//------------------------------// // Act 2: Bird Box // Story: A Murder Of Crows // by Kaidan //------------------------------// Hitch wandered down the long hallway, kept company only by the echo of his hooves on the obsidian floor. The darkness seemed to creep forward from the shadows, threatening to quench the faint green glow produced by barnacles that hung from the ceiling. Their bioluminescent glow guided his steps, helping him avoid the jagged growths and shells clinging in patches to the floor. The ceiling dripped moisture from the many stalactites and fine strands of algae hanging from them. A chilling sea breeze blew in through the passageway behind him, carrying a salty aroma. When he finally left the dark hall, he found himself in a room with a ceiling far out of sight. Seven marble pillars seemed to dance in the flickering light cast through large slit windows built into the walls. The pillars reaching upwards towards the roof were so tall, they appeared to curve slightly as they vanished into the black. The combination of moonlight and waves cast a rippling series of silver lines across the floor. As Hitch examined the nearest window, he could just make out the faint silvery sphere despite the depth of the sunken cathedral. He felt as if some presence was trying to warn him, but he was already quite aware of how deeply unsettling this underwater labyrinth was. His hooves carried him forward again, guiding him down a path that felt so familiar he wondered if he had been here before. The end of the room revealed cracking and crumbled pillars which led further into the encroaching shadow, as the refractive properties of the windows were no longer there to scatter the moonlight. Ahead was an emerald orb on a pedestal and he wondered what it was used for as he approached. It had the same swirling silver light as the ocean outside the window did. In a large archway behind it, several pairs of red eyes began to open. There was a long sorrowful cackle from a nearby bird. Hitch saw it perched in the corner of the room on the bones of some long-forgotten aquatic beast. It bade him not to touch the orb, but Hitch was unable to stop his hoof as his gaze returned to the orb. The sphere flashed as it made contact with his hoof. A thundering roar, like that of a thousand waterfalls crashing down, reverberated across the walls of the cavern. The angry beasts of the obsidian citadel joined the cacophony with their own shrieks and bellows. Hitch had a fitful night’s sleep, never quite sure if he was dreaming or awake. The crows had been raising a racket all night long. Maretime bay Sheriff’s Office had been turned into a fortified bunker since Hitch’s visit to Sunny’s lighthouse yesterday. His bed was a small cot made for camping, placed in the corner behind his desk, with a single sheet to keep warm. As he lay there, Hitch realized he could recall his nightmare more clearly now than on the previous night. He had the sense that something had awoken in the depths, causing him to flee from it back to the waking world. Wide awake now, he muttered a few choice words as he listened to the cursed talons scratching away at the drywall. They had gotten out all the hurricane supplies and hunkered down. Each window was thoroughly boarded up with two by fours. The entire staff, mostly still in training, had slept here overnight. Despite doing their best to keep the birds from infiltrating every nook and cranny of the building, he could hear one now crowing behind the light switch. Hitch’s hoof hit the wall hard enough to knock a calendar off of it. Sprout and a couple of the other deputies shot him a concerned look. “You okay, Sheriff?” “Can’t you hear them?” Hitch asked. “Crawling around in the walls, constantly burrowing their way into the building?” He got up and checked one of the windows. Peeking through it revealed the sun had risen, making this the third day since the first crow had been sighted. “Boss, you’re worrying us. You tried all day yesterday after talking to Sunny to get the birds to calm down, but couldn’t. You had us all spend the night in the station. What’s our next step?” Sprout asked. He pulled out his cell phone, checking for any messages from Zipp. The last one had been yesterday, a couple dozen guards were headed to Maretime bay to help in whatever way they could. There had been no messages since then, and his phone was getting no signal. He would have to head out and see if they made it to town, or he could at least get reception. Hitch groaned. “I’m not sure, I can’t seem to make them do anything unless they’re close to me, and once they fly off I can’t tell if they leave or rejoin the swarm.” “I think it’s important we keep sending out patrols, so ponies can see we’re trying. I…” Sprout gulped, “I volunteer to go out there.” The Sheriff slammed his hoof on the wall again to quiet the sound of something scurrying about. “Huh. Yeah, I guess that’s fine. I think I could use some fresh air, and we can go check on as many ponies as we can.” The two of them went over to the door, releasing the deadbolt. Together, Hitch and Sprout stepped outside, and heard one of the trainee’s bolt the door behind them. Maretime bay had changed drastically since Hitch returned to town yesterday and instructed everypony to stay indoors, windows and doors shut tight. The sunlight was faint, almost like it was overcast, but he looked up into a clear sky instead of clouds. Hitch saw a thick wall of dark birds circling the town. Most of the birds were small, but other larger shapes seemed to move among them. Hitch looked up towards the lighthouse, but it was lost in a sea of black shapes. Occasionally a glimpse of light would shine against the swarm, and he realized that Sunny must have turned on the lighthouse’s light to let him know she was doing okay. Returning his attention to more immediate concerns, he saw the streets weren’t completely empty. Two of the other deputized ponies were doing their own patrol, going door to door. They were being very careful not to injure any of the crows, and to toss out bits of day-old bread to any that got in their way to keep them satisfied. Near the town’s storm wall, a stallion was walking down the road with a blindfold over his face. Hitch tapped Sprout on the shoulder to get his attention. “Let’s go see why he’s out and about.” The two caught up to him easily. He seemed to be trying to find his way through town by only occasionally peeking out of the blindfold. “Sir, what are you doing?” Sprout asked. The stallion jumped in surprise. “Huh?” He almost lifted the blindfold before thinking twice. “Are you a crow?!” Hitch sighed, swiping the piece of cloth off his face. “You’re supposed to be indoors until the birds leave.” He gasped and covered his eyes with a foreleg. “Sheriff! It’s safe to go out as long as you don’t make eye contact… they don’t like it when you make eye contact…” “Fine. How far’s your house?” He handed the blindfold back. The stallion quickly put it back on. “Just a block left to go.” The stallion began to walk across the road towards his home, only to be grabbed by Hitch. “Careful, you almost walked into a trash can and knocked it over. That would have been bad.” “Thanks again, Sheriff!” He hurried and only tripped twice trying to get up the steps to his front door, before letting himself in. “Well, that was weird,” Sprout observed. “Yeah.” Hitch and Sprout began to walk down the road in silence towards the edge of town. While the crows had been mostly dormant yesterday, today they’d left the rooftops and were all in flight. There was a seabreeze headed inland, and Hitch wondered how much of it was created by the vast flock circling the town. Near the edge of town, the two stallions had to stop walking as they approached the large wall. From here Hitch got a better look at the murder of crows. There had to be thousands, if not millions, of them to circle a town this large. As he looked up into the sky, he judged it must be a hundred hooves tall to the top of the swarm. “I’m going to try and walk through it,” Hitch said. “That sounds like a really, really bad idea, Boss.” Sprout observed. He took a tentative step up, trying to get the birds to part. Then Hitch tried speaking. “Out of the way.” The birds parted for an instant, but they were flying too fast and the gap closed right back up. Last he tried reaching a hoof through, when something large, black, and leathery flew by and knocked him back onto his rump. “The hell was that?” Sprout shouted. Hitch tried to catch sight of the larger bird, but whatever it was had long since flown off. “This is crazy.” “Maybe we should try the cell phone again?” The Sheriff reached into his saddlebag, pulling out the phone. He held it up in the air and waved it around a bit, getting a brief flicker of signal before losing it again. Another few minutes of trying had yielded no better results. “If Zipp’s out there, I have no way to call her. They probably would have flown over the crows if they could, so I think we should assume we’re on our own for now,” Hitch explained. “What’s that over there?” Sprout asked. Hitch followed where he was pointing, noticing a disturbance in the living wall. A large ball of the feathered fiends rolled down into the grass, and he thought he could hear a pony shouting. The pair of stallions ran over to see what was going on, Sprout keeping up until the last second when he fell back to let Hitch brave the wrath of the aviant swarm. “Get back! Shoo!” Hitch marched right into the angry ball of crows, breaking them up with a foreleg. It only took a minute to scare them all off, but there was nopony there. He reached down and picked up a single yellow feather. It was too large and colorful to come from any of the black crows circling the town. “That looks like a pegasi, and I hate to ask but… where’s the rest of the pony?” Sprout inquired. “I have no clue. No blood or hoofprints.” Hitch looked around but the grass was devoid of any other signs. “Maybe somepony tried to get through from outside? At this point, I think it’s best we just get back and get every pony hunkered down in their homes, treat it like a hurricane warning, and board up the town.” Sprout nodded. “Whatever you say, this is above my paygrade.” Hitch sighed. “We’re paid the same amount of money, Sprout.” “Then you should ask for a raise after this.” Together the duo walked back into town, stopping several times along the way to check in on ponies and perform headcounts. By the time they got back to the Sheriff’s office, several of the bravest temporary deputies had gathered up outside. They were speaking to anypony brave enough to head outside. One of the new recruits waved him over. “Hayes, right?” “Yes, Sir. We’ve been talking to anypony who had to go out for food, or who came to report a missing pony.” Hayes checked a small notebook he’d been keeping tally in. “We’ve got thirty two ponies missing, no reports of injuries worse than scratches when somepony upset a bird though.” “At least nopony is getting hurt too bad, right?” Sprout asked. “Yeah, but thirty two missing plus the five we heard about on the way back is pretty horrible.” Hitch sighed and wished for a moment his special talent had been plumbing. There had only been two missing pony cases in his ten years as sheriff, and now he had almost forty in a single day. “So what’s the plan?” Hitch turned to address the officers, noticing several civilians also standing around. A couple of them must have met the stallion from earlier, because they were also sporting blindfolds. “Well first off, you look ridiculous with the blindfolds. Just don’t litter or harm a crow and you’ll be fine. Secondly, Hayes, take two ponies and get to Canterlogic. See if Phyllis has some secret tesla generator or some doomsday device we can use.” Hayes raised an eyebrow. “Doomsday device?” “I’ll take any help I can get now,” Hitch said. “And I’m desperate. We’re pretty much going to be stuck indoors for days if we try to wait this out.” “Yes, Sir. I’m off to find one mad scientist.” He gave a mock salute, grabbed a couple deputies, and headed off. Hitch looked out over the town, noticing the turbulent sea. The waves must have been cresting about ten hooves tall and that was inside the bay, behind the storm breakers. Bad weather on top of everything else was the last thing he needed. “Hitch!” a familiar voice called out. His ears swiveled, and he turned to address them. “Flour? What are you doing out here? It’s not safe.” “No duh, Sherlock.” She chuckled nervously, her attempt at humor falling a bit flat. “It’s Dahlia… I think you and a few ponies had best come over right away.” Hitch and Sprout started to follow her, and he gestured to two other ponies to follow. He instructed one to grab a tarp. Hitch had a sinking feeling in his stomach, and shook his head when he saw Sprout about to ask the question they were all thinking. Dahlia was old with a heart condition, and Flour’s eyes were red, her cheeks a bit puffy. Nopony had to tell Hitch what had happened. It didn’t take them long to get to the apartment, and get inside. Dahlia’s bedroom door was closed, and he noticed Flour didn’t approach it, opting to stay across the room. “Okay, I’ll head in first with Sprout.” Hitch whispered to the trainees. “It’s a lot to ask, but we’ve all dealt with loss. We’ll need to carry her out and to the morgue, and be respectful as Flour’s dealing with a lot right now.” They all nodded their heads. As Hitch opened the door the first thing he noticed were the small white pills scattered across the floor. A medication bottle sat in the middle of the room, next to a dead crow. It must have tried to eat some of the nitroglycerin tablets and died. A bit of a breeze came through, the window cracked to let some fresh air in. Apparently it had let the crow in too. Dahlia lay on her stomach, eyes fixed on the wall. Her pillow and blanket were hanging over the bed, spilling onto the floor. Hitch decided she must have been startled, gone to get her meds, and fallen. “At least it’s natural causes.” Sprout carefully walked around to examine the window. There was an end table and a glass of water on it, along with a lamp. Sprout turned the lamp on, helping to light up the room. Hitch started laying out the tarp next to Dahlia, so they could carry her out, when she twitched. The trainees jumped back, but Hitch had trained in CPR. He reached down to check for a pulse, but was having trouble finding anything. There was some movement, but he wasn’t sure what to make of it, so he checked her breathing next. He leaned down to feel for the air against his cheek, and listen for any noises. It felt like she was breathing faintly, but again he couldn’t be sure. Dahlia twitched again, causing even Hitch to take a step back. She rolled her head over to stare at Hitch. He thought he could hear the scratching again, as her mouth opened wide. A pair of jet black eyes stared back at him from inside her throat. A slick black crow began to wiggle its way out of Dahlia’s mouth, coated in slime and bits of flesh. Everypony in the room was fixed in place, staring at the feathered demon, as it began to spread its wings and pulled itself out onto the floor. “Caw!” The crow stood up and shot Hitch a nasty look, before turning and flying out the window. “What the buck. You’re not gonna be the only one who can’t sleep tonight,” Sprout stated.