//------------------------------//
// They are hunting. 
// Story: Pitch Black in Equestria 
// by PinkMantis 
//------------------------------//

	Dune stared. April looked at him, and there was terror in her eyes. Buttercup was on the ground, sobbing into her hooves. Dune looked into April’s eyes and he knew she was thinking the same thing. Pony’s heads are not simply found lying on the road six kilometres from Ponyville. The head was staring vacantly in the sky, blood congealed around its stump of a neck. The expression was less of pain than of surprise, like (as Dune thought) why am I dying? What the hay just happened- oh stuff it- erk. Out here in the fog, with the creepy noises and the immense dark of the night all around them, and now apparently with something that ripped off a ponies head, things could hardly get worse. Dune looked around. He saw the head again, and bile rose in his throat, and he rushed over to the side of the road and retched in the ditch. Great Celestia, get a hold of yourself. 

“Dune?” Dune turned around, and April was looking at him, and her chin was trembling. 
“What do we do now?” she asked. Dune opened his mouth, blinked and then shut it. He didn’t know. This was way too heavy for him to be having to figure out. But he had to remain calm, act confident, etcetera, all that cliché stuff that heroes did in the movies. And not get eaten. Preferably. 
“Well, I think our best bet is to get to Ponyville. And no, I don’t know what did this- but I sure as sugar don’t want to meet it.”
“Right; I agree with you there. I also reckon we should get to Ponyville- there will be ponies there that will know what to do.”
“Ok, good -” and that was as far as Dune got. For at that moment, the unicorn-powered streetlights went out. Bang. Darkness. Chaos.

Dune staggered forward, almost colliding with April. Dune quickly reached into his bag, and pulled out his flashlight. He turned it on, and now that she could see April rushed over to Buttercup. Buttercup was by this point absolutely and completely terrified, and about to burst into tears. This was the last thing they needed, with the blackness all around them, and some pony-killing monster lurking nearby. April quickly shushed her, and began talking in a low, calm voice. 
“Okay Buttercup, It’s just the dark okay? Don’t worry about anything, because I’m here, and there is no reason to be scared. I need you to be a big girl now, and be very quiet, okay? Do you think you can do that for me?”
“Okay.” said Buttercup in a small voice. 
“Good girl.” April turned to Dune. “Now all we- what was that!?” Dune whirled around. 
“What was what?”
“There was a... I thought I saw a, something moving, behind you.” She pointed. Dune squinted, but he couldn’t make out anything through the thick fog. 
“We need to get moving. Whether or not there is something out there, we want to get to Ponyville A.S.A.P.”
“...Ok. Buttercup, let’s go.” 

They moved off, Buttercup trailing just behind April, her hoof firmly clutching April’s tail. Dusk shone his flashlight in front of them, waving it back and forth. He reflected on their predicament. Jees, if this flashlight goes out, we’re done. Or if we meet the thing that cut off that ponies head. Or pretty much anything. We really are screwed! I hope they write on my grave- AT LEAST HE TRIED. They kept travelling, their tempers on edge, their nerves frayed. The slightest odd movement made them jump, and they all flinched at the smallest sound. Then April said she could see a light in the distance. Dune looked, and couldn’t see anything. They got a bit closer, and then he could see it too. They started cantering towards it, uncaring what it was, as long as it was something other than the seemingly endless cobbled road and its phantom demons. 

They came closer, and Dune observed that the light was swinging, as though it was being held in someponies mouth. They kept on going, until they made out a green stallion, walking towards them holding a lamp. He had a wide yellow hat and a sack over his back. He waved to them, and they waved back. They trotted up to him, and he greeted them cheerily. 
“So, what’s a bunch of youngsters like you doing out ‘ere? ‘Specially at this time o’ night? ”
“Well, we were lost in the fog-
“And we found a head-
“Because our parents weren’t home-
“And we got lost-
“And there is something out here-
“And it killed someone!” The green stallion looked very worried at this, and scratched his head. He spent a few seconds thinking, and then spoke. 
“So what yer’s is sayin’ is that summat has killed somepony, and they’re after yer?”  
“Yes- we need to get to Ponyville.”
“Allrighty then, if there’s murder afoot than I’d better come with you. Come with me!” And with that he marched off into the darkness. They hurried after him.

Buttercup was practically in hysterics, at having an ADULT there to save them. She was completely and utterly confident in his ability to solve everything, because he was an ADULT. She walked right beside him, smiling in contented bliss at being absolutely and unconditionally safe. Dune and April weren’t so sure. April was trotting carefully behind Buttercup and the green stallion (whose name , they found out, was Clive Greenacres). Dune was trotting behind her, holding the flashlight in his mouth and swinging it, illuminating rows of crops and ghostly, tortured trees. Everything looked like it was about to lunge at them, all the trees had monsters behind them. But that was ridiculous. 

And then Dune turned his head back to the front, and Clive’s head came off, and there was a monster in front of them. Buttercup screamed, and galloped away. There was blood on her coat. April stared, was frozen, a scream on her lips but she wasn’t making a sound. The monster was terrifying. It stood two meters tall, with massive horns protruding from the sides of its arrow-shaped head. Blood was dripping from its serrated arms. Its face was lowered as it ripped chunks out of Clive’s body. Blood splattered over the cold cobbles as it fed. Dune grabbed April’s arm and yanked her. She just kept staring. Dune slapped her hard across the face, and she blinked out of her daze and galloped off down the path where Buttercup had gone. Dune galloped after her. 

“Princess Luna?” Luna grumbled under her breath and rolled over in her bed.
“What is it... I’m asleep... couldn’t you have waited?”
The messenger shifted nervously. Luna rubbed her bleary eyes and saw it was one of her Night Guard.
“Well... I don’t really know how to put this, Luna-“
“Well out with it, you woke me up for it...”
“Um... Celestia’s dead.” THAT woke her up. She pounced out of bed, and then looked in her Night Guard’s eyes. 
“Dead?”
“Dead. I saw it with my own eyes.” Luna slumped down on her bed. This was not happening. Celestia couldn’t be dead. 
“How did she... die?” Her voice was choked.
“Eaten.” Luna looked up, disbelieving yet knowing her Night Guard would never lie to her.
“Yes... there appears to have been some sort of... invasion.”
“An invasion?”
“Yes. Although they do not appear to have any capacity for intelligent thought, they have surrounded major town and have already... taken over many of our farms.” Luna stood up and collected her thoughts. Now was the time for calm, thought-through thinking.
“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING! THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING! HOLY-”
The rest of the Night Guard stood outside the door, each one incredibly thankful that it had not been their job to inform Luna of the late Princess Celestia’s demise.

Somewhere, in the deep shadows of the night, the seeping mist sending long, writhing tendrils through the still night air, the monsters were hunting.