Chapter Nine: Witness
Rarity sighed as she wandered through the high-street of Ponyville. Luna's Moon was hidden behind a layer of clouds, threatening rain as lightning boiled and thunder rumbled. She bit her lip and added a bit more vigor to her step, wanting to get to the library and back to the boutique before it began to rain. Dash had mentioned earlier that Ponyville was due for a downpour tonight and that anypony caught out in the middle of it would be in serious trouble.
Rarity didn't want to be that anypony.
The library wasn't too far. She could even see it in the distance, several lights still throwing shafts of luminescence into the near-dark of the rest of the town. Rarity broke out into an almost full-run as she saw the library, eager to get out of the near pitch black shadows and pre-rain air about the town. She would be glad for the few moments of comfort being inside the library would bring her.
"Sure you're up for another late night Battle?" asked Nurse Red-Heart before she left, looking concernedly over the younger stallion. He looked half-asleep slumped over the desk.
"Wha?" he mumbled tiredly, before he shook himself awake. "Uh, yes of course ma'am. I'll keep an eye on things."
"Don't push yourself too hard dear," she said, smiling softly as she left.
"Goodnight Nurse," Battle called, waving farewell, smiling.
She gave a playful giggle as she walked out of the hospital's double-doors. Battle's smile fell as he turned to the security monitors. It would happen again tonight, he could feel it. His eyes alighted on the footage from 'Intensive Care'. Ponies who were either seriously injured or sick. Some ponies in there, were close to death.
Battle slammed his fist against the desk. The camera angle was useless. He could only see half the patients in the intensive care wing, the patients opposite the camera. Those underneath it were hidden. Provided they were still there of course.
Battle got to his feet and began stalking up the corridor, throwing open the door to the stairwell with magic as he approached it. He slid through the opening and began to bound up the steps. He needed to set up some kind of early warning system, he really did. It would save him rushing up the stairs every twenty minutes to check on the patients. Granted he had to do that anyway but that was part of the job.
Preventing deceased, reanimated and possessed patients from leaving the hospital was not in the job description.
"I have to say thanks once more Twilight," Rarity said as Twilight packed the last of her books into a bag for Rarity. "You have been most kind to get these together for me at such short notice Twilight."
"It's no problem, really," Twilight said, smiling. "It comes with the job of being a librarian after all."
She glanced out of the window and bit her lip in worry as the rain began to patter against the glass. Rarity looked outside too, looking nervous.
"You're welcome to spend the night if you want to Rarity," Twilight offered.
"Oh that's quite alright darling," Rarity waved off. "I'm afraid if I leave Sweetie Belle alone with the boutique for too long my orders for the Canterlot Elite will end up... well you get the picture."
"Okay," Twilight said cautiously, "Just be careful Rarity."
"I think I can handle a little bit of rain darling," Rarity scoffed.
"That wasn't what I was talking about," Twilight hissed. "They still haven't caught the pony that's been causing all of these attacks remember?"
"Oh come Twilight," Rarity laughed off, pulling an umbrella from her bag. "As if some brute of a stallion will find me? So long as I don't go anywhere I'm not supposed to, I'll be fine."
"Well, if your sure," Twilight muttered.
"Of course," Rarity said, opening the door and waving goodbye. "Goodnight Twilight."
Lightning framed the open window as rain poured in over the window-ledge. The pony had his hand grasping the window pane and was holding a scalpel in his other hand. Battle Ready watched him, panting after the chase. All the signs were there. The black markings, the white empty eyes and the pulsing, red Cutie Mark.
"We both know I'll find you," Battle said, stepping forward. "Better not expend pointless energy by running."
The pony laughed harshly. "Where's the fun in staying though?"
He jumped through the opened window. Battle cursed and ran to the window himself, his horn glowing with silver light as his white doctor's coat flickered and became his usual black jacket. He leaned out the window and peered into the darkness, before pursuing the possessed pony.
The rain was coming down hard and fast now, coalescing in large muddy puddles. Rarity tiptoed around the puddles as she made her way steadily home. She gave a small cry of despair when the wind tugged at her perfect mane, turning it into a mess. The wind was strong enough to knock her off balance for a few steps. She staggered down the road, but remained upright as she wandered through the dark street, lighting her way with the blue glow from her horn.
She leaned into the wind, trying to shield herself from the worst of the storm with her umbrella. Lightning flashed overhead, followed almost instantly by a booming clap of thunder. The air wreaked of ozone and rain water, something Rarity decided was not a good combination as she continued to slog her way through the increasingly muddy street. Perhaps she could still turn back to the library and take Twilight up on her offer to spend the night? Sweetie Belle couldn't do too much damage could she?
The thought of her sister alone in such a dreadful storm gave Rarity one more reason to press on regardless as she cursed herself for not waiting until morning to make her trip out to the library.
Rarity bit her lip and looked down one of the alleyways. Granted it would be safer to go through the main high-street, as Twilight was right the attacker was still out there. Then again, she wasn't very safe at the moment, given that she could be blown away at any moment and the longer she stayed out here the more she risked catching herself a cold.
Deciding that the pros far outweighed the cons, Rarity ducked down the alleyway. The wind died almost instantly, and the rain lessened considerably. Rarity smiled, believing she had made the right decision.
Something crashed above her. She looked up alarmed as she saw something large and dark twist and turn as came plummeting to the earth almost directly on top of her. She squealed and dashed forwards as whatever it was slammed into the ground in a splash of rain water behind her. She spun around and discovered that it was not one thing that had nearly fallen on her but two stallions that had been grappling mid-air and had now broken away from each other on contact with the ground.
The earth-pony stallion closest to her was the first to realize her presence. He was also the one she was most afraid of. His skin was marked with livid, moving black markings, like living tattoos. His veins were pulled to the surface from under his skin and pulsed with a sickly green glow and his Cutie Mark shone with an evil red light. His white empty eyes seemed to focus on Rarity's face and his mouth spread out in a wide grin that seemed to shine under the flash of lightning.
Rarity screamed as the stallion leaped to his feet and lunged at her. The second stallion grabbed his ankle in a vice-like grip. The earth-pony fell onto the ground hard, scrabbling towards Rarity. The second pony pulled the first one back, wrapping his arms around the first pony, pulling him into a full-nelson before flinging him bodily down the alley and into the mud. He turned to Rarity, his dark blue eyes glowing with a strange silver light.
"Go!" he cried at Rarity as the other stallion came up behind him, a small blade in his hand.
Rarity screamed, hands flying to her mouth and dropping her umbrella, as the attacker swiped the blade down the other stallion's back. He grunted and stepped forwards, turning around. In the dim-light Rarity saw that, though the blade was sharp, the strange material had not yielded and had instead protected its wearer from any injury.
The uninjured stallion grabbed his attacker's wrist and twisted the blade out of his hand and threw it away, before kicking him in the torso and letting go, sending him flying down the alley-way. He turned back to Rarity, his eyes now consumed in silver light. He reached his hand out and Rarity's umbrella flew into his grasp, glowing brightly before transforming into a large, heavy sword.
"GO!" he roared as he turned back to the other stallion. The earth-pony now looked like a monster. His limbs had grown and distorted themselves to monstrous lengths and angles, seemingly having grown several joints in several places.
Rarity stumbled backwards before turning and running, every muscle in her legs screaming at her to run faster, away from the monstrosity that had formed behind her. The sounds of fighting growing louder even as she ran away. Every instinct in her was telling her to run home, lock all the doors, find Sweetie Belle and keep her close for the next week.
This was starting to become worrying. As the creature beneath him finally stopped moving and began to revert back to normal pony form, Battle set his blade down. He watched as it slowly began to revert back into an umbrella, as the pony was finally still, just a pony once more. Things were starting to get out of hand. Granted he knew he couldn't keep a lid on everything what with ponies being attacked, but regular ponies being possessed he could keep secret. He could keep them under some form of control. But now this? They were changing. Pretty soon there would be no way to set them free. And that meant...
Battle shivered. If things were getting this bad it could only mean one thing. He shivered again and got to his feet, throwing the deceased pony over his shoulder and picking Rarity's umbrella up as well. He would return it to her soon.
If there was a soon.