Sharp Wing stared at the sky through the spooky tree tops of the Everfree Forest. It was evening now, and would probably get darker soon. Sharp Wing doubted he would live through a night in the Everfree Forest with a giant branch pinning down his hind legs. But such thoughts were depressing, so Sharp Wing turned his thoughts to food. Apple Jack had been kind enough to bring him a delicious lunch of assorted apple-related goods earlier that day while he worked, but he hadn't had dinner yet. He most likely would have been eating dinner right now if it weren't for the manticore. Sharp Wing's food fantasies were interrupted by the faint sound of singing. As the singing voice grew closer he was able to make it out the lyrics.
"I'm looking at the mare in the mirror! I'm hoping that she'll change her ways!"
The singer was horribly off-key but Sharp Wing still recognized the song. It was a song by Sapphire Shores, the famous queen of pop.
"Would you please stop singing?" begged another voice.
"Why, you have something against Sapphire Shores?" asked the singer.
"I don't have anything against Sapphire Shores, but we need to focus on finding Sharp Wing before it gets dark."
"I am looking for Sharp Wing. I'm just singing at the same time to lighten the mood."
"And if Sharp Wing is calling for help we might not hear him over your singing."
It occurred then to Sharp Wing that calling for help would be a good right about now.
"Hey! I'm over here!" Sharp Wing yelled out in the most masculine way to call for help he could think of.
"Did you hear that?"
"It sounded like Sharp Wing!"
"I think it came from over there!"
Sharp Wing was filled with relief when he saw the familiar bright orange saddlebags and then the dark red coat of his best friend Frazzle Spark. Next to him was what looked like a floating pair of golden eyes. Doubtlessly the eyes belonged to his other best friend Night Mist, who, true to his name, was next to impossible to see at night because of his black coat. When the two ponies spotted Sharp Wing pinned under the branch they rushed over to him.
"Sharp Wing, you're alive! Can you feel your legs?" asked Frazzle Spark.
"Unfortunately, yes," replied Sharp Wing with a wince.
"Actually, I think it's a good thing if you can still feel your legs. Don't worry, we'll get you out," said Night Mist.
He turned to Frazzle Spark.
"Do you think you can levitate that log off of him?" he asked.
"I don't know. It looks heavy. Maybe if I turned some of it to ash first I could do it," Frazzle Spark said thoughtfully.
"I have an idea. Let's not set the branch on fire while I'm stuck underneath it alright?" hinted Sharp Wing.
"Yes, lets avoid roasting Sharp Wing," Night Mist agreed as he moved to the end of the big branch and stuck his hooves underneath it. "I'll help you lift it, on three."
Frazzle Spark and Night Mist counted to three and lifted up the branch with the combined effort of unicorn magic and earth pony strength. Sharp Wing pulled out his hind legs and wearily stood up.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm famished. Have either of you had dinner yet?" inquired Sharp Wing, playing it cool.
"No, we've been too busy helping everypony look for you," responded Frazzle Spark.
"Speaking of which, we should probably set off the firecracker to let everypony know you're okay," suggested Night Mist.
Frazzle Spark floated a fire cracker out his saddle bag and used his ignition spell to light the fuse. The fire cracker shot up into the sky and exploded into dazzling blue light.
"Um, Fraz?" said Night Mist.
"Yeah?"
"That was the blue firecracker."
"Yeah I know. I'm not colorblind."
"We were supposed to use blue if we found Sharp Wing dead."
"I thought red was dead."
"No, it was blue."
"You sure?"
"I'm positive."
Frazzle Spark sighed, plucked the red firecracker out of his saddlebag, and launched it.
"If anypony asks, you were dead and we resurrected you," he said to Sharp Wing.
"I'm sure they'll figure out what happened," Night Mist said with a smile. "Now let's get back to the town hall."
It was Rarity who spotted the three of them arrive at the town hall first.
"You're alive!" gasped Rarity when she saw Sharp Wing.
"Sorry to disappoint you," replied Sharp Wing with a shrug.
"Don't say that! I was worried sick! When I saw the red fire cracker I-" she drifted off, suddenly confused. "Wait, why did you send off the red one after the blue if he was alive?" she asked Frazzle Spark.
"Red was for alive. Blue was for dead," insisted Night Mist.
"No it wasn't. Twilight Sparkle said red was dead because it rhymed and would be easier to remember," Rarity argued.
Night Mist started to reply but stopped. Evidently he did remember.
Sharp Wing spent the next hour getting hugged by ponies he knew, ponies he kind of knew, and ponies who were complete strangers to him but he pretended to know anyway. After that Pinkie Pie invited everyone to an impromptu party to celebrate that Sharp Wing, was in fact, not dead after all. Sharp Wing was about to help himself to a second slice of cake when several ponies dragged him up on a stage for a speech. Suddenly he was the center of attention of all of Ponyville to an even greater degree than before.
Sharp Wing didn't feel any stage fright. If there was one thing he was good at besides his cutie mark talent, it was improvising.
"Well, as you can see, I'm not dead," he began smoothly. Scattered applause.
"I don't know how many of you know how I wound up in the Everfree Forest, so I'll start at the beginning. I was helping Apple Jack at her farm when I heard a manticore roar. I instantly dropped what I was doing and rushed off to the rescue. To my surprise I saw that Apple Jack was already riding the thing like a bull. I swear to Princess Celestia that manticore was more scared then the cows it had been trying to eat."
Sharp Wing paused as many ponies laughed.
"But it was still roaring and kicking, so I hopped on its back to finish the job. Unfortunately my sword was dull from hacking through wood all day long and wasn't any good for stabbing. So I did the only thing I could think and just started to smacking that manticore on the head. Needless to say smacking a manticore to death is a very time consuming process. Apple Jack and I invited a bunch of other ponies up there and we all played at least twenty games of poker while we waited."
Another pause for another round of laughter.
"Apple Jack won every single game, which is why I'll be working my tail off for the next five months to pay her off."
Sharp Wing held a hoof up to his mouth and leaned forward as if he was about to reveal a secret.
"I think she cheats," he stage-whispered.
The entire crowd laughed again, Apple Jack the hardest of all.
"So eventually the manticore got sick of being hit on the head and Apple Jack winning and took off for the Everfree Forest. Apple Jack had the brains to get off but I held and kept smacking the thing like a stubborn mule."
Too late, Sharp Wing realized that there were several mules in the crowd. Time to adapt.
"By stubborn mule, I mean a mule that just happens to be stubborn," he added.
"We're used to it!" called out an old mule, setting off yet another bout of laughter. Crisis averted.
"So I was riding on the manticore and through a series of unfortunate events I wound up pinned under a branch so huge it might as well have been a tree. I was quite certain I was going to die."
Sharp Wing paused again to let that sink in. The crowd was subdued.
"But Apple Jack, who is now and forever more my hero, organized a search party and I was saved. Apple Jack, I owe you my life and I'm grateful from the bottom of my heart."
The crowed whooped and cheered for Apple Jack, who lowered the brim of her hat a little because of the attention.
"I also want to give a shout out to my friends Night Mist and Frazzle Spark for finding me, although it's my understanding there was a little bit of confusion about which colors meant what."
Sharp Wing had the satisfaction of seeing Night Mist's face redden.
"And last but certainly not least, I would like to thank all of you for helping in the search. It means a lot to me to know I live in a town that cares about me."
Sharp Wing smiled, gave a small nod, and left the stage while Ponyville applauded his speech. Apple Jack was waiting for him.
"Ya seriously exaggerated the role ah played in all of this," she informed him.
"You're too modest. I gave you the credit you deserved. You should just consider yourself lucky that I didn't tell all of Ponyville the real reason you saved me," Sharp Wing said causally.
"Oh really?" Apple Jack said with a raised brow, "And just what is the real reason exactly?"
"You just needed sompony to prune your apple trees."
"Ya really are something else, Sharp Wing." Apple Jack chuckled.
"Yeah, an idiot who rode a manticore into the Everfree Forest all by himself."
"That too. Now ya better get a lot of rest so ya can finish with the apple trees tomorrow ya hear?"
"I hear you," Sharp Wing confirmed as he went out the door. All the other ponies were starting to drift out as well. "Good night, Apple Jack."
"Night, Sharp Wing."
Once outside Sharp Wing vaulted up into the sky and flew towards his home, a simple cottage with a thatched roof. As he entered his house, or rather, as he preferred to call it, the bachelor pad, Sharp Wing realized he was missing both of his swords. One was at the barn and the dull one was in Everfree forest. He could retrieve both of them easily enough. Sharp Wing's mood darkened. It was the manticore's fault he was missing his swords. It was the manticore that had hurt his wing, gave him a rope burn, and nearly killed him in Everfree Forest. The manticore had beaten him. Humiliated him. It deserved to die. Sharp Wing would track it down and kill it for all the trouble it had given him. These thoughts of hatred stayed with Sharp Wing as he went to sleep. But something else embedded itself into his mind as well. "You really are something else, Sharp Wing." were the words Apple Jack had used. That compliment made up for some of the troubles.
Little did Sharp Wing know how horrifyingly true that statement would become.