Silent V Dusk

It was 2:30 AM, and your eyes were getting heavy, and breaths soon became yawns. You looked at your bed as if it were made of gold. You crawled into bed and pulled the blanket over you. You lay on your side, facing away from the device and the crate of disks; you really didn't want to think about them. You closed your eyes, fell limp, and just before you fell asleep, you heard something. It sounded like... breathing? And it was right behind you. Whatever was behind you, its breath was icy cold. So cold that you physically shivered each time its breath hit your skin. When you finally built up the courage to turn around, it was gone, and the breathing stopped.  However, something had changed. There was a new message on the wall behind the device, in the same dark red ink. However, you were starting to question if it was just ink. " ₩ⱧɎ гРɎØɄ ₦Ø₮ Ⱡł₴₮Ɇ₦? ł ₲₳VɆ ɎØɄ ₳ ₣₳łⱤ ₩₳Ɽ₦ł₦₲. ł₮ ₮ⱧⱤłVɆ₴ ₮Ø ⱤɆ₥₳ł₦ Ʉ₦₭₦Ø₩₦. ł₮ ⱧɄ₦₮₴ ₩Ⱨ₳₮ɆVɆⱤ ₭₦Ø₩₴ ł₮ ɆӾł₴₮₴. ₳₦Đ ₦Ø₩, ɎØɄ ₭₦Ø₩ ₩ⱧɆⱤɆ ł₮ ₵₳₥Ɇ ₣ⱤØ₥, ₳₦Đ ₮Ⱨ₳₮'₴ Ɇ₦ØɄ₲Ⱨ ₣ØⱤ ł₮. ฿Ɇ₴₮ ₭ɆɆ₱ ɎØɄⱤ ɆɎɆ₴ Ø₱Ɇ₦. T̷̰̞͝h̷̰͍̾e̴̝̔̾ ̴̢͠F̵̘̈ẹ̵̕s̸̢̪̃ţ̴̛e̷̤̓̂r̵̻̗͒i̷̜̒n̵̦̗͒̂ģ̵̢̏͂ ̵̢͈͘P̴͓̖̆l̶̨͋̀a̶̫̯̽ÿ̴̝́́ṡ̸̢͇̆ ̷͔͛͐Ẁ̸̭̤̿i̷̡̡͠t̷̗̾̚ĥ̶͕ ̷͔̀̍I̴͈̓̽t̵̡̚͝'̴̬̼́̚s̶̟̉͜͠ ̶̛͚̈́F̸̖̽̀o̷̧͚̒̐o̸̧͚͗̊d̴̮̊̂. " You didn't know what to say, what to do. Your breathing became sharper and more panicked with every word you read. Your eyes dilating, constantly checking to see if there was anything in the dark. Your chest was in a constant rise and fall motion. And you were basically frozen from fear, apart from your shaking. After you gained control of your hoofs again, you swiftly turned on the lights in the room, making sure that nothing could hide in your room. There was no denying it, you were hunted by something called The Festering. Something you didn't know anything about, the only thing you know from the message is that it likes to play with its prey, and that's it. And not even how it plays. Does it let you live, but not without near-fatal wounds? Or does it emotionally consume you just by looking at it? There's no telling. However, if you had any hope of survival against this thing, you're going to have to learn everything you can about this thing. At the moment, your only source is the disks.  Knowing this, you shakily put the next disk in and listened to the device. Static filled the first minute of the recording. " ĐØ ɎØɄ ₴₮łⱠⱠ Ⱨ₳VɆ ₮ⱧɆ ₵ØⱠĐ ₣ɆɆⱠł₦₲ Ø₦ ɎØɄⱤ ฿₳₵₭? ĐØ ɎØɄ ₮Ⱨł₦₭ ł₮ ₩₳₴ JɄ₴₮ ɎØɄⱤ ł₥₳₲ł₦₳₮łØ₦? ł₮ ₩₳₴ ₦Ø₮, ł₮ ₩₳₴ ₥Ɇ. ł ₴₮ⱤłVɆ ₮Ø ₩Ɇ₳Ɽ ɎØɄⱤ ₴₭ł₦ ₮Ø ⱤɆ₥₳ł₦ Ʉ₦₴ɆɆ₦. ĐØ₦'₮ ₣ł₲Ⱨ₮ ł₮. ł ₩łⱠⱠ ₥₳₭Ɇ ₴ɄⱤɆ ł₮'₴ ₱₳ł₦ⱠɆ₴₴. " The static, cut, and the sounds of insects and quiet crying could be heard. You heard Silent attempting to comfort the source of the crying, and it seemed to be working. However, he sounded scared; his breathing wasn't the same as before, it was more shallow and exhausted. And his voice sounded like he was shaking all over, and it sounded like his teeth were chattering, as if he had just gotten out of a cold plunge. " Day: 9 of the expedition. The base is gone, left to it. I now know why Poppy begged me not to take her back. Because I wasn't just taking her back, I took something else. But, I should get to the blow-by-blow details. After two days, Poppy began standing again, her eyes had only grown wider, and barely any white was left in her eyes. And her speech was also off; she sounded like she was quoting herself constantly. When we first arrived, she said to me, ' Why did we have to come here again, Silent Dusk? '. And shortly after she got up, she looked at me right in my eyes and said, ' Why come here, Silent? '. In the same tone as when she said those words. And she walked wrong. Her legs were constantly bending and buckling under her own weight. It was as if something was learning to pilot her muscles. And just an hour before we were going to let Equestria, we were ready for them to pick us up. Poppy twitched, and her skin tore even more. Her stomach seemed to tear itself apart, rib extending out, moving like legs. And her neck extended, her bones snapping and cracking with every movement. And then her face, split in half to reveal a gory maw...... Jasmine and I were slightly injured by whatever was pretending to be Poppy. Jasmine had a gash across her right hoof, and I had a slash across my cheek and over my eye. Thankfully, it didn't render me half-blind. But whenever we sleep..... Oh, Celestia... " Silent lived up to his name for a moment and then started quietly sobbing. As he sobbed, he spoke. " E-every time we sleep.... * sniff* we all feel c...cold breathing on our backs. But, each time we turn around, whatever it is, disappears. We already * sniff * sent out an SOS, and we were notified that we could expect a rescue party sent within an hour. May as well be a Celestia damn year! We have been constantly on the move, listening for signs of whether the thing is close by. One of the major signs of its physical manifestation being within a hundred meters is that it is either static or echoing crying. The louder and more intense the sound, the closer it is. If it does spot you, you'll know because it'll let out an ear-piercing shriek and start chasing you down. One way to hide is to cover yourself in any sort of dead matter and pretend to be dead. But whatever you do, do not have skin or hide in your facade. It collects them, and it will find that you're alive. If that happens, your fate is as good as sealed. However, there is a way to stun it, where the bone legs come out, you can throw a large, blunt object in the exposed organs, stunning it for a maximum of fifteen seconds and a minimum of seven seconds. I'll try and update whoever the hell finds these disks laster, for now... Signing off. " The disk slowly slid out the cartrage, and the title was changed from ' A Loss And A Lie ' to ' They '.

' How? How could the Disk have suddenly changed titles? ' You found yourself asking over and over again. There wasn't a sign of the letters being scrubbed or rubbed away; there weren't any tells that said it had a different title before. And there was the elephant in the room about poppy. Questions bounced around in your head as if they were microscopic rabbits, and few answers to accompany them. You closed your eyes for about five seconds, and when you opened them, the next disk was beside the device, with dark red ink splatters spelling out a message. " L₳₴₮ CⱧ₳₦₵Ɇ. DɆ₴₮ⱤØɎ I₮, OⱤ BɆ S₮₳Ⱡ₭ɆĐ BɎ I₮ " This was either a threat or a warning. Assuming it was a threat means that whoever wrote the message didn't want you to listen anymore. But if it's a warning, then it was trying to protect whoever listened to the disks. However, it was late, and you weren't thinkin' right, so you gave the message the equivalent of the middle hoof and continued listening. No static this time either, you couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing. " Day: 7 of the expedition. Poppy has fully healed by now; she just woke up this morning. We're all grateful she didn't pass, but part of me is confused. The scratches she had have already become scars; those things would usually need bandages, even after two days. That and her pupils are much bigger than they were before. It's like when a cat gets playful, or as some would say, frisky. That's how big they are, I'd say roughly two times bigger than they were. And she seems to have some areas where the skin was slightly torn, not so much that it causes a breach, but it's still noticeable. Those marks were not there when I found her. She still seems to think bringing her back was a mistake on our part. Why?........ Your guess is as good as mine. The only bit of good in this s(BEEP) show is that we've located a source of the herb we are here for. But the plant has to be harvested carefully and patiently. So chances are, we'll be here another three days. It would be one and a half, but Poppy still has trouble standing on her own, so I filled in for her. Anyway, we're about to go on our first herb retrieval session, signing off. " The audio cut, and as usual, the disk slid out of its compartment.

From what was said, Silent, Jasmine, and Poppy all went to explore the different areas. Only Silent and Jasmine came back, and Silent is about to risk his neck for what could be nothing but a corpse. Was he thinking properly? Then again, he really hardly paid attention to what his wants were; he just did things because he knew they needed to be done. But, there was no point in just thinking about it; answers and questions were on the next disk. Just as many times before, you popped in the next disk and waited for there to either be Silent's voice or static. This time, it was just straight to his voice. While he spoke, Silent's voice sounded panicked and disturbed.  " Day: 5 of the expedition. We found Poppy, good news is she's still alive, but......... When I found her, she was lying down, awake, with scratches all over her body, and a strange puncture wound around the stomach area. When I saw the wound, I thought we had lost her. Her intestines were perfectly visible; literally, the entirety of her belly was gone. But shortly after we got back, the wound had completely healed. As if it never happened. " Silent paused a moment. " That's not the only weird thing regarding Poppy. When she realized I'd found her, she only uttered one sentence. ' Don't take me back. '. Then I fainted, either due to exhaustion or just pain, I'm not sure. But why would she not want me to take her back? What was I supposed to do? Leave her to bleed or starve? As of right now, she's sleeping in her tent. Jasmine's watching her. I feel bad for Jasmine. I can only imagine what it must be like to see her sister in such bad condition. But one thing is clear: something here is predatory and good at what they do. We need to get this damn plant and get the hell outta here before we all end up bleedin' on the ground. Signing off " Just as last time, the disk slid out of the compartment. But this time the title was different. Before it was titled A Living Nightmare. But now it reads Hunted.

The last disk didn't have anything too terribly odd about it, it was only Silent introducing the rest of the team and what their plan was. Barely anything really worth noting. The only real bit of dramatic info is that the native wildlife avoids certain areas of the land-mass. Is it because of natural instinct, or is it some kind of poisonous plant? No telling for now, but the second disk had answers. Chances are, the same can be said for the third. Without a second thought, you picked out the third audio disk, and inserted it into the device. Static accompanied the first seconds of the recording, just as the first one, the static was accompanied by the same voice. " You think you're hearing the right side? They left me here. It will find a way off the island. " Then a new voice took over sounding more warped and deep, blending with the other. " They left them to me. " The static became louder than suddenly cut. Followed by the usual. " Day : 4 of the expedition. We decided to enact the plan I talked about in the last audio log. I volunteered to take the swamp since neither of them wanted to, Jasmine took the Amythest Ridges, and Poppy took the Obsidian Caves. Me and Jasmine got by just fine, she found a really neat crystal, and I found some new species of fish and frogs. But Poppy, still isn't back. From what I heard from Jasmine, Poppy can get distracted easily, but this feels different than her just getting distracted or lost. If she doesn't turn up by tomorrow morning, I'll go check out the Obsidian Caves myself. Still, odd that this happens now. Anyway, gotta get moving, it's my shift for guard duty. Signing off. " The audio cut, and the disk slowly slid out it's compartment.

( If you wish for context for the story ahead, I'd reccomend checking out Part 1. Just incase you can't find it, or are just lazy I'll give you the link . Now without further ado, we can get to the story. ) It's been a few days since you saw the first disk, and since then you've been left with questions without answers. You've asked 'round if anypony was aware of an expedition to the northern seas, most said they'd never heard of one. But, other's answers were more vague and unsettling. Such as ' So you bought the box, eh? If you watched the first one there's no going back. ', and ' Fight to not know about the isles, or more specificaly, what lives there. '. Against your better judgement, you dug through the box and brought out the second audio file, and put it in the audio player. Differing from the first one, there was no static, just straight to Silent's voice. " Day : 3 of the expedition. We've set up camp near the shore. Nothing too fancy. Just a small tent per pony, a croc-pot, simple water filtration system, and food storage. Last time I forgot to introduce you to my team. Consisting of two males, Me and Chrome. And two alicorn Mares that go by the names of Jasmine Hallow, and her sister, Poppy Hallow. Both pretty good with herbology and hunting. Wouldn't be able to tell you how many times they saved me and Chrome from food poisoning at this point. But all that aside, we've all noticed that this place works in weird ways. Same goes for the wildlife, I've never seen such weird creatures. Most are reletivly harmless, just mainly small to medium sized birds, and small mamals. While we're on the subject of the wildlife, most seem to avoid certain areas of this island. Specifically, the swamp regions, the amythest ridges, and the obsidian caves. All close to the middle of the island, expept for the arches, they're closer to the shore, other side of the island. Me, Jasmine, and Poppy intend to investigate the areas tomorrow while Chrome remains behind to make sure things stay undercontrol at camp. I'll update more later, for now I gotta go. Crystal crabs don't spear themselves. Over and out. " The audio stopped, and floppy disk slowly slid out the cartrage.