//------------------------------// // Startracking - Part 2 // Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot // by Equimorto //------------------------------// Rarity was there, when the Behemoth came to Canterlot. Not exactly where the Behemoth stepped, of course, but she was close. Very close. She was in her boutique, talking with Sassy, making sure every order would be on time for the next event and already planning the one after that, when suddenly the ground had trembled. Just briefly, just a little, but it was a worrying thing. Canterlot was not known as a town prone to suffering from earthquakes, it would not have been wise to build a city on the side of a mountain if that had been the case in the area. Then the second step. The second quake, a little stronger, lasting a little longer, and then another pause. Rarity had looked at Sassy, then the two had dashed towards the exit, right as the third step had come. The walls creaked, cracks appearing in them, a little rubble falling from the ceiling. Enough to make the unicorns stop for a moment, to make sure everything was alright. The fourth step came, and made it clear the building wouldn't last forever. The fifth shattered the glass windows, just as the two had reached the door, and the sixth came as they walked outside, while inside the stairs collapsed. And that's when they saw it. Having been inside a building, they'd had, like many others, no way of knowing what was going on. But they, unlike many others, came very, very close to the creature. It was right there, as much as it could be said to be there, its odd and flickering translucent form fading in and out just mere metres ahead. Rarity's breath was taken away as she looked up, then higher still, and still she could not spot the end of it. It had been walking down the street, with one of its legs at least, and had it been just a few metres to the right it could have stepped on the building itself. Rarity would have remained stuck there, petrified by shock, had Sassy not dragged her away in the direction opposite to the one the Behemoth was walking towards. And so brief was her time spent near the creature, and so filled with adrenaline, she did not even notice the cold chill it sent across her skin to be so close to it. The two unicorns then rushed and dashed across the ruined city, following the trail of wreckage left in the Behemoth's wake, running with no direction as the ground shook harder and harder with each step of the creature. Only when they reached the park did they stop, far enough from buildings to be safe from any of them collapsing. It would be unfair to say there were no pauses in their running though. Rarity did stop, briefly, on more than one occasion, to ensure ponies safely left buildings, and to otherwise help others make sense of the chaos around them. And when they all reached the park, and none showed signs of injuries, and all turned towards the impossibly tall shape of the Behemoth, only then did Rarity finally let herself go and dramatically pull out a couch to collapse on. And there she wondered to herself, about the mysterious creature, about what would happen next, and about what the uncertain future might hold for all of them.