//------------------------------// // Chase // Story: The G.E.A.: Victor in Equestria // by InfiniteBrony //------------------------------//         Branches seemed to reach out and snag at Twilight’s skin and coat with an almost feral intent as she galloped down the dark pathway among the trees. Heart beating franticly, she paid no mind to the small scrapes and bruises they left as she rushed by, to engrossed in her mad dash to notice. Horror at dangers both real and imagined drove her ever onwards.         Had she been in a right state of mind, Twilight would have most likely been regretting her rash decision to charge off into the Everfree Forest in the middle of the night all alone. Another part of her would have argued that the amazing scientific discovery that lay just ahead was worth it.         But as it was, Twilight Sparkle was not in her right mind at the moment, and so she continued running. To a mind as muddled as her own, the time she had spent running was entirely unknowable, and as such she had no idea how long it was before an overzealous root reached up from the forest floor and cut her frightened flight short.         The sudden loss of forward movement from her legs forced the momentum of her upper body to send her tumbling end over end, rolling down a slight incline and landing in some bushes where she came into rather forceful contact with the concealed trunk of a tree. Dazed, she simply lay there, completely still and unmoving for several moments.         When she came to, the sound of heavy padded foot-falls could be heard just outside her impromptu hiding place. Her fear immediately took hold once again, and her heart began to palpitate wildly as her breath caught in her throat. The sound of sniffing was the only break in the tense silence as the footsteps grew closer. Twilight held her breath and cowered as close to the tree trunk as she could, careful to be utterly and absolutely silent. A twig snapped in the distance. Slowly, she heard the beast turn and walk away.         Trembling, and with shaking knees, Twilight stepped out of the bushes once she was sure the coast was clear. When nothing jumped out of the shadows to devour her she let out her pent up breath and breathed a sigh of relief.         Stepping back onto the path, she continued onwards, this time with a more careful eye and a manageable pace. “The sooner I find that meteorite and get out of here the better,” she thought to herself with a shudder. ***         Thankfully, after another several minutes of un-eventful walking later, Twilight had stumbled on to a small clearing. The canopy of leaves and branches had been cleared away and all around, small sections of grass still smoldered from whatever had caused the crater in the center of the clearing. The strange static tingling of unknown energy was heavy in the air here, and with it was an unpleasant sense of foreboding. Instinctively, the fur on the back of Twilight’s neck stood up straight.         But the worst part of the whole situation wasn’t apparent until closer inspection of the crater itself. “Where’s the meteorite?!” Twilight exclaimed once she noticed the profound lack of the very object of her foray into the forest. Franticly walking in place, she cast her gaze in every direction in search of her target, all the while rapidly muttering her denial of the situation. After a moment’s hesitation, she jumped into the earthen depression and search closely for any sign of the stellar stone. She quickly sorted through various more mundane rocks and even a few crystals, but nothing she found was nearly exotic enough to be what searched for. Silent tears of frustration fogged her eyes as she fell to her haunches in disappointment. After a moment of self-pity, she slowly rose and turned to head back the way she came empty-hoofed, when she noticed something wet against her hoof.         Bending low to see the source of the moisture better, she found a dark liquid coating a small flat stone near the edge of the crater. Dabbing her hoof in it, she lifted it closer to her face to better see it in the light of the moon. Upon recognizing it, she recoiled, and loudly voiced her disgust, “Blood!” Hurriedly wiping her hoof on the grass to try and remove the foul substance from her body, Twilight’s analytic mind couldn’t help but notice the small patterns that presented themselves now that she had found their start. Starting by the blood covered stone she could see tufts of trampled grass, overturned sods of earth, snapped twigs, and various other signs of recent trespass. In fact, she could actually detect the faint lingering sensation of a healing spell that was cast in the area not too long ago. The obvious conclusion of this dawned on Twilight.         “Somepony’s already been here,” she realized aloud. A small spark of hope welled up inside of her. If somepony had already been here, they had probably seen the meteorite. Maybe the celestial rock had simply been taken, instead of lost as she had thought. Whoever it was that had gotten here before her probably had no idea the true value of what they had, they most likely just that it a pretty rock that fell from the sky. If she could catch up to them, maybe she could explain to them its true importance and they would let her have it. They’d have to.         Optimism restored, Twilight quickly searched for signs of where the recent visitor could have gone. After a few minutes of investigation, she managed to locate a small trail of snapped twigs and trampled stems winding through the bush, heading in a general south-west direction. With a sense of purpose in her step, and a mission on her mind, Twilight Sparkle set out after the mystery pony. *~-/^\-~*         The serrated tip of the barbed tail passed close enough to rustle my mane with the wind of its passing as I cocked my head to the side to nonchalantly dodge the strike. This caused the manticore to scowl even more fiercely and retract its tail to pose for another strike. Quick as a striking cobra, it whipped the poisonous appendage forward in a graceful downward arc. I simply scooted about three inches to the left, causing the attack the attack to miss me by a hair’s breadth and the tail to bury itself into the soft loam. Looking the beast dead in the eye, I cocked an eyebrow and smirked. “Is that really all you have? I’ve literally fought slugs more dangerous than you,” I taunted.         Rather displeased with the way its next meal was casually berating it, the manticore redoubled its efforts to shut me up.         Without bothering to dislodge its stinger, the massive feline swiped at me with one of its front paws, forcing me to skip backwards to avoid its sharp claws. Before I had even completed my evasion it whipped his tail along the ground, knock one of my front hooves out from under me and causing me to lose my balance for a split second. Taking advantage of the opportunity, it pushed off with its hind legs and pounced on me.         It was only thanks to my sharp reflexes that I was able to bring my hooves to both of its jaws fast enough to prevent them from closing on my neck as it bowled me over onto my back. I could have sworn it was smiling as it released a hiss-growl noise that sounded suspiciously like laughter. Despite the danger of my precarious situation, my smirk grew into a full grin as I spoke again, “Now that’s more like it!”         Still holding the large fangs at bay with my fore-hooves, I used one of my rear legs to deliver a sharp and rather forceful kick to the beast’s ribs. Surprised by my bold move and the sudden pain, it reflexively recoiled slightly. Pressing the attack, I pushed its head away with a burst of strength, unbalancing the creature. Wasting no time, I quickly rolled to the side and on to my hooves as it made a lunge to try and pin me again.         Realizing that I had escaped the reach of its fangs and claws, it resorted once again to the appendage its species was famous for. Still grinning like a maniac, I once more side-stepped the strike, this time tightly grabbing hold as the limb was retracted for another blow. Using the extra momentum of the manticore’s tail I leapt, twisting in the air and pinning the toxic barb beneath me as I landed on the monster’s broad back. Before it could react and possibly throw me off, I wrapped my fore-hooves around its neck.         It trashed and struggled as I squeezed my grip ever tighter, depriving it of its much needed oxygen. It did its best to dislodge and buck me from its back, but I held firm. Soon, its struggles grew less fervent, and it fell to the ground as the strength to keep itself upright left its legs. Its tongue lolled out of its mouth and its eyes rolled back in their sockets as I calmly dismounted its limb body.         --Special Agent Umbra, lethal force has not been authorized, this act clearly…--         “Relax,” I interrupted, “it’s only asleep.” Sure enough, the manticore chose that moment to release a loud snore. “Just tell me how much further it is to our destination. All this walking and fighting and what not is starting to annoy me”         --After calculating the distance already traveled, my maps indicate that the site of the Alpha-Omega anomaly should be just over the next hill—         Stepping carefully to avoid a patch of suspiciously bright blue flowers, I crested a small hill and saw that my Badge wasn’t lying. What I saw though, caused me to groan and slap a hoof to my forehead. “Really?!” I shouted, pointing an exasperated hoof. “A freaking ancient castle?! That couldn’t be more stereotypical and clichéd if it tried!”         In front of me, just on the other side of a deep gorge, was indeed an ancient and decaying castle. Its crumbling masonry was overgrown with thick layers of ivy, covering almost every inch of the lower half of its walls. At least where the walls had not completely fallen away anyways. The once elegant carvings and decorations that had once graced the structure had long since faded away. Despite its rotting and decrepit appearance I could tell that it had been a beautiful piece of architecture once. Small pieces of stained glass could still be seen in the corners of some of the more tucked away windows, and through them I could see the grand structure and proud pillars of the rooms beyond. The original color of the stone and bricks had long since faded, but they still held a faint purple hue as they formed great and impressive spires that reached up to the sky like jagged fingers.         --Site of the Alpha-Omega anomaly located. Local records refer to the site as “The Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters”. Sensors are detecting trace amounts of malignant magical energies. Caution is advised—         With a sigh, I descended from the hill. “Alright, let’s just get this over with already,” I said as I began to cross the raggedy rope bridge from one side of the gorge to the other. *~-/^\-~*         Huffing and slightly out of breath, Twilight continued her arduous pursuit of the unintentional thief of the meteorite. It had been almost twenty minutes since she had found the fallen stone missing from its crater and before that she had been scared out of her mind and running for her life. In addition to all of this, it was already well past midnight, almost so late that it was early, and her exhaustion was starting to catch up with her. Regardless, she soldiered on.         In an effort to try and keep herself awake, she began to contemplate what the pony who had taken precious scientific discovery must be like. The simple fact that they were in the Everfree Forest at this time of night already discredited them from possibly being a simple citizen of Ponyville or the surrounding area. Seeing the way their path just cut through the brush, instead of taking any of the many game trails, discounted the possibility of being a native of the dark woods as well. That only really left that they were a visiting stranger, which was disconcerting in as well. After all, what kind of pony would come all this way just to visit the Everfree, especially at this time of night? The fact that the trail looked to be heading in the direction of which she remember the ancient castle of the pony sisters wasn’t doing much to allay her suspicions either.         Twilight was so wound up in her wonderings that she did not notice the wall of fur in the path until she walked into it. Stepping back and rubbing her sore muzzle, she almost screamed when she saw what it was she had carelessly collided with. There, lying right in the middle of the path, was an unconscious manticore. Twilight had to clench her jaw hold her mouth shut block out the frightened yell that clawed at her throat. She began hyper-ventilating as she waited, paralyzed with fear, for the great beast to rouse from its slumber and make a meal of her.         After several moments in which the large feline continued to sleep on undisturbed, Twilight calmed down enough to move her legs and form rational thought. Not questioning her good luck, she carefully and quietly tip-hoofed around the monster, doing her best not to disturb it any further. Once she had made it over the small hill beyond, and out of sight of the lethal predator, she ran full tilt across the rickity rope bridge, and didn’t stop until she had found refuge in the great, ancient castle beyond.