//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: David and Goliath // Story: Metro: Retribution // by RF and AG //------------------------------// The tunnels beneath the Crystal Palace were dangerous enough with the minor monsters. Not mentioning the massive golem that blocked our way to the portal. If we had a few more ponies, this would have been easy. Now though… David and Goliath ***** Perspective: Artyom         A realization was dawning on me, something that I had yet to think of up until that point. In fact, I couldn't believe that something this blatantly obvious went right over my head. If I had the time to, I would slap myself across the cheek for missing this. I wouldn't doubt that Khan would be disappointed that I didn't pick up on something so obvious. How did I not realize this until now?         How did I not realize that large open spaces that were surrounded in some way, always meant something large or numerous was going to attack?         There was the biomass, the giant shrimp, the Rhino, and the Bear which was only back in the Metro. That is of course not mentioning all those times that swarms of mutants attacked me. Or even all the times I fought against large groups of enemy soldiers.         It was as if my life was a sport to someone, constantly leading me in a direction that would get me nearly killed. I was getting tired of all of this. Why couldn't something just go right for once and I wouldn't have to end up facing down a creature that was a few stories larger than me?         I swiftly dived out of the way before a large crystal fist came down on the fallen crystal pillar, smashing it into tiny fragments. At this point, we were just running around the beast, utilizing our speed to our advantage while it constantly swung its enormous fists as us. Given the size of the thing, it was surprisingly quick but we were still quicker. The cavern lit up as if flood lights were being focused on it. My head snapped to actually see the golem, just in time to catch a few licks of flames dissipating from the thing’s back. It let loose a louder growl than normal before turning away to face Shining. I had to give it to the unicorn, for a soldier who probably had no true combat experience, he was learning very quickly. He was making sure to draw that beast off of me so to keep it moving around. I placed myself behind another fallen pillar, still can’t remember the name for the rocks that grew down from ceilings. Either way, from the very start we had somehow agreed that this would be the plan. Maybe it was just instincts that said we couldn't take on something that was nigh invincible. The golem had lifted it’s arms up  in order to smash us almost as soon as I made that comment. Maybe it liked stairs — no matter; Shining and I dodged the smash by lunging in opposite directions. The impact on the ground caused some of the ceiling pillars to fall which is something awesome and extremely terrifying to see. The fact that there was probably tonnes of crystal raining down from the ceiling in spike like formations made my blood run cold. This was aside from the astounding fact that the pillars somehow split the crystal ground open and lodged themselves upright in position. Somehow, crystal had managed to beat the exact same type of crystal in a death match. I think my eye was twitching at that point. Fuck. This. Place. From there on out Shining and I had been separated by not only a golem, but also crystal spikes that were the only thing keeping us alive at that point. We would continuously dodge between them, keeping on the outer edge of its reach, which apparently was nearly the entire room. not because of it’s arms but because it had nearly half of the room to itself. Shining and I were on the outer ring of the room, while that thing had the inner portion. We could get somewhat close to the portal, but the lack of spires near it would just put us out in the open. The thing would move only a few steps and be able to attack us no matter where we were. If it focused on one of us long enough there was no doubt that it would eventually get us. That thing barely needed to move yet it had us pinned, as if it was toying with us — my eye widened in realization. It was toying with us! That thing could easily just charge and probably crush us if it wanted to yet it stayed relatively in the centre and just attacked at its leisure with its reach. We needed to get it to move after us and to, in essence, have it move away from the centre. How we were going to make such a thing angry was beyond me though, my rounds had done nothing and neither had Shining’s magic attacks. We needed to coordinate with each other but that was nearly impossible with us having to constantly run and attack while keeping it from focusing on one of us. This time I actually slapped my hand over my face. Shining knew a shield spell. All I needed was to get close enough for him to cast that so we could at least talk for a second. The only way to do such a thing was to just run across the damnable cavern and hopefully get him to raise a shield before we could be crushed. With what we were working with, that was probably our best course of action. Shining prided himself over his shield spells so hopefully we could just make our way over there under a nice shield. I readied my Saiga, holding it close to my chest before leaning my head out from cover again. The beast was still focused on Shining who was constantly on the move between pillars. Now was my chance to move, and I knew just the area to go through. I pushed myself up from my crouched position as I turned the corner of the pillar. It was all slow motion to me; my Saiga rising to shoulder height as I charged towards the golem. The sheer size of it started to dawn on me as I charged it. I put that into the back of my mind, as there was no time to gawk at its stature. The moment my Saiga was at my shoulder, I pulled the trigger. The initial shot hit it solidly in the back, forcing it to notice something was attacking it from behind. As it spun I just kept pulling on the trigger, pumping Saiga round after Saiga round into it. The shots were soon hitting it on the head, forcing it to shake itself as if they were merely flies. Its arms raised up in a defensive manner, that was my chance. I only had a brief window as the arms moved farther up until they were once again in their smashing positions. It didn't matter though, since I had capitalized on my chance. The arms swung down only to meet hard crystal but barely missing me. I kept up my sprint as I ran between the thing’s massive legs. The golem was large enough to have a three meter high and two meter wide gap between its legs. My gambit had been to hope it would confused at where I had run to. I was right — for the most part. I glanced over my shoulder as I barrelled headlong towards Shining’s position. The beast had briefly looked around before realizing that I was now behind it. It gave a bone chilling roar that rocked the entire cavern. Above me, I could hear the cracking of what seemed like ice, but I knew better. That was the crystal of the those spires. Not only did his attacks force them to drop but now his roars were loud enough to shatter crystal. How the entire cavern wasn’t affected I would never know or understand. I just gave it up to the bullshit that was physics of this world. Shining peeked his out from his cover only to see me running towards him. His eyes widened in surprise — I picked up my pace somehow, already having been in a dead sprint. I knew what he was seeing. “Shield!” I yelled before diving forward. He didn't even give a response, instead encased his horn in that purple glow of his. Thank god the crystal flooring was at least slick enough to allow me to slide a little ways. The moment my body hit the floor, a earth shattering fist fell down on my previous position. The moment my momentum stopped, I scrambled on my hands and knees to move the last few meters to Shining. No doubt it looked hilarious but at that moment all Shining cared about was erecting that shield as I got close enough. At the moment that his shield was in place, the golem’s fists came smashing down on top of it. Shining winced at the contact, it was obvious it created some sort of strain on him. “We need plan!” I said as I checked over my gear. My eyes darting up to the golem as I did so. “Can you hold shield as we move to portal?” “No. Too much strain and my magic reserves are low.” He winced as the golem smashed its fists down. “This is tough as it is, but its attacks are slow so I can repair the shield. It won’t last long though.” He was struggling at that point to keep his horn alight. I needed a plan, something that could be done with minimal magic uses and that would utilize that golem to our own purposes. My eyes roamed over the beast itself before stopping dead centre on its chest. Somehow I didn't notice this before but underneath the crystal was something swirling around in a tight circle. It was also glowing with the colours of the portal. My eyes widened at this revelation. This thing must have been kept animated via the portal! That was the most obvious answer and after being in Equestria for this long, I had learned it was nearly always the most obvious answer. If this beast was connected to the portal that meant we would need to take out the portal in order to bring it down. The crystal, though, was nearly impervious to everything. Hell, my weapons were nothing more than a nuisance to the structures and the golem. Even Shining’s spells were just deflected off of them. An explosion of crystal shards resounded outside of the barrier but was not hampered at all. The golem’s fist smashed into the barrier shortly after destroying the pillar that we were partially behind. It had been slamming into those pillars relentlessly. Crystal pillar after crystal pillar had fallen to the golem’s massive swings, the sheer force behind them must have been ridiculous to actually shatter the — crystal. My palm hit the front of my mask. Sometimes it was extremely necessary to take the time to properly reacquaint your hand with your face. That was a perfect moment. As I dragged my hand down my face, I groaned outwardly but all the while I was devising a plan to utilize my new knowledge of this golem. The moment my hand had finished its path down my mask, I started smiling in a rather devious manner. My eyes had drifted from the golem to Shining, hoping that he could gain some sort of recognition from my look. I forgot to take into account my mask and that he was too busy keeping us alive. Sometimes my mind was rather slow to gather the obvious. “We need to make angry.” I simply said as I cocked the hammer of my Saiga. “What!?” Shining was no doubt exasperated at such an idea. I would have been as well but I knew more than he did. “That тварь can smash crystal. Also connected to portal. Portal is made of crystal.” I rolled my hand a few times as if to tell him that he needed to connect the dots, which was exactly what I wanted him to do. Luckily for me, he was becoming a quick study. He smiled back at me before nodding. He was actually willing to listen to a plan of mine for once. As much as I wanted to shove that in his face, I knew that there was a better time and place for such a thing. “Hopefully, will get angry if attacked right. Aim for centre of chest, where the colours are.” I pointed to the golem’s chest. Shining’s eyes followed briefly before he winced deeply. The strain on the barrier was getting to him. He finally nodded. “Drop shield and attack when I say.” The golem brought its fist down on top of us once more. The impact rippled along the shield before dispersing along the ground. It pulled its arms off the shield and back up into its attack position. “Now!” With precise movement I brought my Saiga straight to my shoulder before letting loose a five round volley into the chest of the golem. At the same time I was firing, a massive lance of fire hit the exact same spot. It seemed that Shining still had something left in him. The golem reared back in anguish, yet the spot we had attacked showed no signs of damage. Wimp; no matter how strong it was, that thing couldn't take a good attack. Yet it could counter-attack with the force of a freight train. Maybe ‘wimp’ was the wrong word. The moment the golem recovered from the attack, you could see its anger in its non-existent eyes — not really, but its follow up attack proved that it was enraged. The thing roared loud enough to shake the cavern again, bringing down more crystal spires. Without hesitation, both of its arms rose above its head before swing back down on our position. At least it was our previous position; we were not stupid enough to remain stationary and let its attacks hit us. Shining and I lunged to our respective sides; him to the left and I to the right. The sheer shock-wave of the beast’s attack made it tough to stand as the ground just seemed to vibrate constantly. I had just enough time to glance at Shining and nod. For once we were completely on the same page. Our silent conversation was ended briefly with a sweeping arm barely missing me, my feet instinctively giving out so I could duck the attack. A gout of fire hit the back of the golem, drawing its attention away from me. The beast turned with sweeping arms, only to be hit even harder in its weak spot. Shining was drawing its attention away from me, probably to give me room to maneuver to the portal. Which wasn’t the easiest of task. Apparently, the golem was being kind with how many crystal — stalactites! Finally found the word for them. Either way, they were almost pouring from the ceiling now as the golem chased solely after Shining. The prince was doing everything in his power to not get crushed, much like me. While he had his shield to deflect attacks every once and awhile, I had nothing but my agility and luck. The stalactites fell at harrowing speeds, forcing me to start panicking underneath my helm. Luck. Sheer dumb luck was what kept me from being impaled. The type of luck that war survivors had. They couldn't see the bullets and know when to dodge, yet they survived; my luck was hardly different. I could see the crystals, though. I was in a constant state of duck and weave mixed in with rolls and nearly pissing my pants. I came out of a roll on multiple occasions to find a massive chunk of crystal embedded in the ground barely half a meter from my face. If I wasn’t worried about letting Shining get squished, then I would have just waited out the crystal rain. No, I had to get to that portal before I lost another team-mate. I would not let Shining down like I let Pavel down, or Ulman, or even Miller. My mind was set on one thing, winning this fight and getting us both out alive. Even if it meant dealing with this pony’s shit for longer. “Да пошло оно всё к чёрту.” I muttered under my breath before leaping out from behind my temporary cover. The amount of falling stalactites had lessened considerably due to all the ones that had fallen before. Yet the area near the portal was hardly touched by them. It was as if none had even formed above it, which to me was beyond odd but also of little importance at that point. My legs were burning from how badly I had been overworking them. Maybe the few days spent in the cell had made me weak. I shook my head to clear my idle thoughts before focusing solely on the portal itself. My feet almost slid to a halt as I finally stopped in front of the thing. To my amazement, the distance from one side of the cave to other made this thing seem almost my height, but once I was beside it it was painfully clear that this thing was massive. I was almost in awe at it, the swirling mix of black, purple, and green was hypnotizing to say the least. The floating, diamond like shaped, crystals that surrounded it twirled slowly and all in tune with the others. in a strange way, the thing was beautiful but I also knew that it was the source of all of these beast. We had no real proof but it was a gut instinct and I had long since decided that my gut was usually right. I turned away from the portal, spotting the golem on the complete other side of the cavern, still chasing Shining. This wasn’t good at all, I had no ranged weapon powerful enough to draw its attention. I didn't need to be running with my back towards it either. Somehow though, I needed to garner its attention and fast. My head turned back to the crystals floating around the portal. Maybe if I was lucky they would also be tied to the golem and that weak spot of his. Luck had been with me so far, I only had to pray that it didn't decide to be a cruel mistress at that point. At first I took my Saiga and aimed directly at one of the crystals, but a fleeting thought stopped me from pulling the trigger. I had two drums of Saiga rounds at my disposal; hardly something to be proud of. I needed to save those and I still had roughly forty rounds of revolver ammo. If I was right in my assumption, I hardly needed to damage the crystal. Just hit it enough to draw attention. So I proceeded to slip the strap of my Saiga over my shoulder. Behind me, the sound of crystal breaking was quite clear and constant. Somehow, Shining was keeping that thing distracted. Low on reserves — yeah right, well that or I was underestimating him. I’d ask him after we finished with this giant piece of rock. As my mind was made up, I drew the revolver out of the holster, pointing it at a piece of crystal just above my head height. Crack The sound echoed through the halls. It wasn’t that loud, but the silence that followed it was deafening. The golem had its arm stopped in mid swing, giving time for Shining to scamper behind a crystal. Slowly but surely the golem turned towards me, forgetting all about the Prince. I knew luck was with me. I pulled the hammer of the revolver back in an agonizing slow and methodical way. It was as if to say ‘oh yes, I did’ to the golem. The moment the hammer was fully cocked, I squeezed the trigger, my eyes briefly sighting the target as I did. Once again, the crack of the round leaving the chamber brought that deafening silence. The only sound to follow was an immediate second crack just like the first round. Both of those meant I had hit the crystal and actually did some minor damage; at least that was what my ears told me. For all I knew, it would have been nothing more than a scuff. The golem let out its deafening roar. That thing sure had a set of lungs on it, despite not even having a mouth. This time, it wasn’t just pissed; it was completely enraged. It was probably just ‘seeing red’ as the metaphor went. The hope was to make this thing unable to think straight and attack me. Of course that hope turned to succeed quite swiftly. With its long legs, the golem cleared the distance that separated us extremely quickly. My eyes hardly had time to bug out before it was within striking distance. The thing kept coming without any sort of abandon. I had achieved my goal of making the golem charge at me but even I didn't expect that sort of speed from it; it didn't chase us down back in the tunnel! An unusual yet somewhat familiar feeling encased my arm. I was going to ponder on this feeling as the golem ran me over but a very familiar occurrence changed that plan. I had hardly enough time to even utter a gasp of surprise before I was yanked hard to my left, my arm feeling as if it were about to pop completely out of my socket. Even if it did, I wouldn't have cared that much. It was better than being a pancake. Somehow, among that simple and rage filled brain, the golem came to a skidding halt in front of the portal. The thing barely stopping in time before running straight into the crystals of the portal like I had planned. It had stopped not even half a meter from the portal, its chest nearly touching one of the crystals. “Да вы издеваетесь!?” I shouted before my brain could stop me from drawing attention to myself. Of course, the golem took notice to my words, turning its head to face me. For a being without a face, that golem was capable of giving me one of the dirtiest glares I had ever been on the receiving end of. I scrambled to push myself back, my hands hardly finding any purchase with me being on my back. My feet had more luck, but there was no hope I could move far enough before it attacked. A lance of fire exploded across the golem’s chest, flames licking over the being before dispersing. It had struck true and hit the heart area. The golem bellowed out once more, arms swiftly being thrown up in what could have been pain. That, though, sealed its fate. In the golem’s reaction to pain, it didn't realize that its arms smashed completely through four of the crystals that surrounded the portal. The shards of said crystals falling much like a feather to the ground, burst into dark flames before actually making contact with the floor. One by one, the rest of the crystal followed suit. Each one shattering like fragile glass, giving off the same sound that glass would, before falling into flames. It was a rather beautiful sight to behold, it felt eerily similar to the tales I was told when I was young. The tales of when Moscow burned, countless windows exploding before being nearly melted. I had learned later that such a thing was but a little far fetched, Moscow was still filled with windows that were left standing. Another sight to behold was that of the golem, though it was hardly beautiful. The thing let loose a shriek of despair, far from the loud roars that it had produced. The pitch of the note tearing at my ears, forcing me to clasp my hands over the sides of my helmet in vain. The golem held the sound as it flung its arms in every direction as if it was trying to ward off a swarm of invisible birds.         It looked like much like how a ballet dance would move — if they were piss drunk. Several seconds passed by, the golem constantly flailing about as it back-pedalled. Without warning, the arms dropped to its sides as if refusing to move any more, its head tilted back and let loose another ear splitting shriek.         It seemed to stop shrieking right in the middle as the golem simply toppled over. The massive body feel like a brick, straight onto its back and nearly through the ground. The crystal around it surged up and out for a few meters, deep and jagged cuts running outwards in each direction followed my smaller but more numerous ones. The golem lay still among its little impact crater, the crystal ground becoming its new home.         Shining walked slowly over to the golem’s head while I made to stand up, brushing my body off for no reason. I felt like I was covered in dust, yet I knew different.         “Is it dead?” I look over to Shining who was nudging it with his hoof. The golem was completely unresponsive, continuing to lay in the self made crater.         I strode slowly over to it, revolver still in my hand. The swirling colours that once inhabited the thing’s chest were gone completely, leaving just an empty shell of crystal. it was dead, simple as that. The portal had apparently animated it and now that it was gone, so was any form of life that the golem once had.         I stood beside Shining for a few moments, each of us looking down at the big beast. I holstered the pistol before proceeding on drawing out my knife. I leaned over the beast, drawing my knife right over where its ‘heart’ used to be. With some slow and steadied movements, I carved the golem’s chest. “That should do it.” I said before walking around the rest of the golem, a smile christened on my face.  “What did you even do?” He looked over at the chest of the golem. Right where I had started carving, there were faint words reading ‘I am dead’ etched into its chest. Of course the words were in Russian so Shining was more than confused at what I wrote. He just looked between me and the golem before shaking his head. “I don’t want to know what you wrote. Can we just leave now?” I turned back to where the portal once stood but instead a large doors had taken its place. There was no way that it was a coincidence that the doors and the portal was the same size, which should have caused major warnings to go off in my head. Yet, at that point I was starting to care less and less about being cautious. Nothing had come out of my cautiousness since arriving in Equestria. This place was determined to make me charge head first into my problems. Shining’s voice sounded off behind me, but I cared little at that point. My decision to open those doors was made the moment I saw it. I had an assumption in mind and it was entirely fact based. Those facts being that Equestria was identical to a fairy-tale universe that handed people their goals on a silver platter. No doubt, behind those doors was the archive that held the book I needed. I holstered my revolver, making sure to click the clasp into place. Having done that, I rose my hands, each one finding a place on the giant doors. The initial push barely moved them, but I had hardly put any force into it, for some reason all library doors were massive and hard to move. With a bit of strain, I managed to move the doors enough to actually get the hinges working. I hardly had to push the doors after the first little bit, as they just seemed to fling open at my finger tips. I scanned one of the doors to notice that it had a faint glow around it. I knew what it meant, it meant that Shining was cheating once more. It didn’t matter much to me though, I had better things to focus on. Such as the fact that this archive was massive and I had to find a single book among it! Wow, this room was big. It must have been larger than the one in Canterlot. The crystal book shelves rose higher than the ones in Canterlot, I was sure of it, and they seemed to stretch even farther. I glanced left then right, noticing that, aside from the twelve rows of book shelves, there also seemed to be a book on a podium to my right. It looked massive, easily thicker that my arms, maybe even both of them together. I slowly made my way over it, faintly noticing that there was a clopping noise behind me; most likely Shining was following me despite his earlier protest against it. I focused on the book for a moment, brushing my hand against the cover of it. It came up empty of dust, which wasn’t that big of a surprise to me. Cadance did say that she had visited before so it was possible it had been cleaned rather recently. I reached up to remove my helmet, deciding that I needed to get the stuffy thing off of me for a while. We were relatively safe so I could at least get an unrestricted breath of air. The moment the helmet was off, I placed it down on the corner of the podium, making sure that I could open up the book without the helmet interfering with it. My hand once again skimmed the cover of the book, before reaching along the side to open it up. For the oddest of reason I thought it was going to crumble at my touch, so I smirked the moment it didn't. The cover moved easily from its original spot until it was completely open and I was staring at the title page. “Index.” I read aloud — this library had a book for its index. I couldn't say it was odd since I had only seen one other library, but it just seemed fitting for this world. I noticed that there was tabs along the sides of the pages, just letters indicating where one section ended and another began. I ran a finger under the tab for ‘A,’ quickly flipping it over. “I have to say, this was bigger than Cadance described it. I bet Twily would have a field day in here.” Shining spoke while continuing to wander around the entrance area. I instinctively nodded my head, not really caring about the comment. I was too engrossed in scanning the page in search of the book I needed to find. My finger traced up and down a few pages, looking for it. There was a surprising amount of books that started with ‘Ab...’, like an unholy amount of them. I looked up from the page and down one the rows. I was hardly surprised that it looked to stretch on forever. At that point I was starting to chalk things like that up to the nature of this world. I shook my head slowly before looking back at the book. I knew I was getting close, the page I was on ended with a book starting with ‘Accounts.’ I flipped the page, finally catching a break as the book was listed in the first ten on the next page. Yet, it seemed my good fortune was plagued by some bad luck as well. There was no reference written beside the book’s name. It was here yet it didn't say as to where it was. There had to be a reason for that; my finger tapping on top of the name as I thought. A black glow started to encompass the book, catching me completely off guard. I withdrew my finger as the glow increased in brightness. How something black could also be bright was beyond me, but I could swear it happened. I backed slowly from the book, but hardly got a few steps before the book stopped glowing entirely. My eyebrows raised I confusion at the show it put on. I crept forward towards the book, arm slightly extended in hopes that if I touched it again it wouldn't pull that again. I didn't need to worry though, since, instead of glowing outright, the book just slowly materialised a black beam that snaked it ways across the rows before turning the corner and heading down a specific one. I looked back at Shining to see what he thought of it. I was surprised to find that his eyes were wide and his mouth slightly agape at what just happened. It was if he had never saw anything like this before. Great, we were being led by a completely unknown thing. I picked up my helmet from the podium before moving past it in order to follow the beam. Shining’s hooves echoed on the crystal flooring, once again falling into step behind me. I made sure to stay away from the black beam, not even wondering what would happen it I came in contact with it. I was pleased to see that I didn't have to go too far down the row. The beam stopping maybe ten meters after turning the corner. Finally things were looking up and getting easier at that. I looked back and smiled at Shining who only grew confused at me. “What are you smiling about?” He asked, legitimately confused. I didn't respond for a few seconds at we made our way to where the beam ended. “Good — ” I rolled my hand in the air, searching for the right word,” — fortune for once.” He actually nodded, we were truly becoming the best of friends at this point. We had gone all the way from him despising me, to actually agreeing with me during situations which didn't involve fighting to survive. I crouched down right in front of the book that the beam was pointing at, still refusing to actually come into contact with said beam. The moment my outreached hand touched the top of the book, the beam disappeared into complete nothingness. It was as if it was there one moment and then gone the next. Magic — how does it work? As I pulled the book from its slot, Shining drew closer to me. He must have been eager to see what came as the result of this frantic delving into a dangerous area of the empire. I did the same thing with this book as I did with the Index book. Come to think of it, that seemed to be the case with nearly every book I had ever opened. There was just something about feeling the book before actually reading it, it just felt natural. My right hand moved along the outside of the book before a finger hooked into a page around the middle of it. Sure, looking at the beginning of the book would have been the smart move but I figured that I would get information just as easily if I flipped to a random page. The table of contents wouldn't exactly give me a clue as to what I was looking for. Besides, I would be taking this book around with me for a little bit until I found something that would help me progress — or at least get Khan to visit again. Who knows how long I would have to search through the book to find what I needed to find. The moment I flipped the book open to that page, my vision blacked out completely. ***** Perspective: Shining Armour I peered over Artyom’s shoulder as he pulled the book open to a random page. As to why he would do such a thing, I was lost. He would have had better luck using the index at the back or at least the table of contents — it seemed my sister was starting to rub off on me. I sighed, my eyes somewhat glazed over at the book, or, at least, where the book used to be. I furrowed my brows for a second before realizing the book had fallen completely to the ground, still open to that page. Did he just drop the book completely? I was about to turn and ask him what was up when I noticed that he had fallen onto his side. That was a little troubling, to say the least. I swiftly leapt over his legs to stand in front of his face. I knelt down to look him the eyes — or at least where his eyes used to be? Instead of his regular tiny eyes, the sockets looked completely black as if someone had taken a marker to them and filled them in. To say that I was panicking at this was easily an understatement. I wasn’t fond of the human, but I was his charge and Celestia trusted me to watch over him; letting him die was somewhat against my job description. I just stared at his black eyes for a moment before rising back to my full stature. I circle his entire body once, seeing if there was anything else that was wrong. From what I could see though it didn't look like it; he looked completely fine aside from those black eyes. So I decided to do what anypony would have done in that situation. “You all right?” I asked as I poked him with my hoof.