Your death was a brutal lesson to me that life is so fickle. I wish destiny had given this lesson to me in a different way.  

"When will you tell her?"

Maya and Summer were currently in Maya's large closet room, or as Maya renamed it, the 'small den.' Summer was working some healing magic for Maya's quickly fading injuries, which was hard to do with Maya continuously pestering her. 

"Hopefully not until I'm forced to," she replied quietly. "Now shut it mutt, I'm trying to concentrate." Maya's eyes widened and she scoffed before snarling, 

"Excuse me? I am breed from the finest alphas in my pack! There is no way you just called me a mutt!" Summer's eyes were closed but her posture easily expressed how she would have rolled them. 

"Yeah yeah whatever. Tomorrow I'll come back, Hershey, Sparkles, and Rebecca will leave for the theme park, I spill my life story, blah blah blah. Hershey knows I don't like theme parks all that much. And even if I go they'll just make me hold all their bags. Hershey doesn't want you to be alone just yet." Thank you Hershey, Maya thought as Summer's horn flickered and the magenta glow faded. She opened her eyes and raised a brow. "I don't need to muzzle you do I?" Maya fumed, fur bristling and ears flat. 

"I don't need a muzzle!" she exclaimed and Summer rolled her eyes for real this time.

Maya grumbled to herself things like "I'm not a dog" or "maybe you need a muzzle" while Summer walked towards the door.  "You can't fool me you know," she said pausing at the door and Maya look up at her with flattened ears. "You look tense," she said. She really was tense. The dark aura attached to Hershey was back and she was less than pleased. 

"I can feel it. It's like it stretched throughout the whole area when it came back," Maya said glaring around the room, shoulders hunched. "It has a predatory instinct and this is its territory." Summer's brow furrowed at the new information. 

"That's good to know," she said and Maya groaned. Her bedside manners sucked. "When we found you, I would have brought you anywhere else really, but you were badly injured and Hershey's apartment was the closest place to take you." She turned around further to look at Maya in the eye. "I don't know much about this demon you know. With your abilities, maybe the situation will change," she said thoughtfully and then opened the door and left. Maya huffed. 

Alone... Again... she thought. She opened the white curtains to the small window but the moon was out of view. Well... not entirely alone. She heard the front door shut and closed the curtains. I need some company. She limped towards the door and peeked out. No one was here, Summer gone and Hershey clattering pots in the kitchen. 

She closed the door silently and slid out onto the balcony, digging her hooves into the snow. She took a deep breath and stang her lungs with the cold air, basking in the purple moonlight from the moon in full view. It like it's always a full moon here, she pondered. It's a nice feeling. The sky was clear, despite some small clouds drifting around, and the stars could rival diamonds.

"Mom..." Maya started. "I'm really lost right now... I don't know where I am, or where the pack is... they probably think I'm dead," she said, lowering her head and flattening her ears. Maya ignored the snow and sat, wrapping her sleek tail around her hooves. As a wolf, her fur was always fluffy and thick enough to wield off the cold and it appeared to be that that trait also transferred to her pony form. It wasn't as thick as her wolf form, she was a pony after all, but she noticed she was fluffier than Hershey or Summer, so she barely felt the cold.

"Do you think I could ever become a wolf again?" she asked and looked up in time to watch a glittering star shoot across the sky, as if to answer her question. A small smile creeped on her face as she watched the sky. So empty yet so full, so silent yet so loud, so much yet not enough. "I hope so." Her eyes shined with unshed tears. "I hope for a lot of things," she whispered and continued watching the stars in a peace she had missed. 

~o0o~

And that's how Hershey found her. On the balcony, shivering slightly, and staring up at the sky in a daze. How long Maya had been out there, neither of them really knew, but Hershey was fuming and worried. 

Bundled up in a thick dark green blanket in front of the fire, Maya was lectured on things she hadn't heard of. Frostbite? she thought. Hypothermia? No one in my pack has ever had that... we're too fluffy. Eventually Hershey started towards the pros of winter which made Maya smile. Always looking on the bright side... 

Maya was like a child in neglect and Hershey a teacher when Hershey started pulling out books. "And see, this is how pegasi make the snowflakes. The make beautiful crystallized patterns with tiny picks and then fill up the clouds with them. Unfortunately they're too small to see so we use a microscope to zoom in..." To sum it up, Maya's brain was mush by the time dinner was ready. 

While they were eating, Hershey asked what Maya and Summer had talked about while she was out. Maya didn't hesitate in telling her all the things they talked about, besides the demon she could practically feel breathing down her neck, of course. Hesitation would show there was something to hide, so she was quick to spill. The conversation was smooth, the aura was warm, and Maya was getting sleepy. She gave a big yawn, realizing this was the first conscious and intelligent conversation she had had with Hershey out of her time here. 

"You know," Hershey started. "I don't have to sleep in your room if you don't want me to." Maya's ears flashed up and her eyes widened in slight panic. 

"No. It's okay," she said. "I don't like being alone." I don't want to leave you alone with it. Hershey looked up, surprised for a moment, before tilting her head and smiling. 

"M'kay!" Maya relaxed slightly after that and snuggled more into her blanket. 

"Hey Maya?" Hershey asked and Maya tilted her head. "Will you... will you tell me more about you... later on?" Maya paused, her eyes closed. She hadn't given that much thought. She was torn, really. She wanted her home, her pack, her wolf, her freedom, but it was like she was given a responsibility. Not so much a second chance as more like a job. Did that mean she had to spill her life story? No. Would she anyway? 

"Maybe." Hershey looked happy with the answer, although she still seemed nervous. 

Weren't they both.

~o0o~

Her room was dark. The window was open, cold air flittering in past the silver curtains. Maya stood in the middle of her room in a defensive position with her legs spread apart and glaring ahead. Outside the window there was only a black abyss and Maya looked around. The irises in Maya's eyes shone and illuminated the floor around her with a blue light. 

"Who are you?" Maya asked, feeling the strong presence of another being in the room. Two red slitted irises opened under the window and a figure was barely outlined with a silver glow from the open frame. 

"Why would I tell you?" the demon gargled, their voice tired and shredded. The silver glow started fading into red and Maya's eyes shined a little brighter, illuminating more of the floor in front of her with blue. Just a little closer and I can see it... But did she want to? 

She could close her eyes, look away. She could forget everything that's happened here. Forget Hershey and Summer and when she's healed she could leave, find her pack. 

She could be alone. 

"No," she said outloud. It was in her head. It didn't want her here, for whatever reason. If she was important enough to go to the trouble of needing to scare her away, she could obviously do something this demon couldn't. Summer was betting on her, Hershey needed her help. As if reading her thoughts, the demon chuckled darkly. 

"If you don't stop this," it said. "If you stay, you will die." Maya glared at the red irises and sneered, making the shine in her eyes brighter. 

"No," she said. "I won't. I'll save Hershey, kill you, and go home." She swore it. She swore it on her life. 

"Kill me?" It said slowly and disbelievingly, then started chuckling darkly. "You can't save the halfer. You can't kill me. And from the decision you just made, you aren't going to live long enough to make it home." It stepped into the light of Maya's eyes and the shock was instant. 

Maya's head whipped up, her eyes widened and pupils shrunk, her tail went between her legs and her mouth opened to scream but nothing came out. All was silent except the demons last words.

"Sleep with one eye open Maya." 

~o0o~

Maya woke up kicking and screaming and Hershey was wide awake in seconds, panic etched across her face. Once she saw Maya flailing and kicking she immediately went to her aid, talking to her, yelling at her, but nothing seemed to register. She tried hugging her but only got a kick to the stomach. 

The screaming really was scaring her, so with tears in her eyes she did the last thing she could think of and smacked Maya across the face. The screaming and fighting was stopped abruptly and Hershey's breath rushed out of her in a harsh sigh of relief. 

Maya brought a hoof up to her cheek and turned to Hershey with a face full of mixed emotions. "...Maya?" Hershey asked hesitantly. There she was, Hershey. Not that monster, it was Hershey. Clean yellow buttermilk fur and silky chocolate brown hair. And two wide chocolate eyes welled up with tears and apprehension. She sat up and brought the hoof on her cheek to hover over Hershey's chest and slowly placed it on the fluff there. Solid. Real. 

A sob ripped through Maya's body. She stumbled forward to bring Hershey in for a tight hug. She cried and cried, not letting Hershey go for a split second. These nightmares couldn't possibly be just nightmares. These were messages. Messages the demon was trying to use to get Maya out. Or was it planning on this? Were these messages really for her? What if these messages were for Hershey but it couldn't reach her? Even if they are attached to each other, Hershey doesn't have a higher sixth sense like Maya. When Maya walked in, with her wolf abilities, it saw the perfect opportunity to start chaos. Through me, she thought. Has it been using me? Maya sobbed. 

The demon using her wasn't at all what she was crying over though. That demon... that thing... it was... It looked just like Hershey when it stepped into the light of her eyes. It was Hershey. A bloody, broken, ripped apart version. Jaw slack, feathers ripped out of the wings, torn flesh, broken chains around her hooves, bruised, scratched, starved so her bones jutted out of her skin. And the worst part? Her beautiful, innocent, chocolate eyes were gone. Only red irises and snake like pupils in two black holes and blood streaking down her cheeks like tears. 

Hershey was dead. Tortured, destroyed. Like someone ripped off the wings of an innocent, beautiful butterfly, burned them in front of it, then drowned, chopped apart and burned what was left of the creature. "Y-y-you're okay Hershey... y-you're gonna b-be o-okay..." Maya stuttered. Hershey hesitantly placed a hoof on Maya's head. 

"Yeah... yeah I'm okay Maya I'm... I'm fine, don't cry..." she said soothingly and Maya nodded, rubbing her face in Hershey's chest fluff when a sudden thought hit her. How am I supposed to protect her like this? she thought. How am I supposed to fight this demon... like this? 

"I'm going to save Hershey, kill you, and go home." She swore it. On her life.

Stop. Crying. 

She choked on her sobs and sat back quickly, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry..." I'm so sorry Hershey. I can be stronger than this. Hershey's eyes widened with surprise, then morphed into hysteria. 

"Don't be sorry!" she exclaimed. "It's not... It's not your fault..." Maya sensed a second meaning to that. "Everybody gets nightmares..." Everybody around me. It's my fault. Maya refused to let her think that. 

"It's not your fault either," she said sternly, ears laid back and eyes narrowed. Hershey looked at her from the corner of her eye. For a moment she seemed to be thinking about something, then a smile sneaked on her face. 

"Let's make you some hot chocolate and start the fire. It's getting a bit cold around here." Maya sniffled and smiled at her, nodding. 

As Hershey started the fire and Maya sat on the couch, Maya's fear and sadness was quickly morphing into anger and determination. You've crossed the line demon. Even if it means no more sleep I'll kill you. I'll find a way to separate you two, I'll find a ways to kill you, and then I'll find a way back home. 

"Because I'll be damned to hell if you get the best of me again."