Crystalline Destiny - MLP Fanfic

Chapter Eight

"We need to find shelter," Hibiscus decided, looking around as she felt the first drop of rain on her muzzle. Leviathan twisted his mouth in conflict.

"I'll fly up and scope out a cavern or something," The Changeling said, looking around at the others, receiving nods in agreement. Extending his green wings, the Pegasus took flight and began soaring forward in search of a place to stay while the storm passed.

The rain was slowly picking up and it stung against the green Pegasus' face as he watched trees grow into what appeared to be a lush swamp, bugs flying freely through large hives before the rain could force them all into hiding. As Leviathan continued his venture, he squinted as he looked down to the ground below and saw several structures that appeared to be hollowed-out trees. Perfect! Turning around in the sky, Leviathan headed back to the group of ponies and Amber to notify them of the direction of shelter.

"Did the medicine start working, yet?" Cobalt could be heard from where Leviathan was, his voice always so loud. The blue Pegasus was standing beside Ornament, blue wing outstretched over his head to protect him from the drizzle that was steadily growing heavier. The rain was washing off the medicine and if they didn't find shelter soon, they'd have to wait out the pain to go away on its own. Ornament had only packed one of each medicine under the impression that the trip would be short and unstressful.

"No," Ornament groaned, green eyes shut as he tried to ignore the pulsing pain in his hoof. Leviathan quickly touched down and notified his companions of the nearest location where they could hide from the storm.

"There's a swamp just about a few minutes that way," Leviathan pointed with a green hoof, shaking his wings out from the rain they'd collected. "If we fly those that can't fly on their own over there, we'll be able to take shelter in no time."

Ornament froze, eyes darting between Amber, Cobalt, and Emerald/Leviathan, the only Pegasi present. His gaze shifted to Hibiscus next, both ponies seemingly unsure of the flight arrangements.

"I can carry Ornament," Leviathan said swiftly, almost suspiciously fast. The other ponies looked over at him and silently agreed. Cobalt decided he'd fly Hibiscus (childhood friends, go figure) and Amber was on watch to make sure no one fell off mid-flight.

"I'll watch, but I'm not catching any icky ponies," The golden Dragon had said, face twisted up in annoyance. Leviathan knew Amber well and he knew that was a lie. She may not like the pony species, but she wouldn't let an innocent creature get hurt on purpose.

Shuffling over to the purple stallion, Leviathan felt something in his gut start to grow more and more difficult to stomach. He needed to regroup mentally; his job was to lure these ponies to the Hive and henceforth feed off of them for the foreseeable future, until another Element Tree was discovered, or until they had another magical pony to tide them over. Leviathan had been assigned the role of royal guard as a disguise and background when he eventually met this stallion, assuming he'd ask questions. Leviathan had not been instructed to start developing a conscience!

Even as a guard, Leviathan had avoided being assigned a personal guard to any of the royalty out of fear of pony feelings. Attachment was fine; he and Amber had been attached at the hip for a while. Genuine emotion, however? That was off-limits. It was unpredictable and nothing a Changeling was supposed to deal with! This prince was a magic devourer! Destroyer of worlds! Or at least, of ponies! He couldn't deal with all these strange emotions. Wasn't it Hibiscus that he had felt strange over, initially? Ponies often fell into groups of stallions and mares, not stallions and stallions. Though, there was that billboard he'd seen in Canterlot just last month... and that magazine of adult nature...

"Hey," A voice snapped him out of his off-topic thoughts and Leviathan flushed so red, he might as well have burst into flames at that moment. Ornament was looking at him with pain and confusion on his face. "What's wrong with you?"