[Stygians] Treatropolis prompt 2

Turns out when you're late, there are consequences. It wasn't even two days into her routine Esther was asked to stay and babysit a dig site overnight. This wasn't even what she was here for. She was here for mysteries, artifacts. Not... staring at rocks and some empty fountain. Puzzle seemed so sure something was under there but wouldn't say why exactly other than "it smells like a mystery." Yeah okay. Smells like rock.

Esther leaned back in one of the lawn chairs someone had brought from their kingdom. A small modicum of comfort as the sky got ever-so-slightly dimmer and dimmer. People were packing up for the day around her, giving her a mixture of sympathetic and haughty looks as word got round she'd be on rocksitting duty for the fifth time in a row. As the people began to clear, the little creatures she'd seen around started to pop up- her only companions through the night. They were somewhat horrendous- bright colors and fuzzy- but seemed mostly benign, as far as she could tell. She fished through her pocket for something to give it but decided to play a little game.

She leaned back nonchalantly and picked up a pebble from the floor then whistled. A few ears perked up but only one came closer- a little black and white one. With a careful hand she tossed the pebble to land in front of it. The fuzzy thing considered for a moment then pounced, and tried to fit the rock in its mouth. Esther chuckled a bit as it spit it out with a slightly disapproving look. Again she leaned back to grab another thing- this time a small chunk of wall and tossed it across the floor. It skidded, jumped, and landed a few feet away from the creature, which promptly jumped on it and again tried to eat it. 

Esther laughed louder this time- catching the attention of a few more fuzzy things. "Alright you abomination, here you go," She said, pulling out a chocolate chip from her pocket and tossing it to the one she'd been playing with. It made an adorable, revolting, happy squeaking noise and quickly gobbled down the candy. 

"You shouldn't be feeding them, you know," Puzzle's scratchy voice came from behind her.

Esther jumped- people were still here? 

"Come on- got somethin' to show ya," She continued and walked off to the rock in question before Esther could explain herself.

Esther took one last look at the treat in front of her, which was now looking back at her with expectant eyes and sighed, maybe that was a mistake.

Puzzle led her to the fountain. There was a small crowd of people gathered around a single area- ones she recognized as senior researchers-not that she learned any of their names. It wasn't long before she started to feel something. There was power in this area. Her brisk walk slowed.

"Told ya I smelled something," Puzzle quipped, not even bothering to look back at Esther as she pressed forward.

Okay, alright, this was definitely something. The group looked up as Puzzle approached and moved aside for her when the two drew close. Now actually looking at the thing, Esther could feel something real strong- sinister almost. She could hear Puzzle saying something- explaining something to the researchers but didn't catch anything- too distracted by the glow of the humongous crystal embedded in the ground beneath the fountain. What could it be? She could feel waves of energy radiating off of it. 

"Run-" was the first thing she heard. She turned around to see Puzzle had disappeared, the researchers were scattering in different directions. She saw the little black and white treat coming towards her. It was moving fast, on all fours until it launched itself into the air. Another red and black one followed. Two quickly became seven, became uncountable. Esther's eyes widened, she had enough forethought to cry for Hester before the horde descended upon her. 

She fought- flailing her arms, felt Hester moving behind her, but was quickly overwhelmed in the flurry of fur and paws. She couldn't breathe- she couldn't breathe.

Everything went dark. 

When she came to, she could just barely see the sky rekindling itself after the darkest part of night. Shadowy buildings loomed even more than usual. The glow from the crystal was gone. For a few minutes she just lay there. She was tired but... at least it seemed the treats didn't hurt her. She was okay, she was okay. She looked down to her hands and saw hooves, small hooves. That was odd- she didn't remember changing out of human form. Maybe Hester would have something to say- she opened her mouth to call out to them and froze. No sound came out. 

Her eyes went wide with fear as she pushed herself up and started running- she didn't know where, hadn't seen Treatropolis at night. Over and over again she tried to call to Hester. Nothing. She couldn't talk. She tried to call to her avatar form but found something pulling her back, keeping her held to how she was now. No. No. This can't be happening.

She stopped running, collapsed in the middle of an unknown avenue. The weight of her collar and the burning in her lungs her only company as even the dim stars winked out to prepare for day.
(900 words)
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woop! part two! i'm glad i've been able to get this far, love me some good ol character building (angst) for my stygs

we've got some guest cameos in this one!
T-329 (black and white -and gold-) belongs to PetalBirdie
T-124 (red and black) belongs to jackalknife

S-215 (Esther) belongs to me!

stygians are a closed species by Zoomutt