//------------------------------//
// Prologue 
// Story: Hollow Shades 
// by Dilos1 
//------------------------------//

	Angela beheld the large building in front of her with a greedy gleam in her eye.

Dressed in a black hooded jacked with a white paintball mask covering her face, her appearance, which would have been suspicious in any other situation, went unnoticed by the hundreds of other cosplayers that swarmed towards the convention like insects. Many of them were dressed in apparel that disguised them in much the same way, hiding their faces from the world behind the capes and masks of their favorite hero, villain, or creature. Angela had to admit that, as she looked around at them, some of them were actually pretty decent in terms of appearance. Some were even downright impressive to look at, Like that one guy's giant hydralisk costume that, were it not for the legs, Angela might have mistook for the real thing. 

And she was not sure, but Angela could not help but shake the feeling that the terran marine that was with him was a girl, and was thoroughly enjoying her role.

Other costumes, while not quite as eye catching, were still pretty neat in their own right. But unfortunately, Angela did not come here just to check out the best costume. Readjusting the backpack slung over her shoulders Angela proceeded to go inside, hidden by the mass of people already in the rented out building. From there she asked for directions to the largest room, where most of the souvenirs were at, and by extension most of the money. Along the way she passed by a Spider Man, a Darth Vader, Princesses Celestia and Luna, and multiple varieties of pokemon. The last group gave her a feeling of nostalgia.

She had not been your typical girl stereotype when she was younger.

Along the way she even got a few compliments for her own "costume" , which she accepted graciously. She may not have cared what they thought about her appearance, but there was no need to attract more attention to herself by being rude.

It was while Angela was walking down a long hallway filled to capacity with other people in costumes that she noticed something sticking out of the side pocket of a suitcase some distance away. She narrowed her eyes and grinned behind her mask when she saw that it was a wallet. And it looked like it had a lot of green stuff in it. And what luck that the teenage boy dressed in plastic golden armor currently tapping away on his phone had been nice enough to set it next to a bench by the woman's restroom.

He's probably waiting for his girlfriend or something. Angela thought.

Suddenly deciding that she needed to use the facilities herself, although for an entirely different reason than what they were probably intended for, Angela changed her direction slightly and made her way towards the restroom. Just as she was about to pass the boy with the suitcase Angela quickly checked to make sure that he was still distracted by his phone and no one else was looking before she stealthily stooped down just enough to pinch the wallet between her thumb and index finger. The boy did not even look up for a second as Angela casually strolled into the restroom with her prize. Stepping into one of the stalls Angela proceeded to empty all of its contents into her backpack. 

A wonderful start to a day at the convention! she thought gleefully.

Her spoils safely tucked away, Angela emerged from the restroom, surreptitiously replacing the wallet back into its place in the suitcase as she passed the boy, who's attention was still on his phone.

I can't help it if some people make it too easy. She mused as she resumed her journey towards the center of the convention, where even more riches were to be had, just ripe for the taking.





Unfortunately for Angela there was actually not a lot of great opportune moments for her to get much of anything, much to her chagrin. It was not that there was a shortage of wallets or open purses to swipe or dip her hand into, or even rare collectibles that would easily fit in her pocket, far from it. She could still recall the almost ecstatic joy she felt upon seeing a plethora of rare Kenner Star Wars action figures, some of them still in their original packaging. Had there not been a bunch of people around at the time that would have seen her she might have been able to make off with a few of them. And of course the guy showing them off had been adamant about not taking his eyes off of them for more than a second, which only made it that much more of a bust.

At least that one chubby nerd had been gullible enough to think that a girl would not be interested in casually sliding a few of his supposedly super rare pokemon cards into her open backpack while he checked beneath his desk for something. Those might get her a few dollars at least. Or maybe she would just keep them; she was a bit of a nerd herself after all.

During her "shopping spree" Angela had also managed to acquire more than a few dollars worth of other items and collectibles that would likely get her a large sum of money, not to mention her spoils from a bunch of open purses and carelessly placed wallets. All things considered, it had not been a bad day for the pickpocket, but it was still far from being the best, and Angela was beginning to get the feeling that she had better start becoming scarce before the people here finally caught on to her, if they haven't already.

Deciding to take just one last look around before leaving, Angela casually walked past various stands and tables, eyeing their wares with a critical gaze. Some of the items on them were tempting but not worth the risk, while others were under heavy scrutiny from their owners. Eventually Angela chose to just call it a day, and she began to make way towards the exit. 

Just then she noticed something a little odd. There, a short distance away, an old man sat behind a desk with wire racks at his back. On them were all sorts of different items from almost every conceivable genre and science fiction series that she could recall. Among the list was a shiny Yveltal plush doll, a large and wicked looking sword, multiple replica light sabers, capes and cowls of every size and color, and the list just kept going. She even saw something that looked suspiciously like the Alicorn Amulet.

Well someone sure is eclectic in his tastes. Angela thought as she looked at them.

It seemed that the man had everything from books to boots and everything in between. As for the man himself. . . Angela was not really sure what to make of him. He was old and wrinkled with tanned skin, and he wore a strange faded robe. Her curiosity getting the better of her Angela walked over to the stand before clearing her throat to speak.

"Excuse me," she said, her voice slightly muffled as she spoke through her mask, "but what's all this you got here?"

The man glanced up her, and Angela noticed offhandedly that there was a strange gleam in his dark eyes as he looked her up and down. Angela was not sure why, but she got the feeling that she was being judged. It was not necessarily off putting, but still she noticed it.

"This, young lady," the man said with an amount of flourish that seemed entirely unnecessary, "is a collection of all kinds of assorted items from only the rarest of sources." The man leaned in and said in a somewhat milder tone, "And, just between the two of us, everything that you see here, you can't get it anywhere else."

That piqued Angela's interest a great deal, and she started to thing that maybe, if she played her cards right, she might be able to get away with some of these so called uber rare items. That thing that looked like a dinosaur tooth or claw hanging from one of the upper shelves by a leather strap seemed pretty interesting at least. Appearance wise it reminded Angela of the times when her father would take her to the museum when she was younger, and she would gaze up in awe the bones of once mighty creatures. Those had been fond memories for her.

Had been.

"What about that ?" she asked while pointing up to it. "That doesn't look like something worth paying a lot of money for. It looks more like someone made it in their garage." 

At this the mans face became sour and his dark eyes narrowed. "Oh really? Now that is quite the thing to say, especially coming from a petty thief like yourself."

Angela's eyes widened in surprise and alarm, although her expression was hidden behind her mask, and she began to wonder with a slight amount of panic how he knew. Did he see her somehow? That did not make any sense, she was halfway across the large room when she was doing most of those things.

"I don't know what you're talking about," She said quietly, hoping he was bluffing.

"Oh, but I think you do miss," he answered with a smirk that made her feel all kinds of uncomfortable. 

Angela regarded him suspiciously for a moment before she asked him, "How did you know?"

"Some security guards came by asking if I had seen anyone walking around matching your description. And I must say it is rather hard to miss. In fact, I do believe that one of those fine gentleman is standing a little ways behind you right now."

It took all of Angela's self control to not turn around and draw more attention to herself. She settled for casually moving her head, as though she had only heard someone call her name, and indeed there was a security guard among the crowd of costumed people. It did not seem that he had spotted her just yet, but Angela knew that would change very soon if she did not leave right now. She figured that now was as good a time as any to do so, until the old man said, "Its too late for that now dear. They've got the whole place under their eyes. You wouldn't even make it to the front door." He then confused her by adding, "But there's no need to leave just yet. He has not noticed you after all."

Angela's confusion would have shown if not for her mask. Her voice however was incredulous when she said, "You're not going to give me away." It was statement rather than a question, and the old man shook his head in response. "Why?" she asked.

The smile still present on his wrinkled face the man said with a hint of smugness, "Because my dear I think that we can help each other. You see, I actually want to see you get away, and in spectacular fashion no less. I can help you do that. All you have to do is give me all of the things that you have, ahem, gained, and take this."

The man reached out his hand, and in it Angela saw the same bone necklace that she had pointed out earlier, now missing from its spot on the wire racks. This startled Angela slightly, as she had not even seen him stand up to get it. She now eyed the thing suspiciously as he held it in front of her.

"How does that help me? Actually, scratch that, how does that help you? They're going to wonder why you suddenly have all this stuff."

"Leave the minor details to me," he answered vaguely as he motioned for her to take it.

Again, Angela looked at the necklace, and wondered what she should do. On the one hand there might still be a chance that she could get away with all of the things in in her possession. But on the other hand, there was the phenomenally greater chance that she would not. Angela hated to think about what would happen if she were caught, but the more she did think about it, the more she realized how hopeless her situation was. And now here was this weird old guy offering her some form of help that had something to do with this bone necklace. Gradually Angela realized that she virtually no choice.

Begrudgingly she slipped the backpack off of her shoulders, and was about to make the trade when she said, "Hold on. You said this is going to help the both of us. How does this help you?"

The old man just smiled and said, "Oh, I have to keep some secrets."

Angela rolled her eyes and grumbled something under her breath before handing him the backpack over the counter and received the necklace without another word. Assuming that she was supposed to be wearing it Angela slipped it over her hooded head, the bone piece hanging in front of her chest.

"Okay. . . now what?" she asked.

Before the man could so much as lift a finger to answer her, they both heard a loud voice shout from behind, "Hey! You there! Don't move!"

Angela whirled around, and to her dismay the security guard she saw had spotted her and was now moving towards her at a brisk pace. She cursed under her breath and started to make a run for it. However she did not make it more than a few yards before she was suddenly afflicted by a feeling of lightheadedness. Her vision began to swim and fade, becoming blurry, and she swayed with every step as though she were drunk. Then, Angela fell to the ground with a thud, and all she saw was darkness.





The first thing Angela noticed when she finally awakened was how how much her head hurt. It was almost like someone had taken the liberty to pound on the inside of her skull with a sledgehammer. 

With great effort Angela cracked her eyes open to find herself surrounded on all sides by darkness. With even greater effort she rolled onto her stomach. And with the greatest effort of all Angela slowly positioned herself to sit on her knees. During the entire process her head throbbed violently, but at least now she was able to see where she was.

The second thing Angela noticed after she woke up was how utterly dark it was. 

The third were the trees. There was a great many of them, gnarled and twisted and surrounded her on all sides, the only illumination coming from the thin shafts of moonlight streaming in through the canopy, and Angela began to wonder how she had ended up here. And, more importantly, where here was.

"Hello?" she called out. "Is anyone there?"

She waited silently, hoping for an answer. But none was forthcoming, and Angela began to feel the first stages of panic begin to settle in like a stone in her gut as frantic thoughts raced through her mind.

Where was she? How did she get here? Why was no one answering her? And why did her head hurt so much?!

Almost desperately Angela tried to organize her thoughts as they threatened to consume her, and attempted to recall the last thing she could remember. 

She was at a convention. She had been. . . doing business. And then there was this old guy there. He said he could help her somehow. She had been caught. She had run. Everything else during and after that was just a blur.

Feeling it would be wiser to  get her bearings first before dwelling on the matter any further, Angela tried to stand up. However the moment she did a stabbing pain raced down her spine, causing her to fall to the ground and utter a soundless scream. It seemed like hours before it finally faded away, leaving her in a cold sweat on the forest floor. It suddenly became hard for her to breath, and she frantically hooked her fingers underneath her mask. Flinging it away she greedily sucked in great breaths of air. For a long while Angela simply lied there on the cold ground with her eyes clenched tightly, still shaking from the feeling she just experienced.

It was then she heard something growling at her. And judging from the tone and pitch, it was big.

Almost too afraid to do so, Angela opened her eyes to see a hulking black, white and yellow figure skulking towards her. Its body vaguely resembled a bear of some sort, but beyond that the similarities ended.

The thing before her had an extra pair of clawed arms, a set of insect like wings that buzzed occasionally on its back, and a large abdomen not unlike that of a bee or hornet. Its compound eyes glowed a bloody red as it came nearer, and it let another growl escape from its tooth filled maw. Angela tried to get up and run, but the best she could manage was a slow crawl backwards on her rear. The bear thing growled again but did not quicken its pace. It seemed to know as much as she did that her chances of escape were virtually nonexistent. It did not help that her path was cut off when she felt her back scrape against the trunk of a tree. She was trapped now, and the bug bear bared its fangs in sadistic glee.

"No. . . please no. . ." she whimpered.

Angela closed her eyes, not wanting to witness her inevitable fate.

She opened them again as searing agony suddenly filled her entire body, but it was not caused by an attack on the bear's part. Rather, it seemed to emanate from within her very being, growing and expanding until it felt as though she would be torn apart from the inside, and she screamed long and loud. The bear's ears folded back against its head, surprised by its preys unexpected outburst, and it became vaguely aware that something was wrong, and it stayed rooted to the spot as caution replaced blood lust.

Angela meanwhile was in a massive amount of pain and torment. She clutched her head in a vain attempt to make it go away. Then, unexpectedly, she heard the sound of tearing fabric. She looked down at her arms to see that the edges of her sleeves had begun to split, exposing her forearms, which appearing to be growing. She did not notice, but the bug bear had decided to back away, sensing that something was indeed very wrong here, and its eyes widened in surprise and fear.

As Angela stared at herself, shaking in agony, she became even more concerned to see large growths spread across her skin, and a viscous black fluid began to leak out of every pore, covering her body in slime. Similar sensations ripped across the rest her body, and Angela, fighting to ignore the pain, desperately tried to shake the stuff off and wipe it away. But the feeling became too unbearable for her to endure, and she could do nothing more than fall onto her side and writhe on the ground. 

As if that was not bad enough, these feelings were then followed by the sensation of every bone in her body breaking and moving within her her flesh. Her skull, shoulder blades, and the base of her spine in particular felt the brunt of it, and for a little while Angela just lied there, her rapidly growing form enveloped in a shroud of black slime, hoping desperately that she would just pass out. 

And then, everything stopped. The night air that had once been filled with the cries of agony were now deathly silent.

The bug bear, thinking that the gruesome display was finally over, slowly inched forward, sniffing the air. Then, the thing that was going to be its prey stirred, and the slime that covered it slid away to reveal smooth pale skin. It then began to stand, rising up and up and up until it now towered over the bug bear, which backed away in alarm and fright, suddenly wishing it had stayed in the upper levels of Tartarus. The thing that now stood above it looked like something from a foals nightmare, resembling the human it had once been in only the vaguest sense.

The pain was now over. Finally, blessedly, over, and Angela breathed a sigh of relief, staring upward at the sky. But something felt. . . different, somehow. She was not sure why, or if the feeling was even necessarily wrong, only that it was different. A sound interrupted the feeling, and Angela looked down to see that the bug bear was now cowering as it backed away, its compound eyes wide with fear as it stared at her. Did it get smaller somehow? Angela did not know, nor did she particularly care at the moment. She only remembered that she had been backed into a corner by the thing, and a flurry of emotions and feelings flooded her mind as a result. Fear was among them, yes; fear for her life. But it was smothered by the the feeling of anger and fury at it that it had tried to kill her.

And, oddly enough, hunger.

Oh the hunger. How it demanded that she satisfy it, to tear the beasts flesh off of its bones as it would have done to her and feed on the remains, to not even bother chewing but instead flay the thing alive with her will and inhale it.

Not really sure what was happening or where the feeling came from, Angela became a prisoner of her own instincts as she crouched low to the ground.

The bear, sensing what was about to happen, promptly turned to run in the opposite direction, and its wings buzzed furiously as it prepared to fly to safety.

Angela did not allow it to get far. Letting out an ear piercing shriek that shattered the night air, this time out of rage and fury, she pounced.





"Did you hear that?"

Roughshod's ears twitched in response to Star Mix's question, and he turned to regard the mare next him. The two ponies stood on top of a twenty foot high wall made of tree logs as they stared out at the tree line more than thirty yards away. High above them Luna's moon provided a considerable amount of light for them to see by. It was almost enough that they did not even need to use torches. However the forest of trees that ringed the town of Hollow Shades was as dark as ever.

"Yeah. I heard it," the earth pony stallion quietly answered as he scrutinized the tree line. They had both heard it; the sound of a predator of the night attacking its prey, followed by the unmistakable squeal of some hapless creature as it was killed.

"Do you think that was it? Do you think that was the bug bear?"

Roughshod shook his head before saying to the unicorn mare next to him, "No. I don't think so. This was different."

Just then something in the distance caught his attention. Star Mix noticed it too, and she brought up a telescope with her magic to see what it was as her single spiral horn glowed a faint emerald.

"It looks like something spooked a whole bunch of birds over in the the East," she said. Putting the telescope down she asked, "You want to head out there in the morning to check it out?"

The gray coated stallion briefly considered the proposal before he answered, saying, "I'll bring it up with the mayor when my shift ends. For now lets just keep an eye on things, make sure nothing gets the the jump on us."

"Alright," Star Mix answered, nodding her head. "I just hope that it turns out to be nothing. We already have enough on our plates with that bug bear running around, causing havoc in the orchard."





It had been over two weeks since the monster had been spotted by the ponies living in the Canterhorn mountain range, most notably around the little town of Hollow Shades, and she had received an anonymous letter in Ponyville informing her of the occurrence. It did not take much for the mare to guess that it came from the former head of the agency, and she had been almost ecstatic about the chance to recapture it. In less than a day she had everything she needed packed up and ready to go. Lyra of course had been a little upset by her sudden decision to go on a camping expedition in the mountains north of Canterlot, but thankfully the unicorn did not press her for an explanation.

Bon-Bon swore that one of these days she would no longer be able to stand the guilt of lying to her friend for so long about her past, and the truth would just come flying out. But that day was hopefully still far in the future. For now Bon-Bon just focused on the task at hoof.

She had been tracking the bug bear for almost two weeks now, yet during that time it seemed to have grown wise to her pursuing it, and was now keeping a low profile. Apparently it was not a low enough profile, because the ponies of Hollow Shades still spotted it lurking around orchards every once in a while. This helped Bon-Bon tremendously in tracking it, but so far she had yet to actually find the beast. 

But no matter what Bon-Bon would not let it get away, not this time. It was a matter of personal pride that she be the one to bring it down. As to how she would do that. . . she had a few tricks up her sleeve.

It was just then that Bon-Bon heard a cringe inducing shriek echo through the trees, and the mare was on full alert before she even recognized it as not belonging to the bug bear. She did not let her guard down though. Even if the bear was her top priority, she knew there were other predators, like wolves, that could do her in if she was not careful.

Still, not once had she ever heard a cry like that before, and it set Bon-Bon on edge that she was unable to identify it. She was probably letting her curiosity get the better of her, which was a dangerous thing to do given the situation, but she knew her mind would not let her rest until she found out what caused it. Changing her direction Bon-Bon angled herself to where the noise came from.

Not a minute later the screech was followed by the unmistakable sound of an all too familiar growl.

It was the bug bear! She had found it!

Adrenaline pumping, Bon-Bon took off at a gallop, not even bothering with stealth anymore. Presently she came across a small clearing in the trees, with the branches obscuring the light of Luna's moon, and skidded to a halt, eyes widening at what she was seeing.

She had found the bug bear, true. But what she also found filled the earth pony mare with horror and dread at what she was witnessing, and all she could mutter was, "Sweet Celestia. . ."