When Fluttershy had managed to separate herself a good distance from Rengar's den, she found a path that she knew which lead out of the Everfree. Walking through the forest that was dark no matter what time of day it was, Fluttershy checked in her tail to find Angel.
Sure enough, he was there. And he was awake.
"Angel? Are you okay?", Fluttershy asked her bunny after the recent events that Angel had been subject to.
The bunny chattered back, pointing his paw towards the direction of Rengar's den.
"Oh, him? I don't think he's going to give us any more trouble."
Suddenly, Angel's eyes grew wide, then he angrily stomped on her back, chattering and flailing his arms wildly. Fluttershy listened to what he had to say, and after checking her surroundings in the forest, she replied back to Angel.
"You were awake the whole time when me and Rengar talked?", Fluttershy asked, being answered by a narrow-eyed nod.
"Oh, so you heard about what me and Rengar were talking about.", Fluttershy nodded back, "Well...I know you don't like him, but remember, if it wasn't for him, something terrible could have happened."
Fluttershy looked down at the ground.
"Would have happened.", Fluttershy whispered to herself, "And Angel, I'm not too much of a fan of him either. But you have to remember he saved our lives. Even if it did involve killing another animal."
Suddenly, Angel's eyebrow rose, and his mouth hung open.
"What's wrong?", Fluttershy was met with a barrage of noises from Angel, all seeming directed at the lion they met.
"Well, most of the conversation, such as getting to know him more was a bit more of thanks for saving us. I mean, he's still not exactly somepony I'm going to trust with watching you and the rest of the animals.", Fluttershy's experssion now changed to a more blank one.
Then, she spoke again.
"Yes, I did warm up to a...bloodthirsty lion hunter. But it was really...to...", Fluttershy started, then stopped. Angel still looked at Fluttershy for a response until he got one.
"I warmed up to him so that he wouldn't hurt any of us. To be honest, I don't like him. I don't like him at all. But at the same time, he did save our lives.", she looked at the ground, unsure if she had made the right decision, "Still, what about the animals that Rengar hunts that aren't Everfree beasts? Somepony like him would probably kill any sort of animal he found."
"Angel, that lion shouldn't be in the Everfree.", Fluttershy glanced down at Angel, "Mark my words, he will see the error of his ways."
However, the splint that had binded her wing caught the corner of her eye. Although she had found that Rengar had killed the very same mantacore that she had tamed roughly a year ago, in addition to saving her life, he went as far as to heal Fluttershy's wing.
The bunny smiled to himself. It's almost like Fluttershy had played Rengar.
He looked up towards her.
Though she would probably not put it into those words.
When they were out of the clearing, the pony with the rabbit nestled into her tail turned to head back to the cottage, both thankful that the worst was over. However, it was apparent that they were still going to have to deal with quite a bit before they could catch a break from getting attacked by a cragadile, or trying to warm up to a hunter in order to see if he is trustworthy, and possibly see what other secrets he has underneath that mane.
In front of the cottage was an entire squad of Royal Guardsponies, accompanying them were her most dearest friends.
The Elements of Harmony, who were her best friends were composed of Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie.
Fluttershy bit her lip.
If anypony would freak out about Fluttershy talking to a giant lion hunter who just eviscerated a cragadile, it would be her friends. And they would freak out the HARDEST. As she got closer to her cottage, Fluttershy called out, though her naturally quiet voice wasn't heard until she tried again after walking a bit further.
"Hi everypony! I'm back!"
Suddenly, her five other friends turned their heads so fast that Fluttershy expected a neck to snap. Her friends immediately swarmed her in a barrage of questions, mainly asking what had happened to her.
"Oh thank Celestia! Fluttershy! Are you okay?!", Fluttershy's Princess friend, Twilight Sparkle examined her wing thoroughly, "And what happened to your wing? Is it...broken?!"
Fluttershy looked to her left as Applejack took a good look at the splint on her wing.
"Huh. Haven't seen a splint made like this, and ah' should know. I get them all the time on mah' legs.", Applejack eyed the splint, "And who put this on anyways?"
Before Fluttershy could respond, Rarity piped up.
"The guards said that a cragadile attacked! I'm so thankful that you're okay!", her best unicorn friend sobbed into her neck, getting Fluttershy to squeeze in a smile.
"Everypony, I'm okay...really I am-"
"Just wait until I find out where that cragadile ran off to! I'm gonna make some gravel outta that guy! Just you wait Fluttershy-"
"The cragadile is dead."
Each of her friends stopped their onslaught of questions and concern, staring at her with a blank look.
"Huh. But the guards just got here along with us. Did some of them come beforehoof?", Twilight asked.
"Oh no. I...uh...", Fluttershy stammered a tiny bit. Now, she had to make sure that she wouldn't get to the subject to Rengar.
Though...keeping her promise to him wasn't too much of her priority anymore, despite what she had told the lion. While she was trying to fish up an answer, a guard approached Twilight and tapped his spear on the ground.
"Your Highness, we've found something.", the guard declared as he held up three pieces of snapped rope, with a rock tied on the end of each. Twilight examined the rope for a few seconds, then looked back up at the guard.
"Ropes with rocks on the ends? Fluttershy, do you own these?", Twilight asked the pegasus, who suddenly stared at the ropes with great fear and nervousness. She prayed in her mind that they wouldn't figure out what it would be if they connected the three ropes together.
Another guard came up to the group.
"Hey, I've seen one of these before. If you tie the three ropes together...there. I think it's a...", the guard trailed off on his last sentence with Fluttershy thankful that he didn't say the word-
"Oh! It's a bola! That's something you throw at a ponies legs to get them to trip!", Pinkie Pie bubbled on as she recognized the hunting device. The other ponies stared dumbfounded at the pink party pony, who apparently knew about the throwing weapon.
"Um...Ms. Pie...how do you know about such a, um, barbaric object?", Rarity questioned her friend.
"Oh! When I was still on the rock farm with my sisters, we'd tie rocks to spare rope we had, make bolas, and we'd play "Tumble Tag"! We'd try to trip each other by throwing the bolas, but our parents didn't like it too much. That's when we had a lot of broken windows when we started playing. And...Maud got a broken leg."
Pinkie whispered under her friends.
"I miss Tumble Tag."
Each of Pinkie's friends stared at her for a good few seconds before resuming their conversation.
"Well, unless Pinkie could play 'Tumble Tag' with a cragadile-"
"Fire-breathing cragadile.", Applejack corrected when she kicked over a patch of incinerated grass and pointed towards the charred fence.
"With a 'fire-breathing' cragadile, then who threw the bola? Fluttershy, you didn't, right?", Twilight asked, which she was met by a shake of a head.
"No...then...who was also here when the cragadile attacked?", the Princess looked around the entire scene. She trailed away from her other friends, who also followed her as she walked around.
"Alright girls, I think we have a mystery pony who just saved our friend's life. We need to find out who he or she is in order to repay them for risking their life in order to protect Fluttershy. So spread out and start searching for clues to see who this mystery pony is. Alright?!", Twilight pumped her hoof into the air.
"Right!", Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie shouted in rejoice.
"Yay...", Fluttershy shrunk down. Apparently, the universe wanted Rengar's whereabouts to be found, despite the fact that he said that he would come after her if she did. But at the same time...she still wanted Rengar to see the error of his ways after thinking that she convinced him that she didn't view him as much of a threat anymore...
The guards and her friends began to sift around the area, hoping to find any clues towards the identity of the pony who had saved their friend.
Fluttershy began to think about the future if she told her friends that the pony who saved her was a lion hunter who swore to eviscerate Fluttershy if she revealed his whereabouts in the Everfree. When she thought about it more, she began to doubt whether or not he could take on the rest of her five friends, the Elements of Harmony. Surely one lion couldn't stand up to the rest of her best friends.
Could he?
Then, Fluttershy turned her head towards Rainbow Dash.
"C'mon Fluttershy. Don't you wanna find out who kicked that cragadile's flank? I mean, not that I couldn't have done it myself.", the boastful pegasus placed her hoof over her chest.
"Oh, sure. I guess.", Fluttershy bit her lip as she got down towards the ground and pretended to search around, earning a suspicious glance from Rainbow Dash.
"Huh.", she rose an eyebrow as she hovered over towards Twilight.
"Is it just me, or has Fluttershy been acting really weird lately?", Rainbow Dash looked back towards Fluttershy, who seemed to be busy sifting around.
"Well, I wouldn't blame her after getting attacked by a cragadile. But I would think that out of anypony here she would want to know who saved her. Whoever it was, I would like to give them a princess's warm thank you. I could just imagine the look on that pony's face when we go thank them!"
Fluttershy overheard them. She thought about what her friend's faces would look like when they realize that her savior's hobby was tracking down animals and mounting them on his wall...
"Hey! Everypony! Found somethin'!", Applejack piped up, interrupting Fluttershy's train of thought, "Look here!"
Applejack held up a bundle of very, very long white hair.
"Ya'll think this came from the pony's mane?", Applejack held up the bundle of hair.
"Let me see.", Rarity trotted over and examined the hair.
"Well, this doesn't really feel like a mane to me...it feels like...", Rarity gave a long sniff of the hair bundle and coughed, "Agh! It smells like animal fur!"
"Animal fur? Well, unless Fluttershy's taking care of a polar bear, which would be amazing, when who left that hair?", Pinkie's eyes scanned the fur that they had found.
"Surely not from a pony's mane. The more we find clues about this certain pony, the more...unsettling they get.", Rarity shuddered as she looked back towards the repaired bola that they scavenged.
"Oh come on girls! Bola throwing? Beat up a cragadile-"
"Killed"
Rainbow Dash looked over towards Twilight.
"And quite brutally, might I add...", Twilight pointed towards a very potent trail of blood that lead away from the cottage field and trailed into the Everfree forest.
"Dear Celestia...", Rarity covered her mouth with her hoof.
"Okay...maybe...a bit more on the violent side...", Rainbow Dash bit her lip.
"Girls."
The rest of Fluttershy's friends turned around towards the timid mare, hearing that after a while she had finally spoke up.
"I..."
...
...
"I'll tell you who saved me.", Fluttershy looked down towards the ground.
"Hmmm...so you will.", Rengar quietly growled from the cover of a dense treeline, eyeing the ponies down below.