Darkness Surrounding

by Sigil Flare

Chapter 1

First I would like to take a second to thank you for reading my story. It is my first attempt at Fan fiction of any kind so I'd like some structural critisim. You can probably tell I'm not an english major just try and avoid the grammar mistakes I'll have them edited out soon. Enjoy!

“Ouch” was the first thought Lloyd had as he woke up His entire body seemed to be in pain. He tried to open his eyes to find they wouldn't budge it was as if a weight was holding them down. Lloyd could swear he heard a voice coming from the darkness. He felt someone lightly poking his side and the pain following it. He managed to croak out a moan of pain. The poking stopped.

Using every bit of strength Lloyd had he forced his eyes open. The first thing he realized was that he was in a library. There were bookshelves everywhere he looked. The walls looked wooden almost like he was inside a tree. One things was for sure he wasn't at home where he remembered being just minutes before. He was on what felt like a couch and the lights on the ceiling where painfully bright. He heard somebody talking to his right.

He painfully turned on to his side on the couch to see who it was and froze. Sitting on the floor in front of him was a equine. A pony to be more exact. “A unicorn” Lloyd mentally corrected himself as he noticed the horn on it's head. He found it strange that she was purple he found it even stranger to find her mane was much like how a human would wear their hair although with a purple highlight flowing through it.

“Are you alright?” asked the unicorn a hint of concern in it's voice

“You can talk?” asked Lloyd back breaking down into a coughing fit with the effort of talking

“Yes I can my name is Twilight Sparkle.” said the unicorn putting a hoof to her chest and clearing her throat “and you are?”

“My name is Lloyd” he said this time without the coughing fit “Where am I?”

“Your in Ponyville” said Twilight in an obviously feminine tone “What kind of name is Lloyd?”

“Well fancy that a talking unicorn named Twilight Sparkle is making fun of my name.” laughed Lloyd wincing as his chest hurt with the effort

“Your a unicorn too you know” said Twilight with a frown tapping him with her hoof Her horn started to glow purple as a hand mirror on a cabinet glowed the same. It floated over in front of Lloyd's face and his face deadpanned. He was a unicorn! How is this possible, last time he had checked he was a human being.

Lloyd tried to wiggle his fingers and got nothing. He raised his hand to his face and was met with a hoof. It was true he was really a unicorn now.

“What did you do to me?” asked Lloyd scared

“What are you talking about?” asked Twilight tilting her head “I didn't do anything to you. For all I can surmise you fell out of the sky.”

“I fell out of the sky?” asked Lloyd turning on the couch to face upward again

“Yeah it was really weird” said Twilight lost in her thoughts “Rainbow Dash came her about a week ago telling me about a weather irregularity or what she called a super storm. I went to investigate after the storm and found you on the ground unconcious. I couldn't just leave you there so I had Rainbow Dash help me bring you back here.”

“Rainbow Dash?” asked Lloyd trying to sit up only to be met with a crunching sound in his what he believed to be his rib area Twilight put a hoof on his chest and gently eased him back down onto the couch just as the door to the library swung open and a voiced said “you called?”

Lloyd's jaw literally dropped standing in the door way was a cyan colored pegasus. Even more shocking was it's mane and tail they were all the colors of the rainbow. Red, blue, green, they were all there except indigo. Upon a second look Lloyd noticed her eyes were indigo.

“Rainbow Dash!” exclaimed Twilight in a half hearted whine “Must you always make such an entrance?”

“Well when your as awesome as I am you have to make an entrance.” said Rainbow Dash with a grin “besides I thought it would make a good first impression” she shot a glance in Lloyd's direction
it was at this point he realzied he was staring at her.

He quickly looked up at the ceiling and said as nonchalantly as possible “The name suits you”

“Who is this guy anyways Twi?” asked Rainbow slightly annoyed at his response to her entrance

“My name is Lloyd” he said waiving his hoof to the pegasus

“What kind of a name is that?” asked Rainbow her brow furrowing in confusion

“That's what I asked?” said Twilight putting her hoof to her forehead she walked over to Lloyd and sat next to the couch “I think we need to ask you some questions”

“I think I have some questions of my own but for now ask your's I'll answer as best I can.” said Lloyd preparing himself for an onslaught of questions

“First off where did you come from?” asked Twilight her horn glowing purple again a pad of paper and a quill hovering in front of her in the same glow

“I come from a world called Earth.” said Lloyd thinking back “I guess I'm not there anymore” he added looking at his hooves

“Are you trying to tell me you're from a different planet?” asked Twilight in mock interest scratching down a few notes with her quill

“Yes but how do I prove my words,” said Lloyd thinking quickly looking at Twilight's horn it dawned on him “Are you using magic?”

“Yes I am.” said Twilight smartly “All unicorns can use magic” she gave him an odd look

“Man how hard did this dude hit the ground Twi” said Rainbow looking at Twilight “He sounds a little nuts if you ask me”

Lloyd tuned them out as he began to relax every part of his body. He let out a long breath and concentrated all of his energy to his horn finding it easier than he imagined. He heard Twilight yip in surprise as a glowing circle appeared on the floor around them. As Lloyd began murmuring in a language long since lost to his people runes appeared flashing on the growing sigil. As Lloyd released his energy in a burst from his horn the sigil on the floor disappeared as did the room.

“Where are we” asked Twilight as her vision slowly returned She felt weird, strangely taller and off balanced and cold. As she opened her eyes she froze. She wasn't in the library anymore. Instead she was in what looked like a meadow filled with strange two legged creatures. They were pink had hair like her but were dressed almost completely in clothes. She looked down at herself to find that she was one of them.

A scream could be heard from behind her. Twilight turned around to see one very surprised Rainbow Dash had lost balance and fallen off her two legs and onto her butt. She looked a lot like her pony self the hair was the same color and the clothes were cyan but she looked skinnier and weak. Twilight realized she must look a lot like her pony self too noticing the familiar purple highlight in her hair running over her shoulder.

“Where the buck are we?” yelled Rainbow angrily trying to stand back up she stopped as a creature walked up and offered her a foreleg to help her up. Rainbow put her limb in it's and it grabbed her foreleg and hauled her to her feet. “Who are you?”

“Lloyd” said the creature “Welcome to Earth”

“Earth?” asked Twilight confused “but how?”

“I have taken you inside of my memories ladies.” said Lloyd giving a wink to Rainbow Dash “You know proving I'm not crazy”

“How did you do that and how are we these things.” asked Twilight confused and scared

“I had to use a little magic of course but even in my weakened state moving your conciousnesses inside my illusionary memory garden wasn't that hard.”

“Illusionary?” asked Twilight looking around “it certainly feels real”

“Well technically you are walking around in my memory so you are feeling what I felt.” said Lloyd looking a bit tired “As for what you are ladies” Lloyd put on a weak smile “You are the sentient inhabitants of planet Earth: Human beings.”

“So that means?” started Twilight looking at Lloyd with a gasp

“That I was telling the truth?” finished Lloyd with a weary smile “yes it does” and with that they were back in twilight's house. Lloyd was now panting from exhaustion.

“Are you alright?” asked Twilight concerned for this strange stallion

“Yeah just a little worn out from that last spell” said Lloyd his head spinning he put a hoof to his forehead and sighed “But I think that should have answered most of your questions for now.”

“It did for me” answered Rainbow Dash nodding her head with a uneasy smile “Don't do anything like that on me again okay? So not cool.”

“I promise I won't unless I have too” replied Lloyd catching his breathe “Not exactly pleasant for me either”

“I've never seen magic like that before not even in my books.” said Twilight her eyes going wide “Where did you learn it?”

“You see back where I'm from doing magic is a very special talent which very few people have.” started Lloyd as twilight nodded slowly “I am considered a mage someone who could use magic to warp the very elements of nature themselves. But my magic is very powerful and it takes a lot of stamina to keep up. So in my weakened state I couldn't hold that spell for very long.”

“And I thought you were the strongest unicorn in all of Equestria Twi” said Rainbow chuckling slightly

“Really?” said Lloyd crooking an eyebrow “and also Equestria?”

“I see so this is Equestria and the dominant species is ponies. Which branches off into three categories : Pegasus, Earth, and Unicorn. And your ruler is Princess Celestia which is an Alicorn and her sister Luna.” said Lloyd after careful thought

“Yeah that about sums it up” said Twilight satisfied in her teaching Lloyd the ways of Equestria but she disliked calling him Lloyd. It was a sure sign that he wasn't from around here. “Lloyd about your name...”

“I have to change it don't I?” Lloyd finished the sentence for her with a sigh “But how do I do that?”

“Well it has to do with your special talent and your cutie mark” answered Twilight sitting down on her couch tucking her forelegs underneath her

“Wait a cutie mark?” asked Lloyd confused

“Yes” said Twilight turning over onto her side on the couch so that her flank was facing Lloyd “It shows up on your haunches right here.” she pointed her hoof at a purple star surrounded by six other stars “My special talent is magic by the way.” Twilight said with a giggle

That giggle made Twilight's cutie mark do some very interesting things or so Lloyd thought at least. Lloyd reached out and touched Twilight's mark with his hoof feeling that the mark was actually part of her fur not painted on. He began to run his hoof back and forth over it in wonder and how soft it was. He realized what he was doing and pulled his hoof back quickly.

Twilight realized that laying the way she was, was giving Lloyd quite the eye full of her flank so she hopped off the couch with a little crimson on her cheeks. “So now that you know what a cutie mark is what is yours?” she said with a questioning tone

Lloyd turned and looked at himself. He noted he was a warm honey brown color. His cutie mark actually looked like the sigil he had cast to send the girls into his memory. “My cutie mark is a sigil?” he replied “so my special talent is magic as well then”

“That can be assumed all right.” said Twilight thinking “You said sigil right?”

“Yeah I did what you thinking?” asked Lloyd interested

“Why don't we call you Sigil Flare” said Twilight “or Sigil for short?” she gave Lloyd a winning smile and hoped he liked her suggestion

“I like it Twilight.” said Lloyd.. Sigil now “So you gave me my name what does that mean exactly does it have some sort of significance now?”

“Well other than the fact ponies won't think your name sounds weird now, not really” said Twilight with a laugh “But what do you want to do now Sigil?”

“Well I am feeling much better now that I've had time to rest” said Sigil moving his shoulders experimentally “Wanna grab some food?”

“Just you and me?” asked Twilight with mock surprise “but we just met!”

“Well you'll be buying my food anyways so don't count this as a date quite yet.” said Sigil with a smile “besides your the first pony I've met here I don't want to ruin our friendship already.”

“I was only joking Sigil” replied Twilight honestly “Rainbow Dash said that would be funny if I did it”

“That explains a lot.” said Sigil with a chuckle Twilight soon joined in and the two shared a good laugh as they walked to the door Twilight in the lead

“Well I just happen to know a great place for us to grab a bite to eat.” she said opening the door “My friend actually lives there.”

“Someone I know?” asked Sigil his interest peaked following Twilight out the door “I don't think it's Rainbow”

“It's my friend Pinkie Pie” Twilight said picking up here pace a bit to a slow trot “Welcome to Ponyville by the way.” Sigil looked behind him and saw that he was in fact inside of a tree. After traveling further into town he realized this was a pretty small town. All the houses were small and colorful and the ponies that live here are all friendly.

“This I have to say is a nice change” said Sigil almost to himself

“What do you mean” asked Twilight having overheard him talking to himself

“Your town it is so friendly.” said Sigil with a sigh “So unlike where I'm from.”

“Surely it can't be that horrible Sigil” Twilight said reassuringly “It is your home after all”

“Let's just say it's not the friendliest place” said Sigil putting on a smile looking at last at Twilight She was trotting along ahead of him. Taking his eyes of her flank immediately he noticed a rather large building on the corner decorated with all kinds of sweets. “Is this where we are going?”

“Yeah it's called Sugar Cube corner” said Twilight stepping up to the door opening it she said “get ready for a warm welcome”

“Why would you say..” was as far as Sigil got as soon as he stepped inside a pink blur obscured his vision and a non stop torrent of words assaulted his ears “Hey” Sigil cried in frustration

“Pinkie let the stallion breathe” said Twilight giggling as she dragged Pinkie back by her tail “also you should probably wash this thing” she added spitting some of Pinkie's tail out of her mouth

“Sorry Twilight but it's just that he's new here. And when ever there is a pony in town I just have to meet them. And then I get to know them.” said Pinkie in a voice almost to fast to understand then her entire face brightened as she said “Oh my gosh I should throw you a party!”

“A party, but why?” asked Sigil genuinely confused “I haven't done anything spectatular have I?” he looked at Twilight who just gave him a smile

“Your a new stallion in town that if that's not spectacular I don't know what is” said Pinkie now starting to bounce up and down “Oh I need to get streamers and balloons and Oh My Gosh I need to get cake!”

“No offense Pinkie” said Sigil trying not to hurt her feelings “but I don't really want a party just yet. You know I want to get to know Ponyville a bit more a few ponys especially.” he cast twilight a fleeting glance

“Well it doesn't have to be now silly willy” said Pinkie losing herself to a fit of giggles “We'll put it on later in the week okay? Why are you here anyways?” she tilted her head and narrowed her eyes

“We actually came here to grab a bit to eat Pinkie” said Twilight casually walking over to one of the tables “Sigil come sit down over here” she gestured him over with a waving hoof Sigil walked over and took the available seat opposite her. As he sat down he realized just how tired he actually was and let out a sigh of relief to be off his aching hooves.

“Your really that tired?” asked Twilight letting a bit of a yawn pass her lips

“Don't sound so awake your self Twilight.” Sigil said with a chuckle “So what exactly do you ponies eat?” He feared what she would say next but he needed it confirmed.

“Well I usually get a dandillion burger and some hay fries honestly” said Twilight motioning to Pinkie “Did you hear that Pinkie” she said over her shoulder to the Pink earth pony

“That honestly doesn't sound that bad” said Sigil “Not what I'm used to eating but it will work out fine”

“Pardon my asking Sigil but what do you usually eat where you are from?” asked Twilight curiously “And make that two dandilion sandwiches and 2 orders of hay fries Pinkie!”

“Well in all honesty humans are omnivores. We eat greens and you know... meat” the expression on Twilight's face changed from one of wonder to one of shock quickly

“Well I have to say I wasn't expecting that one.” said Twilight trying very hard not to shudder at the thought of Sigil eating ugh meat. “but did you um... like eating meat?”

“Well I would be lieing if I told you I didn't like meat” said Sigil honestly trying his best not to freak Twilight out “but I had a salad on the side most of the time” He hoped she didn't make him describe the sensation of eating meat that could get awkward. Luckily for them both Pinkie chose that time to bring their food to their table.

“Nice timing Pinkie” said Sigil taking a long sigh of relief “Looks good” he added after looking at his meal I thought it would look a little different but it looks a lot like a hamburger and fries.

“Well go on” said Twilight giving him an encouraging smile “try it” she watched as he took the sandwich in his hooves and took a bite. After chewing for a bit he swallowed. “How is it Sigil?” she asked a hint of worry in her voice

Sigil swallowed his first bite with a a very good intention to eat the rest of it. “It's great” he said with a smile taking another bite “Nice job Pinkie” he added after swallowing his second bite

“A friend of Twilight's is a friend of mine” said Pinkie cracking a smile “I tried to make it super duper special though seeing as your new here.”

A few minutes passed as Sigil and Twilight ate their food holding a pleasant conversation. As they were finishing up and getting ready to leave Sigil thought it was a good time to ask a question that's been on his mind for a while.

“Hey Twilight I've been meaning to ask you something?” started Sigil getting Twilight's attention “I was wondering if you had any kind of crime stopping force in Equestria?”

“Well there are the palace guards that guard the Princesses and company.” said Twilight thinking about this for the first time “But now that you mention it we don't really have anything like that here in Ponyville. Nopony really commits any crimes here.”

“Wow this world just gets better and better” Sigil said putting a hoof to his forehead

“What do you mean?” said Twilight a little confused “Surely it's the same for where your from” Sigil let out a long sigh and gave Twilight a look so serious it made her cringe a little.

“No Twilight, my world is not the same as your crime free world.” said Sigil with a deep sigh he lowered his gaze so as to hide his eyes from view “It is very different from yours. In fact it's not uncommon for multiple people to die in a single day. Even with all the people roaming the streets, loved ones die and there's nothing you can do about it.”

“Sigil I don't know what to say” Twilight said laying a hoof on his shoulder “but I can promise you one thing” Sigil looked up at her “That will never happen here and it never will.”

“Yeah nopony ever commits crimes here” said Pinkie Pie a smile on her face Sigil stared at her smile and his mood brightened a bit

“Yeah I guess your right.” said Sigil scratching the back of his neck with a hoof “sorry for getting all dark on you. I didn't exactly have the easiest life back home.”

“Didn't you have any family or friends to spend time with or maybe someone special?” asked Twilight blushing slightly

“I did have family but I'm orphaned now.” said Sigil old scars reopening “I didn't really have any friends back home either. All part of being a mage I'm afraid.”

“What do you mean all part of being a mage?” asked Twilight choosing to ignore asking about the death of his family “I thought they were really rare?”

“Oh yes they're rare all right.” said Sigil sarcasticly “because they are hunted to near extinction.”

“What?!” yelled Twilight her jaw dropping “you didn't mention that before.”

“Based on your reaction you can guess why I left that out before.” said Sigil getting up from the table “I don't think we should continue this conversation.” he gave Twilight a weak smile

“Good idea” said Twilight putting a hoof to her forehead thinking to herself “What else do I not know about this mysterious stallion?” “What do you plan on doing now Sigil?” she continued

Before Sigil could answer the ground shook and a roar cut through the air. Twilight and Pinkie looked at each other with a look of disbelief and horror.

“What is it?” asked Sigil looking out the window hearing the roaring grow louder

“It's a hydra” said Twilight swallowing the lump in her throat “They live in the everfree forest to the south, but they never come in to town.”

“I think I know why it's here now” said Sigil his eyes growing wide as he pointed a hoof to a cream colored pegasus running into view “It's chasing somepony” Twilight ran to the window and let out a gasp

“That's Fluttershy!” yelled Twilight running out the door “We have to help her” Sigil followed her when it came into view. It was twice as tall as most of the building in town and had five snake like heads. It was slithering with great speed after Fluttershy using it's heads to grab at her.

Fluttershy ducked behind a rather tall circular building as the hydra lashed out. It reached out two heads and wrapped them around the building and broke it in half. A cry of terror came out of the yellow pegasus that chilled Sigil to his core. He had to do something before the town was destroyed or the pegasus got killed.

Sigil stopped in his tracks and extended a hoof to halt Twilight from running to the rescue. “Stay back or you'll just get in the way” he focused intently on the task at hand He pulled all of the energy he had into his horn leaving his legs weak. He used all of his will to stay standing as a sigil was burned into the ground around him.

He lifted his hoof of the ground as his horn glowed intensely. Sigil slammed his hoof into the ground with force. As he did so his spell took hold. A fissure opened up in the ground and traveled at great speed in to the path of the hydra. As it found it's mark between the beast and the pegasus it grew wider and a great pillar of earth erupted from the ground and surrounded the hydra boxing it in.

The hydra ran into the newly created wall at high speed. It roared in pain as it bounced back with a ear ringing crack. Sigil broke into a smile as the pegasus was safe for the moment and the hydra roaring safely contained in the box. Then the fatigue hit him full force. He stumbled on his hooves suddenly feeling intense pain. As he fell over he was caught in surprisingly sturdy hooves.

“Woah there” asked Twilight worry thick in her voice “You okay Sigil?” He looked up at her and smiled before passing out “He did it at least” sighed Twilight letting him down to the ground slowly “I need to get him back to the library to rest” as Twilight and Pinkie carried off Sigil to the library it sounded as a cannon just went off.

The hydra had succeded in breaking through it's prison shattering it into pieces. Fluttershy was stricken with fear she hadn't moved since the hydra had been imprisoned. She tilted her head back and screamed “RAINBOW DASH!” with everything she had. Immediately an explosion sounded in the distance and a rainbow flew across the sky. The rainbow trailed down out of the sky at an alarming rate and slammed into the hydra knocking it backwards and sending it through what was left of it's broken cage.

Rainbow Dash hit the ground on all four hoofs and after making sure the hydra was taken care of for now, turned and ran to Fluttershy. Rainbow wrapped her hooves around her crying friend as Fluttershy buried her head in Rainbow's chest.

“It's alright” soothed Rainbow squeezing Fluttershy tightly “I won't let anything happen to you. You know that” she pulled back a bit so that Fluttershy could see the determination in her eyes

“Dashy...” sobbed Fluttershy holding on to Rainbow for dear life “I'm so scared” Rainbow looked behind her as she calmed Fluttershy. The hydra was getting back up.

Rainbow looked Fluttershy in the eyes and said “Run” as Fluttershy got to her feet Rainbow charged the hydra again. She flew up to one of it's heads and gave it a hard kick with her hind legs. The hydra roared in pain as Rainbow's kick found it's mark. Before Rainbow could get away another head lashed out. It hit her in the shoulder knocking her to the ground.

Pain shot through Rainbow as she picked herself up off the ground. The hydra was right on top of her. It lashed it's head out to chomp down on Rainbow, who reared back on her hindlegs and pushed herself into the air with a pump of her wings. She flew over the hydra's head as it's jaws closed on thin air. Rainbow then did a front flip and closed her wings tucking them into her as she plummeted feet first into the hydra's unprotected neck.

She could hear the spinal cord shatter under her impact as her hooves hit the beast. She rocketed back up as another head came her way. Doing another flip she attempted to do the same to this new head, but the hydra had learned. As soon as Rainbow had done her flip a second head had come from the side and knocked her out of the air.

Rainbow hit the ground hard and skidded a few tail lengths before coming to rest bruised and battered. The Hydra eyed it's prey with what looked like intent to kill, but it cast it's gaze wider as if looking for something. It focused all of it's heads as it found what it was looking for. It roared and charged as it found Fluttershy hiding under a cart of apples.

“Fluttershy!” cried Rainbow through her pain standing up and running with all her strength “Get out of there!” But Fluttershy was petrified with fear and could not move. Rainbow ran as fast as she could to no avail. The hydra roared as it lashed out with a head to chomp her. She cringed and closed her eyes screaming in fright. But the bite never came.

Fluttershy opened her eyes to what appeared to be snow. It was silver and appeared to be moving to an unknown rhythm, almost flowing. She realized it to be fur of some kind. Looking up her eyes grew wide. It was a wolf! A wolf had jumped in front of her to take the hydra's bite.

The wolf growled fiercely as it wrapped it's front paws around the hydra's head and twisted with an astounding amount of force. The hydra's jaw snapped and hanged limp. Before it could pull it's injured head back the wolf heaved backwards. Rainbow's jaw dropped as she saw the hydra lifted off of the ground and swung through the air to be dropped on the ground hard.

The wolf dropped the injured head and turned to face the rather surprised hydra. It's heads moved eraticly it's mind's try to figure out what exactly just happened. The wolf took this as it's moment to attack. It charged in low getting under the heads range of vision and dodging to the right catching the furthest head with it's claws as it did so.

It dug it's claws in deep carrying the head with it as it jumped on to the back of it and dug it's other paw into the hydra's scaly hide. The beast roared in pain as Rainbow watched the wolf tear it's captured head clean of an bite down on another neck. “I won't let this thing have all the glory” thought Rainbow launching into the sky She flew higher and higher then did a backflip and nosed straight down at the distracted hydra.

The wolf looked up just in time to see a rainbow colored ripple in the sky. He quickly jumped off the hydra and ran for cover as he heard a smug voice yell “Sonic Rain- Kaboom” Rainbow Dash hit the hydra square on it's middle heads joint that connects it to all of the other heads. Her elbow drove in with enough force it produced a shockwave and a rainbow colored mushroom cloud. Rainbow herself was blown spinning head over tails into a building on her right.

As the dust cleared, the hydra was finally defeated. Rainbow coughed up a little blood and knew that she had probably broken quite a few somethings doing that last attack. She sat back against the building with a smile and thought to herself “That's what you get for attacking Fluttershy you stupid beast.” Speaking of Fluttershy as soon as she saw the hydra was finished she asked “D-Dashy where are you?”

“O-over here Pal” said Rainbow pain making her voice squeak and her chest ache Fluttershy ran to her friends side and her eyes grew wide

“Rainbow your hurt.” cried Fluttershy tears starting to form in her eyes

“Nah I'm just fine” said Rainbow a smug look on her face “Although if you wanted to help me up I wouldn't complain.” Fluttershy put a hoof under Rainbow's shoulder and helped her to her hooves Rainbow tried to unfurl her right wing to steady herself on Fluttershy, but a searing pain tore through her. “Ah my wing” cried Rainbow holding back the tears in her eyes

“Dashy are you alright” asked Fluttershy steadying the cyan pegasus next to her with her own wing

“I can't move my right wing it hurts to bad” grunted Rainbow through gritted teeth she'd been through this once before already and she knew how bad this was “Darn it this means more expensive surgery and I'm still paying off the last one”

“Rainbow we need to get you to the hospital immediately” cried Twilight running up to the two pegasi “Your right wing is broken”

“Well get me to the hospital Twilight.” Dash slowly limped over to the purple unicorn turning to give Fluttershy a quick hug good bye “Make sure to visit me in the infirmary Pal I want to make sure your alright.” With that said Twilight's horn flared purple and they were gone in a flash.

Fluttershy was now all alone as the townsfolk opened their doors and looked around . They realized the beast was dead and cheered in victory. Fluttershy didn't want to be in the middle of the crowd so she quietly walked away off towards her cottage. She got halfway there when she noticed somepony following her. She turned around and saw it to be the wolf from before, the one that saved her.

The wolf stumbled as it followed her. Fluttershy noticed it had several small gashes along it's stomach where the hydra's teeth had caught him saving her. Fluttershy walked back and carefully approached the wolf staying back far enough to be out of reach should it try to attack her.

“Please don't be afraid of me” she heard a voice say inside of her mind

“Who is this” asked Fluttershy out loud “What do you want from me” she began to want to run away to flee from this foreign assault

“My name is Kurt” said the voice “currently I am the wolf in front of you” Fluttershy froze as the wolf formed an odd smile a few of it's fangs shining in sunlight. Fluttershy had every intention of running away when it said “Please don't leave me here alone.”

She slowly trotted up to the wolf ready to bolt at any sign of hostility, but it just sat down on it's haunches and waited for her to work up her courage. She stood in front of the wolf as it looked up into her eyes. There was a gleam of happiness in it's brown eyes as it thought “Thank you for not abandoning me.”

“Well I do love animals and you did help Dashy save me.” said Fluttershy wincing as she recalled Dash being teleported away by Twilight to the hospital.

“She'll be alright Fluttershy.” said Kurt in her mind “From what I could catch of her thoughts she doesn't plan on spending more than 2 weeks in that hospital.” The wolf let out a whine as Fluttershy put her hoof on it's stomach

“O-oh I'm sorry” said Fluttershy pulling her hoof back “I didn't mean to hurt you”

“Oh I wouldn't worry about it Fluttershy” said Kurt in her head “I know you wouldn't hurt anypony on purpose. Of course I'm not a pony now am I?” that last part she could have sworn she heard him laugh

“I need to get you back to my cottage so I can take care of you” said Fluttershy shyly “If that's okay with you I mean..”

“Beats bleeding out, out here in the forest alone” said Kurt in Fluttershy's mind standing up beginning to walk “lead the way”

It only took a few minutes to walk to her cottage. She quickly opened the door and rushed inside allowing Kurt to come in after her. Fluttershy trotted to the back room and grabbed some gause from her medical supplies. She had bought it a few years ago when angel got bitten by that snake but never had gotten around to using it.

Fluttershy walked back out into the living room to see Kurt closing the door behind him. He then fell belly first to the floor and let out a long sigh. Upon seeing Fluttershy he flipped around so that he was lying on his back.

“Alright I'm going to stop the bleeding now” said Fluttershy wrapping some gause around her hoof. “it might hurt a little and I need you to sit up for me” Kurt sat up as the shy pegasus stuck some gause into his first wound. He cringed a little from pain but quickly steeled himself. She walked around him wrapping his entire chest in gause efficently stopping the bleeding.

“There you go” said Fluttershy tapping his new bandage lightly with her hoof “That should do for now”

“Thank you Fluttershy” said Kurt laying down on the floor tucking his front legs underneath him resting his muzzle on his paws “You are too kind”

“Your welcome Kurt” replied Fluttershy “I never told you my name though?”

“I'm sorry for my rudeness” said Kurt in her mind “But I might have read a few of your thoughts”

“Well I have to say I'm find that a little rude” said Fluttershy blushing furiously “but.. um... did you perchance read”

“I'm sorry Fluttershy but I didn't read Dash's thoughts about you” replied Kurt with an audioble sigh “But I can tell you this” Fluttershy looked down into Kurt's eyes “She thinks of you as more than just her “Pal””