//------------------------------// // Trials of the Night - Pt. 2 // Story: How I became an Equestrian // by Raybony //------------------------------// I started to regain consciousness, at the price of a head splitting headache. Twilight warned me of using too much magic at one time, as it strains the mind of the user to focus that much magic at once. "Oh my head. Did someone get the number plate of the truck that hit me?" I started to get up slowly, feeling the grass under need me, I opened my eyes slowly and looked around. There were trees all around me and they looked too weird to be normal trees, my best guess is that we were in the everfree. "Girls, he's waking up." I heard the familiar voice of Twilight by my side. How did I not see her there before? "Luis, oh thank Celestia that you're alright, we were scared that we had lost you to that beast." Rarity looking at me relief at seeing me. "Hey Luis." I turn to see Rainbow come closer to me and. *whack* A hoof to the head sent me to meet the ground. "That's for making us worry about you." "Rainbow, Ah know what he did was stupid an' dangerous, but ya can't go an' hit them for doin' it." I raised my head from the ground and spit the dirt that managed to find its way to my mouth. "Applejack is ok, what I did was dangerous and could have killed me, I totally deserved the punch." "Then why even try it? We could have escape from there and find another way into the everfree, you didn't have to do what you did." "Did you see its eyes Twilight?" I asked her, which she responded with a confused look and a shake of her head. "They were black, have you guys ever seen Timberwolves with eyes like that?" I wasn't sure if there were more types of Timberwolves apart from the ones presented on the show, so I didn't want to make assumptions. "Well, there have been cases of green and white timberwolves, but that it's more to do with the seasons that the everfree follows, this is the first time that they ever had that color eye." "What are you getting at?" Rainbow said with her arms crossed; a bit annoyed that she had to listen to one of Twilight's lecture. "I'm not too sure, but they seemed to be more aggressive than I would have expected. We never entered the Everfree before so why did they attacked us in the first place?" "Your right, Timberwolves only attack if they are hunting, and they only go a bit far from the forest so they have less risk of running out of the magic that it offers to them. This makes it impossible for that Timberwolf to last for so long outside of the Everfree, this is incredible I need to research this if I want -" "We get it Twi, but Ah still don' see wha' you mean Luis." "I believe that those weren't Timberwolves that attacked us, or at least normal ones. I think they were summoned." "Oh for Pit's sake, just say it already so we can head out to the Princesses old castle." Rainbow was now impatient about all this talking. "ok, ok. I think my Nightmare summoned them to attack us. And did you say the 'Princesses old castle'? Why am I not surprise?" Why is it that every villain I hear about in fan-fics always sets base at 'that' castle? Even if this is real. "He can make other ponies appear? Oh I want him to make a whole multitude of ponies appear so I can throw the biggest party ever." Usual Pinkie, never taking serious things like this. "Can he do that?" Twilight was now surprise and scare at this info. I nodded to her. "I think so, but I can't be sure, until then I think we better keep our guard up." I looked at them, seeing a bit of worry on their eyes but still willing to go on with the task. I looked towards Fluttershy and notice she was a bit secluded from the rest, "Fluttershy, are you ok? You are quieter than normal." I was hoping that she wasn't still mad at me from what happened this morning. "Oh I...well, I'm fine." She looked away, but not in the normal way that you could tell she was shy, she looked...conflicted. I wanted to ask but I decided to not do it for now. "Ok then let's get going, I want to kick that Nightmare's flank as soon as possible." Rainbow said, going ahead of the group into the forest. "Rainbow, it's that way." Twilight said with a bemused look, pointing with her hoof towards the opposite direction that Rainbow went. Rainbow stopped mid flight and looked towards Twilight. "I-I know that, I was just testing you." She said with a sheepish smile, flying to where Twilight was pointing. We all rolled our eyes at that. "We better get going then, we got less than five hours before the Sun is suppose to rise." we all nodded at Twilight and started walking towards the direction that the castle is. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nightmare looked at the scene from the orb that floated on top of its open claw. "Oh great, and here I though I had manage to free myself from that pest". It looked as they were nearing a section of the forest that was even denser than the rest, making it harder to see around. "Hmm, this looks like a good place to trap them." A new orb like last time appear in the other claw, going towards the orb showing the ponies as they walked deeper into the forest. "This beast should do the job, I just wish I had found more in my time in that forest." The image in the orb changed to show something start to form out of a dark mist. "It's time to play cat and mouse." A paw came out of the dark in the orb, the claws hidden inside extending out. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "oh, Are we there yet? My hooves are killing me." "For the tenth time Rarity, no we haven't" Twilight was starting to get annoyed by Rarity's whining. And I was starting to as well. We were now in a section of the forest that was denser than the rest, according to Twilight. The tree tops were so dense here, that the light from the moon couldn't get past the leaves, the only light coming from some glowing fungus that grew on the trunks of the trees. The whole place was making me anxious now, and the idea of my Nightmare being able to make animals attack us at any moment, wasn't helping at all. "Oh oh oh, do you know what would make this better?" "I don't know Pinkie, what would make this better?" I'll never understand how Pinkie can take things so easy. But at the moment I was hoping for her to do anything to make the situation a bit more bearable. "A song of course" A song?! Really? This is starting to look like one of the girl’s adventure in a story or the show. Pinkie went towards a tree and grabbed hold of a bit of the glowing fungus, to pull it and make the trunk of the tree to open and reveal a rockola. "How the hay did that get there?" Rainbow said flying to where pinkie was, going through the selection of songs that the machine had. "It's my emergency music player, I have one whenever I'm out in case I needed it. Now where is that song I got from Luis's Ipod?" "Wait what?" I swear I put that out of her reach at Twilight's house, Gods know what she can find from my stuff. "Ah ha! Here it is." She pressed the play button before closing the trunk of the tree, making it look like before. "This song makes me think of Applejack, who knew humans could be so creative." The voice of a man started to sound as a guitar started to play. Applejack perked up immediately, liking the sound of the music. Like it was a surprise. Why don't you come on down To Sweet Apple Acres Got a whole family full Of Tasty Treat Makers All the girls, except for Pinkie, turn to Applejack, surprise as to hearing her apple farm being mentioned in a song. And to top it all off, We're Apple Pie Bakers, Don't be fooled by The Flim Flam Fakers We'll whet your whistle With sweet Apple Cider We wanna be your number one Apple provider We got everything you could Ever ask for And I bet we even got A little bit more than They all turn to me, expecting for me to give an explanation as to why I had a song dedicated to Sweet Apple Acres. "Hey I like the song, it's catchy." "Well Ah don't see how this makes things better. It doesn't take mah mind off this here forest." "Oh just go with it Applejack, you'll feel much better afterwards." She took a deep breath just in time to sing the next part. ALL THE APPLES YOU COULD EVER WANT (at Sweet Apple Acres) ALL THE APPLES YOU COULD EVER WANT And more.... (its a beautiful day, keep the doctor away) "Wha'?" Referring to the doctor part. I turned at her and shrugged, I didn't even understand that part myself. So I'm guessing by now, You know our name, And you know we ain't green To this apple-bucking game, We're well deserving Of this apple fame, Everypony who visited Smiled after they came Applejack had now joined in, singing along with Pinkie while everyone bobbed their heads to the tune. 'Oh why not?' I came next to Applejack and Pinkie to sing with them the next bit. So whatcha waiting for? Ain't you feelin' hungry yet? There's no reason For you not to get The very best apples At our happy little farm So, why don't you visit And sample our charms with... ALL THE APPLES YOU COULD EVER WANT (at Sweet Apple Acres!) ALL THE APPLES YOU COULD EVER WANT And more... (its a beautiful day, keep the doctor away) "Oh boy, now that's a great song. Say Luis, min' if ah borrow this here song to publish mah farm?" "But isn't that against copyright?" Twilight said; leave the egghead of the group to point small things like that. Wait, did I call Twi an egghead? Ugh, Rainbow is rubbing off on me. "Twilight, this was made on 'Earth', the owner doesn't live here so there is no need to worry about it. If people-" "Ponies" Everyone said to me at the same time. "ok. If 'Ponies' start asking as to where it came from, just say that Celestia gave it to you." "And that works how?" Twilight said not liking the idea at all. "I just-" a snap of a twig followed by a low growled stopped me from saying the rest. "Was that a manticore?" Twilight was looking everywhere, searching for any sights of what made the sound. "I don't know, I just hope we can ARRRRGH" Fluttershy screamed as she was carried by something, away from us and towards the dark. "Oh no you don't." rainbow went at top speed, hitting whatever that was carrying Fluttershy. Twilight wasted no time and sent an orb of light to float in the middle of the path, we could now see the surrounding better as the light shone in every directions, the fungus ceasing to glow as it was overpowered by the new source of light. The creature now revealed to us in the light. A manticore as large as a Humvee stood in the light with its claws extended out. Its fur was a grey colour that was dull to the light, it had a black mane to it's normal red one, the bat wings on its back extended out, going about as long as its body size from wing to wing. The scorpion tail straighten out, wiggling side to side waiting to strike a prey, and it's eyes as dark as the ones from the Timberwolves from early. "I'm guessing its another of the Nightmares minions." Twilight started to light her horn, ready to cast a spell whenever she need it. "Anyone know how to beat this overly size cat?" I asked around, maybe this time it could be easier to beat than the Timberwolves? "I think I know something that may help." Pinkie went towards the manticore. It growled at Pinkie's approached but didn't attack yet, looking at what she may try? Pinkie went to search behind her and pulled out a small pile of dust. "Want some catnip?" I immediately facehoof at that. 'Yeah Pinkie, just because it's part cat it means it can be affected by catnip (!)' Pinkie blew the dust towards the manticore's face, which it inhaled as it was caught by surprise by her act. I swung an arm at her, but missed by a foot (or two hoofs in pony measures), striking the ground and losing a bit of footing. "Way to go Pinkie." Rainbow cheered her as she bounced back to the, now the manticore swinging wild blows at her. 'Ok, so manticores can be affected by catnip, neat rick if I do say so myself.' "Ok now's our chance, let's get out of here before the catnip wears off." "Don't be such a chicken; we can totally take him on." Rainbow said in her normal ego. "I'm sorry, but... he will only be like this for a few minutes. I-I think it's best if we run, if you don't mind me saying?" "She's right guys, we don't have time to fight it and we terribly outmatched." "Oh fine, but I still think we could have taken it Twilight, just look at it...WHATCH OUT" We turn around to se the manticore jumping straight at us. We jumped to the sides and started to run to avoid the claws of it. Right now it was chasing Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie; going left and right as they avoided swipes from the large beast's arms. I launched itself to Rarity, which in response received a buck from her in return. "Get your filthy paws off of me." She started to run again, screaming as the manticore resumed chase on them. "I know how to beat him you know?" I jumped in shocked when I heard Pinkie's next to, she somehow manage to escape the manticore as it was now chasing Twilight. After calming myself down from her sudden appearance, I register what she said to me. "How? That thing is like a walking truck." "We need to get on his back; we can then control his movements so it goes where we want to." "Oh yeah, and how do you propose to get on top of it? We can't get near without being flattened by it." She just gave me a smile which made me uneasy. "Pinkie...what are you thinking?" She brings out her party cannon out of a bush and places it in front of me. She than moves behind me and lifts me up and pushes me into the cannon. "PINKIE!! What the fuck are you thinking?" She ignores me moves around the cannon to aim directly to manticore, as it is distracted by fighting with Rainbow trying to get her out of the air. "PONY AWAY" She screamed as she presses the button on the cannon and makes me go flying through the air. "SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITT!!!" What else was I suppose to say? I was being FIRED from Pinkie's cannon. I was sent rear first towards the manticore, as I didn't have time to turn inside the cannon to face forward. The manticore starts to turn around just in time to get hit in the face by my flank. The hit didn't do very much but manage to stunt it, while I flipped in the air to land on the back of the manticore. I open my eyes to stare down into the dark ones of the manticore, staying there for nearly a minute before I manage to say something. "Hi?" It was not happy to see me, and I wasn't really overjoyed by the idea either. So it immediately starts to trash and buck about, trying to fling me off its back. But I just held on to its mane, not daring to let go as my life was probably depending on it. "Yewhaa, ride'em good partner, now ya'all gotta take the bull by the horns" "NOT HELPING APPLEJACK." It was getting harder to hold on to the hair, getting more tire by the second as it moved more violent. I slipped a bit to a side but manage to save myself from falling by holding on to one of the ears, this caused it to roar in pain and start running the direction of where I was pulling the ear. I then saw what I needed to do, I went to grab the other ear with my other hoof, it was hard as they were far apart from each other. I pulled hard by the other ear which earned me a roar of pain and a turn in the direction that I pulled. "I got you now pussy." "Luis watch out, a tree in front-" everyone started saying "What?" Next thing I know, I smash in front of a tree with the manticore as well. "Ooooohh." I fell down to the ground, the manticore falling next to me; both of us were really stunned by the hit and could barely make out the surroundings. I tried to stand up, but a searing pain shot from my left hoof, I whimpered a bit at the pain as I tried to get away from the manticore. The growl from the manticore stopped me in my tracks, feeling the hot breath as it breathed on my shoulder, I could feel the hatred that it emanated from it. I turn around slowly, the light from the orb making the face of the manticore even more terrifying, it rose in two legs, shifting all of his weight to deliver a massive pound to me. I closed my eyes, waiting for the pain that the massive arms would do, but then I heard the sound of the air being ripped apart and the roar of the manticore in pain, I opened my eyes to look as four strings were attached to the side of the manticore, in the other end stood Rarity who was about to cast a spell. In a flash, Rarity let out the spell that sent an electrical charge through the strings, the manticore convulsing as it's body was assaulted by the massive energy that most likely would kill it. I t lasted for about ten seconds before it finally stop, Rarity looked exhausted from the magical strain. Then the body of the manticore started to fall, I didn't have time to react to it, so before I could even say anything I was buried under the body of a massive and very heavy manticore. "Oh horse feathers, I hope he's ok." Rainbow said as she flew to the body of the manticore, the girls following behind her. "Hey Luis, are you ok?" Pinkie asked like nothing was happening. "mmph. phisd phin..." came the muffle voice of me." Sorry, you have to say it louder." Pinkie, your impossible. "Get. This Thing. Off of Me." "Ooooh, why didn't you say so silly?" Seriously, if it wasn't for the fact that the body of a manticore was in top of me, I would have facehoof so hard, that I would have probably have given myself a concussion. But I didn't have to wait at all, because soon the body of the manticore started to evaporate into a black mist just like the Timberwolf, the weight of the body disappearing and the mist going away from where we were. "How are you feeling?" "I'm fine Twilight, just a broken hoof? ankle? leg? I don't know" Fluttershy launched herself at me, but instead of the expected worry reaction, I was confronted with a...scolding. "Why did you put yourself in danger again? it was hard enough that we though you were dead back at my house, now you want us to feel that again?" Everyone took a step back, not really expecting her to react that way. "Please Shy, calm down; I only got a broken...thing, no need to worry about it." "But that's exactly what I mean, you got hurt, but what if next tie is worst? What if next time is something we can't fix?" She was now flying to get the upper hand, trying to make me as small as possible. Well I wasn't about to let her. "I don't know, but that it's not important, all I wanted to do was to protect you all, even if it was Pinkie's idea to get me on top of the manticore, I would have still tried to do something." "If you care for us then why make us worry about you? If you wanted to protect us then you wouldn't put yourself at risk, we don't want to lose you again." she looked away and said another thing in a very low voice. "I don't want to lose you again." I didn't know what to say then, she was right about some things, I wasn't really a fighter and just slowed the girls down, even Shy had her Stare if she needed to defend herself. But I had nothing, just luck and my friends to relay on; but that didn't mean I was going to stand there and watch as they fought, I will tried to help them anyway I could no matter what. But was it really worth it? Fluttershy looked at me, seeing as I was uncertain as to what to think, so she decided to cut the discussion there. "We'll talk about this later, let's just keep going." She started to trot off towards where the mist had disappear to. "Don't worry Luis, we are here for you." Rainbow said, as the rest of the girls gave me a small reassuring smile. "Thanks girls, I just hope this all turns well." I looked back towards to where Fluttershy was going, her shape starting to get out of the reach of the light from the orb. 'I just wish I could tell the whole reason as to why I'm doing this' I though to myself as we started to move, Twilight concentrating on a spell to heal my hoof.