We had been walking for almost a full day. Surprisingly, nothing attacked us during the night as we walked. The incessant questions from my companion had stopped after about an hour after they had started by me simply telling her to shut up, thankfully. We walked in silence up until about an hour prior when she started complaining about being tired. That was when I noticed another new thing about Changelings, they didn’t need sleep, or at least not nearly as much as a pony or human. I was getting irritated with her constant complaining. She reminded me of Rarity. Of all the ponies I had to run into it had to be one like her, of course they wouldn’t just give me one I’d be able to get along with, whoever ‘they’ were. I finally decided that enough was enough and that I would try the same thing that shut her up before.
“Would you kindly shut the heck up?” I said as I turned my head to look at her, doing my best to avoid cursing.
“No,” she said, which surprised me. She continued by saying, “We have been walking for nearly eighteen hours straight. I don’t know how you can even manage without even looking tired, but just because you don’t need to rest doesn’t mean that I don’t either.”
She was right. I may not have liked her much, but she was right. If we didn’t stop soon she would likely collapse and that was the last thing I wanted because I couldn’t just leave her to die to whatever creature might find her, and because I wasn’t keen on the idea of carrying her unconscious body. I also figured that by now she definitely needed food, so I could use the time she’s sleeping to go find some.
“Alright,” I said plainly.
“Really?” she asked, surprised that I gave into her demands so easily.
“Yep. Pick a spot, any spot. Lay down and get some rest. I’ll go find some food while you’re asleep.”
She sighed in relief as she looked around quickly before walking over to the base of a nearby tree and slumped against it. She didn’t even question the fact that I was leaving her alone, in the middle of a forest. She was fast asleep.
That took less time than I thought it would. Was the only thought in my mind as I turned around and began walking in search of food.
As I walked I took in the scenery around me, it was bright. The trees all around were lush and rather large in height, but small in width. I couldn’t tell the exact colour of the leaves with everything tinted cyan but I assumed they were green. Ahead of me was a fairly clear path so it wouldn’t be very hard to find my way back. I saw leaves decorating the ground occasionally, giving the place a bit of a cozy feel. I also noticed a river off to the right.
I walked for around ten minutes before I finally realized something I had neglected to consider. I was leaving an exhausted mare defenseless in the middle of a potentially dangerous forest...
It was then I heard a very loud roar, and then a scream of terror, both in the direction I came from. If I had pupils, they would have dilated at this very moment. My horn flared as I immediately turned around and began sprinting. My body was engulfed in green flame as I changed into a bear once again, increasing the speed at which I ran tenfold.
Stupid, stupid, stupid! How could I just leave her like that and not expect this shit to happen!?
After about a minute of running due to my enhanced speed, I was incredibly quick at getting back to where she was in comparison to how long it took to get to where I previously was. What I saw caused my heart to skip a beat but it didn’t not cause me to slow down in the slightest. There, stalking towards my companion was a Manticore. He didn’t even see me coming as he was focused on the Unicorn he thought was to be his next meal. I ran full speed at the beast, and rammed into him with my shoulder. I tackled him right into a tree he was standing beside, the force of the impact as well as our weight actually causing it to snap and fall to the ground. We both tumbled over the fallen tree to opposites sides.
I was the first to rise as I stood to my full height at walked out, standing right in front of Sunbeam while looking at the Manticore as he rose from the shock of being surprised. I extended my claws and barred my teeth at him, trying to look as fierce as possible. He simply did the same, before he charged me, claws out front. I met his claws with my own as we each began to try and overpower the other while wrestling our arms for dominance. He was beginning to win, but when I looked back at the terrified face of Sunbeam, I’m not sure what happened exactly, I seemed to gain strength I didn’t even know this body had as I pushed forward, forcing the Manticore off of me and causing him to stumble back a fair bit.
I dropped down onto three of my paws while holding my right paw up in the air with all of my claws at the ready. I knew I couldn’t talk but for whatever reason I decided to say something, mostly as a joke to myself and one that only I would get. But I wasn’t expecting for the words to actually come out of my mouth.
“Bring it!” I yelled in a somehow familiar voice. Despite the shock of actually being able to speak, I didn’t hesitate as I charged the beast, spearing him in the abdomen with a tackle and causing us to tumble on the ground once more.
We both rose at the same time. Immediately he lunged at me and I brought up my left arm just in time for him to bite down on it, causing blood to seep out of the wound, and me to howl in pain. I brought my right paw around as I punched him in the head, he became slightly dazed, but didn’t let go of my arm. I punch him again, and again, and again but he barely let his grip go. Finally after about ten punches to the head he let go just enough for me to slip my arm out of his jaws. I immediately took advantage of his dazed state as I grabbed both of his arms. As I did so, searing pain shot through my left arm, but I ignored it. Once I grabbed hold, I spun, turning a full 360 degrees while using all of my strength to lift the creature off the ground and threw him, right into a tree about five feet away. He slumped against it, growling in pain.
I took the time I had to survey my wound. My left arm was bleeding profusely and I felt a bit woozy from the blood loss. By the time I looked back up, he was already on me again. I barely had time to react as he swiped his claw at me, I pulled back as quick as I could, causing his to claw to just barely graze my nose, cutting it open. I could feel blood as it dripped off of my snout while I reacted by winding back my fist, while having just barely having dodged a death blow, and coming back in for a devastating punch to his head. He stumbled back in a daze from the hit.
I realized then, that I was barely wounding him, while he had already drawn blood from me twice. If I didn’t start fighting to kill rather than what I was currently trying to do, which was simply hurt it enough so that it ran away, I was likely going to die. There was no other option at this point, I couldn’t avoid it, despite how much I wanted to. There was no way I’d be able grab Sunbeam and run in my current condition. It was either fight to kill, or die. I tried to breathe deep, but when I did I felt sharp pain shoot through my nose. I glared at the still-dazed beast that stood before me as I unwrapped my paws so that they were no longer fists and let my claws hang out as I waited for him to attack me.
When he finally came out of his daze, he immediately charged at me. I ducked down low once he got close and forced my shoulder into his stomach as I flipped him directly over top of me, barely avoiding getting stung by his stinger, and causing him to land on the ground behind me with a resounding thud, as well as a squeal of pain. I turned around to see why it was he squealed and saw his stinger off to the side of him, it had cracked and all but snapped off from the impact of an awkward landing. The poison as well a fair amount of blood mixed in to make it seem greenish spilt out of the large wound that was left. However, that didn’t stop the Manticore from standing back up, the stinger hanging lazily behind him, barely attached. When he charged blindly at me again, I did the same thing, only this time I dug my right claw into his abdomen and used my left to grab hold of and rip off what was left of his stinger. When he landed this time, he had no more stinger and puncture wounds in his abdomen.
I tossed the stinger to the side as I turned around like an idiot and began to walk away. It was only when I felt heavy arms on me while tumbling to the ground with the beast that I realized my stupid mistake. As we tumbled together on the ground, we each fought and wrestled for dominance, rolling several feet, before finally I got the upper hand due to him being in a blind rage. I didn’t waste any time, opening up my maw, I bit into his neck, finishing the Manticore as it twitched violently for a few seconds before stopping altogether, dropping his arms as he breathed out his last breath.
I got up slowly, my face covered in the Manticore’s - as well as my own - blood. I walked over to Sunbeam, wincing every time my left arm moved. She had a disbelieving look on her face, as if she couldn’t comprehend what had just transpired in front of her. She looked at me, who was covered in blood before speaking.
“You’re hurt,” she said with concern in her voice.
“It’s only a flesh wound,” I responded in that same familiar voice, with a slight, faked Cockney accent. I couldn’t get over the fact that I could somehow talk now, as well as how dumb I must have sounded earlier, shouting that phrase. Why the hell wasn’t I able to before? It didn’t make any sense whatsoever to me. But still, despite the pain, I managed a small smirk at what I said.
Something else that confused me at that moment was Why the fuck does blood taste so damn good? But I didn’t dwell on the thought.
I looked down at my arm, it wasn’t bleeding much anymore, but it was definitely covered in blood and cut up pretty bad from the bites. I didn’t know what would happen if I changed back to my regular form with such serious wounds and I didn’t want to risk it, plus I could talk in this form just fine now, so I didn’t see much of a point.
“But we need to get you some medical attention,” she said as she stood up groggily, still tired, and walked up to me with concern written all over her face.
“I’ll be fine. At least until we get to the next town,” is what I said, but truth be told, I was a little worried about whether or not I would be...
My nose hurt, a lot. It was still bleeding and I wasn’t entirely sure what to do about it. I would need to get some bandages for my arm as soon as possible, but I wasn’t sure what to do about my nose, it wasn’t like I could just bandage it up as well.
“I hope you’re right, but who knows how long that will take. I won’t be able to get very far, I still need to rest after all.”
“There’s a river nearby. It’ll be safer to rest there. Come on,” I motioned for her to follow as I walked off to the right, still on two legs. I didn’t dare trying to walk on all fours, as I knew I wouldn’t be able to.
When we reached the river I let her find a place to sleep while I walked right up to the river. I quickly looked down at my reflection, I was a bloody mess, my face completely covered in blood as well as most of the upper half of my body. I dropped down onto my right arm and dunked my head into the water, drinking some of it while ignoring the sudden pain, then I began to submerge my left arm in the water in order to clean the blood off as well as clean the wounds. I winced at the pain but I didn’t stop. After I had done enough, I proceeded to walk into the river and wash my entire body.
Once I was finished, I walked out of the river and over to a tree near Sunbeam, who was currently asleep, laying my back against it and slumping down onto my ass. It was time for rest, at least for her. I still wasn’t tired, even after that fight, well, at least not tired enough to sleep. I resigned to just sit there and keep Sunbeam safe as she slept, when she wakes, we would move out and try to find a town, then I could find a way to heal my wounds and turn back to my Changeling form.
There, sitting in that spot, looking at my wounds, I realized something. That was my first real fight. Not just here, but in my entire life. …And I loved every second of it…
Author's Notes: That was my first real attempt at writing a fight scene, I hope I didn't mess it up too badly. Anyways, I made a League of Legends reference and a Monty Python and the Holy Grail reference, let me know if you found them.