A hundred years ago, a house rested on the mountainside high above Canterlot. Unlike the city’s graceful towers it was built of brown stone, and was incredibly old. And for one of its inhabitants, that night would be the last time that they ever saw it.

It consisted of a single room, in the corner of which were two beds for two unicorns, and it was surrounded by tall trees through which the lights of the city below gleamed like diamonds. ‘Or like stars shining through the leaves,’ Cherry Blossom had once told her older brother, who had smiled in agreement. Cherry Blossom and Apple Pie, living alone in their special little home...

That fateful night, it was stormy (though neither could remember a storm being scheduled). The rain was so heavy that it was impossible to see Canterlot’s lights.

‘D’you think it’ll ever stop?’

Apple Pie looked at the pink filly standing on a chair, her face pressed against the window, her bright yellow mane appearing to shimmer in the light of the candles. ‘Think what will ever stop?’ he asked.

‘The storm silly! It feels like it’s going to last forever.’

‘So you think the weather team is just going to let it rain until everything is washed away?’

‘... We could live on a boat.’

She smiled, and then a crash of thunder made her made her yelp, made her fall spectacularly from the chair. Smacking her head against the bookcase, she sent an avalanche of books tumbling from the shelves down on top of her; but Apple caught them with his magic. ‘I, I meant to do that,’ said Cherry, her cheeks flushing. ‘Promise.’

‘Right,’ said the orange stallion. ‘So you meant to be scared, fall off your chair and smack your head. Hah!’

He didn’t say it unkindly. Nevertheless, when Cherry told him, ‘I’m not scared of anything,’ she found it hard to hide the resentment in her voice. She huffed as she looked around for her Mother’s necklace; it must have fallen off when she’d hit the floor.

Where was it?

Under the bookcase?

Under the table, the desk, the oven?

From nowhere, a horrible thought sneaked up on the filly as horrid thoughts are prone to do, and it embraced her like some dark creature of the night: had she even had it on in the first place? Her stomach squirmed. She was certain, certain, that she’d been wearing it on the daily round delivering pastries in Canterlot. But after that...

‘Sis? Are you alright?’

‘Mum’s necklace,’ she whispered, fighting to stop her lip trembling. Apple stopped smiling.

‘Cherry, listen.’

‘I must’ve dropped it, oh dear, oh dear-

‘Cherry.’

The filly’s eyes watered. Apple knelt down to whisper in her ear. ‘You remember what Mum would say on a scary night like this?’

‘That somepony needs to give the weather pegasi their pay rise?’

‘No, silly! There are so many things to be scared of- lightning, thunder- but so long as you remember you’re not alone, that’s all that matters. Come on. It’s just an old necklace. I keep telling you, Mum never even wore it, she wouldn't want you to be worried about it.’

‘... It’s not just an old necklace. I’m not worried.’

It would’ve been easier to believe had she not been scanning the floor franticly, but even in the depths of panic her brother made her feel safe. He nuzzled her and she nuzzled back, for the briefest moment forgetting about her troubles, about all her worries...

KNOCK. KNOCK.

A draft blew out the candles along with any thoughts of missing necklaces. The filly and her brother looked at each other in the remaining light of the fireplace, and then at the door, each of them sure they hadn’t imagined it.

Apple Pie rose to his hooves.

‘Don’t,’ said Cherry, but the stallion merely stared at that thick wooden door which moments ago neither of them had given a second thought to. Now it was everything. In the gloom, every sound seemed important. Every drop of rain against the roof. The wind through the trees. The rumble of thunder.

KNOCK. KNOCK.

‘H-hello?’ cried a voice. ‘Anypony in?’

The fur on Cherry’s back prickled. Perhaps she was imagining it but she heard terror leaking out of the edges of that voice, and somehow- don’t ask how- she knew it had little to do with the storm raging on the mountainside.

‘Please, p-please let me in. It’s so cold out here...’

Apple Pie sighed.

‘Don’t,’ the filly hissed again as he strode towards the door, but he frowned at her, saying: ‘That is not how Mother raised us, Cherry Blossom.’

With that, he opened the door.

The filly’s first thought was of a phantom. See the ragged cape lit by lightning! Look at that wild mane, those filthy hooves, those cold, cold eyes. She almost tripped over a chair in an effort to back away.

But then her brother locked his gaze with hers; she gulped, forcing herself to look at their visitor. It was a colt the same age as her, the single wettest unicorn she’d ever seen. Under his bag and cape he had a sandy brown coat of fur and an icy blue mane the exact same colour as his eyes. Like herself, he’d yet to earn his cutie mark.

And she recognized him. ‘Hay! You’re the boy from the shop!’

‘S-Eira,’ he said, a hopeful smile appearing on his face as he held out a hoof. But Cherry Blossom didn’t take it.

... Smile fading, he lowered his hoof...

‘What in Equestria are you doing way up here?’ said Apple Pie. ‘Weather like this? You could have been... well, killed.’

Eira patted the floor, avoiding Apple Pie’s worried eyes, the pink filly’s glare. ‘C-can you keep a secret?’ he said after a while.

Cherry’s heart beat, beat, beat against her chest; coolness rushed through her body as she gazed at this unicorn standing dripping wet in her home. What was he doing here? Even when you counted their conversation in the shop from earlier that day, they had talked for barely minutes, yet that was enough to trust her with secrets? Something else was at work here, something she couldn’t see yet. Something dark.

‘I’m afraid we weren’t raised to keep secrets,’ said Apple. ‘And by Celestia, you’re absolutely soaking wet. I'm sure Cherry Blossom wouldn’t mind if she leant one of her towels. My name’s Apple Pie by the way. You want to sit down?’

It was so like her brother, thought Cherry, to be so honest. Herself? She would’ve let him tell the secret, only then deciding if it was worth hiding or not. Look at the way Eira kept glancing at his bag, at how he constantly looked out the window as though expecting monsters to come and spirit him away. Relighting the candles, she sat down opposite their visitor and tried to catch her brother’s eye. He was noticing these things too, right?

... Right?

As they sat, the question grew ever larger in her mind, like how snow gains momentum as it flows down a mountain, transforming into an avalanche: what was he doing here? The seconds dripped by but the brown unicorn remained silent, and so Cherry allowed her imagination to gallop ahead of her. Was he a thief come to steal their processions? But they were just bakers so that was unlikely. Was he a murderer? On the run from the Royal Guard? It certainly would’ve explained his nerves...

The rain grew heavier.

Eira began to tremble.

He kept peering up at Cherry as if to say something, yet couldn’t seem to summon the courage. ‘You know,’ said Apple Pie, breaking the silence, ‘my sister’s right. I think I've seen you before.’

‘I, I work in a magic shop in town,’ said Eira. ‘Or used to.’

‘Used to?’

‘The truth is... I’m... I’m r-running away.’

As if on cue, lightning, and Eira gasped and looked at his bag as if checking it was still there. Cherry and Apple exchanged a glance.

‘What’s in the bag?’ the stallion asked.

‘Um, n-nothing. It’s nothing.’

But he looked uncomfortable, so Apple asked again. ‘What’s in the bag, Eira?’

‘It’s nothing. I p-prom-

‘If you can’t promise that you can keep that promise then don’t you dare make it,’ said Apple, abandoning his warmth and kindness (it was so rare her brother spoke like this that, unnerving though it was, Cherry found it mesmerizing to watch).

Eira cowered. ‘O.K, O.K,’ he said. ‘But you’ve g-got to say you’re not going to be mad at me- it’s not what it looks like. I’m not a thief.’

‘Never said you were,’ said Cherry. As the colt opened his bag, she saw that he was visibly shaking.

And through the fog of her suspicion, sense, miraculous sense crystalized in Cherry’s mind. She placed a hoof around her neck: she had been in the magic shop earlier, had talked to Eira before leaving; then she remembered how the colt had burst from the shop doors, how he had yelled something across the street, however by that time she and Apple had already been far away on the back of a cart, and then Eira was gone. But something else had gone missing as well. She just hadn’t realised until now...

From the bag, Eira produced a big, black book which he put on the table, then he looked inside again and (Cherry’s heart raced) he pulled out-

Nothing.

His face fell as he felt around inside the bag. But it was empty.

‘That's it?’ Cherry hissed. ‘Where's my necklace?’

‘I, I don't know, I-

‘That's a lie and you know it. You have my Mum's necklace.’

‘Cherry, stop it.’

Apple held the filly in place with magic; it was all that stopped her from getting her hooves around the terrified colt. ‘Use your head -- why would he climb halfway up a mountain at night in the middle of a storm just to give you back a necklace? He doesn’t have it. He doesn't even know you.’

The stallion looked Eira in the eye. ‘Right?’ he added. ‘I suppose you were heading over the mountain when the storm hit, and this was the first house you happened across. I’m right... aren’t I?’

The colt’s continued silence was answer enough. A stunned Apple Pie released his sister from the magic. ‘I’m not a thief,’ Eira whispered. ‘The c-chain was loose, she dropped it, I swear, I swear on everything.’

‘... Where is it?’ Cherry asked yet again.

The colt stared at his book.  Brother and sister stared at it too, the filly quivering as she remembered this wasn’t the first time she had seen it. Goodness, he had been so eager to show it to her in the shop; their latest acquisition, found in the heart of the Everfree Forest itself. Not simply a book, but a book filled with the deepest darkest magic known to ponykind...

‘The pegasus who gave it to us, he, he said it was like... like it had a m-mind of its own. It drove my mentor mad, trying to figure out its secrets and I... I think the book knows I stole it. I think it’s angry. I think the book caused this storm.’

Cherry rolled her eyes. ‘That’s honestly the best you can come up with?’

But Eira was being serious. Something in his face made Cherry think that maybe, just maybe, she should take the idea seriously too.

The three of them gathered around the Book and the filly opened it.

‘My necklace!’

There it was, plain for them to see in the candlelight: the most beautiful, detailed picture of a necklace. The thin chain was inked pure gold, the sapphire heart which formed the centrepiece a stunning blue. Mother’s necklace, exactly how Cherry remembered it, every curve, every link on the chain; yet what was this? The ink was fading right before their eyes. Soon, where before there had been a picture of mother’s necklace, there was now nothing at all; and the three unicorns were left staring at the whiteness of a blank page.

Despite the storm, everything felt still.

‘What, in all Equestria, have you brought into our home?’ said Apple Pie, turning on the colt. However, though Apple’s voice was powerful, there was a distinct lack of fury in it. It appeared he trusted that Eira had been oblivious of the Book’s true nature.

A shiver danced down Cherry’s back.

‘Just answer!’ she cried when the colt remained silent, because suddenly she could scarcely take it: first he had lied about running away (probably), then he’d lost her necklace and now he acting like a coward. Rage bubbled in her heart like water over fire, and if her brother wasn’t going to be angry then she’d have to be mad enough for both of them. ‘Why d’you bring it here?’

‘I... it’s j-just... in the shop, you seemed really interested in it, and I thought-

‘Well I’m not interested,’ Cherry spat. ‘And now I don’t have Mum’s necklace and it’s all your fault, and-

And she was crying. On Eira’s face she saw the look of one who had hoped for everything and lost it all, but if hating him made her feel better then that’s precisely what she was going to do. She let her disgust wrap itself around her like a python, let it consume every fibre of her being; pure loathing for Eira and his awful, horrible Book. ‘You, you have to leave,’ she said. ‘Now. You and your Book, both.’

Through her tears it was difficult to get the words out, but she managed. Oh goodness she managed. Storm or no storm, this dim-witted colt wasn’t going stay here a second longer.

‘I have to l-leave?’

‘Yes. Go back to Canterlot. Don’t ever come back.’

The filly jumped as she felt something on her back- her brother had put a hoof around her. ‘You’re going to make him walk back down to Canterlot on his own in weather like this? Hmm?’

More than anything else, it was the disappointment dripping from his voice that dragged the filly out of her anger. Peering into his eyes, she spied a warning resting behind them: this isn’t how Mother raised us.

Suddenly, she thought of an endless meadow. It was a dream she often had: she’d be chasing Apple Pie, calling out his name but he wouldn’t hear her, wouldn’t turn around... Cherry Blossom shook her head, trying to forget the dream, letting the sounds of the storm wash over her, remind her where she really was- not in an imaginary meadow but here in her house. She pressed her face against her dear brother, shutting her eyes, wishing that everything would go away; Eira, his Book, the storm. I just want it to be me and Apple, the way it’s supposed to be... and all the lights gleam like stars...

After what felt like the longest time she opened her eyes, discovering her face wet from her tears. Her gaze found the colt’s. His eyes were like snow on the highest peak in winter, eyes that had forgotten all about warmth and love and kindness.

She gulped.

Too proud to say sorry, she trotted over to the chest by her bed to fetch him a towel, then she stood beside Apple Pie and stared intently at her own hooves, blushing furiously.

‘Eira can have my bed tonight,’ said Apple after a long pause. ‘We’ll figure out what to do in the morning, but in the meantime I want the Book out of the house.’

‘Th-thank you,’ Eira said, his voice so quiet it was almost drowned out by the storm. ‘I'll, I'll make it up to you, I promise.’

The stallion grinned. ‘You really think we would’ve sent you away? You must be shattered. Let’s get some sleep.’

Apple Pie put his hooves around the Book.

And in the space of a heartbeat, everything went wrong...

There was the loudest roar of thunder, like a colossal beast disturbed from it's thousand year slumber. A gust of wind opened the window, blowing out the candles and the fire, and Cherry yelled from fright as a silver light lit the room: the Book was glowing! Apple still had his hooves around it.

‘Let go,’ she told him.

But for whatever reason he didn’t, or couldn’t, and he stared transfixed at the Book. Cherry hooked a leg around his to try and drag him away.

‘Let go.’

He didn't respond, but this was just a game, wasn’t it? Any second now her brother would let go of the Book, pretend he’d been put under a strange spell; then he’d throw it outside where it belonged, then they’d go to bed, then in the morning they’d send Eira on his way and everything would return to normal. That’s what was going to happen. Everything would be alright. Everything would be O.K...

Now Apple's eyes were glazing over, and though filly felt her tears return, she didn’t care (there wasn’t time to). She shouted at Eira, ‘don’t stand there, help me!’

He was petrified. He didn’t move.

And above the sound of the storm Cherry heard a voice; the most terrible voice she had heard in her entire life. It was deeper than oceans, and it spoke in an ancient, long forgotten language, on each word of which rested the weight of thousands of years. It was sounding from the Book.

Apple’s eyes were distant, his voice stolen, his hooves still glued to the cover. The filly shrieked as something almost unimaginably cold brushed against her hoof; without thinking she backed away and saw that a formless shadow had emerged from the Book. It felt its way up Apple’s legs. It covered his head and his body, then the moment every part of him was concealed, the shadow retreated back into the pages of the Book, taking the stallion with it: Apple was gone. The deep voice stopped. The candles and the fireplace relit themselves.

‘... A-Apple?’

Cherry stepped closer to the Book (Eira put a hoof around her but she shoved him off). ‘Apple?’

Her breath came in shallow bursts. Her head swam, her coat was freezing. Never before had Cherry Blossom felt as scared as she did then, reaching out a hoof towards the Book.

She flipped it open.

There he was.

In the picture, her brother wore a slightly shocked expression. His orange coat was inked beautifully. His green eyes were perfectly drawn. You could almost smell the cutie mark on his flank- a pie- and his mane was redder than a freshly picked apple.

‘No. No no no.’

The foal's tears splashed on the page. Scared what would happen if the ink ran, she wiped her face, but even before she had lowered her hoof the picture began to fade away exactly like the necklace had done. A moment later her brother was truly gone.

In her mind, the pink unicorn heard that abysmal voice again. It seemed to come from within the walls, the table, the kitchen, the chairs, the beds, the fire-

Her head felt like it was going to burst. She, she couldn't stay here, it was too much.

So she ran. She rushed past Eira, burst through the door into the storm, and the colt shouted, ‘STOP! WAIT!’

But Cherry didn’t stop.

She kept running.

And running.

And Running. Next Chapter: 2. Lit Windows Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 29 Minutes