The Lulamoon Files

The Lulamoon Files

Chapter Thirteen: Swarm Front

Written by TheCrimsonDM

It was only about halfway to the dock warehouse before what Applejack had said really sunk in. Both Scythe and Flitterbell had been murdered. Ravaged and eaten by some unknown, unstoppable force. My mind shook as I imagined what Flitterbell’s poor discarded body looked like. Bits and pieces of her strewn about all over the place. I had tried, didn’t I? I told her where to find safety. Wasn’t that good enough?

No.

It was not good enough, because the poor filly was dead. If only I’d personally escorted her to the church I could have kept her safe. Instead I just assumed she wasn’t still being followed, tracked, and hunted. That damned key was supposed to be the thing that was following her, but no, it was something else. Perhaps it was guarding the key, and tracked her scent, not realizing that she had passed the key off to me?

I didn’t know, but it bothered me. My insides were like razor wire and knives. I had just talked to her. A few short hours ago. My brain was itching again.

With a shaky hoof I padded the floor of my car for a cola. There wasn’t any there. I dared a look in the back seat. A few empty bottles lay on the floor but not a single full cola. I needed one to think. How else was I going to figure out what was going on? I was missing something. It was close, on the tip of my tongue in fact.

BEEP!

I nearly drove off the road as I swerved out of the way of a passing car. It went on past me and I kept going. My head still hurt. Twilight was trying to kill me. Rider was up to something fishy. A warlock was killing ponies. And worst of all Applejack was trying to arrest me. This was the worst possible thing.

If only I could focus on the tasks ahead of me I could figure this out. Screw my rent, my entire reputation was on the line here. Getting the warlock, clearing my name, saving my life, and paying my rent were all part of the same deal now. A great and wonderful packaged deal that was out of my reach.

That stupid dock was the only place that I could think of to check now. The only lead I had. So that’s where I went. To yet another warehouse on the docks. Manehattan was full of them after all.

Come to the lovely city of Manehattan, here you’ll find evil warlocks lurking in warehouses, evil mob bosses lurking in warehouses, and halpless wizards doing what? Lurking in warehouses!

I finally caught sight of the warehouse, and lucky for me the flatbed truck was still sitting out front. With my car parked down the road I walked the rest of the way to the warehouse. There was an odd stillness here this night. The lights inside the checkpoint were flickering, but nopony was to be found. I walked right past the checkpoint, and continued on to the warehouse proper. The truck was still on, its engine humming along by its lonesome into the gloomy night. The front shutter doors to the warehouse were open a few feet off the ground. I peered beneath them.

The warehouse was empty, several lights overhead were blown, and the rest were flickering at odd intervals. Inside it felt cold, much colder than it did out here. There were dark red stains on the cement floor. The stains were dragged off into a small office space deeper inside.

I swallowed. This looked bad, but as luck would have it, I was here now to do some investigating. I really didn’t want too.

Slipping under the gate was easy enough. The moment I got in the cold bit into my flesh through my trench coat. How did it get so unbearably cold in here? Where were the ponies? There should have been security at the gate, and the driver to the vehicle was gone, despite it still being on.

A sound drew my attention to the outside behind me. I heard hooves clip clopping along, growing louder on their approach. I searched around for any cover, but the only thing I could see was an office room. I quickly and quietly made my way to the office space and hid behind the wall staying as low as I could.

“I swear, the dragon was supposed to be on the truck,” a stallion spoke in a whispery voice.

I listened harder to hear who he was talking too.

The stallion spoke again. “No, no, that wizard from earlier is a fool. She couldn’t have stopped the dragon shipment. She didn’t even know it was coming in.”

Again I tried to hear the voice of the ponies reply, yet none came.

“Yes, my goddess,” he spoke quietly. “I will stop her this time.”

I peered out the door just long enough to see that the stallion in question was the cloaked warlock. He was facing the wall, but nopony else was in here.

He shook his head. “I do not understand how she killed the manticore. It must have been pure luck. There are few ponies out there that could match my skills, and thanks to your help I am made the most powerful in this city. None can hope to stop me… I’m sorry, I meant you, my goddess. None can stop you, your return shall be beautiful, stunning, and full of bloodshed. The war will be a short one.”

I pulled my head back and took in a quiet and shaky breath. This was bad. He was out there, and if he was insane and talking to himself than he was dangerous, if he was actually talking to a goddess than he was even more dangerous. I didn’t want to do this anymore, but at this point if I quit I’d lose everything, including my life. I had to stop him, but I wasn’t sure how. For all I knew he was more powerful than me. Perhaps if I got the drop on him, a surprise attack could work.

The office room I was in offered little in the way of protection. It was dark in here. The lights had blown completely. It also smelled awful. Though I wasn’t sure what that smell was. There were no weapons, no electricity, and no way to sneak back outside. All I could see was darkness, black stains on the carpet, stains that were still wet, and bits of something all over the floor. A dark lump was in the corner, an office chair or something was my guess, at least until I realized it was moving.

Vary carefully I looked out the door again, the warlock was now looking back out the front shutters. So I took the opportunity to send out a small orb of light from my horn, the orchard ball flew toward the lump and I saw Spot sitting hunched in the corner. His eyes were staring at me, blank of any emotion, and the collar around his neck almost shined in the light. I noticed a lock on his collar, but I wasn’t sure why. It looked to be made out of leather, which could be cut off if need be. A lock served no purpose.

Then I looked at the floor. The black stains were long, large, and led over to behind a desk. Along the way there were bits of fur with wet meat still attached, strewn about the floor. I could see a lumpy pile just barely sticking out from behind the desk and dropped the light spell. I no longer wished to be in here.

The sounds of hooves against the cold concrete nearly made me jump. They grew in volume until they reached the edge of the doorway. The warlock’s shadow cast into the room as he looked in. I held my breath.

“Dog, come with me, I will require your assistance yet again,” the warlock said coldly.

Spot rose from his place in the corner and walked past me and out into the warehouse proper. I listened as the two of them walked away. When I was brave enough I peeked around the corner and saw the two going under the shutters and back outside. It was in times like these that I wished I kept a makeup mirror on me, sticking my head out just felt like a bad idea.

After a moment I heard shouts emerging from outside. The voices didn’t sound like they belonged to the warlock or to Spot. I could have stayed in that tiny, cold room with all the meat, or I could leave to investigate further. I decided to leave.

I got all the way to the shutter before realizing that I recognized the voice that was shouting. It belonged to the minotaur. “What is he doing here?”

I looked under the shutter and saw the minotaur pointing a finger at Spot, who just stared blankly at him. Wind Rider was standing a little ways back with two other stallions and a mare all dressed in black suits. They each had tommy guns, save for Rider who held a whinnychester riffle.

“Mr. Will,” Wind Rider said in his cool, collected voice. “Please step away from Spot.”

The minotaur, apparently named Mr. Will did just that, taking a stand next to Wind Rider. The twelve gauge shotgun on Mr. Will’s back was drawn and aimed at the warlock. This was going to be a blood bath, and I was pretty sure that I knew who was going to come out on top.

Rider gave a chilling look to the warlock. “Please, would you care to explain to me why you are on my property with one of my associates?”

“I was looking for a dragon,” the warlock replied. “But you lost it along the way here. Imagine my surprise that even while I let them feed, your men could not tell me where the dragon was. Oh it was disappointing to be sure, but even if the dog’s become a bit blank since I first… befriended him, I was able to gleam an idea of where the dragon went.”

“Oh and where is that?” Rider asked.

“If I told you that, I’d never get the dragon for my army.”

There were several gun clicks but the warlock didn’t even flinch. I stared in amazement. He had already shown his skill in ice magic, and in mind control magic, or at least control over monsters. I didn’t want to know what else was up his sleeve.

It didn't look like Rider was taking any chances. “Then we can’t come to an agreement. Kill him.”

With that gunfire was loosed upon the warlock and Spot. It was like a series of mini explosions, and even from my place behind the wall it hurt my ears. Shotgun shells spread out into deadly fire, tommy guns rattled off bullets, and Rider meanwhile never fired a shot. He only watched with careful, and cunning eyes.

For that split second when the gunfire began I was sure that the warlock was dead. Even I don’t know if I could handle that much fire at once. But the air between the bullets and the warlock had thickened, grew distorted, and cracked with every succeeding bullet. It took me a moment but when it hit me I was dumbfounded.

The warlock had set up an almost invisible wall of ice between himself and the mobsters. The warlock was laughing. “You, mortals thought you could stop me? A wizard! You will die with all the other weaklings when my goddess returns. For I am her champion, her apprentice, and her knight. The likes of you will never be enough to stop me.”

The warlock rose to his full height on his hind legs and raised his hooves into the air. A move he had stolen from a much greater and much more impressive wizard. “Now! Face! My! Swarm!”

The air grew thick with a buzzing sound. The gunfire died out as the mobsters all looked around confused. They weren’t the only ones. I was looking around as well. The sky nearby was moving, rippling as if it was made of water. A rainbow colored wall was there and growing both larger and louder by the second. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that what I was staring at had to be the rainbow monster that Flitter was so scared of. Which meant that she was murdered by this warlock. Which meant that the key was certainly connected to him as well.

I slid underneath the shutters and pointed my stave at the warlock. “Lightning Bolt!”

Purple lightning streaked toward the warlock, but hit something invisible and was scattered in different directions. I could see a scorch mark hanging in the air. The warlock didn’t just make a wall of ice, he made a cubical of the stuff.

He glared at me. “The Fool Wizard! Ha! You too shall be eaten, just like your friend.”

I gritted my teeth. “Buck you!”

The rainbow wall was enormous now. Little dots of color were moving rapidly towards us. I didn’t know what to do about them, but I did know one thing. I wasn’t going to let that warlock kill more ponies. Not toady, not ever. I couldn’t very well strike the warlock down yet, but I could still stop him.

“RIDER!” I screamed as I galloped toward his group.

They all raised their guns toward me. I readied my shield just in case, though it wouldn’t do me much good if they all pulled the trigger at once. “We need to get out of here. That thing coming toward us has eaten every single pony it’s come across yet. We need to get going!”

Rider gave me a cool look that I was having difficulty deciphering. “You’re telling the truth, aren't’ you?”

“Let’s just call it me paying you back for the dragon. Now get going or else it will eat you.”

Rider looked at his men and then the cars they’d come in. “Alright everypony, get to the cars, we’re getting out of here.”

As we all galloped away the warlock was still laughing. “You can’t outrun the cold hunger of death itself!”

I met Death once, handsome fellow, a bit loud, but sweet enough. This wasn’t death. This was just evil.

I was right alongside Rider as we were galloping toward the vehicles. “I am willing to overlook the dragon. My plan was to free it in the first place. But I will not be giving you a lift.”

I scowled. “Whatever.” Of course if I hadn’t stolen his dragon I’d probably be offered all sorts of things. This just sort of made us even. If I died, it was my fate for messing with his property, if I lived, than we were even, I think. It was my trial by fire.

The sky above us was blocked out by those wretched little buggers. Hundreds, maybe thousands of little balls of color swooped down from the sky, each one of them latching onto the stallion who was bringing up our rear. I saw the little eyes of the demons as they grabbed onto the stallion. Their mouths opened up larger than their bodies and sunk teeth into him. He loosed a howl of pain as he was lifted up into the air. A moment later he was covered in them, and pieces of him were raining down.

I looked away. Seeing the aftermath was bad enough, but watching it happen in person was much worse. I separated from Rider’s group as they all ducked into their cars. Mr. Will jumped on top of the back of a truck and the moment his butt was planted he began firing into the sky. I saw the little buggers exploding above me, but it did too little when the mass of thousands of them were still flying above us.

My car was further along. My legs were burning. Sweat ran down my brow. I wanted to scream. I think I did. The moment I hit the car, I swung open the door, jumped in, and slammed it shut. For a moment I thought that maybe I was actually safe. There was a crackling sound as one of the little guys slammed into my windshield. A small crack appeared from the impact.

Then I saw the rainbow swarm coming my way.