//------------------------------// // A Night of Tension and a Half Revelation // Story: Tread Lightly's Trigger Happy Journey // by Fiaura //------------------------------// The shriek rang out again. This time it was closer and the windows vibrated from the fury of it. Tread Lightly covered her ears in shock and Morning Marigold immediately ducked to be a storage cabinet which barely stood on its legs from the impact. Messer Schmitt “steeled himself but couldn’t keep his knees from betraying him. Lightning slammed into the ground right outside the house, shaking it like an explosion. The room lit up with a flash as the photonic burst shot inward. Tread Lightly had to cover her eyes, as the glasses amplified the light and left her disoriented with her thoughts muddled and jumbled for a brief time. Marigold let out a blood chilling shrill of sheer terror. Messer took a few shaky steps back towards the kitchen and the fire behind him. He was the only one with a single coherent thought at the moment, 'Run'. The room went dead silent and no one moved. Marigold was frozen in fright, Tread slowly let her vision clear up from the stars and spots, and Messer wanted to take a step but couldn't bring himself to move. Then the next shriek hit, this time from much further away. Tread Lightly walked forward and Messer reached out to stop her but she shifted away from him. Her curiosity was going to be satisfied. She got up to the window and peered through the large half oval. Out in the distance was a large bird, flying over the water. Well bird isn't the right word, it lacked feathers. While in the shape of a bird, its wings appeared to be made of jagged yellow rock, coursing with electricity. “the body seemed to be covered in scales instead of feathers but perhaps that was because of the bolts of pure energy running over its form. The blue scale like feathers flashed with a bright white sparks as energy peaked in certain spots and discharged into the air around it. A massive beak, one large enough to swallow a pony whole jutted from its face and seemed to be able to express only one emotion, hatred. The most striking thing however was its eyes. They stared right into Tread's. There was distinct of familiarity to the mare. There was no doubt that they changed to a look of pure hatred, glaring daggers at the purple mare whom looked back with scientific child like curiosity. 'Whose eyes are those...I know that look....that piece of.....' Tread Lightly suddenly stumbled back as a stark realization hit her. The purple mare fell onto her haunches and the dirt on the floor was disturbed by her impact. She was shaking and the thought that had crossed her mind was lost to a horror she wasn't even aware was there. Marigold peaked out of her hiding spot and Messer rushed to Tread Lightly's side. The two of the them looked out the window. The creature whatever it was, wasn't recognizable beyond the vague shape of a bird flying over Luna Bay in the distance. A bolt of electricity arced off the bird creature's body and across the ocean. It took several seconds at it coursed its way towards them and burned a path of steam off the crystal clear waters. The destructive energy burned over the beach and cut right through the snow all the way up to the fence surrounding Von Trapp's house. It was so potent that it blew apart the wrought iron fencing. Blowing heavy iron into molten scrap. The super heated metal steamed off the snow it landed and cooled into wretched twisted forms. Marigold leapt for cover as the electricity made its way towards them and the explosion of energy outside sounded like an artillery shell landing on top of them. There was a pause of clarity, a brief moment where everything in Tread Lightly's mind aligned and came together. 'I know that thing....but who?' Just before her mind connected the dots, she crashed back to reality when Messer tackled her to ground in order to avoid debris coming through the window. However the clattering against the glass and did give way to a crash. The cracked glass window survived and protected them from the debris. The three rushed to the window and the creature was gone. Tread Lightly stared off over the horizon as the other two ponies looked at each other. “Tread, what is it?” Marigold finally asked hesitantly. “I....I....feel like I know that creature.” Tread Lightly replied. Her voice was unsure, not like her normal certain self. Whatever that experience had given it had resulted in Tread's demeanor being broken. “Know it?! How?! No one has ever seen such a creature.” Messer demanded stomping his hoof as though he was furious that she might know something about this horror that dogged them. “I just...I looked into its eyes and that is all I can say, I know that creature. Not what it is, but who. I just can't....recall.” Tread Lightly replied and was tapping her hoof. Messer reached into Tread's pocket and pulled out a purple vial then hurled it against the wall. There was a brief loud pop like a firecracker going off. Marigold jumped and Tread blinked at him. He tossed another and Tread Lightly shook her head. “Stop....if that was going to give it to me, the exploding of the fence would have done it. No this is something much deeper and odder,” the purple mare exclaimed. “It's something deeper than that, something I can't quite identify but it's there. I can feel it. Like a photo album or a painting,” she rationalized, trying to push the feeling down away from her gut. Her voice however betrayed her, as it cracked and clearly was full of some sort of undisclosed emotions. Messer Schmitt stared at her for a long moment. His stallion eyes hard as stones and then he sighed, “I'll let it go. But if we get through this, I want an explanation,” he said turning to Marigold and helping her up to her hoofs. The ponies exchanged glances and let out a collective sigh of relief. A least the creature wasn't pushing its attack upon the battered mansion. “I'll take first watch, you two get some sleep.” Tread Lightly said and walked over to the window, looking out to the sea. Her mind was clearly not entirely in the room with them. She was staring outward, working out exactly what she had experienced. 'Was it...once a pony? No that isn't possible? Is it? How do I know that creature. What about it makes it so familiar to me?' Her thoughts continued like that as Marigold and Messer cleaned up the mess that had been made in the frantic fright earlier. Then they laid down upon the mostly intact couch. Marigold and Messer laid across from each other first. Messer eventually nodded himself asleep against the couch and pass into the realm of dreams; he felt something heavy and warm which had a light soft mane of hair laying against his chest. He looked down and saw Marigold nuzzling into him and making sure to keep her horn away from his skin. The pegasus smirked and pulled his wings forward, surrounding the mare and making her feel safer with a living blanket of feathers. Tread Lightly looked at the two of them and smirked, 'Cute...good to have good friends,' she thought as the purple mare resumed her vigil next to the battered window. The fire in the living room was starting to die while Tread Lightly listened to the waves hitting the shore and the occasional call of a seagull all that they could hear. Luna Bay did look beautiful at least and the shine of the radiant northern lights had returned. 'Do I turn back now or do we press on? We're already more than halfway there but there isn't any civilization beyond here. No safe havens. Well we can't call this a safe haven exactly, something attacked Tincent and left the Von Trapp mansion in shambles.' Tread Lightly thought while her two companions slept. There was a long pause as she turned to where the other two ponies were sleeping. It had been nearly 4 hours of continuous watching out over the oceans. 'No, we have sacrificed too much and we are too close. We continue on, that bird creature deserves some sort of inspection and scientific discovery. Also we know it's after us and so we know to anticipate it. I'm sure we can stay safe along the way. I'll ask Marigold to utilize some of her magic and hopefully it will be enough,' she surmised and walked over to her companions. Tread Lightly laid upon the floor beside the couch. She let out a sigh and softly laid her head against the base of the cushions. She would sleep here, as their guard dog more than just Marigold and Messer's friend. She wanted to make sure if anything happened; she would be able to put herself between these two and whatever happened. Also Tread Lightly didn't have the heart to wake them and wanted them to sleep in at least for now.