Under the Cover of the Sun

All was as quiet as a Manehattan street could be. Blue and silver eyes peered carefully from the shadows of an alleyway, tucked up underneath a balcony of the neighboring building. Watching the front door of the police department across the street. What the owner of those eyes was waiting for soon became clear. Two ponies exited the building. They were different folks from the blue-wearing police officers that normally frequented the streets. For starters, they were a unicorn and a pegasus, which was unusual since all of the police were earth ponies, with a couple of pegasi mixed in. Secondly was the golden armor they were wearing, which automatically identified them as royal guards. Even without the armor, their disciplined walk and the way they held their spears spoke of a life guarding doors. The guards advanced toward the alleyway, unaware of the blue and silver eyes that tracked their movement. They stopped. The pegasus began sifting around the dumpsters, heading further into the alleyway. The unicorn leaned back at the entrance, wrinkling his muzzle in distaste.

"I don't see why we're looking here, Shock. For the matter, I don't see why we even need to be here. A string of thefts is hardly worth our attention," the unicorn stated.

"Quiet Light Spell," snapped Shock, rifling around the dumpsters, checking in the shadows.

"That doesn't answer my question," Light Spell muttered, slinging his helmet off to polish it. He shifted his weight to more comfortably lean against the wall, grabbed a rag from the slit in his chest plate, and proceeded to scrub off some offending stains. Light Spell's natural colors came through the instant he took of the helmet, the glamour dispelling with the disruption of its magical frequencies. He had a white-gold coat with a honey brown mane. Shock snorted in disgust.

"The string of thefts is underneath us, huh? Well murder certainly isn't."

"W-what?!" Light Spell sputtered, almost falling forward, his nonchalant posture disintegrating. "Murder?!"

"Were you not paying attention to the report, recruit?" demanded Shock. "And for the record, you address me as Private Shock Shield or sir. You don't have seniority and you certainly aren't above me. Do your job and cast a life detection spell."

"You do know it won't tell me how big it is, right? Or if it's even a pony?" Light Spell questioned, moving into a more stable stance. Shock Shield turned around and glared at him.

"Sir," Light Spell muttered. Shock Shield headed back toward him.

"'Course I do, colt. But it'll tell us where to start looking," Shock Shield replied briskly. "Cast it."
Grumbling, Light Spell complied. Light Spell's horn sparked, and a wave of gold yellow magic swept through the air. Light Spell's eyes landed on the back of the alleyway. He started forward, growing closer to the end dumpster. When he was opening the lid of the dumpster to peer inside, Light Spell heard a guttural scream along with the sickening sound of claws meeting flesh. He whipped around, letting the top clang shut. No pony was there. He sighed in relief, starting to turn back around. Then he stopped. Wait. No pony was there. That meant...

"Shock Shield!" Light Spell cried, looking for any sign of his comrade. Just then, he heard a rustle from the dumpster behind him. Turning around ever so slowly, he stared into blue and silver eyes. Light Spell readied a spell, hoping against hope it would give him enough time to escape. A clawed limb crashed into his horn. Whimpering, Light Spell drew back, the pain bringing tears to his eyes. The creature started forward, advancing on him. He scrambled back with his hooves, not willing to risk getting on his legs and turning his back to the creature. With a muffled thunk of metal on stone, Light Spell realized his back was to the wall. There was nowhere left to run. The creature stopped, a mere six inches away from him. Then, it brought it's clawed talon up. Light Spell feably tried to cast a spark, or a light spell. Seeing this, the creature's talon came crashing down.

His horn held firm for a moment, but the force behind the talon was too much. Light Spell's horn separated from his skull, causing immense pain to the unicorn. Briefly, his vision flashed a bright white, red bleeding in around the edges. Light Spell fought to stay conscious, but he could feel himself slipping into the darkness of unconsciousness. He heard shouting, the flap of wings as his attacker took off. He felt a pony's hooves, grabbing him. And in his core, Light Spell sensed there was now something fundamentally wrong with him. As if summoned, a crackling bolt of electricity sprang forth unbidden, and he jerked weakly, the pain too much.

"By Celestia, what was that?!" somepony shouted. Said sompony was lying on the ground. They were a blur, of a lot of light green and a smaller dark brown blur on top of the light green. On their chest was a blackened area. It didn't seem too serious a burn, as they quickly got up and shook it off.

"Never mind, just load him onto the stretcher," ordered a brisk voice. Light Spell felt the familiar sensation of magic surround him, lifting him up onto a cot. His limbs didn't like that much, thrashing around as if they had a mind of their own. His horn sparked. Suddenly, there was a clamp over his horn, conducting the brimming electricity into harmless static. Somepony restrained his hooves, keeping him tied down. He fought against the blackness encroaching on his vision. What if they were his attacker's accomplices, coming to take him away?
"Shh, it's okay. You're in the care of Manehattan Medical. You're safe."
Light Spell distantly registered in some part of his brain that Manehattan Medical was a public hospital. He was safe. He was going to be fine. Blue wings. His attacker had steel-blue wings. With that last thought, he surrendered himself to the realm of dreams.