//------------------------------//
// A Bird in the Hoof 
// Story: A New Purpose in Life 
// by Tx Avenger 218 
//------------------------------//

“Twilight! Calm down!” I shout to the purple unicorn as she continues to teleport from one part of her tree house to the next and back again. Today, Princess Celestia is coming to Ponyville for… you know, I don’t even know what the hell it is she’s coming by for, all I know is that the entire town of Ponyville is going crazy at preparing for her arrival. Twilight mostly.
 
“I can’t calm down! The princess is coming to Ponyville and this place is a mess!” Mess? This place is spotless compared to mine.
 
“Can you honestly say that she’ll like you any less if your place is even a tiny bit dirty?” I say while leaning against a bookshelf.
 
“Yes!!” I almost trip as she yells right in my ear on a ladder right next to me.
 
“Ow. Whatever Twilight, you can go on and have your little episode while I head back to my house and wait for this whole thing to blow over.” Before I can even grab the door handle, Twilight instantly blocks my path.
 
“Ohh no! You’re coming to the dinner gathering we have planned for the Princess when she gets here.”
 
“Awwhh man! Twilight… are you sure it’s a good idea for me to go to those party’s? I’m not really… good at those types of things.”
 
“I am very sure! If Princess Celestia intends to do a bit of an evaluation of the town, she’ll most certainly want to hear how the protection is going from your mouth!” She snaps at me.
 
“God da-“ Before I can finish, my face has a book slammed against it, “Ow! What hell Tw-?!” Another smacks me again.
 
“I’ve been very lenient with your outbursts and profanity thus far, but now you’re going to have to change your attitude from now on as long as you live here in town. Especially during this meeting with the Princess!”
 
“How do you know what I say are curse words? I never told you.” She slowly walks up to me in a menacing and threatening way. I slowly back up until I trip over my foot and land on one of her beanbag chairs. Now her face is really close to mine.
 
“We are talking in the exact same language right now. Would it stand to reason that of course we know which words are which?” I feel a bead of sweat already form on my forehead. I never really thought about it.
 
“Ehehehe, uhhh… sorry?”
 
“You are forgiven,” She turns back to me, “as long as you behave yourself.” I sigh and stand up.
 
“Yes, mom.”
 
“Good, now let’s figure out on how to make you seem presentable as how your job is…”
 
After about an hour or so, everything’s already set-up here at Sugarcube Corner, minus the entrees that were supposed to be severed and we have Pinkie Pie to thank for that. Luckily the Cakes came prepared and have the food ready for the Princess. All the decorations are hung and ready to be enjoyed, while I am standing close to the door with all my weapons on me. Since I’m practically the sole protector of this entire town, Twilight thought that I should show the princess what I’ve amounted to since our last encounter. My sword and shotgun are crossing on my back, my belt has my pistol and knife, along with a few grenades I found in the forest a couple days ago. Very deadly, but also so much fun. My bow is also placed on a nearby open table with an arrow on it ready to be pulled and fired in the blink of an eye.
 
“Is everything alright?” Twilight worriedly asks to no one in particular. I think she just wants someone to tell her everything is going to be alright, especially since the Princess is already here and dining.
 
“As ready as everything can be.” I reply, eliciting a smile from the stressed unicorn.
 
“Ugh!” Looking to my right, I see a disgruntled Rainbow Dash slowly hover on in.
 
“What’s wrong with you?”
 
“Those guard ponies outside are soooooo booooooring! They don’t do anything besides just sit there and… guard.” I chuckle at her blatant expression of them.
 
“That’s what guards do Rainbow. They guard. They can’t slack off or be bored with their jobs, otherwise they’ll slack off and something bad could happen. Soldiers and Guards always need to be ever diligent so they can react within a moment’s notice.” 
 
“Well, that doesn’t mean they can’t have fun every now and then right?” I look at her for a second before laughing.
 
“Rainbow Dash, from what I know about you… military life for my people, especially the training, can be pretty brutal.”
 
She gives me a cross look, “Sooooo what? You think I can’t handle it?!” She angrily says hovering right in front of my face.
 
I smile and lightly chuckle, “Dash, you are more of aaaaaa… free spirit. I can’t picture you at all being locked down like those guards out there.” I state. She continues to stare at me for a little bit longer, making things clearly uncomfortable.
 
She slumps down but still stays midflight, “Yeah you’re right. I’m gonna go get some punch.” She slowly flies away from me and towards the table that has such refreshment.
 
“Bring me a glass.” I say after her.
 
Everything seems to be going alright so far, Spike is making the baking of certain deserts go into overdrive with his fire breathing, the cakes and a bunch of other ponies are having fun and catering the Princess. All in all it seems good.
 
“Ooooh! Does it stain?! Keep it away from me!” Except when the ever tidy and prompt Rarity gets a little… fussy over something that’ll stain her dress.
 
“Is she alright?” I ask Twilight and Fluttershy as Rarity begins to quiver in front of a confused Mrs. Cake.
 
“I’m sure she’s fine! Hehehe!” Twilight laughs nervously. Wait, did her eye just twitch?
 
“Never mind, I’m not hungry.” I look over to see Applejack slumped down in front of a pretty good spread of food.
 
“And it looks like Applejacks manners are a bit away right now.” I say quietly enough so said mare doesn’t hear me.
 
“Ohhhh.” Twilight groans.
 
“C’mon, Twilight. Everything will be alright.” I try to reassure her. Her groaning expressions turns upside down as she looks at me with the corner of her eye.
 
“Woo-hoo!! Cupcakes, candies and pies!! Alright!” Pinkie Pie shouts as she bounces around admiring the deserts, at least until she stops and splats a pie right into the side of her face.
 
“I stand corrected.” Oh, Pinkie.
 
We watch as Pinkie admires a fountain of liquid chocolate before dunking her head into it and eating the hardened chocolate off her face. You know, I always wondered on just how those things work. “You gonna eat that?!” She shouts at the Princess before eating a snack the Princess was going to eat.
 
“*Gaaaassssspppp!!*” Mrs. Cake gasps out loud and immediately tackles Pinkie out of the way, followed my Mr. Cake who replaces the treats the pink mare ate.
 
 “Empty teacup at 4 o’clock!”
 
“I see it, honey bun!” And just like a well trained commando squad, Mr. and Mrs. Cake spring into action the second Princess Celestia finishes her drink.
 
“Oh! Um, thank you.”
 
“Not at all your highness.” Mr. Cake replies. The Princess sips some more tea and the Cakes go back and forth, refilling the Princesses teacup so she can sip it again. Except this time she just makes the sipping sound.
 
“Hmm-?” I mutter to myself. Mr. Cake’s instincts kick in and he refills the cup, except it overfills.
 
“Gotcha’.” She replies to the embarrassed Cakes. Wow. That is the first time I’ve ever seen the Princess be silly or funny with anything, interesting.
 
“Oooooh.” Twilight groans yet again.
 
“Twilight you’re being way too uptight with-“ I begin.
 
“Ahhh! Swift Wind! How nice it is to see you again!” The Princess cuts me off as she looks at me.
 
“Oh! Uhh. Hey Princess. It’s nice to see you again as well. At least now it’s under better circumstances, right? Hehehe.” I chuckle in an embarrassed tone. How we met was definitely not the best first impression on both of our parts in the long run.
 
“It sure is. Hm hm hm.” She lightly chuckles to herself. At least now we’ve gotten past that and can be friends, right? Right. “Anyway, I’ve been meaning to ask you on how your job of protecting Ponyville has been?”
 
“Ohhhh, you know. The usual. Occasional attacks from the oh so mystical and mysterious Everfree Forest, the constant scouting and scavenging of my new equipment for myself, plus having nightmares every so often about your old life can really provide you with a challenge as well. It’s been going great Princess!” I sarcastically say. She stares at me for some time before chuckling at my action.
 
“I see it has been.”
 
“Yeah, well.” Out of the corner of my eye I can tell Twilight is a little tense over what I just did. “But on a more serious note your highness, it’s been what you’d pretty much expect. I’ve been doing what I can to ensure the safe protection of this town and its inhabitants, but one person can only do so much. The scavenging has also been fruitful. As you can see,” I spread out my arms and look around on my character to emphasize what I mean, “I’ve managed to scrounge up a few things of worthwhile. If you wish I can send you a letter explaining and describing some of the items I’ve found?”
 
She smiles, “That would be nice. I’m still eager to learn more on the advancement or your kind, rather than your… expansive history.” She says the last part in a different sadder tone. Who can blame her?
 
“Of course, Princess. At least that is something we both can agree on.” We both exchange smiles before I look over at a table with Rainbow Dash near it. I see she forgot to bring my glass. “If you don’t mind, ma’am… but I think I’m gonna grab a bite to eat. I haven’t eaten since this morning.”
 
“Of course, Swift. I wish you luck on your continued stay here in Equestria.” She says as I begin walking away. I turn around and give her a gentleman’s bow.
 
“And I wish you luck on your continued ruling of this great nation, your highness.” She smiles and waves me off.
 
“And what about you dear? Fluttershy is it?” I hear the Princess address the shy pony.
 
Let’s see if you’ll do better than the others, Fluttershy. “Hey Dash, enjoying the party?” I ask her as I grab a cup so I can pour myself some punch but she yawns before looking up at me.
 
“Huh? Oh sorry, Swift. It’s boring I’ll tell you that.” I chuckle at her words.
 
“Yeah. I’ve never been to anything like this before in my life. At least now I can tell just why people think these things are so-“
 
“Boring.” She interrupts. I look at her and smile.
 
“Exactly.” She smiles before slumping down a bit. We just stand there for awhile, not really doing anything interesting and just lightly sipping our drinks. An awkwardness filling the air around us.
 
“… Wanna help get some stuff from the Everfree Forest?”
 
She looks up at me…
 
“Alright Rainbow, I want you to stay here and wait for me to return. If I need help in there I’ll send you a signal.” I order Dash.
 
“Why don’t I just go in there with you?!” she snaps at me. I shake my head no.
 
“Because I don’t want both of us to get trapped or lost in there. Besides those tree lines are pretty thick so it’d be pretty hard for you to wedge yourself through them.” I try to explain to her. She gives me this look before sitting back down on her flank and crosses her forehooves on her chest.
 
“Fine,” I smile at her cooperation. “But what type of signal should I be on the lookout for?”
 
“… uhh, trust me! You’ll know when you see it.” I boast to her. She looks at me for a second before shrugging.
 
“Alright, let’s see what you have for little ol’ me for today.” With how everything is going, I might need some more equipment for things that get even more hairy later on. I may have found the grenades but I need to go deeper if I’m going to find things that are much more worthwhile. I’ve lessened the load on me so now I’m going into the Everfree Forest with the Mossberg, Katana, and my belt with just a few grenades. Making my way through the trees, everything is quiet. Good, hopefully I can get in and out without much incident.  After I walk for close to half an hour, I jump over a fallen tree with my shotgun in hand. In truth, I don’t know what type of signal it is that I can send Dash to come and get me, but if I become a little desperate, I can probably chuck a grenade into the air to have it explode, just got to be careful that I don’t blow my own arm off.
 
I suddenly stop as soon as I hear a low growling sound. I feel a bead of sweat form as I begin to contemplate what it is. Looking ahead of me, there’s nothing. Slowly turning my head to the sides, there’s nothing either. I hear another growling sound but this time it’s much closer than before. I slowly breathe in, and then out. Turning around, my heart sinks as I watch a pair of bright yellow eyes staring into my soul. The source of the growl and eyes reveals itself as it makes its way out from the dark trees. A Manticore… my god. The lion like mythological creature in front of me stares me down as I stand perfectly still. The head and body of a lion, claws much longer, sharper and deadlier than the average one, two dragon wings, and a scorpion tail is what I can make out from him. He’s easily a lot bigger than me as I have to look up at him slightly.
 
Stay calm. As long as you don’t try to do anything brash or stupid, you should be fi-!
 
“Rooooooaaaaarrrr!!!” The Manticore lunges at me right after letting out a bestial cry of power. I dodge out of the way just in time to avoid his massive claws. I quickly look back as I lay on the ground to see the claw marks he left on the tree that was behind me. From my best guess and perspective, they went half-way through the trunk of the massive tree.
 
“Oh man.” I say scared and surprised. The Manticore looks directly at me and charges. I turn around and take off further into the forest, using the other trees to be able to make my escape in some moments that he’s right on me. I see a small clearing ahead as I jump over another tree. As soon as I hit the clearing, I jump off to the side as the Manticore busts through the tree line at the last second in a failed effort to grab me. I quickly pull up my shotgun and take aim at the beast. As soon as he looks right at me, I open fire. As soon as my round hits, the Manticore recoils in pain.
 
“Hm, gotcha.” I mutter to myself.
 
“Roooaaarr!”
 
“Hell!” At first I thought the Manticore would back off after my attack but he doesn’t; now he looks more pissed off than ever. He charges at me again and I get ready to shoot. Instead of the face this time, I aim lower and go for his legs. I fire once at each of his front legs and watch as he goes toppling over towards me. I move out of the way just in time to avoid him as he crashes into the trees behind me. The Manticore slowly yet quietly groans to himself from the pain. I keep my gun pointed at him just in case he tries to attack me again. When I make sure he doesn’t look capable enough to fight anymore I lower my guard and watch as the blood flows from his wounds and pools onto the ground.
 
Suddenly, image flashes in my mind. I stumble back and drop my shotgun as I grab my head in an attempt to suppress the pain. A woman is lying on the ground injured, beaten, shot, I don’t know, all I can make out about her is that she’s lying in a small pool of blood. That homeless lady I killed?! No… it’s not her. It’s someone else… it… I kinda looks like-!
 
“Ssssss Roaaarr!” The groaned but audible loud groan snaps me back to reality. The Manticore has already leapt up and is ready to attack. He knocks my shotgun away from my reach and immediately aims his tail at me. The first sting goes for my head but I dodge it. Next he goes for my legs and only succeeds in grazing my leg and tearing my pant leg a bit. He tries to stab me a few more times but I manage to dodge every so often. I’m not lightning fast unfortunately, my clothes get torn a bit but I’m still standing. I slam myself against the tree and stare as he leers at me with eyes that show the intent to kill and maul. Damn! Can’t keep this up. I breathe heavily from how tired I feel. The Manticore growls and moves his tail behind him in an enticing manner, I’m guessing as a way to distract his prey or enemies. I brace myself against the tree and get ready.
 
In a flash, his tail shoots forward with lightning fast reflexes. “Haaa!” I shout as I push myself from the tree to the right side at the last second making my enemy imbed his tail deep into the tree. With the sound of something impaling the tree, I quickly turn around and look up, expecting the Manticore to be staring right at me, except I see him trying to tear his tail off from the tree but he can’t. He’s struggling really hard now; making a shiver send down my spine as I imagine what would happen if it was me on his tail. I shake the thought from my head and grab the handle of my katana on my back. I slowly unsheathe it and grab it with both hands. I walk towards the Manticore with my sights set on it.
 
I can’t let him live. He has my scent and I don’t want to take the chance of him following me back to Ponyville. No… this must be done. I think as I bring my sword over him. I twist my Katana upside down and prepare myself. I bring it high up and stare at the Manticore.
 
“Raawwr!” He yells at me again. I grip my Katana harder and stab down.
 
“Arrrrghh!” Before my sword can connect, the Manticore uses one of his front injured paws and slams it hard into me, sending me into the air and stumbling back until I roll on the ground. I groan as I get on my hands and knees while breathing shallow breaths, having the wind knocked out of me and all.
 
Damn! He’s good. I get up on one knee and look towards the struggling Manticore, but my sight gets impeded by the shining object right in front of me. Out of my dazed state, I instantly recognize it as my Katana. A few more inches and it would have landed on my head. Wow, déjà vu. I quickly grab the handle and pull it out of the ground. The sword is still in working and peak condition. The Manticore is still struggling, tired as well but still has plenty of fight left in him… but so do I. “Have to dodge his claws. I can’t go from behind because his legs in the back are still alright. His front is injured and slightly impaired but still dangerous. Not to mention I don’t know his reach with his mouth. Got to be careful on this.” I mutter to myself as I get ready again for my next assault.
 
“Grrrrrr.” That low growl didn’t come from the Manticore in front of me. I slowly back up and look around to try and find the source of the new growls. Nothing, I don’t see anything around me. I look forward and my eyes widen. Standing right in front of me, now that it’s freed, three Manticore’s are standing side-by-side and staring me down. I continue to take a couple steps back.
 
“You have got to be-!” I quietly say to myself but another growl cuts me off. I know when it comes to most animals you’re not supposed to show fear or try and run away from them… but none of my people can tell me just what to do right now. My heart beats faster when my back hits a tree. The Manticore’s are standing a couple meters away from me and the one I was fighting before looks completely bent and ready to kill me after what we went through together. Oh man. Oh god, oh god, oh god. What the hell am I supposed to do?! I can’t take all three on at once! I’m not skilled enough in this sword and my guns are having a tough time in breaking their hide. The only thing I have left is…
 
I smile and fully stand up. As my enemy’s take one more step, I grab two grenades from my belt and pull the pin on both of them. Once I let the handles fling off I roll them at the Manticore’s feet carefully. They stare at the odd objects in front of them before I roll another one for good measure. As soon as they look up at me, I move behind the large tree I was up against and cover my ears. Fire in the hole.
 
A massive loud explosion can be slightly heard through my covered ears, and the ground shakes under me as well. I wait a few seconds just in case the other grenades go off. Nothing, there is only silence. Slowly I uncover my ears and carefully pear around the tree. The place is a mess. I see a small crater on the ground, the explosion slightly scorched some of the leaves in the surrounding trees, and I’m finding pools of blood and ripped flesh all around the area as well. I sigh and sit down on the part of the ground that isn’t completely blown to hell. “Phew. That was close. Almost didn’t make it out of there.” Since Manticore’s are composed of different species or animals, so they surely would have my scent and could have followed me back to Ponyville. Couldn’t take that chance.
 
“Cockatrice, Manticore’s… what’s next?” I mutter to myself. Now that the three Manticore’s are dead, it’s high time I either go back home, or continue searching. Different things are running through my head right now. If I leave now I can head back home without much trouble, but then again this is the farthest I’ve gotten in this forest yet. Something good or big could be nearby, but I don’t know if it’s like what I just faced a little while ago, or something that can actually help me. What to do? As I contemplate on what my next course of action is, I hear a slight creaking sound. Looking around, I stop as I notice one of the taller trees slowly beginning to topple over, not on me anyway so I don’t have to jump out of the way.
 
As soon as the tree crashes onto the ground, I wipe my arm through the air to push the dust off and away from me. I still haven’t decided on what it is I should do, but I spot something. The tree that fell was severely damaged by my grenades so there’s not much of it surviving, however, the tree fell and revealed another open area… with something in the middle. Grabbing my shotgun, I keep my guard up as I walk over the tree and into the clearing. Right in the middle is a small cache of ammo boxes and two new guns.
 
“Well, well, well… what do we have here?” I happily say. From my knowledge of modern firearms, I am now in the possession of the Barrett M107 .50 caliber sniper rifle and a flare gun. Two out of three boxes of ammo I have here contain .50 cal. Bullets, and the last contains a dozen shots for the flare gun. I marvel at the pristine piece of hardware I have right now. I was always a bit skeptic on how I can defend anything if I’m too far away. Now with this new sniper rifle, I can take things out that can be thousands of feet away. I place the Barrett down and pick up the flare gun. Looking at it all around, there doesn’t seem to be any damage or wear and tear to it. If it’s still in working order, only one way to find out. I slip a new cartridge into the flare gun and aim it high into the sky. Two things will happen, One: the flare shoots out and flies high into the air where it will illuminate and show where I am for Rainbow; Two: it blows up in my hand and I lose it, or I burst into flames. Either way, this thing is getting shot.
 
I aim and fire. Once the flare hits the top of how far it can reach, it opens up and starts to slowly trickle down. Even in the middle of the day, this thing is still bright as hell. Hopefully Rainbow saw it. There is too much stuff here for me to carry alone and I am not making a second trip! I wait a few minutes for the Pegasus to come. The flare is already gone and now I’m getting a bit antsy about my current situation. What Dash didn’t see it? I’ll be wasting precious time to get out of here… or what if she wasn’t the only one to see it?! What’s stopping the rest of the creatures in this Celestia forsaken forest from following my flare back to me?!! I barely held my own against one Manticore, let alone three and I only have so many grenades. Oh man. Hurry up-
 
“Hey, Swift! Found something?” Finally the Rainbow maned Pegasus gently hovers down towards the ground in front of me. I breathe a sigh of relief and walk up to her.
 
“Dash, good to see you girl.” I hold up my fist and we hoof/fist bump.
 
“Same with you, although it looks like you’ve seen better days.” She smugly says. I look down to see the tattered and torn spots and areas of my clothing. “Yeah well, I found some stuff I can’t leave behind but there’s too much here for one trip. I need you to take these ammo boxes…” I grab two boxes and place them down in front of her, “And get them to the front porch of my house while I take the rest of this stuff.” The Barrett I can sling onto my back, the flare gun in my pocket and the ammo box I can carry with one hand. She looks at me for a second before taking a look at all the stuff I found.
 
“That’s it? I was expecting something a lot more.”
 
“Usually I would as well, but this new weapon of mine is powerful, very powerful… so it’s a pretty good find considering my inventory at the moment.” I try to give her the short explanation. She flies behind me and eyes my rifle a bit.
 
“What’s so powerful about it?”
 
I sigh, “Listen, I could go on for the next half-hour and explain to you every tiny bit about this rifle, AKA, the Barrett .50 cal., on how and why it’s so powerful… and a little heavy at the same time.” I gently tug on the strap of my rifle to get more comfortable “But for now we need to get out of here. Three Manticore’s was one thing but I don’t think I have it in me to take on anymore.”
 
Rainbow Dash blinks a few times, “You… y-you took on… three Manticore’s?!” she stammers to ask me.
 
“Hehe, uhhh that crater wasn’t there before I got here… and the tree was there before I got here.” I say while pointing behind me. Rainbow Dash hovers to where the tree was standing before and looks around.
 
“*Long Sharp Whistle* Dang, Swift. You weren’t quiet.” I chuckle at her words.
 
“All the more reason for us to get our as-, I mean our flanks out a here! C’mon, let’s get going.” I move the strap to a more comfortable position and pick up one of the three boxes of ammo.
 
“Fine.” She grunts before grabbing both of the last boxes of ammo and hefts them up into the air. She struggles a bit but is airborne.
 
“Alright, let’s hurry.” I say and begin walking in the direction me and Dash came from. She nods and we begin the long trek back to my home through this dense as hell forest…
 
“The Barrett is a heavy duty piece of equipment that can fire .50 caliber rifle rounds at distances ranging to miles, where whoever gets hit might very well be cut into two, depending on where you hit them of course. It can also be considered an expensive weapon to make as well. With its power, strength, speed and range, it doesn’t come without a cost.”
 
“Wooow.” Dash says in amazement. After going through how much ammo I have, and realizing I have enough rounds to last me for quite a while, I gave dash an explanation on just how much of a beast this weapon is after I got a change of clothes. I’m glad I found this. With how everything is, I could definitely use something to take on things from far away.
 
“Hold this for a second.” I quickly give Rainbow the gun, which she has a bit of trouble holding it up so it doesn’t come slamming down onto her, or the ground.
 
“Hey!” She shouts as I make my way into my house. I quickly search through the drawers in my bedroom and I pull out my phone. Cool thing is that it’s got a hell of a long battery life, and a camera feature. It’s probably a good idea on getting photographic evidence on everything I have so I properly keep track of my stuff. Good thing I had this thing turned off the whole time I’ve been here, otherwise it’d be dead.
 
“Hey Rainbow?” she continues to hold my rifle up as she looks at me to see me holding my phone. “Smile.”
 
With a small flash, the picture is taken and Dash shakes her head from the temporary blinding light. “Ow. What was that?” she grunts at me. I chuckle and grab my gun from her. I sit down and gently place the Barrett down on a bipod.
 
“Ohhhh nothing. Just took a picture of you. See.” I turn the screen towards her and show her picture. Her eyes are pretty big considering I surprised her with the flash and all, but still fun.
 
“I look weird.”
 
“Well, when you surprise someone with camera flash, that tends to happen.”
 
She looks at me blatantly, “Meh.” She shrugs and lays back against one of the supports of my house. I lay back on the opposite one of her.
 
“That’s still pretty cool though.” I avert my gaze from the sky towards the rainbow pony.
 
“What is?”
 
“That camera. We don’t have anything that small here in Equestria that takes pictures like that. It came out so clear and perfect.”
 
I smile, “Well, you don’t have camera’s like this,” I pull up my phone to emphasize, “but then again, you also don’t have weapons like these.” I hold out the Barrett.
 
“True.”
 
I take a second to closely examine my rifle. I firmly hold it in my arms and look through the scope, “It’s pretty amazing isn’t it?”
 
Suddenly, an eye pops up right in front of my scope. “What the-?” I say while opening my second eye. I look up to see… I honestly have no idea what the heck it is I’m seeing. It’s standing on my scope and is look through the wrong side of it while upside down. Seriously, I have no idea what it is. It looks like a pink… chicken… thing with all it’s feathers plucked off. Well, almost all of them, a couple are still hanging on by a thread of sorts. Whatever it is, it sits back up and turns to me and Rainbow Dash. Me and her look at each other, hoping one of us has an answer but from our expressions, neither of us have answer.
 
The chicken cocks it’s head to the side at me, “Uhhhhhhh… hi?”
 
“Cah Cah caaaaahhh!!” Suddenly he coughs loudly and more feathers fall off. I quickly drop my rifle and shuffle back a bit, in fear that this thing has some type of disease on him.
 
“What’s that thing?” My Rainbow colored pony friend asks me. I slowly shake my head no.
 
“I have no idea.”
 
“Philomena!! Where are you?!” The bird or whatever it is tenses up and runs away. That voice sounded familiar.
 
“Swift! Rainbow Dash!” We both look in the other direction to see Twilight and Fluttershy running up to us from Ponyville.
 
“Hey girls, what’s-“
 
“Swift! Have you two seen Philomena?!” Me and Rainbow look at each other confused.
 
“Who?” We both ask.
 
“The Princesses pet bird! It looks sick and-!”
 
“Looks like it’s about to die?” I finish up Twilight’s words.
 
“*Gasp*!!” Fluttershy gasps loudly in a scared way, along with her eyes dilating a bit. Wow, not the best choice of words.
 
“It’s alright, Fluttershy. We’ll get her back before that happens.” Twilight does what she can to calm down the scared Pegasus.
 
“Well we did see something like that. Took off towards town in that direction.” Rainbow says and points in the direction of where this Philomena took off to.
 
“Alright thanks you two! C’mon Twilight!” Fluttershy quickly thanks us and the two take off in the direction Rainbow said. Me and Dash just sit here in silence for half a minute, nothing really coming up to talk about and such.
 
“…….. Wanna go see how they’re doing on finding Philomena?” I ask Rainbow Dash while looking into the sky.
 
“Sounds like a plan.” I place my phone in my pocket and lay my rifle on its bipod on the table in my kitchen before we take off…
 
“The Princesses pet bird!” A Canterlot guard shouts as all eyes gaze at the top of the fountain. Me and Rainbow were able to catch up to Twilight and the others at the fountain where Philomena is at.
 
“Philomena come down from there! You’ll hurt yourself!” Fluttershy shouts up to the bird. The last feather on Philomena falls, making her spasm out a bit like she’s dying until she falls dead on the statue… and then promptly jumps right back and continues to die. “I’ll catch you!” Fluttershy yells and bolts forward as Philomena falls off the statue and plummets to the ground. I watch as Fluttershy moves with rapid speed towards the plummeting bird and jumps to catch her.
 
However, in the last second, Philomena catches fire, surprising me and every single one of my friends. Fluttershy falls to the ground and slowly catches the ashed up remains of the sick bird she tried so hard to care for. What… the… hell? I slowly walk up to the crying shy pony and look at the ashes. I don’t understand on just how this bird just spontaneously caught on fire. It’s not that hot out here and if this is some type of disease… I better start reading up a bit more.
 
“What is going on here?” I quickly turn around to see Princess Celestia walking up and the guard ponies bowing down and backing up. The rest of us soon bow down as well. “Twilight?!”
 
“Yes, your majesty.” Twilight replies in a worried but sad tone. “There’s been a terrible accident.” Twilight begins to explain.
 
Fluttershy moves in front of her, “It’s all my fault.”
 
“No princess, Fluttershy didn’t know any better! It was my fault!” Twilight tries to stick up for her friend.
 
“I’m the one who did it!”
 
“You were the one trying to help!”
 
“Some help I was!”
 
“Will you let me do this?!” Fluttershy and Twilight go back and forth between who’s to blame and who’s not. “She’ll go easier on me!”
 
“But it’s my fault!” Fluttershy tries to blame herself.
 
“No it’s my fault!” Then Twilight.
 
“Nope, it’s my fault!”
 
“Pinkie!!” I yell and quickly drag her away from the fight.
 
“Thanks for trying to protect me Twilight but Princess Celestia, I’m the one who took your pet bird.” Fluttershy finally confesses, without an insight from Twilight and the pink mare. “I really was only trying to help the poor little thing, then I was going to bring it right back to you! Honest.” She tries to tell the Princess on her intensions. The Princess slowly walks up to the ash remains of her pet. The tension in the air is clearly thick as heck and I can’t tell if the Princess is mad or not. “So, if you want to banish me and then throw me into a dungeon in the place you banished me to, then that’s what I deserve.” Fluttershy says sadly.
 
“God dang it, ‘shy.” I mutter to myself. The Princess lowers her head towards the pile, obviously sad about the loss. What the hell am I going to do now? What the hells gonna happen now?!
 
The air is silent as night time in an abandoned town. “Oooooh stop fooling around, Philomena! You’re scaring everypony!”
 
“… wait what?” I say in surprise and confusion to the Princesses words. I figured she might be a little bit more angry than… crazy at the loss. Before I know it, the ashes begin sweeping up into the air and clumping together. To myself and everyone else’s awe, and a bright flash of light, the ashes are replaced with a tall, beautiful, and magnificent creature of flight. The creature is way taller, it’s feathers are bright red, and I can swear the orangey color on it is fire. Something about that bird reminds me of something. Not sure what exactly but I know I’ve seen it before.
 
“I don’t understand!” Fluttershy cries out as the new bird flies once around before the Princess brings up her front right hoof up and let’s the bird land on it. “What is that thing? What happened to Philomena?!”
 
“This is Philomena.” The princess answers the shy pony, “She’s quite a sight as I said, but nothing unusual for a-“
 
“Phoenix!!” Nailed it! That’s what I remember! All eyes turn to me as I interrupted the Princess, “That’s what I was trying to remember. I knew it didn’t seem natural for a living creature to just spontaneously catch on fire! No disease can do that.” I slowly walk up to the Phoenix and stare into it’s eyes as she returns the gaze. “A Phoenix… I saw a Cockatrice, I faced off against Manticore’s, I took on hordes of Timberwolves, and now before my eyes… the graceful, majestic and highly regarded Phoenix.” I voice my awe of it. Out of all the animals I know, the bird species can be pretty interesting, and the Phoenix is just one of the best they have.
 
“Um, a Phoenix?” Fluttershy says in a confused tone.
 
Before the Princess can answer, I hold up my hand. “I got this, Princess.” I turn towards the confused pony. “The Phoenix is a majestic yet magical bird that has many unique traits to it.” I turn back to Philomena, “Able to lift things far greater than its own weight, it’s tears can heal the most ailing and hurtful wounds, and as it ages to the point where it is near dead, they burst into flames and are renewed from the ashes into the creature you see before you.” I explain. Although I cross my eyes at Philomena. “Except that little stunt you did was a little too Melodramatic to say the least.” She averts her gaze in a shy demeanor. My eyes shift over to the Princess who smiles and nods.
 
“Very good, Swift! I see you’ve been doing your share of studying?” Princess Celestia congratulates me. I chuckle and shift the dirt around at my feet.
 
“Well, thanks to some scavenging from myself and your faithful student, I got the texts I need to learn all I need to know about most of the creatures here.” I look back up at Philomena and I cock my head to the side, so does she. “May I?” I ask while holding out my left arm. Philomena flaps her wings once and lands on my arm. The heat is noticeable but not unbearable and her talons pinch a bit but this is just too cool to really get mad or annoyed at right now. I take a few steps away and admire this creature on my arm.
 
“Amazing.” Rarity voices her awe as she steps a little closer to us.
 
“Wow.” Applejack joins in followed by Pinkie Pie.
 
“That’s pretty cool.” And lastly Rainbow Dash hovers close by.
 
“She is isn’t she.” I say. I quickly get an idea. I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone. With one hand I switch to the camera function, turn off the flash and begin taking pictures of the Phoenix on my arm. I don’t have to worry about the lighting since it’s the middle of the day and the fire emanating from Philomena is enough. Plus I don’t want to spook her.
 
“Say you’re sorry young lady.” At the Princesses words, Philomena launches from my arm and goes over to Fluttershy, where she mumbles something which is probably bird speak for ‘sorry’.
 
“So aren’t you going to banish me?...” I don’t listen anymore as Philomena takes off again and I begin taking pictures. Being on my shoulder is all well and good but now that she’s in flight, plus all those fire specks falling off is just plain badass.
 
“You’re going to remember this day, aren’t you Swift?” I turn back to the Princess and smile.
 
“Your majesty, before we came here, Rainbow Dash helped me find some expensive and rare equipment from my world, plus I got to touch and take pictures of an actual Phoenix. That’s more than I can say for a lot of my kind. So yeah, I can safely say I’m going to remember this.”
 
“I’m glad to hear that Swift Wind.” Swift Wind… that’s a name I should definitely be proud of.
 
“Huh?” I say as something pokes my head. Reaching back, I find something soft and feathery behind my ear. Taking it off, I see it’s a feather from Philomena.
 
“It’s Beautiful. Thank you Philomena! No hard feelings.” Fluttershy says to the Phoenix. Sounds like the two had quite an adventure today. I also see a feather with Fluttershy as well. She’s got good aim I’ll give that.
 
“Thank you Philomena.” I voice my appreciation for the gift as well. I take a closer look at the feather, admiring it’s texture and the odd radiant heat emanating from it. Considering it’s from a Phoenix, it’s no surprise it should be hot. I look around and see Rainbow whispering to Philomena. I watch as the bird floats down to her cage and carefully lands on it. She spreads her wings and begins tickling the guards noses. They try to suppress it but burst out laughing.
 
Rainbow and Philomena high hoof/wing each other now that Rainbow Dash finally got her laughs off from the guard ponies. “Not as much a rock as you thought huh Rainbow Dash?!” I shout up to the rainbow pony. She smiles at me.
 
“You know it, Swift!”
 
And so for another day, everything seems happy…
 
*Awwwooooooo!* A loud howling sound breaks all the laughs. How come I know that howl.  I turn around to see about 5 Timberwolves making their way slowly down the road. I sigh and grab my Katana’s handle with one hand and place the feather back behind my ear. I look back to the others.
 
“Never a dull moment, is it guys?!!” I shout back. A couple of them seem scared, but the guards move in front of the Princess and the others to protect them.
 
“Apparently not.” Twilight replies. I pull out my sword and hold it firmly with both hands.
 
“Alright wolfies…” I crouch into a fighting stance and point my Katana at them, “Let’s dance! Heya!!” I let out a shout and charge…