The Darker the Night

by Stygian Stylus

Prologue

The thing about stories is that they all, eventually, have a beginning, middle, and end. The hard part sometimes is figuring out where one ends and the other begins—the end of one usually means the beginning of another. Stories have a way of mushing together, like a river of currents that swirl against each other; intersecting, combining, separating, but all flowing in the same inevitable direction along with any debris they may have caught along the way.

There once was a story of a mare and a stallion who, with their friends, went on countless adventures together. Legends of grand discoveries, ancient treasures, exotic lands, and even a fight against great evil grew and spread in their wake, but they were never concerned with fame or fortune. Eventually though, the stories of those four adventuresome friends came to an end as the story of the mare and the stallion’s married life began. Along the way they had a filly, and her story grew and intertwined with that of her parents. The mare and the stallion had had enough of adventure and all of the perils and uncertainties that naturally came with it, so they settled down in Canterlot of all places and did their best to give their daughter a normal childhood.

The thing about stories is, that even though you might think that even though you think a chapter of your life is closed and behind you, it might be hiding in the dark just around the corner waiting to jump out at you when you’re least prepared. Some things just don’t want to stay in the past, and the story that the mare and stallion thought had ended caught up with them, but this time it was the daughter’s turn to take the leading role.

This is her story.

This is my story.