//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Roar of the Manticore // by solsticebrony888 //------------------------------// There was no sun to be seen in the sky to even give them an idea of what time it was. Greyish clouds still hovered high in the sky blocking out most of the light. The rain had stopped only hours before they woke up. Soarin’ woke up first. He had watched the mare he held her in his hooves sleep as he contemplated what they would do next. The day wasn’t going to be as dark as was the day before, though the massive trees still reached out higher than the clouds and blocked out most of the sun, as usual for the Everfree forest. Though he felt considerable pain in his hind legs from the Manticore’s claws when they dug into his flesh, he wasn’t going to pity himself when he saw Spitfire’s condition, clearly more injured and still sick. If only I had gone with her… The feeling of regret and guilt filled his mind every single time he glanced at the mare’s broken wing. Every time he saw the gashes on her back from the Manticore’s claw, he regretted ever telling her to come to the forest. Thoughts soon escalated to his friends and fellow Wonderbolts. Considering his circumstances prior to leaving to find Spitfire, Soarin’ assumed they thought he and Spitfire had spent the night together. They did, just in a completely different way than they probably assumed. There was no indication on which way he needed to go to get back to Zecora’s hut. He planned on using the Zebra’s hut as a landmark to find their way back to Ponyville. Hopefully there’s other ponies or zebras living in this Celestia forsaken place Surprisingly enough, he had slept pretty decently over the night, the rain proving to be as calming as it had been threatening during the Manticore encounter. He focused on Spitfire getting good sleep, because she needed it the most. The only times he had woken up during the night was when the poor mare had gotten caught up in a coughing fit, her sickness most likely exacerbated by the rain and chilly night air, let alone her weakened body. He felt the rhythm of her breathing change slightly, as she let loose a tiny yawn. The quiet yawn had always made him smile, especially during their disastrous relationship. “Ow…” Was the first word that came from her mouth, her senses aware of the stress her body was under. “Good morning,” Soarin’ said, immediately chastising himself for the irony of the statement. “Ow…” She said once more, “H-how’s my wing?” “Move so I can see it,” Spitfire inches forward so her battered wing could been seen by him, “It looks pretty bad, but it can be fixed once we’re back,” The stallion remarked, purposefully being optimistic for her sake, “Did you see my hind legs?” The mare turned on her side she he was facing Soarin’, and looked at the many wounds on his lower legs, “Oh my Celestia…I’m so sorry…” Her voice hinted of a soon to come breakdown, so Soarin’ played it cool, “Oh, don’t be. They’re nothin’. Can’t even feel them,” “Don’t lie to make me feel better…let’s just get back to Ponyville and get some help. The entire thing is my fault, s-so I’ll pay for it,” The mare then exited the crevice in the tree, wincing when her damaged wing hit the top of the entrance, then Soarin’ followed. “You’re not paying for anything. I told you to come here, I should have gone with you, so let’s just agree this is all my fault and press on,” There wasn’t any pathway in sight from their vantage point. A plethora of trees and the clouds above them could be seen as far as they could see He surveyed their surroundings, and then decided that they should be okay if she kept an eye out for any new dangers. He hadn’t heard a single sound come from anywhere in the forest since he woke up. “Where are we going to go? Can’t you fly up through those clouds and see Ponyville f-from here?” The orange Wonderbolt asked, as she tried to style her muddied mane into a less distracting form. “If those were white clouds, maybe. You know how dumb it is to just fly into a dark grey cloud. That’s like asking to be electrocuted,” The mare thought once more, as they glanced around to decide where they should start, “M-maybe you could fly back since your wings still work, and then come get me when you get help,” “Spitfire, I can’t leave you here in the condition you’re in. I’d regret it my whole life if something else were to happen to you,” The orange Pegasus could feel herself blush, though her outfit hid it. Though it was an odd though, she couldn’t help but notice that Soarin’ was the only pony she’d ever want by her in such a situation. It made her start questioning herself again, something she hadn’t done in quite a while. “Where do you think we should go? The last thing we’d want to do is…um, go the wrong way and get more lost,” Soarin’ stated simply. A loud rumbling was then heard by both of them. It was Spitfire’s gurgling stomach, causing her to blush out of embarrassment. “You must be really hungry,” The blue stallion mused with a chuckle, “Come on, let’s find something to eat,” “W-what should I look for?” Spitfire said, gazing up into the tall trees as if there would be any sort of fruit in them. “I’m hoping there is a bush that produces this delicious berry around here…it’s everywhere in Whitetail woods…” “Oh, okay. I think I know which berry you’re talking about. Should we split up?” “Nope, you’re coming with me,” Soarin’ said bluntly, as he looked for an area that seemed like it would have a lot of bushes. “You don’t have to be so protective over me,” The mare chided, then softening her disposition, “I mean I appreciate it and all, but you’ll be close enough to know if I’m in trouble,” “You’re coming with me so I can show you the berry I’m talking about. We can’t just gather enough to eat right now, we’ll need to stock up for later when we’re walking home. You have the uniform on, with pockets, so you’ll have to come along. Besides, I need to know you’re safe…you know…you don’t even understand how I felt when I saw you yesterday…” Spitfire suddenly felt bad about her previous response, because the fact he cared about her so much made her feel loved. The fact that ‘loved’ was the first word to come to her mind bothered her. Though still having several injuries on her hooves from being tossed around by the Manticore, she was able to walk faster than the night before. When they started delving deeper into the forest, >the light getting slightly brighter in the hue of the clouds above, the mare had a question for the stallion that had saved her. “Soarin’?” “Yeah?” “Did anypony else notice that I-I was gone?” She questioned, walking next to him as they gazed through the woods for any sign of the berries they could eat. “What do you mean? Like at the party?” “Yeah,” Soarin’ stopped to think for a second, ignoring the distant animal noises that had startled the mare beside him, “Well, not really. They were partying so hard that they kinda just though you weren’t coming I guess, or just didn’t notice,” “Oh,” She responded, slightly saddened that only one of her friends had even cared to search for her, “What would have happened to me if you d-didn’t come?” Once again the stallion stopped, “Spitfire, I really don’t want to think about such a thing…I came and that’s all that matters. No more ‘what ifs’,” Walking slightly behind the stallion, Spitfire studied the wounds on his hind legs. They were covered with some mud from the damp ground that they had been walking in and it worried her that the wounds could be infected. She thought about her own injuries. Her wing was possibly damaged beyond repair, she had gashes on her back from the nail claw? of the monstrous beast that had attacked her, and miscellaneous other wounds across her whole body. As she looked around the forest that she was trapped in, she felt the sickening feeling of regret and despair, which didn’t help the fact she was already physically sick. “I bet I could have gone to the party anyway…” She said as a response to her own thoughts. “Huh?” “I didn’t need to come here, I could have gone to the party and be fine…I’m sicker now than I was then, I could have just slept it off like I usually do…” The stallion sighed, “Look, Spitfire…thinking like that isn’t going to get us anywhere. If we’re going to get out of this, I need you to focus, now come here, I think I found the right bush,” Spitfire climbed over a few logs of fallen trees to meet the stallion at his side. The area was the brightest they had seen all that day, though still no signs of a sun that they could tell the time by. “You see these red berries right here? You’ve been a Wonderbolt longer than me, and you didn’t have to go through a survival course to join, remember? These are the berries they showed us that are edible. They taste terrible, but they’re edible. They’ll give you energy too,” The stallion said, his hoof lifting a few patches of the fruit for her to see. “I’d have to eat like two hundred to even have a chance to fill myself up,” She remarked at the small size of the red berries he was holding, “How many are there?” “This bush has to have at least a hundred, I think. What I’d give for a pie right now instead…” The mare laughed heartily, “You’re so obsessed with pie, it’s actually kind of cute. Hearts and Hooves day is coming up, you should make a pie for your special somepony!” “You said the same thing last year,” Soarin said with a chuckle. Despite his conscious, the topic of Hearts and Hooves day caused him to venture a little further, “So…you have anypony that you would say was your Special Somepony…?” The mare released a little chuckle as she pondered his motivation, “Well, I guess you could say that,” She said, purposefully not giving him a definite answer. “Oh…” Soarin’ said, saddened, “Well, uh, I have one too, so we need to get back as soon as possible. She likes pie as much as me,” The stallion lied terribly, so he cleared his throat awkwardly, “We… we um should gather as much berries as we can, so we won’t be hungry later if we somehow get lost,” “We’re already kinda lost…” The mare replied, though quickly changing her tone when she realized she was being quite the negative Nancy, “Want me to help?” Soarin’ started picking the berries from the bush using both hooves to grasp a twig with berries on it and breaking that twig to get multiple berries each time, “Just hold the pockets in your uniform open. That’s where they’ll have to be,” After several minutes of picking from the bush, her pockets were full and the bush was completely devoid of any of the reddish fruit. Spitfire started digging in to some of them, until she had eaten about half of what they had just harvested. “Soarin’, are you going to have any?” The mare said, as she finished eating her final hoof-full if berries. “Nope. You need them much more than I do,” “Just have some, I need you to be healthy too,” She said, suddenly thrust into another fit of coughing. “You clearly need them, Spitfire. I’m not hungry, honest. Now, we really need to find out way back,” Still all that was in his vision were the massively tall trees and the grey clouds that seemed to have no end. The smell of rain and wood still lingered in the air, and the occasional lightning strike could be heard every once in a while. He knew it wouldn’t be long until the rain returned, which was bad for Spitfire because of her sickness. “Uhhhh…” Soarin’ squinted as if it would help him see things in the distance, to no avail, “I really don’t know where to go…” “Ponyfeathers!” The orange Wonderbolt chided, kicking her slightly injured hoof into a pile a half-dried mud, “I wish we could see the sun to know where to go…” The two ponies looked right up at the clouds and branches of the blackened trees. They looked closed by and in the distance, but no sign of the actual sun could be seen. In the distance they heard a roar reminiscent of the Manticore’s roar, sending chills down their spines. This scared them both and took their breaths. Giving each other anxious looks, they both started trotting in the opposite direction. Jumping over dead trees and leaves , through mud and water, they weaved out and in through the forested area until they found where they had slept the night before. “We need to get out of here,” Soarin’ said, grimacing from the pain in the wounds on his hind legs, “Spitfire?” “I-I’m here…” Spitfire said in an exhausted voice. Just that run had caused Spitfire to get dizzy, and she had started shaking almost violently. Soarin was at her side immediately, helping her sit down to catch her breath. “We can’t run like that anymore,” The stallion stated simply, “I’m sorry,” He felt genuinely scared for her once more. “I-I’m sorry I’m so weak,” The mare said, still breathing heavy, “My vision started g-going away, I wouldn’t have been able to go much l-longer…” Her body felt heavy and her limbs felt unable to handle it. As she caught her breath, she started feeling a little better. They sat and listened for any approaching sounds that could signify a threat. When the coast seemed clear, the stallion helped the clearly shaken Spitfire stand up. In a low whisper, he spoke close to her face, “Look, Spitfire. I am going to keep you safe. Don’t worry about that Manticore, I’ll teach him another lesson if he even comes near us, you hear me? We’ll be okay, now let’s go home…” The dazed Pegasus put on a brave smile as she got back up. Without saying a word, they chose a direction to walk in. On and on they went, without a clue to where they were going.