Everfree forest. Quite possibly the most dangerous place you could name from the top of your head, in case your foal was in dire need of being scared, so it won't play outside too long and actually feel the need to come back home before it gets dark. Dragons, hydras, cockatorices, timber wolves and manticores were only a small, documented part of Everfrees ecosystem, with much more hiding in darker corners, just waiting for travelers to stumble into wrong parts. Despite the fact that sun was down, it wasn't nearly as dark as anypony expected. The combination of light bugs, glowing magical flowers and lone wisps flying around, made the scenery lit enough to see what's in front of you, making traveling all that much easier. Of course, magical flowers and wisps flying around made it incredibly eerie, but as long as they stood away from them and didn't make the direct contact, they were relatively safe. The other creatures, on the other hoof, were a different problem.
Six stallions were well aware of what Everfree had to offer and willingly entered the dreadful forest in search for elements of harmony. They were walking for about half hour, barely exchanging any words with each other, each too spooked of the place and too shaken about recent events. It was becoming more clear however.
"We are so lost!" announced Prince, as he looked over the horizon. They found themselves on an edge of a cliff, the same one they've been on already. Twice. First time they been here, Prince almost walked one step too far and fell down about two hundred meters into a bed of rocks.
"Looks like there ain't paths around," said Mac, as he pointed over the canyon "we gotta get there from here."
"We could fly us there, you know." proposed Thunderlane.
"I don't like this idea," said Shining Armor, as he looked behind him at several glowing wisps "I have a weird feeling that whatever is in this forest, just waits for us to get separated."
Prince groaned "For the last time, these wisps are not dangerous. They're just lost souls of small creatures violently hunted by local predators, just wandering without aim." he explained "They're harmless."
Soarin gulped "I might have felt better if you didn't use the word violently. And hunted. Predators. Lost souls... you know, if you said nothing?"
Prince rolled his eyes and ignored him, instead concentrating on finding a safer way down. He looked to his left and right, but as long as his eyes could reach, there were no safe paths, but it was so dark that he couldn't see too far away. For a moment he contemplated sending Thunderlane or Soarin to scout ahead, but his bodyguards comment actually made some sense for once. Everfree was fairly uneventful for them so far, but it was that kind of cocky attitude that killed ponies that made it here. The worst part of Everfree forest so far, was the fact that nopony knew what to expect. There were monsters, carnivorous plants and old spirits around the place, sure. But there was more to it than that and that part scared him enough to stop him from using any magic at all, most of all any light spells, as they might attract unwanted attention.
"Hey, did you hear something?" asked Doctor, as he looked around. They did hear a single crack of some sorts, followed by a series of few more. Once they realized what that was, the ground started trembling and before any could run away, it collapsed, sending them to plummet to their deaths. Soarin and Thunderlane instinctively flapped their wings to remain afloat, but seeing as others had no such benefits, rushed towards them. Thunderlane managed to grab Big Macintosh's tail in his teeth as he slid down the slope and slowly, but surely, managed to slow his descent and finally lift him in the air, seriously wishing he'd lay of the apple pies. Soarin caught Doctor by his chest and flew high into the air, both looking back to two unicorns that had less luck then them.
Shining Armor rolled on the steep slope, but managed to grab a hold of a branch, while Prince rolled much further and caught the slope in the last possible moment, stopping himself from falling. He barely held the grass by his front hooves, while his hindhooves moved around and desperately tried to find something solid to stand on, with no luck.
But before they had time to curse their situation, their eyes widened at the sight above him.
"AVALANCHE!" screamed Soarin, as he moved away to avoid getting himself and Doctor crushed under falling rocks.
Shining Armor cast his shield almost instantly, creating a magical roof, which stopped a mass of rocks from crushing him or falling even further. If he had more than a second to gather his mana, he could have made a bigger one, the one that would bounce the stones away to keep them from accumulating, but had no such luxury right now. Holding himself by a lone branch with only mouth didn't help the matter. He felt every single boulder that landed on his shield, every hit was like a small needle poking back of his head, but he ignored the pain and held it strong.
He noticed Prince Blueblood struggling below. His hooves were starting to slide of, no matter how desperately he tried to keep a hold of it. Shining Armor released the branch he held and slowly slid down, catching him just in time before he fell.
"G-Gotcha!" said Shining Armor with pained voice. He grit his teeth, as he tried to keep his shield up along with holding Prince and not letting go either, no matter what. Prince could see beads of sweat on his bodyguards face. He also saw that his shield, the only thing keeping them both alive right now, was slowly cracking, having accumulated a great mass of rocks on it, which still kept on falling. While it felt like eternity, not even a minute passed and their pegasi companions were still too far away to save them.
Prince gulped and made a bold decision.
"Let it go!" probably one of the stupidest in is life yet.
"I'm...not...leaving...you..." Shining Armor struggled to mumble, as his hooves were getting more slippery from his sweat, while the ground he was on was starting to crack as well.
"Not me, the barrier!
Shining Armors eyes widened "Are you insane?!"
Time was running out, he wasn't sure what will fail first, the slope they were on, Shining's grip of his hooves or his shield. Either of these fails, they all fall to their deaths. He had no time to explain either. This is when Prince Blueblood did something he never thought he was going to do ever again, as he said these two magical words.
"TRUST ME!"
Shining Armor's eyes and mouth opened wide, but he did not question anything and instantly let go his shield, sighing with relief as his headache weakened. Now nothing stopped the avalanche from falling through the slope, giving them only few seconds to react. Shining Armor looked with terror, as a giant boulder rolled right at them, unable to protect them from it. He closed his eyes and waited for inevitable.
Then he hit something, broke it, then landed on the ground. For a moment he panicked and thought that he broke his hoof or rib, but there was no pain. In fact, he was strangely alive after an avalanche of that size. He slowly opened his eyes and massaged his forehead. He saw a tree right above him, several branches broken by a sudden impact. Branches he was just lying on, in fact. He lazily got up and looked around. Just in front of him, he saw the slope he was just on a few seconds ago. Or what was left of it once the avalanche passed, destroying anything on its path. Except he wasn't there. Neither was Prince Blueblood.
"Ouch!" he heard him growling behind him, as Prince slowly got up from the ground, no worse then he was. They heard voices coming in their direction.
"Hey, are you two alright?" asked Soarin, as he landed just next to two unicorns, other three joining after him. Shining Armor nodded, still a bit dizzy from experience, but he didn't need to ask anything as Doctor spelled it out for him.
"That was brilliant!" announced Doctor happily "Teleportation! I never thought I'll see it myself, but you just did it, you brilliant bastard, you!"
"No joke, we thought you were both dead!" added Thunderlane.
"Eyup!"
Over his headache, Shining Armor slowly put together the pieces.
"T-that wasn't me!"
They all gasped and slowly looked over at Prince Blueblood, who paid more attention to his ruined mane and coat, magically pulling splinters from all over his body, wincing from pain with each one he took out.
"It was you?" asked surprised Thunderlane. Prince just shrugged and kept removing twigs from his hair, cursing quietly under his nuzzle.
"It could have gone better," said Prince "it was damn hard to concentrate, not to mention that shield was disrupting my own channels, that's why I told you to stop it, by the way. Good thing we fell on trees, it would hurt much more if I missed my mark even a little. I never used it that far and on another pony, so it was mostly dumb luck."
They all kept on looking at Prince wide-eyed. He noticed their glares once he cleaned himself enough to start paying attention to anything else other then himself.
"What? Am I still dirty somewhere?"
"You, my good sir," said Doctor "have no right to remain this nonchalant, not right after performing one of the most amazing spells known to ponykind!"
Prince stepped back and averted his eyes from them "No, that's nothing, really..."
"You just saved my life!" announced Shining Armor loudly, as he walked towards Prince, smiling brightly "That's SOMETHING to me."
He could argue that he saved mostly himself, that he felt obliged to take him too only because he owed him for stopping the avalanche. He couldn't say anything to five stallions nodding happily in his direction. It felt wrong.
"Let's just go on, we're wasting time."
"... and then when I finally dropped Doctor, I wanted to rush to you right away, but you were nowhere to be seen! Just gone! You guys scared me shi-"
"We know..." Prince stopped Soarin from retelling their recent unfortunate adventure "...it happened ten minutes ago. I was there."
"And boy am I glad you were!" admitted Soarin, as he stopped in the middle of the track and turned to others, smiling "Anypony else then you and we would have a 'Shining Sandwich'!"
They instantly stopped and looked at Soarin, as he smiled brightly and awaited their reactions. There was only silence coming from five highly surprised faces. Soarin's ears dropped.
"Nopony can appreciate a good reference these days..."he mumbled something about Devils and Presidents, but was not met with ignorance, but fear and uneasiness. The air around him suddenly became a bit hotter.
"I know it was terrible, I was just kidding. It was just a lame line from a..."
Something dropped on his mane. It felt wet, a bit slimy. Probably just a bird. A bird that just growled above his head. Birds don't growl like that, he though. Or maybe they do? Please let it be just a bird.
"...lame... movie..." he continued talking in a slightly higher pitched voice. The growling intensified, now the air started feel more like somepony hard breathing over his shoulder. Please let it be a bird.
"Soarin," said Doctor in a hushed voice "stand still and don't make any moves. And do not, I repeat, do not look up!"
Soarin stood frozen in one place. It was just his luck, that every time something had to appear behind, it had to be his rear. He took no pleasure in being taken by surprise from behind. He was too scared to even giggle at this naughty joke he just thought of.
Don't look up, don't look up, he repeated to himself, slowly raising his head up. Something dripped on him again, but he couldn't pay any attention to saliva that just landed on his nose. He was way too busy with a steamy breath, coming from a giant maw, which held a set of giant, sabertooth teeth, just wide enough to fit his entire head inside. 'It' was damn large, had a body and head of an overgrown lion, wings of a bat and a long, scaly scorpion tail, ending with a long, sharp needle.
But by far the most important was a pair of giant, catlike eyes that looked deep inside him. Soarin faced the manticore with dignity worthy of a Wonderbolt.
"...mommy!"
The beast roared loudly right into his face, covering it with saliva and more fear than he ever felt in is life. He screamed loudly, his wings folded from panic and all he could do now was cover his face with his hooves, as the beast moved its jaw onto him.
That was a moment Shining Armor was waiting for, releasing a spell he held for a while now, creating another purple shield, right above Soarin's face. Manticores nuzzle bounce from a construct that just appeared before it and looked at it puzzled. It didn't stop from attacking again, this time stood on its hind hooves and tried to body slam itself on Soarin. Big Macintosh rushed toward the Wonderbolt and tackled him away from Manticores reach, as it slammed through small magical barrier like it was made of matches. Shining stepped back and massaged his head from the magical backlash.
Big Mac shook Soarin around, trying to wake him up, but stopped once something heavy hit the side of his head and sent him flying into bushes. The view of his friend getting hit with a giant, scaly tail brought Soarin back to consciousness. It also angered another pegasus who just flew into the air.
"Oh, now it is on!" said Thunderlane as flew straight into the manticore as fast as he could, then extended his hind hoof and jump kicked the beast right into its face, just barely restraining himself from shouting a battle cry. Upon contact, the monster staggered and took a few steps back, but seemed otherwise unharmed, even more furious then before. Thunderlane couldn't finish his cursing when it pounced at him, which he gracefully dodged by flying higher in the air.
"Ha, can't catch me up here, can you?"
The manticore flapped its wings and flew right after him.
"Oh come on!" he lamented, then turned away and began to flee from rampaging beast going for his blood. He tried to just outrun him with sheer speed, but quickly found out that this beast was actually catching up to him pretty easily, defying any and every logic there was about giant creatures with such small wings flying as fast as it did. Thunderlane blamed it all on Everfree magic. He changed his plan and dived into the forest, zig-zagging around the thick mass trees, where a giant sized monster had much less room to maneuver, struggling to find its way around the trees, breaking branched one after the other, as Thunderlane easily sneaked past. He flew in the direction of others, hoping they had any better ideas. Then, he heard a shout from above.
"GERONIMO!"
He heard a thud and took a peek behind him, to see that Doctor now joined the battle and was now sitting on Manticores back, climbing by its mane further into its head, until he reached it and covered its eyes with hooves. Thunderlane smiled and nodded, instantly hatching a plan.
"Come on, catch me if you can, you overgrown freak!" yelled Thunderlane, as he flew forward, searching for a good object to use against it. And found one in a form of a lone, big boulder covered in moss. He headed in that very direction while taunting the blinded manticore along the way. As they got closer, Thunderlane suddenly turned and missed the boulder, while Doctor jumped of the manticore, only a little too late realizing he was about twenty feet in the air and a world of pain was nearing.
"GOTCHA!" shouted Soarin, as flew by and caught the earthpony midair.
Then, they heard a very loud slam and saw a big, scary manticore plastered on a lone, big boulder, which cracked upon impact. The monster slid of, seemingly unconscious.
"Nice timing." commented Doctor, all three safely reached the ground. They high-hooved to celebrate their teamwork.
"Hell yeah, that thing had no chance whatsoever!" gloated Soarin, as others rolled their eyes, realizing he didn't do all that much, but were glad regardless. They laughed for a while. Until they heard another roar, as it jumped at them and bit Soaring by his tail and started pulling him away.
"HEEEEEELP!" cried Soarin, desperately scratching the ground "I'm too young and sexy to become a Soarin sandwich!"
Doctor and Thunderlane quickly grabbed his hooves, but their efforts only slowed the beast.
"COVER YOUR EYES!" yelled Prince Blueblood, as he and Shining Armor rushed toward the manticore, Prince's horn exploding with a blinding light. The beast roared loudly, releasing Soarin's tail, sending him and two stallions flying in the opposite direction, as it brushed its eyes. Shining Armor jumped over three stallions as they flew by, and ran toward the manticore. Using his momentum and beasts temporary blindness, he delivered a powerful buck straight into its face, sending it flying many, many feet away.
Just as they all got back on their hooves, they heard the roar yet again, as the beast, despite many cuts, bruises and crushed nose, still had the fight in it.
"He just doesn't know when to give up!" said Shining Armor, as they all took a battle stance "Ok, everypony, let's do this!"
"YEAH!" they all shouted.
"Nnnope!" one shouted.
They all turned to see Big Macintosh has caught up to them. They sadly realized that they all forgot about him, but sighed with relief when they saw him being alright, aside from a little bleeding cut on the side of his head. He passed them and stood in front of the agitated manticore, matching it with his eyes.
"Mac, what are you..." started Thunderlane, but Macintosh interrupted him.
"Ah got this. Stand back."
"Mac, don't be stupid! You don't think you can beat this thing alone?"
"Eyup!" Big Mac stretched his neck and cracked his hooves.
They tried to argue a bit longer, but manticore jumped at them before any said anything. Shining Armor tried to cast a shield. Prince Blueblood thought of any good spells. Thunderlane and Soarin rushed through the air. Doctor stood his ground and waited for a good chance.
Big Mac stood on his hind hooves, extended his front hooves forward and stopped the monster on its way, grabbing both of its paws and holding it down in a clinch. Five sets of jaws dropped to the ground, as they stopped anything they did to witness quite possibly the most absurd moment thus far.
Manticores weighted a few tons, at least, and they knew firsthoof how strong it was. There was no chance all five of them could hold it down with brute force. Yet, Big Macintosh did it, alone. Not only he didn't collapse under the weight of a monster five times his size, he actually made a few steps forward, making the manticore step back to avoid falling on its back.
"What..." said Shining Armor, as they all watched in awe.
"Fascinating!" remarked Doctor, and they all nodded in agreement.
Meanwhile the manticore was just as surprised as they were, so instead of forcing itself forward, tried to bite of Mac's face, but he moved his head away with every bite.
"Ah've seen an' bested bigger an' scarrier then ya!" he shouted as he stepped even further, pushing it back.
He waited for the beast to make another bite at his face, which he avoided, but before it moved its head back, he struck it with his own head. The beast staggered and growled with pain. Mac used that short moment to grab one paw with both his hooves. He turned his back to the beast and pulled both hooves with a yell, throwing the beast over his shoulder, straight into the ground.
The earth shook under their hooves, sending massive shockwaves across the area, making them almost lose their balance.
Mac did not stop there and while it was down, quickly latched onto beasts neck. Manticore struggled for a moment, but lack of oxygen weakened its moves, until it slowed down considerably. His five companions were still too awestruck to say anything.
Macintosh spoke "It's okay, Ah don' wanna hurt ya!"
Of course, the others protested, most of all Soarin.
"Mac, did you miss the time it tried to eat me? TWICE!"
Mac ignored them "Hush now, Ah promise to let ya go, if ya leave just us alone!"
The manticore struggled and growled for a few more moments, until it calmed down and stopped. Mac took it as a sign of good will and slowly released its neck. The beast stood up and quickly jumped away from Macintosh, turning back and roaring in their direction once again, but did not attack them anymore and ran away instead.
They all let their breaths out and collapsed on their knees with relief.
"I thought I was gonna die!" said Soarin, as he collapsed on his back and breathed heavily. Shining Armor moved to Big Macintosh and caught his attention.
"Mac, I, uh... I heard about earth pony strength, but this... I dunno..."
Macintosh shrugged "What can Ah say? Ah live on a farm, Ah have ta be strong for my family."
"Why did you leave it alone?" asked Prince Blueblood as he walked to them "That thing could come back and hunt us again!"
"Nnope. Ain't happenin'."
"And you know that, how exactly?"
"Simple. Back when she smacked me first time, Ah flew next to her nest. There were three little hatchlings there. She wasn't trying to kill us, she was just protectin' her territory an' we tresspassed. Besides, manticores don' eat ponies."
Soarin deadpanned "This one must've missed the memo!" he muttered, looking at his messed up tail, still wet from saliva, missing a few inches of hair.
"What Ah mean,” Macintosh continued “is that it can eat ponies, but usually doesn't, and hunts other animals instead. Ponies aren't filling enough for them and much too hard to find, so they don' bother unless desperate."
"How do you know all this, farm boy?" asked Prince, looking at him suspiciously.
Mac shrugged "Ah travel a lot. Never been to Everfree though, but Manticores are alike anywhere."
"Just that? You TRAVEL a lot?"
"Eyyup."
"That's why you know all this?"
"Eyyup."
"And that's why you have super strength?"
"Eyyup. Ah was taught by the best."
Soarin remarked "In the future, can you remind me to never step on your hoof?"
"Eyyup."
Prince tried to ask something else, but was a little too tired to care. And so did others for that matter, just glad that ridiculously strong earth pony was on their side. They decided to just stop wasting time and get along. Their quest was still far from over. And surprises and dangers were only going to get worse.
"Wait, you said it's a she?" asked Thunderlane "When you talked about manticore?"
Big Macintosh nodded. "Eyyup, this was a young female guardin' the nest. Ah don' wanna be anywhere near the male when he's back from the hunt. Mah hooves ain't big enough to grab that fella.”
They nodded and continued their march. Soarin stopped on his tracks, his eyes twitched.
“THAT WAS THE SMALL ONE?”