Prologue
As the Moon Rises
As the daytime comes to an end, the nighttime shall begin. The city of Canterlot is engulfed in darkness with the moon and stars being there to providing light. To most, the nighttime is the time to lay down in bed, awaiting for the sun to rise again. To others, it's an excuse stay up and maybe party the night away. But for one, the nighttime is its chance to lurk around the city and hunt for whatever prey it can see or even smell.
This thing is an abnormal beast filled with strength, agility and some of the strongest senses known to man. This thing, however, can only be seen during the night. No one knows where it hides once the sun is up. Some do not believe in it, but some fear it, wish for it to be brought to justice and that this beast is actually human during the day.
Just what is this monster?
July 3rd, Tuesday Night
10:34PM
Six teenage girls all gathered around what used to be a statue that sat in front of Canterlot High. They were all waiting for the return of their friend, Sunset Shimmer, after her week long trip to Equestria, her home world.
"Ugh! Where is she?" Rainbow Dash asked impatiently. "She said she'd be here twenty minutes ago."
"Cool y'er jets, Rainbow, she might'a jus' forgotten' somethin'," said Applejack.
"It doesn't take me that long to get my stuff together."
"That's because you have superspeed," Twilight Sparkle told her rainbow friend.
"Yeah, but even without the superspeed I'd still be faster."
"Well, you are the most athletic out of... everyone, actually," Rarity pointed out.
"Still! She's taking too long."
They continued waiting. Sunset still hadn't arrived.
"She might've just forgotten her horn," Pinkie Pie wondered.
Everyone looked at her confusingly.
"Her horn, Darling?" Rarity asked.
"Yeah! It could've just fallen off and she lost it and now she has to find it."
"How does a unicorn just lose their horn, Pinkie?" Twilight asked.
"Well, one time I saw this movie that had a unicorn that lost her horn. She never got it back though." Pinkie finished her last sentence sadly.
The rest of them remained looking confused at Pinkie after her little story. Then they were pulled back into looking at the statue which began to glow very brightly. An orange arm emerged from the light, and then the body the arm belonged to appeared. A girl with red hair with yellow streaks, orange skin and a spiky leather jacket stood in front of the girls.
"Sunset Shimmer!" everyone cried in unison.
They all crowded around Sunset Shimmer and hugged her. Sunset, who at first was surprised by the sudden embrace, smiled very sweetly.
"It's good to see you all again too, but it would be nice to have air in my lungs, please!" Sunset said struggling for breath.
They all released Sunset to give her room to breathe. Once done, the silence between them all was then broken by Rarity.
"How was your trip, Darling?" she asked.
"It was great! So many things to see, so many ponies to meet. Oh, I loved it," Sunset happily answered.
"Do you have any stories to tell from your trip?"
"Oh you better believe I do. Come on, I'll tell you on the way." Sunset began walking down the street.
"On the way to where?" Fluttershy asked.
Sunset stopped and turned around to face her friends. "To home; I'm more tired than Twilight preparing for a test."
Twilight caught up beside Sunset and punched her on the arm. She tried to show anger as if she had been insulted, but Sunset was able to see she was trying to hold back a smile. Sunset laughed and they all began walking in the direction leading to Sunset's house.
On their way, Sunset told her friends her different stories, such as: when her, Princess Twilight and, her student, Starlight Glimmer went on a hunt for an Ursa Major in a mountain valley round the outskirts of Equestria. The Ursa Major, apparently, had been stomping it's way into Equestria and was flattening everything in its path. The three powerful magic users were assigned to chase it away back to where it came from.
Sunset bragged about how she was the one that delivered the final blow of chasing it away. As much as her friends wanted to believe that, they couldn't, especially how she described an Ursa Major: a gigantic, cosmic bear who was so big and stomps were so fierce, they could collapse towns from miles away.
After a few stories, they all arrived at the door to Sunset's house. Twilight passed Sunset her house key - because she was house sitting for Sunset - and she unlocked the door. The seven of them all stepped inside small house. Sunset sat down onto her couch and looked around the place.
"Wow, Twilight, you did a great job taking care of this place," Sunset complimented. "Thanks for house sitting for me."
Twilight smiled. "It's was nothing, but I'm always happy to help."
Sunset yawned and stretched her arms out. "Sorry girls but, if you all don't mind, I really need to get some rest. Princess Twilight is great to be around, but whatever mission she's assigned to really sucks the energy out of you."
"Aww! We'll all hang out tomorrow though, right?" Pinkie asked.
"I promise, we'll all get together and do whatever our hearts content. It is summer break after all."
Everyone smiled and pulled Sunset into another group hug. Only this time, Sunset was able to breathe. Sunset yawned once again and they all pulled away. Everyone (Not including Sunset) began leaving the house.
"See you tomorrow, Sunset!" Twilight waved.
"Bye, everyone!" Sunset said closing the door and then locking it.
She then began climbing her stairs into her bedroom, pulled out her pyjamas from her closet and changed into them. She lifted the covers on her bed and slipped herself right under them. Sunset was now the cosiest she had been in over a week. It wasn't long before she eyes began closing, drifting her off to sleep.
Sunset was suddenly awoken by what sounded like clunking. She looked over to her alarm clock. 12:47AM. Sunset tried ignoring it so she could get back to sleep, but the clunking wouldn't stop. Whatever was outside was driving Sunset crazy, so she decided that she was going to have to deal with it herself.
She climbed out of bed and collected her flashlight and she pulled out her baseball bat (Just incase) from under her bed. She traced the noise to be coming from her back garden, so she walked towards the back door, opened it and stepped outside.
Once outside, she saw a shadow run into the bush at the back of her garden. Sunset slowly walked towards the bush with her bat at the ready.
"H-Hello? Is someone there?" she called out.
When she was only a few feet away from the bush, she began to hear growling from inside. Sunset grabbed part of the bush to pull it away, but the growling only grew louder. She hesitated but managed to build up the courage to pull the bush away. She shined her flashlight inside and caught sight of what looked like a large, stray, grey dog.
It emerged from the bush and lunged at Sunset. Sunset jumped back, only to have the animal bite her on the hand. Sunset held her injured hand close to her chest and shouted in pain. She looked towards the thing that attacked her. It appeared to be a large wolf that had been feeding off of the garbage from Sunset’s trash can.
The wolf then roared and began charging at Sunset. She, once again, jumped out of the way and began running back for the house. The wolf was catching up to her, so Sunset threw her bat away, in hopes that it would go fetch it. Instead, the bat hit it directly onto the nose, leaving the wolf whimpering in pain.
Sunset reached the inside of her house and used her body to close it. She was panting and the bite she was given made it all the much worse.
She then heard the wolf's footsteps approaching the door, it knew she was inside the house. She heard it growl once more as it got right up to the door. Sunset tried to remain calm and quiet, in hope that it would think she wasn't there and left. Sunset was covering her mouth at this point, trying to control her breathing.
Then she saw that the door handle was being pulled downwards. This wolf was able to open doors. Sunset tried pushing the handle back up with all her might to keep it out. She, however, wasn't strong enough and the handle was pulled right down. Her breathing rate was quickening once again.
She was certain that she was going to die tonight until she heard the howling of another wolf. The door handle was raised once again and the wolf standing at Sunset's door howled back and finally ran off.
Sunset slid down her door and began to calm down. But then she remembered that she had to treat her hand, so she rushed over to the kitchen to find a bandage. After scoping through a couple of drawers, she eventually found the large bandage roll. She wrapped it around her hand and cut it off at the end. The blood started soaking into the bandage, clearly showing that she would have it on for a while.
'I should probably check up with the doctor tomorrow, incase that wolf had some kind of disease or something,' she thought to herself.
She still hissed at the pain but figured that it wouldn't keep her up all night. She began climbing the stairs back to her bedroom. Her head began to feel strange, very strange, as if her brain began to get bigger and was now too big for her skull. Upon reaching the top of the stairs, Sunset collapsed, unconscious.
Author's Note
I somehow got the inspiration for this story from watching Markiplier's playthrough of "Don't Escape". Weird, right?
Happy 4th of July to y'all American folk!
