Chapter I

I took a seat on the cold and wet swinging bench that rested in my backyard. Taking a good whiff of the air on a winter’s night, I fixated my gaze on the stars in the sky that were shining brighter than usual. It came as a surprise to me that only fourteen years before today, I could feel nothing but uneasiness and anxiety. Equestria was certainly not the same as it is today.

Closing my eyes, I began to recall my days of being a little filly. Even thinking back on my past now sent icy chills down my spine.

My story begins when I was barely twelve years old. A few of my close friends and I decided to play along the riverbank close to the Everfree Forest against the adults’ warnings. At the time, we considered ourselves fearless daredevils; there wasn’t a thing we couldn’t nor wouldn’t do.

“Hey Star, check this out!” Storm Bringer called out to me. I trotted towards him, eager to see what was so intriguing.

“What do you want?” I muttered as if I sounded uninterested, though that was far from the truth. Storm grinned and pointed a hoof towards the river. I stared into the water, but there was nothing to be seen. “Storm, wh--”

Suddenly, something emerged from the water, soaking my face and mane in the process. I was instantly knocked onto the grass. Storm cackled as he pulled Night Shade out of the river. I spat out any water that entered my mouth, and shot Storm a malevolent glare.

“I think she’s mad…” Storm whispered into Night’s ear.

“I can hear you loud and clear, idiot,” I pointed out. Regaining my composure, I stood up and walked towards the edge of the river. I flung as much water as I could at Storm and Night, causing the two to flee. “Come back here, you cowards!” I shouted after them.

“You sure sound like you’re having fun,” Autumn Breeze giggled. She handed me a rigid makeshift towel composed solely out of leaves. Despite the quality of the towel, I appreciated the gesture nonetheless.

“Not really. I hate getting wet,” I said, gratefully accepting the towel from her.

“I know, I know,” she said, wrapping her arms around me, “I know all about you. We’re best friends, remember?”

“Thanks,” I mumbled in an embarrassed tone, causing Autumn to stifle another laughter.

“It’s really getting dark now… I think we should go home,” Midnight Glimmer suggested timidly.

“Oh, you’re right. The sun looks like it’ll set any minute now,” Autumn agreed. She turned to me and grinned. “Would you do the honour of bringing Storm and Night back?”

I shook my head around, pleading her not to make me do so. “No way! They’ll never listen to me. I know for a fact that Storm will retort with that stupid comeback he uses every time I order him to do something. ‘Who would listen to you anyway?’ he’d say. Why can’t we just leave them in the woods forever or something?”

“Hey, that’s rude!” a familiar voice called out. The three of us diverted our attention to a nearby bush, only to see Storm climbing out of it. “If you were lost, you know we’d come and rescue you, but you wouldn’t bother to do the same for us?”

“Not with that attitude,” I defended myself, “and don’t group yourself with Autumn and Midnight! I’m pretty sure if I ever got lost in the woods, you’d be dosing away on a hoofmade hammock, and the last thing you’d be worrying about is my wellbeing!”

“Break it up, you two!” Autumn interrupted. She always played the mediator role in our group because of her level headedness. Moreover, she wasn’t one for favouritism, so she’d always be able to come up with a just verdict.

“Tch, she started it,” he said, putting the blame on me.

“Well, maybe if you weren’t so ridiculously sensitive, we wouldn’t have gotten into an argument in the first place!”

“It’s your fault you didn’t apologize for what you said!”

“Why should I apologize? You know very well that you belong in the Everfree Forest!”

“Star Gazer! Storm Bringer!” Autumn hollered, getting in between us once again, “I know you two have a lot to quarrel about, but can we save that for later? More importantly, Night’s still not back yet.”

Storm and I stopped for a moment and examined the area. We exchanged glances, both of our faces sharing the same confused expression.

“Wasn’t he with you?” I asked Storm.

“Well, yes, but… he went off somewhere else on his own without even telling me anything, which is why I came back in the first place. I wanted to see if he did the same, but I guess not,” he answered.

“You idiot! You should’ve said that first instead of starting a fight with me!” I yelled, letting out my bottled up frustration.

“I got sidetracked, okay? I didn’t need to hear you say you wouldn’t even bother putting in the effort to look for us if we ever went missing.”

“I was only joking! You obviously weren’t supposed to hear it, you… you idiot!” I cried. At that moment, my legs began to move by themselves, leading me towards the Everfree Forest.

“Wait, where are you going?!” Storm shouted behind me, but I pretended to ignore him. I had my mind set on finding and bringing Night Shade back. That way, I could prove I really was willing to do anything to rescue my friends, despite what I had said earlier. I wanted to take my words back.

‘Maybe it was a bad idea to run into the Everfree Forest head first…’ was the first thought I had. ‘It’s so dark here…’

I wandered around for what felt like hours, but was ultimately unable to find any trace of Night. The trees all looked the same in the forest to me. It almost felt as if I was going around in an endless circle.

“N-Night!” I hollered at the top of my lungs. I prayed that he had heard me, but even if he did, it was almost impossible to navigate through the woods. There was a little part of me that wanted to give up.

“Graaaaawl…” I heard a purr nearby.

“Night…?” I said, though it would be odd for him to be purring. Nevertheless, I hung onto the last string of hope I had left, and headed towards the source of the sound. “Night, is that you?”

“Graaaawr.” The sound was getting louder. By then, I could tell that the purr was more vicious than I thought. In fact, it was more like a roar than a simple purr. I gulped as I got closer and closer. My eyes widened as I registered another noise in my ears. I stopped in my tracks, and allowed myself to listen.

“GRAAAWR,” it came again, followed by the sounds of munching and biting.

‘Relax, I bet he’s just feeding a cat or something.’ I tried to convince myself that Night was there, and not some monster. I held my breath, and pushed aside a few bushes to get a glimpse of what was going on.

“Ah…” was all that I managed to spit out. I felt my face immediately beginning to pale. My body was ice cold. I covered my mouth with my hooves to prevent any further noises from escaping. The sight almost made me want to puke. ‘W-w-what is that…?’

There, under the moonlight, stood a black gigantic cat-like monster. It looked almost… mutated. Its teeth were wickedly sharp, like the blades on fruit knives. I wasn’t able to see very clearly, but there was definitely something in its mouth, and some sort of liquid was seeping out of it at a rapid speed.

I leaned in closer to get a better look. Through my peripheral vision, I saw the figure of a rather large blue stallion standing next to the scene – no, he was undeniably the culprit behind it. There was no doubt about it.

“… I’m sorry. You saw something you were not supposed to see,” the stallion apologized to the beast. “But surely, you were warned about what the consequences were of coming here.”

The thing in the creature’s mouth squirmed around a little bit, but it only caused more blood to flow out. “What… the hell… is this…?” it said in a weak tone, his words barely comprehensible. It was clear to me that it had ceased to make any attempts of escaping.

The stallion sighed and placed his face in his hoof. “Very well, I’ll tell you everything you want to know in your last moments.” He looked around, checking to see if anyone was nearby. I ducked in the nick of time. After the stallion made sure there was no one around, he sighed.

“We live in a corrupted world. In this society, we believe only in our wellbeing. If there is anything potentially dangerous or life threatening, we will dispose of it,” he explained.

“Cut the crap! Just… tell me… what this thing… is…”

“This cat is one of the tools we use to eliminate any threats-”

“I… didn’t… threaten you… with anything!” it yelled with all of its might. The thing began to cough nonstop, showing that its life was nearing its end.

“In this world, there are some things we can’t let children know about. As safety precautions, these cats will also help us destroy any trespassers, or anyone who knows too much information than necessary. It really is unfortunate that a young colt like you has to die so soon,” said the stallion. To me, it sounded like there was not a single trace of regret in his voice.

‘Young… colt?!’ the words replayed themselves in my head over and over again. That thing in the creature’s mouth was a colt all along… and he was being devoured by a cat!

“So… that’s it… I’m being… killed by… a cat?” the colt wheezed. “What a... terrible… way… to… die…” He continued to cough. His blood splattered everywhere on the ground, and yet, the stallion remained unfazed. ‘How many ponies has this guy killed anyway? This doesn’t seem to be affecting him at all!’

“Do you have any final words before you pass on?” the stallion asked bluntly.

“Heh… I… wish… I could… stay… and… chat… but… I’ve got… somewhere to be…” muttered the colt. “Star… run… he… knows… you’re… there…”

I flinched upon hearing my name. ‘… Who is he? How does he know who I am? How did he know I was here?’ Many questions circulated in my mind, but I was immediately broken out of my trance when I saw the stallion and the creature staring right at me. My heart skipped a beat as I finally laid eyes on the corpse that hung lifelessly in the beast’s mouth. My head felt like it was going to split open right then and there.

The stallion merely chuckled. “What do you think, Interfector? Are you still hungry, or should we mess around with her mind?”

“STAR!”

I turned to the voice that called out to me. I instantly felt relieved when I saw Storm running frantically towards me. Without hesitating, he grabbed onto me and took me with him.

“Interfector, stop them!” I heard the stallion command the beast. However, seconds passed without any sign of the cat chasing us. I took a peek behind us, only to find the stallion struggling to release the creature from a series of metal shackles.

“Storm, did you…?” I asked.

“Yeah, I did. Focus on escaping for now. Don’t look back!” he instructed. I nodded and obeyed his instructions. ‘Storm’s … a really good friend…’

We didn’t stop running until we found our way out of the Everfree Forest. Autumn Breeze and Midnight Glimmer ran up to us, and gave us both big hugs. Autumn grabbed onto me tightly. Her eyes were visibly welling up with tears.

“You were gone for a really long time, you know…” she said, her voice wavering. “I was really worried! The trees in the Everfree Forest… aren’t normal. No one knows what goes on in there, and frankly you… you could’ve been killed in there!”

I held onto my best friend tightly, and attempted to consolidate her. “But I’m not dead.”

“And I’m glad about that… I’m never letting you leave on your own like that ever again!”

“I got it, I got it.”

“… Did you find Night?”

Storm and I both leapt. Memories of the horrific scene began to replay in my head, but I quickly snapped out of it.

“Star…?” Autumn asked. “Are you okay?”

“… I’m fine, but-” I briefly exchanged glances with Storm, who simply gave me the go-ahead, “-there’s something we have to tell you.”

Autumn tore away from our embrace, and stared at me. “W-what do you mean…?”

“Night’s… no longer in this world with us.”

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