Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Anger

Cadence, of course, didn't wait before firing towards Sombra. Unlike his previous self however, though her spell did seem to be hurting him in some way he did not appear to care. Smoke rose from the point of impact, but Sombra didn't flinch or turn, instead remaining focused on biting down on her husband's shield. Cadence increased the strength of her spell, firing a larger and larger blast, but though the wound she was opening on the creature's body grew in size its single minded determination was undeterred.

Shining's shield was showing visible cracks, bending down under the pressure even as Shining inside of it pushed back with his magic as much as he could. Cadence spread her hooves and braced herself to stay stable, and poured even more magic through her horn. Rather than merely harming the creature, she fired strongly enough to slowly push it off Shining's shield. Its teeth dug into it, trying to hold there, but bit by bit it was swept away by the torrent of Cadence's spell until it lost its hold and was ripped from the shield, and sent flying into a building.

The magic stream from Cadence's horn quickly petered out, leaving it sizzling in the air and her panting and trying to shake off a headache. Shining a few metres ahead was only doing mildly better. He had no headache, but still the signs of physical exhaustion were evident. The creature who'd been hit in full by a blast of magic strong enough to vaporise his previous form and had violently crashed through a building was, perhaps ironically, the most well off of the three, looking barely hurt as he emerged from the rubble and recomposed itself into something that vaguely looked like it had a right to exist.

It turned what was becoming its head left and right, trying to find the two ponies it was intent on killing. Thankfully for them, its momentary lack of eyes gave them a few seconds, and in those few seconds they used what strength they had to run away and hide behind a building. They kept watch, looking as Sombra stood up and began to search for them, to make sure he wouldn't attack someone else, but remained hidden otherwise. With how fast the thing moved when it wished to, they couldn't have afforded to simply stand there and face it again immediately.

It was while hiding in such a manner that they noticed the deep dark blast that was cutting through the sky, slowly moving and seemingly towards their general area. The two did not speak, for the creature might hear them and they understood each other well enough without words, but they did exchange a look. Then, both focused on the monster again.

Though slowly, it was approaching their position. It didn't know they were there, it would have already struck otherwise, but it would find them soon if it kept moving so. Their best chance, they knew, was acting while it still didn't know their exact location, and striking while they could still catch it by surprise. And so, with a quiet deep breath and a shared nod, that was what they did.