The Creature

by SirVindicator

Suspicion Rises

As they were approached, both Mid Tier and Cloud Nine look up to see Princess Luna and greet her accordingly, surprised that she's here.

"Hello Princess Luna it's an honor to have you here. You just caught us after our Patrol, how are you?" said Mid Tier.

"I'm fine but more importantly I need to ask you something. Starlight and her friends saw a monster and we were wondering if you two saw something like that during your Patrol this night?” Luna asked seriously.

"Whatever it was, we didn't see anything like that." Cloud Nine

"It was a huge mass of tentacles three meters tall and it had a very look human at the shadows, as Starlight put it." Moon Dancer said and continued "Hey Starlight, what is a human and how do know what one looks like?"

"That's not important right now. Are you sure that you didn't see anything?" Luna said keeping things from diverting.

"Nope and Shallow Night would have known about it as well. We always report our findings to her." Mid Tier said professionally.

Luna then noticed something and asked, "Cloud Nine, where is your patrol helmet?"

"Even if it helped me see in the dark, it was kind of cumbersome." Cloud Nine said, getting little defensive.

"You never complained about it before. You liked how light it was for armor and said it looks cool." Shallow Night noted.

"I changed my mind. Besides, if it is really that much of problem, I can just go and get it after my break." Cloud Nine said.

"Which will only be ten minutes from now, unfortunately." Mid Tier murmured eyeing the clock.

"So, you didn't see anything?" Luna asked.

"Nope." Mid Tier

"Sorry, Luna. We didn't see anything out of the ordinary." said Cloud Nine hiding some annoyance.

Then both Cloud Nine and Mid Tier went back drinking their coffee made specifically for long nights like these. Then Luna, Starlight and her friends went to talk in private in another room, the recently vacant office of Shallow Night.

"I did not sense anything wrong with them other than some defensiveness and a missing patrol helmet, but they seem to be telling the truth. Whatever you met in the forest must have gone right past Patrol." Luna said

"Maybe we should go home now. I really don't want to search for a monster at night." Moon Dancer

"Trixie was not convinced. Maybe they know something and don't want to tell us because they would get in trouble, not just with Luna." Trixie said dramatically.

"I can see Cloud Nine's point about the helmet. I wouldn't want to be walking around all day with armor on, heavy or light." said Starlight.

"It's really not that bad. Looking back on past dreams that I've explored, some pegasi can be very fickle about what they wear, like Rainbow Dash." said Luna.

"They seem like they didn't want to talk to us as well." Tempest pointed out.

"You're thinking of accusing them of conspiring to cover something up?" asked Moon Dancer.

"I think that Cloud Nine losing his patrol helmet was particularly suspicious. While I may not be too familiar with the Wonderbolts. I can still say that as someone who's headed a military faction, you typically don't lose parts of your uniform like that. It would have taken something more extreme for someone to just drop their helmet like that and go off." said Tempest.

Starlight then pondered it for a moment and said, "I just thought about something. It looked really human whenever I saw it from the shadows. Maybe it actually was and then took off its disguise. Maybe this creature is like a Changeling and can look like other creatures?"

"Or maybe your eyes were just playing tricks on you?" Moon Dancer

"Or we can just test the first hypothesis. We are trying to figure whether or not they have anything to do with a creature threatening ​another’s life; the life of our friend no less. Whoever wants to go home can go home, as for me I'm going to go see Mid Tier and Cloud Nine and see what they know." declared Tempest.

"But we don't know if they know anything and the mistakes can all just be coincidental things that they happened to do. For example, losing a patrol helmet just happens sometimes. It may not happen often, but still does to normal ponies and other creatures. I need more evidence." said Moon Dancer wanting to go about this situation slower.

"Then I'll go get you some." Tempest said as she left the discussion and went over to the break room, where mid-tier and Cloud Nine were getting up to leave. Trixie decided to come along with her. Trixie had an idea.

Mid Tier and Cloud Nine were about to leave for another patrol around Ponyville. They had just left the break room when Tempest stopped giving them a serious look.

“From my count, you have more than four minutes left in your break, where are you off to so soon? I have a few questions to ask you.” asked Tempest.

"I decided to come with you and thought of something special to help figure-" Trixie said suddenly stopping as Shallow Night walked past her. The office was suddenly quiet and her hoof steps echoed loudly.

Suddenly Shallow Night came by levitating some papers in front of her. She then bumped into Tempest almost dropping her papers. She then apologized and she, “I am so sorry, I just need to get these reports that filing cabinet near the break room and I can finally get to MY break.”

She casually walks over to the filing cabinet and puts away the reports, making sure that everything is organized properly before closing it. She then notices that Mid Tier and Cloud Nine.

“Where are you off to so soon? The schedule says you two still have about eleven minutes left before you are back on duty.” She chuckled to herself, “Usually, you really take advance of the time, Cloud Nine.”

“Don’t you have something better to do than tease me over a minor thing? While you are here, can you help me and Mid Tier escort this…unicorn out of here. We have a job to do and I do not have time to be stuck here answering questions.” Cloud Nine said losing his temper.

“Yeesh, what has you in such a bad mood? You’re usually not like this, you usually like the banter?” Shallow Night said now concerned.

Both Tempest Shadow and Cloud Nine glare at each other, with Mid Tier starting to feel a bit nervous.

To be continued…

Author's Note:

This took longer than I thought.