Nimble picked up one of the pages.

It was one we hadn’t seen yet. The familiar humanlike figure was in the middle, with the word ‘NO’ written on either side of it six times.

Ever since he picked it up, Nimble has refused to let go of it. When we try to take it from him, he clutches onto it with a grip much tighter than you’d expect from somepony so young. When we’re not actively trying to take it from him, though, he barely seems to notice he’s holding it. Heck, Risk decided to politely ask him to just put it down, and he actually tried to - only to suddenly grab it back. It’s like some force is keeping him from letting go of it.

All previous victims were killed while alone, so we’ve been keeping plenty of guards around Nimble, along with either myself, False, or Risk. He knows not to go sneaking off this time.

Now we may have a time limit. If having witnesses doesn’t keep ponies from being killed by this entity, than Nimble has a maximum of eight hours to live going by previous events.

So we have ‘HELP ME’, we have ‘LEAVE ME ALONE’, and we have ‘NO NO NO NO NO NO’. That’s three pages...we still need five…

“...four. We still need four.”

I blinked, glancing up from where I was writing in my diary. “Four?”

False, who had apparently seen what I was writing, nodded. “A couple ponies found another page and told the guards about it. It’s the sketch of the forest with the human in the middle of it.”

“So...we’re halfway then.” I quickly made an addendum to the diary entry, then shut the book. “The guards are still combing the city, right?”

“As many as we could get. There’s only so many guards in Canterlot who aren’t busy with other things. Not to mention we still need a bunch to watch Nimble.”

I stood up. “How’s he doing, by the way?”

“Still won’t give up the page. We’ve stopped trying to get him to. And I think this entity is already after him. He keeps saying he sees someone - someone, not somepony, he insists - out of the corner of his eye, but it disappears when he looks.”

“Wow...I can’t believe he’s keeping his cool through all this.”

She looked at me with a sad expression. “I never said he was...”

I had never seen Nimble cry before, and I didn’t think I ever would.

He kept the page clutched against himself like a security blanket as he lay curled up on the floor, shivering as though he was in the middle of a blizzard. He kept his head tucked against his chest in a feeble effort to hide his tears.

It wasn’t really until then that it finally hit me that Nimble, a ninja though he may be, was still just a kid. A kid who was now being hunted by a mysterious and murderous entity from another world, driving him insane by appearing in his peripheral vision...and all he could do was sit and wait, either for it to catch him or for us to find the rest of the pages.

If that happened to me, I’d be crying too.

Risk lay beside him, keeping a foreleg around him in a manner that was meant to be both protective and comforting. All around, guards continued to keep an eye on him, remaining neutral towards his current state.

I stepped over to him, lying beside him so he was between myself and Risk. I extended a wing over him like a blanket. He flinched at the contact, but eventually relaxed...somewhat.

“You’ll be fine, Nimble...” I tried to assure him, but I didn’t sound too sure myself.

Suddenly, he screamed, pointing at a window. I jerked my head to look. For maybe a fraction of a second, I swear I saw a white face.

Risk gritted his teeth; apparently he saw it too. “Asylum...I want you to get out of here.”

I looked at him. “What? No!”

“Asylum...” He looked down at Nimble, then leaned over and whispered in my ear so the colt wouldn’t hear. “If that thing ends up coming in here, I don’t want you to be caught up in it. The guards are our best bet at fighting it off, assuming it can be fought off. False went out to gather pages. I want you to go join her.”

“...and you?” I whispered back.

He sighed. “The guards aren’t going to keep Nimble comfortable. They’ll just watch him.”

“I won’t-”

CRASH

We all jumped - guards excluded. I looked around to see if the sound came from within the room, but it didn’t appear to have. Nimble cried out again and curled up tighter.

“Asylum, get out, now!” Risk ordered. “Go to the second floor and fly out a window. I’m not sure how safe the front door is.”

I gulped, but finally relented. Retracting my wing, I did as he said, running upstairs. I opened a window, hopped out, and spread my wings to fly away.

I had barely turned around when I heard another crash. Looking down, I saw False running down the streets back towards the house. She had three guards with her, and from what I could see, there was a piece of paper in her mouth.

...she didn’t.

I flew down and landed in front of her, causing her and the guards to skid to a stop. Sure enough, the paper in her mouth had the same general appearance as the other pages, aside from having ‘CAN’T RUN’ on it along with some scribbles.

“False, why did you pick it up?!” I demanded.

“Because we found them all!” she replied. “Get the saddlebags! Other guards are bringing the rest of the pages in! Where’s Nimble?”

There was a third crash, and the guards inside the house began running out. Risk followed after them, saddlebags on his back. As soon as he saw the two of us, he galloped over. “False! Please tell me you found the other pages!”

She nodded, depositing the one she held into the saddlebags. “The others will be here any...” She trailed off. “...where’s Nimble?”

My blood ran cold. Risk looked behind himself, and I could tell he was feeling the same way.

“...he...he was...right behind me...”

We heard a scream.