The sun was close to setting in the distance as a tall dark purple stallion slowly wandered his way through the trees of the Everfree forest. He was looking for a place to find shelter in from dark clouds that had been approaching from the East.
As he searched he thought of the last words that his master had told him."Just find your way out of this dark forest and you will be able to live with other ponies like yourself." The stallion smiled to himself wondering what it would be like if he really did make it out of this god forsaken place.
He soon found what he looking for in the side of a cliff. The cave was about thirty feet around and went deep into the cliff side. The pony made a quick check if anything was living in the cave, but didn't make too much of an effort. He had been walking for the entire day and had not eaten anything since the night before.
He sat himself down near the entrance of that cave to watch flashes of lightning flashing in the distance. His eyes were heavy and he was struggling to keep them open.
BOOM! The thunder was loud enough to make tremors run up the stallion's for hooves. It was also loud enough to wake a large beast in one of the deep chasms of the cave. It slowly made its way to the entrance of the cave not making a sound as each of its paws hit the ground.
Once near the entrance it noticed the pony sitting at the entrance. Realizing the pony was paying attention to the storm outside, the beast crouched and slowly made its way up to the easy meal sitting at the opening of its home.
Carelessly the beast stepped on a bone that had belonged to one of it's former meals. As the bone snapped in two it let out a loud CRACK.
The stallion turned quickly at the sound and found himself looking into the drooling face of a large manticore three times his size. It roared sending slobber all over the face of the pony who just opened his eyes and smiled as he slowly turned before charging out of the cave.
He didn't make it very far as he felt one of the manticore's paws smashed into his right side, its claws digging into him. The stallion was thrown ten feet before hitting a tree with a loud thud making him cough up blood. He felt the warm blood running down his side from where the beast had made three long cuts.
Playing dead while waiting for the manticore to get close enough, the stallion readied himself for a counter attack. Once it was in range he bucked his hind legs as hard as he could into the face of the manticore. He felt a crunch as its nose broke under his hooves. It reared back bellowing in pain as its paws went to its face. Seeing his opportunity, the pony quickly got back onto its hooves and ran for the forest. But the manticore soon regained his senses and made chase after its meal.
Not caring where he was running he ran deeper into the forest soon coming across a deep bog. He lost his footing as his hooves sank surprisingly fast in the mud, making him fall head first into sludge. He was quickly covered in a thick layer of mud as he slowly moved his way to the other side of the bog.
Luckily for him the manticore made the same mistake he did and ran straight onto the thick mud. If someone was watching the two they would have laughed out loud as it looked like a slow motion chase scene from a movie.
As he reached the other side and climbed out of the thick sludge the stallion looked back at the manticore trying to make its way to him. The stallion smiled as it slipped and nearly lost balance. He then turned around and continued onward.
Weaving his way back through the thick forest the stallion looked for a way to escape. Up ahead there was a large root as thick as his neck sticking out of the ground. The stallion barely cleared it as his back hoof came within millimeaters of the bark covering the root. The manticore wasn't so lucky, the root got caught under its legs and caused the beast to fall face first into the ground with a loud thud.
Without looking back the pony started heading towards what looked to be a clearing in the dark forest. But as he entered the clearing something caught under his legs and face planted into what looked to be a tree. He tried too get back up but was to exhausted from the day of walking and then having to run through the forest. Not to mention he had lost a considerable amount of blood while doing it.
He looked behind him and saw a shadow of what he guessed was the manticore looking for him. At this time he was thankful he was covered in mud because it provided him with the perfect camoflage. He watched it for what seemed to be an eternity as he prayed it wouldn't see him. It soon gave up and headed back to its cave to nurse its wounds.
The stallion tried to get up again but once he had gotten onto his front hooves they gave under him and he fell head first into what he had hit before. With his head growing another lump he curled into a ball and fell asleep.
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The next morning Fluttershy was woken up by a rapid thumping on her side. She turned her head slowly to look at an annoyed white rabit standing on flank. His arms were crossed and his left foot was moving up and down as he waited for her to get up.
"Oh, I'm sorry Angel I must have slept in, it must be late if you had to wake me up." She turned to look at the red alarm clock sitting on the dresser next to her bed. It was 8:00 AM, Fluttershy had slept in but not much.
She then got out of bed and nuzzed Angel with a smile on her face. This only seemed to make him more ticked off as he hopped off towards the kitchen. Fluttershy then got ready for the day, she brushed her teeth and pink hair, making sure there no paches sticking up at odd angles.
She then made her way down to the kitchen and got a carrot out of the fridge."Now eat this slowly so you don't choke on it ok Angel." Fluttershy said with concern as she gave it to the annoyed rabbit. He didn't listen though as he downed it in four bites. She sighed as she watched him.
After eating some breakfast of her own she went to the sink and stared washing up the dishes she used.She hummed a quiet tune to herself as she concentrated on what she was doing. As she was finnished drying and putting away what she had used she looked out the window.
Fluttershy gasped at what she saw. There was a hole in the fence that surrounded the chicken coop."Oh no I hope the chickens got out." She said to herself as she rushed out the front door remembering what happened with the CMC the last time a chicken had gotten out. She stuck her head in the little door of the chicken coop and started counting. Fluttershy thanked Celestia as she let out a sigh of relief when she saw that they were all there.
As she pulled her head out of the coop she noticed a movement behind it. Fluttershy let out a loud squeek as she saw the back end of a large body of some animal lying behind the coop.
Fluttershy slowly walked up to the body on the ground trying not to make a sound, it looked as if it was shuttering. Once she had gotten close enough to see the entire body of the sleeping animal she noticed a few things about it. First off it wasn't a beast but a very large stallion, she guessed if he was standing he could easily be taller than Applejacks brother big Machintosh. He was covered from head to hoof in caked on mud and twigs. The second thing she noticed was the flowing bronze mane and tail that seemed to move on its own. With each movement it caught the early morning sun light and made it shine in the places where it wasn't covered in mud or had twigs in it.
Fluttershy stepped in closer to get a better look when she stepped in something wet. She lifted her hoof and looked at the red blood that was mixed in with the dirt. As her eyes started to look for the source of the blood. They soon found it as she let out a gasp at the three long cut on the side of the stallion.
She ran back into her house too look for the suplies needed to help the dying pony outside. She grabbed the first aid kit under the sink in the kichen, a few rolls of bandages, and some disinfectant. Fluttershy only hoped she would make in time to save his life.