Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Shine

Before the creature had any chance to attack her, chains sprouted from the ground to bind its limbs. Starshine stared it down as it struggled and tried to free itself, and an idea entered her mind. A flash of light emerged from her horn, and condensed into streams that settled onto the creature's face. Its struggles grew weak and weaker, and after a few seconds more they ceased entirely, and its body fell unconscious to the ground. It would stay like that for hours, even if someone tried to wake it up. Or it was supposed to at least, Starshine had no way of knowing for sure if it would work. But she was pretty confident it would.

With the last of those creatures taken care of, she flew atop a nearby roof and considered her options. She knew she was an easy target there, but the enemy soldiers hadn't been shooting at her before and they most likely wouldn't start then. And if they did, she'd probably figure out a way to deal with them. She could probably go after them herself, but that could lead to them leading her into a trap if she wasn't careful. Rather than going on the offensive, then, she could help protect those ponies already fighting or sneaking their way towards a portal.

The only problem was finding them. Pinkie's group had been the closest to her and still probably was, but she only had a rough idea of the direction they'd gone in. Trying to reach them without knowing exactly where they were could prove counterproductive if she accidentally caught the attention of enemy soldiers and ended up giving away the group's position. Though she supposed she could go about it more aggressively and deliberately incapacitate every group of enemies she ran into along the way while searching for her allies.

But that was still risky. She didn't actually know the full extent of her abilities. Yes, she'd just taken care of a group of mutated ponies with relative ease, but if her enemies were smart about how they approached her they could still easily give her trouble. But standing there doing nothing was pointless, she knew as much, and every moment spent thinking about what to do was a moment she could have spent helping out. Even without a clear plan, helping would still be helping.

Where to, though? Probably not inwards, enemy soldiers most likely hadn't made it there yet. She set out towards the edge of the city with that in mind. She did not move particularly fast, rather she dropped down onto the street and made her way along its length. Flying rather than walking, but still at a relatively contained pace not to miss anything she might encounter along the way. Not that she did encounter anything for most of it. The street was staggeringly empty, unnaturally so even. She wondered how such a thing was possible. Were the soldiers seeing her come forward and deliberately getting out of her way? She reached almost the edge of the city with that question in mind. Then she heard movement behind her, and immediately turned around.