heyfreemagic | Catastrophe on Campus

[Monday morning, a crowd of young adults and presumably teachers are gathered around the college campus, spilling out into the street. Some of them have signs. Most of them seem to just be shouting and sounding generally upset. The signs and words consist of outrage against the schools’ inadequate supplies.]

[The crowd grows thicker as the day goes on, though various teenagers and children leave the school early to wait outside for their harried-looking parents to pick them up.]

[Police come to monitor the events. Some of the teachers and other important-looking figures start heading towards the front to address the buzzing crowd.]

[Later in the afternoon, the frustration seems to only be mounting further until a scream breaks out in the middle of the mass of people. Then another, and another, all from very different parts of the crowd. Was it induced by frustration? Is there something else going on? Either way, the panic is mounting, people are scattering, screams of anger and fear are rising--the crowd and whatever may be in there will be making this situation dangerous.]

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[The crowd parts like the Red Sea before her, preceded by exclamations of panic and surprise.]

Where's the-

What happened to my-

Run, just RUN, they're at the-

[Well, if people are trying to get away from something -- she'll go the direction they're headed from. Simple enough.]

[s i m p l e e n o u g h]

[What Celestia finds, when she traces the screams back to their source, is a writhing, roiling ball of shadows. It's Nox, certainly, but not like anything that's appeared in the city before. It shifts constantly, rapidly growing various shadowy appendages - a dog's head; humanoid arms; webbed, scaly wings; a thick, powerful tail - and lashing out at people before reassimilating and replacing those various limbs and heads and repeating the cycle. The screaming of the humans is accompanied by its hisses and roars as it slithers and bounds and rolls at the humans closest to it, slavering and hungry.]

[It pauses as Celestia approaches, turning its many-eyed attention towards her, and lashes out with a quickly growing tentacle.]

[Celestia brings a sweep of light around in half a parry and half a slash to counter the assault, even as she frowns.] Well, this is a particularly ugly fellow... I don't suppose you're open to negotiations?

[The severed tentacle goes up and smoke, and the Nox screams from several heads at once - human, pony, wolf - before throwing itself forward, dragging and skittering towards Celestia at high speeds on constantly changing legs, fangs bared from multiple heads. No, it doesn't want to talk.]

[Well, she has to ask.]

[Celestia quickly takes to the air, sweeping her wings to propel her up and back as she conjures up a sweep of light to descend on it like a hammer.]

[Oh, are we doing wings now? The Nox hurls itself in the air, catching itself on half a dozen rapidly growing mismatched wings and climbing fast. It bobs and pitches erratically, but somehow the wings still work well enough for it to dodge Celestia's attack and close in, multiple mouths baring sharp fangs. Om nom.]

[Yes, yes, that's very abomination-against-naturey, you should be proud. Celestia switches from directed light to simple shining, surrounding herself in a corona that at least in previous encounters proved too painful for the Nox to push through.]

[One of these Nox is not like the others; one of these Nox just doesn't belong~ Spoilers: it's the one currently trying to eat Celestia's face. It shies away from the light, steadies itself for a moment as though considering its options, and then bodily hurls itself into the light, bleeding darkness and screaming in agony all the while. It's pretty thoroughly torn up, yes, but it still makes it through the other side with more than enough appendages intact to lash out with claws and teeth.]

[Celestia, though skilled in magic, is not bereft of other virtues -- and she remembers this all the more keenly here, where she lacks much of her magic to actually wield. As the creature charges, she twists in midair to kick back with both her hind legs, meeting its advance with two powerful hoof blows.]

[YIPE YIPE YIPE YIPE]

[The Nox takes the blow full in the face - several faces, in fact - and it's had enough. It drops like a stone, howling all the way down, and impacts hard on the pavement. It doesn't take it long to shake off the impact and drag itself through the crowd, lashing out at any human who happens to be within its considerable range. It finally reaches its destination - a gaping hole in the middle of the courtyard, almost like a sinkhole, that certainly hadn't been there before today - and drops into it, back into the sewers from whence it came.]

[Celestia follows it, using strategic bolts of light to herd it away from potential other victims, till at last she lands by the hole it had fled into.]

[Quickly, she casts a spell to seal that opening -- which promptly fails, because she can't do that magic here. After a blank pause and a very sheepish glance around to make sure no one saw that, she turns her attention back to the hole, wondering if she can safely leave it be while she looks for someone who can fix it.]

[She could probably leave it be provided there's nobody dumb enough to get close and inspect it. Unfortunately, this is a crowd of people, and they're not terribly good at keeping their distance.]

[Two shadowy appendages snake out of the open hole. One lashes out at Celestia; the other claws a man who happens to be too close to the hole for his own good. He takes it full across the chest and goes down screaming.]

[At this point, Celestia cares little for her own well-being. Even as the claw scores her side, she draws a sheet of light across the opening as if she were slamming a door with the appendages still in them.]

[OWWWWWWW]

[The appendages sever and dissipate, and the Nox in the sewer howls. Point taken; it's just going to stay down here for a while and lick its wounds. For now.]

[The man on the ground is still bleeding and screaming. He's not having a great time today.]

[Keeping the barrier maintained with raw willpower, Celestia hurries over to the injured man. Grabbing his torn shirt with her teeth, she rips a piece off, then tosses it over his injury so she can apply pressure.]

Somepony, please, call for help.

[Yeah, that Nox isn't going anywhere except maybe deeper in the sewers. The guy, on the other hand, is doing everything he can to get away from Celestia, scooting along the ground. After that show of power, he wants nothing to do with her - not that he can manage the words to express it.]

You need treatment. [There's real alarm in Celestia's voice, though she stops approaching as he panics and makes everything worse by retreating away.] Please, let me help you.

Catastrophe on Campus

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