Equestria, I Choose You!
Chapter 1
Mysterious Find
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“Destroy EVERYTHING!” a voice, crazed and insane shouts.
Roars of mighty titans reverberates through the air.
Explosions from all around made the very ground tremble, as if the planet was quaking in fear.
“We have to stop this! Dragonite— AHH!”
“Iris! Pansage, stop them, before— GAH!”
“Iris! Cilan! Pikachu, RUN—AAH!”
Live, for we cannot.
He was tumbling. Tumbling end over end.
All sound died out, all colour was gone.
There was just... nothing.
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“Come on, Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo shouted as the three Cutie Mark Crusaders neared the edge of the Everfree forest after an unsuccessful attempt to get Cutie Marks in Manticore wrangling. Actually, how they got out of that alive, they’d never understand.
“Yeah, yeah,” Sweetie pouted as her earth pony and pegasi friends both exited the forest and headed off back towards Ponyville. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm exhausted after trying to wrangle that Manticore."
At that moment a boom, like a thunderclap, rocketed the air, the whole forest seemed to shake.
“Was that Rainbow Dash doing another Sonic Rainboom?” Scootaloo’s voice carried from down the path.
“ Ah don’t see a rainbow nowhere,” Apple Bloom’s voice soon replied.
“But I bet it was her. Let’s go find her!”
With that the two ran off, not seeming to notice Sweetie Belle had yet to rejoin them. Sweetie Belle was staring a little into the forest.
After the sonic boom sound, she’d noticed a flash of light from a little way back from where she and the others had come.
Curious, as all fillies her age, Sweetie Belle slowly made her way back down the path they’d gone and pushed through some scrub, making sure to avoid a few Poison Joke flowers.
She had to pause and hide for a while when a Manticore that looked very grumpy came into view. She hid in a small bush and watched as it slowly stomped by, growling.
Was that the same Manticore she and her friends had tried to wrangle?
It looked like it had a small bit of vine strapped around its neck, which it grabbed with one of its claws, after pausing just in front of Sweetie Belle’s bush, and tossed it aside, snarling.
With the offending vine gone, it sauntered off back deeper into the Everfree, smashing its tail into a passing tree, causing the tree to fall, making a crashing sound that echoed throughout the forest.
Yep. That was the same Manticore, alright. Good thing it hadn’t known she was there or Sweetie Belle might not have been around to ponder what she was risking her life to check out.
Once certain the fuming Manticore was gone, Sweetie Belle came out from her hiding spot and walked further into the forest until she came to a clearing.
Wait. There hadn’t been a clearing here before.
Upon closer inspection, she realized it wasn’t a clearing. It was a crater. Slowly, Sweetie Belle made her way down the incline, reaching the bottom. There was something in the middle of it, steaming.
Cautiously, Sweetie Belle trotted towards the steaming... whatever it was. When the steam moved away, what she saw puzzled her.
It looked like a cross between yellow mouse, a dog and a cat all at once. It had pointy ears, with black tips on their ends. There were several brown horizontal stripes on its back. Its tail was the weirdest shape. It looked like a lightning bolt. And, its cheeks each had a large, round, red dimple on them.
Sweetie Belle had never seen, nor heard of such a strange looking creature. Even for the Everfree Forest, this seemed too bizarre a creature to exist.
At that moment the creature stirred, making the unicorn filly flinch. It slowly opened two black eyes, looking at her as if unfocused.
Sweetie Belle gasped as she took in the creature’s full appearance.
It was hurt, badly. It had bruises and cut all over its body and it looked like the tail was bent in a way it shouldn’t be. Not only that, she could tell from the way one of its legs was positioned that it had broken that leg.
“Cha,” it seemed to say in a weak voice and passed out.
Sweetie Belle forgot all feelings of fear, to have them replaced with a sense of pity and worry for the small creature’s safety.
She lit up her horn, picking up the creature in her magical grip and levitated it onto her back, then, making sure it was still held there by her magic, climbed back out of the crater.
It took a minute or two, but she managed to get the two of them out in the end.
Taking a few moments to catch her breath, the filly looked to her back at her unconscious passenger.
Its face was contorted.
It must be in a lot of pain, Sweetie thought sadly. Then she noticed something. Its eyelids were fluttering. It’s dreaming, she realized, then her face saddened. More like having a nightmare.
She looked around and saw the exit to the forest not too far off.
Glancing back at her sleeping companion, she thought, I’ve got to help this little guy... er, girl? How do I know what gender it is? She shook her head. Never mind that now, Sweetie Belle, this creature needs serious help and you know the perfect pony to help a sick animal like this one.
She started trotting off. She stopped when she felt movement from her back. She turned to look at the small creature.
It still looked like it was uncomfortable about something, but had a small smile on it face as it snuggled a little deeper into Sweetie Belle’s fur.
She smiled and gently nuzzled the creature. One, so she didn’t wake it up. And, two, so she didn’t accidentally make any of its injuries any worse than they clearly already were.
“Don’t worry, little creature,” the white unicorn whispered, keeping her voice soft and low, so as not to wake it. “Everything’ll be okay. I’ve a friend who can get you all better.”
With that, she trotted off towards the cottage of a certain pink-maned pegasus mare who loved animals.