Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Cael

From the moment he'd reached the group again after delivering the black box to Twilight, Sunburst had stuck close to Starlight and Trixie. When the group had been forcefully separated by the winds and magical pandemonium that had occurred, two of them had not had a hard time keeping the trio together, as well as managing to catch a few other ponies before they could get thrown around.

That had left them relatively in the same position they'd been before, or it mostly would have if the entire chunk of land they were on top of itself hadn't also moved. They were, still, separated from the majority of the other ponies, as was everyone, and quickly they began to look for others. It was no easy task given the severe lack of reference points, therefore Starlight chose to send out a ping to try to detect nearby ponies. It sickened her to do so with the darkness spreading below them, but she managed to regardless, and she did at least give the group a direction to head towards.

Marching towards it, calmed the unease of the ponies with them, Starlight kept her horn alert for any further signs of anything hiding in the darkness, be it ponies to rescue or worse things to avoid. Because of that, worse things she did sense. But much later than she would have expected to. They were already close. She realised as she sensed them that they hid against the darkness permeating the earth, their signature barely distinguishable from the sickly background noise until they were already close.

Starlight barely had time to warn the others to be on alert. The moment they stood straight and looked around, they all immediately felt it. First came the ground shaking, only slightly yet noticeably so. Then came the sounds, almost immediately after. It was not unlike the sound made by bugs walking over wood, only much louder. Like a stampede, but heavier. Like rumbling thunder coming closer. The ponies shifted closer together in the brief moments they had.

Something broke through the winds, coming into their vision. Mutated ponies, not unlike the ones some of them had seen that day. Some still had pieces of their armour stuck to their bodies. They all stood much taller than even the tallest of regular ponies. Their skin was black and deep blue, covered by root-like formations that seemed to writhe and slither through their bulging muscles. Their deformed limbs ended in things that looked like claws more than hooves, and their stretched faces sported fangs in numbers too great even for predator species.

Some had clearly been unicorns or pegasi before their transformation. Twisted and broken horns rose from some of their heads, half-mutated useless wings with oddly bent joints were on some of their backs. Their teeth occasionally tore through the flesh of their faces, their eyes looked bloodshot and warped and insane. Some limped on poorly built limbs, others dragged along themselves overgrown portions of their bodies like magically born tumors of bone and skin and tendons.

They saw the ponies, or sensed them otherwise. Those who could with eyes, others smelt them, others heard. One, its head malformed and engulfed by its own mutation, blindly continued its charge. But the others stopped. They began to circle the ponies, growling, leaking blood and ichor onto the ground as jaws opened where mouth should not have been. The ponies waited, afraid, ready to protect themselves.

Comments

[Speckle]

Cael, iirc, means sky, correct?

Update: Ooooooooooooh shit