Chapter 3:
Aaron woke, sitting straight up in his make-shift bed, when a noise in a nearby bush caught his attention. He was focusing all his senses on the bush, seeing if it would move again. Then, the bush started to shake again, making a god awful noise all the while.
Aaron grabbed the spear head and took a defensive stance. He wasn't sure what to expect and he was wasn't fully awake yet either. Half groggy, Aaron stared down the bush in question.
Aaron was prepared to fight what ever it was, but sleeping on the ground would make this task hard as he was suffering from a kinked neck and a throbbing headache. He was ignoring the pain, but it was definitely going to be a factor.
He went to take a step towards the bush, but the searing pain coming from his gash on his leg stopped his movement. So instead, he just sat there waiting. The shaking of the bush and noise finally stopped. Aaron tensed up, not sure if he could handle anything dangerous in this condition.
(Gulp) “Come out and show yourself!” Aaron shouted at the bush.
More shaking and out stepped the cause of the noise. Aaron felt stupidity and his pride being crushed when he looked upon the harmless white bunny that was now in front of the bush, looking at him with innocent eyes.
Aaron quickly out what was left of his pride behind him a gingerly bent down to a more relaxed position. “And here I thought I was in immediate danger.” Aaron said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
As if a switch was turned on, the rabbits demeanor went from a sweet innocent creature too a terrifying one. No longer did the bunny have the sweet big eyes but now bore crimson colored pupils that showed a lot of anger.
His white coat turned a dark shade of gray. His paws sprouted razor sharp steak knife sharp claws. He had several sharp teeth protruding from his snout. His limbs stretched out, making the recently two foot rabbit a now six foot monster.
“You have got to be shitting me.” Aaron said to himself.
Aaron returned to a fighting stance and squared up the beast. It snarled and both soon-to-be combatants started moving around the clearing, moving in a circle and studying each others movements.
The rabid rabbit saw a opening and shot suddenly at the human. Without any hesitation, Aaron rolled out of the way and quickly reared himself up at the beast. The creature was shocked at Aaron's speed was determined to catch his prey.
He lunged again, this time not fully leaping so he could move with the human. Aaron recognized this and this time when he rolled he swung the spear head, grazing the side of the beast as it was trying to side-swipe Aaron.
The creature roared in pain and examined the wound. The warm blood running down his side sent rage coursing it's body. He turned an snarled at the now grinning human.
Aaron on the other hand had confidence pouring out of every crevasse of his body. 'I guess I will get some food this morning, and I won't even have to work for it!' He couldn't help but smile as the beastly rabbit lunged at him again.
This time, Aaron went to deliver the final blow, and lept forward at his assailant. Aaron plunged the spear head into the rabbit's chest cavity as they meet. The rabbit on the other hand, dug his claws into Aaron leg, right above the gash.
The rabbit was lifeless in a matter of moments after they crashed on the ground and Aaron was in pain again, grasping his new wound with both hands trying to stop the bleeding.
“Fuck!” Aaron grunted. He took off his top shirt and ripped it in half. He tied on half above the wound to stop the bleeding and use the other half to soak up the blood off of his leg.
When the bleeding finally stopped and most of the blood was wiped away, Aaron crawled over to the lifeless body of his attacker and yanked the bloody spear head out of its chest. After wiping the blood off on his green wife beater, Aaron began gutting the rabbit.
When he was satisfied that he removed all the inedible organs, he skinned the creature and sit the pelt next to him on the ground. He would use the fur as a blanket until he could find a reasonable shelter.
Aaron then hobbled around and gathered some larger logs and some kindling to start a fire to cook his meal. After creating a small tipi with the twigs and get it to catch along with some grass and dead leaves, around skewered piece of meat with the shaft that he saved of the spear and cooked several pieces.
After eating his fill, Aaron cooked the rest of the rabbit and put the cooked pieces in the pocket of his gray cargo shorts. Filling full and bit groggy from blood loss, Aaron limped down the path, further into the forest to find some berries and such to keep him full for tonight.
Unbeknown to him, the scent of his blood was draw the attention of a predator far more powerful than a little bunny.
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At Sugar Cube Corner, Twilight and the rest of the Elements of Harmony were having brunch. It started out as a friendly get together, but after discussing the events that transpired last night, Twilight and her friends were growing curious as to what is going on.
“So,” Rarity started quizzically, “You're saying that the princess know what that foul beast is that scared Fluttershy but she won't tell what it is?”
Twilight looked at her friend and addressed her question, “It's just a suggestion, but it would seem like she knows more than she is letting on. She also has never made us be held back from a search party. It's like she thinks we as the bearers can't do it for some reason.”
All of her friends stared at her, each with a contemplating look on their faces, save Fluttershy who was hiding behind her mane and being quieter than usual. Rainbow Dash seemed to have noticed this.
“Are you okay, Shy? You seem to be a tad bit quieter than I'm used to seeing you be.”
The timid mare broke a way from her stupor and addressed her rainbowed friend. “Huh? Oh, um... I was just thinking, thats all.”
“Ah bout what, sugercube?” Applejack asked. 'Were ya thinkin bout that thing from yesterday?”
The yellow mare nodded her head 'yes.' “I just can't get my mind off of it. The encounter was so strange. When he saw me, it was like a look of recognition. Every time I think about it, i-it... i-it... it just gives me the creeps!”
Pinkie Pie, who was up to this point getting her fill of desserts, piped up. “Oh silly, he recognized you because you're one of his favorite ponies!” With her peace being said, Pinkie went back to indulging on sugary sweets.
They all looked at their bubbly in confusion. “Erm... riiiiiiight.” Twilight said, brushing it off as one of Pinkie's 'special moments.' “Anyway, didn't you happen to notice anything other than his eyes. You know, what did it look like?”
“Well,” she started, “He was tall, maybe as tall as Celestia. He had a short brown mane on the top of his head, but he seemed no to have any fur. He ran on two legs and had two arms with claws. He had on gray, what I would assume to be shorts. He had a a red top on. The poor thing, he also had a cut on his one leg and it looked deep.”
"I'm surprised you got all of that before you fell flat on your flank unconscious!" Rainbow Dash added with a chuckle.
"Rainbow!" Twilight yelled, "That wasn't very nice!"
Rainbow Dash looked at her lavender friend and grinned. "Who said I was nice?" Twilight just looked at her with a unamused stared. "Fiiiiiiiiiine!" she whined. "Sorry Shy, just got carried away there."
"Oh, t-that's okay Rainbow, I forgive you." The timid mare said, smiling at her friend.
Twilight let out a sigh of relief and took a it from her hay fries. With the description fresh in her mind, she couldn't wait to get back to the library and see if she could find something similar to what Fluttershy had described.
"Twilight dear, what about Luna? Did you ask her yet?" Rarity chimed in.
"Huh?" Twilight said snapping out of her thoughts. "I was actually gonna write her a letter later to day."
Seeming to fine with this answer, Rarity nodded her head and continued eating. The six friends sat there in silence, save Pinkie, and ate the rest of their meals. After finishing, they each said their goodbye's and left.
Applejack had work on the farm. Fluttershy was taking care of a injured cockroach. Pinkie was, well, no pony knows what she was doing. RD went back to 'work'. Rarity had to go find gems for a new piece. With no distractions Twilight went back to the library and began her studies.
About a hour into it, Twilight had gone through half the library to find anything, but time and time again all she could find were more questions.
"Ugh! Why do I keep getting more questions then I do answers!" Twilight moaned.
Then, a small chuckle sounded throughout the room. "My, my miss Sparkle. Don't you know can't always find the answers you seek is in a book?"
Twilight looked around the room nervously. "W-who are you?"
Twilight's shadow suddenly started taking shape in front of her, rising off the ground while did. "Silly filly, don't remember the voice of you good friend..."
The shadow finally took shape and Twilight's eyes grew large with recognition and fear. "D-D-Discord!"
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Aaron was relaxing by his new campfire. After gathering various fruits and berries from the forest, he decided that it was to late in the evening to move further away so he was just going to camp there again for the night.
His wounds on his leg had been completely sealed and he could more easily move now that he could take the makeshift bandages off form his upper thigh.
The only thing that was troubling him was one question. Why do these ponies want my head on a platter?
He could understand if he wasn't attacked and they worked it out like civil sentiment being, but being attacked viciously and then being deemed the biggest threat in Equestria was unsettling.
This was nothing like the fanfics he read at home. This was just pure hell. In every story he read, there somepony who would be the voice of reason and would stop either side from hurt one another.
Instead, the princess catches him in a bad spot and he gets put on the top of the most wanted list. So now, he has to live out his days in the Ever-free until he figures out how the hell to break bread with the enemy.
He laid down and tried to get some sleep, but the events of the past day and a half kept replaying in his head, keeping him awake. While reviewing what had transpired, he realized something. The unicrons tried using magic on him and it didn't work.
He could understand the magic aura disappearing when he touched the spear, but the one guard had physically tried to use magic on him and failed. Seeing as it was a royal guard, he knew that couldn't have been a fluke.
What made it weird is that after the the skirmish, Princess Celestia summoned only earth and pegasus guards to capture him even though she never saw the battle. How did she know that unicorns were unable to control him?
'Better question yet,' he thought 'Why did she summon such a large force for a creature she just saw. Maybe she wanted to be careful, but then why did she automatically deem me the biggest threat in all the land?'
His deep thoughts were silenced when he felt something wrap around his mid-section. He looked down at his waist to see what appeared to be a scorpin tail. He urned and looked behind him saw the snarling, drooling, pointy muzzle of a lion.
One thought crossed his mind before he was flung towards a tree... 'Manticore!'
With a quick flick of its tail, Aaron was flung across the camp site and into a tree. He hit with a thud and landed hard, nearly knocking him unconscious. He was in so much agony that every fiber of his body held firm and made him stiff as a board.
He watched the manticore creep up on him slowly, licking its lips many times. When the beast was two feet away, it stopped and gave a ear-piercing growl. It raised it's tail up to deliver the final blow.
Aaron closed his eyes and waited for the impact. After a few moments of nothing, Aaron open one eye to see what was happening. To his surprise, a hooded figure was standing next to him.
The creature had some sort of weird stick in its hoof. After further inspection, he realized that attached to said hoof was a white and black stripped fore arm. 'Zecora...' He thought.
"Be gone, be gone! Don't step anymore and run! Foul beast go away, alive and well he shall stay!"
Yep, Zecora.
As if it had seen a ghost or a serial killer in his bathroom, the manticore slowly backed away with a look of horror on his face. After about 20 feet of backing up, the lion-scorpin hybrid turned and ran away.
Zecora took her hood off and turned to Aaron. "My help I will give, drink this potion if you want to live." She held up a vile of a orange colored liquid to Aaron's mouth. He was hesitant, but after a reassuring look from Zecora, he drank the potion.
After drinking the potion, a sudden rush of searing pain washed over his body. Every square inch of his body felt like it was set a blaze.
Eventually, the pain became to much an Aaron faded into darkness...
A/N Thank you guys for waiting and thanks again to E-Ranger for pre-reading as usual. I will say I didn't like this chapter so give me your thoughts, please and thank you.