The sky was a brilliant mix of orange and purple over the Manehattan suburbs, and the towering buildings in the distance had begun to light up like Hearth's Warming trees. All was quiet in this neighborhood, save for one house. This house was alive with the chatter of adults and the delighted squeals of foals as they ran around playing tag in the backyard.
"Aaahhh!" Blue Rose screamed in mock terror as one of her friends caught up to her.
"Tag! You're it!"
Both fillies laughed merrily as Rose ran around trying to designate another foal at the party "it."
"Rose, it's getting dark. Time to go home." Said the filly's father.
Rose awwed in disappointment before saying goodbye to her friends and wishing the guest of honor a final happy birthday.
As the foals said goodbye to each other, one of the adults came up to Silver Crescent, Blue Rose's father, and said,
"Hey Silver, be careful out there. I've been hearin' some rumors 'bout a monster or somethin' in the city."
Silver sighed. "Yeah, I've heard 'em too. I also heard about chupacabras in the sewers, parasprites in building walls, and that the mayor's really a changeling."
"Seriously Silver, there've been lotsa ponies sayin' they seen this thing. They say if it sees ya, it'll get all crazy and start making weird sounds. Then it starts chasin' ya."
"I think that's a bunch of baloney." Silver turned away. "Come on Rose."
...
Silver and Rose were taking a shortcut through an alleyway to get to their apartment. The alley branched off into many paths and dead-ends, and was a haven to a small community of vagrants and wanderers.
"So, did you have fun?" Silver asked.
"Yep!" Rose answered.
"Did you remember to thank-" Silver was cut short by a burst of clanging nearby.
The two were silent for a moment, and Rose asked, "Dad, what was that?"
"I'm sure somepony just knocked over a garbage can, hun." Silver continued walking.
Curiosity got the better of Rose. She quietly walked towards where the sound came from. The sound of panting could be heard as she rounded the corner. What she saw was a ragged looking stallion who was short on breath, sprawled along the ground amongst broken cardboard boxes and trash.
She was unsure of whether she should have come out and helped him, until a steady PAT PAT PAT sound came from a nearby alley. The stallion started breathing even shallower than before as he stood up and quickly looked around. He then locked eyes with Rose, and ran straight for her.
Rose squeaked in surprise, and closed her eyes.
She peeked behind her when she heard the stallion keep on running past her. A gasp of air she didn't realize she was holding escaped her mouth. Her chest was hurting from its adrenaline charged heart.
"Yig-got."
Blue Rose quickly turned around. A tall thing stood at the entrance to the alley where the PAT PAT PAT sound came from.
"Igo-loru zhai."
The sounds it made were low and gravelly.
"Gateinol cartel-dal attlo."
It was dark in the alley, but Rose could see its head was covered in fur. What looked like tattered clothing hung from its two upper appendages.
"Lei'rndeha ehotshar."
Rose had unconsciously begun moving backwards.
"Gateinol yig-got!"
The creature was clearly agitated then.
Rose instantly snapped herself out of her fear induced trance, and ran in the same direction as the vagrant before her did.
The young filly ran through countless alleyways, twisting and turning in an attempt to throw the creature off her track.
It made no difference, however, as she could hear the PAT PAT PAT sound behind getting closer and closer.
Rose suddenly tripped over her own hoof. She rolled over to see the creature walking towards her.
She closed her eyes and looked away, but then heard a thud and an "Oof!" come from where the monster was. Rose peeked at the scene in front of her. Silver was there, panting while getting off the creature he just tackled.
"Get on hun!" he ordered as he leaned down to let her climb on his back.
Rose climbed onto her father's back just as the beast picked itself up. As soon as Rose had a firm hold on his neck, Silver ran for the farthest alley. Once they reached it, they dared one peek to see how close the beast was. Silver had managed to get a good distance away, so the beast was sprinting.
"GATEINOL YIG-GOT!" the beast screamed.
The next minute or so was a blur for the father and daughter. They ran long and far even after they stopped hearing the creature's footsteps. Rose had a bone-crunching hold around the base of Silver's neck, which rose and fell frequently from deep panting.
They finally stopped at the alley's exit. Rose gently climbed off her father's back as he caught his breath. She sat and looked at the ground, mouth slightly agape and pupils too small for a pin to fit through.
Silver got up and examined his daughter.
"Oh hun, *pant* thank Celestia *pant* you're alright!" The exhausted stallion hugged Rose hard enough to wake her from her stupor.
"Dad, what was that thing?" Rose asked a little shakily.
"*pant* I don't know, hun. *pant* What happened, anyway?" Silver questioned, taking a quick glance into the alley.
"I just wanted to check out a noise I heard, then I saw a stallion that ran into some trash cans." Rose began. "Then, he looked into the alley he came from and got so scared, he ran right past me."
"Is this when you saw that thing?" Silver asked.
"Uh huh. I didn't know what to do when it saw me, I was so scared. It made these weird sounds, and then it got louder, like it was mad at me."
Rose sniffled, and started sobbing. She hugged Silver and buried her face into his neck.
"I just wanna go home." Rose said, her face still buried.
Silver was too distracted by his thoughts to answer her. He remembered what he had been told at the party.
'It'll get all crazy... Start making weird sounds...'
"I shouldn't have brought you out here... Come on hun, let's get out of here." Silver put Rose on his back again and headed for home.
As they walked away, the creature watched them from the shadows.
