Chapter One Hundred Forty Two

It could be so incredibly easy to disappear into a crowd in a city like Manehattan. Slipping into a sea of numerous disinterested faces, on numerous disinterested ponies, whose primary concern around this time of day was simply going about their day without any trouble serving to complicate things for them. Ponies who would have a motivation to simply ignore something that might otherwise be conspicuous, simply because they didn't want to get involved.

For one with such a small stature that being at eye-level with most adults would be impossible in most circumstances, this sort of general attitude was doubly beneficial, as it made slipping in and out much easier. Simply weave between and through their legs as they trotted about, don't bump into anypony along the way, and you were effectively invisible.

For her, that invisibility was absolutely crucial. She had to hide, she had to evade, she had to get to safety after that frightful encounter with that equally frightful entity. Right now the sea of ponies was her best -and arguably only- defense.

She bobbed, she weaved, she strafed, she slipped in and out as she made her way to a particular alleyway and slipped her way in, ducking out of sight behind a convenient dumpster. Giving her a much-needed moment to catch her breath.

She was accustomed to hiding in plain sight, blending into the background, and being invisible out in the open like a common vagabond would be to those who didn't like to acknowledge the existence of such individuals. But to be called out so casually, her visage completely shattered with such ease...

Once again she was on the move, galloping her way through the alleyway as fast as she could, until she came to a dead end that was completely blocked off by a large section of chainlink fence, physically cutting off the other side, and visually blocking line of sight with a tattered blue tarp being lashed down behind it.

It was a fence wall, yes, but it was only a barricade in an academic sense. She made her way over to the bottom corner all the way on the left, and pulled back on the loose linkage that was no longer held down in place, until enough of a gap was opened up to let her slip her way inside, as the faulty barrier fell back into place behind her.

The construction zone sat unused, the half-finished framework of the building being erected behind the confines of the barricades essentially abandoned, be it due to worker's striking or project funding unexpectedly drying up prematurely. Whatever the reasoning behind it, none of it really mattered to her. The fewer ponies there were nosing around, the better.

The old cargo container wasn't the best of shelter around. But it was sturdy enough to keep all of the rain and most of the wind out, and one of the doors was permanently stuck partially open from a badly broken hinge that wouldn't let it shut completely. Rendering it more or less perfect for what was being asked of it as she glanced around before slipping inside the opening that was far too small for a fully-grown pony to enter.

Cardboard boxes were, once they were properly broken down and layered up, a surprisingly and serviceably comfortable medium for sleeping on, far softer and warmer than the hard surface of the container's floor, as its present occupant was currently experiencing first-hoof while snoring away.

She looked down at the unicorn colt who was presently stretched out on his back, with his dark blue fur contrasting against the extremely pale blue hair of his tail and mane styled in a sort of bob cut, dark red stylized flame cutie marks, with a lavender scarf wrapped around his neck. And proceeded to waste no time in nudging him with her hoof in order to stir him back to consciousness.

"Hey," she insisted, "come on, wake up."

Groggily -even reluctantly- he stirred and slowly sat up, looking at her with a pair of heterochromic eyes as she sat down her saddle bags and pulled out a gourmet-looking special dog still in its wrapper.

"No time to talk. Here, eat this," she insisted as she all but shoved it into his hooves. "Things have changed. We need to get moving and get out of here."

He barely spared her a glance, already tearing off the cellophane wrapping to toss it aside and bite into his meal. "Our quarry?"

She shook her head. "We've got much bigger matters to worry about than that right now. This city has a human walking around in it."

That proved sufficient enough to halt his metaphorical inhaling of the food in front of him. "Are you sure? A human in Equestria?"

"Well it has the same general physical structure that a human would," she clarified, before quickly moving on. "I don't know what it really is, but it sure knew that I wasn't a pony. It took one look at me and saw right through this disguise like I wasn't even wearing it. And whatever it is, I think it's working with the Equestrians; it didn't even hesitate to out me in front of the police."

He said nothing in response, his focus torn between what she was saying, and what was currently left of his meal.

"Something is going on here, I don't know what it is, but I've got a very bad feeling about this. I think that we need to get out of the city and lay low for a while, until we can get a handle on this situation better."

"But what about our quarry?" he asked just before he finished his food in a single bite.

She shook her head dismissively. "It's too dangerous to be thinking about that right now. Whatever that thing is, I could feel something radiating from its presence; something that's unlike anything we've ever experienced before. And if that thing is working with the Equestrians like I think, then our quarry has much bigger things to worry about than just us."

"How big?"

She looked back at him. The look in his eyes suggested he doubted her assessment of the seriousness of the situation; like he was still holding onto the belief that they could still maintain some level of control and come out on top in this matter.

"Big enough to qualify as a kaiju-level threat all its own. One that we simply aren't prepared for dealing with at this point. And that's just going by what I could feel at the surface level; just the tip of the iceberg," she surmised, before shaking her head again. "This... this goes way beyond any of us. Staying here is too dangerous for us right now. We need to get in touch with Pacific Glow, and we need to get out of the city while we still can. Before it's too late."

Author's Note

Ever be typing along on a chapter and then out of the blue your brain goes and suddenly slams to a halt and say it's not going any further? That happened to me in this case. Not how I wanted to end 2024, but that's apparently how it's gonna go.

Happy 2025 everypony.