//------------------------------//
// A Dangerous Ambition 
// Story: Agent of Chaos 
// by Enfield 
//------------------------------//

	"GIRLS!" I yell as I crash through tree branches and bushes. I come to a clearing and frantically look around hoping to see or hear any trace of the fillies. I charge through down a pathway and catch a glimpse of a red around a corner. I bolt it the direction of the color flash and I find the Crusaders gathered around a tree trunk, looking inside of it. 
"Come on out," Sweetie Belle said to whatever was in the tree trunk. 
"What...are...you...doing?" I pant. The girls spin around and see me standing behind them. Their mood shifts from curious to guilty. 
"We were-um," Apple Bloom stammers and looks down at the ground. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo follow suit, all three of them walk up in front of me still looking at the ground. 
"Why did you run off?" I ask.
"We thought that we heard a Haggis so we tried to see where it was," Scootaloo said.  
"That's no reason for you girls to run off like that," I say, "What if you ran into something that was going to kill you and I wasn't here?"
Sweetie Belle looks up at me, tears are forming in her eyes and she wipes them off but more follow.
"We're sorry, Scott. We didn't mean it." she says, her voice is slowly breaking and I can tell that she's about to cry. I sigh and sit down in front of her and try to cheer her up.
"I'm not mad Sweetie Belle, I was only concerned about your safety. I'm not mad or anything, just don't run off like that again, okay?"
Sweetie Belle nods but she still doesn't look at me. I hate seeing her upset and she's still making little choked sounds. 
"Aw come on, don't be like that," I say as I lift her chin up, "Can I get a smile? You look cute when you smile." 
Sweetie Belle gives me a small smile and then hugs me. I don't hesitate to return the hug, I look down and see her with a wide grin on her face.
"There you go, that's what I'm looking for."
"Thanks Scott," Sweetie Belle said as she lets go of me. I go over to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo and get their attention. 
"You guys want to go haggis hunting?" I say. The fillies all perk up and gather up next to me. Scootaloo starts pulling at my foreleg.
"Come on Scott! We need to try and see if it went this way." 

We continue to explore the forest for about an hour until the darkness became too risky to continue. I manage to coax the kids to give up searching and to get back to the cottage. The Crusaders moan but they follow me, knowing what happened last time they had been in the forest too long. I lead the way through the forest, keeping the girls close to my side. I hear several strange noises as we make our way back to the cottage but the fillies are yawning and trying to stay awake. 
"Do you think that we'll be able to try and find the haggis later?" Apple Bloom asks.
"We will, once the party is over," Scootaloo said.
"When is that?" I ask, reason being is that no-one told me when the date was.
"I think that it's tomorrow night," Sweetie Belle said, "I wish we could go." 
"It's best that you aren't," I think. Suddenly a faint growling noise to my left makes me stop dead. The Crusaders stop as well and look in the direction of the growl.
"What was that?" Scootaloo asks.
"Nothing good," I reply. 

The growling has now gotten louder and whatever is in the undergrowth is now slowly advancing on us. I place myself in front of the fillies just in case the creature in the woods is hostile. 
"You stay back from these kids, you hear?!" I yell towards the creature. The growling gets louder and I feel the Crusaders gather up around me. 
"What is it?" Scootaloo asks.
"I have no idea but it probably might leave us alone if we back away slowly," I say. The Crusaders slowly start to back up and I follow them shortly afterwards, making sure that they can escape if we are attacked. I turn back to see if the girls are a safe distance away.
"You kids alright?" 
They don't respond, and instead of backing away they cower and point shaking hooves over at something in front of me. I freeze and slowly turn to face my front, and no sooner did I see the thing in front of me I wished that I had just kept walking backwards. Standing in front of me is a monster that looks like a cross between a lion and a scorpion, it's face is right up to mine and it's massive eyes are almost burning holes in my head, but I'm more confused than frightened by the appearance of the creature. 

"What the hell is this in front of me?" I ask.
"MANTICORE!" Apple Bloom yells in downright fear. 
"What?" Is all I manage to say before I'm swatted aside by the Manticore's massive scorpion tail. I land in the dirt several feet away from where I was. I get back up and see that the Crusaders have taken off running and the Manticore cuts them off. They run past me and without hesitation, I dive at the monster and kick it square in the face, sending it tumbling to the ground.
"Leave those kids alone!" I bark as I jump on the Manticore and start hitting it in the eyes, trying to blind it. It manages to throw me off and let out a deafening roar before it changes it's attack to me. I stand ready and wait for it to charge me, once it does I side step and lunge at it. I get a grip on it's tail and I clamber up its back and begin to pull at its fur. I see the Crusaders all watching me as I fight the Manticore.
"RUN!" I yell at them, "RUN! GET OUT OF HERE!" 
They don't move but stare at me in amazement. I get distracted for too long and the Manticore throws me off it's back again. I jump up and dodge the swiping paws but I fail to evade the massive stinger mounted tail as it smashes into the side of my head and sends me flying through the air and making me land on hard ground. The impact knocks the wind out of me and leaves me stunned. I lie on the ground, unable to do anything except trying to get air into my lungs. The Manticore has now thought me dead and is now advancing on the Crusaders, licking around its mouth as if it's going to have a nice little feast in a few seconds. I manage to shakily get up and see the Manticore grab Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle and they are being held by the Manticore, about to be eaten. A new feeling enters my body, a feeling of rage that I have never felt before. My vision goes from blurry and distorted to red and wavy in an instant and the Manticore is pulsating. An electric current runs through me and the inside of me feels like it is on fire. I stand up on my hind legs and stare at the Manticore.

"HEY!" I yell, the Manticore stops lowering the fillies towards its mouth and looks at me in confusion. I raise up my right hoof and point towards it, "I SAID LEAVE THEM ALONE!"  
Suddenly a burst of energy shoots out of my hoof and hits the Manticore in the chest. The creature drops the girls and starts clawing at its heart but I can see that it's beginning to disintegrate. The Maticore lets out a ear splitting shriek of pain before the entire body turns to dust and is blown away. I don't realize that I'm on my back until the Maticore is gone. I sit up and rub the side of my head and feel blood trickle down from my ears, I then rub my right foreleg and let out a cry of pain. Looking at my arm I can see what has happened; My entire foreleg, from the hoof to the shoulder is covered with black, shiny burns that run through my veins. I sit there and stare at amazement as I look at the damage that I might have done to myself. I try to stand up but I fall over, weak, short of breath and with my heart racing I try to call for the girls.
"Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo," I say weakly, "Where are you?"
Three bruised and cut up fillies run over to me, crying and screaming. My ears start ringing from their screams but they stop once they reach me.
"Wh-wh-what just happened?" Apple Bloom said through raking sobs.
"It's okay, it's all over now," I say as I try and stand up but I almost fall over.
"I wanna go home," Scootaloo says as she keeps crying.
"Where's my sister? I want my sister!" Sweetie Belle says to me. I don't try and stand until my heart stops thumping in my chest so I take hold of the Crusaders and hug them until they calm down enough so I can talk to them. 
"You okay now?" I ask them.
"No," Sweetie Belle said.
"Ah wanna go back to the cottage," Apple Bloom added.
"Me too, I don't wanna crusade anymore," Scootaloo says as she leans against me. I sigh and try to get myself steady.
"Let's go back," I say. The Crusaders gather around me and stick by my side until we get back to the cottage. Several times I stumble and collapse, each time I almost black out and I feel my heart almost stop. Whatever I did back there has truly almost killed me. Each beat of my already weakened heart sends thumping pain through my head, as for my foreleg, every time I step down on it a spear of pain shoots up it, which in turn makes me fall down again. Once we manage to get to the cottage I collapse and try to get up but my body refuses to move. This causes the Crusaders to cry again. 
"Get up Scott!" Sweetie Belle said as she shakes me. 
"I can't bloody move!" I yell back in frustration. 
"Please don't do this to us," Scootaloo whimpers. 
"Give me a second," I say as I try to stand up. As I do Apple Bloom takes my injured leg and sets it on her back.
"You're hurt," she said as we walk up to the front of the cottage. 
"So are you," I reply. All three of them are bruised and have small scrapes and cuts covering them, I know that I'll be able to help them. After all, they're helping me out. 

We get to the front door and I find that it's locked. I jiggle the door handle in irritation which makes the fillies panic. 
"We're gonna be eaten!" Apple Bloom yells. I start banging on the door in hopes that Fluttershy has come home earlier.
"Calm down, Fluttershy might be able to help us. That is if she's in."
I hit the door particularly hard this time and the door unlocks and opens. I look down and see Angel looking up at me in what I can tell is amazement. I manage to stumble inside and the Crusaders slam the door shut and lock it. Angel watches as I start opening cabinets and pull out random items, the fillies dive under the couch and cover themselves in their damaged capes. 
"Where the hell is the bloody first aid kit?!" I shout. I pull out several object and slam the cabinet door shut in anger, unfortunately I slam the door with my bad leg and pain shoots up my leg again. I sink down to the floor and feel something poke me in the side.
"What?" I say as I look down and see Angel standing by my side. Next to him is a large first aid kit, I take it and he also hands me something. I look at the item and can clearly see that it's a morphine sryette, Angel looks at me and then to my leg.
"Thanks," I say as I bandage up my leg and then insert the sryette into my shoulder. The effect of the morphine is almost instant as the pain slowly disperses and I can use it with no hindrance. Angel then points to the first aid kit and then the Crusaders and I immediately know what he wants me to do. I pick up the first aid kit and then bring it over to the couch where the Crusaders are hiding. 
"Girls," I say softly, "Girls, are you going to come out from there and let me help you?"
The fillies slowly come out from under the couch and look around fearfully.
"Are-are we safe?" Sweetie Belle asks me.
"Yes, nothing is going to get you." 
The Crusaders climb up onto the couch and allow me to clean off their wounds and then patch them up with bandages. Once I finish that I sit on the couch next to them and try to calm them down, they're still quaking with fear and tears are still streaming down their cheeks. I lean back and feel Scootaloo hug me around my chest, her tears drip onto me and I hold her in a tight hug.
"I'm never going into the forest again," she whispers.
"Don't you worry," I say, "I'll keep you safe." 
The fillies start crying again and they huddle around me. Most of their sentences are incoherent and full of tears. I tighten my grip on Scootaloo as she hugs me and shakes. Just hearing the girls cry is beginning to upset me, now I know that there is a way to calm them down but it will question my dignity. I quickly glance around the room and after I see that there isn't another living soul in the room, and then, I try singing. I haven't sung in several years but I know that I'm good at it.   This started when I was only four, my beloved Great Dane had died and I was devastated, I remember crying for an entire night and I refused to do anything. One day my uncle, whom I have never seen before, came to visit two days after my dog died and after seeing how upset I was he sang to me. I eventually did manage to recover from my loss and because I was so impressed by my uncle's singing voice that I took it up as well. After one of my cousins caught me singing they said that it was amazing and they wanted to hear more. This eventually led to me singing to my younger cousins whenever they were woken up in the night by bad dreams. But right here and right now, the fillies are slowly calming down and falling asleep. Perfect.  

Eventually the fillies are fast asleep and I decide to run upstairs and grab some blankets and pillows for them so that they can sleep on the couch. If I took them upstairs then they might wake up and start crying again. As they pull the blankets over themselves and fall asleep I take hold of the Element of Chaos and materialize something that will make sure that I'll be ready in case the Manicore comes back. 
"Okay, now I'm ready," I whisper as I pump a Spaz-12 shotgun. The Crusaders stir but they fall back into a deep slumber. It surprises me how little I know about weapons but how effective this gun will be if anything bursts through the window. What makes me question the day's events was what I managed to do in order to kill the Manticore. I know for a fact that what shot out of me was some sort of energy pulse that was capable of disintegrating the monster. How the hell did I do that and more importantly, what else is this Element capable of? There's something very peculiar about the Element and the lack of instruction that Discord gave me regarding it. All I can remember was that it was all of his powers copy-pasted, scaled down and capable of killing me if I used it too much. Now if that energy blast was the scaled down version of Discord's then what is his energy blast like? After what I just did his might be able to crack the planet in half. My thoughts are interrupted as the door unlocks and opens, I hop off the couch, barely disturbing the sleeping fillies, and go to the front door. Relief washes over me as a pink mane peeks around the door. 
"Hello Scott, we're back," Fluttershy's soothing voice says. 
"Who's with you?" I say. 
"Rarity, Applejack and Twilight," Fluttershy replies, I make the shotgun vanish before they enter. Fluttershy is the first through the door and once she sees me, she stops dead. 
"Scott!" she yelped, "What happened to you?"
I bolt forward and cover her mouth and shut her up.
"Quiet, you'll wake the kids."
"What happened to your leg?" Twilight asks. I sigh and rub it, the pain slowly starts to return. 
"You might want to come in, it's a long story." 

I explain everything that happened in the past couple of hours, from the fillies running off into the forest to the fight with the Manticore. I leave out the part with the energy bolt and the morphine, I get the feeling that it might not go down well. 
"So you think that your leg might have been damaged my the Manticore's tail?" Twilight asks me. 
"I don't know, it happened all to fast. If I hadn't acted the girls might have been eaten."
Applejack gives me a dirty look as she rouses her little sister. Sweetie Belle had attached herself to Rarity's back and is now being carried out of the cottage. Rarity stops next to me and looks to her sister then to me.
"Thanks for saving her," she says. Rarity leaves and then Applejack walks up to me.
"Now ah don't know what the hay you thinking when you took the fillies out into the woods but ah can't stay mad at you. You saved Apple Bloom's life, ah don't know how else to thank you."
I place my injured hoof on her shoulder.  
"Keep her safe," I reply, "And you let everypony else know that the Manticore won't be bothering any more travelers." 
Applejack nods and heads back to her farm. Fluttershy gives me some sort of drink and it numbs the pain in my leg again. Twilight assists me in getting back to Sugarcube corner and explains to the Cakes why I'm covered in dirt, blood, bruises and why my leg is in bandages. As she's doing that I head to my room, worn out and tired I'm more than glad to get to some sleep for tomorrow. But tomorrow's the day when I have to get the Elements of Harmony and destroy them so Discord can take over and I can be his right hand man, or pony. I reach my bedroom door open it and flick on the lights. No sooner have I stepped inside the room, the door suddenly slams and a large hand grabs me by the neck and pins me against the wall. I claw at the hand and see that it's an eagle talon, fear slowly consumes me as I look up and see the looming face of Discord staring absolute death in my eyes. 
"Do you know why I'm here Websly?" he says in a very dark and angry tone, "Because I know what you did, and I'm not happy about it."
"Ah noooo," I whimper.