//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: An Eccentric Trespasser // by MyLittlePonyTales //------------------------------// Keeping an eye on the creature, the Doctor nodded slowly to Celestia. "True, but we haven't found out what's going on yet... and this seems familiar, but I can't put my hoof on it... " He stepped back another step, and then looked around quickly as faint skittering noises sounded, echoing in the halls around them. Dots of light started appearing, in pairs, in the darkness beyond his lantern, and into the glow cast by his light came another little creature, this one a bright pink, then a third, of a pale green, and a fourth, of a vivid purple. Then three more. Then another two. Then five more... Luna watched as a seemingly endless stream of the strange creatures seemed to come from nowhere. She gulped, feeling a chill flow through her. One—one was cute. But the number of glowing eyes she could see before her was nearly overwhelming... and she was a bit frightened by just the sheer amount. Their too many legs carried them along the floor, the walls, even the ceiling, moving in short little bursts forward as they appraised the five ponies... but their baleful gaze seemed especially to focus upon Celestia and Luna. They started letting out cute little squeaking noises, as if chatting with each other, and the skittering noise echoing through the hallways increased, from the movement of who knew how many more of these? "But then, that's what libraries are for!" the Doctor said quickly, backing up much more rapidly. "Research, that seems to be the thing of it!" “We’ve no time to waste, Doctor.” As she spoke, Celestia’s entire countenance changed, suddenly adopting a stolid grimness that wasn’t there before. The horde of skittering, spider-like creatures poured out over the stone, undaunted, innumerable, and seemingly implacable. The sound of millions of tiny legs scraping stone filled the corridor with a horrible din akin to feedback static. Even Celestia was having trouble maintaining her concentration enough to keep her horn alight. There was something deeply unsettling about the skittering arthropods, but it was not the fact that they were creepy, crawling, critters. Celestia had an appreciation for all creatures great and small in the world over which she kept careful stewardship. But with this stewardship and eons of experience came a distinct affinity for the subtleties of the aether. Something within these creatures clawed at her incorporeal senses, testing her magical defenses. They were close now, too close. “We’re out of time, Doctor. Guards, escort Princess Luna back to the castle. I will deal with this.” Luna's ears pinned back against the sound, resisting the growing noise of the mob of fuzzy critters. They were creeping closer, and the din was growing louder. She looked to Celestia again, just as she gave the order for Luna to be taken away. Celestia didn't even glance down at her; her eyes were far too focused on the creatures in front of them. Celestia's stance changed as she prepared. Luna could tell that the spell would be difficult. Celestia's eyes were narrowed in concentration, her chest rising and falling with purposeful breaths as she focused. The guards flanked Luna on either side, cutting her off from direct contact with her sister. Luna could tell, though, that they looked a bit disgruntled at the thought of leaving their ruler. Though Luna should have held the same status and importance as her sister, she could see that they were more protective of Celestia. But it didn't matter, because Luna wouldn't budge. Even if she couldn't do anything to help, she wasn't going to leave Celestia down here to face an unknown danger. She also didn't fancy the idea of traveling back through the ancient passages without her sister, even with the guards in tow. If there were hundreds of this type of creature living down here, who knew what other things might be lurking? The sun princess firmly planted her gilded hooves upon the cold stone, bracing them for the spell she was preparing to cast. The faint lavender glow about her horn suddenly peaked in intensity, becoming nearly unbearable to look at. Celestia’s eyes smoldered the same shade of lavender, obscuring her pupils to the outside observer, but only serving to enhance her own vision as she partially immersed herself in the aether. To the princess, the corridor walls seemed to fade away, becoming semitransparent and indistinct. All around her, waves of faint violet flowed, glittering, shimmering, and scintillating like a million diamonds. But something was wrong. Just in front of her, where those creatures were, there were no waves, no crests, no shimmers. There was no aether. There was only void; cold, dark, magic-less void. Surprising, to be certain. But Celestia had little time to consider the ramifications. A flick of her horn and the warp and the weft of the immaterium wove itself together at the sun princess’ whim. A glowing wall of shimmering arcane force stitched itself together in front of the advancing horde, cutting off the corridor and isolating the creatures from the retreating ponies, at least for the moment. The creatures’ impacts on the force field set blue ripples shooting across the surface, striking the stone walls, dislodging loose bits of dirt, and throwing brightly colored sparks from where the field met stone. The creatures clawed and scrabbled, mindlessly slamming into the force field over and over again. There it was again, that feeling of void, like a whirlpool that was slowly sucking down all the ambient aether; the chilling feeling of nothingness given substance. Even now, Celestia could feel the force field spell weakening, as if the very presence of the creatures was anathema to anything that involved magic. “Doctor, the spell will not hold them for long!” Celestia said tersely, the glow finally subsiding from her horn and eyes. “We must return to the surface at once. When we do, I believe an explanation is in order...” Luna jolted to attention at the stressed urgency in Celestia's words. Something was terribly wrong, and Luna still wasn't sure what it was. Now wasn't the time to ask, and Luna broke away from the guards to stand by her sister's side. “Celestia?” her voice quivered more than she realized. “What's wrong?”