Twilight had been the first of the group to arrive at the De Lis hotel. The room she was staying in was painted in an elegant atmosphere of pink with a dark purple carpet. It was almost like the size of an average home living room and had three dressers, a new TV set that looked like it was made in 2014 but also had a quality that belonged in the seventies, and two queen sized beds. The other interesting quality of the room had a window with a great view overlooking Canterlot City. Twilight could see the park she loved to play in with her CHS friends.

Twilight waited patiently in her room for her roommate to arrive. She had no idea who she was going to room with, because in an effort to save money, she decided to share a room with one of the other people visiting the town. She wasn’t comfortable sharing a room with a stranger, especially after what almost happened when she nearly got raped by one of her teachers but, again, she needed to save money. After a few moments, Twilight decided to stop worrying about her roommate and began passing the time by watching TV. She changed from channel to channel until she found a show that piqued her interest, so therefore she started watching the show Monsters Inside Me.Twilight watched the show, lied down on one of the beds, and began to ponder her trip back to her old hometown. She wondered whether coming back to Canterlot was a good idea or not. She loved her friends to death, but she didn’t really want to go through the trouble of planning a vacation away from her university to see them.

Twilight was now in her last year at Baltimare University. Twilight was pretty much a major of every subject known to the educational world, and despite the fact that she hated a couple subjects with a passion, she was good at it. She loved Science the best of all the subjects. Twilight was sure that she might actually run her own university in a school full of morons, marry some guy who she didn’t like, and probably hate herself for the rest of her life. This was certainly the course she felt her life was taking.

It was around 6:20PM, and Twilight’s roommate had yet to arrive. ”Might as well get ready,” Twilight thought. She quickly took a shower, got dressed, and unpacked. When she was done, Twilight walked to the window and looked back to the park. She hadn’t been back in Canterlot for almost four years. One of her friends had told her about new buildings and places made in the city like a zoo, a miniature golf course, and other things like that. She had also heard that there have been odd occurrences going on in the city since last Christmas, but she didn’t know the details.

Knock-knock-knock. Twilight walked to the door and slowly opened it. Standing outside was Sunset Shimmer, a friend of a friend Twilight loved to talk to. The only other thing she knew about Sunset was that she left town to become a writer. “Oh hi Sunset.” Twilight said. Sunset was a couple inches taller than Twilight, she had fire red hair, and had big turquoise eyes hiding behind a pair of expensive looking sunglasses.

“Sup Twi,” Sunset replied. Twilight moved aside so Sunset could pass. Sunset made her way to her bed and begun to unpack her luggage. Twilight could see that Sunset was already dressed to meet everyone. It was around 6:50PM now, so they had a descent amount of time to go at their ease. “So whose car are we taking?” Sunset asked.

“I came with my sister in-law Cadence to town and she dropped me off here, so...” Twilight trailed off.

“My car it is then.”

“Shouldn’t we wait for the others?” Twilight asked.

“I have somewhere else to go to first. Don’t worry, it isn’t far away.” Sunset replied.

“Whatever you want.” Sunset and Twilight walked down to the lobby and were on their way to Sunset’s car when Sunset suddenly stopped.
“Hey Twilight, can you do me a favor and grab a newspaper? I have to talk to the receptionist and get a key to our room.”

“Sure.” Twilight walked to the front of the lobby and picked up two newspapers. She checked the date to make sure it was the latest issue. The date was February 13th 2017, that’s today’s date. She picked up two newspapers and walked back to Sunset. She gave her one and kept the other one.

“Thanks Twi,” Sunset said as she walked outside of the hotel. Twilight walked with Sunset to her car. Sunset’s car wasn’t quite in the best quality, but Twilight didn’t have a reason to complain. Sunset’s car was a little old but otherwise in descent shape. It had a reddish fire color that looked like it was half chipped away and it looked like it had been in a couple accidents in the past but still looked stable. Sunset and Twilight opened the doors and sat inside the car. Sunset opened the newspaper to a random page. She didn’t even look at the front page at all. She just skimmed through the inside pages to pass the time. Twilight eventually decided that it might be best to make some small talk.

“So when was the last time you came back here?” She asked.

“It’s been about four years now. I know, it’s been a while.” Sunset said dismissively as if Twilight was going to harass her about not coming back sooner. “I don’t remember seeing you around after high school, though. Where have you been girl?” Sunset continued skimming the newspaper.

“College; it’s been nearly three years since I came back,” Twilight said with a little shame in her voice. She felt like she should have been around a little more than she had. “I’ve heard that Canterlot has changed a lot since I was here last.” Twilight said to keep the conversation going. “Do you know anything about that?”

“Not really, but I think there’s something in the newspaper about it in the paper.” Twilight skipped to the local section and began looking for news about the attractions the city had gained. While searching for any kind of information, another article caught her eye and she began to read the barely noticeable news story.

Missing Persons Numbers Continue to Escalate

The odd disappearances that began last Christmas continues to rise as a group of five joggers go missing during the late hours of February 4th. This group consisted of a young gay couple and their three friends who had gone out for a jog around the zoo area and were not seen since. Police have found no evidence of where they may be. This brings the number of missing people to forty four in the past three months.

”Forty four? What the hell?” Twilight thought.

The police continue to advise citizens to stay indoors, especially in the northwest area of Canterlot after nightfall, at least until the investigation yields results. Police suspect that the disappearances are linked to the 7 murders near that same area of town.

The rest of the article listed the names of the people who had gone missing along with small bits of the interview between the reporter and the chief of police. Twilight began to read the next article.

Animal Attacks Escalate

New reports of animal attacks have been on the rise since early-January. One witness reported that his German Shepherd had been acting unusually aggressive the week before it attacked his girlfriend. The dog has had all of its shots and was tested negative for rabies. Other dog owners report similar troubles as their pets also became more aggressive and hostile towards their owners and other people.

“Huh.” Sunset blurted out.

“This says that they’re building a new art gallery in town to some German artist from Switzerland.”

“Well I guess that’ll be cool.” Twilight looked at the front page and began to wonder why the seemingly important articles were so hard to find. Sunset started the car and began to drive.

“What time is it?”

“7:07PM. How far away are we from the restaurant?” Twilight asked.

“Not far. About eight minutes away. Can’t wait to get there? Then we can hear how great everyone else’s life has been going and see how much ours sucks.”

“Yeah.” Twilight sighed. “I hope they have an open bar.” Sunset laughed.

“You read my mind Twi Twi.” Sunset started the car and began driving, taking streets that Twilight had never seen before, or more likely forget about. On their way, they passed the veterinarian’s office, a billiard house, and other brand new places. The veterinarian’s office was full, but for some reason the streets were completely deserted, with the exception of one lone car.

“Hey Sunny, what part of Canterlot are we going to?” Twilight asked.

“Close to the main street exit out of town.” Twilight remembered that there was only one way out of Canterlot, though Main Street.

“Isn’t that in the northwest side of Canterlot?” Twilight asked.

“We’re visiting an old friend of mine, Octavia Melody.” Sunset replied. Octavia was a person from high school that Twilight didn’t know all too well. She didn’t really want to be in an awkward conversation with someone else she barely knew.

“Is it alright if I stay in the car when you talk to her?” Twilight asked as she turned her attention out the window.

“Yeah, but it might take awhile.” Sunset replied.

Twilight turned back with a sarcastic expression partially fearing the thought of meeting with her friends and said, “I’m in no rush.”

“I can see why they miss you Twily,” Sunset said sarcastically.

Twilight smiled. “Yeah, I’m a real ray of sunshine.” Sunset laughed. They continued to talk about random things that came to their minds. They talked about their old teachers, saying that Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna retired, the city’s park, and plenty of other random things. It didn’t take long to arrive at Octavia’s house. Sunset stopped the car, opened the door, ran up the front door, rang the doorbell, and waited. Twilight, in the mean time, skimmed through the newspaper pages again until she got to comics. She had barely begun to read when Sunset came back. She hadn’t even been there for a full minute. “That was fast.” Twilight stated. “What happened?”

“Tavi isn’t feeling well.” Sunset replied.

“What does she have?”

“Nothing to worry about, just a small fever. It’s been going around.”

“Oh. Well that’s unfortunate,” Twilight said. Sunset started the car and pulled out of the driveway. They were on their way to the restaurant again. “We still have time to kill, what do you wanna do?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t know,” Sunset replied. “Let’s just take the long way.” Sunset seemed disappointed by not being able to hang out with Octavia. “Wanna check out the zoo? It’ll be closed though.” Sunset said uninterestedly.

“Sure, maybe you can get Octavia something from there,” Twilight replied. Sunset seemed to light up a bit at this suggestion. Twilight’s phone began to ring. She checked the number, but didn’t recognize it. Twilight activated the phone and answered, “Hello?”

“Hi Twi Twi,” answered an all too familiar voice.

“Rainbow?” Twilight replied.

“Yeah.” Rainbow replied. “You’re going to the restaurant too?” she asked incredulously. Rainbow Dash was a pretty damn good friend and very attractive girl, but she could get a bit boastful at times and a bit narcissitc, but when it comes to feeling down there’s no other friend like Dash. “Of course Twily.” Twilight rolled her eyes in annoyance. “So why aren’t you guys there yet? We’ve been waiting since seven.”

“We had an errand to run. We’ll be there soon.”

“Get here soon Twily.”

“Bye.” Twilight hung up the phone and put it away. She sighed. Sunset seemed to pick up on something and smiled. “Great, now we have to meet up with them now. No zoo I guess.” Sunset continued smiling. “No worries Twi. Well go next time. Was it Rainbow Dash that called just now?” Twilight smiled and shook her head. Sunset’s smile widened. One thing Twilight admired about Sunset Shimmer was that she was almost always in a good mood. Twilight would have to ask her how she did it one of those days. Twilight looked out the window and noticed they were passing the zoo. They continued to drive for six more blocks until they finally reached the restaurant. Sunset parked in front of the building and they both got out of the car. “You ready Twi?” Sunset asked. “You haven’t seen these girls in years.” Twilight looked up at the flashing neon blue sign above the door that read ‘PON-3’s Turf.’

“All I need is a fully stocked bar and I will be dandy fine.” Twilight replied.

“Then let’s go inside and have some fun.” Sunset opened the door and they both entered.