The Unofficial Records of a Mare in Black

by the7Saviors

First published 3rd of June, 2020

My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is an unofficial record of my experiences serving as an agent of P.O.U.T. Yes, it's against regulation, but buck regulation. I'd rather not fall apart when it counts and the documentation keeps me sane.

Within our little corner of the multiverse are several agencies all funded by the Crown along with other 'backers' whose names you won't find in any public files—organizations that exist to handle certain tasks at the behest of Her Royal Highness. Many of these agencies work behind the scenes, out of the public eye. They strive to keep not just our country, but the world itself safe from the more dire threats that plague it.

There is an infinite number of universes that exist, some of which have been explored and countless others that we know are out there but have yet to see with our own eyes. There are those that are trained to take such risks. venturing into the unknown and unknowable for the sake of our continued prosperity. And then there those that deal with the nastier things that slip through from time to time. There are ponies and other creatures that specialize in dealing with those things—more often than not eldritch abominations so obscenely hideous and mindbendingly horrifying that the mere sight of one can drive you insane or kill you outright from the fear alone.

While there is some general overlap, I am not officially part of either of those groups. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I am a newly minted agent of P.O.U.T. or the Procurement of Outlandish and Unearthly Treasures. My role is just what it says on the tin. I find and seize mysterious and often deadly artifacts that have been classified as 'not of this world', preferably before they end up in the hooves, claws, or paws of innocent and hapless civilians who have no idea what they're dealing with.

10/21/1000

I call this an 'unofficial record'—and it is, technically—but really I'm just documenting my personal experiences in an old diary I got from my brother years ago and never touched until now.

Now where to begin...

Well, I've been out of formal training for about a week and a half now, but I suppose it would be more prudent to start from the beginning. Yeah, that's probably a good idea. I'm writing this for nopony but me and I can only pray that my co-workers or anypony else for that matter find out about this. That said, if I end up a dark red smear in some remote location miles from civilization and somepony does happen to find this diary record of my work, I'd rather ease them into the madness that was my line of work rather than come out swinging so to speak. I only wish I'd gotten that kind of chance, but that's an entry for a different day. Probably the next entry.

Yeah. Definitely the next entry.

Maybe.

Wait, before that, I should explain why I'm even risking my job to write all this down in the first place.

So to make a long story short, my job isn't exactly for the faint of heart—at least not a lot of the time. I work as part of a certain agency to protect ponies and other creatures across the world from certain 'items of interest' that may or may not—but often do—cause harm or sometimes even death to those that aren't aware of what these certain 'items of interest' are capable of. Most of the time we're successful in obtaining these items before anypony gets hurt or even knows what's going on, but there are times when that's... not the case.

There are times when we're too late and somepony or multiple someponies get hurt or worse. And when I say worse, I mean some ponies suffer fates so horrifying to see that you'll wake up screaming for years to come. Sure, I don't have it nearly as bad as your average SMILE agent, but only a week and a half into my job and I've already seen something that I know is gonna stick with me until the day I die, and maybe even after that.

I'm writing this like I'm some sort of scarred and jaded veteran, but in reality, a lot of these horror stories come from firsthoof accounts from senior agents and some documents we had to read for training purposes. I only had the one case personally so far, and I'll get into it when I next get the chance, but for now, all I'll say is that this particular case is the reason why I decided to document everything I've seen and heard. Yes, this record is against regulations, but somehow I get the feeling I'm not the only pony that's done or is at this very moment, doing this. I know for a fact that there are at least two ponies in SMILE who have their own personal journal.

In fact, I won't name names, but it was one of those ponies that convinced me to keep this little unofficial record. I'm a smart mare, but I've been told before that I can be a bit neurotic. I don't really see it myself, but I do know that when I get overly stressed or anxious about something, putting my problems to pen and parchment or temporarily blotting out reality with a good book helps keep me centered. I chose the former because it's easier for me to pay attention to my surroundings when I write. Getting lost in a book is a problem of mine in and of itself and in this line of work that's one problem you don't want to have. But I think I've rambled on long enough. I said I'd start from the beginning after all, so it's time for a bit of backstory.

Picture a little lavender filly maybe seven or eight years old—smart as a whip for her age, bright amethyst eyes full of wonder and curiosity, a bit of a nut for the thaumic arts. She doesn't really have any friends to speak of aside from an older brother, but she's a happy and energetic filly nonetheless.

Adorable, right?

Okay, so picture that same filly about a year down the road. Entrance exams are coming up and she's studying to get into the one school that all unicorns striving to make it in the field of thaumotology one day hope to get into. Yes, I'm, of course, talking about the Princess' very own School for Gifted Unicorns, naturally. She studies hard day and night for weeks on end, barely getting any rest and worrying her poor mother and father and older brother. They tell her to get some sleep, they tell her to get some fresh air—to go out and play with the other foals her own age. They tell her all this studying isn't healthy and can only hinder my chances rather than help them.

They take away her study materials, they try to bribe her, they ground her, they practically beg her to stop... but nothing works. She doesn't stop. Against her family's wishes and despite their attempts, she always finds some workaround and continues to pour her every waking hour into her notes and textbooks. Mind you, at this point, the filly is still only eight or nine years old and all that studying is most certainly taking its toll. The filly was too blinded by the promise of a rosy and glorious future of magical and scientific greatness, far too eager in her pursuit of the subjects that were close to her heart for as long as she could remember.

And hey, if she played her cards right, she might even get to personally meet the Princess and her genius protégé Sunset Shimmer one day! The Sunset Shimmer! The filly who—at only thirteen years of age—had discovered and proven that interdimensional travel was possible!

As a side note, I found out much later that there was a lot more to this 'discovery' than the general public knows, but that too is an entry for another time.

Yes, the filly had high hopes for her future, too high by far. Her family had been right when they told her she was pushing herself to the breaking point and that she needed to stop. They'd been spot on when they said that if she continued at this pace, she would crash and burn when it mattered the most. She should've stopped, but by the time she realized all of this, it was too late.

Not only was the filly a smart cookie, but she wasn't a slouch when it came to magical aptitude either. Flash forward to the day of the exam and the filly is practically dead on her hooves. She's clearly in no shape to take any kind of test and her family—and anypony with eyes in their head, really—could see it. The only pony that doesn't see it is the filly herself. Yeah, she's a little tired, but she's confident that with all her studying she's ready for anything CSGU can throw at her.

And then the overseers of the exam plop a dragon egg down in front of the filly and tell her to try and hatch it using raw magical power.

Now, I should point out that none of the CSGU hopefuls or their families were told about what the exam would entail. This was, of course, to prevent any unlawful chicanery—although it didn't stop the wealthier parents from attempting to bribe the school staff into either accepting their foals no matter the outcome of the exam or telling them outright what the exam was. The filly, whose parents did not attempt to bribe the more influential members of the school board, only had assumptions to go off of. Common sense told the filly that the exam would be written, and that's exactly what she'd studied herself into a near coma for.

She was, in fact, not prepared for a practical exam—not one like this at least.

Oh, she understood the reasoning behind the test, there was no confusion there. Dragons were notoriously resistant to thaumic radiation in all but the rarest cases. This meant that most spells cast on or at them would simply bounce right their scaly hides. A dragon's egg was no exception and making a foal whose magical strength—while somewhat exceptional—was still developing crack such an egg open using magic alone was asking for a bit too much. Not only that, but there was no need for any of the knowledge the filly had so desperately crammed into her head.

This exam was, in essence, the thaumatological equivalent of smashing a hammer against a rock with enough force to break it into smaller rocks! How stupid is that??? Seriously, just thinking about that asinine test still infuriates me to this day. All that studying, all for nothing. And you can bet I wasn't the only one who was mad about the way the exam was handled. Evidently the examiners were given the okay by Princess Celestia herself, but the school still got a lot of flak at the time for that little stunt.

Okay, I think I'm getting off-topic here and it's what happened during and after the exam that's important. Also, if you hadn't already guessed, I was that adorable little lavender filly.

So, I knew this was a lost cause the moment I laid my sunken, bloodshot eyes on the egg, but me being who I am, I tried to hatch the thing anyway. I tried as hard as I could, even as all the hope I'd had of getting into Princess Celestia's school died in my chest. I pumped every bit of magic I had in my wellspring into my horn and let loose, but it was all for naught... or so I thought at first.

Then came the 'incident'.

I was so focused on hatching the egg that it took me a minute to register a strange ringing in my ears. It was the kind of ringing sound you'd hear after an explosion if you were close enough. Somewhere in my sleep-deprived brain, I noticed the sound getting steadily louder and thought it meant I was actually having an effect on the egg. I pushed myself even harder, but this proved to be a mistake because a second later the ringing in my head gave way to an explosive migraine and everything went white for a solid minute or two.

I was vaguely aware of a ridiculous amount of magic leaking out of my horn—far more than I actually should've had. Well, it was less a leak and more a raging torrent of raw thaumic energy, but the point is that I had no idea what was happening or why. All I knew was that I felt like I was actually going to explode and that it was the worst pain I'd ever felt in my life. I really thought I was going to die then, but lo and behold, who comes to my rescue but Princess Celestia of all ponies!

Given my dog tired state and single-minded focus on success at the time, I hadn't even noticed, but apparently both the Princess and her star pupil had been in attendance. It was Celestia that saved me and reversed the rather alarming effects of my unorthodox magic surge. I don't remember it all that well due to some residual trauma, but apparently one of those effects happened to be not only hatching the egg but drastically accelerating the growth of the dragon inside.

While Celestia had come to the rescue and nopony else was seriously injured as a result, the school and I didn't exactly come out unscathed. The surge had put me in and out of a coma for about a week afterward and the school had to be temporarily shut down due to some major damages to the main building. The whole thing was a PR nightmare for the school and the Princess to some extent. Some ponies blamed her for allowing the event to happen in the first place and given that she gave the go-ahead for the exam, I can kind of understand their sentiments.

This is where things get interesting though.

As I said, I was in and out of a coma for about a week and, naturally, spent all that time in a hospital. During the times that I was awake, I started to notice some odd things happening around me. Ponies in clean, pressed black suits started showing up at the hospital where I was staying. Unbeknownst to anypony, I heard them talking to all sorts of ponies. They talked to my doctors, they talked to my parents, and I could've sworn one of them even tried to talking to me directly, but I'm still a bit hazy on that one. I do remember that at one point, one of them entered my room accompanied by the Princess.

I probably shouldn't have remembered any of this, but it was all so strange that it stuck with me even after I recovered. I remember certain words and phrases the black-suited ponies used too, things like black box and sonic rainboom and reflection deflection and find the pegasus and other things that didn't sit right with me even as a partially comatose filly. Looking back on it, I suppose the ponies in black thought I would be too out of it to remember anything about my stay in the hospital, so I wasn't wiped. That's the only reason I could think of as to why I was allowed to remember what they'd said.

When I eventually got out of the hospital I later told and asked my parents about the ponies in black, but they just smiled and dodged the question by offering me ice cream as a celebration for getting my cutie mark, which had happened sometime during the incident. I thought their reaction was weird and was smart enough not to bring it up again. I kept what I'd heard to myself and tried to focus on other things, but what happened during the exam and things I heard and saw in the hospital continued to gnaw at me for the next few years. Due to the circumstances surrounding Celestia's school, most students, including myself, chose to enroll elsewhere.

I managed to get into a somewhat less prestigious, but still very highly rated private school focusing on thaumatology and other sciences. I was doing well enough for myself, but what happened during the exam and what I'd heard and seen in the hospital continued to gnaw at me for the next few years. I mentioned before that I was a curious little filly, but I feel as though I might've understated the fact; I was a very curious filly. If something caught my interest, I'd pursue it to the ends of the earth and back, heading into Tartarus if I had to in order to uncover how it worked and what secrets it hid. I wouldn't let it go until I was satisfied with my answer.

That was true then and despite my misgivings about my current job, it's still true now.

So when one of those ponies in black showed up at my family's doorstep one night, you can imagine my shock and excitement at the prospect of finally getting some closure. I didn't know why this stallion had chosen to show up out of the blue so long after the incident, but I didn't particularly care either. All that mattered to me was seizing the moment, and I tried. By this point, my older brother had left to start his military training at the castle so it was just me and my parents.

Oh yeah, my brother, Shining Armor, is the current Captain of the Royal Guard. He's one of the very few ponies outside my own circle who actually knows what I do for a living.

Anyway, my very nervous parents invited the stallion in for tea while they talked and it wasn't long before he asked, by name, to speak to me. He wanted to know how I'd been getting along and if anything strange had happened to me at all since the exam. Very nice stallion, handsome too. That still didn't stop me from asking some questions of my own. Questions that had been burning a hole in my psyche for the better part of five years by that point. Was it a bad move? Most likely, judging by the look on his and my mom and dad's faces as I went on.

I knew it wasn't a smart move to ask about the mysterious ringing in my ears or the 'sonic rainboom' or the supposed 'black box' that caused both that and my magic surge. I'd worked a few things out based on what I heard and had long ago come to the conclusion that what happened to me and this pegasus they mentioned was due to some outside element and not, in fact, a result of some hidden power awakening from within suddenly. I also surmised that we weren't likely to be the only ones affected at the time either. I had nothing concrete to base any of this off of save for what was said in the hospital, so it was all pure conjecture from my standpoint.

It was all just stuff I thought about every so often when I wasn't really doing anything important, conclusions I'd reached using basic reasoning skills. I knew it wasn't wise to just blurt all that out, but once I started, I couldn't stop. It felt like the stallion was tearing the words from my throat, and again, looking back on it, he very well may have been doing just that somehow. What finally made me realize that I might've really messed up was the reaction of everypony involved. I'll never forget the horrified look my parents gave me and the handsome, well-dressed stallion sitting across from me.

I'll never forget the utterly blank stare I got from the stallion and how he just suddenly burst into laughter when I was finally done spilling my guts. It was a deep and genuine belly laugh, too, like the whole thing had been one big elaborate joke that only he was in on. When he saw the confused looks my parents and I gave him, he only laughed that much harder before pulling a small white business card from his suit and handing it to me—not my mom or my dad but me. The card had a (fake) name, a business address I'd never heard of, and the word POUT printed on it.

I figured POUT was an acronym for something, but when I asked what it meant and what the card was for, he just smiled as he got up from the loveseat and told me to 'find him and ask again in six years'. He also told me to keep my suppositions to myself and that I wouldn't be getting another card if I lost that one. Needless to say, that answer was far from satisfactory. I had a mind to find the place right then and there, and the only reason I didn't start searching for the address on the card the very next day was because my parents convinced me to at least wait until I was older to find out what the stallion wanted.

I mostly backed down out of surprise more than anything else. I was certain they'd object and tell me about the importance of stranger danger and whatnot, but they didn't. My dad had told me that, while he didn't know exactly what the stallion did, he was in the employ of the Crown and it was that stallion who had tried to talk to me back when I was lying semi-conscious in my hospital bed. My mom guessed that he was offering me some kind of important government desk job when I was old enough to work and to hang on to that card if I was really interested.

I told them I was most definitely interested and all things considered, they were strangely supportive of my immediate decision to work a shady desk job right out of school. Then again, my mom and dad had always been the supportive type and were fairly laid back when it came to parenting, so I guess it didn't come as that much of a surprise.

There isn't really much more to tell than that, honestly—nothing all that interesting anyway.

I switched to a much more difficult set of accelerated courses over the next six years and ended up graduating early at the top of my class. It was a bit of a nightmare, but I got through it all so that I could take up that stallion's offer as soon as possible. I figured it would be worth it in the end, and whether or not I still feel that way is... well...

Let's just say it's still up for debate at the moment.

I won't mention the name of where I'd gone or the address, but I will say that I'd actually passed by the place a fair number of times and never once suspected that it could hide the kind of secrets that it did. The experience was like something right out of a pulpy sci-fi novel; an innocent and unassuming front hiding the real facility deep below. I was placed in an empty, dimly lit room with what I assumed was a two-way mirror like some criminal suspect under investigation and thoroughly screened by some suited mare with an attitude problem.

It was a harrowing, but thankfully brief affair and the exam they had me take was written, albeit rife with very weird questions that even now still have me scratching my head. I wasn't sure what would come of my time there, but after all was said and done they told me they'd be in touch within the week and of course not mention any of what I'd seen and heard. I waited and sure enough, within the week I was escorted from my house to a closed-off sector of Canterlot Castle.

There, my official induction into the POUT agency as a trainee was overseen by the Princess, the mare with the attitude problem, the handsome stallion I'd met six years ago, and a couple of other suits that would end up becoming my seniors. It was all... kind of underwhelming actually. It was a bit intimidating seeing all those suits and the Princess lined up like that with all eyes on me, but aside from that, there was no real fanfare. I was congratulated on passing the screening, shown the badge and black suit I would receive once I finished training, and... that's it.

I started my training a few days later and the rest is history.

Oh, and that handsome stallion is now my boss and one of a small number of agents I've seen in this profession who can go around wearing a genuine smile from time to time. I've made a couple of friends along the way who are... normal enough. At the very least, the senior agent I'm currently partnered up with seems like a decent enough sort, but in general, I tend to stick to my own devices and stay out of the way of other agents most of the time.

I only now realize reading back on what I've written so far that I haven't really given away too much regarding specific names and places. I guess I'm still nervous about writing out my thoughts like this. It's either that or the training.

Probably both.

Well, I guess it's fine for now, and I do feel a bit better after getting all this off my chest. Maybe I'll feel more comfortable writing about my job and my colleagues later down the road. And who knows? I might even stop shaking in my suit long enough to actually write about my first case!

Only time will tell, but until then I think I'm done for the night. I've got a lot to do tomorrow and I'll probably be too tired to write anything. As long as I'm careful about keeping this thing out of sight though, I think I can safely say that yes, I'll be coming back to write more entries again in the near future. I just really hope the boss doesn't find out about these 'unofficial records'.

Oh, and before I forget, I never actually found out what the 'black box' that caused the CSGU incident was, but I know that one of the wealthy parents in the audience during the exam had it in their possession. I don't know how he got ahold of the thing, but I was able to get ahold of some of the classified documents. Apparently, once a pony generates thaumic waves of a certain frequency the device 'activates' and causes some rather interesting things to happen within a radius of approximately 500 miles. I guess the pony who'd brought the thing thought he could use it to boost his son's chances to succeed?

I don't know, it's stupid, but this is just one of the things I'll have to deal with, so now you know a bit more about what I do. There's still a lot more to the job that I'm not quite comfortable discussing just yet, but I'll get there... eventually.

Maybe.

10/24/1000

So I thought about it and, while I am getting a bit more used to the general work, I don't think I'm ready to write about my first case just yet. It probably wasn't even as bad as I'm making it out to be, but for some reason what happened just... hit me really hard.

I don't even know why.

In any case, instead of writing about that, I'll write about some other things, like the fact that I actually got to personally meet Princess Celestia's prize student today. Yup, the one and only Sunset Shimmer herself. It was a very... eye-opening experience. If I were asked to describe the mare...

She's... not the kind of mare I thought she'd be.

Don't get me wrong, she's actually a fairly decent pony for the most part and we did actually hit it off eventually, but I think I saw a side of her I wasn't really supposed to see if that makes sense. We all have a nasty side to us, and Sunset is no exception. After listening to her and just generally observing her for a while though, I've come to the conclusion that much of her attitude might stem from the immense pressure of being the Princess' personal protégé, but that's just my guess.

Okay so maybe I should explain.

My senior partner and I had traveled to Rainbow Falls to investigate a report regarding strange distortions in the thaumic field in that area. By the time we got there the field had settled down and there wasn't really anything left behind for us to investigate so we headed back with nothing to show for the trip.

It happens a lot more often than you'd think and it's always a pain when it does. You hype yourself up for some big discovery and then when you get there, poof... nothing. Some of the more jaded agents see it as a relief, but as much as I complain about my job, I can't help but get excited at the thought of finding some otherworldly thingamajig. Well, I mean when we're able to find it before anypony else does that is. The best part of my job is finding out how these objects work in a controlled environment... but I'm getting off-topic here.

My point was that the trip was a bust and we had to slink back to the boss with nothing to show for our efforts. He's usually pretty cool about things like that, but because we had some unexpected free time he gave us, or rather my partner, another job to do. The only reason I was able to meet Sunset Shimmer at all was that I was left with nothing else to do for the moment. My partner decided that wasn't fair so she ended up dragging me along while she spoke to the Princess about approval for some expedition outside of Equestria's borders.

She brought me along but I still didn't have much to do there so I stood out like a sore hoof. Thankfully the Princess noticed how awkward I was just standing there while my partner did all the work and gave me a job. I didn't really know she could just do that without any input from the boss, but she is the Princess so even if there was some kind of protocol, following her orders was kind of a no brainer. Well, it was because she was the Princess, but I was also happy to do it because the job in question involved finding and retrieving Sunset Shimmer from wherever she'd snuck off to within the castle.

Apparently, the mare had a habit of running off to who-knows-where to do who-knows-what without informing anypony of where she's going. My job was to find her and bring her back to the Princess like she was some foal who'd run off when her mother wasn't looking. Was it an important job? Maybe not, but I didn't care. I was going to meet one of my idols next to the Princess and Star Swirl. It was going to be awesome and I'd get an autograph and all that other happy horse manure.

Cut to about forty-five minutes and many, many searched rooms later and I find Miss Shimmer holed up in the restricted section of the Royal Archives. One of the perks of my job is that I just have to flash my badge to the guard and, as long as it's for work, I get unrestricted access to the entirety of the Royal Archives, including the restricted section.

It's a really, really nice perk.

Getting back to Sunset Shimmer, the mare is sitting at a small desk near the back, book in hoof and looking for all the world like it was her Goddess given right to be there. By the time I found her I was more than a bit fed up with the search, but when I actually saw the mare that irritation went right out the window. I won't say I squealed like a filly because that didn't happen, although a polite cough was enough to catch her attention.

The first expression on her face was shock, then confusion, then annoyance. I didn't really know what to say, but before I got the chance to say anything she up and teleported right out of the room, book and all. It took me a second to process the turn of events, but her disappearing from my sight wasn't exactly a problem in and of itself. Now that I found her, I could use the remnants of her own unique thaumic signature to track her. I may still be a rookie, but I took my training seriously, and just so happened to be particularly good at tracking magical signatures.

I was also pretty adept at teleportation myself.

What followed was a sort of cat-and-mouse game that lasted for at least a good twenty minutes. She'd teleport all over the castle and I would use her thaumic signature to track and teleport right after her and the cycle would repeat itself endlessly. Neither of us spoke to one another during the whole thing, but the funny thing was that neither of us needed to. This might sound strange to anypony who isn't a unicorn or has much interest in thaumotology, but during our little game, I think Sunset and I ended up... connecting somehow, like through our magic rather than words.

I felt it in the way she would try to trip me up by suppressing or artificially changing her thaumic signature or adding other magical twists and turns to throw me off. Chasing her was like trying to solve an ever-changing puzzle that got more difficult each time I found the answer. By the end of the chase, a mutual sense of respect had grown between the two of us. That's not just me interpreting what I want either; Sunset had said as much after my partner (and brother of all ponies) stepped in and finally ended the game.

In the span of about half an hour or so, we'd gone from frustrating one another to Sunset mocking and frustrating me, to just playing a fun game of extremely advanced teleportation tag. It was incredibly foalish I admit, but it really was fun in the end and I think I might've made a friend out of Princess Celestia's protégé in the process. We talked for a bit after that and though she had her... less adorable qualities, I realized we had a lot in common.

The mare was every bit the thaumatological whiz kid the stories made her out to be and she knew it too. On top of her excessive confidence in her own magical capability, I also noticed she had a nasty habit of looking down on others. Still, neither her arrogance nor her conceit was so bad that we couldn't get along, and we did. Not a lot of agents bothered to make friends outside of the agency and those that had friends before then tended to cut ties with them—something about never knowing when you might die a horrible death and leave them behind.

I myself had never really been a social butterfly and hadn't gone out of my way to make any friends, but I realized today that sometimes friendship can just happen. Like, out of nowhere when you least expect it and with ponies you never expected to be friends with in the first place. Well, maybe it's a bit too early to call Sunset a friend, but the potential is definitely there, and you know what? Celestia willing, I think I might actually pursue that friendship.

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, there was something I overheard the Princess talking to Sunset about as my partner and I were leaving that I found a bit strange. She had asked if Sunset had fun, and while that sounds like a benign enough question, something about the way she said it stuck out to me. I looked back to see Sunset rolling her eyes at the question as though she'd been asked that kind of thing a hundred times, but it was the Princess' look that caught my attention.

She had this weird smile on her face, the kind of smile that hid a thousand and one secrets. I'd learned to read faces during training and I'll be damned to Tartarus if Princess Celestia wasn't wearing one then. What was even stranger was that she'd noticed I was watching and gave me the same smile. Now it might just be my imagination going wild, but I'm starting to wonder if she'd planned the whole thing to play out the way it did...

No, that's stupid.

Not only does Princess Celestia have better things to do with her time, but what would even be the point? Maybe some kind of practical joke? A prank played on the castle staff? Nope, I just can't see that being the case, but at the same time, I know I didn't imagine the look she gave me. I don't know, maybe I'm just looking too deep into it. I'm tired and I tend to overanalyze everything when I'm tired.

I guess that's my cue to end things here for the night.

10/31/1000

Tomorrow night marks the start of a major joint operation between the POUT and SMILE agencies as well as a covert team from the Guard.

By the Princess' own decree we're supposed to cooperate to take down a Nightmare Cult whose leader managed to get ahold of something he calls the Left Eye of the Nightmare. I've been selected to join in the operation and as such, was given the full rundown of what we know about Nightmare's Left Eye so far. Apparently it's a jewel that resembles an icy blue iris, complete with a slit pupil in the center, much like how Nightmare Moon's eyes were said to look. We questioned a couple of the cultists we'd captured after their last attempted gathering—an incident the media has dubbed the 'Everfree Blunder'.

They had quite a few things to say about their Glorious Mistress' return but didn't get much on the Left Eye other than that they've had it in their possession for some time and that they were finally ready to use it. Well, we also learned that it was supposed to make way for Nightmare Moon's return by tearing open an honest to Goddess gate to Tartarus so I guess we did get a decent amount of info. We asked if there was a Right Eye, but none of the cultists said one way or the other. Incidentally, I had to interrogate one of those cultists, a madmare that wasn't interested in making things easy for a rookie. The psycho just laughed at all my questions. As it was my first time interrogating anypony, my anxiety was through the roof—mostly due to the possibility that I'd have to pick her brain if you catch my meaning.

To my own credit, I was able to hide it pretty well, but my stomach was twisting up in knots throughout the entire session.

In the end, I did have to apply some mental pressure to the mare but thankfully my partner and another agent were there to oversee the questioning and they stepped in before I was forced to do too much damage. It was clear we weren't getting anything else out of the cultist and my partner realized that early on. I still wound up throwing up my entire lunch and dinner later that night.

Yeah, I'm not cut out for that kind of thing as it happens.

Seriously, if there are any more Nightmare Cultists to be interrogated, count me out—or so I'd like to say, but if they make me do that again I can't really refuse. It sucks, but it's my job, what I signed up to do. My partner and some of the other agents I work with swear up and down that it'll get easier and I don't doubt that, but right now I still feel a bit overwhelmed by a lot of what I have to do. Okay, so I still feel really overwhelmed by a lot of what I have to do.

I mean, Nightmare Cultists? Artifacts that could potentially tear open a gate to Tartarus??? That's the last thing I expected to have to deal with, but there it is. Just goes to show how insane and naive I was to take up this kind of work so readily.

Oddly enough though, after thinking about it for a good long while, I've decided that I don't regret taking up the boss' offer after all. I can't explain why just yet, but when I really dig deep down inside, those were my true feelings on the matter.

Anyway, the Nightmare Cultists.

I'd actually heard about the Nightmare Cults back before I joined POUT. I overheard a few students who were into the occult talking about them back in school. Since it was just in passing, I didn't really know much, but apparently there are these nutjobs who go around calling themselves the 'Children of the Night' and have been trying—and failing—for hundreds of years to resurrect their 'Dark Goddess', Nightmare Moon. In reality, they're just psychos in dark cloaks who use illusion magic to make themselves look like the 'Children of the Night' of old. In reality, nopony's seen the real deal in something like 200 years.

So here's a little history lesson for the uninitiated.

And yes, I know I'm writing this with absolutely no intent to show it to anypony, but it helps if I write as though I am. It's like the journal is a therapist and I'm the patient talking about my problems or something like that.

Don't judge me.

Anyway, Nightmare Moon is supposedly one of Equestria's greatest villains of all time. She was the very antithesis of our current Princess—the literal shadowy night to her brilliantly shining day. She was an alicorn who, in ages past, attempted to overthrow Princess Celestia and plunge the world into eternal night, or so the stories go.

This year actually marks the one-thousandth year since she was slain by the Princess. It's said that the battle between Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon was such an earth-shatteringly historical event that we started our calendar over and started using 'Anno Tenebrae' and 'Anno Solis' to label the years before and after Nightmare Moon.

There's a bit more to it than that though. We refer to the time before Nightmare Moon's death as the Dark Era, not just because of Nightmare Moon herself, but because Equestria was... well, let's just say that in general, our now relatively peaceful country wasn't always quite so peaceful back then. After Nightmare Moon's fall though, things got a lot quieter for Equestria, thanks in large part to the Princess' efforts. It was in thanks for all Celestia had done for Equestria back then that we refer to the current era as the Age of the Sun.

And I just realized this history lesson has gone on a bit longer than I meant it to but I'm on a roll so I'm gonna keep going.

There were some ponies who wound up falling under Nightmare Moon's sway. They became her loyal pawns during the war preceding the final battle between the evil alicorn and the Solar Princess. The way the history books tell it, Nightmare Moon used her twisted dark magic to transform her follower's into actual 'Children of the Night', or 'thestrals' to use a more modern term.

When Nightmare Moon fell, her followers scattered, but it wasn't long before they came crawling back out into the open vowing vengeance against the Solar Tyrant. Well, that and to bring their beloved Nightmare back to life. That is how the Nightmare Cults were born, and for the last several hundred years, it's been their mission to bring down Celestia and resurrect Nightmare Moon. The Princess and her Solar Knights of the past and Royal Guard of the present have always managed to take them down (with a bit of help from us from time to time), but like clockwork, a new Nightmare Cult pops back up again eventually and the process starts all over again.

They're like weeds and for some reason, the Princess has never been able to find and tear out the roots. That's a big part of why she created agencies like POUT and SMILE according to some rumors circulating within a few of the agencies. We're the bloodhounds that are meant to sniff out the source of these neverending Nightmare Cults.

Here's another interesting tidbit.

Shortly after Nightmare Moon's death, Star Swirl the Bearded transcribed a prophecy foretelling her resurrection and her intent to drag herself back from the deepest pits of Tartarus to seek her revenge on Celestia and the rest of Equestria. According to the prophecy, Nightmare Moon is supposed to return right as the Summer Solstice hits on the thousandth year following her death at the hooves of Celestia—a prophecy that was obviously a load of horseapples because the Summer Solstice has long since come and gone this year.

And then there's the Everfree Blunder.

A bunch of Nightmare Cultists attempted to gather at the Old Castle deep in the Everfree Forest to await Nightmare Moon's return because that's where it was supposed to happen. I say 'attempted' because the idiots just waltzed right into the Everfree at night without considering how dangerous the place is. Well, it would be more accurate to say they underestimated the forest. Based on the reports, several members were mauled and/or eaten by the timberwolves and manticores whose nests they disturbed in their mindless fervor. The rest of them barely managed to make it out alive only to be met by the contingent of Royal Guards waiting just outside the forest.

The story hit the papers and went public a couple of days later and the Nightmare Cults essentially became a laughingstock overnight. I didn't really pay attention to the news back then so I wasn't aware, but now that I've looked into it I have to say, they deserved every bit of misfortune they got. Not because they were cultists, but because they were dumb enough to think they could trek through a deadly forest like it was their own backyard.

Now that I'm jotting all this down though, I have to admit that there are a couple of things that are bugging me.

So in this operation I was recruited to be an observer—somepony who's not part of the actual operation itself, but is sent with the operatives to observe, document, and report the results of the operation should the worst come to pass and nopony else makes it out. Since the whole point of me being there is to make sure somepony 'lives to tell the tale' as it were, I won't be in the thick of it, thank Celestia. That's said, it's still a rather depressing job to have been saddled with.

I was present for the initial briefing of the mission, and it was during that briefing that the boss revealed that the Nightmare Cult—which had rebuilt itself again after the Everfree Blunder—was attempting to gather and enact their resurrection ritual in the Old Castle.

Again.

I'd like to say they don't learn, but the boss informed us that they came prepared this time. We know that, we know when they're going to gather, and we know that they're looking for something in the Old Castle. Unfortunately, that's all we know for the moment. Some of us suspect they're trying to find the Right Eye. Some suspect that they already have it and that there's some kind of apparatus hidden beneath the Old Castle that will activate once they use both jewels. Others suspect there is no Right Eye and that the Left Eye is a red herring meant to distract us from their real objective.

One thing we all agree on is that we don't have enough information and that's part of a slightly larger list of things that are bugging me. For one thing, I'm worried about the disturbances in the thaumic field. I mentioned something about a weird shift in the thaumic field around Rainbow Falls in my last entry, but that wasn't the first or the last time the thaumic field had acted strangely, nor was it isolated to just Rainbow Falls. Believe it or not, it was Sunset Shimmer that first noticed the odd thaumic phenomenon near Ponyville.

Evidently, she'd gone out to the podunk village at the behest of the Princess to scout the place as a potential candidate for the annual Summer Solstice Festival. While she was there she felt some odd changes in the thaumic field in certain areas, particularly near the Everfree Forest. When she returned to the Castle and told the Princess, the Princess somehow found the time to do some investigating of her own. She was the one who discovered that, while the thaumic disturbances were the strongest near the forest, they were happening all over Equestria, and there was no real rhyme or reason to it either.

The disturbances in the field would more often than not settle just as quickly as they started. As far as we know, the thaumic shifts haven't had any adverse effects on anything. Still, the Princess warned all citizens to avoid these thaumic shifts at any and all costs as we didn't—and still don't—know much about them. Unofficially though, she had a few agencies, including POUT and a few of the brainier members of RIDES (the Royal Interdimensional Expedition Squad), look into the matter privately and report any additional abnormalities to her.

She does a good job of hiding her worry, but I've had a few more chances to talk with Sunset and I got her to open up a bit about Princess Celestia. From what she tells me, the Princess has been on edge ever since she was told about the thaumic anomalies—anomalies, mind you, that are still being reported even now. Then she revealed that the Princess had just up and vanished the night before the Solstice. The Festival had been rescheduled due to the Everfree Blunder, but the Princess still appeared after all was said and done to raise the sun.

If what Sunset says is true though, Princess Celestia had been gone for most of the night during the situation in the Everfree Forest and hadn't told her student where she'd been before she showed up at the Festival. When she asked about it, the Princess told her she'd just been out for an evening stroll. It goes without saying that neither of us believes that for a moment. But it's not like there's anything I can do. I can't confront the Princess about it, and I don't know if telling the boss or even my partner is a good idea so I feel kind of stuck in the middle.

The thaumic anomalies.

The Nightmare Cult's activities and the use and origin of the Left Eye.

Princess Celestia's sudden disappearance before the Solstice.

I don't what's going on or what it all means, but I'm starting to get the feeling everything is connected somehow and that this operation isn't going to go so smoothly. We're effectively going in blind, but it's by Princess Celestia's orders so what can we do? If anypony were to ask me, I'd say the Princess is hiding something and I'm sure Sunset would agree. The last I heard from her, she said she was going to try and find out what her teacher knows.

I wish her luck because right now, there's a lot of things that aren't adding up. The operation is set to take place tomorrow night just before midnight and I don't really want to admit this but I'm scared out of my mind about what'll end up happening once that operation begins.

Well, the only thing I can do for now is hope for the best and expect the worst.

11/1/1000

Okay, I know this is a huge invasion of privacy, but I can't even begin to tell you how much that doesn't matter right now. If you want to know how I found your diary and how I know your real name is Twilight Sparkle, I did some snooping around in places I wasn't supposed to be and found out some stuff. It wasn't all that hard really, seeing as there wasn't anypony around to stop me.

If that's not a good enough explanation then oh well. Deal with it. I've got more important things to tell you than how I found your name and the hidey-hole for your private diary. Anyway, I don't know where you vanished off to, but I'm writing this so that you have an idea of what the buck is going on here in Equestria. I figure if you come back and find this, you can tell me more about what's happening on your end because I can't get anything out of Celestia.

By the way, I decided to just use the blank page after your last entry so hopefully, you won't miss this.

Here's what I do know:

After you and a bunch of other suits and some Royal Guards left for the Old Castle in the Everfree we wound up losing contact with you all. Celestia sent another team to investigate the castle, but they came back saying there was no sign of any of you. No agents, no Guards, no Nightmare Cultists, no sign of a struggle... nothing. Well, they did find some kind of creepy gem or jewel or something. The thing looked like a dragon's eye, but it was cracked down the middle. It's been like three weeks and that's the only clue we have about what might've happened to you, and really it's no kind of clue at all.

Mind you, I actually didn't find out about all of this until a couple of days ago, and I had to dig deep, believe me.

Now to get to the real meat of the problem.

About a week ago, those thaumic anomalies started getting more severe and yesterday all Tartarus broke loose. Literally. It turns out those thaumic anomalies were the result of dimensional rifts trying and failing to stabilize themselves over and over again all over Equestria. I asked one of the guys from RIDES about it and got him to spill some info. Evidently, they hadn't been able to gain any headway in researching the rifts because they never stuck around long enough to get any decent readings, and it was only recently that they got anywhere.

Apparently, something had been trying to force its way into Equestria from somewhere else, but the suits from RIDES had no idea why or how. Well, yesterday something must've given because whatever was trying to break through the thaumic field finally succeeded. A big tear opened up in the sky right above Canterlot for everypony to see and you'll never guess who came flying out of out it.

Yeah, it was Nightmare Moon.

I've only seen artistic renditions of her, but those didn't even come close to doing her justice. She was just as terrifying as the history books made her out to be. The first thing she did was pull the sun right out of the sky, probably trying to bring about her 'eternal night'. Before she got a chance to do much else though, Celestia showed up and they started fighting and...

It wasn't good, Twilight.

I watched it all happen from one of the castle's balconies. A lot of ponies got hurt and I'm pretty sure a few of them died due to the collateral damage the city took in the attack. Thankfully the fight didn't last long. Celestia managed to pin Nightmare Moon down somehow and then she pulled these magical gems from out of nowhere. They weren't like the creepy jewel they found in the Old Castle. These were, I don't even know, but they started spinning around the Princess, and then she fired this giant rainbow beam at Nightmare Moon.

I don't really know how to describe what happened next other than that the blast knocked her into the moon. And I mean into the moon. If you look up at the moon now, you can see this pockmarked image of Nightmare Moon's face. I asked Celestia about it later and she told me she sealed Nightmare Moon away and that she wouldn't be able to escape for another one thousand years. So yeah, that happened.

To summarize what happened:

You all disappeared during that major operation and are still missing, Nightmare Moon waltzed out of a dimensional rift in the sky looking very much alive and well, Celestia fought her off and used a bunch of magical stones to sealed her in the moon for a thousand years. The Princess swears up and down that she'll be ready when Nightmare Moon inevitably escapes, and yeah, I guess I can see that if she has a thousand years to prepare.

That's about all I know and that's more or less the entire situation as it stands at the moment, but there's one last thing I need to tell you.

What I haven't told anypony else is that during their battle, I could've sworn I heard Nightmare Moon call Celestia 'sister'. I didn't even bother asking the Princess about it because I know she wouldn't tell me. I can't stop thinking about it though, and it's driving me crazy. Canterlot is a mess right now and I don't even know what to think anymore, but I do know that I need to talk to somepony about it—somepony that isn't Celestia.

Seriously, wherever you are, I hope you show up soon because this diary is a poor substitute for a friend.

12/6/1000

Where do I even begin?

Well, to start off with, I guess I'll begin with the fact that I don't remember anything about what happened to me. Absolutely nothing. None of the ponies who disappeared do. The last thing any of us recall is infiltrating the Old Castle. We searched the castle for a bit until we reached an old library where we discovered a switch of some sort hidden behind an ancient bookshelf.

I know. Classic, right?

Anyway, the switch opened a secret door that led further down into the Old Castle. I'm pretty sure the spiral staircase we took led us down good half-mile below the castle, or that's what it felt like anyway. Eventually, the rest of the team and I heard a bunch of voices chanting some creepy incantation in a language I didn't recognize, and I picked up quite a few languages from both some extracurricular studies during my school years and my training in POUT, including Old Ponish.

This wasn't Old Ponish, but it had some similarities in tone and structure which leads me to believe what we were hearing might've been a lost dialect from a long, long time ago. Getting back to what happened, we finally reached the bottom of the staircase which led to a frankly ominous-looking corridor, at the end of which was a massive set of these ornate wooden double doors. We could all hear the chanting from behind the doors so we figured we'd found our cultists and had caught them right in the middle of their ritual.

Now at this point, I was told to stay back along with a few of the other members of my team. They were meant to stop any cultists from trying to escape while the rest of the group stormed the room to take down the ponies inside. I, of course, had my own job to do. I didn't need to actually be in the room they were in to observe the events because I was taught what was essentially a spell of clairvoyance. Okay, it's not technically clairvoyance, but to make a long and complicated explanation short, it might as well be. Point is, I could use it to see what was happening to the assault team while staying out of harm's way.

Well, that was the plan anyway. It didn't quite work out that way in the end as you'll find out in a moment.

Before I continue, I should probably explain that the original plan had been for me to observe what was going on from outside the castle, but that was before we realized how far down our objective was. The clairvoyance spell only works within a certain range so I had to be a lot closer than I wanted to. To be fair, I was given permission to flee if things escalated, but things ended up escalating a bit too quickly I guess. What happened next is that last thing I remember.

I cast my clairvoyance spell, the assault team stormed the room and a battle broke out. Spells, hooves, and blades started flying. Lots of terrified screams and angry expletives. Things got intense and it feels kind of strange and I feel a bit guilty and embarrassed for admitting this, but I was kind of there for it all. Not in the sense that I was literally there, but more in a sense that I found it kind of exciting. A bunch of ponies got hurt pretty bad, but since I wasn't actually in the thick of it, it felt more like I was watching a play or one of those picture shows.

And then one of the cultists—the leader, I think judging by the fact that the stallion's dark robes were a lot fancier than the others—tried to make a run for it with the Left Eye in tow. I remember seeing a few of the cultists trying to clear a path for him to escape, but then one of ours, my partner, in fact, caught on. My partner is a unicorn, but the mare is built like a brick wall and hits five times as hard, so taking out the small fry wasn't difficult.

Now that I'm thinking about it, her personality is completely different, but in a way, she actually reminds me a lot of Shining.

After she'd mopped the floor with them, she went after the leader and fired a bolt of lightning at the guy. I guess she missed the mark because the arc went off course and my partner somehow managed to hit the Left Eye instead. The next thing I know, everything goes white, I suddenly feel like my head is about to literally explode... and that's it.

That's all I've got.

The rest is a big blank.

The last thing I remember after all of that is waking up in the castle's infirmary—Canterlot Castle, I mean. The rest of my team, the guys from SMILE, and the ponies we borrowed from the Guard were all much in the same condition when they woke up. We were all suffering from the worst migraines we've ever had and none of us recalled a thing. We were told we'd been missing for an entire month and when they finally found us, we were all lying blacked out and near freezing to death just outside of the Old Castle with the cultists nowhere to be found.

Winter is practically here so it wasn't exactly a good time to be passed out in that kind of weather.

That was back on the 1st and we've all gradually been waking up since then. I was actually the last one to come to and that was only yesterday so I haven't really got a chance to wrap my head around things. And that brings me to what happened while we were gone.

I got your message, Sunset, and all I can really say is that I don't know what to think either.

The first thing I did when I heard Canterlot was attacked by Nightmare Moon was check on my parents. Thankfully they're okay. Shaken like most of the ponies in the city, but okay. What happened to us all was kept under wraps at the command of the Princess, so my mom and dad didn't really know what happened to me. The relatives of all the operatives who took part in the raid were subjected to the reflection deflection spell and fed different stories to keep panic at a minimum.

I get why they did it, and honestly, I'm kind of grateful for it. That said, it still hurts a bit not being able to tell them about what actually happened to me—not that I'd be able to tell them much anyway. Well, it was probably a lot worse for my brother. He knew about the operation, but he had to sit on the fact that I'd gone missing and that couldn't have been easy for him. I actually got the chance to talk to him after I woke up and we sorted things out so we're both feeling a bit better about the whole thing.

But wow, Sunset, you weren't kidding when you said Canterlot was a mess. The Princess is doing a great job getting everypony's fear and anxiety under control and repairs to the city are going pretty smoothly from what I can tell, but still...

Nightmare Moon.

The Nightmare Moon.

I can't even imagine how terrifying that must've been to see, and yet, I kind of wish I was there to see it. Is that strange? I can't really explain it, but I feel like I missed out on something I was supposed to be here for. In fact, I've felt a bit off ever since I woke up—like something's missing or something's wrong somehow but I don't know what. When I first saw the moon in the sky—when I saw that image of Nightmare Moon's face, that feeling only got stronger.

I don't know what to make of what you heard during the battle between Celestia and Nightmare Moon, and I don't know anything about these 'magical sealing stones', but maybe there's some information about them in the Archives? Either way, there's still a lot of questions that need to be answered, but that can wait for now. I know we haven't been able to talk since I woke up, but I'll try to get in touch with you tomorrow and we can talk about it all. I know I've been out for like five days, but it seems like all my body wants to do right now is go back to sleep, and since I'm still recovering somewhat, I'm gonna listen to it.

And you're right. As much as it helps me clear my mind, this thing really is a poor substitute for a friend. Oh, and don't worry about finding my journal and snooping around for my actual name. To be honest, I was probably gonna tell you about both of them at some point in the future anyway. But I suppose I can just tell you all this when I see you.

I just hope you don't go blabbing about my little secret to anypony else...

12/13/1000

There's been a dearth of fieldwork lately, so I've had a bit of downtime the last couple of days. The boss is having us do deskwork mostly, but that's not really a problem for me. I may be greener than freshly cut grass where most of my job is concerned, but if there's one thing I can do just as efficiently—if not more efficiently than my seniors, it's deskwork. I sorted and wrote all of my reports in about three days and was given some time off a few days ago.

Normally I'd be down in the labs helping the other researchers see what makes some of these 'treasures' tick. I hinted at this before, but the other part of my job has honestly become my favorite part of the job. With my credentials, I was able to land a part-time position as one of POUT's OOPArts (Out-of-Place Artifacts) researchers, so I get to mess around with some of the insane things we find in a controlled environment. I realize it can be just as dangerous as being out there in the field, but we eggheads are considered a valuable asset to the agency, and as such we're guaranteed a certain degree of safety—at least in the labs.

For us eggheads who are greenhorns, it's a bit of a different story. Our job description states that all agents are required to gain at least a minimum of two years worth of field experience. This is regardless of whether or not we want to be researchers or field agents or what have you. My ultimate goal is to become a researcher full time, but I need to survive my current position as a jack-of-all-trades rookie first. I have my issues with the way this job structure works and I've brought it up with the boss before, but all I got in response was a shrug of the shoulders or a shake of the head and some horseapples about how 'he doesn't make the rules he just lays them out'.

It sucks, but what can you do?

Maybe if I moved high enough up in the ranks I could actually do something about it, but until then I'll just have to make sure I don't die long enough to earn my full-time researcher job. Getting back to the point I was trying to make though, a lot of the paperwork I was doing was mostly research reports detailing what we'd found out about the Left Eye and what we found... was nothing. Zero. Zilch. We couldn't even get it to activate again, most likely thanks to the damage it had sustained from Tempest's lightning strike.

Oh, yeah. I haven't mentioned my partner's name up until now, have I?

Her name is Tempest Shadow.

No, that's not her real name, but I get the feeling that's probably what she would've gone with even if our job didn't require us to use an alias outside of the agency. Yeah, it sounds like something an edgy teen would've come up with, but none of us have the proverbial stones to question or make fun of the name. Besides that, her actual name is even more ridiculous so we're all just fine with calling her Tempest Shadow, and honestly, it isn't the most 'out there' name I've heard. My alias, by the way, is Dusk Shine. I don't know, I thought it was appropriate, and feels right somehow.

Getting sidetracked again.

Long story short, I finished all my paperwork in record time and was given some time off, which I've been enjoying for the last few days. Tomorrow is my last day before I have to put my nose back on that grindstone. I spent some more time with Sunset and also got an opportunity to meet up with Prism Streak, another pony I met who works for the SMILE agency. Given her boisterous and self-aggrandizing personality, we wouldn't normally click but like Sunset and me, we had something in common we could bond over.

Evidently, we were both victims of the CSGU incident.

Remember how I mentioned POUT talking about some pegasus they had to find? Yeah, that pegasus ended up working for SMILE somehow. She hasn't told me how she wound up with the job, but from what she tells me, it was by pure chance. Sort of. She was originally offered a position in POUT, but she found out about SMILE and decided that was more up her alley. They gave her a chance and she managed to prove she wasn't just all talk. Prism Streak is her alias, but most ponies in her line of work have taken to calling her the 'Runaway Rainboom'.

Apparently she was racing across the sky and broke the sound barrier when the OOPArt we uncovered (which has been dubbed the 'Wizard's Tuning Fork' by the research team and what I called the 'black box' in my first entry) was activated. The unique thaumic energy she unleashed gave what should've been a normal sonic boom some very interesting properties. I was too busy causing a thaumic explosion to see the effects, but I'm told it was a beautiful sight. The 'Runaway' part comes from the apparent fact that her crash and the resulting collateral damage caused by said crash was just as spectacular as the 'Rainboom' itself.

For reasons I can't fathom, she wears the nickname with pride.

I didn't and still don't understand how somepony like her could work in such a secretive environment given how boastful she is of her own abilities, but she makes it work somehow. I have a couple of other acquaintances in both POUT and SMILE and one in RIDES, but that's really all they are and I don't get a chance to talk with them all that much. If the rumors I've been hearing around the office are true, then I might end up having even less time to see anypony I know.

Rumors have it that the higher-ups are going to be assigning agents to start working undercover for an extended period of time. Various suits will be posing as ordinary civilians in different towns and cities across Equestria while on the lookout for anything that shouldn't be here—be they monsters or OOPArts. It's supposed to be mostly SMILE agents, but there might be a few members of POUT from my division participating as well. I don't know if I'll be chosen, given my lack of tenure, but it's a possibility I'm not really sure how I feel about.

Some of the senior agents are allowed to live offsite so long as it's within the city, but most ponies who work for POUT or SMILE or any of the other agencies are given barracks to live in within the facility we have below the castle. It's kind of like the Royal Guards, but from what I'm told our barracks are much nicer. Having lived in our barracks and having been given a tour of the Royal Guard's barracks through my connection with my brother, I can honestly say this is one hundred percent accurate. My room is essentially a home away from home. All rookie agents are required to live here and for those with experience it's optional, but most of the vets choose to live in the barracks anyway.

You know, because of how nice they are.

Having said that though, it's not like I have any real attachment to my room. I don't think I would mind working undercover, but I guess it would depend on where they decide to have me stationed. I'm not going to worry too much about it right now given that they're still just rumors—rumors that are likely true, but rumors nonetheless. Instead, I'll talk about something I've been meaning to discuss and have been holding off for way too long. The last talk I had with Sunset was an enlightening one, and I won't go into detail for Sunset's sake, but as far as I was concerned, I was able to open up a bit more.

She actually got me to talk about my first assignment and having talked about it with her and having gotten it off my chest, I think I can write about here. Really, everything I've written up until this point was me trying a bit longer to put it off, but the more I think about it, the more I feel it would be best to just get it over with. Again, in hindsight, it probably wasn't even that big a deal, and Sunset managed to put things in perspective for me about the whole thing, making me see my issues in a new light. Besides, it's not a very long story anyway.

The short version is that I had an encounter with myself from another timeline and things didn't exactly end well between the two of us.

The longish version is that I was sent out on my first assignment with Tempest Shadow basically right out of training. According to my boss, I showed a lot of promise as a POUT agent and he wanted to test out my investigative capabilities ASAP. I wasn't so confident, but I didn't have the heart to tell him that when he was so optimistic about my future. Our job was to investigate reports of a table that had appeared out of seemingly nowhere in the middle of an empty field out near Ponyville.

Yes, a table.

I had to raise an eyebrow at that one, but evidently the table in question was giving off some strange thaumic readings. Things started out normally enough; Tempest and I reached the field where the table was supposed to be without any incidents. At first glance, it looked like a simple—albeit rather large—circular white table. It looked like it might've been a fancy dining table, though given the size of it, it might've been something used for meetings or conferences. During our investigation, we discovered the table was made out of some kind of pure white crystalline material that didn't appear to match anything Tempest or I knew of.

A thaumic scan revealed that there was a lot more going on than what we could see. Not only was the crystalline table practically oozing unknown magic, but there were clear signs of recent temporal displacement. In short, it was an OOPArt if I ever saw one, and it needed to be secured immediately. Anything that showed any evidence of temporal displacement technically fell under the jurisdiction of both the RIDES and POUT agencies and to that end, we had to contact a member of RIDES to assist us in the containment process.

They were there to essentially make sure the ponies handling the object in question and the object itself didn't cause any crazy time paradoxes that would tear the fabric of reality apart or some such horrifying nonsense. This might sound ridiculous coming from somepony in a similar profession, but I really don't envy their job in the slightest.

In any case, we contact RIDES and we've been waiting for a good ten minutes when we hear somepony shouting something from above. Tempest and I look up to see what we initially think is a pegasus mare in the distance. As she gets closer it quickly becomes apparent that yes, it's a mare, but definitely not a pegasus—or maybe it would be more accurate to say she was more than just a pegasus. However you slice it, the mare turned out to be an honest-to-Goddess alicorn.

Funnily enough for me, that mindbending fact took a backseat when I realized that alicorn matched my appearance right down to the streaks in her mane and the tone of her voice. There were some obvious differences, of course; the biggest one was that I didn't have wings and another was that the other me looked as though she'd gone through Tartarus and back. Her mane and tail were an absolute mess. The look in her eyes (my eyes I kept thinking at the time) said she'd seen things nopony should ever have to see. It was a horrifying sight, made all the more so when she finally landed and turned her wild gaze on me.

We stared into each other's eyes, and let me tell you, if looks could kill, I would've died right on the spot.

It was like she had some kind of personal vendetta against me, and I was so shocked that I couldn't do anything but stare. I remember she started screaming something about the table but I was too scared for my life to remember exactly what it was she said. All I could think about was that haunted and borderline murderous look in her eyes. Tempest tried to talk her down, but all that did was turn her more insane and before I knew what was happening deadly rays of magic were flying all over the place.

I managed to shield myself from any real harm (my skill in shield spells owed very much to my brother) but in my sorry shaken state that's about all I could do. Tempest did all the actual fighting and as tough as she is, the other me was an alicorn. My partner put up a good fight—a really good fight—but it still almost ended up being her last. Since I'm laying all this out now, I might as well mention that even as horrified as I was by the whole thing, somewhere deep down within the most primal part of myself I still found the whole thing exhilarating.

It was kind of the same thing as what happened with the assault on the cultist's ritual and it's only now that I can admit I felt something similar back then. I actually never told Sunset about that part because I'm still trying to figure it out myself. It doesn't make any sense given that ponies are primarily prey animals and our first instinct should be to flee at the first sign of danger. Yes, through evolution we've learned to conquer that instinct for the most part, but it's still there and it can still manifest under the right conditions, but this?

This feels like something different.

I don't know, like a lot of things lately I'm probably just looking too deeply into it.

Whatever that's about, I can deal with it some other time. The fight between my other—drastically more insane—self, and Tempest ended with my partner's loss. The only reason she wasn't vaporized by a giant magical laser was that the team we'd called from RIDES showed up and detained the other me before she got the chance. They were able to trap the madmare in a stasis field long enough to slap the strongest anti-magic horn ring they had in their arsenal on her.

I learned that day that RIDES really doesn't mess around when it comes to temporal anomalies. They came prepared and dragged the other Twilight kicking and screaming and spitting back with them to wherever they go to put displaced creatures. They eventually knocked the mare out, but not before I heard her give this loud, wordless, heartbreaking wail. I tried to ignore it but to this day I can still hear it perfectly in my mind. It was like she'd watched somepony close to her die a horrible death.

After she was taken care of, I contacted another team from POUT to collect the table because Tempest Shadow wasn't really in a state to do much. She wound up hospitalized for a few days and my other self was taken into RIDES custody where she might as well have dropped off the face of Equus for all the information I was given about her. I tried asking a couple of times, but I got nothing. My guess (my hope) is that they sent her back where she came from. I wasn't part of the research team at the time so I didn't know what became of the table or what it did and my superiors won't tell me either.

I found that odd given that most records were released to us after a certain period of time. Then I heard later that the Princess had issued an internal gag order on the case concerning my alternate self and the table. The case was shelved, the table and alicorn secreted away to nopony-knows-where, and nopony under any circumstance was to discuss what happened with anypony for any reason. That was the biggest reason excuse I hesitated to write about the incident up until now. Now that I've written it out though, I'm not sure how I feel. I don't exactly feel like a weight's been lifted off my withers, but I also don't feel worse off for having laid it all out either.

One thing I do know is that now that it's on paper, I need to take several additional measures to make sure nopony else finds this journal. If my job wasn't at stake before, it definitely will be now and my memory probably won't be safe either. I told Sunset about it, but I'm no longer worried about her talking about the incident or my journal for that matter. When I told her what might happen if word got out that I was telling her all of this, she offered to cast a geas of absolute secrecy on herself so that she couldn't tell a soul.

One thing I want to make abundantly clear is that I did not ask her to do this. In fact, I advised against it because if you even attempt to break free of a geas—whether it be cast on yourself or whether somepony else casts it on you—the effects are very... unpleasant to say the least. There's a reason geas spells aren't used to guarantee secrecy in POUT or any of the other agencies and why we use the reflection deflection spell instead.

I was sure Celestia hadn't taught her that spell, but then again I'm not sure where else she could've learned it. The restricted section of the Archives maybe? It was Old Magic, one of many spells thought to have fallen out of use literal ages ago. I told her I wasn't worth such a magically binding oath, but she did it anyway like it wasn't even a big deal. This mare, this crazy mare who I haven't even known a full month, was willing to go so far as to cast a geas on herself to keep my secrets.

If that isn't true friendship, then I don't know what is. Either that or Sunset is just as insane as the other me was.

As for the incident itself...

I keep saying it probably isn't that big a deal, but having to think back to it—both when I was talking to Sunset and writing it all down here—I can't in good conscience continue to say that. It was a very disturbing experience for me and I'll never be able to forget it. Even if I'm subject to the reflection deflection spell, I'm convinced the memory will always be there, lurking deep inside my subconscious mind. It was traumatizing and I'm ready to freely admit that, but whether or not I'm ready to accept what happened and move on is another matter entirely.

They say time heals all wounds, but nopony ever talks about the nasty scars those wounds can leave behind. Having written all this, I'm going to go to bed and try not to think about it anymore. Tomorrow's my last day off before I have to start working again and I'd rather not spend it brooding over what can't be helped.

12/20/1000

Something interesting was brought into the lab today.

Okay, well a lot of interesting things get brought into the lab to be fair, but this OOPArt, in particular, piqued my interest more than anything I've seen since I started working with the other researchers. Not only that, but the story behind the treasure we retrieved is just as, if not more interesting. Well, not interesting so much as absolutely horrifying. I'm not too sure where to begin, so I'll start with the events surrounding the retrieval of the OOPArt.

I'm pretty sure a good chunk of this journal is going to be redacted if anypony important ever finds out about this, assuming they don't decide to just outright wipe the thing from existence.

Alright, so a little under a week ago, the Royal Guard received an anonymous tip from a concerned civilian that another cult was gaining ground in a small nameless town on the northern outskirts of Equestria just short of the Crystal Mountains. I guess the stallion was afraid the cult's members would come for him because he wouldn't give any more information on the cult other than its location. Naturally, our first assumption was that another Nightmare Cult had risen so the Guard informed the Princess and the Princess brought the case to our desk so to speak.

Well, technically it was brought to SMILE's desk but since there was a chance the cult might've picked up another OOPArt, we were dragged into the case. Thankfully, I wasn't involved this time and was only briefed about the details once they brought said OOPArt back to the lab. As the briefing goes, they sent in one pony from POUT and one from SMILE to do an undercover investigation of the nameless town.

Interestingly enough, the SMILE agent just so happened to be Prism Streak, though I wasn't well acquainted with the POUT agent they sent. I think the mare's name was Rolling Stone? I'm not too sure, but from what I hear she's a fairly mellow earth pony. They make for a pretty intriguing dynamic, but it's honestly not the team I would've chosen for that kind of mission. Regardless, the two of them made their way to the town way out in the middle of a rocky desert to see what was actually going on, and what they found wasn't at all what any of us expected.

It certainly wasn't a Nightmare Cult.

What they found was a lot creepier than any Nightmare Cult I've ever heard about. What they found were ponies wandering about the town with smiles plastered on their faces, and these weren't normal smiles. To hear Prism talk about it, these were the kinds of smiles that gave you chills—the kinds of smiles born of fear and madness rather than joy or laughter. Prism Streak was a tough pony, but just thinking about it made her face grow pale.

And that wasn't all.

Rolling Stone and Prism Streak spent all of three nights in that town before they discovered the truth behind the cult and from what I heard, it wasn't a pleasant experience in the slightest. All sorts of strange and horrific things wound up happening. Unsettling sounds coming from beneath the floorboards, ponies pleading for help only to go missing the next day, displaced and incomprehensible whispers in the dead of night. The two agents had even witnessed multiple suicide attempts on the same day, and they weren't able to save all of them.

Frankly, I'm amazed the two didn't go mad, but that's not to say it didn't have an effect on Prism Streak, because it definitely did. After she told me about what happened she locked herself in her room and I haven't seen her since. Rolling Stone seems to have taken it a bit better, but then again, she tends to wear the same expression all the time, so it's harder to tell what she's thinking.

As for what actually happened...

The reports show that there were two ponies at the root of this morbid mystery cult. The first was one Starlight Glimmer, a unicorn mare who had allegedly discovered the abandoned ghost town in the middle of the desert. Through means that are still being investigated even as I write this, she managed to gather a whole town's worth of ponies and founded her own small village she called 'Our Town'. Not much is known about her past at the moment, but—and again, this is coming from Prism and Rolling Stone's report—she originally built the town on the idea that a pony didn't need a cutie mark to be happy or feel fulfilled.

She founded the town with absolute equality in mind, and while I can get behind the message of unity born of equality, I cannot and will not get behind such an idea if it means giving up one's talents and individuality—doubly so if the mare preaching such a message refuses to abide by said message herself. To make a long story short, the mare had put herself above the rest of the town and the ideals she preached, all the while magically removing each and every one of their cutie marks.

I'm not sure how she did it or what kind of spell she used, but I know a spell like that was never taught in any school I went to. In her report, Rolling Stone suspected the mare might've had a talent for spell crafting, so that might've played into it. Whatever the case and however she did it, the fact of the matter was that what she was doing was already morally questionable. But then a second pony arrived in town and things took a much darker turn.

An earth pony stallion dressed in black formal wear arrived seemingly out of nowhere one day and introduced himself to Starlight as Sound Mind. It was this stallion who supposedly twisted the mare's cult of personality into a true occult nightmare, and he did it all with a book—a tome to be specific. Once he showed up he was quick to integrate himself into Starlight's inner circle and in a matter of days, he became Starlight's righthoof stallion.

It's clear he was the one who gave her the tome, and as the story goes, she never went anywhere without it once she had it in her possession. She became obsessed with the thing to the point of neglecting her duties as head of the village she created. Some ponies in the village told Prism and Rolling Stone about how the mare's demeanor changed and how she no longer seemed to care about true equality. She suddenly started going on about how 'we mortal creatures were inferior and insignificant' and that 'true equality didn't and couldn't exist and didn't matter in the face of greater truths'.

In short, she'd gone quite mad. Some citizens had said that her physical appearance had even begun to change as if to reflect her loosening grip on reality. Then one day she suddenly threw herself back into her role as the head of the village. She started to preach of cosmic truths and eldritch entities which transcended mortal concepts. She asked her 'faithful followers' to peer into the void with her and that they would all be rewarded a far more fulfilling existence if they excepted some great eldritch deity called 'Azathoth' as the one true God.

All the while, the mysterious pony calling himself Sound Mind stood by her side each and every step of the way. It sounds like your typical crazy cult, but the problem is that she wasn't just spouting horseapples, at least not according to Prism Streak. See, most of the citizens were scared out of their minds, but Starlight did manage to get more than a few of the ponies to convert to her way of thinking. Those that chose to follow her and Sound Mind started to change and some of those changes were... well, they definitely weren't natural.

I actually saw some photos taken by Rolling Stone of some of the villagers who'd converted and a few of them made me legitimately sick to my stomach. Starlight had made good on her promise to show them these 'cosmic truths' and by 'cosmic truths' she meant horrifying abominations that didn't belong here. And I mean here as in they were twisted horrors that in no way belonged in this dimension. Needless to say Prism Streak and Rolling Stone had to call in backup from both SMILE and RIDES to take care of the problem.

Apparently that wasn't the first time RIDES and SMILE had to deal with something of this nature, but it was one of the more severe cases they'd seen.

Somehow they were able to send those things back where they came from and retrieve the tome Starlight was carrying but it came at a heavy loss. Both teams made it out okay for the most part, but the villagers and Starlight weren't so lucky. Some of those who'd embraced the occult had to be neutralized and others wound up committing suicide in the name of their eldritch gods. We were able to rescue the rest, but most of them would require intensive therapy, Prism Streak, and Rolling Stone included.

The Crown provides free counseling for ponies who worked for each agency and in some cases, it was required. I actually went through some therapy after my first investigation and it was partially thanks to that that I didn't wind up a complete emotional wreck in the long run.

Getting back to the story, Starlight was disposed of—courtesy of Prism Streak herself—but by the time everything was said and done, Sound Mind was nowhere to be found. We never found out who the stallion was or his motivation in giving Starlight that tome and somehow I got the feeling we never would. The thought sends chills down my spine for some reason, but the tome is a different story.

The book's cover was in a hideous state when they brought it in. The thing looked positively ancient with its worn dark leather cover and rusty metal lining. There were signs of some kind of symbol or insignia, but time had worn it away along with the title. The pages were yellowed with age from what I could tell, but I didn't get a chance to actually look through it, even though I really wanted to. I knew it was bad news, but I still had to resist the urge to take a peek, and it wasn't like I was the only one.

As it was being transferred to the Vault to await further study, I caught some of my colleagues casting longing glances at the tome whenever the ponies transporting it would pass by. It was a really good thing we had wards to protect against this exact kind of mental tampering (and that had to be what it was) or else one or more of us might've wound up like Starlight Glimmer. Since we couldn't determine the title of the book and none of our revealing spells seemed to work we chose to call it the 'Nameless Tome'.

We haven't given it a classification just yet, but given the reports we received and the nature of the object in question, it would be a bit hard to pin down. The book clearly has some kind of preternatural 'pull' about it but the real danger the tome poses has yet to be determined. If the tome itself is what allowed Starlight to summon those things, then it could be anywhere from a City Level Threat to an Extinction Level Threat depending on what kinds of creatures it could potentially pull into this dimension.

One thing I know for sure is that I'm glad we were able to retrieve and contain the thing. That being said though, I can't help but feel like I've seen that tome somewhere before. I don't know if it's just me or if the other researchers feel this way too, but something in the back of my mind stirs whenever I look at it. I find it infinitely fascinating but at the same time, I can't help but feel a horrible sense of dread—like if I even glance at a single page in that book there'll be no turning back for me, mental wards or no.

I'll be off the research team and busy with other duties for the rest of this week and next week so odds are I won't be looking into the tome, but I'm starting to think that might be for the best. I think maybe I'll talk to Sunset about it, or maybe I'll try talking to Prism one more time or even Rolling Stone. I don't know if either of them will be up to it, but they might be able to relate. It's worth a try, and they could probably use the company. I know I'd want somepony to talk to after everything they'd seen, that's for sure.

After hearing Prism Streak's account of what happened, what I went through during my first investigation seems horribly shallow and insignificant in comparison.

1/3/1001

Well, Hearth's Warming has come and gone but as usual, everypony refuses to fully let go of that infectious holiday spirit, even here in the office. I think this is the first time I've seen so many ponies around here smiling. It's especially surprising considering a lot of them didn't get to go home for Hearth's Warming. I myself was worried I wouldn't be able to spend any time with my family for the holidays, but then something unexpected happened.

So I never really brought much attention to it back when I was writing my life story up until I joined POUT, but I did in fact, hatch that dragon egg. I was kind of out of it at the time it happened and immediately went into a coma afterward so I think I could be forgiven for glossing over it, but yes, it did happen. I never really gave any thought to what happened to that dragon and actually completely forgot about it until roughly two weeks ago—a couple of days after I wrote my last entry actually now that I think about it.

What does this have to do with my unexpected visit home for the holidays?

Well, as I've probably said a ton of times now, I'm going to start from the beginning. It's a doozy of a story and my life has kind of changed a bit because of what wound up happening. I would've written about it sooner, but I didn't really get a chance until now due to how busy I've been. Well, that and I had to sort some things out in my head before I was ready to put it down on paper. I think that's about enough stalling though, so here comes the latest in a long line of insane things to happen in my life.

Not long after I wrote my last entry about the unspeakable horrors that happened in that nameless town, I tried to talk to Prism Streak and Rolling Stone. Out of respect, I won't write down what was said, but both conversations were definitely rough in their own unique way. They both still need a bit more time, but I do think I was able to get through to them. I decided not to tell Sunset after all, though—just didn't seem right. It was sometime later that night as I was heading back to my room for some much-needed sleep that I heard something strange.

It was a voice.

It wasn't very loud and it wasn't all that clear, but it was definitely some kind of voice. I looked around but didn't see anything aside from a few of the late-night staff from the office. I wasn't sure how I knew, but I knew it wasn't them. Naturally, I thought I'd finally gone crazy and didn't want to think about the implications, so I ultimately chose to ignore it and went off to bed. I woke up the next day with the weirdest feeling that something was watching me—not somepony, but something.

I went about my day doing what I needed to do, but the feeling never went away and I was starting to get paranoid at that point. I clock out for the day and end up hearing the same strange voice I'd heard the day before at around the same time. I wasn't any clearer than last time, but this time I got the impression that the voice was asking something. Needless to say, I didn't really get that much sleep that night. When it happened again the next day I surmised that something was trying to communicate with me through a telepathic connection.

It's a bit hard to explain how I knew, but the presence in my mind didn't feel like a pony. Now before you go telling me I'm crazy (you can't, you're a journal) there's been recorded instances of this type of 'psychic interference' in the past. Historically though, it's more often than not been some nefarious creature with a particularly strong thaumic presence attempting to lure unsuspecting victims into their clutches.

Part of our training actually dealt with how to resist psychic attacks and manipulation. It wasn't just standard for POUT, but every agency and even the Royal Guard to go through that kind of training. I wouldn't have been surprised if the Princess had Sunset learn a thing or two about it, or if Sunset had taught herself. Of course, when I realized what might've been happening I tried to implement what I'd learned, but it continued to happen regardless. All that said, and despite my fear, deep down I didn't really get a sense that whatever was trying to contact me was malevolent.

That didn't stop me from consulting with the research team about the issue. They ran some tests, but the initial test results came up inconclusive. After a few more tests, it was decided that I'd be confined to a chamber meant to block all thaumic waves until they could find out what the hay was going on. That was a miserable day filled with boredom and paranoia and walking around in circles wondering what was going on and... well you get the idea. It wasn't fun is my point.

The chamber did nothing to block out the voice either. I continued to hear it, but at this point, I was afraid that if I told the other researchers that I could still hear the voice, they would think it wasn't a psychic attack, but that I was just going mad. I was also afraid that they might've been right so I kept my mouth shut. This insanity went on for two more days, and with nothing but my thoughts and this incomprehensible voice to keep me company, I really did feel like was losing my mind. At one point I even blamed Prism Streak, thinking she might've brought some of that madness from that town back here and infected me somehow.

I did communicate with the researchers from time to time through a speaker installed in the chamber, and I was naturally given meals and something to drink, but that was about all the outside contact I had for those three days. It was on the third day that things started to change though. With nothing else to do and no breakthroughs incoming as far as I knew, I decided to try and find out what was happening myself. Through focusing on the sensation of being watched and the voice, I discovered a couple of things.

The first was that the connection was gradually getting stronger with each passing day, which was why I could make as much headway as I did when the other researchers couldn't. The second was that I wasn't actually being watched, or rather the presence—which would come and go at random intervals—was searching for something or somepony... at first anyway. Again, I can't really explain in words how I was able to figure it out, but I did.

The third and probably most important discovery I'd made (at least to me) was that I could finally understand what the voice was saying to a certain degree—not so much the words themselves, but the meaning behind them. What it essentially boiled down to was that the creature, presumably an adolescent of some sort, was looking for its 'mother'. By the time I realized this, it had more or less decided I was somehow its mother through the connection we shared and was latching onto me.

At first, I didn't know what to make of the situation; after all, I was—and still am—a virgin so I couldn't have a foal, not that it matters because as I stated before, the creature wasn't a pony. But then I thought about it. I thought about why it would mistake me for its mother. I searched my memory for any instance where I could've been mistaken as a mom, and that's when the answer hit me like a brick to the muzzle. Suddenly things made a lot more sense and even less sense at the same time.

The only plausible explanation I could come up with as to the identity of my psychic tormentor was that it was the drakeling I'd accidentally hatched during the exam. This didn't make sense to me for a couple of reasons; the first and most obvious fact was that, while dragons were magical creatures, their magic was of an entirely different breed than that of a pony. Dragons didn't share psychic links with ponies or any other creatures, it just wasn't a thing.

The second was that the CSGU incident happened about ten or so years ago, which would've made the dragon a drakeling of about ten or so years of age by pony standards. Granted, dragons did age far more slowly than ponies, but their mental acuity still developed at roughly the same rate. The voice gave an impression of the creature being far younger than ten years old, in fact, it practically sounded like a toddler who'd only just learned to speak.

Even if I were to accept that this psychic connection was normal (it definitely isn't) then shouldn't it have happened back then when I hatched the egg? Why was this happening now after so many years? As it turns out, I would get the answer to these questions, and more later that day. I can't remember what time it had been once the door to the thaumic isolation chamber opened up, but once the two researchers I'd been working with stepped inside I told them everything I both knew and suspected.

I was still afraid they'd call me crazy, but neither of them did. In fact, the two of them just kind of looked at each other with these weird knowing looks and told me to follow after them. The two led me deeper into the lab than I've ever actually gone—deeper than I was ever allowed to go with my level of clearance. I asked what was going on, but neither of them said a word the whole way there. They didn't even look back at me and I suddenly felt like an outsider all over again.

It kind of hurt, not only because I'd been more or less treated like a test subject/prisoner for the last few days, but because I'd actually gotten to know both scientists fairly well since I started my part-time work as a researcher. Don't get me wrong, I didn't find their treatment of me and locking me in the isolation chamber unethical or anything, I knew and agreed with why they did it in the first place. We didn't know what we were dealing with so it was better to be safe than sorry to keep me away from everypony.

It didn't make my experience any less harrowing, but I did understand.

Back to the two scientists, they led me down a corridor I'd never been to a locked and heavily secured door that I'd never seen. Standing there before the door like some kind of sentinel to my surprise, was none other than the boss himself. Evidently the researchers had taken it upon themselves to inform the boss what had happened and he had taken it upon himself to look into the matter. He had come to the same conclusion that I had, or so he told me once we reached him.

It made sense that he would know something or at least have some ideas I suppose, given that he took part in investigating that whole debacle all those years ago. I wasn't all that surprised that he'd come to the same conclusion, and I even had my suspicions about why they'd brought me there and what was behind that door. My main reasoning was that the connection had gotten much stronger the closer we got the door and standing in front of it, the boss didn't even have to explain anything.

I knew he was in there, he knew I was just outside. The connection had gotten so powerful that I could see what he looked in my mind. If I pushed past the sudden head rush I could see him. He was a little guy, a small purple wingless dragon staring back at me through some kind of closed-off chamber similar to the one I'd just been in, except one side of the wall was made of thrice reinforced glass—likely for observational purposes.

He was just standing there at the glass, tiny little claws on the wall, and his face full of a strange sort of detached curiosity. It was almost as if I was the one in a test tube and he was the one on the outside looking in. His eyes were the same shade of amethyst as my own and had this strange unnatural glow about them. Contrary to what I thought previously, they were also brimming with intelligence, but at the same time, there was still something innocent and foal-like in those draconic eyes.

He was the source of the connection without a doubt.

Like everything else I knew about that situation, I just... knew. I had to see him for myself with my own eyes. I don't if what I felt could be called a motherly instinct—I don't know if I'd go that far, but there was definitely something there. I told the boss as much and once he gave the go-ahead, the two agents guarding the door stepped aside, the scientists bypassed the thaumic security lock attached to the door and pushed said door open to reveal exactly what I'd seen in my head moments before.

The room was a bit bigger than I imagined with several smaller chambers and a lot of miscellaneous lab equipment lined up on either side of the wall. Most chambers were empty, but there were a few that had some... very interesting things in them. Since they aren't really important to what happened and I feel I should keep at least a bit of POUT's secrets intact, I'll omit them from my story. Suffice it to say that there's more to what POUT does than I initially expected.

In any case, the boss and the other two researchers explained what they knew as we made our way over to where the drakeling's chamber was at the back of the lab. The explanation, barring most of the complicated technical terminology, went something like this:

When OOPA-2374 (the Wizard's Tuning Fork) activated and caused my magic to go out of control it had an unexpected effect on the egg itself. The thaumic waves injected into the egg were so potent that it caused the infantile dragon inside to mutate. The only physical side effects of the mutation came from both the drastically accelerated growth—an effect the Princess managed to reverse thankfully—and its eyes.

Once the incident was under control, the baby dragon had been secured, contained, and studied extensively but considerately under the Princess' direct order. According to one of the researchers, amethyst was not the drakeling's original eye color—or rather, it wasn't supposed to be, but my unique thaumic signature changed that. It also seemed to have had a far more profound and unseen effect on the drakeling's dragon based magic. That, however, wasn't discovered until later and the discovery itself was only surface level and didn't yield very much outside of making the researchers aware that it could happen, not exactly how or why.

As an aside, I find Princess Celestia's handling of the dragon slightly questionable given it's a living, breathing, thinking creature and not a pony to boot. I wonder what the dragons would've done if they'd found out about the incident. Then again, they probably wouldn't care all that much given their 'survival of the fittest' nature. That actually also brings up the issue of where and how the school even got the dragon egg in the first place, but that's an issue probably best investigated by somepony more qualified than me.

Still, it is kind of sketchy... just saying.

Like me, the dragon had fallen into a sort of coma after it was returned to its original size, or so it was believed at the time. In actuality, it was more like the baby dragon had entered an early hibernation and had been sleeping for the last ten or so years. Observations showed that the baby dragon had basically nearly overdosed on thaumic energy and had apparently gone into early hibernation in order to absorb the excess energy—a phenomenon dragonologists had never observed before.

Frankly, this discovery is a major breakthrough in dragonology, although it has yet to be officially documented as of right now as far as I know. Unfortunately, no further progress was made and research halted to a standstill after a few years. It wasn't until now that progress picked back up and it was all thanks to my connection with the dragon and the boss' hunch that the dragon had something to do with it.

Seriously, that stallion is pretty brilliant in his own right.

When I asked to see the dragon, the researchers were, of course, baffled as to how I knew for a fact it was in the lab. They were even more confused and surprised to find said dragon awake and fully active in its chamber. It seemed the strange ethereal glow in its eyes hadn't been a thing until now. For me, he looked exactly how I pictured him and when we saw each other in person for the first time something must've clicked, because the rapidly growing headache I was beginning to feel vanished and I suppose you could say the psychic connect stabilized.

His carefully curious expression didn't change, but I could tell he was both relieved and confused at the sight of me. I could also tell that he knew I was also curious and more than a little anxious about what all of this meant. There were no actual words exchanged between the two of us, but we both understood that this wasn't normal—the baby dragon perhaps instinctively. Once the initial shock passed, we all tried to communicate with the dragon vocally, but it didn't say a word.

In the end, he just curled back up and went to sleep again, apparently bored with the proceedings and satisfied that it was finally able to find out who and where his 'mother' was. He 'told' me he'd be hungry when he woke up again and I let the others know so they could get him something to eat. I stuck around for the ensuing discussion about how to proceed now that the baby dragon had regained consciousness, but I couldn't really contribute much to the conversation other than that he didn't particularly seem to mind being cooped up in his chamber so long as he could get something to eat.

One of the scientists wondered whether or not it was alright to continue keeping him there, but seeing him so comfortable and hearing what I had to say, we left it at that. There were still a lot of questions to be answered and probably some more tests to be done, both on me and the drakeling, but the boss—bless his kind soul—let me go for the day. Not only that but because of what I went through he allowed me to stay with my family during the holidays the next day, with the agreement that I wouldn't tell anypony what happened.

I agreed and that's how I was able to return home with Shining to enjoy Hearth's Warming with my family. I didn't bring my journal back with me so there was no writing to be done, but the break was nice. It allowed me to process everything and I went back into the office with a clearer head than I probably would've had if I'd continued working as if nothing had happened.

As things are now, the baby dragon (whom we have yet to give a name to) is still in containment and I'm supposed to come into the lab three times a week for an hour for testing and psychological evaluation. Things are still a bit weird and I'm still getting used to the psychic link thing, but my connection to him is still stable and while I do catch an occasional stray thought from him from time to time, his presence has become relatively easy to push to the back of my mind if I need or want to.

I don't know where this is going to go, but having thought about it long and hard, I'm starting to think this weird connection won't be so bad. I'm still curious about it but I'm sure it'll all make sense in due time. That said, seeing the baby dragon in that chamber triggered another one of those feelings of familiarity, like I'd seen the baby dragon before, and not in the sense that he was there at the exam. It was like I knew him before that or something.

With what happened with my alicorn self, the incident with Nightmare Moon, and now this, I'm beginning to think the universe is trying to tell me something. It's stupid, but hey, you never know in this line of work, right?

1/12/1001

Things have been pretty slow lately.

You'd think I'd be relieved about that, but if I'm being completely honest, it makes me kind of nervous. Well, maybe 'nervous' isn't the right word; maybe 'antsy' or 'suspicious' would be a better fit. Yes research and the endless filing of reports keep me busy enough, for the most part, and there's the whole psychic connection thing with Spike, but aside from that, there haven't been any major incidents cropping up since what happened with Starlight Glimmer.

Oh yeah, the other researchers let me name the dragon so I chose the name Spike. I don't know, it just... felt right, and Spike seems to like the name, even if he doesn't show it on his face. I'm not sure what it is, but the little guy either can't or doesn't want to express emotions really well. He always has this kind of blank but weirdly inquisitive look on his face that never really changes. It's like he's constantly sizing you up and finds you... lacking in some way.

I mean, I know better that that's not what's actually going on (most of the time anyway, he actually is like that sometimes), but I can see how it would look like that to everypony else. It also doesn't help that he never says a word to anypony. The researchers who work with him have learned to more or less pick up what he tries to convey through his movements and non-vocal cues, but they struggled in the beginning to the point where I was called in far more than I was supposed to be to 'translate'.

Some of the researchers think he might've developed a sort of autism as a side effect of the extreme circumstances in which he was born. It's possible, but from what I and the other researchers and doctors can tell, the symptoms stop at the lack of facial cues and speech. It's been made very clear that he can understand what we're all saying and he has no trouble when it comes to learning. In fact, his comprehension skills have been shown to be far above average bordering on a genius level.

When I brought it up with Spike, he told me that he didn't really know how, but some of the stuff we were teaching him about reading, writing, mathematics, thaumatology, and a few other subjects, he already knew or had an idea of. I told the guys in the lab about it and another theory was crafted that he may have picked up echoes of the knowledge that I'd already acquired back then through my thaumic signature.

It's possible given how thoroughly magic affects and permeates throughout the equine body and mind. Whatever the case though, the little guy is no idiot. He actually kind of reminds me of myself when I was his age. He enjoys his lessons with me when I'm able to take some time to teach him and he's a hard worker; like mother, like son I suppose. ...That's just an expression, of course. I feel close to him, but not in any way I can really describe without sounding crazy. I'm fairly sure it's not in a motherly sort of way.

It's more like... like the two of us are one entity? Like we both share one mind? Something like that anyway. It's weird and I know I sound crazy, but that's just kind of how it feels to me. That aside, the researchers are working hard to unravel what mine and Spike's connection mean for us and what it could potentially mean for the world as a whole, but since it's only been a little under two weeks since it happened, they haven't made too much headway yet, and that's not the only thing we have yet to make any headway on.

We still don't know what happened back in the Old Castle or where we in the assault team went when we disappeared. To this day, not one of us remembers anything about it and we haven't found out anything about how or why Nightmare Moon suddenly showed up in Canterlot during said disappearance. We've surmised the two events are related somehow through OOPA-118 (the Left Eye of the Nightmare), but we have yet to determine the nature of that connection. Since the thing is busted I don't know if we ever will find out.

If the Princess knows something about the incident or the Left Eye—and both Sunset and I are fairly sure she does—she isn't telling. And speaking of Sunset, I haven't told her about Spike yet due to orders from the top, but I think she suspects something weird is going on. It's strange because I don't think I've given any kind of impression that I have a psychic connection with a baby dragon, at least not around her. The mare is scarily perceptive when she wants to be though so who knows?

Also, he hasn't directly said as much, but I think the boss is aware that I've been sharing a bit more with Sunset than I probably should be. When he told me not to tell anypony about Spike, I got the impression that he was also talking about a certain somepony in particular—like he was hinting at the fact that I'd been discussing confidential topics with Sunset off duty.

Maybe it's just me and my paranoia, but I should probably be a little more tight-lipped in the future just in case, this journal notwithstanding. There's no sign that he knows about it yet, and with where I've been hiding it, I highly doubt even he'd be able to find it so I'm not too worried about that.

Getting back to what I was talking about in the beginning, there's been no news of any major goings-on lately and we haven't gotten any reports of any new OOPArts that need to be retrieved either. In fact, everything is going swimmingly from what I can gather. The reconstruction of the city after the battle between the Princess and Nightmare Moon is coming along nicely and most of the buildings that were destroyed have already been rebuilt for the most part.

The majority of ponies that were affected by the attack are more or less getting back on their hooves again thanks to both the Princess' and Sunset's efforts. Yeah, Sunset actually volunteered to spearhead a relief effort for the ponies who lost their homes and loved ones with Princess Celestia's full backing. Now she's even more of a hero to everypony in the city than before. If I didn't know the mare personally I would've found it all very suspicious—like she was trying to garner public favor for the sake of some hidden agenda—but again, I'm just that kind of pony.

Like I said before, she has her more... unsavory quirks, but in general she really is a kind and caring pony where and when it counts. If anything it's the Princess that I kind of get that 'hidden agenda' vibe from sometimes.

Beyond that situation, even the ponies from SMILE and RIDES haven't seen much action at all. That I am actually relieved about, if only because it gives Prism Streak some time to relax. Thanks to therapy she's doing a lot better than she was before, but there's still some lingering trauma left and if I'm being honest I don't think that experience will ever fully leave her. Still, I'm glad she's doing better—both her and Rolling Stone.

I got to know Rolling Stone a little better through my talk with her and we've talked a bit more since. Like Spike, she doesn't emote very well through her expressions. She doesn't say much either and when she does speak, her tone is as dull and dry as the Saddle Arabian desert, but that's only on the surface. When you get her going, she actually has a lot to say, and a lot of what she says is pretty profound.

She even told me a bit about her family and how she used to work on a rock farm with her three sisters. Apparently she left the farm behind to pursue a doctorate in petrology but that fell through and she wound up joining POUT instead. She didn't really give me any details on why her career path had changed so drastically but something in the way she avoided the question told me her situation was similar to mine and Prism Streak's and that POUT had been involved.

Since things have been slow, I've gotten more chances to hang out with her, Prism Streak, and Sunset. With everything as it is right now, I'm becoming increasingly worried that something horrible is going to happen any day now—like this is the calm before the storm. Prism Streak thinks I'm just being paranoid (she's probably not wrong), Sunset didn't really seem convinced but she promised me she'd be on the lookout for anything strange, and Rolling Stone, to my surprise, agreed with me.

There's no evidence that anything is going to happen, but the feeling won't go away. All I can really do is hope my gut feeling is wrong and that we don't have another Nightmare Moon level disaster on our hooves, not when we just started recovering from the last one.

1/17/1001

It looks like things are finally starting to pick back up again and now I'm kind of wishing that work had stayed slow and easy. Then again, that's just my nerves talking, for you see, dear journal, I have recently been assigned an OOPArt investigation and retrieval job... a solo OOPArt investigation and retrieval job. That's right, the top brass (the boss) has decided that I've gathered enough field experience to start taking on field missions alone.

Well, part of the reason for the decision is because that whole extended undercover operation deal actually got approved. In an effort to better keep an eye on the public and preemptively prevent any OOPArt related incidents, a few chosen agents from POUT are being sent out all over Equestria to pose as normal civilians for an indefinite amount of time.

The operation already went through in SMILE and a ton of ponies from that agency were already sent out awhile ago, but we only just got approval for POUT agents to do the same. My partner Tempest Shadow was among the few POUT agents to be assigned to said operation and rather than assign me another partner, the boss decided I'd do just fine without one. I for one believe that sending me out there alone is a mistake, but apparently that's just me.

Sure I've trained and studied and taken tons of notes and run through countless scenarios in my head and more or less memorized just about every agent field manual I could get my hooves on, but that still doesn't mean I won't run into a situation I'm not at all prepared for! If I had the choice I would've taken Tempest's place in a heartbeat. And why Tempest Storm of all ponies anyway?

She doesn't exactly strike me as the 'ordinary civilian' type, nor does she in any way look the part. Okay, I'm going to stop myself here before I write something I'll regret. I don't mean to blame or badmouth Tempest, but I can't understate just how much I don't want to take this assignment. Oh, and lest I forget, apparently Prism Streak was also assigned a few days ago to work with another agent working undercover in Ponyville and she doesn't even want to do it! Can you believe that?

We both joined our respective agencies at around the same time so she's still more or less a rookie like me, and yet she gets to take things easy out in the country. To be fair though, SMILE is a much bigger agency that can afford to send rookies out on assignments like that. They also do a lot more work, and a lot of it is way more dangerous. Odds are she probably won't have too much time to relax given how close Ponyville is to the Everfree Forest.

And don't get me wrong, I do enjoy my job... for the most part. It's not like I want to shirk my duties or anything, and normally I wouldn't even care that Tempest Storm and Prism Streak were part of the operation. Again, my biggest issue is that I'm just bitter and nervous about taking on my first field mission alone.

That's not all that's bothering me either; Spike's been acting weird too. Lately, whenever we talk he seems... distracted. It started a few days ago when he asked me something that completely caught me off guard. I could tell he was worried about something through our link and when I asked him about it, he had asked me if I was okay. Apparently he'd been hearing my voice late at night—hearing me cry out for help.

According to him, I sounded desperate, angry, lonely, and scared. It worries me because while I have felt some of those things to a smaller degree separately every so often due to the nature of my job, I've never felt anything like what he described. No, that's not true. I do remember feeling all of that back during the CSGU incident, but that was ages ago now and I've never once felt that way since.

Then again, he said it only happened the one time and it was late at night, so maybe it was a result of some nightmare I was having that he picked up on? I'm not sure, but it really seems to have shaken him up because I can tell that it's still bothering him. I don't want to leave him like that, and with how far my destination is from HQ, I'm not sure if our link will hold up. I told him I was leaving and that I probably wasn't going to back for some time and I saw his expression shift ever so slightly.

It was such a subtle change that most ponies probably would've missed it, but to me, it was practically heartbreaking. He didn't want me to leave, I don't want to leave, but neither of us were going to get what we want because this was my job and it needed to be done. My only saving grace is that I've finally just perfected the minor pocket dimension spell I've been working on enough to take my journal with me when I go.

Yeah, that's right, I said 'pocket dimension'.

This one I'm actually extremely proud of and might just be one of the most useful spells I've ever learned. The pocket dimension spell was originally theorized by Star Swirl, attempted by early mages with disastrous results, and much later successfully performed on a much smaller scale by none other than—you guessed it—Sunset Shimmer.

Remember when I mentioned how Sunset had discovered that interdimensional travel was possible at thirteen? This was essentially the prelude to that discovery, and it was this feat that caught Princess Celestia's attention originally. It's what led to her becoming the Princess' student and a few years later on the founding of the RIDES agency. With all this in mind, I cannot stress just how amazing Sunset is and how happy and lucky I am to have her as a friend.

She started teaching me the spell shortly after the Nightmare Moon incident. It was also after she'd cast the geas spell on herself and was entirely her idea. Naturally, since there was no way anypony would be able to discover my journal if it were hidden in a pocket dimension I asked her to remove the geas from herself—not knowing if there even was a way to do so.

The crazy mare told me there actually was a way to remove it, but that she wouldn't until I could show her that I mastered the minor pocket dimension spell. 'Think of it as an extra incentive to succeed' she'd said with that infuriating smirk she would get sometimes. There are times when I can't wrap my head around that mare's thought process and this was one of those times. Still, she's a really good teacher, no doubt due to the Princess' influence.

With her help, it only took me roughly a month or so to finally get the spell down fully. The first few times I successfully cast the spell I could only maintain it for a little over five minutes. Then I learned to maintain it indefinitely but only in a fixed location. Now I can cast it whenever and wherever I want from anywhere. Being a 'minor' pocket dimension, it's only just big enough to squeeze in my journal and maybe one or two more roughly journal sized things, but that's good enough for me for now.

I'm going to show Sunset that I mastered the spell before I leave and then I won't have to worry about whatever horrible fate would've awaited her if she broke the pact enforced on her by the geas. That'll be a huge weight off my back. I just hope removing the geas doesn't require her to do anything too strenuous or painful.

As for where I'm headed on my little investigative expedition...

I'm going north. Like, very, very north. Like, all the way to the Crystal Mountains north. The boss is sending me the freezing cold north alone to search for an OOPArt that might not even exist. Granted if it does, then suffice it to say the trip to find and secure it will have been more than worth it. Still, maybe now you can see why I was more than a bit hesitant to accept the mission. Of course, as a greenhorn, I had no say in the matter anyway.

The OOPArt in question is one the Princess herself has evidently been trying to find for literal ages and recent reports show that we may have finally located its general location. Something I find rather fishy is that the Princess didn't really give any kind of detailed explanation as to what the artifact—simply referred to as the 'Red Crystal'—actually does. The only thing she mentioned is that, if left unchecked, it has the potential to bring ruin to Equestria and the countries beyond.

This potentially bumps the Class of this thing up to a Worldwide Threat, and yet the boss is fine with sending just me to deal with it. He was promised by the Princess that this 'Red Crystal' would be inert and that it should be safe to retrieve, but she also gave us permission to destroy it if we couldn't retrieve it successfully. It's not just me, is it? Doesn't something stink about all of this? For one thing, how would the Princess know the thing is inert if she's never been able to find it?

What isn't she telling us about this Red Crystal? What isn't the boss telling me? Is this just one of those things where I just have to trust that the higher-ups have everything under control? Are they hiding the details for the greater good? For my sake? Or is there something else going on? And why in the deepest depths of Tartarus am I being sent in alone to do this? Yes, I'm being given the necessary tools for the job and a few communications scrolls should I need to report any anomalies or if I need backup, but will that be enough?

Just thinking about all of these questions and about all the ways this can all go horribly wrong is literally making me sick to my stomach. Normally jotting this all down helps keep me calm, but now I'm more worried than I was before I started writing. I'm going to get something warm to drink, head to bed, and try (and probably fail) not to think about it for now.

At least I'll have you to keep me company, journal. Thank the Goddess for small miracles.

1/20/1001

I have to once again mention how great this minor pocket dimension spell is, even if I'm just using it to hide my journal for the time being. It actually feels pretty good to be able to write something down here outside of my own room back at HQ.

As I jot this entry down I'm currently on the Pony Express bound for Manehattan. Unfortunately, the train doesn't go as far as the Crystal Mountains so I had to board a train heading east from Canterlot to Manehattan and then board an airship once I get there. There's a railroad running west of Canterlot that would get me a bit closer to my destination but I decided not to take it.

The problem is that the railroad is unfinished and only goes about as far as the Galloping Gorge. Not only that, but I'd have to travel by hoof or hire a coach to take me the rest of the way, and while an airship is more expensive, it's also a lot faster. Bits aren't an issue anyway seeing as how the agency—and by extension, the Crown—is paying my travel expenses for me.

There are those agency perks at work again. Gotta love 'em.

That aside, the ride's been pretty smooth and painless so far. I've had nothing but time on my hooves since I boarded the train so I'd been catching up on some reading up until now. I'm still worried about a bunch of things, but I have to say, this has been a fairly relaxing trip. It's gotten pretty late out and the unscheduled rain beating against the window next to me is doing wonders for my nerves.

I've always liked the rain, but Canterlot never seems to get enough of it. I've heard it's because the Princess hates it and ordered the weather team in Canterlot not to let it rain unless it was absolutely necessary. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if that old rumor turned out to be true.

Sunset already told me that the Princess could be foalish when it came to certain things so a foalish demand like that evidently wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. In any case, I'm kind of glad there are areas like this where the influence of pegasus magic doesn't reach and nature is free to do whatever it wants.

Sure, the Everfree Forest goes a bit overboard with its weather from time to time, but that place is far from normal. It's excessively violent, unpredictable, and uncontrollable storms are more an exception rather than the rule. Everywhere else that lacks a weather team to keep things under control is far tamer when it comes to the weather thankfully.

Look at me, just sitting here writing about the weather like nothing is wrong in the world.

It almost feels like I'm going undercover like Tempest and Prism Streak, and in a way I guess I kind of am for the moment. I've forgone my black suit in order not to draw too much attention to myself and now I'm basically posing as a tourist out to see some eccentric sights up north. At least, that's the story I'm giving to anypony curious enough to ask me where I'm headed or what I'm doing.

In reality, though, I'm still very much wary of my current mission and this 'Red Crystal' I'm supposed to find. I tried to get a bit more info out of the boss just before I left, but the stallion was like a steel wall. I couldn't get anything else out of him other than some basic safety tips for climbing the Crystal Mountains—tips which, I might add, I'm already well aware of.

I've already fully prepared for the trip and any supplies I couldn't bring with me or that haven't been provided by POUT I plan to pick up in Manehattan. Speaking of preparations, I also made sure to visit Sunset before I left and let her know about my mastery of the minor pocket dimension spell.

She was shocked, to say the least. Apparently she hadn't actually expected me to pick it up so fast even after she'd told me when I first started trying to learn the spell that she believed I'd master it in no time flat. I called her out on her insincerity of course, but her response was that she was just trying to be supportive which, okay fine.

I can appreciate that she was trying to help, but give me honest support! Don't tell me I can do it if you don't mean it! I'd rather she give it to me straight and just tell me that she had doubts than pile on empty words of encouragement, y'know? It's fine I guess, and I'm not too mad about it; that's just how she is sometimes and I can accept that about her.

It also helps that she's keeping her promise of getting rid of that horrible geas she inflicted on herself. Although, I'm not so sure I believe her when she told me it would be a fairly painless process as long as she did it right. I was and am suspicious of the fact that she didn't tell me what the process of dispelling the geas would actually entail.

That has me worried, but then there's Spike.

I also took the time to see him one last time as well. On the bright side, we've finally gathered enough data on the little drake to satisfy a few conditions. Namely, we can start treating him less like an experiment and more like an actual living, thinking creature. Don't get me wrong, all of us had reservations about keeping Spike locked up in that overblown container, even if Spike himself didn't really mind all that much.

The problem was that the Princess had the final say in the matter and decided it would be best for our own safety to keep him contained until we knew more. Well, now we know more and have finally been given the okay to move him to an actual room, albeit with some added restrictions and security measures put into place so he can't wander about where he's not allowed to.

The room itself is still located down in the lab and it's not exactly up to the standards of the kind of bedroom I have, but I've seen it personally and I think it's nice enough. Spike doesn't really care either way as long as he still gets fed and gets to see me.

That, though, is where the problems begin.

See, Spike understands that I have a job to do; He doesn't like it, but he understands. That's not what's bugging him the most anymore. The issue now is that he heard my voice again the night before I came to visit him for the last time before I left. It was the same sort of situation as before and now it has him scared.

In all honesty, it has me a bit scared too because according to him, I'd started calling out to him, begging him to come back. Again, I'd like to point out that I'd done no such thing and in fact, had some fairly restful sleep for how anxious I was. Now he really doesn't want me to go if only because he's starting to think this might be some kind of omen or prophecy or something.

His own anxiety was so bad that he had actually spoken out loud for the first time, shocking not only me but the other scientist who'd been present at the time. It was in a slow, halting, stuttering sort of voice, slightly cracked from lack of use, but the question he'd asked was as clear as day. He'd turned to me and the other researcher with that same blank expression and asked aloud if he could go with me.

At that point, I was ready to scoop him up and take him away with me, but of course, that was out of the question. There was no way in Tartarus the higher-ups would allow something like that even though I really, really wanted him by my side. He didn't fight or argue against the obvious denial but not even the other scientists could miss the disappointment and worry in his eerily glowing eyes.

Yes, him actually speaking out loud was a breakthrough, but I just wish it had happened under better and less ominous and heartbreaking circumstances. Up until a few hours ago, I was able to ease his mind through our mutual telepathic link, but that got weaker and weaker the further I moved away from Canterlot and now it's gone completely.

This might sound silly—especially considering it hasn't been all that long since the link was established—but without Spike's voice in my mind, I feel kind of lonely. The whole world seems a bit quieter and I somehow feel like I lost a part of myself. The sensation isn't exactly stifling me or anything, but I'm worried about how it's affecting Spike.

It's not the first time I've traveled far enough for the link to weaken considerably, but it is the first time I've put enough distance between us that the link has vanished entirely. I've been to Manehattan once before while on a mission with Tempest Storm, but that was before Spike had hatched. Now things are different, but even so, what can I do?

I suppose I'll just have to deal with it and pray that Spike is okay without me. In the meantime, it looks like the train's made it through the Shady Mountain Pass tunnel so it shouldn't be too much longer before I reach Manehattan. I'd give it about another two or three hours before the Pony Express pulls into Manehattan Station.

I'll be arriving a couple of hours before Celestia raises the sun so I won't be able to head right to Manehattan's Landing Port right from the train station. Thankfully a hotel has already been booked in advance for me to stay at. I'd rather not drag out this little adventure any longer than I have to but at the same time, I don't want to rush things and make a mistake either.

As things are, it might actually be better for me to stay in town for a bit and ask around to see if anypony knows anything useful about the Crystal Mountains. My flight won't be leaving until just before noon anyway so I don't think it's a bad idea. The problem is where would I even start with my questions? Who would I even ask?

Well, I'm sure something will work itself out... probably. Hopefully. For now, I'm gonna get a bit of shuteye before the train pulls in. As always, here's hoping everything goes well in the end.

1/21/1001

Life has a funny way of turning things around on you when you least expect it.

Here I was worrying myself to death about having to do this mission alone, and now I find myself riding aboard what was supposed to be a private airship provided by the agency with a new tag-along. It was supposed to be just me, the pilot, the co-pilot, and a few crew members. I'm not even entirely sure how it happened, but that turned into me, the pilot, the co-pilot, a few crew members, and probably the most stubborn unicorn I've ever met.

Don't get me wrong, the mare isn't abrasive or anything, just very... insistent. She's also incredibly perceptive and has a certain way with words that not even I can match, and I pride myself on knowing just what to say and when to say it to get what I need—at least when it comes to my job. It's not that I couldn't out-logic the mare, it's more that she somehow managed to make me unsure of whether or not she's actually another agent working in Manehattan.

With the way she spoke, the things she said, it all seemed to imply that she knew exactly why I was in Manehattan and what I was looking for. I know now that wasn't the case and she just so happens to be really, really good at reading ponies and their intentions. At the time though, her terrifying insight convinced me that POUT had sent another agent to help me after all.

So just who is this mysterious unicorn mare who was able to talk her way into joining a POUT agent on their potentially dangerous excursion into the Crystal Mountains?

Her name is Rarity Belle and when this is all over—if we both manage to make it back to civilization—I'm going to ask the boss about her. If she isn't an agent already then I'm going to ask the boss to scout her as a possible POUT agent. Hay, I'd do it myself if I had the authority. I think she has that much potential—far more than I probably did when the boss recruited me all those years ago.

I'm still a bit hesitant about involving a civilian, but after hearing what the mare had to say, and hearing that her talent somehow gave her the ability to magically 'sniff out' precious gemstones, I think she can help me. And besides that, it's not necessarily against protocol to bring her along. Strictly speaking, POUT does give us a bit of leeway in certain circumstances such as this.

So long as I don't divulge mission details and am able to ensure her safety, I can take her with me without having to worry about getting in trouble with the agency. A big part of why this is allowed is because we can just use the reflection deflection spell if a civilian sees something they shouldn't have. Yeah, there are still risks, but when push comes to shove, POUT agents are supposed to do what's necessary to complete the mission successfully.

As for how I met Rarity...

Well, it happened while I was gathering information for my mission in the city. I did some research at the St Germane National Library (the largest font of knowledge in Equestria after the Royal Archives), talked to a few ponies here and there, and—through word-of-mouth—eventually wound up on the doorstep of a seamstress who also worked as a professional lapidarist on her off days.

As you may have guessed, journal, that seamstress just so happened to be Miss Rarity Belle. I asked her a few things, got some... very interesting answers, somehow she was able to work out my intentions to some degree, and before I knew it she was offering to drop everything and join me on my journey.

I don't know, maybe it was me. Maybe I just wasn't careful enough when I was asking for information. Even if I had been the one to make a mistake though, that didn't change the fact that the mare's perception is just... downright eerie. Despite all that, she's actually a pretty pleasant mare (when she's not reverse-interrogating you) and really easy to talk to.

Her practically superequine perception is the biggest reason I want her to join POUT, but that's not all. I don't know what it is, but for some reason, this mare and I just seemed to... I don't know, click I guess. It was the same with Sunset Shimmer and Prism Streak too now that I think about it. Yeah, it took a bit of time to warm up to Sunset but once I did, being her friend just felt... natural, like maybe we'd been friends in a past life or something.

Actually, looking back on the past few months there've been a lot of things that have felt like that—familiar, I mean. I'll see something, hear about something, or meet somepony and something just... falls into place somehow. I can't really explain it but now that I'm thinking about it, the sensation might be worth looking into at some point.

And come to think of it, I'm pretty sure the alicorn me mentioned the name 'Spike' at one point. I didn't really register it back then, but maybe she also had a baby dragon to look after that she called Spike? I don't really want to think about the implications of what she might've gone through if that is the case...

I guess that might also explain why the name 'Spike' felt so right. And now I'm thinking about a million other possibilities and making some unsettling connections and I'm going to just stop myself here before I fall headfirst into a rabbit hole from which there is no escape.

Important mission from the Princess first, potentially crippling existential dilemma later.

In any case, I managed to avoid telling Rarity exactly was my mission was so she's still in the dark about the Red Crystal. I'm fairly sure she does at the very least know that I'm searching for something up in the Crystal Mountains. That makes sense though given the questions I was asking so I only have myself to blame for her knowing that much.

Apparently she was due for a vacation and felt she could find that 'special something' that couldn't be found in the city. That was the reason she gave for deciding to join a mare she only just met on her trip to a frozen tundra far away from society. I did point out just how hasty and asinine her decision was, but she just waved my worries away saying that she could handle herself and that I seemed like a trustworthy sort.

I mean to be fair I'd like to think I am, but she doesn't know that for sure. Besides that, if worst came to worst I might have to do something unsavory. I don't know what it would be, but in this line of work, you never know what you might have to do. Ultimately my attempts to dissuade the mare failed miserably and I got caught up in her own pace. When I say 'her own pace' I mean she was literally heading out the door even before I was ready to go.

By the time I was ready, she was the one leading me to the landing port where the agency's private airship was docked. Mind you, this mare did not look like the type to take a leisurely hike up an icy mountain. If anything her mannerisms and the way she spoke reminded me of those stuffy nobles you see buzzing around the castle like well-dressed fruit flies.

Not to mention the amount of care she puts into her appearance. With her pristine white coat, the lavish curls of her violet mane and tail, and all that makeup, I just can't see it her roughing it in the mountains. But again, she swears up and down that it won't be a problem and to not worry about her.

Having written all this, perhaps you can see why I had my suspicions about her already being an agent of some kind? I'd still believe that if it weren't for the answer she gave when I asked her about her own intentions in joining me.

When I asked about this 'special something' she was looking for she just laughed it off saying it was something she was lacking as both a seamstress and lapidarist. Her excuse for joining me sounded shaky at best, but something about the way she said it and the look in her eyes told me she wasn't just making excuses. There was a weird sort of sadness or melancholy or something behind her polite and playful smile.

Yes, the mare was a natural at reading ponies, but thanks to my training I wasn't exactly a slouch at seeing past a mask either. I wasn't sure what her deal was but her words and expression were definitely giving off some soul-searchy vibes. That was probably another factor in me letting her tag along. Don't ask me why that was a factor, I couldn't tell you. Maybe I just felt bad.

It was almost like she was waiting for an excuse to leave Manehattan behind—like she was expecting somepony to come and tear her away from her mundane existence. She was more than ready and willing to go on an adventure to who knows where with a complete stranger. If that alone isn't a cry for help, then I don't know what is.

Whatever her reasons and however I feel about it, she's here now, and there's no turning back. We've already set off for the Crystal Mountains and to turn around now would only waste more time. I'm still worried about what will happen when we get there, but at the same time, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little glad to have some company.

And with all this written I think I'll stop here. The only reason I was able to jot this all down now was that Rarity was taking a nap. We're supposed to arrive at our destination before nightfall so I let the mare use the guest room, as I wasn't really planning to use it at all during the trip save for maybe a quick shower. She's up now though so I think I'll talk with her some more for a bit.

Maybe I can get her to tell me what's going on behind the scenes. I know there's something she's not telling me and I don't really want those unspoken issues getting in the way of my own work and possibly getting us both killed somehow. Yes, I know this is the pot calling the kettle black but unlike Rarity, I have some idea of what I'm getting myself into.

At least I hope I do...

1/21/1001

Well, we've made it to the base of the Crystal Mountain range safe and sound, and sweet Goddess it's cold. Like, really cold. I was expecting it to be cold, that much only natural, but wow. We were supposed to make it just before nightfall, but evidently, somepony had miscalculated and we wound up touching down in the dead of night.

I personally wouldn't have minded if it weren't for a few things. Namely the drastic drop in temperature, but also the fact that—aside from the small lodge where we were to stay for the night—there were no other buildings around. There were no ponies to greet us except for the wrinkled old stallion running the lonely little lodge.

Now I was really glad Rarity had decided to come along because right now, the only ones keeping us company in this place are the freezing weather and howling winds outside. Granted, things are pretty cozy right now; It was quiet inside the lodge save for the small but very warm fire crackling in the hearth.

I'm wrapped head to hoof in a nice and comfy wool blanket, sitting at a small table near one of the windows as I write this. Rarity had pulled out some kind of chintzy romance novel and made herself comfortable in one of the velvety armchairs near the fireplace. That's to say nothing of the surprising quality of the hot cocoa and herbal tea—of which I had the former and Rarity the latter.

The old stallion in charge is a bit... strange, but I have to admit he keeps a very nice lodge. It was actually far nicer than I was expecting for being all the way out in a mountain range I'm sure nopony bothers to visit very often. I had to wonder how the guy could afford the upkeep living out here on his own. Speaking of the lodgekeeper though, he's a nice enough stallion, just... strange.

Whenever he talked to me or Rarity I got the sense that he wasn't all there—like he was constantly distracted by something or his mind was off somewhere far away in another time and place. A bit of a melodramatic way to describe it I'm aware but that's just the kind of vibe he gives off. Naturally, Rarity had also noticed something was off.

She tried to pry in that persistent way that she does, but the only bit of his story she was able to get out of him was that he used to be some hotshot mountaineer. He certainly looked like he was bred for it—burly physique, thick off-white coat, full beard that had gone fully grey but was still very impressive.

Apparently, there used to be a small little hamlet at the base of the mountain a long time ago. Back when he was still climbing mountains the folks in town called him the Yeti, presumably because of his climbing skill and the fact that the stallion could probably blend right into the snow around him. When I asked what happened to the hamlet, he told me there'd been some horrible accident.

To hear it from him, there was a massive avalanche that buried most of the town, killing dozens and driving the rest out of their homes. Ultimately those who survived tore down what was left of the town and left the mountain for greener pastures (probably literally). We asked why he was still here and he told he couldn't fully let go of the life of a mountaineer. The problem was that he wouldn't tell us why he quit.

We assumed it had something to do with the avalanche he talked about but he never actually said that outright. He did mention we could actually see the remains of the town a couple of miles west of the lodge, but I had and have absolutely no desire to do so. In fact, both Rarity and I agreed that his story seemed a little... suspect. The whole thing reeked of a ghost story, with the stallion as the ghost and Rarity and I as the unsuspecting victims.

I didn't use to believe in ghosts, but I've seen some things since I started working for POUT and now I know better than to dismiss the seemingly impossible. In all honesty, a part of me expected to wake up in the morning and find the stallion gone, along with the entire lodge, or the lodge itself in complete ruins. I ran a thaumic scan of the place just to be sure and I didn't pick up anything out of the ordinary, but you never know, y'know?

It was better to be safe than sorry after all, and this mission is stressful enough as it is. In any case, that's where we are now. We made it to the lodge, unpacked our gear and we'll be heading up the mountain starting tomorrow with the Yeti as our guide. I'm not exactly the mountaineering type and it wasn't exactly something we covered in basic training. I did read some books on the subject though.

It doesn't seem too hard and Rarity assures me it'll be fine but I don't know. She's pretty enthusiastic about the whole thing, oddly so, if I'm being honest. I still don't really know what her deal is actually. I tried talking to her some more in an attempt to glean a bit more about her personal situation, but she just smiled and pulled that 'every mare has her secrets' line out.

I couldn't really say anything against that because I had some secrets of my own to keep, and she knew that. I knew she knew that and we both knew that she would've just turned the whole thing around on me and I'd be the one on the defensive and it would all be a huge waste of time. We'd get nowhere I and I'd likely lose any rapport I had with the mare.

I didn't want to lose that rapport, I like Rarity. She was essentially a more ladylike version of Sunset now that I thought about it. Not nearly as smart and far kinder, but just as perceptive and good at getting what she wanted—for the most part. So yeah, I just left the matter alone for now. I figure she'll open up eventually and depending on how things go, she might end up finding out about my mission one way or the other.

The thing is, I don't really want to wipe her memory if that does happen. It'd be a huge violation of protocol if I didn't but even then I'd still rather not. Call it a hunch, but something tells me it might actually be better if I let her in on the details. I'm not too sure what I'll do in the end, but for now, I'm keeping my mouth shut. I'll cross that bridge if and when I come to it.

At any rate, I tried asking the lodgekeeper if he ever encountered anything strange during any of his climbs, but as I expected, I got nothing out of him on that front. Rather, he just told me a few meaningless anecdotes about some of the encounters he had with the local wildlife or some injury he sustained while hiking.

It wasn't anything I couldn't have guessed on my own, but sitting here now, I'm wondering if maybe I might've missed something in what he said. I'll go over what he told me once I'm ready to go to bed, which shouldn't be too long from now seeing as how it's gotten so late. And as much as I'd rather not, I should probably check out the remains of that old hamlet too if I get a chance.

I only just got here and already things don't seem right. I'm just hoping the lodge is still here and still as cozy and welcoming as it is right now when I wake up.