Monstruos: The Monsters of Equestria

A flickering orange glow illuminated the intrigued faces of Carmen and Luz as they huddled closely to a campfire nestled deep in the woods.

The crackle of smoldering logs acted as a fitting score to the eerie tale that Carlos, who stood at the head of the fire, chronicled to the friends, They hung on to every punctuated word he spoke.

"And then, the unmistakable whistle pierced the dead of night. But not nearby. In the distance. Which could only mean one thing."

"...El Silbon, el "sin fin," was in their midst. Those who hear his whistle are marked for death."

Carlos rose, attentively, as if searching for a distant sound.

"Did you guys hear that?" he muttered with a quiver.

He spun around to examine the dark abyss beyond their campsite. As he did, the friends were greeted by the faint wail of an unnerving whistle; the whistle that was synonymous with the monstruo from his spine-chilling tale.

Fear swept over Carmen and Luz.

"Un hueso, dos huesos..."

Carlos aggressively turned back towards his friends with clawed arms in the air.

"Tres huesos!"

The girls screamed.

His attempt at a jump scare didn't go over well with Carmen and Luz. The tension dissipated as Carlos, amused by his tricks, released an echoing belly laugh.

"Not funny Carlito," said Carmen.

"Oh lighten up, it's just a campfire story. And an awesome costume!" said Carlos

It was Halloween night. While many of the townsfolk celebrated the evening's festivities dressed in your standard Halloween fare, others would use the holiday as a means to pay tribute to the monstruos of local legend. Creatures of twisted origin that sharpened their cultural upbringings.

Carmen, for example, dressed as a fanged monstruo that birthed her undying fear of the dark, Tlahuelpuchi, sharpened claws and all.

Luz dressed as the owlish creature of the night that her abuelita swore she laid eyes upon as a young girl, La Lechuza, with a beaked mask covered in crimson-coated feathers.

Carlos dressed as the antagonist of his campfire story, El Silbon, a sinister entity whose blood-soaked legacy was well-renowned within their town and many others.

The wide brim of his sombrero cast a shadow over Carlos' smug face. He circled behind Carmen and Luz and continued to spiel.

"Monsters, like El Silbon, derive from folklore, Folklore designed to spook little kids and keep them out of trouble. They're fun for the imagination, but they're far from real," said Carlos

"Some believe them to be true, Carlito. These stories are important to our heritage. To our traditions." said Carmen.

Luz perked up and chimed in as well.

"Yeah, or at least Senora Miranda thinks so. She's told these tales for as long as I can remember. And, like my abuelita, she claims to have seen monstruos with her very own eyes."

"Oh, please. Senora Miranda is nothing more than a crazy old beggar who swindles her way to a handful of change with her tired stories. We're too old to believe her drunken spiels. If these monstruos exist, how come we haven't seen them ourselves?" said Carlos.

"As Senora Miranda says, legends wear many faces, as do the monstruos within their tales," said Carmen.

The campfire's flames danced in the crisp autumn air, though its embers were starting to fade.

"Alright, well, speaking of tradition, I think it's time to celebrate one of our own. Escondite on Halloween night!" said Carlos.

"So you think we're too old to listen to Senora Miranda, but not play hide-and-seek?" said Carmen.

"Tradition is important, is it not? Come on," said Carlos.

"Fine. But you count first THIS TIME." Luz responded.

Carlos nodded, covered his eyes with confidence, then began to count.

"Uni...dos...tres..." - Carlos counted.

Luz y Carmen scurried away in opposite directions. Adrenaline overtook them as they jolted down wooded pathways they hadn't gone down before.

"...diez y ocho, diez y nueve, viente..." Carlos continued counting

The bosque was dense, with an innate sense of never-ending life. Locals would rarely frequent the woods at night in fear of what lurked within its shadows, a fear that was foreign to the brave young friends. With each invigorated stride they took, Carmen and Luz gained distance from Carlos and their campsite.

"...treinta y dos, treienta y tres. Ready or not, here I come!" Carlos shouted.

Carlos uncovered his eyes and found himself alone within their campsite. Unnervingly alone. There was a new feel within the smoke-filled air. The pale white glow of the moon above him beamed a little brighter than usual.

A sudden gust of wind blew past him, raising the hair on the back of his neck and extinguishing the remnants of their campfire in one fell swoop. Despite his underlying sense of unease, he took off into the night in search of his friends. Their game of hide-and-seek had commenced.

Carmen noticed a break in the woods and a barely lit cabin at the head of her pathway. She encroached upon it and realized that the cabin had appeared abandoned. The perfect hiding spot, or so she thought.

She ascended the front steps and gave the front door a gentle knock. The door, which was seemingly already unlocked, peered open and the dusty void inside the cabin welcomed Carmen in.

She turned around to ensure no one was watching. Although it appeared that the coast was clear, she couldn't help but feel like she was being watched. Stalked, even.

As she crossed the threshold, an overwhelming sense of sadness overtook the growing paranoia that nearly kept her from entering in the first place.

"Hello? Is there anyone there?" Carmen called out

While Carmen didn't receive a response to her apprehensive greeting, she could just barely make out a hair-raising sound emanating from somewhere within the cabin that was initially difficult to discern.

She trotted forward, floorboards creaking with every cautious step she took. As she followed the spectral sound, its contents became easier to make out.

It was the faint, gentle cry of a child in distress.

Eyes widened from the discovery, she rounded the corner and followed the cries into the foremost bedroom at the end of the cabin hallway. She ticked her cellphone's flashlight on and proceeded forward, heart bursting through her chest. The bedroom door was swung wide open.

Up ahead, against the bedroom wall, was a child's cradle. Just as she directed her light toward it, her cell phone died, leaving her drowned in a deep pool of darkness.

"No, no, no."

She redirected her gaze back towards the darkness. Her heart, once bursting through her chest with every nervous beat it took, stopped, if only for a second.

In the corner of the room, looming over the cradle, was the silhouette of a feminine creature. The absence of light made it difficult for Carmen to make out too many details, but the shadow had long, coarse hair and appeared to be panting, their chest pulsating ferociously.

The shadow extended its arms outwards, revealing razor-sharp claws that eerily resembled those of Carmen's costume. With bated breath, Carmen stood there, vulnerable and frozen at the sight of what appeared to be the monstruo of her childhood nightmares.

The monster enveloped Carmen with its overwhelming glare and entrancing aura.

All the while, Carlos blazed through the chambers of the forest like a comet in the starry night. Putting his crafty scout skills to good use, he followed a trail of muddy footsteps towards a dilapidated barn sitting within an open field just south of their campsite.

Like a predator closing in on its prey, he inched towards it, confident that he was on the verge of victory.

The hay-filled barn was silent and devoid of life. Only the sounds of Carlos' footsteps echoed within its confines.

The overwhelming stench of livestock wouldn't stop the young man from slithering onward. He scanned the space, then shouted.

"Carmen, Luz, I know you're in here!"

Towards the far end of the barn was a stack of hay bales concealing a nook that appeared to be the ideal hiding place. He crept towards it, rounded the corner...

"GOTCHA!"

Much to his suspicion, hiding behind the stack of hay bales was his good friend Luz, who startled Carlos and quickly covered his mouth shut with her sweaty psalm. She pressed him up against the back wall of the barn.

"Shhh, Carlito. Don't say a---".

Luz was interrupted by the howl of an unknown entity looming beyond the barn. The deafening shriek reverberated throughout and sent shivers down their spines as it amplified by the second.

Eyes interlocked with Carlos, Luz pointed upward with one hand while keeping his mouth shut with the other.

Cast on the wood-paneled roof was the imposing shadow of a large, birdlike creature soaring overhead. While the creature had fully extended wings, the base of its body was humanlike.

As was the nature of its hair, which blew in the wind gracefully. It circled around the barn inquisitively. The powerful flap of its wings could be mistaken for the thunderous roar of a hovering aircraft.

Curiosity getting the best of him, Carlos broke away from Luz's grasp to go investigate.

"No, Carlito!" shouted Luz.

He approached the barn's front entrance and inspected the heavens above. The skies were clear. With an anxious sense of relief, Carlos turned around to look back towards Luz, who remained inside the barn.

The wave of fear that washed over her eyes worsened by the sudden swoosh of an airborne creature landing atop the roof.

Luz stood, still as can be, in terror of what lurked overhead. The roof above her began to give under the weight of whatever monstruo was perched atop it.

With brutish force, the creature broke through the ceiling and descended into the barn, sinking into Luz with its blood-soaked claws.

Carlos watched in disbelief as his friend sparred with a monstruo whose features mirrored those of her Halloween costume. Unable to match its supernatural strength, the monster got the best of her with its razor-sharp beak and squawked in morbid triumph.

Then, with its glowing red eyes, stared deeply into Carlos' soul. With Luz firmly in its grasp, the creature took flight as her chilling screams of desperation sang through the night and shook Carlos to his core.

Carlos sprinted as fast as he could in the opposite direction. As he zipped through the maze of green, he could hear the trees whisper around him. The bosque had life coursing through its veins, and supernatural eyes watching from around every shadowed corner.

Tears ran down Carlos' pale face as uncontrollable gasps poured out of him. After a lengthy trek, he came upon the cabin in which Carmen had found refuge earlier in the night.

He motioned towards it in an attempt to find some help, when a horrifying plea, coming from inside the cabin, stopped him in his tracks.

"Carlos, run!" uttered the frail, breathless voice of Carmen.

Stepping into the fading porch light, from out of the cabin's darkness, was the creature she had encountered in the crying child's bedroom. Its face and torso were covered in a fresh layer of blood.

The monstruo extended its jaw, revealing a sinister set of protruding fangs, then bellowed at Carlos, eyes interlocked on its next victim.

Carlos dashed back into the night. Thoughts soared through the cloudy confines of his mind. His friends had fallen at the hands of the very monsters he had spent his entire life doubting. The creatures from legend that shaped his cultural upbringing. Could this be a nightmare that felt all too true?

Up ahead, a blanket of light illuminated a break at the end of the trail. Carlos stormed towards it and realized he was at the south entrance of the town's local cemetery. In front of him, a rusted gate held guard for the burial grounds beyond it.

He noticed the groundskeeper's house just past the cemetery's south entrance. The welcoming, yellow glow of the porch lights called to Carlos. He hopped the gate and ran towards it.

"iAyuda! Help us!"

As he approached the home, something seemed off. The front door was not only ajar but nearly broken off its hinges. The lights were on, though they flickered in random spurts. An eerie tune played, lowly, through a dated radio sitting atop the groundskeeper's desk.

But, most hair-raising of all, a trail of dried blood ran up the front steps, through the porch, and straight into the home. Curiosity got the best of Carlos once more as he pushed forward into the home.

The crimson trail led him to the lifeless corpse of the groundskeeper who sat, head drooped over his torso, up against the far most wall. His innards spilled out onto the blood-stained floor beside him.

The brutal massacre, and the horrid smell of death, permeated the space and triggered an incoming gag from Carlos.

Behind him, emanating from somewhere beyond the home, a familiar sound caught Carlos' attention. Unsure if it was a figment of his tainted imagination, he perked his head up to listen more closely.

The sound was loud, and unmistakable in identity. It was the foreboding whistle of El Silbon. The whistle gradually decreased in volume, which could only mean one thing.

Fight-or-flight took over as Carlos scurried behind the groundskeeper's desk. There he hid, hands clasped over his own mouth as the whistle became more distant.

In Symphony with the whistle was the rattle of cowboy boots clanking within the home. Each lumbering step sent a new wave of panic into the heart of the fear-stricken young man. The whistle grew so distant that it was nearly unrecognizable.…

"Un hueso, dos huesos..."

...but the dragging footsteps drew closer, as an undead voice counted the bones of its victims. Carlos noticed an open window to the right of the corpse and began formulating an escape plan when suddenly the footsteps came to a halt.

Carlos caught his breath and peeked around the corner of the desk, only to find himself face to face with the ghoulish rotten face of a man with goblin-esque features.

His eyes were foggy white, devoid of pupils, or any sense of life. His withered sombrero cast a grim shadow.

"Tres huesos!"

It was El Silbon, in the flesh. Carlos jumped back and crawled away from the entity towards the open window. El Silbon released a guttural laugh as it closed in on Carlos, bloody spinal cord in hand.

Carlos leaped through the window with reckless abandon and twisted his ankle on his landing.

The whistle returned, now louder in volume. Carlos fought through his pain to push forward. He ran deeper into the cemetery and once again became overwhelmed by intrusive whispers around him.

They came from every corner of the cemetery, some younger in tone and some older. The whispers, while initially too jumbled to understand, eventually became clearer in diction.

They were pained wails of lost souls begging for salvation. Lost souls who had fallen victim to the monstruos of local legend.

Senses fully engaged, he limped towards an array of colorful gravestones within the cemetery's central courtyard.

At the head of the courtyard was an open grave with a mound of dug-up dirt by its side. Sitting next to the open grave, atop a sawed-off tree stump, was an elderly woman in a dingy, black hooded cloak.

She held a necklace in her trembling hand.

"Senora Miranda?"

She turned her face towards Carlos and gave the young man a warm smile.

"Carlito, it's great to see you, mijito," she responded.

"You need to help us. Me, Carmen, Luz, we're being hunted. It's not safe out here."

"Asking me to help you? Why, that is a first, my boy"

"Please, I'm sorry I ever doubted you. You were right. You were always right. Monstruos are real!"

"Oh Carlito, here's what you still struggle to realize. They've always been real. But you don't need a crazy old beggar to prove that you know, do you?

Something about her presence was unnerving. Carlo's eyes widened as her chuckles continued, becoming more sinister in tone.

"Senora Miranda?"

She rose from her seat and turned to face Carlos. Her sunken eyes stared directly into his.

"Legends wear many faces, as do the monstruos within their tales."

Her grip strengthened, snapping the necklace in half and causing its beads to scatter around the marshy cemetery grounds.

Before Carlos' eyes, she began to transform. Her cloak expanded in size, tearing at the seams yet keeping itself together supernaturally. Her elderly body shape shifted into a lanky, skeletal vessel that towered over Carlos.

The once soft, wrinkled features of her face morphed into a boney, undead visage whose sunken eyes were never-ending black holes. Crazy old beggar no more, Senora Miranda transformed into a monster Carlos hadn't recognized from local legend.

He found himself face to face with the harbinger of death itself. Muerte.

Carlos backpedaled away from the grim reaper in utter terror. Unaware of his surroundings, he accidentally tripped over his own feet and fell into the open grave. After an initial spell of dizziness, he recovered from the fall and attempted to claw his way out of the insect-ridden hole, but couldn't.

"Ayudame! Help me!"

The depth in which he was trapped was too overbearing for Carlito to climb out of. Desperation crept in as Muerte stood over the edge of the grave, rusty shovel in hand.

"This grave...is for you."

That was the last anyone ever heard of Carmen, Luz, y Carlos.

Or so legend has it.

After, Muerte began to dig up one of the bodies before all around him, the wind twirled around him like a tornado before stopping. He looked around and realized that it felt different. Everything was still in place but it felt different. He was able to look at himself in a nearby puddle and saw that he was equine. This puzzled him, but he ignored it and continued to wait for victims. Little did he know they were coming soon.

TO BE CONTINUED...