Coruscation

by GhostsandGears

Chapter 3

It had already been a few weeks since Twilight’s first date with her boyfriend. Their last date had gone extremely well, much as everypony had hoped it would. The stallion seemed like an amazing catch. Twilight loved spending time with him, loved every minute that they shared together. She would often come back tired and collapse on the couch, from where I would then carry her to bed. Then in the morning she would be all giggly and hyper like a teenager. But something about him didn’t fit right with me. She wouldn't tell anyone who the stallion was, much less let anyone see him. She was completely open about everything, except that.

And it wasn’t like Twilight being preoccupied with him made any trouble. Sure, I was forced to take care of all the things she’s supposed to do, from checking sealing spells to helping make sure the city was safe whenever the unicorns went out to practice dangerous spells and such. In fact, part of me wanted to leave it alone. Just let Twilight have her fun. She had found somepony who was totally into her. She didn't even get irked when I tried to make breakfast yesterday and set the house on fire. If her love life was something Twilight didn't want to talk about, then I should just respect that. Right? So why do I keep getting this bad feeling whenever she’s away?

Sighing I turned my attention back to the situation at hand. I silently rode under the bright neon lights through Ponyville. For a Saturday night not many ponies were out on the streets but that was too be expected for this part of town. After a couple minutes of riding in circles I arrived at the address. 4602 Grass Knoll St. The escort from Ponyville PD hadn’t arrived yet so I decided to wait.

Leaning against bike I went back over what they had told me over the phone. At 5:38 p.m. someone phoned in about a large black creature roaming around the neighborhood. Making low whimpering sounds the creature gave the appearance of being injured. So deciding to do the right thing a couple stallions called the animal welfare ponies. When the AWP guys showed up they all decided to venture out to go see if they could help it. But when they made contact with it the creature pounced on them, dragging the last of its victims through a house. From there it has stayed.

Seeing as how Twilight was out AWOL again, I was the one stuck with finding out what happened and fixing it. Big expectations for someone who’s only been an apprentice for a couple months.

Shaking my head, I gave up on waiting for the escort and went and knocked on the door. Obviously there was no response, and if there had been I’d probably had left. Instead I opened the door and turned on a flashlight. When my eyes adjusted, I almost screamed.

Everything was covered in blood from the chandelier to the nails in the floorboards. In the living room I spotted at least six figures laying around. On the stairs, four more. And who knows how many were upstairs and in the other rooms. Blocking the kitchen, there was a large creature with many of its vital organs missing. But it wasn’t what had done this. The large bite taken out of its chest proved that. The bodies sprawled out in the living room all shared the same shocked expressions, like the face of what had done this was something horribly disfigured. From the smell, they were all still fresh possibly an hour and a half at the most. Bending down I closed the eyes of a little filly who was clutching a stuffed animal. I moved a hoff over my mouth to keep myself from throwing up as I stood back up. Then, something crashed to the floor behind me.

Surprised I whirled around and saw a figure with blue eyes. It was a black mare. She was covered in blood with small cuts covering her. Along her back, black tentacle like appendages flapped around wildly.

I backed away from her but slipped on one of the puddles of blood, falling onto my back. She stood over me, a glare on her face as her eyes locked with mine. I started to get back up, my eyes staying with hers. My breath shallow, I continued my retreat to the door. In a flash, she grabbed me and threw my body into a wall.

Shaking my head, I shakily climbed back to my hooves and blocked out most of the pain. The mare stood still, waiting for me to make another move. A menacing grin spread across her face as I spit blood onto the floor.

"Let me guess. You’re the one who did this?" I asked.

She growled, charging me. Sidestepping, I grab one of her tentacles slam her to the ground. She wailed as I delivered a kick to her now exposed stomach. Then, dragging her knees I delivered a teeth-shattering punch to her mouth.

The mare let out a strained growl and hammered one hoof into the my stomach. With a gasp, my breath is knocked from my lungs and I released her. Instantly she gets back on her hooves and rushed me.
Still stunned from the sudden blow, I’m slammed against the wall for a second time.

Stars erupt in my vision as blood dripped down my face. One of her tentacles grabbed my head and snapped it to the side. She pulled her hoof back for a punch.

Thinking fast I summoned a switchblade and sliced through her tentacle, drawing blood. Immediately, I’m free and dropped down to the floor. An angry growl greeted my ears as her hoof slammed into the wall where my face had been seconds before. Not waiting for her to recover I broke for the door.