The misadventures of some random person turned Manticore

by Cloverleaf


Some crazy lizard thing

The pony on the other side of the bars finishes writing down what I had finished explaining before tipping a nod to me. "Well, I must say, seems an intersting story. I'll be bringing this up the ladder. Sorry though, looks like you might not get out of here for a bit." With a final tap of his quill on the paper, he rolls everything up and puts it away. Only then did that blue aura fade away from both quill and paper.

Really now, first pegasi (a guard had corrected me after getting it wrong one too many times.) Now unicorns. Today was definitely turning out crazy. Reflecting on the morning had been odd in and of itself. Telling it to a being out of myth, and them writing it down, now I was crossing into the realm of crazy. Even more crazy, I was telling them while they were outside a cell I was in. Yeah, like this makes any sense, but then again I'd given up on making sense the second that pink pony had disappeared on me.

The cell itself, obviously wasn't built for something of my size. I didn't have much room, even when they made reasonable accomodations and took out the wall next to me to turn two cells into one. It worked some, but that can only go so far when they don't clear out the rubble, or take you out of the cell before they knock the wall down, from the other side.

Another bout of coughing, another chunk of rubble pops out of my mouth. That hadn't happened for a few hours at least, so maybe it was the last one. The rubble pile did do one thing. It made it easier to see out the window and enjoy the view. The expanse outside was amazing. Still can't understand how they got a city to stay standing on the side of a mountain. Maybe they had a crack team of unicorns constantly holding it up. That thought dismisses entirely, and feels almost as if it simply fell out of my head.

But back to the view. Incredible, the valleys below, the air, so crisp and so thin in oxygen from being near the top of a damn mountain! Eh, didn't mean much, I wasn't exerting myself enough for it to matter. I slide down the wall, ignoring the jab from a rather sharp piece of rubble, and turn around. Guess there isn't much to do but just sit and wait.

My first visitor came in the form of a unicorn guard. Again I am brought to question how such a small horse could try so hard to look stern and fail miserably at it. Nevertheless, I shall not say this out loud, at least to him, since he has my lunch after all. It's quickly slid through, and he just as quickly leaves. Well, guess it's time to chow down on....what is this? Hay, alfalfa, lettuce? Come on, where's some steak from good old Betsy the cow?

***

Back in Ponyville, a cow sneezes, causing a few others to look up at them.

"Ooh bless ya Betsy dearie." One of them says to the one who had sneezed.

***

I felt, a sudden feeling of emptiness, for just a moment there. Shaking my head, I look up to see another horse standing in front of my cell door. It...looks an awful lot like the crazy one from the carriage, only difference being it's coat color seemed to follow blue instead. She smiled at me.

"Silly, don't go projecting yourself at cows now!" And with that, she giggles. I shake my head again, taking my eyes off her for a second. Like the pink one, this was enough, and she was gone, leaving behind a bucket of blue paint. I'm left to question why.

Maybe I'm going insane. Maybe I'm here to pay penance for sins I have no clue about. Maybe I'm still dreaming. Maybe I can will this piece of rubble next to me to turn into a chocolate cake. I focus on it real hard, closing my eyes in the process, then hear something snap. I crack my eyes open again. It, it had turned into cake! I scoop it up, and take a tender bite. Good thing, cause it was just frosted rubble. Yay for not breaking any teeth!

Laughter fills the room. Probably the next room over too, but I can't be certain. Turning once again to the cell door, something even more peculiar stands there. It stood tall, enough it had to slump over to avoid banging it's head on the ceiling. Every single part of it was mismatched and wrong, yet seem to come together in something oh so right. It's laughter subsided as it looked at me, one long fang sticking out of it's mouth.

"Well, when I had heard the guard caught a manticore, I had to see for myself. Could possibly be some bonding time." It spoke in such a way that stated. 'I have all the power and there's not a damn thing you can do.'At least that was my impression. "Still, you went near Fluttershy's house. I can't imagine a bungling oaf such as yourself finding it in you to harm her, but you coming near her put me at unease for a moment." He went from a happy grin to a glare within an instant. Apparently the buttery horse was a friend of his. How something this freaky looking was friends with her, when I merely mouthed a word to her and she bolted, is beyond me.

"I didn't intend to cause her any harm. I was just going to ask her for help in finding my brother. I, didn't even know she was a horse until I was led past." This seemed to earn his glare once more. He honestly was scaring me now with that look. Glad I went earlier, otherwise things would have gotten embarrasing real fast.

PPFRBT

Damnit.

This apparently relights his good mood, because he begins chuckling. When he finally subsides, he looks at me once more with a slightly mischievous look. "Well, he who dealt it shall smell it. Or was that the other way around?" He begins floating in the air, how is anyone's guess. Magic, magnets, hologram? "Regardless. I think we'll get along swimmingly. Care for a chocolate milk of glass?"

"What?"

"A chocolate. Milk. Of glass." He held out a small glass and snapped his claws with the free hand. A small pink cloud pops into existence. I fear possibly it's the pink mare again, but he taps it once, and like that, it begins to....oh gees that is such a terrible joke. Great now that song is stuck in my head. In short order the glass is filled. I wave it away. He shrugs, and drains the glass away from the still formed chocolate milk. I blink. The glass was gone, he just drank it. He didn't drink the chocolate milk. Somewhere between my eyes and my brain something got messed up big time, it had to be.

He looks at the milk for a second before tossing it aside. An explosion occurs, and now the hallway was surely covered in.....confetti? I go into inner monolgue mode with my mind. It doesn't respond. So great, I'm stuck in a cell, some crazy monster is causing reality to go haywire, and my mind just got a blue screen of death. He looks at me and chuckles. "Say something, conversations are boring one sided."

"I'm a good boy......" Where did that come from, why was I sucking on my paw? I shake myself out of this state. "Err, I mean.....actually, there's no recovery from that, is there?"

"Not in the slightest." He snaps his claws again. Wait, I was just in a cell, where did this office come from? He's sitting behind it. "Now, let's see here. Name, unknown, race, manticore. Heh, probably the first time other's been used in ages." He snaps his claws again and the scroll burns up. What was going on, what is the point of all this. He leans over the desk. "Do you know why I called you in here?"

"Err, no...." Stay with me brain, don't you die on me, I need you. I gets the dumb when you shut down ohgoditstarted!

"Darn, I was hoping you could tell me, I forgot." And just like that, magic snappy happens again. The room fades, I'm back in my cell. The door's gone, and he's right there. A part of me, deep down, gets angry, and my mind flatlines.

"This for kill brain!" Lunging at him, claws extended I get about five good swipes in, he simply grabs one limb, then the other. Glaring at me once more, I realize the slashes did nothing to him. So, I figure, test out the tail, and making a lunge to stab him. I would have hit him too, if he hadn't pulled a magic vanishing head trick. The body wavers for a moment before slumping over on me. Despite being lanky, he was heavy! His head reappears next to me, laughing.

"Well, someone got a bee in their bonnet today. But I like that attitude. It shows purpose, destiny, a reason for being." The floating head smirked. Occasionally it spun or did a frontflip. Why, cause it could.

"What....." Ok, for once things seemed, somewhat normal. I shimmied out from under his body, and soon he came back together. "I'll do anything, just, please, no more shtick."

"Feh, no respect for classics. But very well." In a flash he was gone, and the path out clear. "You have a purpose out there little manticore, go out and fulfill it." His voice dies away as laughter echoes in the distance. A purpose, what did he mean?

"I just woke up in the damn woods! What purpose is there in that!?" I lowered my head. I wanted to strangle him. Course I wouldn't get the chance. A quick look down the hall reveals there's noone there. Well, some crazy reality warping monster decided I needed to leave, so, considering I couldn't touch him, maybe it was best I left. Who knows, maybe I did have some purpose here. Couldn't find it sitting in a stuffy cell. Onward!

...

Right after I finish the frosting off the rubble cake that is....