The Silent Killer of The Everfree Forest

Coming out of the brush was a manticore. A fucking manticore. It slowly stalked forward, its tail bouncing up and down as it sulked towards me. Pulling out my Beretta I fired a loud warning shot.

The shot rang out like an explosion, echoing throughout the woods, making it sound much louder than it normally would. The manticore flinched visibly but kept creeping forward.

Duncan was growling loudly, on his toes, ready to pounce. I aimed my gun at its feet, ready to fire another shot as it got even closer. Now it was so close that I could see its teeth!

I fired another shot as the beast lunged forward, tackling me to the ground and pinning my right arm with its huge paw. Duncan leapt at the beast, biting its neck and thrashing violently. The beast roared loudly as a result.

I grabbed my battle hawk from my vest with my left arm and swung it. It hit the creature straight in what I could only assume was the temple.

The mighty beast roared loudly, wailing in pain. Bringing my arm back up, I swung again, hitting it in the same spot. I saw it rear up its stinger and bring it down towards my head at an alarming speed.

The stinger missed my head to the right by just inches. I swung my Tomahawk into its temple again.

Seeing this as the perfect opportunity, I twisted my body as best I could and brought down the tomahawk into the exoskeleton of its stinger. It hit straight in between the joints, causing the tail to snap and hang in the air limply. The stinger was no longer usable.

I was now able to see my right arm. It had been torn in several different places, mostly in the larger muscular regions; much better than my wrists. The wound bled lightly, but I could make out the pink muscle underneath.

I flinched when I saw it and made a grab for my Beretta. Unfortunately for me, the manticore decided it wanted revenge and clawed at the back of my shoulder. A scream of pain escaped my lips.

Grabbing the Beretta out of sheer desperation I aimed it into its chin and fired several shots through its head. The world around us became silent as the monstrous beast fell to the ground with a loud thud.

My entire body slowed to a stop as the giant fell on top of me. Finally releasing the manticore, Duncan fell back. I wriggled my way out from underneath it. Duncan and I sat there as I pulled out the medic kit out of my bag and readied some morphine, disinfectant and bandages for my wounds. I was just about finished putting the bandages on when I heard more bushes rustle.

Scared shitless, I raised my gun and aimed at the bushes. I watched them slowly emerge from the bushes, tiny barks echoing in the now quiet woods. My heart fell as I saw three baby manticores come out of the bushes, howling in grief. That’s when it hit me.

She was protecting her children. My heart fell into the deepest crevice of my body as I saw these little babies cry for their mother.

Walking over I kneeled by them. They flinched and squealed as I stopped in front of them. They could see their mother’s blood on my ghillie suit. Taking off the suit, I threw it aside and got down to their level.

I was laying down on the ground looking them straight in the eyes. Slowly, they came closer to me. It was obvious they were hesitant, but as the first one made it to me, I slowly lifted my hand and let it sniff it. Soon, I was able to pet the first, let’s go with cub, behind the ear and it relaxed slightly.

I got up soon after and made for the woods again. I heard a few more howls of woe from the cubs before I left. I stopped dead in my tracks halfway through and grabbed some vines from the trees.

I walked over to the cubs. “I took your mother away, and you can’t survive out here on your own.” The first cub was easy; he let me put on the makeshift leash like it was nothing. The second two were harder. I not only had to get down to their level but I also had to take out an MRE and give them some meat.

The second cub took the meat I offered while the third one proved to be more stubborn. It took three pieces of my meatloaf MRE before it finally trusted me enough to put the vine around its neck.

Now the hard part started. I led the way through the forest, pulling the cubs along with the makeshift leashes. They were obviously wild animals; they gnawed, pulled, and resisted the leashes every step of the way.

The forest should have been simple to walk through it. Duncan easily walked through the bush and shrubbery. I was having a problem though. These cubs kept gnawing at the leashes.

The cubs would only stop gnawing at the leashes to cower when something rustled in the bushes. Duncan growled at every little thing that moved. Each noise put me a little more on edge.

I continued to walk through the forest. Something was definitely wrong. This forest was dark; much darker than any other forest I’ve seen. There was many strange plants I’ve never seen as well.

I could see some small things like rabbits, nibbling on some plants at the bottom of a small hill. Realizing I might need some food later on, I decided to shoot them. I couldn’t do anything with them right then; I had to cook them to make sure they were safe to eat.

Sighing, I started up the hill that had become my goal. The hill wasn’t that steep; the angle made it hard, but not impossible. Arriving at the top after a 5 minute hike, I looked out at the scenery before me.

The tree tops were a green, unending ocean. Out in the distance, I could see a small protrusion through the trees. It seemed to be a small rock formation.

I pulled out my rifle and looked through the scope towards it. It seemed to be more than just a rock formation.

It is a tower! A cobblestone tower! That means there’s someone out here! Ok I know what I gotta do!

Starting for the tower, I noticed Duncan growling at something in the distance. I decided that my best chance was to just grab Duncan and head for the tower.

Meanwhile in Twilight’s library

Twilight scratched her head with a hoof as she read. She had never seen what she had seen yesterday. It was a small explosion of fire within the Everfree Forest, but the sound it made erupted like a dragon’s roar.

Earlier today, she had heard two similar explosions from the Everfree again. Though they were quieter than the ones yesterday, they were still obviously there. It had scared everypony in town.

The explosions were so loud that she decided that the best option would be to call the guards and have some trotting around the town.

Her friends had stopped by to ask her about the explosions, but she told them to wait so that she could do some research. They idly chatted with each other while they waited.

Twilight had only heard THAT kind of explosion once before, and that was from a dragon attacking a changeling hive; the gas from the egg chamber ignited in a massive fireball.

At least that’s what the teacher said. The recording stopped soon after.

So, she thought, time to research dragons. It would be a disaster if there truly was a dragon heading towards Ponyville.

Unfortunately for her, she had no books on dragons in her library. The only book she had Spike had taken with him on his last trip to Canterlot. Sighing, Twilight Sparkle walked towards her friends on the lower level.

“Well, the dragon book that we could use is currently unavailable.” she said dejectedly.

As if on cue, all the mares in the room turned to look at the lavender alicorn. Her mane was a dark purple as well as her tail, and had a pink stripe through it. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of purple, darker than her coat. Her flank was adorned with a large six-pointed star, symbolizing her talent in magic.

“Are ya sure it’s a dragon, Twilight?” an orange earth pony mare replied. Her golden mane and tail were tied back, and on top of her head she wore her trademark Stetson. Three deep red apples on her flank showed her talent with apple farming, and her eyes were a lavish sea green.

“I doubt anything else could do that AJ,” a cyan-colored pegasus interrupted. Her eyes were a fiery magenta, her mane and tail were a luxurious rainbow color. Her flank was adorned with a cloud; a rainbow bolt, firing from it, showed off her talent in weather.

“I agree with Rainbow Dash, darling. There is no creature I know of that can do anything as bothersome as to roar that loudly. It woke me up from my beauty rest!” the white unicorn mare complained. Her mane and tail were a dark, sleek, purple; her eyes a deep blue. She had three diamonds on her flank.

“Ooh ooh! Maybe we can have a ‘Welcome to Equestria, Dragon.’ party!” a pink earth mare said. Befitting her talent, this bubbly mare loved parties as evidenced by the three balloons sprawled over her flank. One was a nice butter yellow, and the other two a light shade of baby blue. Her eyes were the same color as her blue balloons.

“U-umm Pinkie Pie, I don’t think a dragon will be able to come to Ponyville.” A meek butter colored pegasus mare spoke up. She had a cotton candy colored mane and tail. Her eyes were a cyan color, and she had three butterflies on her flank. These showed her talent with animals.

“Yeah, I have to agree with Fluttershy on this one Pinkie Pie. A dragon in Ponyville would be devastating.” Twilight sighed. “We’re going to have to go to the Everfree to make sure that whatever that was, it doesn’t make it to Ponyville.”

“Yeah, I agree. Let’s keep the Everfree IN the Everfree.” Rainbow Dash responded, jumping up and flapping her wings to take off.

“C’mon girls, take your elements and let’s go.” Twilight replied grabbing her large crown.

The mares grabbed their respective element before heading out towards the forest; the place that caused tons of controversy between ponies.

SSgt Lopez POV

Well this is different, I thought, looking upon the massive structure. When I saw a tower, I never thought it would be a- well… I didn't actually know what to expect. I looked down at Duncan who gave me a shrug. D-did… w-what the fuck I-I don’t even…

I tied the cubs to a rock in the clearing near the entrance of the castle and looked around.

“Duncan, sniff out the east wing. I’ll cover the west wing.” I said, again looking down at Duncan.

Duncan responded by barking, which was normal. Before I left, I took one more look at Duncan who made eye contact. I will neither deny nor confirm that I nearly shat myself when I saw Duncan raise his eyebrow as if to ask me what was wrong.

“Uhhh… Nothing…?” I responded nervously.

Duncan just shrugged again and started sniffing around. I think I need to pay more attention to him, I thought. I don’t know what’s going on, and at this point I honestly don’t know if it’s something to worry about.”

Walking towards the west wing, I pulled out my Berretta. Switching on the laser designator, I kept it aimed downwards as I silently stalked around.

I walked around for nearly an hour before walking back to the front of the castle and sitting down on a rock. I started grabbing some bushes and leaves. Grabbing some vines, I started weaving myself another ghillie suit.

About twenty minutes later Duncan came out of the front doors. He walked over to me and laid down. This may be stupid but maybe this’ll work. I mean, what’s the worst that can happen, I thought, looking down at Duncan.

“You find anything Duncan?”

In response he looked up at me and nodded.

Guess he can understand me. Oh fuck. I talked a lot of shit about other people to this dog… I thought, a feeling of paranoia stirring through me.

“Really? What’d you find?”

Duncan just got up and gestured his head towards the door. I just followed setting down my weaving material. I put my gun on my back and walked with him.

The walk was short. Duncan stopped in front of a large door. We had passed through many halls on our way over. Although my side contained only a large courtyard and a library, it seems that Duncan had the more… scenic route.

We passed through several decorated rooms, each aligned with paintings and pictures, but we stopped at the largest room at the end of the hall. It appeared to be a throne room of sorts, but what really struck me as odd was that there was a strange figure standing in the middle of the room.

The creature stood, as if frozen for years, dusty and cracked. It was a statue of a strange, horse like animal. It was small, only up to my knee, but it had the wings of a pegasus.

Now I’m glad I watched Hercules a lot as a kid, I thought, eyeing the strange figure.

“Hey Duncan. You know how this got here?” I asked, knowing full well that he wouldn’t.

Feeling a small tugging at my pants I looked down to find him gesturing to a small chicken like creature behind the pegasus. Looking towards it, I noticed three things: One, it had the body of a serpent and the head of a chicken; two, its neck had several puncture wounds which were slowly bleeding out, and three, it was still alive.

“Duncan…. what the hell is that!?” I asked walking over to it slowly.

Duncan just shrugged in response. I didn’t get more than 2 steps before Duncan grabbed my pant leg and gestured to something behind me. Looking back, I noticed that the once cobblestoned pegasus was now coming alive.

“Duncan, behind cover! Now!” I yelled running behind the large throne in the room. Once there I aimed my Beretta at its once stone head.

I studied how this creature shifted when released from its stony prison. I just continued to study it while Duncan slowly came out of his hiding spot.

“Duncan, get your doggy ass behind something!” I whisper-yelled at him. He just turned his head in response. Oh you son of a bitch, I thought.

Apparently the pony returned from its daze faster than I thought. Its head whipped around. It was looking straight at me now and I froze, watching those sharp eyes scan over the area I was hiding in.

“H-hello…? I-Is somepony there.”