Astral Plane really did not like Manehatten. She turned her body so as to avoid bumping shoulders with anyone, knowing it would not do her any favors. She had come to get a rare power pony comic book.
So she was bored. Sue her.
Despite having been here before, she couldn't help but stare. Large, towering buildings made of sparkling glass and smooth stone. How had they made those buildings? She couldn't help but wonder. How did the glass not shatter? She saw one building, smaller than the rest, but with big block words: Comic Cache!
"Hah!" She let out a little breathless laugh before turning into the alleyway that connected the two main streets.
Only to immediately by hit from behind.
Not expecting it, Astral stumbled to the ground and fell as blood from the glass bottle began to run down her head. She tried to summon her Aegis, but her concentration was blurry, though she did manage to turn and face the attacker.
An older mare, holding the broken glass that she had been smashed over the head with in her magic, stared down at her. For a second she seemed surprised, probably by how young Astral was, and, briefly, doubt and regret washed over her face before it hardened again.
She reached for the saddlebags around Astral's back, and Astral panicked. The money was fine, but if she took her scrapbook she would never get it back. It wouldn't go through the loops with her.
No,no,no,no!
She tried to stand, but the mixture of her blurry vision and her scarf, which was now trailing loosely, conspired to make her fall over. She swung a hind leg towards the mare, and judging by the surprised "oof" actually got her.
The mare stumbled back, clutching her chest, where there would almost certainly be a bruise in a couple of hours. She tried to catch her breath for a second, before her features darkened into rage.
Oh shit.
Oh shit!
The mare reared up on her hind legs and brought them down on her ribs, and Astral let out a yelp. At the same time, her saddlebag was roughly snatched from her, and the sound of hoofsteps sounded.
Astral's horn sparked, and she blindly grabbed onto the other mare's tail, and dragged her back to her with a lot of effort. It was hard to keep her magic up, her concentration waxed and waned with every second. But, she did manage to keep a grip despite all the struggles and separate her bag from her.
The mare froze, then snarled a desperate "no!"
Lunging at Astral, undoubtedly ready to tackle the already injured Unicorn and retake her prize.
It wasn't conscious thought that did it, it was pure panic and the primal fear of getting even more injured. Her subconscious screamed at her, and she mimicked it in her magic, a sudden, shock wave of pure power that forced Astral to close her eyes as she crouched lower to the ground to avoid throwing up.
She wasn't sure how long she was out for, but it couldn't have been more than a few minutes. When she awoke, her vision still swum in front of her, and standing was a . . . standing was a struggle.
She had only just enough frame of mind to cast the healing spell, and sighed as the feeling of coolness ran from her head to her tail. This time, when she opened her eyes, she could actually see.
Progress!
Of course, Unicorn spells didn't do that well for internal injuries, so she may want to get herself checked into a hospital for that. Even now, the distance was suspiciously blurry.
Spotting her saddlebag, she quickly rechecked it, relived to find everything was still in there. She also retied her scarf, grimacing at the blood on it. I'll wash it soon, she assured herself, before getting out and starting out of the alley with a sigh can't very well go into a comic book store looking like this. I'll just try again next loop.
Just as she was at the mouth of the alley, she noticed something; a small, light blue ball next to one of the dumpsters. Astral stared at it for a second before heading closer.
It was the mare.
Or, more accurately, it was the mare's head.
Astral stared at it for a second, before turning to a second, much bigger ball.
It was the mare's body.
She remembered now; she outburst of magic that she had aimed at the mare had formed into a razor sharp beam or something.
How long had she been dead?
Astral decided to ask another question.
Did it really matter?
She stared down at the corpse and blinked.