Her visit in the Throat had been a fantastic adventure and she was glad to have gone, but her welcome was far over. Her path took her North now, back to the Edge where she belonged. As she traveled now, a smile brightened her face more than any sun ever could have. With time, she had managed to more-or-less forget the fear she had experienced upon her meeting with Onni. It still creeped into her mind every now and then, when the darkness was especially pressing, but she was becoming at ease again. The surprising arrival of the moon only worked to ease her mind further- perhaps too soon.

Oblivious to her surroundings, Kahlua made her way toward the southwest end of Helovia's Heart, the natural place for her to travel through on her way from Throat to Edge. She should have taken another path- any other path- but today was not her lucky day. Rumbling of the ground startled her mind awake and she looked up, but the thrush grass and the limited light of the moon prevented her from seeing too far. Picking up a trot, out of curiosity, she moved forward, breaking through the grasses to meet the monster of her nightmares.

The scene that unfolded before her was like a horror story that she may have been told as a filly. As she watched her muscles tightened, freezing her into place and her mouth hung open but no sound escaped. The monster- for what else could she call it- stirred a feeling of dread that she could not escape as he condemned a deer to death. And it's travel to the west prevented her from moving forward without being intercepted by him. Not that she could move. Her muscles betrayed her, keeping her frozen in place.

Suddenly, the sound of a stallion's voice echoed through the land. Kahlua still found herself frozen and silent, but wide eyes surrounded by white found his form. His large black form gave her no comfort in this moment. She had never felt a fear so paralyzing. She wanted to yell out to him, tell him to save himself, but her mouth hung open in idiocy, no sound coming out. Before she could get any farther in figuring out what she was feeling, two pegasi dropped from the sky. They was brave, but Kahlua felt no joy in their appearance. As her hooves struck out, Kahlua prayed- to who she didn't know- that the mare's hooves would strike true. How these three stood so brave in the face of pure and complete terror was unknown to Kahlua.

As the pair rushed towards the monster's head, Kahlua had a sudden moment of realization. It was Onni, the mare that had warned her of the demons in the night, and she finally managed to make a sound. A wild sound- a cry of terror like none she had ever made before. It was a scream, ear-piercing and tremulous. She screamed for herself. She screamed for the three horses before her. She screamed because she didn't know what to do. As she screamed, she half-reared. As she landed, her hooves spread out below her in wild steps. Ten or twenty steps took her nowhere, her hooves just moving back and forth as she could hardly decide which way to go. She reared again, higher this time. What could she do? She was no fighter.

“ONNI!” She called the mare's name for no reason other than it was the only word she could think of. “ONNI!” She cried again, louder this time, more insistent. It was like she was a mother screaming for the death of her child. It never occurred to her that her screaming would attract the monster. She never even noticed the filly rush. forth from the darkness. Kahlua's wild eyes were picking up few details, focused mainly on the monster. Her head careened from left to right as she looked for somewhere to go, somewhere to run to; however, despite the frantic stamping of her hooves below her feet she moved nowhere. Fear and stupidity kept her rooted in place.

What is this? How? Monter! Onni said... She lied. She didn't lie! Should have listened- ONNI BE CAREFUL! Help. Help. Move body, move! Monster. Die. We're all dead. ONNI. BLACK MARE. BLACK STALLION. Move! HOW!

Her thoughts careened wildly through her head, making no sense to her and only acting to further the indecision that prevented her from doing anything other than stand there stupidly. She needed to get herself together. But how?