______*The city of Atera, 2:30 PM.*______
Shade and Karak exited the Waterfall with tired expressions, the day was extremely tiring without Seth helping in the kitchen.
What they did notice however was that it was currently night time, which was very peculiar. "Why is it night time?" Karak wondered.
Shade looked over at the moon which looked.......empty? "That's odd, the Mare in the moon is gone." He stated.
The two started to walk back home as they talked. "Mare in the moon?" Karak asked curiously.
"It's a story, one that my people believe in greatly, it tells the story of two sisters, one who ruled the day and one who ruled the night, the sister of night grew jealous of her sister, as the ponies would only stay out during the day, shunning the night." Shade explained.
"In her rage, the sister of night became Nightmare Moon, and the sisters battled, ending in Nightmare Moon's banishment to the moon, ever since, the moon has had craters on it that look like a mare." The Night wolf continued.
Karak listened intently as they walked, but he did notice that once they returned to the slums, that it was oddly quiet. "My people tell of a prophecy, that the Mare in the Moon would return to bring about an eternal night, I was never told more, they always said I wasn't ready." Shade shrugged. "It didn't bother me much anyway." He added.
They walked for a while before they heard a loud crash nearby. "What was that?" Karak asked.
Shade shook his head and the two hurried to discover what happened, they soon reached the hardware store and saw what appeared to be some kind of warzone in the street. "What the hell?" Shade wondered.
The citizens and police were fighting each other without regard to who they were, a kangaroo had grabbed a metal pipe and was fighting a rat man who had a large hammer.
Shade cried out and clutched his right side as he fell to his knees, Karak noticed that it was glowing a soft blue in the shape of an incomplete star. "What's wrong buddy?" He asked out of concern.
Through his grunts of pain, Shade spoke. "My side, it burns." He stated as he took a few deep breaths.
"We need to get out of here, and find the others before we get caught up in this fight." Karak said.
Shade nodded and forced himself to stand, he grunted as the glow faded. "Right, let's go." He stated.
Before they could run off however, they heard a familiar voice. "Get away from me you crazy bitch!" Came the voice of Alice.
The two wolves immediately hurried to her voice, it was nearby and sounded like it came from the park, as they neared the park, Karak saw Alice dodging Jean, Philip Kail's wife, who was holding a baseball bat and swinging it wildly.
Shade and Karak were about to rush over to help, when a Minotaur and a rat man blocked them, both of their eyes were glowing blue and they didn't seem like themselves. "The masters return heralds your end traitor! all those who serve the great enemy shall die!" The rat man shouted as he lunged forward with a metal garden rake, aiming for Shade.
The Minotuar charged at Karak, his head aiming down, aiming his horns right at him.
Karak nimbly dodged and the Minotuar immediately used his momentum and jumped, he slammed his fists into the ground and it broke from the force.
Shade sidestepped as the rat man swung downwards, he immediately noticed that the rat man wasn't very aware or even very fast in his movements, which was strange for his species, this led him to believe that the man was being controlled, and that the control had limits.
Karak jumped over the Minotuar and kicked him in the back, the Minotuar fell forwards, but didn't try to get up, he looked at Shade. "Let's go help Alice." He said.
Shade nodded and the two immediately ran to Alice's aid.
The first thing that Karak noticed was that Jean's eyes were glowing blue, meaning that she was being controlled. "Stop running away! you killed my husband! now I'll kill you!" Jean screamed.
Alice jumped over a bench and looked back. "What part of I didn't do it! or I am not Seth! did you not understand you crazy bitch!?" She shouted as she ran.
Jean apparently didn't notice Karak or Shade, as she continued to chase the young rabbit madly, Karak was quick to act as he grabbed a large branch that fell off the nearby tree, he then held it as a club, Alice quickly ducked behind him and he swung the branch.
Jean ran face first into branch and fell to the ground unconscious. "Thanks." Alice said.
Karak threw the branch away and looked at Alice. "Are you alright? how did this happen?" He asked.
Alice shrugged. "I'm not hurt, thanks for asking by the way, as for how this happened? your guess is as good as mine, one minute the sun was coming up, the next the moon instantly rose to its full height and everyone went crazy, I ran off, Jean here found me and I've been running around this park ever since." She explained.
Shade grunted and clutched his side as it started to glow once again. "We.......we need to find the others, we need to get out of the slums and into a different part of the city." He said.
Alice looked a bit spooked by the glowing mark, but didn't act on it. "Is he alright? I don't want him to end up like the rest of these guys." She wondered, gesturing to Jean.
"I'm right here.......and I'll be just fine, I wasn't affected until we entered the slums." Shade said before leaving the park.
Karak took the rear guard as Alice walked just ahead of him. "If I'm not mistaken, Ren and Syrin are with Seth in the apartment, we just need to get there." Alice stated.
Soon though, the trio started running, mostly to avoid the battle happening nearby at Gervasons, they were stopped however, by a horde fighting outside the apartments. "We should go around, no way are we getting through that." Karak said as he began to sneak to the side of the large building.
Alice and Shade went to follow, but a few members of the horde noticed them and screamed at them before charging.
Karak cursed under his breath and rushed out of his hiding place, he tackled a wolf and gave him a strong punch in the face, knocking him out instantly.
Alice and Shade soon ran over to help as more and more of the horde joined the battle, as they fought the horde back, they received several cuts, bruises and their clothes became damaged and covered in some blood as well.
Karak was punched to the ground and what appeared to be a rabid fox was quickly on top of him, snapping at his face with his teeth, with all of his might, Karak managed to braced his feet, he then kicked the fox hard and he was flung off.
Shade rammed into a kangaroo female and she fell to the ground, he then grabbed a pair of earth pony stallions with glowing eyes and slammed their heads together, it didn't kill them, but it did knock them out.
Alice however, was by far the least combative, she jumped and dodged easily enough, but she didn't throw many punches unless absolutely necessary, she had just dodged a clumsy swing from a griffon when she turned around just to come face to face with a large fox. "Ah!" She cried out, she immediately threw her leg out and impacted on the foxes private parts, he howled in pain as he collapsed and Alice ran off to the others.
Karak wiped his lip and noticed that he had lost some blood, he grunted and stood up. "I just want you to know, if we die, I blame you guys." He stated.
Shade soon noticed a small gap in the horde. "Then let's get out of here!" He shouted.
Alice couldn't agree more as she followed Shade and Karak away from the horde, they followed after them as they entered the apartment building.
There was no one inside thankfully, so the trio headed to one nine two and immediately entered it, the door was broken down which was a little concerning, but they decided to be thankful for the temporary good luck.
When they were all inside, Shade took lookout duty. "Syrin! Ren!" Karak called out.
There was no reply, Karak quickly checked the rooms, but he didn't see them anywhere, his heart sank at this but he decided to not worry until later, he then noticed Alice had a backpack on now and was stuffing a book into it. "What are you doing?" He asked.
Alice looked at Karak. "I'm being prepared, if it turns out we can't come back, I want Seth to at least have ONE thing she cared about with her." She replied easily.
Shade looked at them. "We need to leave now! they seem to have learned how to go up stairs." He stated.
At that, Karak ran out of the apartment, followed by Shade and then Alice.
The horde charged towards them, but they were faster as they ran away.
______*ten minutes later.*______
The trio was out of breath, they barely had time to rest for a minute just to recover, so right now they were inside a potion shop hiding from the crazed people of the slums, and they were completely wiped out.
The horde right outside the apartments was just the beginning, they ran into another one four minutes ago and had just barely gotten away.
Alice was badly bruised and had her right arm bandaged to stop a cut from bleeding, Karak was cut up In multiple places, he was bleeding slowly but surely, and Shade was certain he had a cracked bone somewhere.
"I can't find any healing potions, or anything that will help us......unless turning everyone blue or purple will help?" Alice asked.
Shade shook his head. "That won't do anything." He replied.
Karak looked at Shade. "You think any of this has to do with that story you told me about?" He wondered curiously.
"Maybe, but I doubt that it would do this alone, maybe Nightmare Moon's return was the catalyst for this somehow?" Shade suggested.
Alice looked at the two wolves and blinked. "What the hell are you talking about?" She asked.
Karak looked at Alice while Shade kept an eye out for anyone hostile to them. "We're trying to find out what caused this." He replied.
Alice sighed and leaned against the wall. "I honestly don't care about what caused this right now, I'm just worried about surviving." She stated.
Karak thought on this for a few moments, he then nodded and looked at Shade. "Then let's go and find the others, when we find them we can get out of here." He stated.
When the others nodded, they immediately jumped in shock as a Minotuar with glowing eyes broke through the wall behind them and broke several potions, they were ready to fight when the Minotuar simply charged back through the hole in the wall. "Let's get out of here." Shade said.
The trio immediately left the shop and were again out in the streets, they looked around and thankfully they didn't see any horde nearby or in sight. "Where would they go if they needed to hide?" Karak asked.
"Um.......maybe the Watering Hole?" Alice suggested.
Shade nodded. "It's as good a place as any to start looking." He agreed.
With that, the trio made their way carefully to the Watering Hole, they had to stop every now and then to avoid the occasional horde that passed them by, after ten to fifteen minutes however, they reached the Watering Hole and entered it.
The once lively bar was now a shadow of its former self, the tables and chairs were broken and all the bottles behind the bar were broken or shattered, there was nobody inside aside from the trio, they walked to the door leading to the bathrooms and stepped inside to search.
There was no one in the bathrooms, which disappointed them as they had to search elsewhere, which also meant they had to brave the horde yet again.
However, just as they went to leave, they heard loud banging on the entrance door. "Time to go!" Shade stated as he ran over to a window, he broke it open and hopped out, followed closely by Karak and Alice.
Shade quickly led the others down an alley and they came out on the other side of the street, they immediately regretted this as a horde of possessed citizens noticed them and charged them.
Karak groaned and used his magic, he cloaked them all and pulled them as he ran away, thankfully the horde didn't seem to be able to see them through their invisibility, as they searched the area they were previously in.
When he stopped running a few minutes later, Karak stopped using his magic and nearly collapsed, he fell to his knees and used his hands to hold himself up, he breathed heavily as the others kept an eye out. "Are you?....okay?" Alice asked out of concern.
Karak sat himself up and leaned against the wall of a nearby building, he was breathing heavily. "That magic......isn't attuned to my kind, it's incredibly draining to use, just give me a minute." He replied as he tried to recover.
Shade did not see any possessed nearby, and when he heard Alice walk over, he looked at her. "How is he?" He asked.
"He's alright, he just needs a minute." Alice replied as she crossed her arms. "Do you.....think something happened to them?" She asked.
Shade let the question sink in for a moment as he thought on it, he then shook his head. "All three of them are tough, I'm certain they'll be alright." He said, worry was clear in his voice though.
Alice patted Shade on the back, her expression was a sad one. "You don't have to lie to me, I'm aware that there is a possibility that they will be badly hurt, I just hope it doesn't happen." She replied.
Shade nodded and looked away, his eyes widened when he saw Ren and Syrin walking towards them, Ren was holding an unconscious Seth in her arms. "There they are!" He said as he walked over.
Karak looked up and smiled, he got up and walked over to them.
Alice immediately looked at her sister and Ren spoke. "We'll explain later, right now, let's get out of here." She said.
Shade heard a roar and spotted a horde charging at them full speed. "Run!" He shouted.
Syrin cast a spell and threw it at the incoming horde, almost immediately, a series of tools appeared and proceeded to trip the possessed as they ran.
The spell Syrin cast seemed to help greatly in the groups escape, as they made it most of the way to Scorpos without incident.
But just as they neared Scorpos, they saw a large mass of possessed blocking the street, they didn't notice them yet, which was good.
They all hid behind a wall and Shade peeked out. "We can't fight that many, and there isn't any other way into Scorpos, any other handy spells Syrin?" He asked as he looked at the unicorn.
Syrin shook her head. "Not unless you want them dead, my spells are mostly offensive." She explained.
Karak sighed and walked out from the alley. "What are you doing you lunatic!?" Shade asked.
The demon looked at Shade and grinned. "I'll distract them, you guys wait until the path is clear, I'll meet you there." He stated before charging out to the middle of the street.
Shade sighed and waited with the others as Karak taunted the possessed horde. "Hey you! over here you mindless bastards!" The demon taunted, waving his hands.
The horde took the bait and immediately chased after Karak as fast as they could, the demon simply laughed at them as he ran off.
"Will he be alright?" Ren asked worriedly.
Syrin nodded. "Yea, he might not act like it, but he does know what he's doing." She answered.
The five of them quickly ran to where the horde used to be, they quickly ran by and kept on running, they ran for several minutes until they couldn't keep going.
When they all stopped, they rested at the corner of a book supply building, Ren set Seth down and rested her against the wall, she sat next to her and held her up.
Shade was leaning against the wall and saying nothing.
Alice and Syrin were sitting on the sidewalk and keeping quiet. "Do you think he'll find us?" Ren asked, worry was clear in her voice.
"He might, he might not, it's a big city." Shade answered as he rested.
A few minutes later, the group has decided to keep moving, and just after they got up, Karak appeared in the center of them all, sporting new cuts and bruises, he breathed heavily and spoke. "Ow." He muttered before staring to fall over.
Shade immediately caught him and helped him stand, he then let Karak use him to lean on. "Hang in there you psychopath, we are almost safe." He stated.
"Can I get that in writing?" Karak asked tiredly as he walked with Shade.
The group walked for a long while, they eventually reached what appeared to be a makeshift checkpoint made by the police, they tensed up when they saw the group, but calmed down when they saw none of them had glowing eyes.
The police did a quick check to make sure however, and then let them through.
_______*the next day, Merchant District hospital.*_______
Syrin sat in the chair next to the bed Seth was lying in, the room was clean and sterile, the walls were a light green, the room was open and large, clearly meant for multiple patients.
The night time had passed, and with it, all of the possessed returned to normal when they woke up, with no recollection of the previous night whatsoever.
She looked to her left and saw Ren keeping an eye on Seth, as well as holding the sleeping rabbits hand gently, they had been treated and bandaged already, the bad news was that the doctors said that Seth had entered a coma, and they didn't know how long it would be before she woke up, if at all.
Syrin decided to stretch her legs and stood up, she walked to the door and opened it, she walked out of the room and closed the door, the hospital was busy, but not so much that you couldn't walk through the halls.
She started walking through the hospital, staying out of the way of the staff as best she could, she walked through and found the room she was currently looking for.
She walked inside and found Shade, Alice and Storm laying in hospital beds, the doctors discovered that they had multiple heavy injuries and even some broken bones, they were fine now, they were just waiting on the Doctors to release them.
"How are doing guys?" Syrin asked as she entered the room.
Karak looked at Syrin and grunted. "I'm in a hospital, I'm horrible." He complained.
Shade raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing about it. "I felt better." He replied.
"Meh." Alice added.
Syrin walked into the room and was asked to explain what happened to her, Ren and Seth the previous day, she sat down and began to explain.
Syrin spent a good amount of time explaining the events of yesterday, and the doctor came in, did a quick check up and released them.
Alice and Shade were quick to stand up, Karak wasn't in so much of a hurry, thankfully the hospital provided some basic clothes for them, and they put them on.
Shade ended up with an old pair of blue jeans and a white tank top, Karak had a long pair of brown cargo pants and a blue shirt, while Alice had baggy black pants and a dark red long sleeved shirt.
The three waited for Syrin to finish her story, and when it was over and they had finished reacting, Alice seemed angry that Seth was a possessed, but she didn't seem willing to voice this.
"Let's go visit Seth and Ren hmm?" Karak said.
When they all reached the room where Ren and Seth were, they walked inside, closed the door and walked over.
"How is she?" Alice asked quietly.
Ren looked at the young rabbit. "She's in a coma, otherwise she's alright." She replied.
Karak heard footsteps nearing the room, he looked over and walked to the door, he opened the door and his eyes widened.
Standing in the doorway, with an equally surprised expression, was a pink Pegasus mare with a blue mane and a cutie mark of two blue thunder bolts, as well as purple eyes. "Storm?" She asked out of disbelief.
"Firefly?" He asked in response.
Karak quickly pulled Firefly into a hug which seemed to catch her off guard, but she soon returned it. "You have no idea how much I missed you." Karak whispered.
"Same here Demon Boy." Firefly replied as they seperated.
Firefly soon noticed Karak's bandages. "That's a nice look for you." She remarked with a smirk.
Karak rolled his eyes. "Ha ha." He mock laughed.
"But seriously, are you alright?" Firefly asked out of concern.
Karak nodded. "Yea, it was just some cuts and bruises, I'll probably be healed by tomorrow." He replied as he closed the door.
Firefly and Karak walked through the halls while they talked. "How have you been?" She asked.
Karak shrugged. "It's been tough, but I'm alright, all things considered." He replied. "And you? how are you holding up?" He asked.
"To be honest? I've been doing really well for myself, at least, when it comes to money and a place to live." Firefly answered.
They stopped when they reached a small waiting room and they sat down, the room was empty which was good for them to talk in private. "Where were you staying at?" She asked curiously.
Karak sat down in a chair next to Firefly. "I've been living in an apartment with three roommates, and more recently, four." He replied. "Syrin, Shade, Seth and Ren." He added. "What about you?" He asked.
"At first I was staying at a cheap hotel, it wasn't anything special, after that I moved into my own place in the Merchant district." Firefly explained. "You were in the Slums......right?" She asked quietly.
Karak nodded. "Yea, it's a good place to live actually, once you get used to it." He replied.
Firefly was quiet for a moment before sighing. "Karak, the Slums burned down overnight......the police report said it was caused by an illegal Banefire potion." She stated. [1]
Karak froze and sat in a stunned silence for several moments, and after a few minutes he spoke. "We're there any casualties?" He asked quietly.
Firefly examined Karak's expression for several moments before answering. "Not that I know of, all I know is that anyone hurt from last night was sent to the hospitals in this district." She replied.
After a deep breath, Karak stood up. "Come on, I want you to meet my new friends, one of them is in a coma right now so you'll have to wait on a proper introduction." He said.
Firefly nodded and stood up, she then followed Karak back to the room, as they walked, they watched as a very stressed Chameleon rushed past them, Karak seemed to be focused on him for some reason. "Do you know him?" Firefly asked.
Karak watched as the Chameleon rushed down a hallway and vanished from sight. "His name is Terrance, he works at the detox clinic." He explained.
Firefly looked at Karak with a raised eyebrow. "Do I want to know?" She asked.
Karak sighed. "My friend in the coma? Seth, she was a heavy user of Darket, it's a drug infused with Demon blood, long story short, I imagine that he was here to bring Seth back to the clinic." He replied.
After continued to walk in silence for a minute or so, having to stop every so often as doctors brought patients through, Firefly spoke. "You know, you could stay with me, all of you, I have too much room as it is." She offered.
Karak looked at her. "How much room exactly?" He asked.
"I live in one of those pocket dimensions right now, I'm planning on moving the house out of it soon, before you ask, it was the only one available at a decent price." She paused for a moment. "It has four bedrooms and two bathrooms, one of which doesn't have a shower or bath, there's one large room, and a kitchen." She explained.
Karak raised an eyebrow. "Why did you get such a big?.........oh." He said quietly.
The two reached the room and the door was open, Karak blinked and walked inside. "I'm back." He said.
Syrin looked at him. "Terrance showed up." She stated.
Karak noticed that Ren's expression shifted to an angry one at the mention of the Chameleon, but it reverted to a neutral one soon after. "What happened?" He asked.
"We made a deal......mostly to keep Ren from killing the man." Shade stated as he stood up. "He said that as long as we keep him informed, and allow him to speak to Seth when she wakes up, then we could keep her with us." He explained.
Syrin soon noticed Firefly and her eyes widened. "Firefly?" She asked as she stood and walked over.
Karak walked to Shade as he watched Syrin and Firefly talk. "Did you hear about the Slums?" Shade asked.
"Yea, Firefly told me." Karak said.
Shade looked at Seth. "Terrance told us, but right now, we need somewhere to stay, I was going to start checking out hotels." He said.
Karak crossed his arms. "Firefly offered to let us stay at her house, we would be stupid to say no, especially since we don't have any money." He said.
Alice stood up and walked over to the two wolves. "As long as we have a room for Seth, the doctors told me that she can't stay here, but they're giving us special supplement pills, apparently they will keep her fed and hydrated just enough to survive." She sighed. "It's disgraceful." She muttered.
"But we can't do anything about it, so we might as well get Seth somewhere safe." Shade said.