Exiting the building, Lex slowly looked in every direction, noting the stillness.
He’d enhanced his vision with his horn’s dark magic, allowing him to see through the pitch blackness with perfect clarity, but that alone didn’t give him the same level of vision he’d have had during the day. For one thing, this form of vision didn’t make out color, reducing the world to black and white. Worse, however, was that it only worked out to about sixty feet. Beyond that, nothing was visible, as though everything farther away was enveloped in a thick, dark fog.
“There’s nothing here,” he called back, looking over his shoulder as he did. With his vision augmented, he could easily see into the building’s lobby, where the four ponies were huddled nervously. Cloudbank was carrying a single sack of oats on her back, representing the last of their food. Produce Aisle was carrying a lantern in his teeth, which had a layer of cloth wrapped around the glass to dampen the amount of light it put out. Cozy held a small kitchen knife in her mouth, nervously rubbing the necklace that was Lashtada’s holy symbol. Thermal Draft was carrying a length of pipe, but it was questionable as to whether it was meant to be a weapon or a cane, since she was leaning heavily on it.
Still, for all their fear, the group seemed resolute. Not one of them was refusing to leave or saying that this was a bad idea. It was a welcome change from how they’d acted initially. Hopefully they’d come around with regards to the Night Mare as well.
Mentioning the name of his divine patron hadn’t prompted awe the way that Lex had thought it would. Instead, the immediate result had been confusion, of all things. The group had initially thought that he’d meant Nightmare Moon, a name that Lex was only passingly familiar with. It had taken several minutes to resolve the misunderstanding, mostly because Lex had started to tell them about his goddess’s attributes, which were apparently similar to those of Nightmare Moon. It had been profoundly irritating.
It was only after that nonsense had been addressed that he’d been able to get back on track, and tell them about his goddess. Cozy had been openly hostile – whether because she still thought he was King Sombra, or because she was still upset that he’d pointed out how weak her own goddess was, or both – but the others had been surprisingly receptive. While they hadn’t wholeheartedly embraced the idea of worshipping the Night Mare, her credo of exalting and abetting those who were strong, and who used that strength to fight or even take control of the creatures and situations that frightened them, had seemed to strike a chord with them.
Or at least, Lex hoped that it had. For all he knew, they were humoring him because they were worried about insulting their would-be savior. Still, he knew that he’d done all he could; if they wanted to take up the Night Mare’s faith, it was up to them now.
After that, it had been time to leave. Although it was still several hours to midnight, let alone dawn, Lex didn’t want to take a chance, knowing that Sonata had been serious about going to search for him if he hadn’t returned by sunup.
“You’re sure you don’t see anything?” asked Cloudbank nervously, her quick glance at Drafty betraying the cause of her worry.
“Yes,” answered Lex curtly. “Now, whatever you do, stay close to me. Until we reach our destination I’ll protect you, but that will be almost impossible to do if we become separated.”
“Maybe we’ll get lucky and none of those things will show up,” grinned Drafty hopefully, glancing around. None of her friends met her gaze, showing how likely they thought that was, and her grin faltered.
Still, her statement prompted Lex to address the group again. “I know I asked this before, but I want to do so again. If you can tell me anything about these monsters, no matter how inconsequential, it will help me if we do encounter more of them.”
The four of them glanced at each other, but one by one shrugged or shook their heads. Cozy was the last one to do so, turning to Lex with a frown. “Like we said before, we haven’t gotten much of a good look at them. They don’t come out during the daytime. They’re pony-sized and they’re vicious. They can talk, but…”
A collective shudder ran through the group at that. “But?” prompted Lex. They had refused to answer when he’d asked them before, but maybe they would now.
For a moment it didn’t seem like they would, but then Produce Aisle gulped nervously and spoke up. “They…they said what they were going to do. To us.”
Produce Aisle lowered his eyes, apparently unwilling to go any further. Lex grit his teeth, and he considered pressing them for more information – knowing what these unidentified things had said might be a valuable clue – but he decided to let it go. He was about to turn away when he heard a different voice. “They said…”
Turning back, he saw that Cloudbank had taken a step forward, and was quite clearly forcing herself to volunteer more information. “They said…they said that they were going to eat us.”
“Eat you?” Lex’s brow furrowed.
Cloudbank nodded, trembling slightly. “I mean, they were…specific about it. About h-how…about what it would be like for us.” She took a deep breath, steadying herself. “They sounded so…it was like they knew it from experience, you know? Like they’d done it before.”
Drafty moved up next to Cloudbank and leaned against her, spreading a wing over her as she did. Cloudbank pressed against her in return, letting out a breath that was almost a sob. Off to the side, Produce Aisle was shaking so badly that his lantern wobbled, and Cozy was softly reciting a prayer under her breath.
“When was this?” asked Lex.
“A little while back,” answered Drafty, still comforting Cloudbank. “I’m not sure how long, but it was after the floodwaters had receded. We were asleep, but woke up because we could hear what sounded like a bunch of ponies going around the rooms on the first floor.”
Produce Aisle glanced around the lobby, as though expecting those monsters to still be lurking there. “We knew better than to go out. By that point it had already become every pony for themselves,” he said, still trembling. Despite that, it seemed easier for him – for all of them – to talk now, as though they’d only needed some prompting to begin recounting the horrors they’d experienced. It was enough to make Lex tilt his head slightly in consideration; he’d previously theorized that sharing personal histories played a role in social bonding. Was this related to that?
Not knowing what Lex was thinking, Produce Aisle continued. “We heard them come up to the second floor, and when they realized that the door to one of the rooms, ours, was locked, they started trying to break it down. We scrambled to reinforce it, and that’s when they realized that we were there.”
“It got worse after that.” Now it was Cozy’s turn to continue the story. “They pretended to be a rescue squad for a minute, telling us that they were here to take us to safety.” She paused to give Lex a sharp look, making it clear why they had initially been so reluctant to believe his offers of assistance. “But when we didn’t buy it, that’s when they started saying those awful things…”
“They gave up and left after a while.” Now it was Cloudbank’s turn again. “After that, we barricaded the stairway and started trapping the rooms in the first floor. When they came back the next night, we heard them screaming and howling, like they were enraged that we were defending ourselves. When we checked the traps the next morning, there was blood on some of them, but no bodies. After that, we’d hear them sometimes, but they seemed to have lost interest.”
Lex waited a moment for them to continue, but when nopony spoke up, he realized that there was nothing else forthcoming, and that realization made him frown. Other than the fact that their tale made it seem less likely that the monsters that had accosted them were those fish-creatures he’d fought – he somehow couldn’t see those things as having the presence or articulation necessary to perpetrate a deception by pretending to be rescuers – there had been very little useful information in what they’d relayed to him. Whatever those things were, they were in his city; he’d need to face them at some point, and he wanted more information when he did.
“What about your injury?” he asked, looking at Drafty.
“My…? Oh.” Her ears lowered, and she looked away, suddenly uncomfortable.
“Leave her alone,” snapped Cloudbank, before turning to Drafty with a softer look. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
“No, it’s okay,” replied Drafty, forcing herself to smile at the other mare for a moment before turning back to Lex. “I didn’t see what bit me. Aisle and I were looking for food to scavenge, and I was looking in a basement when something leapt out at me. I screamed and tried to run, but not before it sank its teeth into my leg.”
“I still can’t believe you went down there alone,” muttered Cloudbank, but there was no real heat in her voice.
Nevertheless, Drafty winced slightly. “It was still daytime! We’d never heard those things when the sun was out, so I thought…I don’t know, I thought they were hibernating somewhere or something, and couldn’t come out until it was dark.”
“It was dark in that basement too, since it didn’t have any windows,” interjected Produce Aisle. “As it was, we were lucky to get away. I rushed down there and managed to stab it with a piece of broken pipe, and we ran away as soon as it let Drafty go.”
“And you never saw what it was?” pressed Lex.
But both of them shook their heads. “It was really dark down there, and it happened fast,” explained Aisle. “All I know was that it was pony-sized, and I think it was some sort of equinoid. That means that-”
“I know what ‘equinoid’ means,” interrupted Lex curtly. “A head, a torso, four legs, and a tail.”
“R-right. Sorry,” replied Aisle. “Anyway, that’s as much as we know about them.”
“And what about your group’s missing member?” asked Lex, looking at Cozy. “You said his name was Pillowcase. What happened to him?”
An uncomfortable silence fell, with the other three ponies wincing at his tactlessness. Cozy pressed a hoof to her necklace for a long moment, eyes closed. Lex was about to repeat his question when she answered. “Pillow went out yesterday, around noon, to try and find medicine for Drafty. We haven’t seen him since.” Her voice was flat and emotionless.
“Cozy…” Drafty’s voice was soft and apologetic, but was cut off as Cozy held up a hoof.
“You don’t have to say anything. I know I’ll see him again.” She brought the holy symbol on her necklace to her lips and kissed it gently. “We’re connected by a power that’s stronger than any danger.” Finally opening her eyes, she managed a wan smile. “Besides, I left him a note in our room, telling him that there’s a shelter at the docks, and that if he heads west for three hours at a walking pace, he’ll find it. That’s where it is, right?” She looked at Lex, who nodded in reply before turning back to the doorway.
He had more questions he wanted to ask, but they weren’t related to the immediate circumstances. Finding out more about what happened in Vanhoover during and after the flooding was likely to be a longer conversation than they had time for right now. Once they were back at the shelter, then he’d be able to properly ask them what else they knew.
Facing the darkness, Lex strode forward. “Let’s go.”