I raised her eyebrows. I suddenly had found courage, and instead of being scared, I was just really annoyed and kinda confused with the whole situation.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight!" I said, my voice getting louder. "You're telling me that I have to deal with some kind of old, unknown evil!? That's not fair! And, besides, a bit cliche!"
The manticore dismissed my last comment about being cliche with a wave of his claw. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Anyways, would you like to fight off this evil and, oh, I don't know, save all of Equestria, - not to mention yourself - become a hero, and be known throughout Equestria for standing out?"
I rolled her eyes. This was just getting even more annoying! What if I didn't want to do this? "No offense Mr. Annoying Manticore, but I think I stand out perfectly fine already. And besides, what if I don't want to do all this saving the world thing? I mean, I would want to save Equestria, but do I HAVE to?"
The manticore just looked at me angrily with a glare that simply said, stop being snarky and go along with it, please. "Look, do you want to survive or not?!"
I sighed. I hoped I would get out of this conversation without being annoyed to death, but it seems I was proven wrong. "Okay. Mr. Annoying Dude, what do I have to do to slay this weird guy who wants to kill me? I don't know who he is, what he looks like, or any clue to where he'd be."
"Oh, you know who he or she is, trust me!" The manticore said, laughing loudly - and suspiciously, might I add. "I'll give you a few hints to who it is: it isn't me, I swear it. The only reason I'm not helping you out more is because I'm not allowed to. It's like a game, and you have to find out who it is. Anyways, it's taking the form of a pony's body by corrupting one of the ponies in Ponyville. There are a few people you can trust, like Celestia and Luna, because they have too much magical ability to be corrupted. Same with the Elements, 'cause even if it tried, it couldn't. Friendship would immediately - hmm, how would I put this? Ah! - eject his spirit."
"Wait a minute!" I said, realizing something very important. "You said that friendship would overpower it, so why can't the Elements of Harmony just, oh, I don't know, USE THE POWER OF RAINBOWS TO TURN HIM INTO STONE OR SEND IT TO THE MOON OR WHATEVER?!"
"They could," the manticore agreed, "but he wants this game to be as fun as possible, so therefore he's not allowing them to use Harmony."
"That's not fair!" I started to rant. "What makes him think that the Elements won't come over there and use their freaky magic on him before he can wreck Equestria? 'Cuz they will, I'll make sure of that!"
"Because, even though you may work together with the Elements on trying to figure out who it is," the manticore continued with a sad tone of voice, "it's taking away their natural Internal Magic so they can't do a thing. The Elements will still be within them, but it's more like he's pausing their powers for until you've solved this riddle."
I rolled my eyes and started to at least TRY to rant again - which I'm good at, surprisingly, and do very often - but this time I was trying to persuade the manticore to at least TRY and change the rules. I mean, I know that he's not the person making it up, but maybe, since he's so important and all that, he could at least TRY!
"Look." I said. "Here's the deal. I'll -"
I stopped as, once again, I realized something important. My voice lowered to a tone only Fluttershy could replicate.
"Did you just say riddle?"
The manticore looked at me with sad eyes. "Look, I'm sorry. I know that this is a bit sudden, and you don't want to do this. I'm sorry. Anyways, yes, I said 'riddle.' The reason is, it's giving you a riddle that you'd have to solve to find out where he is. I can't say I've figured it out yet, and I've been trying to for literally centuries. And even worse, he's making you immortal until you've figured it out. Which is to say, you can spend eternity with Equestria in ashes and still not figure it out. And you'll still be alive."
This is going to be a loooooooong eternity.
The manticore looked left and right, as if seeing something I wasn't. His expression turned mutual again and he waved his paw.
"I'm sending you out know. Good-bye, and good luck. However, this isn't going to be the last time I shall consult you in your dreams, so see you until then."
As I was literally fading away in a shower of mist, I had one last thing on my mind.
"What was the riddle?" I asked. "Aren't you, oh, I don't know, going to tell me it?"
The manticore laughed sadly and said, "you'll know it soon enough, trust me."
"What?!" I yelled, almost entirely gone. My vision was already fuzzy and constantly switching between Luna's bedchambers - which was probably where my body was right now - and the manticore.
He said something, but I didn't quite catch it. In a flash of bright light, I was in Luna's bedchambers again with Spike next to me and Luna pacing back and forth in front of me. I was grateful immediately. I almost thought for a second I'd be stuck in there forever. That place was so depressing and... the only way to describe it is cold, like a prison. Not literally cold, just... horrible and something that will seriously never get out of my mind.
I just stared at them for a second. It took them quite a while to realize I was awake, and when Luna did, she used the Royal Canterlock.
"ALEXIS CREEK! IS THEE... I mean, are you okay?"
I just smiled, said, "yes!" and hugged her.
Meanwhile, Luna was clueless.