The New Moon Rises

by Kit Wolfkat

Kindness

Kindness.

Okay, map’s busted and we’re stranded in the woods of the Everfree Forest. And not only that, we lost approximately… approximately? Damn it, Sparkle.

Twilight rubbed her head in frustration, the weight of their predicament settling heavily upon her and the torn map in her magical field making it almost useless for navigation. She looked up and around the forest, the trees’ dark leaves blowing in the winds as the night slowly darkened the Everfree Forest. Sighing in disheartenment, she turned to look at her other two companions, who were busy arguing with each other.

“I hate to break it to you Dash, but in case ya haven’ noticed we are in the GOSH DARN Everfree Forest!” Applejack said angrily, stomping her hoof on the cold ground.

Rainbow Dash was undeterred however, glaring at her friend. “AJ, Flutters is out there! If we’re just gonna sit here and do nothing-” she said before Applejack interrupted her.

“We ain’t doing nothing Dash. We’ve been walking and looking for ‘em right now! But here you are, trying be the hero again.” she said semi-angrily.

Rainbow Dash groaned in frustration and turned away, crossing her hooves over her chest. Twilight could only look in a bit of a worried expression, and so awkwardly turned away from their argument. How can she help them? They know more about each other than she does and besides, it’s not her place to stick a big lavender wedge in the middle of it.

The princess is counting on me, the entire kingdom is, and I can fix it. I know I can. Just hope that Daybreaker, or something in this forest won’t kill me first.

The sky showed no mercy upon them, no lights illuminated the forest with the exception of Twilight’s light spell. They reached a sort of a fork in the forest with two openings, despite having no visible stone pathways to traverse anymore. Twilight paused and glanced back at them. Apparently the argument subsided but now both of them were looking away from each other.

Huh, guess that was easier than I thought. Now we can actually get back to work.

“So, uh… left or right?” Twilight asked them both, a bit too eager to break the silence between them.

Applejack raised an eyebrow, taking a short glance at the fork. Her eyes slowly glanced to the right of the opening. “Huh,” Applejack muttered to herself. She walked towards the right opening and started to grind the ground with her right hoof, caressing it slowly as if it were a carpet in a hotel room.

The Tartarus she’s doing?

“She’s channelling her inner earth pony skills, y’know. Grinding the ground and stuff, she can’t resist it!” Rainbow suddenly whispered into her ear, seemingly reading her thoughts and grinning at her own joke. Twilight could only chuckle nervously, but Applejack turned to Rainbow with a dirty look.

“Oh shut up, ya feather brain. I'm just seein’ if anyone passed through here, tracks or something.” Applejack said with a frustrated tone, “I'm testingif there’s anybeing walked through here before.”

“So?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

“So,” Applejack sighed, her continuing frustration still evident in her voice, “If the others or even Fluttershy could have walked through here, I'd feel the ground tilting a bit. But… Ah don’t think they went here though, its just as flat as an apple pancake.”

Rainbow stopped flapping her wings and dropped to the ground with a scowl, “Dammit!” She glanced at the two openings, her eyes narrowing as she began to think. Applejack watched her friend with great perturbed ness and shook her head, which Twilight noticed.

“Why are you shaking your head?” she asked in a confused tone.

“Anytime I see Rainbow think of a plan, I can tell already it ain’t gonna be a good one.” Applejack explained to her as her voice trails off. Twilight raised an eyebrow, slightly concerned about what Rainbow Dash might come up with-

“I got an idea! We flip a coin for it!”

Twilight’s eyes blinked for a moment, before falling into a deadpan expression while the other facehoofed herself. “Are ya serious?” Applejack said to the pegasus.

“What? Not like you have any better ideas, ya know. Besides, mine’s faster and it gets things done, unlike your ground feeling… uh shtick?”

Applejack angrily stomped the ground, her eyes glaring at the pegasus. “It ain’t feelin’ Dash, it’s caressing the soil! And what happens if we go the wrong way?”

“Oh please, we just run back and go the other direction. It’s not that hard. Unless, you’re a CHICKEN and admit that earth ponies can’t run faster than a pegasus.” Rainbow Dash snarkily said to Applejack.

Applejack snorted in defiance, “Ya wish! I bet in ya feathered brain that you can’t run faster without your wings helping ya! In fact, I bet I can even beat you in a hoof wrestle!” she challenged the brash pegasus.

Rainbow Dash pushed her forehead towards Applejack’s with a cocky smile, eager to prove her wrong.“OH YOU’RE SO ON! Twilight can ya referee for us a bit and-”

But before Rainbow Dash could finish her sentence, a blinding flash of magic erupted in front of them, causing both ponies to shield their eyes and turn away.

Confused and disoriented, they cautiously opened their eyes, only to find Twilight was gone, and the half burnt map on the ground she was standing on.

---

“GET THOSE BACKUP GENERATORS WORKING AGAIN!” Dr Greymane shouted to a male earth pony nurse, quavering his hooves under the intense pressure and fear he’s in.

He released his hooves from the medical cart he was pushing and with a nod, he quickly sprinted away from the operating room and on the way managed to grab a lightweight flashlight to shine his way through the dark corridors. He could only shine it forward, as patients and doctors passed through him in a panicked fervour. Screams echoed throughout the hallways as he continued to sprint quickly and carefully.

He reached the eastern wing of the hospital and as he looked out a nearby window, the entire town shrouded in darkness from the power outage. But as he reached the electrical room, he saw a pair of soldiers from the state militia stationed near each side of the doors. Each of them held a bolt action rifle in their hooves as he approached them both with a nervous look.

“Excuse me, I need to start the backup generators! I’m a medical staff sent by the-”

The guards exchanged a quick worried glance at each other before one of them spoke up, his voice filled with tension and a bit of sympathy. “I’m sorry, but we are given strict orders to not allow anyone to enter the electrical room.”

The nurse’s eyes widened in shock. Why are they not letting him enter?

“Look! Let me in okay, we have a lot of patients and not enough doctors running around in a dark hallway here and everybeing is afraid. Please let us-”

“You have a flashlight there, it’s more than enough to let you see.” One of the other guards spoke up with a blunt tone, clearly uncaring of the nurse’s plea. “Besides, strict orders from command.”

The nurse was getting frustrated. These soldiers, why are they doing this? He couldn’t understand why, and he couldn’t go back without a working light source. The screams from the hallway and the panicked stomping of hooves echoed throughout and in his mind, there’s only one option.

With a determined look, he charged towards the double door and passed the militia soldiers who quickly tried to grab hold of him. Ignoring their attempts, he sprinted towards the hallway of the room.

But as he turned the corner, he stopped in his tracks and his eyes widened in horror and shock at the scene that unfolded before him. The backup generators were destroyed. And the crystals that were supposed to power them were missing from the shelves.

He heard the pair of hooves from behind him and turned around to meet the worried and nervous faces of the militia soldiers.

“I’m sorry, but we didn’t want you to see this.” one of them said regretfully, his rifle aiming at the nurse.

What was happening? Why were they aiming their weapons at him? He thought to himself, in fear and trepidation.

The nurse’s voice trembled as he cautiously raised his hooves in compliance, his heart pounding in his chest. Fear and confusion swirled within him as he looked into the soldiers’ eyes, searching for an answer.

“Did... Did you do this?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper, his eyes filling with tears.

Both of them didn’t answer, their eyes locking with each other in a shared understanding. A profound sadness filled the air, mingling with the tense atmosphere of the darkened hospital.

One of the soldiers who spoke bluntly to him earlier, raised his rifle with a stern look. “Put your hooves on the ground and lay your body still.” he ordered.

---

Stupid idiots, if they just think that by literally challenging each other to a hoof wrestle in the middle of a national crisis is gonna help. They’re sorely fucking mistaken!

Twilight’s eyes were a mix of frustration and increased annoyance as she continued to walk through the dense foliage of the Everfree Forest. The twisted branches and entangled undergrowth seemed determined to impede her progress, closing off any possible visibility and adding to her growing sense of frustration.

Her shoulders sagged under the weight of exhaustion, both physical and magical. The teleportation she did coupled with her lack of teleportation skills had drained her magical reserves, causing her to feel a bit light headed and tired. She paused for a moment, and sat against an old tree to catch her breath and recharge her magical reserves a bit. Her eyes blinked softly in the cold wind, in a bitter chill.

Slowly blinking, she let out a weak chuckle.

“Hahaha, oh wonderful job.” she muttered to herself with a hint of sarcasm colouring her words. “I wonder if I should go back or-”

A loud scream pierced through the air, cutting off her thoughts and her heart raced as adrenaline surged through her veins, momentarily erasing her exhaustion. She instinctively and fearfully looked around the forest, her eyes scanning where the shriek came from.

Another scream, this time she can recognise it as a mare. She turned to the clearing behind her as her eyes widened in realisation as she figured out who it was.

Fluttershy..

She rushed into the clearing as quickly as her hooves could take her, wincing as she felt the stinging sensation of branches and twigs scratching against her coat and the sharp grass and stone grinding under her hooves.

Bursting out of the bushes, her eyes widened in horror at the sight in front of her. Fluttershy was under a giant manticore’s paw, about to be crushed under the sheer force of it. She was facing away from Twilight and towards the monster, but she could only imagine the horrified look from the pegasus and the sheer frozen terror she’s having now.

For the first time in her life without thinking, she sprinted forward and tackled her to the ground, causing both of them to land flat on their bodies. Fluttershy let out a gasp as Twilight quickly casted a magical shield around them both, as the manticore started to roar with fury due to Twilight’s intervention.

Twilight’s heart beated faster as the manticore and started hammering its paws against the magical barrier. Panicking and feeling the same impending death from before, she looked behind her away from the monster as she prepared to run away with Fluttershy.

“Wait.”

Fluttershy’s word went unanswered as Twilight scrambled in her thoughts with the poundings of the paws against the barrier continually interrupting her plans to escape and only to cement her fears again and again. She needs to focus on running away from that thing.

“RAINBOW DASH TO THE RESCUE!!!”

Before Twilight could process what’s going on, the manticore was sharply kicked off to the side by a rainbow maned pegasus. The manticore fell on its back as Rainbow her back to it and to them both with a smirk, “Ya both alright?” she said with a smirking smile.

Twilight slowly nodded as she disabled her magical barrier and walked towards her with a grateful smile. “You… you saved us. And me again!”

“Pfft, no worries! Besides, Applejack is just catchin’ right behind you both, which means I WIN- Gaaah!” she let out a yelp of surprise as the manticore’s tail swung around and struck her, sending her tumbling through the air.

“RAINBOW!” Fluttershy and Twilight cried out in shock.

She collided with a nearby tree and fell to the ground in a daze, stars swirling in her head. “Thhiss raceee….” she managed to say before going into knocked out state. The two then turned their heads to the manticore as it stood up, this time more furious than ever at the ponies who invaded its home space.

Twilight didn’t waste any time as she took Fluttershy’s hoof and quickly raced to the bushes.

“Wait, please.” Fluttershy said a bit louder from her usual shy whispering, but Twilight couldn’t afford to wait. She knew they had to get away from the manticore before it could strike again and kill them both. Ignoring her plea, she raced towards the small opening in the bushes in front of her.

But before they could reach there, the manticore managed to fly above them and landed right in front of their exit.

Twilight skidded to a halt, her eyes widening in alarm as the manticore landed in front of their only escape route.

Oh crap. We’re dead.

The manticore threateningly stalked in front of them, its paws digging painfully into the ground leaving a tiny skid mark of a stick in its other paw. With each step backward, they could feel the manticore closing in, its eyes fixed on them, its tail swaying menacingly.

As the manticore raised one of its paws to strike, a makeshift rope suddenly lassoed itself around the creature’s neck, yanking it back with great force. Startled, the manticore roared in fury and thrashed against its restraints.

Both of them could only watch in shock as Applejack appeared behind the manticore and tied it around the nearby tree as fast as she could. She turned to them both with a mixed look of determination and fear, “RUN YA FAUSTDARN IDIOTS, RUN!” she shouted.

But their relief was short-lived as the manticore, fueled by its rage, exerted its immense strength. The creature pulled with such force that the tree it was tied to was uprooted, soaring into the sky, and the rope snapped from its neck. Fluttershy stood frozenly as the manticore roared loudly at Applejack and Twilight could only imagine she could only be in fear, and a frozen in terror acquaintance is the worst possible thing she can have right now.

Watching Applejack, her eyes widened in surprise as the apple farmer reared her hind hooves as if she were to jump. “Applejack, what’re you doing you gotta-” before she knew it, Applejack was on the manticore’s neck. She gasped in surprise.

“YEEEEEEHAW!” Applejack cheered loudly as the manticore struggled to get Applejack from its neck, jumping around sporadically, its tail chopping down trees left and right. From the corner of her eye, she saw Fluttershy quickly pulling Rainbow Dash away and placing her against a large rock, still with a dazed and unconscious smile on her face.

Applejack, pulled on its hair with a tight grin. “UP UP UP, You THINK THAT YA CAN BE A BASTARD TO My FRIENDS LIKE THAT, THINK AGAIN!”

But as if it were on cue, the manticore soars high up in the sky taking Applejack with her. Twilight watched in horror as it turned upside down on itself. Applejack’s expression turned from a determined exhilaration to perilous fear as she clung desperately onto its neck.

“OH CRAB APPLES, THIS AIN’T GOOD!” Applejack’s voice echoed through the air, filled with genuine fear.

The manticore spiralled through the sky with dizzying speed, its wild movements causing Applejack to lose her grip on its neck and fly off into the forest with loud thud. Twilight couldn’t see her but she was more worried about the manticore now focusing its attention on her.

As it landed on the ground and stalked towards her menacingly, Twilight could feel her heart beating faster. In a panicked and quite frankly her only option, she casted a large attack magic and blasted it towards the manticore, only for it to miss completely and destroy a large tree behind it, leaving behind only a few burnt pieces of wood.

“Cra-crap,” Twilight caught her breath as she said to herself. “I’m gonna die.”

The manticore charged towards and raised its paw and Twilight could only close her eyes tightly as she braced her upcoming death.

But a few seconds later, the strike didn’t come. Not yet at least. She opened her eyes, only to see Fluttershy standing between her and the manticore.

Her eyes widened at Fluttershy’s foolish bravery. Of all the times she could’ve run away, intervening is the worst possible thing she could, even by her already obvious nature.

“Fluttershy! ARE YOU INSANE!” Twilight shouted in fear. “Get away from it!”

But the normally shy pegasus ignored her, instead she stared agonisingly hard at it, her eyes filled with a determination that Twilight had rarely seen before. Her trembling lips formed words, barely audible amidst the chaos.

“WAIT.”

Her voice said loudly and clearly. The manticore watched her confusedly as the pegasus approached her calmly, her stare never seeming to be leaving away its eyes. Fluttershy stopped in front of the manticore, its paw still raised above her head. She glanced at the raising paw.

And smiled.

Quickly, she took the paw and quickly pulled out a large thorn embedded deeply in its paw. The manticore winced in pain and grabbed Fluttershy, roaring as loudly as it could towards her. Twilight turned and quickly closed her eyes, unable to bear the sight of a gruesome death and her screams of agony.

But instead, she heard something completely unexpected.

Laughter.

Opening her eyes in confusion, she saw the most utterly ridiculous thing she ever saw. The manticore was no longer showing aggression but was instead licking Fluttershy affectionately and nuzzling its head against her.

What. The. Heck.

Twilight’s jaw dropped in astonishment, and against her own heart and with her wildly curious mind, she approached them both. She overheard as Fluttershy comforted the manticore and gently patted its head. Fluttershy heard the cautiously approaching hooves behind her and turned around with a soft smile.

“Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked her.

Flabbergasted, she shook her head in disbelief. “Okay? Okay!? I was just attacked by this monster and-”

“Manny, it’s name is Manny.” Fluttershy said sheepishly.

Twilight blinked and stepped back a bit, processing this sudden turn of events and information as much as she could. “What? I- What?” she said, extremely confused. “It has a name?”

Fluttershy nodded, before raising its now thornless paw. “It was hurting when I found him earlier so I let him raise its paw to check it. And then three of you found me.” Fluttershy rubber her side of her head, embarrassed of her timidity.

Twilight looked at the manticore again, it’s extremely docile, seemingly forgetting that it barreled Rainbow Dash into a tree and launched Applejack into the air. She shook her head, she doesn’t even know she can understand this anymore.

She turned to Fluttershy with one question, “How?”

Fluttershy turned to her with a soft smile that radiated a bit of sincerity.

“Kindness, everybeing deserves a bit of kindness. Even if they seem like a monster on the outside.”

---

“You got that? Please tell me you got that.”

“I did, it’s in the film here.”

Flavia Sorentus breathed a sigh of relief as they hid behind the large rock. Flavia leaned her head from the rock to see the group leaving a fully docile manticore sitting on the ground. She turned to Stratis again, who was fin-nicking around with his camera. “How about this headline? Heroes of the Changelings and Lunaria! Or, Saviors against Ancient Evil! Or even better, we give them a name like-like uh... I don’t know. Help me out here, Stratis! A good group of heroes needs a good name for themselves alright?” she urged.

Stratis stopped and thought for a moment, before replying. “Mane 7.”

“Mane 7.. that’s a perfect name! Simple, concise and iconic! Hah!” she fluttered her wings excitedly. She turned back to the group who had already gone far in their path. “Come on, Stratis. We’re not finished yet.” she said to her companion.

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