A Cartoonist in Equestria

by Autismo555

Chapter 7: Run, Harold, Run! (Re-Re-Edited)

The trip upstairs to Fluttershy's bedroom had to be one of Harold's scarier moments, for lack of a better term. The combination of the wooden structures and the sheetrock walls did a good job of dampening the noise downstairs into a dull roar as Harold continued to climb up into his host's room. A wood smell wafted into his nostrils, a clear indication that Fluttershy's room sat directly underneath the second floor ceiling, the arrangement built into the shape of the slanted roof.

As Harold climbed up to the top step, he could see his suspicions were correct. The ceiling really was slanted to form the roof, a few support beams stretching here and there across the room. Single, thin vines stretched across and around the beams. A couple of birdhouses hung from the ceiling by swaying hooks, a few nests placed at the corners of the horizontal and diagonal beams. The stone chimney from downstairs stretched up through the floor and through the ceiling, the only opening visible being the log fireplace placed in its orifice.

The only piece of furniture in the room was a blue-painted bed, neatly made and looking cozy. Her quilt consisted of a diamond pattern with butterflies in the middle, half of the diamonds colored orange with the pink butterfly wings and the rest with the other way around. Adding in the windows, the two colored pictures hanging over the bed and a shelf on the chimney with a few frames and a painting of a vase of flowers, Fluttershy's room gave an air of comfort and a homely feeling.

Harold was impressed by Fluttershy's living conditions. From what he could tell earlier, Fluttershy's cottage was near the edge of the forest away from the nearest town, a defense mechanism to help isolate Fluttershy from the rest of her native civilization. Yet, despite from being away from her fellow ponies, Fluttershy took great care of this house, even providing sanctuary to all the woodland creatures without a home. While animals were prone to making a mess indoors, there wasn't a single trace or smell of their leavings.

Either Fluttershy loved to clean after her animals or they were more intelligent than Harold could give them credit for. It didn't matter, since Fluttershy did a good job keeping her house shipshape.

TINK!

The same rapping noise shocked Harold back to reality; this time, the noise sounded like something was hitting the window. It sounded like someone was chucking pebbles against the glass, or a little bird was pecking at the transparent wall, wanting to be let in. Harold crept over to the window where the sound was heard and slowly opened the windows, just around the time when the front door downstairs slammed shut. Bending over to get a better look outside, Harold saw nothing out in Fluttershy's yard, nothing but the green grass, the surrounding trees and the little stream running along and under the bridge.

No matter how much he looked, Harold didn't see anything. It must've been a bug that slammed into the window by mistake. Shrugging his shoulders with disappointment, Harold turned away to report back to Fluttershy when he was stopped by the coo of a familiar bird. He turned around and saw, sitting on the edge of the window, a pure white dove, cooing gracefully before it carefully scratched the feathers of its uplifting wing with its beak.

Somewhere, deep down inside, Harold felt his chest well up.

Doves were Lana's favorite birds.

She loved these birds, not just because they were the aviary symbols of peace, the same peace Lana dreamed of bringing back to New York and beyond, but because they symbolized how she brought up Harold like a mother would. Harold distinctly remembered what Lana told him about her when she was a baby, about four-and-a-half years before he was born. When she was a baby, being very intelligent for a child her age, the very first words that Lana spoke were, "Dove, dove."

Harold smiled a saddened smile. If Lana was here now, she would've been swooned over how majestic the dove looked as it scratched its beaks on its feathered wing. Then, the dove jerked its head towards Harold's direction, making him gasp with surprise as it spread its wings and flew over to him. Harold whimpered a little and flinched; he didn't want the bird to peck him to death like he was in a Hitchcock movie set in Equestria.

A pair of taloned feet made contact on Harold's left shoulder, causing him to slam his eyes shut. He didn't want his eyes pecked out, he needed them to see what he was drawing. Harold slowly creaked his left eye open, seeing the dove perched on his shoulder like a statue, its black eyes looking straight in his. For a moment, the dove and Harold just stared at each other, neither of them budging a muscle, save for the bird's constantly cocking head. Then, with careful and steady movement, Harold lifted his hand up next to the dove, curling his fingers to form a perfect perch for the bird.

The dove stared at Harold's hand for a moment or two. Then it lifted its foot from Harold's shoulder and placed it on his fingers, eventually moving its other foot to his hand. Harold slowly turned his hand and its avian passenger towards him and smiled. He remembered watching on late Saturday mornings when the sun was at its brightest in spring and the birds flocked about outside. Lana would sit on the edge of the stone wall somewhere in the gardens where the land declines into a hill, facing towards a majestic apple blossom tree. Perched on her fingers was a small, yet melodious chickadee chick, singing back the tune Lana hummed to it just like Snow White.

Harold had no idea how Lana was attract and sing to a bird like the way she did. She had this way with animals that no one else did, where she show them a bout of kindness and it was somehow returned back to her. Whatever that way was and how she did remained a mystery, even to Harold.

Suddenly, a sickly burp resonated from downstairs.

The unexpected sound was enough to make Harold jump, thus startling the dove on his hand away and flying out the window, leaving behind a trail of white feathers. Harold ran to the window, watching as the dove flew away from sight, becoming a silhouette shrinking down an disappearing in the distance. He groaned as the one reminder of his sister literally flew out the window. Why, he wanted to go downstairs and demand what was going on downstairs and why his memories were so rudely interrupted!

Then, sounding from the open window in the lower floor, came a new voice. It was another feminine voice, one which gave Harold a sinking feeling in the depths of his brain. “Fluttershy, I really hate to cut your medical procedures short, but we need to be going right away. I got a letter from Princess Celestia, saying that we need to be at Canterlot to answer an emergency.”

TING!

Harold's body jolted as the "sense" slammed him out of nowhere, like a bully's fist to his face, which he constantly received on Earth. That girl's voice downstairs and the name, Princess Celestia somehow triggered that crippling headache feeling again. It was like something was trying to break out of his skull using a jackhammer. Why did both the voice and the name pound him!? Whose voice was that he heard downstairs!? Why did it sound so familiar!?

Harold kept a hand placed firmly on his forehead as he continued to listen in on the conversation in Fluttershy's foyer.

“An-an emergency!?" Harold heard Fluttershy squeak worriedly. "Oh dear, that sounds terrible! What's the emergency!? Was there an earthquake in Manehattan!? Is there a dragon running loose somewhere in the outskirts of the Everfree Forest!? Has Discord turned back to chaos again!?"

"Pinkie guessed the last one, but that's not the emergency. The emergency will involve your ability to communicate with animals, so you're more likely to be our trump card, if we happen to come across it."

"It? What is 'it?' Is 'it' a dragon? A manticore? A cragadile? A flesh-eating chimera who always argues how to eat little ponies?"

"No." Then the voice said something that made Harold's blood run cold. "According to Princess Celestia, there is a creature of non-Equestrian origin somewhere in Equestria. She said the creature will bring a grave and terrible threat to all of Equestria.”

Harold froze with shock, not before his legs stumbled him back against the wall. He hadn't heard right, had he!? That voice said that a creature not from Equestria was going to bring a threat to the land, did she!? Was that voice referring to Harold!? Then his nerves froze him in the spot when he realized something devastating: the pony was talking about him! Harold must be the creature bringing that threat to Equestria, seeing as how he was the only human to be stranded among a populace of ponies!

But he'd never want to hurt the ponies! He could never stand his ground in a physical fight; this had to be some big mistake! Then again, he could not deny that he was the only non-Equestrian life form in Equestria! Harold had to get out of there, unless he wanted to be discovered, locked up and the key tossed into the garbage! What's worse was, if he was discovered with Fluttershy around him, they might lock her up as well for harboring a possible criminal!

Gripping his locket with frantic anxiety, Harold jerked his head around for a way out. Sure enough, he remembered that he opened the window to investigate the rapping noise. It was the perfect way out, if Harold hadn't considered the fact that the window led to the roof. Surely, the ponies might see him trying to sneak out, but what other choice there to escape? At least it was better than to pull Fluttershy down with him once he's been thrown in the dungeons or something along the lines.

“Umm, Fluttershy? Are you feeling alright?” came the voice downstairs.

Harold inhaled a deep breath as the voice gave him a green light to attempt his escape. Carefully, he lifted one leg over the window sill and carefully placed his foot on the shrubbery roof. Like all shrubbery, this roof created a slight rustling noise, provoking Harold to draw his foot back and wait to see if the noise caught the attention of the ponies.

Fortune smiled down on him; the ponies never heard anything.

Harold carefully placed his foot into the shrubbery roof and climbed over the sill, placing his other foot and later, himself entirely into the bushes. When Harold was finally in the bushes, he assessed his situation. Somewhere, hidden under the rooftop brush, there was a decline in the roof that led down to the edge. With the brush obscuring his path, Harold wouldn't be able to feel where he was going, let alone see the rooftop period. A tumble or a slip, then the sensitive pony hearing would pick up on his activity and he would be caught.

Harold swallowed and began to inch himself down the declining roof. Clutching the bush branches to make sure he wouldn't make a sound, Harold climbed down stealthily, miraculously without making a slight rustle or a peep. His sneakers helped create enough traction to prevent him from sliding all the way down and to help him feel the very edge of the roof.

Yet, somehow, one twitch and the loss of footing later, Harold found himself sliding off the roof into the bushes below.

“AAHHHH!”

CCCCRRUUNNNCCCCCHHHH!

Harold groaned as the impact from the fall and the branches in the bush sent a series of searing pain throughout his entire body. He lifted his head, his eyes half shut from the impact and his face covered with leaves and twigs. An odd scent wafted in his nose. He was lying in the bushes where he threw the bitter tea away in secrecy. For a minute, the pain in Harold's body gradually subsided, but that wasn't nearly enough time for him to realize too late of his fatal mistake.

"Huh? Did you hear something?" the familiar voice asked.

"Yeah. It sounded like came from outside," a hoarse, tomboyish voice answered.

Harold gasped with shock. The ponies must've heard him when he screamed and fell into the bushes, and the simple sounds of their hooves trot-trot-trotting towards the window he was under only added to his worries. Harold gulped the nervous lump in his throat and squeezed his eyes shut, his body cringing as he waited for the inevitable capture and the possible life sentence in some dungeon. He wasn't ready for that moment, but then again, this was just the universe playing dice with his life again, this time with the odds of him getting dragged around like an unwilling criminal very high.

On one hand, the chances are that Harold would be banished from Equestria and left to roam the world on his own.

On the other hand, he would be placed in the dungeon he feared being locked up in.

If for some reason that the other two options were not punishable enough, he would be banished and locked in a dungeon in the place he would be banished to instead.

However, fate played Harold a wild card as he heard galloping hooves rush over to the window near the bushes he laid in and heard Fluttershy's quivering voice rise. "Noise!? What noise!? I didn't hear any noise!!"

Harold turned his head to his left, catching Fluttershy's yellow back against the open window, her wings spread out to obscure the view from both sides. Trickling down the back of her head, Harold saw beads of sweat traveling down her nape, clear signs that Fluttershy was intensely nervous as she tried her best to hide and defend him, but in a losing battle with her friends. Harold knew there wasn't much time left.

He quickly rolled out of the bushes, ignoring the rustling noises he created, and quickly snuck around the corner. Then, he brought his head around the corner and saw a cyan head pop out with a messy, multicolored mane for her hair. An intake of air was halted as Harold quickly brought his head back and out of sight. Luckily, he heard the cyan head, matching the hoarse voice he heard earlier, dismiss the noises as nothing before the window closed with a creak! and a click!

Harold slumped himself against the wall, placing a hand at his chest and he took a deep breath. "That was a close shave there," he muttered silently to himself. "If Fluttershy hadn't been there for me when she did, then we would've been in big trouble."

As he recovered his breath from that suspenseful moment, Harold looked and saw at the edge of the forest, his bicycle leaning against the very same tree where he left it. Then he was struck with an idea. If Harold could make his way across the yard and to his bike, then he could use it to escape so that he wouldn't get caught. That way, even if Fluttershy's friends would suspect something, they would be too late to track him down; he would be long gone before they realized it. Harold had nothing to lose, so he had to go along with his plan.

Harold slowly crept up to a crouch and snuck around the back, stopping once to peek through the windows, seeing only the form of Fluttershy and the cyan pony conversing with one another. From what he could tell, Harold saw the cyan pony sport a mane composed of the seven colors of the rainbow, all drooping down her messy, punk-styled hair.

For some reason, he had a sudden craving for Skittles.

Hungry feelings aside, Harold ducked back down and stealthily made his way across the yard, straight towards the bushes ahead. He paused for a moment and turned his head back, looking at Fluttershy's cottage through the corner of his eye, with a warm smile spread across his lips. He was grateful for Fluttershy for taking care of him when he needed it, and for the brief introduction on Equestria and the equine citizens residing within the lands. But Harold couldn't stay for long; not when he was the wanted creature her friends were looking for. He couldn't risk getting Fluttershy into trouble because of him, so this is the only thing closest to a "thank you" for taking care of him.

Harold turned back and continued to creep towards the border of the forest when, all of a sudden, he heard the distinct sound of a creak! At that moment, Harold's body was brought to a stand-still.

Someone was opening the window, looking out the backyard that he tread across.

He had been spotted!

Turning back, Harold could see a small, pale purple figure, with a lime green chin, belly and spines, leaning over the windowsill with both clawed arms. Judging by the claws and the faint appearance, Harold could tell that the creature wasn't a pony, but a small, bipedal reptile standing less than half his height. Both Harold and the clawed lizard stared at each other with a tense silence thick enough to cut with a butter knife. Then the reptile quickly turned back and called back into the cottage, only calling out the first part of a name before regurgitating off the window.

"TWILI-URBBBLBBBLEGGGHHHH!"

==================================================================

“Uhh... Fluttershy? You okay? Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy remained in the same spot where she stood stiff and frozen, like Twilight when she was turned to stone by the cockatrice but made flesh. Her mind was pulled in a tug-of-war between denial and logic, almost to the point where her mind would rip like paper.

On one part of her brain, Fluttershy couldn't accept the fact that Harold was dangerous. Even though Fluttershy had just met him not too long ago, she could tell that he was a kind, gentle soul. Despite his ape-like appearance, Harold was a good artist and he traveled a long way for someone he loved. Plus, she couldn't forget the fact that Harold explained to her he was a vegetarian. That was when the logical side of her brain took over. Twilight mentioned of a non-Equestrian creature becoming the one to bring great danger to the entire equine nation. Harold was obviously that creature. If that was the case, then the "kind, gentle soul" Fluttershy came to know was wither an act or some sort of defense mechanism against a power he feared the most.

What was Fluttershy to do now? Could she tell Twilight and Rainbow Dash about Harold? Could she help him escape for his life by keeping her friends busy? Could she even trust Harold?

No, what was she thinking? She couldn't rat out Harold, for that would be a direct violation of the same kindness she tended him with! She needed to keep Twilight and Rainbow Dash busy while he made his escape, and she needed to be fast about it. Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked at her with a mix of both worry and suspicion. They would ask questions soon, and she knew they would keep on digging until Harold somehow made his escape.

That moment would come as Twilight and Rainbow Dash tried to grab her attention as she stared deep into the distant space. Twilight, being one for not directly approaching the problem too brashly, called Fluttershy's name and waved her hooves in front of her eyes, Rainbow Dash poking the pegasus while trying to call her out with a raised volume.

“Fluttershy? Are you okay?” Twilight asked as she gently waved her hoof. “Would you like a glass of water?”

"Hellooooo!? Equestria to Fluttershy!? Is there anypony home!?" Rainbow Dash called as she poked her hoof in Fluttershy's side, having no avail as a result. Rainbow Dash groaned with annoyance and planted her hoof on her face, slowly dragging it down before she was forced to go through with her final resort.

"Fluttershy! Angel Bunny just stole a bag of carrots and he won't share them with the other bunnies!"

The trick seemed to snap Fluttershy from her shocked reverie. Fluttershy's eyes widened with shock before they were narrowed down, her voice raised into a strict, scolding tone. "Angel! I thought I told you to share with all the other bunnies! Well, mister, since you've already gotten two strikes today, you're going to be grounded for a week with no--!"

"Ahem."

"EEP!" Fluttershy jumped like a startled cat when Twilight cleared, leaping a few feet in the air before flipping upside-down midair and falling on her back. After blinking her eyes a few times, Fluttershy saw the upside-down images of Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle standing over her, a look of confusion on Rainbow's face and a look of suspicion on Twilight's. Fluttershy couldn't help but swallow the lump in her throat before letting a nervous giggle emanate from her chest.

"Oh, hello, Twilight, Rainbow Dash. When did you girls get here?" she simply asked.

Rainbow Dash deadpanned before she groaned with annoyance once more, rolling her eyes whilst doing so. "Fluttershy, we've been here for a few minutes already. You even showed us into your home."

"I... I did?" Fluttershy took a moment to remember what happened before she was shocked by the news, perking up as it all came back to her. "Oh yes. I did let you two in, didn't I?"

Twilight and Rainbow Dash both exchanged glances as the alicorn trotted up to Fluttershy, helping her off the floor with a helping hoof. "Fluttershy, is there something that's bothering you?" asked Twilight. "You seem a bit worried today... well, a bit more than usual."

"Yeah. Care to fill me in on what's been bothering you?" Rainbow Dash said as she hovered in the air with a fierce, protective expression. "Because if it's somepony pickin' on you just for a good laugh, then they're gonna get the old, 'one, two, buckle my horseshoe' from yours truly." Rainbow Dash brought her hooves and made quick, jabbing movements like she was fighting somepony poni a poni, which worried Fluttershy greatly.

"N-No, Rainbow Dash. Nopony's been bothering me today," Fluttershy answered.

"So why are you acting afraid, Fluttershy? You were standing so still, it was like you were stared down by a cockatrice!"

"Oh, that..." Fluttershy took the moment to collect her thoughts and come up with a fib, despite her strong dislike of lying to her friends. She looked over at the table and spotted Harold's empty mug, and an idea sprung up in her head like a fresh spring daisy.

"...I was suffering from a headache earlier this morning," Fluttershy explained through a sheepish grin. "Yes, I woke up to a sharp pounding in my head and I had to get rid of it. So I came downstairs, brewed up some of my special herbal tea and applied my peppermint oil on my forehead." In order to convince her two friends, Fluttershy gently brought her hoof up to her forehead, squeaking out a shy "owww."

Sure enough, Twilight was convinced by this act as she brought a hoof onto Fluttershy's shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine," said Fluttershy. "The headache tends to come back and they're more painful than the last."

"And I'm assuming you went to see the doctor for your headache, right?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Oh, no, I couldn't go out in my condition. I was lucky to have my animal friends nearby to help take care of me."

"Really? Then you wouldn't mind telling me whose saddlebag that belongs to?" Rainbow Dash said, pointing to a familiar light blue sack set next to the couch. Fluttershy's eyes widened. Harold completely forgot his saddlebag... or backpack, as he called it... when he went upstairs to go investigate the noise! Now, with Harold's backpack left behind, Twilight and Rainbow Dash won't have any trouble tracking down Harold! Twilight lifted the backpack with her magic and gazed into the intricate deigns of the bag while Rainbow Dash turned and faced Fluttershy, her masked nervousness beginning to crack.

"Fluttershy, you had company here earlier, didn't you?" Rainbow Dash asked, giving her timid friend a stink eye. "I guess that explains the tea and that saddlebag."

"Actually, that doesn't look like any saddlebag I've ever seen before," Twilight noted after she took a brief observation of the sack. "The straps don't appear to be designed to be held up by hooves and the bag itself looks too saggy to be worn by anypony. Not unless..."

Twilight trailed off as a thought ran through her head, prompting her to turn to Fluttershy, who cowered under her disappointed, suspicious gaze. "Fluttershy, is there something you're hiding from us?"

Fluttershy did her best to swallow the extra lump in her throat down, and every word she kept locked up threatened to burst themselves out of her mouth. It took all the willpower Fluttershy built up to keep herself from talking, but the suspicious stares and glares proved to be a bigger obstacle to get around than she thought. The timid pegasus felt she could no longer keep her secret, and she opened her mouth to speak.

“AAHHHH!”

CCCCRRUUNNNCCCCCHHHH!

All three winged mares jumped to the outside sound a scream and the crunchy, rustling in the bushes. Fluttershy felt a mild sense of relief that the mild distraction bought her time to collect her breath if she hadn't realized that the noise belonged to Harold. He must've slipped at the edge of the roof, and that mistake drew the attention of Twilight and Rainbow Dash as they turned to the window where the noise was heard.

"Huh? Did you hear something?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah. It sounded like came from outside," Rainbow Dash answered as she and Twilight went to the window.

Fluttershy gasped and, in an instant, was snapped out of her timidity before she darted around her friends and blocked the window, her limbs and wings spread out to cover most of the view from the outside. "Noise!? What noise!? I didn't hear any noise!!" Fluttershy blurted out.

Rainbow Dash grunted impatiently. "Fluttershy, we don't have time for this," she said as she forcefully moved Fluttershy away from the window and stuck her head out. Turning her head a few times, the tomboyish pegasus looked around and listened closely, only for her to see the yard completely empty. "Huh. Probably just one of your animals, Flutters."

Rainbow Dash closed the window before she continued. "But I bet a bag of ten bits that you're hiding something from us on purpose. Care to explain why, Fluttershy?"

"Oh, umm..." Fluttershy tapped her chin with her hoof before another little lie ran through her head. "The animals must be playing a game of 'hide n' seek' going on outside, and I didn't want you girls ruining their hiding spots."

"Really? So who's it?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I don't know, I've been cooped up in here all day."

Twilight grunted as she brought a hoof over her eyes, shaking her head. "Fluttershy, we can't go on any longer with this. If you can't cooperate with us, then we won't be able to catch the chariots to Canterlot on time. Princess Celestia really needs us to meet with her as soon as possible, but with the way you're resisting us, it's really making things difficult. Either you tell us what's really bothering you or we'll have to drag you to Ponyville by force."

Fluttershy gulped for the final time, feeling the pressure of keeping Harold's wellbeing a secret weigh her down like a lead weight. She didn't like to snitch on her friends, nor did she like to keep secrets from them either. She knew Harold was a good human and she would never let anything bad happen to him, but she couldn't deny the reality of the situation or the possible outcome is she kept resisting Twilight any further. Her internal dam was weaving with cracks and it was only a matter of seconds until she would explode like Pinkie Pie's confetti shooters.

What the mares were completely unaware of, around the same time, was a sickly Spike throwing the blankets off of his scaly body so he would get up and open the window for some fresh air. Spike grumbled as his stomach felt itself churn in an unnatural way while he stood on the couch, reaching his claw to turn the hatch and swing the window open by a crack. When he opened the window with a creak!, he saw something that made his cold blood run colder.

He saw a bipedal, ape-like creature standing out in Fluttershy's yard, with greasy, blonde hair wearing a grey-and-red shirt, blue pants, and shoes over its feet. The ape creature looked back at Spike with bright, fearful blue eyes as it stood as frozen as the sick drake. Spike whimpered a little inside, but couldn't bring himself to scream for a moment. Then, as if lightning ran through his veins, Spike quickly turned back into the cottage and to Twilight, just as his lunch lurched up into his throat and out his mouth.

"TWILI-URBBBLBBBLEGGGHHHH!"

Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy all jumped as Spike's scream interrupted their conversation, all reeling in disgust at the messy puddle of dragon bile and half-digested sapphires and turquoises that spilled all over the floor. Twilight and Rainbow Dash did not hesitate to canter around the puddle and around Spike, and looked out through the window, only to be met with the sight of a retreating, bipedal creature sprinting its way to the windows. Fluttershy trailed behind and peered over her friends' heads and gasped as she saw Harold run into the edge of the forest, where he first appeared from when they first met.

"That must be it!" Twilight immediately called out. "That must be the creature the Princess referred to in the letter!"

"Wait, Twilight! There must be some mistake!"

"GET 'EM!" Rainbow Dash interjected before Fluttershy could finish.

Then, after hearing the mares' voices raised and pointed directly at him, the ape-like creature gave a little boost in its speed as it grabbed a bicycle leaning against a tree, jumped on the seat and quickly pedaled into the woods. Rainbow Dash was the first to react by taking off into the air like a rocket and flew at a level below the tree line while she disappeared into the forest. Twilight jumped out of the window herself as her horn glowed magenta, cantering off into the woods, leaving Fluttershy in her cottage, absolutely stunned. The only thing she knew what to do and how was to go after Harold, too, and see to it that neither Twilight nor Rainbow Dash would hurt him.

"Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!" Fluttershy panicked as she flew out of the window, leaving Spike's weakened body lying on the couch while the regurgitated bile began to stain the rug.

==================================================================

It wasn't until the little sick drake called back into the cottage and puked that Harold was unable to budge from his spot. Of course, the real motivation to run came when Harold heard the hooves canter their way to window before he snapped into a sprint, and made a beeline for the forest's edge. He had only made it so close to the edge when he heard the two mares say something that provoked him into giving a little boost in his sprint.

"That must be it! That must be the creature the Princess referred to in the letter!"

"GET 'EM!"

"Oh, sugar honey iced tea!" Harold thought as he grabbed his bike and kicked up his kickstand. He hopped on his seat and quickly pushed his pedals on his feet, riding off as quick as he did with his fated encounter with the tornado. In order to gain a little extra speed and distance, Harold quickly shifted his gears to the full power at nine, feel and hearing those gears clicking as they were in perfect synchronization with the number. Sure, Harold's legs would probably be worn out from the extra given strength on the bike pedals, but hopefully, if he happened to get away from the mares closing in on him, it would be all worth it.

"Don't let it get away!"

Harold turned his head and saw an incoming cyan blur closing in on him, flying straight towards him like a drone programmed to maneuver past the trees to take him down. As the blur came closer, Harold saw the narrowed-eye glare of the pegasus pony on his tail, which caused him to yelp in surprise before he began to maneuver and sway around the trees in a vain attempt to lose the pegasus.

"Hey, you! Get back here, you monkey!" she shouted as she trailed Harold's movements.

Harold gave another surprised yelp as he swerved around and between a couple of trees, hoping to shake the pegasus off of him. Unfortunately for him, Rainbow Dash was an expert flyer, and she had been practicing her flight skills around forest areas so she would show it off to the Wonderbolts the next time they came to Ponyville. So, with her training, Rainbow Dash cut Harold off as he swerved around a few trees, causing him to turn his bike and barrel between two skinnier trees. Rainbow Dash did a nose dive towards Harold, but he quickly outmaneuvered the tactic by riding towards the pegasus and made a sharp right turn towards a big tree. Realizing that the ape creature was trying to use the tree as a means to escape her, Rainbow Dash quickly pulled up and hovered as she spotted where he was riding off to.

"Oh no! You're not getting away from me that easily!"

With that, Rainbow Dash quickly slingshotted after Harold while he made a big turn around the trunk of the big tree, the chase leading into one complete circle, to another and to another. Then, as Rainbow Dash realized where this was going, she hovered in the air, attempting to stop Harold by surprising him while he rode around the tree for another time. Rainbow Dash quickly hovered in position and waited for the ape creature to come around the tree. She waited for five seconds, which passed into ten seconds, quickly transitioning into thirty seconds. By the twenty-fifth second, Rainbow Dash knew something was up. She flew around the tree and spotted her target riding off into the distance, having realized that Harold knew she would pull a trick like this.

Luckily, Harold happened to ride off into the direction where the forest was a might thicker, the only way to slow, if not stop, the pegasus down. He heard in a distance behind him, an angry, tomboyish yell, which then followed with a whoooosh like something just shot straight up in the air. Reluctantly, Harold looked back and saw Rainbow Dash attempting another nose dive at him, the blue-and-rainbow-maned pegasus using all of her speed and strength channeled into this one attack.

"I've got you now, you big ape!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she chased the creature down at the speed of a cheetah. Harold screamed for a brief moment before he used all the strength he had into making it into the thicker part of the forest, but the odds of doing were slim. In fact, with the rate of how much speed Rainbow Dash gained, the odds only became quite slimmer, and she was only mere feet away from catching Harold.

However, a tiny glimmer of hope shone in Harold's eye as he spotted something dead ahead.

There was a dead and petrified tree in the forest that he rapidly approached, big enough for him to go around and evade the pegasus's nose dive. This next move was going to be close, but if Harold played it right and wait for the opportune moment...

"Now I've got you!" Rainbow Dash shouted over the winds of her breakneck speed. "You've got a lot of nerve, coming here to Equestria and bringing some sort of threat with you! If you mess with my home or my friends, then you're gonna have to mess with the one and only Rainbow Dash, newest recruit to the Wonderbolts!"

This moment was exactly the same moment Harold counted on. With Rainbow Dash's ego getting in her way, Harold veered off to the right as the pegasus came only inches at the back of his bike, the latter pony yelping in surprise when her target suddenly turned away from her. She never took the moment to realize that she was about to have a head-on collision with the petrified tree before it was too late for her.

"WHOA!"

CRAAAAAAACCCCCCCKKKKKK!

As fate would have it, Rainbow Dash flew headfirst into the tree, getting only her head and front hooves stuck while her flank, hind hooves and multicolored tail wriggling frantically to try and pull her out. The tree helped muffle Rainbow Dash's Equestrian-related profanities while she struggled to break herself out, but with no avail.

Fluttershy quickly, but daintily passed overhead the forest tops while scanning downwards to find Harold before Twilight or Rainbow Dash did. Sure enough, by coincidence, Fluttershy spotted a familiar, cyan shape wriggle at the base of the old, dead tree and gently soared downwards near its position. With a quick and gentle flutter, Fluttershy landed near the tree and recognized the thrashing, cyan blue shape with a rainbow tail and a fimilar Cutie Mark. This was Rainbow Dash all right, but it looked like as if Harold managed to outmaneuver Equestria's Best Young Flyer.

“Oh dear! Rainbow Dash, are you alright?” Fluttershy asked.

“Does it look like I’m alright, Fluttershy!?” Rainbow Dash snapped from inside the tree.

“Well, umm...you sound alright,” Fluttershy mused shyly, causing the tomboy pegasus to groan in response.

“Whatever! Just get me the buck out of this tree!”

==================================================================

Harold looked back as he scanned the area for any sign of Rainbow Dash following him, seeing nothing but trees and brush that made up the entire forest. With a relieved sigh, Harold turned back to the front with a pleasant smile, only to see too late that he was headed for a rocky path, leading down a rockier hill.

With a yelp, Harold was sent hurtling down the steep downhill grade with many bumpy surfaces making it difficult for him to take control of his bike. Each bump sent a soreness in Harold's bottom, not to mention in his family jewels, and that made it intensely difficult to control the bike and think through the sharp pains coursing the lower half of his body. The bike may have been outfitted with shock absorbers underneath the seat, but it did nothing to stop Harold from nearly bouncing off his seat. His overconfidence was going to cost him greatly.

That cost came in the form of a big, round rock that the front tire of the bicycle hit. The bike and its owner were catapulted into the air and over the rocky hill, letting gravity become Harold's enemy yet again as he screamed and waved his arms as he fell headfirst to the stones. All screams for help seemed to backfire on Harold as he saw himself heading for a big stone, bigger than the size of his head. With the combination of the velocity of Harold's fall, adding the power of a head-on impact at a thirty m.p.h. speed and the heavy density of the stone, the collision with the stone would be enough to end Harold's life in a gross fashion.

At least it would be quick. Just a bump on the head with the rock, a few paints of crimson here and there, and a moment of pain.

And then... silence.

Harold squeezed his eyes shut, for he did not want to see his own demise happen to him.

Comments

[The Watcher 509]

Hehehehehehe.

Now for a plan to kill- :|

Oh wait, shouldn't have said that.