Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

"Of [something]."

The grey pegasus blinked out of existence for a moment, and then reappeared immediately after. She kept, as much as she could manage, her eyes glued to the stallion sitting next to the wall, and was evidently studying him. But she said nothing. Her expression was partly confused and partly skeptical. She disappeared again, then reappeared again, and still she was unsure of how to approach the situation.

He had noticed her, of course. He just smiled at her. It was impossible to say for sure if it was a mocking smile or a genuine one, and that only added to the mare's uncertainty. Nothing of what she found weird about him she could tell for sure or define clearly. She'd seen him before, but she'd never paid much attention to his oddities. Perhaps it was best if she ignored him then, just keeping an eye on him in case he did do something.

She did not have much else to pass the time with though. There were things to watch on the other side, yes, but she'd watched them all already and in truth she did not particularly like watching them in the first place. Not the Wall in the distance, not that black dot there in the city, not the portals bending reality around themselves, not the odd thing slithering around the Empire that seemed strangely familiar to her, like she'd seen it before at one point. It all looked largely wrong and unnatural, so she chose to keep it largely out of her sight.

The stallion had started quietly whistling a tune. It was a pleasant tune though. Maybe she'd already heard him whistle it, he'd been present somewhat often during her visits to the Empire's royal couple, especially in the more recent ones. Thinking of that brought to her memories of the couple's daughter, at that moment safely away somewhere else. With her grandparents if she had to hazard a guess. Given his absence Spike the dragon was most likely either with them too or back in Ponyville.

She could have probably gone and checked. On anyone she wanted to. It wouldn't take her long to reach them or to get back, most probably not long enough for it to be a significant problem. But she didn't feel compelled to do so. Everyone was probably safe, and it was best if she stayed there in case her help was properly needed. Danger was there and it was there that she would have rather kept her attention to make sure other ponies were okay. Firecracker for example was still out there, though they were also still okay last she had checked.

And okay was almost everypony else. Except Starlight. Starlight had a magical stab wound in her side and wasn't in a condition anyone would have regularly called okay. But she was alive at least. Stable too from what she could tell, and in the care of capable ponies. She would likely recover with time. Unless the battle was lost and the city destroyed, but at that point it wouldn't matter if she'd been injured before or during the destruction. Everypony would probably die the same. In a weird way it was kind of reassuring. If everything was going to be lost if they failed they could afford to act like they had nothing to lose. But it was also a very sad thing to think about, so the mare just hoped they would succeed instead.

Comments

[Speckle]

Hmm, Puzzle Pony or The Charioteer?