The three stood at the threshold of the Everfree. Even at its limit, the vegetation piled on thick, and it seemed to exude an aura of discomfort. It was a place that demanded respect, lest a careless visitor find themselves torn limb from limb from predators both flora and fauna. Fluttershy looked ahead with resolute focus, some of her usual meekness washed away by the graveness of the situation. Rarity fiddled with her cap, softly quaking in fear, but, to her credit, her brave face she had put on to reassure her friend was still holding, albeit barely.
Meanwhile, the griffon ambassador picked at an errant feather with a claw in bored disinterest. “This is it?”
“Yes.” Fluttershy turned around to face the griffon. “This is the, um, most dangerous place in Equestria, the Everfree Forest.”
He scoffed. “Doesn’t look too bad.” He peered around the pegasus. “I don’t know about ponies, but griffons are not typically afraid of plants.”
“Well, there are a few dangerous species of flora in the forest. Poison Joke, of course, although really I think the most dangerous one is the Tyrolean Defenestrating Vine, which should be kept away from all windows if possible, and–”
The griffon looked on in absolute disdain, not expecting that his joke about dangerous plants would be followed by a pony naming, of all things, dangerous plants. He made sure to pointedly ignore her.
Fluttershy continued. “But there’s plenty of dangerous creatures too! Cockatrices, manticores, timber wolves, normal wolves, snakes whose venom makes your brain melt out of your ears.” She shivered. “Very, um, scary!”
Rarity nearly fainted. The griffon continued to look unamused.
“But don’t let that scare you!” Fluttershy smiled. “Just make sure you listen to me and I’ll get us out of here just fine!”
“Uh-huh.” The griffon found the errant feather that had been bothering him, pulling it out. “Any words of advice, ‘warden?’”
“Lots!” Fluttershy beamed, spirits bolstered by the apparent willingness of her guest to cooperate. “Once we get in, we need to keep moving though the forest, and we should never retrace our steps, because the, um, wolves will be tracking us as soon as we enter. Please, uh, try not to disturb any predatory species I point out, it should save us a lot of, um, trouble. We should come upon a group of smaller capyboars about four hours in, so just stay quiet until – hey!”
The griffon pushed past her, stepping into the foliage. “Yes, yes, be quiet, got it. Are you done prattling? I have a lunch to kill, you know”
It was now noon, and the trio had been walking into the Everfree for a good three hours, and one mare in particular was really rather upset about the arrangement.
"Eugh!! If I had known it would have been such a trek I would have prepared with a pre-journey hoof massage.” Rarity shook a hoof in the air. True, helping was what friends were for, but that didn’t mean she had to enjoy it. “And scheduled a pedi. I don’t think my hooves are ever going to look right after this.”
The griffon rolled his eyes in, for once, well deserved disdain. “Harumph. I say, warden, this tag-a-long has proven to be quite the annoyance. Quite!”
Rarity wheeled around, firing back a retort. “The nerve! May I remind you that my tagging-along, as it were, was your–”
Fluttershy halted, then held up a hoof.
“–idea to bring me along, so I don’t want–” Rarity found herself silenced by a glare from Fluttershy. Impressively, it managed to communicate the entire sentence of “Hey, remember that thing I said about listening to me so you don’t die? Yeah, do that.”
Fluttershy spoke, taking a more authoritative tone than usual, albeit not without at least some of her usual pauses. “There’s something big up ahead. It’s not moving, and it’s not, um, looking around, so I’m guessing it’s a predator. We should be fine if we, uh, respect its space, but you ought to load just in case, Rarity. Please.”
Rarity nodded, opening the patchbox on her rifle and extracting a single cartridge which she tore open with her teeth, dumping the powder into the bore before ramming the ball down. She then set to preparing the flash pan, extracting a winding key from her saddlebag.
Fluttershy continued her warning. “No matter what, please don’t, um, do anything to irritate it. We’re not here to mess with predators.” She looked at each of her companions in turn; Rarity, focused on winding the action, simply nodded, her whining temporarily abated by the severity of the situation. The ambassador merely responded with a scoff, as to imply that her advice was utterly obvious.
Reasonably content with those responses, Fluttershy addressed both of them again. “Alright. Let’s go, but please, um, step quietly. We don’t want to wake him up if he’s asleep, you know.” She stepped off, beckoning the three to follow her through a patch of brush.
No sooner had the they cleared the scrub than they all saw the object of Fluttershy’s consternation; a young manticore. Its wings were still a little undersized for proper flight, but it had a fully developed tail and set of jaws, and even a juvenile was very much an extremely dangerous creature to encounter in the wild.
“Oh shit,” whispered Rarity, removing the rifle from her back, “is that a, uh–”
“Manticore? Yes,” replied Fluttershy. “But he’s asleep, and he’s just a juvenile, so he shouldn’t bother us unless we hurt him. If he does wake up we should be able to scare him off by making a bunch of noise.” She looked back at Rarity, smirking with a rare jab. “Should be easy for you.”
“Har-har.” Rarity slung the rifle back onto her spine. She poked disdainfully at the soggy ground. “Are we going to have to slink around it? I can’t say I am exactly enthralled at the prospect of scrubbing Everfree mud from my coat.”
“Unfortunately,” replied Fluttershy, already lowering herself to the ground. “I hope you don’t mind your belly getting a little, um, muddy.”
“Normally, yes, but I suppose considering the circumstances I suppose it’s better than a mauling – hey!” Rarity found herself being lifted into the air, one claw around her barrel, the other unlooping the rifle from her body. “What do you think you’re doing? Put me down, you ruffian!”
“Tut!” the griffon chastised, far too loud for the circumstances. “And to think, you would have me miss such an incredible opportunity! A manticore, and a male at that?” He succeeded in unwrapping the rifle from the writhing mare. “What an incredible addition to a trophy room!”
Both mares looked back in horror, each trying to, as quietly as possible, warn the griffon in no uncertain terms that what he was doing was, to put it lightly, the wrong course of action.
“Um, that’s not a great idea, manticores are really very robust–”
“Good goddess, are you crazy? That’s a thirty-six caliber–”
“–and it is really, um, very unlikely that one shot will incapacitate a manticore, so please do not–”
“– all you’re going to do is piss it off, you–”
“–I am imploring you, please, please do not shoot the manticore.”
The griffon scoffed, taking aim. “Hmph! As if you two grass-eaters would know better.”
“fizz-CRACK”
Both the mares cringed from the unmuffled gunshot, looking back up at the griffon in despair.
“Hah, see!” He pointed a claw in glee. “Your mewling protestations were unwarranted! The manticore is slain with but a single shot! Now, which one of you wants to carry–”
The manticore’s eyes shot open, legs flailing. A patch of fur on his belly had turned red.
The griffon shifted slightly, looking down at the rifle in his claws. “Ah, well, he’s not quite dead yet, but he is gravely wounded, and will be passing shortly.” He held out the rifle to Rarity. “Do reload for me, caddy, if you would.”
She did not take the rifle from his claws.
“Er, caddy?” He shook the rifle in front of her face.
She still did not take the rifle, her eyes instead focused on the manticore, pupils like dinner plates.
All three cringed from an unearthly screech, looking in horror at the wounded but very much alive manticore. He screeched again, tail raising menacingly into an aggressive stance.
“Right.” The griffon dropped Rarity’s rifle into a particularly scummy puddle. “You two deal with–” he pointed at the manticore, which had raised its haunches in preparation to charge “–that. I will be, er, not here.”
Rarity wheeled around, face seething in abject disdain. Her discontent had reached such a fever pitch that her horn was not just glowing faintly in anger but giving off wispy blue lines of smoke. “What do you mean not here?” shouted Rarity, utterly indignant. “Where in Tartarus do you think you’re going? It’s forest–”
The griffon spread his wings and took off with a single powerful thrust, throwing wet leaves from the ground into Rarity’s face.
“–oh, right.” She removed a leaf from her face with a quick light of her horn. “Wings.” She huffed, turning her head around to look over her unfeathered back. For once, her jealousy towards Twilight had nothing to do with the natural grace wings afforded pegasi and alicorns in formal wear and everything to do with her inability to very literally kick someone’s ass. She stared wistfully at the clouds, missing the wing Fluttershy was waving in front of her face in an attempt to gain her attention.
“Rarity!” whispered Fluttershy. When Rarity still didn’t respond, she punctuated her interjection with an elbow to the gut, which finally did the trick. “Rarity, reload your rifle. He’s about to charge, but we might be able to scare him away for a minute with the sound.”
Rarity rubbed her side where Fluttershy had whacked her, horn alight as she pulled her rifle out of the puddle. “Oh! Uh, sorry, I don’t think that’s going to work. The powder won’t go off it it’s damp, and the flash pan’s all wet from the mu-mud-mud-mud?” She held the rifle aloft, noticing not only the filthy state of her firearm but, far worse, some new dings along the woodwork. “AAAIIIEEEEEEEEK” she shrieked, throwing her face skywards towards the cloud she suspected the griffon was resting on. “YOU MOTHERFUCKER, DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THIS COST?”
“Rarity!” Fluttershy hissed, her wings spreading in an instinctual threat display as she stepped in between the belligerent unicorn and the manticore.
Rarity continued, ignoring Fluttershy. “ELEVEN THOUSAND BITS! YOU THREW MY ELEVEN THOUSAND BIT RIFLE IN THE MUD, YOU ARROGANT BALD-HEADED FEATHER-BRAINED OVERSTUFFED BASTARD! I’M GOING TO GO UP THERE AND STICK YOUR BEAK SO FAR UP YOUR OWN ASS YOU’RE GOING –”
“RARITY!” Fluttershy kicked back with a hind hoof, hitting Rarity directly in the jaw. “Rarity, please, goddess, shut the fuck up and – shit!” The manticore had already started charging, giving her seconds to act. A quick scan to the rear revealed a fallen tree, the roots of which formed a hollow just big enough for two ponies. She raised a hoof to point at the hollow, but, seeing the understandably dazed look on Rarity’s face, decided that any communication was basically worthless; she instead gave her wings one powerful flap, propelling herself linebacker style into Rarity and launching the two into the hole, leaving the unloaded rifle in the dirt.
“Oof!” Rarity sucked in wind on the floor of the hole, taken completely by surprise by the force exerted by the pegasus. She rubbed her head, more than a little dazed from the earlier hit. “Good goddess, you hit like a defensive end on a blitz!”
Fluttershy pulled herself against the wall of the hollow, looking frantically out the entrance at the furious manticore. “Rarity, no time for jokes!” She turned around to look at the sprawled unicorn, eyes full of justified fear. “Pull something in front of the hole now, or we’re dead!”
Rarity tilted her head in confusion “But can’t you just, er, speak with the beast, like that one we met before?”
“Yeah, but they have to be willing to listen, which, considering we just, oh, I don’t know, shot him, something tells me he’s not going to want to hear what I have to say.” She looked back out the entrance. “Just pull something – duck!” She threw our a foreleg, pushing Rarity back into the hole as she threw up her left wing to block a striking paw, giving only a soft whimper as the manticore's claws pulled out a veritable bouquet of yellow feathers.
Rarity looked up and gasped, pointing with a hoof at the considerable portion of the wing missing its usual plumage. “Oh, goddess, Fluttershy, your wing!”
Fluttershy kicked Rarity in the sternum with a back hoof, keeping her eyes on the manticore who was currently busy trying to pull feathers out of his claws with his teeth. “Yes, I know, it’s very painful, now do what I said and magic something over here already so I don’t lose my head next time, OK?”
Rarity nodded and looked out of the hole, spotting a fallen tree branch. Her horn lit, her field enveloping the pile, but it only lifted an inch or so off the ground before falling back down.
“Rarity, what the hell! Stop f-fucking around and get it over here already!”
Rarity’s eyes shot open, unused to hearing Fluttershy so frantic or profane. “S-sorry, I’m trying my best!” she panted. “It’s a l-lot heavier than it looks, y’know!”
Fluttershy swung her head back, “Don’t try your best, try some other, better, unicorn’s best, ‘cause if you don’t get that over here he's going to be using our ribs as toothpicks as soon as he’s done messing with those feathers.”
Rarity blanched at the prospect of her own disembowelment, “R-right, sorry, I, uh, I’ll try again.” Her horn lit once more, glowing brighter than Fluttershy had ever seen Rarity’s horn go. This time, the branches lifted off the ground and glided over to the opening, albeit in a far shakier and more unsteady fashion than if a stronger unicorn had done it. She dropped it at the opening before collapsing to the floor, her coat slick with sweat and her horn sizzling from the effort. “Oh goddess, I – wheeze – should have done – wheeze – those exercises Twilight taught me.” She pulled her legs under herself, starting to rise. “What’s the – wheeze –plan now, Flutter–”
“Down!” Fluttershy pushed Rarity back down to the dirt just in time for the manticore’s stinger to fly inches overhead through a gap in the branches, not quite able to hit the prone pony. “Stay down for a second!”
Rarity nodded, more than willing to cooperate considering the alternative of virtually instant death via manticore stinger through the eye socket.
Once the stinger pulled back through the hole, Fluttershy joined Rarity on the floor. “Alright, he’s gonna pull those branches out of the opening in a minute or two.” As if on cue, a paw stuck through the bundle, pulling at the blockade. “As soon as he gets through, I’m going to Stare at him, but if he's this pissed I can only hold him for a couple seconds.” She poked Rarity in the chest. “I need you to hold his stinger down so I can pin him down. His shoulders can’t reach back behind him.”
Rarity looked around, frantic at the idea of having to wrestle part of a manticore. “Then what?”
“We’ll get there when we get there, Ok? Trust me!” the manticore pulled away one of the branches. “He’s almost through! Get ready, Rarity!”
Rarity looked ahead, gasping as the rest of the branches pulled away, revealing a snarling, fanged maw.
“Now!” Fluttershy yelled, pulling back her mane behind her ears to reveal both her eyes. The manticore froze, vibrating slightly.
Rarity hadn’t moved.
“G-go! G-grab it!” Fluttershy was panting, coat frothing with mental exertion. “Go, Rarity!”
Rarity, once again, shocked into action, bolted from the hole’s entrance, tackling the stinger and pulling it into an arm bar. Fluttershy stepped forward, taking labored breaths. “Have you g-got it, R-Rarity?”
“Y-yes, dear!” Rarity tightened her grip.
Fluttershy spread her wings. “Alright, hold on!” She blinked, releasing her hold on the manticore. He tried to fling his tail forwards, only to find it rendered immobile by a slightly pudgy unicorn. His second choice, a swipe with his paws, found only air, Fluttershy having catapulted herself into the air with her slightly lopsided wings. She landed on his back, pulling her forelimbs around his neck into a textbook rear naked choke.
“Now what? I can’t hold on forever!” Rarity shouted. The manticore slammed her into the ground. “Oof!”
“Nngh, just hold on! I should be able to choke him out in a little bit!” Fluttershy tightened her hold, wings held firmly in front of her forelimbs as protection.
“Mmh, hurry!” The manticore slammed Rarity to the ground again, her cap flying off. “I-I can’t hold on much longer.”
Fluttershy looked back, seeing the panicked face on her friend. She was already squeezing as hard as she could, but the manticore was still throwing her back and forth into the vegetation. “Ok! Just, uh, give me the knife out of my saddlebags, the big one!” Her wings blocked another slap by the manticore. “Fast!”
Rarity’s horn lit, unlatching the saddlebag and lifting the unsheathed knife into Fluttershy’s right foreleg. Fluttershy whispered an apology into the manticore’s ear, then plunged the knife in between his upper right ribs and into the heart, dragging slightly to the right before removing it. The beast shuddered a few times, then fell still.
The two mares panted in exertion, taking a moment to recover after the literal life and death struggle. “Is it, uh, over?” asked Rarity, who was still trying to extract herself from the tangle of vines and tail.
“Yeah, it’s, he’s, he’s, um, oh goddess–” Fluttershy fell off the corpse onto her haunches, sniffling. “He’s, um, gone, yeah.” She held together for a few more seconds, then broke into tears, her body wracked by deep, earnest sobs.
Rarity pulled her into a hug. “Oh, Fluttershy, there’s no reason to–” she paused, suddenly aware that that particular phase wasn’t exactly applicable. “–well, regardless, you saved us both, right?" She looked around the pegasus at the dead manticore, silently awed that the pony the girls had unanimously agreed was worst in a brawl had managed to kill a manticore with nothing but a field knife and a choke-hold.
“Yeah, I did.” Fluttershy sniffed. “He’d been gut shot badly, so he didn't have long, and he was either going from infection or the wolves. I was going to –sniff– put him down after I had him unconscious." She shook her head. "But I would never do it like that if I had the choice. I hate it when they know what's happening. I hate it.” She looked at Rarity, eyes wide and brimming with tears. “It never gets easier, killing like that. He was only a year and a half old, Rarity, barely out of the nest.” She shook her head. “A year and a half.”
Rarity pulled her in tighter. “Hey, don’t worry about that, darling. It’s not your fault, Fluttershy." She sighed. "Of course, it's not like it was your choice in the first place.” She looked up at the clouds. ”Speaking of…”
The griffon descended from the clouds, landing a few feet in front of the killed manticore. “I say! Excellent job securing my kill, warden! You may not be totally useless after all.” He ran a claw through the budding mane of the manticore. “Although I must admit I may have overestimated the quality of the trophy; his mane is looking a little thin.” He pulled his claw back. “Still! Not too bad, all things considered." He looked over the two filthy, huddled mares. "Ugh, do stop crying, warden, and clean this kill for me, yes? I should think we should start retracing our –” he stopped mid-sentence, eyes crossing to look at the knife pointed at his windpipe. “Er, warden?”
“Shut up.” Fluttershy pushed the knife closer. “I told you expressly at the start of this to listen to me, but you’re too smart for that, right?” With a swipe, she took off the top button of the ambassador’s coat. “Too important to listen to the little pony?”
“Well, I–”
“NO! No excuses!” Fluttershy’s wings flared to their full span, showing, Rarity noted, several bald patches from the manticore’s efforts. “I told you to listen to me, and you didn’t listen, did you?” She gestured to the manticore. “And now this beautiful creature is dead. DEAD! And it’s your fault!” She stomped on a claw hard enough to send the griffon to the ground. “So let me be clear. YOU are going to listen unquestioningly to what I say. WE are going to keep going into the forest so we don’t get eaten by wolves, and I am going to do whatever I can to make sure you don’t do anything this stupid again. IS. THAT. CLEAR?”
After a few seconds, the griffon nodded from the dirt.
“Fine,” she spat, her usual smile completely obliterated. She wiped the knife on the griffon’s coat, leaving two ugly smears in his assuredly frighteningly expensive vest, the placed the weapon back in its sheathe before tossing it in her saddlebags. “Now, unless you're planning to clean your kill with your claws, let's get a move on, hm?"