//------------------------------//
// A Lyin' Egg Gathers No Moss 
// Story: Neigh's Anatomy 
// by Kotatsu Neko 
//------------------------------//

Zakeem pushed the last medical device back into place and looked over his hoofiwork with satisfaction.  Nopony could possibly suspect that the miracle of life had occurred here less than an hour ago.  His head was still reeling a bit from that; not even in his wildest dreams could he have imagined assisting with the delivery of a changeling queen's first egg.

Speaking of which, he needed to go back and check on his 'patient'. Despite the drone's reassurances, he was really hoping that he wouldn't have to deal with a newly hatched changeling.  Pediatric medicine wasn't his primary field, and even if it were he doubted much of it would apply to whatever came out of that egg.

The zebra returned to his office and dipped into his coat pocket for the key, but as he brought it to the door's lock, he heard a faint sound on the other side.  His blood ran cold.  He'd closed the window after Mandible and Spinnerette, he was sure of that, so there was only one possible reason behind the noise. 

Well... how bad could it possibly be?  Harmless, helpless grub, hadn't the drone said?  Although he'd also said he'd never had to interact with grubs much, so Zakeem decided to take that with a grain of salt.  Perhaps it would be better to wait for Mandible's return before...

Something behind the door said "Wow!"  He couldn't convince himself it was the hatchling, and quickly revised his previous assessment about the noise.  All caution forgotten, he unlocked the door (barely noticing that it had already been unlocked) and threw it open.

And standing there, holding Zakeem's notebook in an amber field and poring through it in rapt fascination, was the worst case scenario.

"Doctor Goodmane!"

The unicorn started, nearly dropping the notebook.  "Zakeem? !  Uh..."  He hesitated, but only briefly. "...h-hey, careful there. buddy.  No need to scare ponies like that.  Almost gave me a heart attack."  He casually looked back down at Zakeem's notes, though there was an unmistakable tension in his stance.

The zebra did not normally become angry quickly or easily, but this time he was willing to give it a shot.  "You-!"

Goodmane raised a placating hoof.  "Now, hold on a minute, Z.  Before you work yourself up to having to find a rhyme for 'What are you doing here?' or 'Explain yourself!', I'm doing this for your benefit."

Zakeem sputtered.  "You really expect me to believe this lie?!  Please think of a better one; give it a try!"

"Swear to Celestia, my friend.  See, I couldn't get my mind off the deal you made with the Countess.  I figured you're probably new to this kind of thing, and I didn't want you to fall into any rookie mistakes, know what I mean?  I couldn't bear seeing you carted away over some simple oversight, so I helped myself into your office just to make sure you hadn't left anything..."  He gestured vaguely.  "...I don't wanna say 'incriminating', so let's call it... 'inconvenient'.  Yeah, nothing too 'inconvenient' lying around.  See?  I'm only thinking of you."

And to make sure you weren't caught up in any investigation of the clinic, Zakeem was certain.  But he could do little but glare.  His hoof had been caught in the metaphorical cookie jar; the other doctor held all the cards at the moment.

"But imagine my surprise," Goodmane continued, setting the notebook down and turning toward the couch, "when I turned on the light and saw this little beauty."  He leaned in close to the egg, his expression one of delightedd amazement.  "Z, how in the world did you get your hooves on a changeling egg?  That is what this is, right?  I mean, it's just gotta be."  The egg's inhabitant twitched and wobbled, completely oblivious to the scene unfolding outside.

He looked up at the zebra, but a herd of angry yaks couldn't have pulled an explanation from Zakeem's mouth at this point.  "No?  Well, let's think this through, then.  It wasn't here earlier, and when I left it was just you, your nurse, and Mr. Shuffle Step again, and I doubt he had anything to do with this.  So  it has to have come from one of your other patients, since you probably wouldn't have met anyone else here for... 'nefarious purposes'.

"And then there's this," he added, looking back at the notebook.  "Your mouthwriting's kind of hard to read, but all these measurements... you can't have made all of them in the last few hours.  And where did you even..."

Then he stopped and looked at the zebra, his mouth falling open.  Zakeem closed his eyes, hoping beyond all hope that Goodmane wasn't about to say what he knew he would...

"The examination.  The extra time you spent with her.  The Countess is Queen Chrysalis."

Zakeem flinched, but said nothing.

"Oh... oh, wow."  Goodmane held a hoof to his head, reeling from the revelation.  "Nopony's heard a peep about her since she got literally dethroned, and she just... shows up at our clinic?  As a wrestler?  Why a wrestler?"  Then he gave a rueful little laugh.  "And of course the one time I'm overbooked and have to let you do the physical is the day you win the absolute jackpot.  She gave you this egg in exchange for keeping her secret, didn't she  ?"

Zakeem hesitated, but couldn't correct him without revealing Spinnerette's existence, and Goodmane took his silence for agreement.  "Oh, Z.  You've stumbled in some serious meadow muffins here."  Then he bent down for another close look at the egg.  "But don't you worry, my friend.  I'm gonna take care of everything."

That sounded a great many alarm bells in Zakeem's head.  "I am not quite sure what you're trying to say, but I have this handled, so please go away!"

"Trust me, Z.  You're gonna want to hear me out."  Goodmane straightened up and turned to face Zakeem, his eyes shining.  "I've made a few... contacts over the years.  I know a pony who knows a pony, you know?  There's a unicorn uptown who'd pay top bit for something like this.  And if we throw in your notes as well?  We'd be rolling in riches by tomorrow night!"  Then he frowned.  "Unless it's viable.  If it's gonna hatch, that's a different story altogether.  I'm not about to sell some baby changeling on the black market.  Standards, am I right?  Still... I bet I can figure something out..."

The zebra nearly fainted on the spot.  He didn't dare even think about the queens' response if that happened.  "You presume too much in this circumstance, Hale.  The egg and my notebook are just not for sale!"

Goodmane just stared at him, confused.  "What, are you gonna... I dunno, turn it in for a reward or something?  That's noble and all, but you know they'd have to start looking into how you got it."

"That is not my plan," Zakeem growled.  "You don't understand!"

"You're not thinking of keeping it, are you?  If it does hatch, it's not going to be one of the reformed ones, you know; it'll drain you dry!"

"No!"

The other doctor scowled at him.  "I don't think you realize how dangerous it's gonna be if we don't get rid of this thing, Z.  Just let me take care of it.  Or would you rather get reported to the authorities for aiding a fugitive?"

Zakeem's eyes narrowed.  "So that is your goal, then: a round of extortion.  You'll call the police unless you get your portion?"

Goodmane looked shocked.  "That's hurtful, my friend.  I wouldn't do that to you.  Not even for..."  He glanced at the egg, hesitating only briefly.  "...the really huge amount of bits we could get for that thing.  But you have to understand, getting in trouble with the law is a real risk.we're facing right now.  Not just the two of us; the whole clinic might get caught up in it.  One false move, and they could shut this place down!"  Goodmane took a long breath.  "Look.  I get the feeling you don't approve of my little side gig, and I apologize for assuming you were in on it too; this is obviously something way bigger than just a tweaked potion test.  But I need you to believe me: I only want what's best for everyone here."

Oddly enough, Zakeem did believe him, and that just made him even more uncomfortable.  "I cannot explain," he said slowly, "and I ask you to trust.  I have to keep hold of the egg, Hale.  I must!"

They glared at each other for long moments, then Goodmane seemed to relent.  "If that's your decision, then... I guess that's the way it's got to be."

Zakeem relaxed slightly, but only slightly.  There was still a calculating look about his colleague.

Then Goodmane looked around himself, as if seeing the room for the first time.  "Y'know, while we're here, have I ever told you how much I like your office?"

The zebra blinked at the non sequitur.  "Pardon?"

"Your office!  I love what you've done here.  It shows a real eye for interior design.  I especially," he added, nodding down at the egg's makeshift nest, "like this couch."

"...your oddly-timed flattery shall not prevail.  Whatever you're planning, I promise you'll fail."

"Nothing but the truth, my friend.  This thing is top-notch quality.  Just look at these cushions, for example.  They're so stylish!  Durable!  Hefty!"

And then his horn lit up, and every cushion not currently supporting the changeling egg rose into the air around Goodmane, who gave the zebra a bright smile.  "Throwable!"

Zakeem's eyes grew wide, but he couldn't react fast enough to dodge, and the barrage of felt and stuffing pummeled him back into the hallway.  He quickly regained his hooves, but the cushions were wedged in the doorway and it took a moment to clear a path.  As he did so, he heard the window open, then the sound of a pony clambering through it, with a shout of "You'll thank me later!"

He kicked the last cushion aside and stormed into the office.  The egg, of course, was gone, as was his notebook .  He immediately climbed through the window and glanced around the alleyway.  One end opened into the street, and Goodmane certainly wouldn't have risked being seen with a strange egg in tow; that would stick in ponies' memories.  Zakeem raced the other way, and followed the alley as it took a right angle behind the clinic.  Yes, there he was, some distance ahead.

The unicorn was younger and in better condition, but had to move more carefully for fear of damaging the egg, which floated just ahead of him.  Though his lungs were already starting to burn, Zakeem managed to keep pace, until he followed Goodmane around another corner and saw...

...nothing.

He fought down the rising panic.  There was little cover in this part of the alley, no other corners to hide around.  Where could he have...?

As he stepped forward, his hoof struck something metal, and he looked down to see a service ponyhole leading, he presumed, to the sewer system.  The cover was almost, but not entirely, flush with the ground, and... was that a glimmer of amber he saw around the edges, shining up from below?  He couldn't be positive, but he had no other choice.

With a quick kick, he managed to shove the iron cover out of the way, and - his sense of hygiene complaining all the way - carefully descended down the ladder within.





"You're doing great, Harmony.  Almost there."

"I'm fine, Blitz.  I don't need to be pampered every step of the way."

"Yeah, yeah.  You're an independent up-and-coming young mare that don't need no stallion holding her back."

"Darn right!  I can manage on my don't drop me don't drop me!"

"Ah, so you do need a stallion holding you up."

"Ha ha.  But... point taken.  I'm sorry, and thank you."

"Any time.  Can you manage the door?"

“I think so.  One second.”

There was a clatter of keys, then the apartment door was pushed open to reveal Harmony Delight and her personal agent, Promo Blitz, a rather bland-looking earth pony.  She leaned heavily against him as she limped through the doorway.  Once the door was closed, a twin burst of flame replaced them with Spinnerette and Mandible, the latter of whom staggered slightly under his sibling’s increased size and weight. “Sorry!” she said quickly.

“You’re good.  Let’s just get you into bed so you can rest.”  He helped her down the hallway… or, rather, partway down the hallway.  Three steps in, they both stopped in their tracks, nostrils flaring.  ”Ugh!”

“What is that smell?!” Spinnerette demanded, one hoof lifted to cover her muzzle.

Mandible tested the air again cautiously.  “It’s like… gutter water… burning rubber.. and…”  He blinked.  ”…cinnamon?”

They shared a glance, then advanced further into the apartment.  “It’s weird,” Spinnerette said, “but it’s not that bad as you get used to it.  Or is it just me?”

“Yeah.  And it seems kind of… I dunno, familiar to me somehow,” he replied.  He helped her onto a couch, then looked around, sniffing.  “But where’s it coming from?”

The door to the kitchen swung open, introducing a fresh waft of the pungent odor as well as a unicorn familiar to them both, though for one it was mostly by use of a mirror.

“There you are,” said Harmony Delight with a scowl.  “What took you so long?” Patches of her cream-colored fur were stained with a thick grey substance of some kind.

“Spin wasn’t fit to fly,” Mandible said, taking this in stride, “so we had to get a coach.  Not too many this time of night.”

“You’re wearing my face, mother,” Spinnerette noted, in much the manner of somepony mentioning the unauthorized use of a favorite sweater.

Harmony looked down at herself. “Oh.  Yes.” In a flash of green, Chrysalis took her place.  The stains carried over, but at least they were less visible now. “I suppose I was in too much of a hurry to change back,” she mused.

“Why were you even using it in the first place?”

“Well, I could hardly come in through the front door as the Countess, now could I?” Chrysalis said, as if that explained everything.  “The doorponies here are distinctly unreasonable about letting in non-residents.”

Mandible nodded.  They’d never gotten around to adding Chrysalis to the lease, mainly for ‘better off not knowing’ reasons.  Of course, the Countess could absolutely afford her own apartment in the city, but the issue had never come up and he wasn’t interested in pressing the issue.  It was probably better for absolutely everyone that Chrysalis wasn’t left unsupervised.  “And why,” he asked patiently, “did you have to come in through the front door? You normally use the vents.”

“I was carrying too many groceries. For the scrimblecakes.”

“The scrimblecakes.”

“That's what I said.”

He peered past her into the kitchen, which was a disaster.  It wasn't as though Spinnerette used it much anyway, other than for tea and the occasional attempt at preparing homemade cabbage rolls, but she kept it clean and well-appointed to maintain her pony identity, just in case of surprise visitors.  Now the clumpy grey material that still clung to Chrysalis’ hide was everywhere, mostly on trays but also on every conceivable surface.  It would be a serious cleaning job to remove it, and judging from the way some of the stains were setting, a chisel would be required.  

“You’ve been cooking?” Spinnerette said, astonished.  Mandible quietly agreed with the sentiment; the idea of their mother doing anything quite so domestic was all but unthinkable.

“You don’t cook scrimblecakes,” Chrysalis replied, as though this were the most obvious thing in the world.  “You let them congeal.”

“I'm guessing this explains why it smells like a Hearth's Warming storm drain in here,” Mandible noted.

“I did have to make some ingredient substitutions,” she admitted, “so they’re not quite what they should be. The local shops have an abysmal selection of tar, gristle, and husks.  I had to make do.”

“Fair enough.  So now, for the million bit question: What Is A Scrimblecake?”

Chrysalis glanced behind her and levitated one of the trays into view.  A number of bulbous shapes, grey and vaguely round, wobbled gently upon them.  “Treats for the little one.”

He regarded them with deep suspicion.  The things looked anything but appetizing, though a grub probably wouldn’t care either way.  Did grubs even eat?  His recollection from before his metamorphosis was incredibly vague, and the changeling larval stage was fairly brief in any case.  The smell of them was still somewhat unpleasant, but no longer as foul as it had been originally, and made him think of-

-an oddly sweet scent in the lowest levels of the hive, down underground where it was always warm, even in winter, and a deep but somehow friendly rumble shook the walls…

Mandible blinked.  Where had that come from?

He looked again at the scrimblecakes.  They would be… sour as an overripe apple, he knew, and somehow gritty, especially to the mouth of a young drone that had never experienced food except while transformed.  There had been one dropped and forgotten in a corner, and his curiosity had driven him to-

There was a sharp pain in his hoof, delivered by a magically floating ladle.  He realized he’d been unconsciously reaching for a scrimblecake.  “Those aren’t for you,” Chrysalis said sternly.  “Anyway, they haven’t hardened yet.”

He shook his head.  He didn’t want one of the nasty things, but the memory had been one of deep contentment, something exceedingly rare in the hive.  “And this is what you abandoned us for?” he asked reproachfully.  “We could’ve really used your help.”

“Proper nutrition is the foundation of the hive,” she said, immune to reproach.

He snorted.  “This from the queen who was literally starving us.”

“I never said it was about your nutrition.”  She returned the tray to the kitchen.  “And on that subject, where is the little hatchling-to-be?”

Knowing that Spinnerette already felt guilty about leaving it behind, Mandible spoke quickly.  "I decided that it wasn't safe to try to bring both  of them back at once.  Zakeem's keeping an eye on the egg until I get back."

He expected a flare of anger, or accusations of incompetence.  Instead, Chrysalis simply looked at him in surprise.  "You left it at the clinic?  With the doctor?"

"...yes?"

"Oh."  She tilted her head briefly in thought, then shrugged.  "For the best, I suppose.  It's a bit of a shame, though.  He seemed quite respectable.  For a pony."

He stared at her, an odd feeling of dread rising within him.  "You're using the past tense and I don't like it.  Is something going to happen with the egg?"

"Oh, no.  Well," she amended, "not necessarily.  It's just that they can get so... feisty when they're newly hatched."

The dread increased.  "What are you saying, mom?  Is he in danger?"

"Oh, I'm sure he'll be fine," she said, and decades of experience told him she was lying.  "It's just that the egg was glenched for so terribly long.  Who knows how that might have affected its behavior?  It could act quite erratic."

He continued to stare for a moment, then turned to look at Spinnerette, who appeared equally aghast.  "...I think," he said, "I should go back to the clinic now."

"I think you should hurry," she replied.

"I think you're right."  Without further preamble, he turned into a fly and vanished into the building's ventilation system.

Spinnerette frowned in worry.  "Maybe I should go with him."

Her mother gave her a piercing look.  "Do you think you should, or are you sure?"

"...uh..."  She frowned, puzzled.  "I guess I'm not completely sure...?"

"Then we still have time," Chrysalis decided, in a tone that brooked no argument.  "You just sit there and rest while I make you some of that hot leaf juice you like so much."

Spinnerette blinked.  "Mother, do you even know how to make tea?"

"Please.  You're speaking to Queen Chrysalis, victor of countless battles and very nearly conqueror of Equestria." She turned and stalked back into the kitchen.  "I am certainly more than capable of making a simple cup of tea."

They put the fire out, eventually.





The sewer was noisome and disgusting, but Zakeem couldn't let himself worry about that right now.  He made his way forward in the gloom, somehow managing to keep Goodmane just in sight.  Fortunately the unicorn had to maintain a strong hornlight, both to carry the egg and to illuminate his own way forward.

Which was why it was so strange when the light suddenly disappeared.

Zakeem quickly slowed to a halt, for fear of falling into the water.  He looked around himself as he gasped for breath, taking stock of the long stretch of tunnel before him.  There was a large amount of detritus and garbage here, old wooden crates stacked high in some abandoned attempt to sort everything out.  It was illuminated by a magical light at the far end of the tunnel, but as it had been installed by the lowest bidder and was decades old in any case, it was incredibly dim.

He twisted his ears forward, trying to quiet his panting.  He didn't think Goodmane would have had time to make it to the end of the long tunnel before Zakeem had reached this point, so where...?

There.  The sound of somepony else trying to muffle their own desperate intake of oxygen.  The run had taken its toll on Goodmane as well, unicorns being the least physically fit of the pony races.  He was close, hiding somewhere among the debris.

"You must... come back with me... so I can explain!" the zebra called out between breaths.  "This folly is not worth... the money you'll gain!"

"This isn't about... the money!"  There was a pause for self-reflection.  "Okay, it's not just about the money."

Zakeem slowly made his way forward, trying to make as little noise as possible.

"You have no idea what kind of trouble you're getting into here!  You're way too nice a guy to pull this off!  Just go home and I'll take care of everything!"

"You don't comprehend, Hale, the danger you dare!  The wrath of the queen will be too much to bear!"

"What does... nff... she care?" Goodmane asked, his voice oddly strained.  "She... hrrg... gave you the egg.  What did she.... uh! ...expect you to do with it?"

Zakeem stopped.  Goodmane sounded nearby, behind a tall stack of crates... which had begun to wobble.

"Look out!" the other doctor shouted as he gave the stack a final shove.  Zakeem quickly stumbled back as the crates toppled, ending up on his rear but fortunately avoiding anything more undignified. As he picked himself back up, he saw Goodmane's hornlight vanishing around the corner, egg in tow.  With a scowl, he made his way around and over the crates, and the chase was resumed.



 

Mandible surveyed the office’s condition, and very carefully refrained from panicking.  He’d already suspected trouble when he noticed the wide-open window, and the complete lack of both egg and doctor within confirmed it.  The scattered couch cushions were a bit of a mystery, but unlikely to be important.

In a burst of blue, the bird he was became a hound, which started investigating the room by smell.  There was the egg, still unhatched, the scent fading with the faint breeze from the open window.  He hadn’t smelled Zakeem in their brief interactions, of course, but his had to be the room’s primary scent, earthy with a faint tinge of sleeping elixir, because you never fully took the zebra out of alchemy.  A slight floral scent near the door which was likely the nurse’s perfume… and another, a recent visitor, smelling strongly of mane gel.  This scent had lingered near the desk for a while, then the couch, and from there flowed out the door, followed by Zakeem’s, with the egg’s mixed in as well.

He climbed out the window and snuffled along the alley, following the smells even as they slowly dissipated. They led him eventually to an open ponyhole, and the reek rising from below meant that a hound’s nose would be more of a hindrance than an aid. Steeling himself, he leapt into it, turned into a bat halfway down, and flew through the tunnels in a desperate search.





(“Mother, are you sure Dr. Zakeem will be all right?”)

“Okay, okay!  Forget about the money!  The money is off the table!”

Zakeem stood at the entrance to a large room, some sort of… runoff overflow chamber or something?  Sewer architecture was something beyond his ken.  But there were no visible exits, so there was nowhere else for Goodmane to run.  Unfortunately, what the chamber did have was numerous supporting columns, ancient debris, and not very much light at all, so by refraining from igniting his horn, the unicorn could be hiding anywhere.

“What if we turned the egg over to the reformed changelings?”  The echoes made it impossible to pinpoint Hale’s location.  “I hear they haven’t quite worked out reproduction yet. They’d love to have a new member of the herd!  We’d be heroes!”

(“Well.  To be perfectly honest, I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m ‘sure’.”)

He hesitated, unwilling to stray too far from the entrance in case Goodmane made a break past him.  Then his eyes fell on an old service lantern hanging from a hook on the wall, and after trying its switch a few times, it miraculously flickered to life.  And then continued to flicker at random, but it was better than staying in the dark.  He gripped the handle in his mouth – or rather started to, then quickly changed his mind and wrapped a handkerchief around it first -  and crept forward.

“Or maybe we can donate it to science!  They could put it into magical stasis and study it!  Just think what we could learn!  What medical advances we could discover!”

Every step was a cautious tread, muted by the ancient damp stone.

“And it’d be all because of us!  Two doctors from a little clinic in the middle of-“

(“It really depends on how it feels when it hatches.”)

And then a new sound echoed through the chamber.  It was far too wet to be a cracking, but rather more of a sticky separation of gelatinous matter.  Zakeem stopped in his tracks.

“What, now?! Really?”  There was a pause, then an amber light began to glow in a small alcove on the far side of the room, which had been completely hidden in the darkness until now.  “Oh, boy, this is the real thing.  Uh… Z?  Z?! It’s hatching.  It’s hatching and things are moving and I don’t know what to do because I cheated on that obstetrics test and it’s climbing out, oh sweet Celestia it’s climbing out.”

“You must stay calm and must prepare!” Zakeem commanded, moving the lantern to a hoof briefly.  “This new life now is in your care!”

(“It could hatch feeling playful…”)

“Oh, boy.  Oh, jeez.  Z? This is… not going how I expected, I’ll be honest.  Whaddaya say we… put a pin in this discussion and head back to the clinic for now?”

Zakeem sighed in relief.  “The wisest decision you’ve come to this night,” he said. “Just pick up the grub, and we’ll make it all right.”

“O-okay.  Okay.  I can do that.”  The hornlight shifted.  “H-hey, little guy.  You and me are gonna be best fr-“

(“…or it could hatch feeling hungry.”)

There was a hissing snarl from the alcove, and then a sudden yelp from Goodmane.  “Hey, get off! Get-!“ Another snarl, and abruptly the hornlight winked out, leaving Zakeem’s lantern as the only source of light. “Let go of me!” the unicorn shouted, though his voice was distinctly muted.  ”Let go!”

Then the alcove was filled with a burst of purple light, and there was a suggestion of violent movement in the gloom.  Goodmane began to shout wordlessly, his voice nevertheless growing more difficult to hear by the second.  After a particularly vicious motion, something small and round was sent bouncing out, rolling to a stop in the chamber’s central water channel.  It was the empty egg, which began to gently dissolve in the noisome fluid.

And then there was silence.

Zakeem managed to free himself from the paralysis of terror and, against his better judgement, took a step forward, raising the lantern as high as he could.  “…Hale?”  There was something in the alcove, something big, and it moved…

(“And when they’re hungry, they’re very hungry.”)

It was at this exact point that the lantern, needless to say, went out.

He froze in place, and more pertinently in the near total darkness.  If he tried to run from… whatever the thing was, he would almost certainly trip and fall or, worse, slam headlong into one of the room’s many columns.  He would need light.  Gripping the handle in his mouth again, he desperately began to work the switch, trying to coax just a little bit more magic from its decayed storage crystal.

There was a heavy clacking noise, chitin on stone.  It grew closer, perhaps attracted by the clicking of the switch.  Zakeem stopped, and so did the clacking.  He had the undeniable impression of something very large nearby, its breath heavy and hot, a strong musty odor permeating the air around it…

The lantern chose that moment to turn back on.  And whatever Zakeem had expected a newly hatched changeling to look like, it was not this.

It was much longer than it was tall, standing on six spindly legs that seemed too thin to support it and ended in rounded, featureless nubs.  It wasn’t segmented like an insect, but had a tapered, oddly rectangular body covered in overlapping chitinous plates that ran the entire length of its body from a wide and flat front to its blunted end.  It had no visible eyes, but still seemed to focus on Zakeem from mere hooflengths away, a very low rumble rising from deep within.

And it was much bigger than a pony. He could state this empirically based on the fact that he could see a pony leg that matched Goodmane’s chartreuse still protruding from the creature’s mouth, possibly still attached to the rest of the pony.  There was a slurping noise, and the leg was gone.

Zakeem stared at the thing, too frightened to move.  It didn’t exactly stare back, but the rumble never stopped.

And then it roared, shaking the entire chamber.

(“Yes… very hungry indeed.”)