It was late in the afternoon in Ponyville. Everything seemed like a normal day for everypony, except for a certain yellow pegasus that was patrolling the outskirts of the town. Fluttershy had been spending most of the afternoon searching for one of her animal friends, Harry the bear. Usually, the large, gentle bear would only disappear for a couple of days at most if he decided to stroll around the forest, but no one had seen him in days.
“Oh, where could he be?” she muttered in worry, brushing her pink mane away from her face as she looked around the area. Then, a loud series of squeaks caught her attention. She turned to find her white bunny, Angel, rushing towards her. “Oh, Angel, did you find Harry?” Flutttershy asked hopefully.
Angel looked like he wanted to squeak something to her, only to soon look down glumly. “Oh, no. Did something bad happen to him?” Fluttershy asked.
Angel was hesitant to show Fluttershy what he found, but knew that she needed to know. So, he motioned her with a paw to follow him before running off along the tree line. Fluttershy followed him until he stopped and sadly pointed off to the distance. She looked over to where he was pointing, and it suddenly felt like the world stopped. There was no mistaking the lump of brown fur as her friend, Harry.
“No. No. No,” she whimpered to herself as she slowly approached her friend, hoping and praying that the worst hadn’t occurred. But the closer she got to him, the more visible the burn marks on his fur became. She also began to notice the puddle of blood that formed around him. By the time she reached him, she had already come to the conclusion that he was dead.
She fell to her haunches and cried loudly into her forehooves. As she mourned her friend, Angel hopped up to her and began to pet her comfortingly. When she began to calm down, she looked over the body and said aloud, “What did this to you?” She saw that, along with the burn marks, there were large bite marks on him body and that Harry’s head was completely crushed. “Did…did a dragon do this?” she shakingly pondered.
The sudden sound of a few twigs breaking in the forest caught Angel’s attention. He turned toward the source, lifting his ears up to try to hear anything else. Right as he was about to brush it off, he heard a deep, heavy breathing. To him, it sounded like it was coming form a creature that was excited about something, and that terrified him.
He rapidly tapped Fluttershy’s back to get her attention. She turned to him, wiping the tears from her eyes. “W-what is it, Angel?” She was met with a series of squeaks that she understood clearly.
“We need to leave! Now!”
“But…but what about Harry?”
“Leave him! We gotta save ourselves! I think there’s something out ther-”
A loud growl became audible to the two of them, interrupting Angel. They both looked toward the forest and saw a large shape behind the foliage. The only feature they could see clearly was a pair of piercing yellow eyes.
Fluttershy rose to her hooves very slowly to get ready to run. Unfortunately for her, the creature knew that it had been found out and charged out of the forest with a roar. Fluttershy let out a screech, the only thing she saw was a jaw filled with large, sharp teeth. She lept out of the way, managing to avoid the creature’s massive bite.
The creature, however, was not deterred by the miss and swung its head toward the pegasus, hitting her and sending her flying. She curled up in pain when she skidded to a stop, wrapping her forehooves around her stomach. While Angel ran up to her to try to help her up, she opened her eyes and finally got a good look at the creature. It was like nothing she had ever seen before.
The creature was about two stories tall, most of its height coming from its two powerful legs. Its large body was pink with a pelt of dark purple feathers starting from the base of its neck to the tip of its long tail. Its tail counterbalanced the creature’s large jaw, its lower fangs giving it the appearance of an underbite. The only feature that wasn’t threatening looking was its pair of tiny arms. Fluttershy froze in fear as she stared at the creature, because it was staring at her hungrily.
“Please…no,” she desperately pleaded. Angel stood defensively between them in a vain attempt to protect Fluttershy. The creature took slow, purposeful steps as it studied its prey. Angel turned away, but Fluttershy continued to watch it and waited for the final bite.
Right as she thought that it was going to make one final lunge, she heard the sound of a taunt rope being released, almost like a slingshot firing a rock. At first, she thought she was hearing things. Then, a bright light went off in front of the creature’s face, blinding both it and Fluttershy.
During that period of blindness, Fluttershy started to hear the sound of a blade cutting into flesh and the creature roaring in pain. Sight came to her soon after, as she looked over to where the creature was standing, but found something else as well. Another, much smaller, creature was squaring off with the creature that attacked her.
This new, bipedal creature looked more like a warrior as it stood in a crouched position. Its body was covered in black and orange scales with various spikes jutting out. Most notable were the two large spikes that were jutting out of the sides of its head. But the more Fluttershy observed it, the odder its body seemed to her. The way that the scaled plates were attached to its body, along with some visible pieces of metal, led Fluttershy to believe it was wearing armor. That’s when she noticed an odd-looking crossbow on its right arm.
That is armor! She thought in astonishment. But the scales on its armor looks so…real. She then took notice of the weapons it was holding in its hands. Its left hand was holding a short, curved sword while a small shield was in its right. Both of which looked like they were made of bone, decorated by light blue fur.
Before she could inspect the warrior any further, the larger creature let out a rage filled roar. She watched as it recovered from its own blindness and stare directly at the newcomer. It figured out fairly quickly that it was responsible for the bright light. It charged at its new rival with an angry roar, attempting to bite it.
The warrior rolled out of the way. It sliced at the creature’s jaw twice, specks of lightning coming from the blade with each strike. The creature, seemingly unaffected by the attack, tried to take another bite at it, but the warrior blocked it with its shield. It then bashed its jaw with the shield before taking a large leap back.
Fluttershy was amazed. This new creature was only double her size and was still much smaller than the monster. Yet, not only did it bravely challenge it by itself, but so far it was winning against its more powerful foe.
The large monster glared angrily as it took a cautious step back. It then hunched itself closer to the ground before it let out an angry roar. A pair of dorsal sails flared out by its legs and a nasal crest unfolded from the top of its jaw. Its throat turned red as specks of fire came out of its mouth. The warrior crouched down lower in anticipation.
The monster then swung its head back before throwing it forward, a stream of fire escaping from its jaw. Its target, however, expertly avoided the flame and quickly charged at the monster, striking its head with his shield.
After a few blows, the monster suddenly started the careen backwards. It squawked in pain until it fell to the ground and began to flail around. The warrior used this opportunity to rapidly slash at the monster, then struck it twice with its shield before leaping back again. This time, however, it crouched close to the ground as a red aura surrounded its blade. It then leapt forward to slash it with its sword, slashed it again when it jumped in the air, and punched it with its shield as it landed on the ground.
The monster then got up before letting out a loud roar. The roar was deafening enough to stun the warrior for a period of time, giving the monster the opportunity to quickly escape into the woods. When the warrior recovered, it let out an annoyed growl before he started to chase after it.
Fluttershy, who had also recovered from the roar, tried to get up to run home, but fell back down to the ground. The pain in her ribs was excruciating, causing her to whimper in pain. The warrior heard her whimpers and stopped to turn to her. “Please…help,” she begged.
The warrior flinched back when she spoke and stared at her for a moment. She was unable to see its expression, since its helmet obscured its face, not making her feel any safer. It then let out a deep breath before placing the sword on the back of its waist and ran over to her. It stopped when it loomed over her and pulled a dagger-like object from its waist.
“N-no…” she trailed out fearfully as she watched it raise it up in the air. She closed her eyes as she waited for him to strike her with it. She heard it strike, but she didn’t feel anything. She opened her eyes to see the object planted right in front of her as a green cloud escaped from it. As time went on, the pain began to dissipate until it was gone altogether.
“Are you alright?” a masculine voice came from behind its helmet as it crouched in front of her.
“Mhmm,” she nodded fearfully, crawling back some.
The creature stared at her for a few seconds before letting out a sigh. His hands came up to his helmet, lifting it to reveal a peach colored face with a black patch of hair on top. “There, is that better?” he asked.
Fluttershy’s fear turned into curiosity as she stared into his brown eyes. “Um…yes.”
“Good, cause I need you to tell me something. Where am I and what is that Anjanath doing here?”