Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Fear of the Dark

Starlight's first instinct was to cover her mouth with the back of her front leg. Partly to stop herself from vomiting, partly to block the smell. Judging by the sounds Twilight made behind her, the alicorn's reaction hadn't been much different.

"I don't like this place." Starlight looked around. Or, at least, she tried to. The curtain of pitch black darkness around her was too thick to see anything, and the light of her magic failed to illuminate anything beyond her own body. It did mean she got to look at her hoof, though.

When first stepping through the portal, she'd assumed the ground was muddy, perhaps a swamp. She was pretty sure mud wasn't that shade or red, and it didn't clump like that. "I really don't like this place."

"You're not the only one." The sound of Twilight's voice, and the uncomfortable squelching of her hooves on the ground, told Starlight that she had moved up to her side. Despite this, she still couldn't see her. Not until Twilight lit her own horn, at least.

"Do you think this is blood?" Starlight asked, holding up a hoof.

Twilight looked at it, then at her own hooves. "Could be. Either we landed on top of a giant corpse, we landed on top of a battlefield, or this world has flesh instead of soil. I don't know which one would be worse."

"Cool. Let's leave, then." Starlight looked back at the portal, hopeful. "Just note this down as freaky flesh world with abnormal darkness, and move on to the next one." She looked to Twilight again, forcing a smile.

"I'm as tempted as you are," Twilight replied. "But we both know we should do more exploring here." She took out a small vial from her saddlebags, and collected a sample of the ground. She was just as unnerved as Starlight by the way it remained shrouded in darkness up until being inserted into the vial. They couldn't even see the ground, only guess it was there by the way the vial stopped when moved downwards.

Starlight frowned. A small orb or light detached itself from her horn, and floated higher in the air in front of them. It remained there, perfectly visible, illuminating nothing. "Do you think this is magical darkness?"

"Probably." Twilight cleaned the bloody outside of the vial, and stowed it away back in her saddlebags.

Starlight looked down. She could barely see her own hooves. "I don't think there's much of a point in exploring this place, if we can't even see where we're going. What if we fall down a cliff?"

"We both know how to fly," replied Twilight, but her tone was a bit uncertain.

Starlight had another look around. "And what if we run into something?"

Twilight also looked around. "Like what?"

Starlight didn't answer that. Slowly, she began to step back, and cut off the light she'd left floating in the air.

Twilight swallowed, and did the same. A moment later, they both reached the portal, and left through it.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Fleshscapes rarely end well. Fleshscapes enshrouded in magical darkness doubly so. Best to leave this one unexamined, girls. Light and friendship aren't always welcome.