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// Chapter I: Sapphire 
// Story: The Black Cat 
// by AliceA020 
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	My name is Victoria Hill. Tory, for short. Seven months ago, I met the current members of the band I’m in. Cory, River, and Rory. We all discovered we had a love for music, the same genre nonetheless. Then we all discovered we all had some sort of talent when it comes to music. Cory’s on the guitar, River plays the piano, Rory pounds his drums, and I sing.

We decided to put our talents together and form a band. Five months ago, we made our debut single. And it was a success. At our first concert, we got over 7,000 people. I was truly impressed. I didn’t think we were THAT good.

Now I sit in my chair, readying myself for a concert. I know usually staff members prepare the band members, but I prefer to do it myself. They were kind enough to let me.

I’m your average girl, as average as a singer could be. I have cherry-colored hair that just brushes my shoulders. Emerald green marks my eyes. I’m a bit on the shorter side for my age, just a few inches above five feet. I got my height and hair from my mom, whereas my eyes and personality were gained from my dad. 

I stare at myself in the mirror as I brush my hair. I must make sure it is to its utmost perfection. I suppose it shouldn’t matter much; it’ll most likely just get ruined again. However, my fans are expecting a form of beauty, not a disheveled mess. 

A knock at my door. “One minute!” I say. I finish up my hair, give one last glance in the mirror, and rush over and open the door to reveal Cory. 

Cory is a rather tall man—six feet and four inches to be exact. He has black hair that’s long enough to be pulled into a ponytail, which he chose to do for this concert. His eyes are quite beautiful—a deep blue. His black hair and blue eyes is a match made in heaven. 

Cory also happens to be the most popular member in our band. I suppose girls just happen to have a thing for guitarists. 

“Hey, we start in five minutes,” he notifies me. 

I nod. Then I attempt to close the door. He pushes it back open with ease.

“Trying to get rid of me so soon?” He chuckles.

I shrug. Did I mention I’m a bit on the quiet side?

“Quiet as always, I see.” He then puts a hand on my shoulder and looks into my eyes. “I must say that you look absolutely beautiful.” I can feel my cheeks warm up at that comment. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have small crush on the guy.

“T-Thanks…” I stutter. “Now can you please go? I have to finish up.” He frowns and removes his hand from my shoulder.

“Finish up? What for? You look completely fine.”

“J-Just go!” I say and shut the door. This time he lets me.

With a sigh, I slump against the door. Then I stand back up, carefully making my way around all the outfits that lay scattered on my floor.

Yeah, my dressing room is a bit of a mess right now. I had trouble finding the right outfit. 

I walk towards my mirror to give a final look at myself. My cheeks are still slightly pink, but it fades after a few seconds. 

Just as I’m about to exit and make my way towards the stage, something catches my eye. I’m still looking in the mirror, but there’s a sparkle somewhere in the mess. It’s barely noticeable. Memorizing the location, I turn around and walk to the area. Whatever it is, it’s buried under all these clothes. 

I pick up each article of clothing, shaking it in case it happens to fall out. It’s not until I reach the bottom—which wasn’t long, mind you—that I find it. It’s a necklace. It has a teardrop shaped sapphire gemstone. Quite pretty, if I do say so myself. 

I observe it for a few seconds longer and stand up. When I stand up, however, things start getting weird. The sapphire started…glowing. That probably wasn’t the best way to describe it, but I couldn’t find a better word due to my shock.

Then I notice that I’m disappearing. Naturally, I start to freak out, but no sounds come out. I’m guessing it either has to do with my fear or that this weird gemstone thing had something to do with it.

I squeeze my eyes shut and reopen them constantly. This is all a dream, and all I have to do is wake up. I’m not disappearing right now. I’m back in my bed, sleeping soundly. 

But I don’t wake up.

Instead, I continue fading away until I’m completely gone. 

I can feel a cool breeze, and I can tell I’m lying on something hard that I can recognize as grass due to the blades brushing up against me. 

I’m outside? I open my eyes and sure enough, I’m greeted with green grass and a blue sky with little clouds. But I’m also greeted with a black leg with a paw at the end. 

I try to move to get up, and notice the leg and paw follow. It’s harder to get up as well. After a few minutes, I finally manage to stand up. I turn my head around to observe the landscape and possibly figure out where I am.

A forest that seems pretty dark is off to my left, while what seems to be a village is off to my right. A pond rests beside me which I turn around to look at myself in. It’s a difficult feat. Once I manage to do so, I stare at the pond. Staring back at me is a black cat face with green eyes.

My back arches and I can feel my tail straighten as I scream.

This definitely has to be a dream. I splash myself with the water to try and wake myself up. Nothing. Now I’m cold as the wind blows with my wet fur. Slowly, as I’m still adjusting to these new joints, I walk to the village. I should at least pass time while waiting to wake up. Or, on the off chance this is all real, get some help to figure out where I am and get back home.

As I get closer and closer, I can see colorful shapes moving around. That’s odd. Not only a village in this time period as well, but pastel colors?

I eventually get close enough to see that the shapes are none other than ponies. This definitely has to be a dream. It has to be. 

I lift my paw up to my mouth and bite it, hoping the pain will wake me up. But nothing happens. I continue biting until I start to bleed a bit. It only dishevels the fur. I’m breathing heavily out of shock, fear, and tiredness. I see my world start to fade to black and assume it’s because of the anxiety I’m feeling.

Within a few seconds, I topple over and my whole world is black.

~*O*~*O*~*O*~

When I wake up, I find warmth and coziness. I simply want nothing more than to curl back up and fall back asleep, but remembering the previous events, my eyes open and dart around. I notice that the paw that was bleeding earlier is bandaged up. My eyes still move around, wanting to know where I am.

I seem to be in some sort of cottage. Many animals—bunnies, birds, ferrets, mice, even a bear—are all currently feeding. I gulp at the sight of the bear.

“Oh, good, you’re awake,” a voice says. Turning my head to the source, I see a yellow pastel pony with pink hair and wings. I lift my paw up and rub my eye in one final desperate attempt to wake up. But I remain here.

“I bet you’re hungry,” she says. Then she pulled out a basket that appeared to be full of vegetables. “I hope you don’t mind the vegetables, but they’re all I have at the moment.” She then dumps a few in front of me. I sniff them, searching for any kind of poison or another dangerous thing they could be. After finding nothing, I reluctantly pick up a slice of carrot up between my teeth (It’s harder since I’m not used to these cat teeth) and chew it. I swallow not long after. I do the same with a few more vegetables. Then I lay my head down again. A white bunny comes over, takes the remaining vegetables, and scurries off into a hole.

“Sorry about Angel,” the pony says. “I’m Fluttershy, by the way,” she adds. 

I finally decide to try speaking. “It’s all right,” I say, but by the look on her face, she doesn’t seem to understand me. She brushes it off though. 

I then try to tell her that I need help, but she gives the same look. I remember I’m a cat. All she’s probably hearing are meows. 

I sigh (Can a cat sigh?). This is going to be harder than I thought.