The manticore had been waiting. Shoes had barely cleared the back door before it came crashing down behind her, and it hadn’t given the dashing mare an inch as she wove through every alley the city could offer. She skittered around a corner, and the beast crashed through the gap, roaring. It was not giving up, and Shoes couldn’t last much longer.
Up ahead… The building to the left was damaged. If she could maybe apply some telekinesis to the wall, then maybe…
The manticore pounced, breaking her concentration, and sending her careening through the air. She bounced, rolled, and slid to a stop in the open. Aware of the manticore hungrily approaching, she scrambled to her hooves, looking about. The impact had thrown her into the center of one of Everfree’s main thoroughfares. A dusty cobble street some six carts broad. There was no cover within reach, nothing to dash around, and the manticore knew it.
Panicking, Shoes levitated a rock to throw at the beast. It just huffed at her act of defiance in disdain, and continued to steadily draw up to the cornered pony. Shoes swallowed, and closed her eyes.
The manticore roared.
She winced.
Then all was white.