//------------------------------//
// Ajead 
// Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot 
// by Equimorto 
//------------------------------//

Sunburst did something. Almost without thinking, almost like it had been whispered to him by someone else, though in hindsight it was more than likely just his brain firing off under tension. He was not confident he could defend against the creatures and much more convinced he couldn't hurt them in the first place, but maybe there was another way out of the situation.
He put something around the group of ponies. It wasn't a shield, not in the traditional sense, but it was somewhat shaped like one, one of the magical spherical ones. But it wasn't there to protect, not directly at least, not by way of absorbing blows and strikes.
"They can't see us," Sunburst said, quietly. "If it worked, they can't hear us, smell us, or anything else." He stared at the translucent, faintly visible dome around them, as did those there with him. "They still probably remember we were here. We should move." With that, he began to walk, trying his hardest to stop his legs from shaking and only barely succeeding. The dome followed around him.
"What if one of them gets in?" a pony asked, voice cracking with fear, as he began to follow Sunburst.
"We'll worry about that if it happens," Sunburst replied, barely stopping his voice from doing the same. "We might be able to deal with a single one. Ponies on the back, keep an eye out to see if any get closer."
The entire group gathered closely around him, eyes looking in all directions as they all slowly made their way forward.
The creatures around them still didn't move, but it was evident that they'd noticed something was amiss. They looked around, heads turning, malformed hooves and claws digging at the ground, choked sounds of deformed apparatuses that had once carried pony voices sounded through the air.
Some began to move. Some slowly walked to where the ponies had been, and dug against the ground, or lowered their heads to it if their anatomy allowed for it. Of the ponies looking back some shivered, some nervously swallowed. The group walked towards the space with the least creatures, though some were still nearby and dangerously close to entering their barrier. They had to stop and adjust their direction, and always carefully look out.
All in silence, all in fear. At one point, Starlight hurled a stone to distract a creature in their path. She didn't throw it directly through the barrier, she feared it might have realised where it had come from. She threw it upwards in a tall arc, so that it would fall where it needed to while already past the creature's vision. It worked, and the path was cleared, but it also attracted more mutated ponies to the same spot.
They were almost out of it, but their nervousness didn't diminish. Not Sunburst's especially. There was something off. Something he could feel was wrong, but he couldn't place his hoof on it. His heart was pounding in his chest, his breath was heavy. Something was wrong. He looked down at the ground below them, and suddenly he knew.