//------------------------------// // Act 1: Discoveries - Ch. 2 // Story: Language // by SilverInk500 //------------------------------// Language Act One: Discoveries Chapter Two Silver Ink Twilight's POV I thought the day couldn't possibly get worse. Reports of chaos coming from the Everfree forest were flowing in from everywhere. When I first heard that the animals of the Everfree were attacking the ponies of Ponyville and that the bizarre weather patterns that seemed to constantly stay in the Everfree were causing chaos by coming to Ponyville, I immediately thought of the one person who could cause this: Discord. “DISCORD!” Rainbow Dash yelled when we finally found he lounging on the top of somepony's house. I had gathered up my friends to help me face Discord. There was no doubt in my mind that he had caused the unpredictable and craziness of the Everfree forest to travel to this small town. Hearing his name called, Discord casually looked down at us and grinned. “Ah, Princess Twilight and her friends, for what do I have to honor of seeing you?” he asked innocently. “Don't play games with us Discord!” Rainbow angrily shouted, flying up to the roof to face him. “That's right. We know that you're responsible for the chaos from the Everfree!” I firmly stated. Discord looked at us with an amused smile. “I don't know what you're talking about!” he gasped dramatically. “What kind of terrible fate has been cast upon Ponyville? Where has all this chaos come from?” I was being to get annoyed with Discord. “You of course!” Dash glared at Discord, but he just laughed. “As much as I would love to take the credit for this disaster, I'm afraid that this time, you have the wrong draconequus!” he shrugged at us then returned to his original position. “Are you trying to say that another draconequus did this?” Rarity asked holding our her hoof in confusion. “Not necessarily, but perhaps it was!” Discord answered her. “There are other draconequus?” I asked as I began to fly up to the roof of the building. Discord merely shrugged. “Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. The fact remains that I'm not your culprit. Case dismissed!” Discord pulled a gravel out of mid air and slammed it down on the roof of the building making a loud squeak. This alerted the house's owner of our presence and she poked her head out the window of her house to look at the roof. She looked like she about to yell at us to get off her house, but then she noticed me and quickly shut her mouth. Confused, she simply shut the windows and went back in her house (not in that order). “I think that Discord didn't do it.” Fluttershy whispered in my air, seemingly suddenly right behind me. She startled me a bit, since she is so quiet. I was about to protest when I noticed that this sort of thing wasn't really Discord's style. I wouldn't expect him to bring the chaos out of the Everfree forest and into Ponyville. Why would he, wouldn't he know he would be punished? Besides, nothing really terrible had happened. Sure there was some unexpected showers and some crazy racoons chasing ponies around town. This all was minor stuff that Discord could have easily done without using the Everfree. It was simple stuff; he like crazy stuff. And I doubted that Discord was smart enough to have come up with an elaborate plan involving the Everfree to take over Equestria, and even if he was, he probably wouldn't with Fluttershy around. Then again, now that we don't have the elements, Equestria would be an easy target... “Alright Discord, you're off the hook for now. Until we have real evidence to prove you guilty, it would be wrong of us to condemn you.” I addressed Discord like Celestia would to a subject, or at least I was doing my best to. “Wha-? But Twilight-” Rainbow began, but I interrupted her. “The only way this applies to Discord is because it is chaotic. We can't just attack him because of a little panic.” I spoke. Rainbow looked like she wanted to say more, but didn't want to argue with me. “Now come on, Girls. We got to find out what's going on with the Everfree.” “Right! Let's go!” Pinkie Pie energetically exclaimed. “I guess since nothing too terrible has happened-” I began, restating my thoughts. But as soon as I looked away from Discord and back to my friends, I noticed something in the background. It was a large Manticore and it was charging towards us. ~~~~~~~~~~ At first, I wasn't too concerned with the large beast, think that Fluttershy could easily calm it down. Fluttershy must have thought this too, because she began to gently fly over to it, though it was still quite far away. I expected the creature to stop upon seeing its friend, but its expression didn't change at all. I glided off the building and back to my friends and Dash zipped down beside me. “What's with that Manticore?” AJ asked in her southern accent. “I don't know, but I think Fluttershy's got it.” I responded trying to sound calm, but I was beginning to freak out. What on earth was a MANTICORE doing in Ponyville? Manticores are very dangerous and carnivorous animals that could hurt many ponies if it didn't stay in the Everfree forest. No pony ever really figured out why flesh-eating animals and crazy weather stayed in the Everfree, it was just part of the way the world worked. No pony questioned why things fall when we let go of them, no pony questioned why animals like Manticores and cockatrices stayed in the Everfree. I thought it must have had something to do with the lights and noises coming from the little town. Maybe the weather had some sort of magical boundaries put there by ancient pegasi and just forgotten. As far as I knew, nothing like this had ever occurred before. The animals in the Everfree were quiet frightening, and I was always grateful that they stayed far away from Ponyville or any other towns in Equestria. I wonder...how did they get there in the first place..... “WATCH OUT!” I heard somepony scream. I blinked, previously lost in thought. I looked up and away from the ground and was face to face with the Manticore. Time seemed to freeze as I starred into it's cruel, evil eyes. Then, I felt a jerk and was thrown out of the way of the beast. “RUN!” I heard Rainbow yell to me and I obeyed. Jumping the my feet, I took off, galloping beside my friends. I quickly glanced behind me and my fears were confirmed. Not three feet behind us was a raging Manticore. “Flutterhsy, what's going on?” I called to my friend. Fluttershy was right in front on my. She almost looked like she was crying. “I don't know! It won't listen to me!” Fluttershy cried back. “This is bad.” I muttered to myself. Fluttershy could always calm down animals. If she couldn't stop the Manticore, then no pony could. Something...or maybe somepony had to be the cause of the Manticore's behavior. Could it really be Discord? “Less talking, more running!” I heard a voice yell from in front of Fluttershy. Looking past the mare, I saw Discord, frantically running from the beast with the rest of us. He looked back at me and past me to the Manticore and his eyes widened. “Sorry, Friends, but you're on your own.” With that and a flash of light, he was gone. “Thanks.” I mumbled ungratefully under me breath. I hadn't been paying much attention to where we were going, but I quickly recognized that we were near the Everfree Forest. “Everypony! Head to the Everfree!” “What? Are you crazy?” Rainbow Dash yelled from above me. “We have to get this thing way from Ponyville!” I answered. I speed up, moving to the front of our group. “Follow me!” I called, turning towards the forest. I could hear their hoofsteps behind me follow. We had to take the Manticore back to where it belonged. ~~~~~~~~~~ “This way!” I called to my friends. We had been running for a bit now. At first we had just been trying to get the Manticore back into the Everfree, but now we where just running for our lives. I was out of breath and felt like dropping from exhaustion. Ponies are made to run for long periods of time, but since I don't get much exercise, I was a more than a little out of shape. I lead my friends around a curve in the road and I looked back to make sure that my friends were following me instead of heading straight ahead. The Manticore wasn't as close as it was at first, but I couldn't tell if we were truly outrunning him or if he was just enjoying the race and trying to prolong it. I was panting; I didn't think I could last much longer. Turning away from the Manticore, I looked back in front of me to see a tall, pale, unknown creature standing nearly right in front of me. I screamed, and tried to stop myself from running into it. The other must has seen the creature too, because I heard their surprised reactions and the sound of hooves scraping the dirt trying to stop. Luckily, the creature leaped out of my way before we would have collided. Just past it, I came to stop and turned around. The creature was right behind us, but seemed to have directed its attention to the new creature. I saw it stop in front of the thing and look at it with curious hunger. It held up its paw and prepared to strike it. “No!” I yelled, but I knew I was took late. Its paw swooped down onto of the creature and I quickly averted my eyes. However, instead of hearing the large paw crush the poor, strange creature, I heard what sounded like a knife slicking through flesh. I looked back to see the creature with a sharp knife and the Manticore with a missing toe. I was shocked. The Manticore roared and grabbed its wounded paw. I cringed at the sight. The blood gushing from the missing paw was horrifying. The creature jumped up and sliced the Manticore's chest many times and the large beast fell to the ground. I could only watch as the events took place. The creature, which now seemed to be more of a threat then the Manticore, walked over to the Manticore eyeing it like a shiny new toy. The Manticore saw the creature walk up to it and when it had approached it weakly roared at it. The creature simply replied by putting its knife on it's heart and raising the weapon to strike. “Wait!” Fluttershy screamed. I quickly turned my head to face Fluttershy who was standing next to me. I didn't expect the creature to respond, but it stopped, turned, and looked Fluttershy in the eye. The creature looked shocked, like she didn't think the was going to be interrupted. No, it wasn't that, she looked like she didn't expect any pony to be able to interrupt her. “Please stop.” Fluttershy cried quietly. The creature spoke in a strange tongue. I had never heard anything like it. I was shocked that the creature could even speak. What was this creature? It seemed to be intelligent, but it didn't look like anything I had ever seen in any of my studies. It resembled an ape, but taller and less hairy. In fact, it was practically bare. It appeared to be wearing some type of clothing as well, perhaps for warmth. Its very presence was making me feel uneasy, like something bad was going to happen. “Fluttershy, did that thing just talk?” Apple Jack asked. I glanced at Fluttershy. She looked absolutely terrified. “Um, yes. She was-” Fluttershy began, but was cut off my the creature who began talking to her again. The voice sounded feminine, and the creature did seem to be a girl, but I couldn't be sure. This time, it sounded like she was asking a question, but her voice sounded crueler than the last time she spoke. Her tone seemed to frighten Fluttershy even more. She opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out were squeaky noises. The creature spoke again, but this time she obviously angry and she seemed to be threatening Fluttershy. I was frightened and began to cast a immobilization spell. I kept the energy at my horn so if she made any quick movements, I could quickly fire at her causing her to be petrified. It won't hurt the creature, it will only stop her. “Now, listen, Creature.” I spoke in a careful tone and hoped that she could understand me like she understood Fluttershy. “I don't know who you are or where you came from, but I need you to calm down and drop the knife or I will fire at you.” This seemed have no effect on the creature as she held up her knife. Scared, I instinctively cast the spell. The energy formed into a beam and flew at her landing on her paw. However, instead of freezing her, it seemed to burn her. She dropped the knife in pain and shrieked a bit. Her hand was black and slightly smoking. “Twilight! No, stop!” Fluttershy pleaded. “What did ya do that fer, Twi?” AJ asked. “It wasn't supposed to do that, it was just supposed to freeze her! I swear!” I protested. I turned in horror to face the creature. There were tears of pain in her eyes. She leaned down and grabbed her knife. I gulped, starring into her eyes in fear. She looked back at me with red, hateful eyes. But then, she stopped looking at me and instead behind me. Quickly putting the knife back into the sheath, the creature took off into the dark forest in silence. After a few moments of silence, Rainbow spoke, “What...what the heck was that?!?” It was what we were all thinking. I was so confusing, I could barely even think straight. I came to one conclusion. “I think....that was what is causing chaos in the Everfree.”