March 16th 1907, Southern Indiana…
“Joel, wake up son," a very hardy voice called out in the darkness.
“Joel you need to wake up and get out of that bed." A large beefy hand reached down into the very small amount of sunlight that pierced through the grimy window, and shook the large hump that rested on the bed below.
“What is it Pa?" said a less matured voice, muffled by the wool blanket that the figure was hiding under from the aggravator.
“Joel, get up right now!” The one shadow of a larger man was standing over the cot. He started to yank the wool covering off the lump.
“What is it that you need me so dire for, Pa?” The blanket now removed, revealed a younger man around the age of 17 who was huddled up in his single-body under covering.
“Damn it son, get out of bed and I will show you what!” The taller character that was standing over the young man’s cot, lit a small lantern that revealed an aged man in his mid-forties who bore a thick curly beard and large bushy eyebrows, that covered most of his beady black eyes that glared down at the young man.
“Ok, I’m coming…I'll get dressed .” The younger man, Joel, slipped his legs off the cot and sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“You got two minutes before I come back in here and yank ye from here!” The larger man pointed a thick finger at the boy, before turning around and leaving him.
Joel stood from his bed and gave a long hard stretch and then started to go through his chest and pulled out a pair of long dark brown bottoms and then a tan, long sleeved shirt. Joel slipped on some socks and then his boots before finally leaving the room and into the one outside.
“Come on boy, this way, we need to hurry before either your mother or sister wakes up.” Joel’s father opened the door and walked outside with his son on his heels.
As the pair left the safety of the small house they were met with a wave of crisp morning air, and a light mist that clung to the ground, the small blades of grass shimmered in the blue haze of the sun rise. The forest that surrounded the left side of their home was dark and quiet with nothing out of the ordinary. The two walked around the right side of the home where a large barn was standing stall before them with a large fenced of prairie which was devoid of life, except for what looked like the outline of a cow that was laying down in the grass.
“Hey Pa, why is one of the cattle outside and not inside the barn?” Joel asked while looking up to his father.
“I don’t know Joel, I just don’t know…” The farther they walked and the closer they came up to the cattle the more it dawned on them something was horribly wrong.
The pair came to a stop at the wooden fence; from here the smell of the morning air was quickly over whelmed by the smell of rot and death. Joel turned back around with his sleeve under his nose, the house was dark and the sun light was barely peeking over the horizon. Joel’s father lifted the lantern up into the air trying to get a glimpse of the cattle.
“Pa, the smell…I think it’s…I think it’s-‘”
“Dead yea, but what killed it?” The father set the lantern down and hopped the fence with ease before grabbing the lantern again.
“Well, are you coming or not?”
“Oh yes, I’m just…uh…hey wait up.” Joel stepped through the fence and ducked under it and ran to catch up with his father.
They gingerly walked up to the presumed dead cattle, with the lantern held high in front of them. The smell that filled the air started to become rancid and unbearable and the sound of flies were present, buzzing around their ears.
They walked even softer as the cattle’s out line became clearer, but they came to dead stop as soon as the light from the lantern reached the animal.
“I think I’m going to…oh God…” Joel turned away from the carcass.
The center chest cavity of the cow was torn, completely ripped open with its intestines, and other organs spilled out onto the blood soaked grass. The ribs were either pulled deeper into the cow or completely shattered mixed in with the grind of meat, bone and blood at their feet. There were pieces of skin covering the gap and scattered on the ground.
“What could have done this...?” Joel’s father knelt down next to the cows head studying the corpse.
“How…how did she g-get out?”
“Look there are more pressing matters to deal with, such as moving the body out of here and into the woods.” Joel’s father looked at the barn, which was completely undamaged.
“Joel, do not mention this to your mother nor your sister until I figure out a explanation for this, am I understood?”
“Yes sir”
--<=>--
“Alice where is your father? I can’t seem to find him.” A woman in her late thirties was standing over a kettle, cooking a warm broth that filled the room with a mouth watering smell.
“I think Father is in the barn, and Joel is cleaning his rifle for this afternoon.” Alice was a pretty 16 year old girl who had long golden brown hair and was in a long, pearl white dress.
“Your brother and his rifle, I swear he would marry it if he could!” Alice gave a laugh to her mother’s joke.
“Oh Mother, you know how much that rifle means to him, it was the last thing our grandfather gave him before he died.” Alice set down the scarf she was knitting onto her lap.
“I know that, it’s just…he seems a little overly attached to the thing.”
“He is a little frantic about it.” Alice and her mother just stared at each other before bursting into a fit of giggles.
No sooner as they stopped their laughter, Alice’s father walked into the house. He looked a little pale and shaken.
“Ah there you are Reginald, I was wondering where you ran off to!” Reginald’s wife set her hands on her hips with a scowl on her face.
“I-uh…was in the barn checking up on the animals, and before that I made sure the fence was holding.” Obviously he was lying through and through, but kept it hidden fairly well.
“At this time of day, what were you really up to?” Her scowl only deepened.
“Look I will explain it later can we just enjoy this day, at least?” Reginald tried his best to change the subject, but it failed.
“Oh don’t you be trying to pull me into those tricks of yours, what are you…”
“Is everything alright, hey pa, just finished cleaning my rifle, just like you said.” Joel stepped into the room at the nick of time.
“Yes Joel, everything is fine, lunch is almost ready.” His Mother gave Reginald one last glare before returning to her broth.
Joel acknowledged his mother before retreating to his room. From there he tucked his rifle into the gun case under his cot.
“Joel, are you sure that you want to come with me?” his father said and slipped into his room as silently as a shadow.
“Yes I am, Pa.” Joel tried to lose eye contact.
“Joel look at me, now tell me you are definite that you want to come with me into those woods and find the thing that killed our cattle.” Joel hesitantly looked into his father’s eyes.
“Father, I am coming with you, no matter how much you try to keep me from tagging along,” Joel refuted.
“Joel I just want you to know that…I want you to know I’m proud of you.” With that said, he slipped out of the room leaving Joel to himself.
“Thank you,” Joel muttered.
--<=>--
The family of four all sat around a rectangular table with the children at the ends and the parents sitting on the sides, all enjoying a peaceful lunch together, but all good things come to an end.
“So what were you up to that took you so long this morning, you never told me.” Joel looked up to his mother, then to his father who returned the look.
“Fine, Joel what was your father up too?” Joel kept his head down looking at the table.
“Abigail, don’t be doing this to the boy!” Reginald set his utensil down and looked across the table at his wife.
“I…I uh…” Joel looked at his father and his eyes did all the talking for him.
"Don’t say it, boy." Joel could hear his father’s voice in his head.
“I-I did see him walking around the barn, when I was walking out to the shed to grab my rifle, he said that there was a herd of…deer out near the tree lines.” Joel looked as his father who gave a hidden smile.
“Alright fine, you win…,” Abigail sighed and resumed eating.
The rest of the meal was enjoyed in silence, and after clean up everyone dispersed. Alice went into the main room to read, Abigail to the laundry, and Joel and Reginald worked outside checking the animals. The day slowly passed by and when the sun had finally decided to set, everyone gathered back into the house.
“Joel, get your gun, put something warm on, and fill a small pack for things you need.” Reginald patted his son’s shoulder, and walked into the master bed room to do the same.
Joel pulled the gun case from under his cot and took his rifle out, setting down on the bed, he reached back into the case and pulled out a small box of bullets and placed them next to the gun. Joel kicked the case back under, and turned around, taking thicker clothes and set them down on top of the dresser.
Joel started to undress and change into his other clothes, until his sister walked in…
“What are you and Father hiding from Mother and I?” Alice walked into his room paying his semi-nudeness no mind.
“Alice why are in my room…when I’m changing?” Joel pulled on his leggings reaching for his shirt.
“Don’t change the subject and tell me what happened!”
“Look, it’s a lot more complicated then you think, so leave me alone.” Joel buttoned his shirt tight and reached for his hunting belt while looking back at his sister, who scolded him with her looks.
“Alice, sit down and I will try to explain the best I can, alright?” Alice simply nodded and slowly strode over to the cot and sat down gracefully.
Joel pulled the strap to his belt making sure it was nice and fit around his waist. He pushed his rifle back and sat down next to his sister. He leaned down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“Alice, I know you hate it when we keep something a secret from you, but you understand that sometimes the truth is sometimes so large that it’s the best not to say what it is?” Joel looked into his sister's eyes.
“I know, it’s just that what is it that is so important not even Mother can know?” Alice asked seeming a little on edge.
“Alice I love you more than anything and if what you want me to say was going to harm you, I would tell you. It’s just this is something that’s over all of our heads.” Joel rubbed her arm with a thumb.
“That’s why you and Father are going hunting, isn’t it.” Alice said it more like a statement rather than a question.
Joel said not a word but rather pulled his sister into a hug and they sat that way for a bit before Joel pulled away and gathered up his gun, ammo, a knife, and other small items and tucked them into the pouches on his belt. Joel set a hand on his sister’s shoulder and gave her a reassuring pat before turning to leave the room.
“Please come back safe, alright?” Alice was looking down at her hands which she had folded over her lap.
Joel stopped in the door way and looked back at her but there was nothing he could say that would really be meaningful, so with one last look back, he left without saying a word.
--<=>--
“Watch your step there boy.” Reginald hopped over a bulging tree root, looking back at his son to make sure he was still there.
“You don’t need to worry about me Pa, I can handle a few roots and branches,” Joel said while stepping over the root his father had warned him about.
“A few roots and branches are the lesser of my worries.” Reginald was gripping his rifle tensely watching the trees who looked back at him with silent whispers. They all muttered together rubbing their wooden fingers against each other.
“I don’t understand why you are so worried Pa. This is no more than a few wolves or something.” Joel’s father shook his head at his son's arrogant nature.
“Son, even if there are wolves in these parts…they were not the ones that ripped up our cow.” Reginald pushed through a large bush that blocked the path between a pair of trees. "And that’s what scares me, Joel.”
They trekked through the woods for a while before stopping, getting down into the dirt, and waiting for an hour or so, watching for anything that moved. Often being startled by the rodents, or the wind that brushed through the leaves. The forest was teasing them, the old wood could smell the anxiety that came from them and they laughed.
Joel was used to spending time in the forest, hunting the deer that roamed inside of them but there was a twinge of fear that punctured their hearts; the fear that they were being stalked by something its eyes peering down at them from behind. Joel rubber necked behind him looking for the eyes that were never there.
“Something wrong, what’s over there?” Joel’s father asked while aiming down the iron sights of his rifle, not looking back at his son.
“N-No it’s nothing…just on edge that’s all.” Joel pulled his rifle back next to his father's and waited.
“Joel, set another mark here,” Joel’s father muttered.
Joel nodded and walked from their dug-in and mustered around, picking through the branches and sticks trying to find one that was usable. After a few minutes of rummaging through the woods, he found a long, four foot long branch that had snapped off from the tree next to it.
The branch was long and narrow. It was covered in dried mud and rotten leaves but it was strong enough to be used as a mark. Joel returned to the dug-in and from there he jammed the stick into the ground a couple of inches before he cut a mark into the piece of wood.
“Alright let’s get going.” Reginald picked himself from the ground and they moved on deeper into the woods.
The sun had quickly descended past the horizon, the forest becoming a light gold, to a purple twilight, to a dark grey and silver under the three-quarter moon that smiled down at them.
“Hey Pa, I think we should head back its getting dark.” Joel was holding his rifle so tight, he was afraid he would break the wood that made up most of his weapon.
“No, just a few hours longer, we need to make sure it’s gone,” his father muttered in response.
“Pa, I’m not sure if that’s…” The air was pierced with a long, deep, unnatural howl. “Pa, what was that?” His voice was shaking with fear; his legs were starting to weaken and his knuckles were pure white, abstract to the night.
“Joel, I want you to go back home and lock all the windows, and board the door up tight!”
“Pa no, I want to stay with you!”
“Joel, don’t argue with me, do what I-,” Reginald stopped midsentence, there was a growl so monstrous, that even the forest was screaming in fear.
Joel’s father slowly turned on his feet. Looking behind him, he saw there was a black out line the size of a small boulder. The shadow was slowly growing in size until it stooped, through the very small amount of silvery moon light; the figure was almost seven feet tall! Its shoulders were thick and rounded out. The head was obscured by the darkness, but the eyes, the eyes were blood red, full of rage, and its pupils were black slits that glared right through them. Joel for the first time in his life felt true fear, the fear of death.
“Joel run, RUN!” Reginald pulled up his rifle and started shooting.
Joel took a few steps back, keeping his eyes on his father and the beast that was unfazed by the bullets that ripped through its flesh. There was a single second of dead silence; it would be the most painful second of Joel's life. The beast roared with all its might, putting a sharp ring in Joel's ears, it then leaped onto Joel's father who yelped in pain. The monster was something that looked like a massive wolf/ human creature and that was crushing Joel's father.
The monster had bit into Reginald’s left arm and pulled. In moments Joel’s father’s arm was horribly amputated from his body. Blood splattered over the grass and trees and it pooled under his shoulder. The beast flung the arm into the darkness before it brought its maw to his head.
Crunch!
Joel screamed in fear and anger and pulled his rifle up and started shooting the wolf creature.
BANG he pulled the bolt back and forth BANG Pulled the bolt again BANG
The creature looked up at him with blood seeping from his jaws. It stood up on its hind legs and roared, it again leaped into the air onto him. The monster bit into his arm and the pain, oh the pain! A venomous snake bite was nothing compared to this! It slowly started to pull his arm out from its socket with a growl. He yelled for mercy and forgiveness to the heavens and they answered with a howl.
A second howl pitched through the night sky. The howl took the attention of the monster that towered above him. It started to sniff the air and prowled off of him and cranked its head to the sky and sniffed again. In a the blink of an eye, the beast bolted into the forest kicking the dirt into the air when it left, leaving Joel bleeding in the ground feet away from the mauled body of his father.
Joel was panting and wheezing, the air was cold and filled his lungs like daggers. He could smell the death his father’s corpse emanating into the night. Joel was tired, no, he was exhausted, his mind was starting to fade and his eyes started to close and soon he was plunged into darkness.
--<=>--
Joel slowly woke up and he was in horrible pain. His sight was blurred and sloppy as he looked up at the canopy and the night sky behind it. Joel was stiff and cold from the frosty night air but his arm was blazing with pain and heat.
Joel shakily lifted his undamaged arm and pulled it over his body and lightly touched the pulsating wound with a finger. Joel wailed in agony when his fingers touched the raw and bloody flesh near his torn arm where the beast had bit him.
The stench of rotting meat was sticking to the air like a perfume sticks to a woman. He wanted to see what was left of his father, he needed to. Joel slowly started to lift his head with some difficulty; his neck was prickling with aches and sores.
“Oh god…P-p-pa!” Joel started to weep and his stomach started to fill with sickness and dread mixed with fear and worry.
There was long time gap between the moment he looked at his father until the time he tried to stand back up to go home, to find his mother and sister, and to run as far as they could from here. Anywhere that was not here was the place he wanted to be.
Joel tried and failed over and over again as he tried to stand but no matter how many times he failed he still was determined to get to his feet. He finally grabbed his rifle that was buried into the ground and used it to stand himself up right.
Joel was standing on his two shaking legs, weak from the cold and pain. With his rifle gripped in his hand, Joel set out without looking back, determined to fulfill his father’s last demand.
Joel was taking long and painful strides as he wondered through the woods, his eyes were aching and felt itchy and dry. His vision would fade in and out as he walked along the path he and his father had taken keeping track of the markers he pat.
Joel started to breath heavily, his body became dead weight and his wound started to burn even harder in the cold winds. He took in deep breaths and he started to pant and gasp in the mist that was building on the forest floor, his lungs were burning with the cold. The farther he walked, the more difficult it became to move and his arms were becoming anvils and his rifle was as heavy as a pale of rocks. His wound was like a fire in his upper arm that throbbed and with every beat of his heart the cut flesh would send a shockwave of pain all the way down to his toes.
Joel started to slow even more so in the night and eventually he came to a stop. Joel collapsed onto his knees and dropped his rifle to the forest floor. The world was spinning around him. His vision was buzzed and hazy. His opened flesh felt like someone had taken a white hot knife into the pulsating wound.
Then there was pain, a pain that not even the greatest author in the world could ever describe. The only describable feeling was that of a stick of TNT had ignited in his chest. The bones in his body felt as if they had exploded into a trillion pieces, grew into a large shard, then reformed two times the size as before.
A scream filled the night and then darkness…
--<=>--
The night was perfect; a full moon was set in the center of the starry night sky that made the hundreds of constellations that would make any star-gazer leap with joy. Tonight was prepared by the princess of the night herself making sure that everything was perfect for Nightmare Night and she did the most breath taking job.
The small little town of Ponyville was taking in the largest responsibilities for the princess’s festival tonight, thanks to one special lavender unicorn.
“Twilight, come on! Luna is on her way and I don’t want to miss the show!" A small little green and purple dragon who was dressed up as…a dragon…again, was calling up the stairwell of the tree house/ library.
“Spike, you don’t need to wait on me it's right down the road and the girls are there, so if you are so impatient you can just go!” a soft passionate voice called back and answered the baby dragon from above the stairs.
“I know that, it’s just I want you to be there too!” the dragon protested.
“Fine, miss the show then!” the young female voice said.
“Uh…hmm…err…Ok see you later Twilight, bye!” Spike the young dragon dashed for the door and in a flash, he was out and heading into the town square. Back inside of the library, up the curved stairwell, down a short hallway, and beyond the door at its end, was a room. In the room the young unicorn known as Twilight Sparkle was finishing her study.
Twilight was sitting at her desk with her window open and let the smell of candy and sweets fill her nostrils and the squeal of little fillies and colts dance around her ears. The mare set down her worn quill and tucked the papers away before standing up and giving her legs a stretch.
The mare had walked from her desk to the cabinet that was standing against the wall and inside were the numerous amounts of dresses, outfits, and costumes that filled its insides. She rummaged around inside of the cabinet for a minute before screams interrupted her.
The sound of a thunder clap and flashes of lighting filled the room. There were screams that quickly turned into laughter and thrills of joy. Then there was a booming voice that filled the night, the voice of Princess Luna herself.
Twilight cracked a smile and shook her head at her Princesses arrival that has always been the same but seemed more entertaining than the last, because every year more and more ponies come flooding into the town, all interested to see what all the hype was about.
Twilight resumed her search inside of the cabinet before coming to find only three costumes, the star-swirl, the tattered spy out-fit, and the old dragon costume head piece. Why did she keep that old thing she wondered but she shrugged, and closed the cabinet.
Twilight just decided to go and enjoy the night in comfort, and not in a hot, itchy costume.
When Twilight left her library home, the festival was in full swing with music and the loud chatter of the crowd that filled the town square. Twilight trotted down the street with a smile on her face, waving at the ponies that she past, tonight was going to be a good night.
“OH, Twilight over here!” Twilight stopped in her tracks and looked around her and spotted a familiar Rainbow pegasus and deep orange earth pony who stood side by side donned in their costumes for the night.
“Hey Rainbow, hey Applejack how are you two doing?” Twilight asked the mares.
Rainbow was dressed up as a fuzzy wolf and she even smelled like one. She had a pair of fake white fangs, which curved out of her mouth. Applejack had a red silk scarf wrapped around her neck, with a old white hat that was tied around her head. She also had her mane and tail tied up short and firm.
“Hey Twilight where is your costume, hum?” Rainbow looked at her sternly.
“Oh well…I kind of…I couldn’t find anything good to wear, so I just decided not to…” Twilight nervously kicked the ground with a hoof.
“Hey there rainbow, no need to be so hard on the girl, come on sugercube lets go and have fun.” AJ cocked an eyebrow at the rainbow colored mare.
“Fine, let’s go and find everypony else. Keep an eye out for a shining dress and a giant cupcake…,” Rainbow deadpanned. Twilight did not need any explanation for Rainbow Dash’s statement.
The trio weaved through the crowds looking for their friends who would most certainly be abstracted from the rest of the party members, making the search easy. In a matter of no time, their eyes came to a rest on a large pink cupcake that was zipping around and jumping into the air with joyful laughter.
“Hey Pinkie Pie, what are you up to?” Rainbow giggled as the overly hyper mare came to screeching halt. Her costume jiggled like a bowl of jelly.
“Hi Rainbow, watch’ya up to, wait, why are you not in a costume Twi?” Pinkie stopped and looked at the lavender unicorn with curiosity.
“Oh…well…” Twilight dug the tip of her hoof into the dirt.
“Wait, hold that thought…” And in a second pinkie was gone leaving a small pink cloud and a dust plume. She returned as fast as she left but this time, she had a mouth full of candy and a very surprised Rarity in her hooves.
“Oh hello darlings, I hope you are all enjoying your time,” Rarity spoke with the sound of awkwardness that clung to the mare’s voice.
“Hi Rarity, what’s up?” Rainbow Dash was looking away biting her lip, holding in her laughter as best she could.
“Hum…Pinkie darling, could you please set me down?” Rarity asked sheepishly.
“Humn…ohmni” Pinkie was completely un-understandable with her mouth stuffed of sweets that spilled out of her mouth.
“What was that dear?” Rarity asked looking at her pink friend who was still holding onto her.
Faster than any Pegasus has ever flown, she opened her mouth wider than a dragon's maw and inhaled the massive ball of sugary sweets. It was completely gone.
“Oh how nice.” Rarity looked at her friend with disgust. "Now darling could you set me down?”
“I already did silly!” she giggled.
“What, but darling…oh.” Rarity was on all fours, planted firmly on the ground.
There was only one rule the five mares had decided to place upon each other and that one rule was… “Never ask about Pinkie Pie…ever.”
“Well that’s out of the way, so Fluttershy is...,” Twilight waited for her friends to confirm her suspicions, "is back at her cottage with her animals, again.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
“No she’s not, she is right over there!” Pinkie Pie pointed out into the crowed.
“What!?” the four other mares all called out in shock. They turned their heads to follow the pink earth pony’s hoof and sure enough there she was, the yellow pegasus came charging through the crowd with a face filled with fear and tears.
“Twilight, oh Twilight we need to run, we need to hide!” The mare had wrapped her hooves around the unicorn’s neck filling it with tears.
“Oh my poor dear, what in the world are you talking about?” Rarity placed a soft hoof on the mare’s shoulder who accepted it with gratitude.
“Monster, there is a monster…I-I-I-It at my house…and…and…and…it was…” Fluttershy wept even harder into Twilight's fur, soaking it but she did not pull away from her friend.
“Calm down Fluttershy, it’s probably just a prank some jerk is pulling on you and I swear when I get my hooves on who ever…,” Rainbow muttered full of loathing and anger.
“No you don’t understand…it was…it was…eating…my chickens all of them…ate them alive!” Fluttershy squealed in sorrow.
“Fluttershy, what did this monster look like,” Twilight asked the broken mare in a peaceful tone. Some of the onlookers stopped and listened.
“It was like a huge…a huge wolf…it was so…ate them…” The yellow pegasus was a mess of tears and wallows.
“Oh my, I’m so sorry to hear about this darling, I swear, I will DESTROY this vile beast!” Rarity stomped the ground.
“NO…it will eat you too!” Fluttershy pleaded.
“Look sugarcube, we will find whatever had done…,” Applejack was mid-sentence until there was a howl in the night.
“Oh no…,” Fluttershy muttered. In the deathly silence that followed you could hear a pin drop.
The mares all turned to look at the princess, Luna’s face was stern and rock steady her gaze looking south at the woods, this was not planned and the mutters of the ponies started to pick up.
Then there were screams.