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// Bad start 
// Story: Demon of the Everfree 
// by Shatter Steel 
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I awoke slightly with a throbbing headache and my whole body feeling like it was being weighed down by lead. Even my eyelids were a struggle to open. As I finally was able to open my eyes and prop myself up to get a better look at my surroundings, I noticed I have no bloody clue where the hell I am. Everywhere I looked was nothing but dense woods. I tried to recall how I got here but kept getting distracted by the ominous feeling I was getting from the woods, like the trees themselves were watching me. I decided its high time I get my butt moving.

"Ugh, come on ya bastard, get the hell up!" I said to myself as I forced my aching body up. I looked up for any sign of the sun. By the looks of it, it was probably around 3:00 to 4:00 in the afternoon. Using the sun as a compass I decided to go north, as a walked I tried to recall how I got in such a place.

"Let's see, last I remember was in some cave while on a camping trip with myself," I said to myself, "I don't recall leaving, so how in the bloody hell did I get here?" 

My head started clearing up more and I checked myself for any clues to how I ended up where I was. I found myself still wearing the clothes that I was wearing before, denim jeans, a light grey t-shirt and my old leather jacket. I patted myself down finding my survival hatchet and hunting knife strapped to my belt along with zippo lighter and flint in my pocket. My backpack had a few snacks, a towel, some extra clothes, and my 9mm with an extra box of bullets. I continued walking for what seemed like an hour not seeming to be making any progress. I was about to rest when i heard a loud shriek that sounded like a little girl followed by a loud roar.

I ran toward the direction I believed the scream came from as fast as I could. "Well so much for resting" I thought as  I neared closer to my destination. I looked around for any sign's for someone, then I heard the same little voice screaming "Help!" followed only seconds by another roar to my left. I ran a little but further drawing my knife and hatchet just in case. I finally came into view of what I assumed made the roar. When I saw it, I immediately thought i must have eaten some shrooms or something, because what was in front of me was what looked like a lion but with large wings that resembled that of a bats and a tail of a scorpion, and best of all it somehow stood almost two feet taller than me.  I halted to an immediate stop, or at least tried, since I seemed to have misplaced my footing and slid along the ground right into a nice thorny bush, not my best of times really.

"The hell is that thing?!" I practically shouted, quickly covering my mouth to prevent myself from getting myself killed. Fortunately the thing didn't seem to notice me, instead the beast was focused on what seemed to be a little filly pony quivering in a little ball; I looked closer wondering why the hell was that pony yellow and wearing a big red bow in its mane at the same time wondering where the little girl I heard was. Unfortunately both my answers got answered quickly at the same time.

"SOMEPONY HELP ME!!" the little filly screamed out. As each second ticked by in my head I questioned my sanity. The beast roared again and raised one of its paws up to strike the filly, and for some god forsaken reason I reacted by running in to the rescue. Before the beasts paw could reach the filly I swung my hatchet rights into its paw, successfully knocking it away and successfully pissing it off apparently. I stood tall between the monster and the strange filly.

"Dont just sit there, MOVE!!" I yelled at her. She just stared at me confused, at least I'm not the only one. "Did you not hear me, GO!!!" That seemed to catch her attention. "I can't, my leg stuck!" I looked and sure enough her back right leg had got caught in some thick thorny vines. "Shit" I thought to myself as I tried to think up of a plan. The beast didn't seem to willing to wait for me to make a plan as it charged toward me to make another strike. I ducked under the swing and lunged towards its chest and stabbed my knife as deep as i could hoping i might hit something important. The monster roared in pain and knocked me back with another strike from its paw making me lose my knife as well. 
I readied my hatchet for a strike but was surprised by its tail shoot towards me and striking me in my left arm. "Well shit," I decided it was best time to run and fast. I grabbed the filly, yanking her out of the vines and ran as fast as I could the opposite direction. It didn't seem like the monster was chasing us but I wasn't gonna stop and look. I ran as fast I could with my injured arm, but my vision was fading quickly. I didn't make it two minutes before i collapsed into the ground.

"Mister, the manticore stung you in the arm!" she said in a panicked voice. "Hold on I'll try to find something for it."

I saw her limp away past the bushes before my eyes closed, the last thing I heard was a heavily southern accented voice, "Applebloom, were are ya?!!"