Darkness Awaits

Darkness Awaits

By BlueMoon6

Prolouge:

Phantasm

Silence hung over the Everfree, plunging the forest into petrified animation, the trees frozen in mid-battle, their bark scarred and twisted into agonised faces. The leaves whispered in the midnight breeze, glittering malevolently through the musky fog, cloaking the woodland in a stale veil of odour. Beneath the canopy, a smudge if grey quivered in the undergrowth, her blue mane riddled with twigs and leaves in an attempt to blend in with the shrubs.  Nevertheless, her mane and tail stood out like light bulbs, glowing softly in the moonlight.

A raven cawed, erupting from the bushes in a manic frenzy. The filly caught her breath and drew more mud over her tail with a shivering hoof.

Whoever spooked the raven's still out there.

Her expression settled into a determined scowl as she held her breath, her ears pricked for the heavy breath of an Ursa Major, or the defining growls of a chimera...

She listed the monsters of the Everfree in her mind, trying to summon every scrap of knowledge of each and every beast.

Ursa Majors - they only wake every thousand years, wait, no, a hundred? Or is it the Ursa Minor who sleeps for a hundred? unless disturbed...

She recalled that irritating blue unicorn who claimed she had defeated one, only to be bested by the librarian.

What was her name? Pix- Dixie? No, Trixie!

She shouldn't have been surprised when Snips and Snails became so besotted with her. Rumour had it they still watched My Little Person, though she personally didn't think they would sink that  low.  She chuckled to herself. It was a welcome distraction from the menacing forest. Her chuckles weakened as she realised there was one creature she hadn't made allowances for. The Timberw-

Snap

The woods were plunged into silence, tension dripping from the air as the cloak of fear was cast upon the forest, choking the voices of the hunted. Tentatively, the little Pegasus unfurled her wings as the bushes ahead trembled. She bit her lip, holding back the tears. She doubted she'd be capable of flying high enough, quick enough, if it lunged. She could visualise her tiny form draped limply from slavering jaws, her eyes glazed and her face slack, her soul absent from the depths of her gaze, a mere shell awaiting collapse.

The filly wrenched herself from her rumination, and turned her glare the the shrubs, preparing for the worst. And there she met her tormenter's gaze.

They glowed from the darkness, gently bobbing orbs in murky waters, and they burnt pure amber, lit with sparks of intelligence.

This was no Timberwolf.

Those huge eyes regarded her with intrigued depth, as if that gently flickering gaze could observe her very soul and forge her fate from the depths of its' burning spirit.

They slowly progressed, straying nearer and nearer to the surface of moonlight. She gasped as it  broke into the night, tasting the air as it's muzzle emerged. She crouched, splaying her wings and narrowing her eyes to harsh slits. It was the best she could to to ward of the creature lurking in the shadows. Her eyes widened in surprise as she spied the wolf's muzzle - it was a work of art. Inky blue with a flowing, paler aura. Pinpricks of light glimmered from its' fur - stars. This creature seemed to have been fashioned from the night sky itself, formed by the same astral magic that flowed through Princess Luna's mane.

"Lupus... Major?" The filly breathed, hardly daring to whisper.

"We're not as different as you may think, little one."

The minute pegasi withdrew with a small gasp.

It spoke with my voice.

It stole my voice.

She screamed, but instead of the raw, high pitched squeal of a filly came a strong, rich note, sliding smoothly from her throat and spilling into the night sky. The lupus major remained indifferent, as it began to speak once more.

"We're not as different as you think."

The filly's eyes widened in horror as her pelt began to darken, her mane becoming a coarse ruff of jet-black fur. Her muzzle elongated, finishing with a small black nose, and her wings became four turquoise streaks along her rib cage. The pitch wolf gradually raised her head, revealing a large blue teardrop marking her forehead as her turquoise irises glowed in the moonlight.

"We're not as different as you think."