Eric the Manticore

The forest was unusually silent. After all, a lone manticore appeared out of nowhere, frightening most of the animals away. The manticore awoke from its slumber ad groaned. He hadn’t slept so terribly in years. “nnnnggg… What time is it?” said the manticore, with little enthusiasm. Then he heard a whooshing sound, and a cloud of purple smoke simply sank itself into his paw, putting him in so much pain, he could hardly think strait. A loud roar could be heard through a large part of the forest.

“I wonder what else we’ll see in the forest?” Pinkie thought to herself. “Oooh! Maybe I‘ll see a timberwolf! Or a bear! Or maybe even a dragon!” Her newfound friends had just rescued each other from falling off a cliff. “I guess I’ll just have to wait and see!!” she thought eagerly. Then she heard the roar. Looking around, she wondered why nopony else seemed to react. “Maybe I imagined it…” she thought. Then she heard Twilight finish her sentence screaming “but we got a- *gasp* a manticore!!”

…. “WAAITT!” said Fluttershy, interrupting her friends from beating up the manticore. He stopped along with everyone else. “Wait, what’s going on?” he thought. “Sshh. It’s ok.” The manticore stopped, realizing maybe the pony before him could help. He held out the paw that had been causing so much pain. “oohh, you poor, poor, little baby. Now this might hurt for juust a second,” she said in a soothing voice. Then she pulled out the spike lodged in his paw.

“AAAUUUGGGHHH!!” screamed the manticore, more out of relief.

“Aww, you’re just a little baby kitten, aren’t you?” Fluttershy said after the manticore gave her a big hug. After her newfound friends started leaving, she said, “Ok now, I’ve got to go.”

The manticore set her down and said “Thank you.” Fluttershy didn’t even realize that it spoke until she was already walking away.

“… wait what?! Did that thing just talk?? I never heard a manticore talk! I wonder why…” she thought, as she followed Twilight and co. towards the castle ruins.

“Well that feels better,” the manticore said to himself. “Now... Who am I What am I? Where am I?” he pondered. “Well, that pony over there seemed nice; maybe I should find her again…." And that one said ‘manticore’ so there’s a start…” As he thought to himself, the pink pony who did nothing earlier came up.

“Wow! You can talk?! My name’s Pinkie Pie! I thought only ponies, gryphons, and diamond dogs could talk, at least that’s what I was taught in school, but now here you are! I should throw a party to celebrate! With streamers and balloons! Oh wait, maybe you Don’t like streamers!! Now what kind of things do you like?! Huh? Huh? I bet you love cupcakes!!” Pinkie ranted.

“Hold on a sec!” the manticore replied. “Where do you come from?”

“Well, duh! Ponyville!! It’s only the most super-est duper-est funnest place ever!!” Pinkie replied. “Ooh! The girls could be in trouble!” Pinkie giggled, bouncing away.

“Well that was strange. I hope she’s the only one like that, because I could hardly keep up…” for whatever reason, the manticore sat up straight, remembering something about himself. “My name… my name is Eric.” He stated definitively. And headed off towards where Pinkie pointed out “Ponyvile” at the end of the forest.

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After about a day of walking through the forest, Eric could see some promising looking buildings. “A good enough start as any…” Eric remarked, and headed towards town. As he approached, he heard screams!

“A manticore!” “Some beast is loose from the everfree forest!” “RUUUNN!!” said the villagers.

“Why are they running? Oh yeah… Seems I am feared.” Dejected, Eric turned into a nearby alleyway, in sight of only a large tree with a house built right in, along with what looked like a double house. “Wonder what that is…” he thought.

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“Get down!!” Bon Bon hissed. “Do you want it to find you?!”

“Aw, come on! I just want to get a look at it!” Lyra whispered back.

“Well, stop that and get away from the window!”

“Yeah yeah, ok.” Lyra whispered, sounding bored. Lyra and Bon Bon were hiding in a kitchen, one that was built as more of an extension of the house, so as to be able to make tons of sweets without mixing stuff up with normal ingredients.

“… Do you smell something burning?”

“What, no I-” *BOOM

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*Sigh* “Ponies are afraid of me. What can I do? How can I prove myself?" Eric thought. "Maybe I should look for the pink and yellow one. Fluttershy…? Alright, I guess I’ll-“

*BOOM*

The explosion broke his concentration, and he turned to the noise. “what was that?! I hope no one got hurt…. Let me check…” And so, Eric ran over to the building that was now on fire, ponies closing their shutters as he passed.

“Bon Bon? Bon Bon, where are you?! I can’t see!” Lyra cried out.

“I’m trapped!" Lyra heard off to her side.

“Well I can’t get out! The walls around me collapsed! What should I do??” Lyra wailed.

*ROAR!!*

“wha-” was all that lyra heard from Bon Bon. “what jus-“

*CRASH*

Lyra was interrupted as one of the walls that had trapped her was broken away. As the dust settled, she heard a voice say “Where is the hospital?!”

“What?” Lyra replied, confused by the dust and collapsing parts that are still falling from the burn.

“The hospital!! WHERE?” The voice cried out in desperation.

“Go outside, all the way dow the road and take a right! Take the next right you see, and it’s right there! Is Bon Bon Hurt?!” Lyra wailed.

“Gotta go!!” said Eric. As the dust cleared away, Lyra couldn,t see who took Bon Bon, but could see that the fire had been blown away, and all that remained was a half-destroyed kitchen. The rest of the house was intact.

As Eric flew to the hospital with speed he didn’t know he had, Bon Bon stirred, causing her to wince. A large timber lodged itself into her side, missing her vitals, but would leave a gaping hole if it were torn out.

“Wha- OW! What h- happened?” Bon Bon struggled to speak, barely able to open her eyes.

“Ssshhh. My name is Eric, and you are in urgent need of medical care. We are almost there. Relax, as much as you can.” Said the voice, and as Bon Bon managed to get one look at her surroundings before passing out, she saw something that made no sense. A manticore was flying her over the roads, taking her somewhere.

“Wh- Whaa…?” She thought before blacking out again.

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Twilight had just teleported home from Fluttershy’s cottage. “Strange how she said that manticore talked to her…” Twilight pondered, as she walked into her latest “study room,” or pile of books. “Hmmm… M, m, m… aha!’ Manticores, a field guide’.” Twilight exclaimed, waking Spike up from his nap. "It says here that manticores come in a few different colors, mainly blood red, forest green, and earth brown.  Some are known to build rudimentary tools, enabling them to get to the center of certain trees for their tasty sap, and open oysters on riverbeds…” Twighlight read some more, not finding much of interest.

“Hey it’s quiet outside! Really quiet… Did something scare everypony?” Twilight wondered. “Spike! I’m going out for a bit! Keep the place tidy!”

“Yeah ok.” Spike grumbled, still trying to hold on to sleep.

“Well, seems nopony is out here.” Twilight remarked as she stepped out the door.

*BOOM*

“WHAT WAS THAT?!! Twilight tried to yell over the ringing in her ears. “Oh no!! that’s Lyra and Bon Bon’s house! I need to see if-” Twilight could only gape as the manticore had tussled with in the forest came soaring out of the burning house side, carrying something that looked suspiciously like a pony.

“WHAT??!” Twilight thought, dumbfounded. “It’s not headed to the forest, but if I didn’t know better, I’d say it was headed to... the hospital?” Twilight stood for a moment, wondering what to do. “OHMYGOSH! I need to check on Lyra and Bon Bon! At least, whoever’s left…”

“Twi! Thank goodness you’re here!” Lyra shouted out. “Somepony took off with Bon Bon, and headed to the hospital! I’m fine, but will ya come with me? I’m really worried…”

“I don’t think it was somepony…” Twilight muttered.

“What? Whatever! Come on! Let’s go!” Lyra said, running to Twilight. “Can you teleport us or something? I want to get there real fast!”she pleaded.

“Sure thing Lyra, just hold still…” Twilight said, as she performed a spell to teleport two ponies to the hospital.

*FLASH*

“Thanks Twi!” Lyra shouted behind her, as she raced inside the hospital.

“Anything for a friend in need!” Twilight responded enthusiastically. “I hope she’s going to be allright…” she worried.

“I hope so too… She had a large wooden beam stuck in her… She was breathing and not bleeding too much…” said a much deeper, scratchy voice behind her.

“well, I hope s-“

*Crash*

“D-di-did you just talk?!?!” Twilight stuttered.

“*Sigh* yes, I did. Is that unusual? I really don’t know,”  said the voice.

“...”

“Ah, my name’s Eric,” he declared, holding out a paw for the purple mare to shake.

“W-well hello Eric… What a, uuhh, strange name you have. My name is Twilight Sparkle.” She responded, and took the hoofshake. “Well, nopony meets someone like you very often, now do they?” Twilight beamed at the strange creature in front of her. “When did you learn to talk? What brings you out of the forest?” she peppered him with questions, as he simply stood there.

“Well, as far as I know, I could always talk, and I came to see someone called... Pinkie? After the yellow one… Fluttershy left, she stayed behind and ‘talked’ with me.” He attempted to make a quoting motion.

“Hehe! That sounds like Pinkie Pie to me! Always leaving little room for a conversation.” Twilight giggled. So, what do you normally do in the forest?” she asked politely.

“Well, actually, I don’t know. I only recently remembered my name, but everything else is a blank.” Eric responded, staring into space.

Twilight scrunched up her face. “Well that’s weird. You know nothing about who you were or what you did? How far back do you remember?”

“Interestingly, I woke up in the forest a few minutes before you guys found me. Sorry about that, the pain from that spike was terrible! I could hardly think straight! I hope you can forgive me...” Eric replied.

“Well, aren’t you polite? I accept your apology, and I’d imagine that so does everypony else. I wonder what we should do about you…” Twilight pondered. “You don’t fit in too well here, and I imagine that’s why everypony was hiding…”

“I thought as much. Where can I find a library? I’d like to read up on some of this places history, as well as social customs.” Eric stated.

“Well, actually, I-” Twilight started.

“Twilight! They got Bon Bon awake, and they say she’ll make it and-“ She stopped, staring at the manticore next to Twilight.

“Oh this is Eric. He save Bon Bon. He’s very nice.” Twilight introduced the pair.

“Nice to meet you…?” he gave a questioning look at the mint green pony.

“Oh my name’s Lrya. I’m her roommate. Thanks for taking her here. I was wandering who was behind all the smoke.” The mint green pony replied, and shook hooves/paws with him. "Well, anyway, let’s go see Bon Bon!” She exclaimed.

“Indeed.” “Ok, let’s go.” Twilight and Eric answered.

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