request, but if it meant I was going to be allowed to document a formerly unknown castle, it would be worth it.
I unpacked the clothing and other necessities, and left only my camera, sketchbook, and notebook inside. I would begin by making a rudimentary map of the place during my first day, which would allow me to find my way later on during the week. I could also make notes about certain rooms and the sort of décor that they had, along with the carvings and murals inside them. If I could get the rest of my luggage I could start trying to catalogue some of them in my textbooks as I went along. I reminded myself once again to ask about that.
I confirmed my pockets were filled with all I would need, and stepped out the door. The long hallway was still empty, but if the population of the castle was all the pegasi at the throne room, I wasn’t really expecting to see many of them as I wandered down the halls. They could all fly as well, so they had that advantage over me. They could be glaring at me from the rafters and I wouldn’t even know it.
Just to alleviate my own curiosity, but partially to admire the ceiling, I looked up. There was fortunately not a Pegasus glaring at me from the rafters, but I did see that there was more of that red artwork. It was far and above the most popular colour here in the castle. I made a mental note to ask if the colour had some significance to the Duchess’ family line.

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>>30427657
I made my way back to the entrance, then pulled out my sketchbook. I made a rudimentary sketch of the size of the entrance, including a few notes about the statues and the large double-doors at the entrance, then started making my way down the hallway directly to the left. I tried to keep a good idea of the size of my steps, and tried to measure as well while I walked, but I was not a cartographer, and I was expecting it to get off-kilter soon enough.
In this manner I measured out the halls branching off from the entrance. I made notes of rooms, where they were, how many, and tried to match their size in my sketch, but when I had completed the floor, it had become a very messy drawing. The only section I had not mapped was the large door behind the throne that I had seen the Duchess pass through. I still felt very uncomfortable entering some areas despite her assurance that it was acceptable, so I avoided it for now, and contented myself with sitting down in the dining room for some of the food that had been laid out.
It felt odd, being in a stranger’s house and just helping myself to their food, but I had spent several hours walking along empty hallways, and I was feeling hungry. I had seen no other ponies, and I was told it was okay for me to eat whatever I wanted, so I made myself comfortable in a chair and tucked in.
The food, despite having sat out for so long, was delicious, and tasted quite fresh. The vegetables were crisp, the lettuce wasn’t limp, and the bread didn’t taste or feel stale. They must have replaced it as the day went on, because none of this tasted or looked like it had been sitting in the middle of a table for hours.

>>30427668
Once I had finished eating I looked around the table to see if there was a place my dirty dishes should go, but I was unable to find one. I hadn’t yet found the kitchen, so I couldn’t take them there myself, so I decided they would probably clean up after me if they were willing to let me have the run of the place. It went against my every polite habit, but I left my dirty dishes on the table, neatly stacked, and hoped I was right.
Having finished my meal, though, I determined that I would find the kitchen, as I did not know where it was, and it would be useful to know in case I wanted to further make use of their allowances toward me and have a midnight snack. I set off to one of the many stairwells I had located on the first floor and climbed the spiraling steps up to the next floor of the castle.
This floor was even more hollow than the last, with fewer statues lining the walls, instead opting for murals and tapestries. The murals were of all sorts, showing art styles of time periods that I recognized, with one, to my amazement, that marked a turning point in pony artwork. It may have just been done in that style, but the fact that it was in here at all was shocking. It made me curious as to how old the castle truly was. It seemed to be a strange mix of artwork and architecture, that I believed it had not all been constructed at once, but over a series of decades or possibly even centuries, depending.
Although she hadn’t mentioned it, I was curious if the Duchess would be willing to have an audience with me during the time I was here. If I could ask her some questions, I might be able to eke out some information about the origin of her family line and possibly the castle. She still scared me a bit though.

>>30427679
Curious architecture and curioser art.

Updated my journal: https://pastebin.com/TtiDc7tZ

Going to Ottawa for Canada's 150th birthday tomorrow. No guarantees on internet until possibly Monday. I will see you all then I hope. Hope you all have good 4th's, 1sts,
or whatevers.

>>30427694
Don't worry. If this thread dies till Monday then just create a new one when you're ready. Just make sure to have fun.