Chapter 2
Encounters of the Filly Kind
Forge's eyes shot open as he gasped for air. He coughed as he began to get movement back in his body and quickly began looking around for any sign of where he was.
"Uggh...", he said as he attempted to stand. He barely made it onto his forelegs when a sudden burst of pain shot through him. He grunted and began looking himself over, checking every inch of is body to make sure everything was still in one piece.
"W-what happened last night...Why can't I remember... Wait!"
Suddenly through the cloudiness of his mind, Forge began remembering everything that had taken place the night before. The guards, the city, the storm. It was all coming back to him in the blink of an eye.
"Oh yeah...the storm...a-and I was falling..." He attempted to stand up again only to stumble around before having to use one of the nearby trees for balance. His eyes screwed themselves shut from the pain. He turned his attention toward his wings where the pain seemed to be resonating from.
"M-my-my wings," he stared mouth agape at what he saw. His left wing was badly broken and he was missing a few feathers on his right wing. But what shocked him the most was the massive burn mark right in the middle of his spine. The lightning bolt had singed most of the fur and was now just pink skin and blisters.
He stood against the tree for a moment to collect himself before a familiar sound snapped his mind back into focus. His stomach.
"He he...I guess I could use something to eat. I thought I saw an apple orchard nearby. Maybe somepony will help me there."
Forge began limping towards the apple orchard, leaving behind only a few hoofprints and the smoking ring of singed grass from where he landed.
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The sun shone overhead as 3 little fillies began thinking of new ideas in order to get there cutie marks.
"How about hockey?" Scootaloo suggested, shooting an imaginary puck.
"Scootaloo, its summer", Apple Bloom sighed. "How are we supposed ta play hockey in the summer? It ain't cold enough for an ice rink."
"Oh yeah," Scootaloo said disheartened, "I forgot about that..."
"Oh, I got an an idea!" Sweetie Belle added. "Shark wrestling."
Scootaloo and Applebloom looked at her with confusion. "Sweetie Belle, even I think that's to dangerous and we've gone hiking in Everfree Forest at night!" Scootaloo said.
"Wait. That's it!" Apple Bloom suddenly shouted racing out of the club house.
"What's it Apple Bloom?
"Zecora! Maybe she's got somethin' that'll help us find our cutie marks!"
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle quickly looked at each other and nodded in agreement before taking off after Apple Bloom. Zecora, the local zebra normally had a bunch of potions at her hut. Maybe one of them would help them in figuring out what their talents are.
"Wait up Apple Bloom! Do you remember the way to her hut?"
"Course I do!"
****
"We're lost!" Scootaloo shouted angrily.
"We are not lost! I know exactly where I'm going!" Apple Bloom shouted back.
"Apple Bloom," Sweetie Belle pleaded, "We've been walking around for hours. Maybe we should just turn around and see if we can find another way to earn our cutie marks."
"No way! Her hut's just around this corner, I can feel it!"
Apple Bloom took off around the corner skidding to a complete stop as she realized what was in front of her. There, sleeping in the middle of the road was a manticore.
"Apple Bloom, did you find Zecora's...", Scootaloo was saying before Apple Bloom placed a hoof over her mouth.
"Jus' back up really slowly and try not to make any noise." Both Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell nodded in agreement as the three began to back up. They were just about to turn the corner when one of them stepped on a branch.
"SNAP"
The manticores' eyes shot open looking directly at the Crusaders as they huddled together out of fear. The manticore stared at them, clearly upset for being awoken from its nap.
"Uh...", Apple Bloom tried to say something, but was frozen with fear. The manticore roared at the three fillies and all three began to scream.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"
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Forges' ears shot up as he heard what sounded like somepony screaming.
"Sounds like somepony's in trouble. I gotta do something!" Forge said. Ignoring the pain that was still bothering him, he began galloping towards where the screams were coming from. "Hold on! I'm coming!"
Forge quickly reached a hill near to where the screaming came from and looked down. He gasped as he saw a manticore circling three fillies huddled together.
"Oh no! That thing's going to make them it's lunch! Not if I can help it!"
Forge took a deep breath and lined himself up perfectly with the Manticore.
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The manticore circled as the three fillies sat there. Unable to move as the manticore closed in.
"I'm sorry girls," Apple Bloom cried. "We shoulda jus' gone home! Now we're gonna be manticore food!"
"It's okay...", Scootaloo sobbed, grabbing onto her friends and holding them closely. "At least we're together... that's all that matters..."
The three grouped together for a group hug as the manticore raised its paw to deal the first blow. Suddenly, a fireball strikes the manticore in the back. The manticore roared as it turned to face its attacker.
"Great! Now there's a dragon here too! We're really done for now" Scootaloo shouted.
"Uh, girls... that fireball didn't come from a dragon..." Sweetie Belle said. At this point Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had looked up from the group hug and looked at Sweetie Bell. Her face was in a mix of shock and awe as she looked in the direction of their savior. The two looked in the same direction as gasped. Standing on top of a nearby hill, was a pegasus pony with a mane, tail and wings coated in fire now staring down the manticore.
"Hey ugly," the pegasus shouted. "Why don't you pick on somepony your own size!"
The Manticore roared once more and rushed towards the pegasus with new fury in its eyes. The pegasus did the same and charged down the hill full speed. As the pegasus charged at the manticore, he began to become surrounded by flames until he looked like a giant fireball. He collided with the manticore, knocking it off its feet and slamming him into a nearby tree.
The manticore got to it's feet and shook it's head. The pegasus had now positioned himself in between the girls and the manticore, flames still ablaze on the pony as he stared it down. "You wanna try going after them again tough guy, he shouted at the manticore. The manticore roared once more before slowly backing off into the forest, it's tail between its legs. When the manticore was fully gone from sight, the pegasus relaxed. The flames that had once been on his body disappeared and his mane, tail and wings were looking like normal hair and feathers. He turned around and looked at the three fillies now staring at him, their eyes wide and mouths agape.
"Are you three okay?", he asked. They didn't respond. The pegasus suddenly looked a little worried. "Okay, I can explain what you just saw. Just don't freak out."
"That...was...awesome."
"Look I now that was pretty scary bu...", he stopped, looking almost shocked at what the fillies had said. "Wait...what?"
Suddenly the three fillies had darted toward him and were now racing around his legs like puppies who were happy to see their master come home. Forge was in disbelief and a feeling a little silly as they continued to run around him. Suddenly, they began bombarding him with questions.
"HOW'DYOUDOTHAT? WHEREYAFROM? WHAT'SYOURCUTIEMARK? WEREYASCARED? AREYOUANALIEN?"
The fillies eventually stopped running and sat themselves right in front of Forge, staring up at him with puppy-dog eyes. Forge stared back still in shock until one of the three began to speak.
"That was so cool! You took down that manticore like it was nothing!", the orange pegasus said.
"Yeah! He was all like "ROAR" and then you were like "No way" and then then kicked his butt!", the white unicorn added.
"That was the bravest thing I ever seen! That was amazing!", said the pony with the pink bow in her hair.
"Wait, wait.", Forge said before they continued speaking. "You mean...none of you are scared of me?"
"Mister you just saved our lives! Why on earth would we best scared of you?"
"Well, normally when ponies find out about the fire thing, they just run away from me. They think I'm a monster or a freak."
"You put yourself in danger to help us! A monster wouldn't do that!"
Forge stared a their now smiling faces...which were now getting kind of creepy. He couldn't believe that these three little fillies were showing him such kindness and trust. He knew he just saved them from a manticore but was sure that they'd run away from him.
"Allow us to introduce ourselves", the unicorn said. "I'm Sweetie Belle." The orange pegasus then cut in front of her a spoke next. "I'm Scootaloo." Both were then shoved out of the way by the one with the pink bow. "And my names, Apple Bloom. And together we are..." Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo then appeared on both sides of Apple Bloom and they shouted the name of their club at the top their lungs. "THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!!!" The shout was loud enough to send Forge sliding back a bit and take off every leaf on the trees nearby. Forge stood there looking a little frazzled before giving his head a shake and turning his attention back to the Crusaders.
"Now what's your name?" Apple Bloom said looking at Forge with her puppy-dog eyes again. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle soon followed, eagerly awaiting his response.
Forge looked at the three and smiled as his heart skipped a beat for a moment.
"Forge...my name is Forge. And it's nice to meet you."