A Whole New World

Author's notes: Now things get started properly. Sorry if it took too long.

After thanking Applejack for listening to my story, she went back inside. I stayed by the barn, thinking about everything I had said. I just poured my heart out to a pony. Does that mean that I trust them already?

I thought about this for about an hour, but eventually decided that I needed to do something to stop myself thinking about it. It would only get worse if I stayed here. So I did something I hadn't done for a while, before mum had gotten sick. I went for a run. It would feel uncomfortable in boots and jeans, but I needed to think about something else.

It started with a simple warm-up, some stretches, and I started going at a steady pace along the path. After about five hundred metres I reached the orchard, and decided to pick up the pace. Now, I'm definitely not the best runner in the world. If I had become an athlete, it would have involved strength rather than speed or stamina. I had been expecting my legs to start aching now, but they weren't, so I kept going.

After running for a mile, my legs still weren't tired, and I paused to check myself. My breathing was fairly normal, and my heart rate was slow. I was getting quite confused now, but at the same, amazed. I decided to go all out, and broke into a sprint. I must have run another two miles, but when I stopped, I was showing no sign of fatigue. I had only a small amount of sweat on my brow, but it was a hot day, so that didn't count.

When my brain admitted that I could run like this, I just burst out laughing. I found that I had run in a circle, and I was a short distance away from the house, so I decided to head back. I kept laughing as I walked. All previous thoughts about my past and what I had said to Applejack just didn't seem to matter anymore. I felt like I could take on anything right now.

When I got closer to the house, I could hear raised voices. It sounded like Applejack and Big Mac were arguing. I approached the door, and the voices became understandable, "Well where else could she have gone?" That was Mac, he sounded pissed.

"Ah don't know. If ya didn't see her on the farm she must've--, oh no."

I walked in at this point and immediately both of the ponies were looking at me. AJ spoke first, "Dutch, while you were out did ya'll see a yellow filly with a red mane?"

Her voice was filled with fear, and I felt terrible as I answered no. I inquired, and Big Mac took over.

"It's our sister. She's missin'."

That's never good. They must have talking about Applebloom. "What happened?"

"Appleboom and Ah had an argument. It got heated and she ran off. Ah figured she was just in the orchard sulkin', but it's been hours now. She must have gone into the forest."

Shit. I've had first-hand experience of the Everfree Forest, and if Applebloom's just a filly... I didn't want to think what could happen. I walked straight over to my pack and grabbed my bow and arrows, attaching the string to the limbs. I also made sure I still had my knife on my leg. I wanted to be ready this time, for whatever was in there.

I noticed the two farm ponies were staring at my bow, "Dutch, what is that?" Applejack asked.

"There's no time, but I'll explain later." I had to take charge now, a life might well depend on it, "Applejack, you're coming with me. We're going to look in the forest for Applebloom. Big Mac, you stay here in case she comes back. If she does, come find us."

AJ and Big Mac were surprised by this sudden assertion, but they didn't want to oppose. Applejack followed me out the door and we headed towards the forest. We reached the treeline fairly quickly. Applejack was fast, but my added height made up for only having two legs.

I noticed some markings on the ground, and kneeled down to investigate, they were small and round, and Applejack identified them as a filly's hoofprints. Looking forward into the forest, I pulled an arrow out of the quiver on my back and attached it to the string. I slowly moved into the trees, making sure Applejack stayed behind me.

We followed the hooves for an hour, but we had been moving slowly and cautiously in case any creatures decided to attack. As we progressed, the mud that had been pressed down by the hooves slowly became wetter, and I assumed that we must have been getting close. I felt worried, however, when we came to a fork in the path, with hoofprints leading off in both directions.

"Which way did she go?" Applejack asked. She had kept herself controlled during the search, but I could hear the fear rising in her voice again.

"I don't know, but I've got an idea." I replied. "Applejack, how well can you fight?"

"Ah can hold mah own if that's what yer asking."

"Ok, take this," I took my knife out of its sheathe, and offered it to her. She seemed unsure at first, but took the handle in her mouth, "I'm going to head down the left path. You wait here in case Applebloom comes back from the right. If she does, come find me and we'll go home. If she doesn't and I come back, we'll head down the other path together, got it?"

Applejack couldn't reply, but she simply nodded as I wandered down the path alone.

After several minutes of walking, I reached a cave. I had a bad feeling about it, so I was just about to walk away from it when I heard a noise. The adrenaline in my body was making me jumpy, so instinctively I pulled back my bow and aimed it into the cave. Nothing. The noise sounded again, more clearly than before, but it didn't sound like an animal growling or anything dangerous. It sounded like...

...crying.

I lowered my bow, and wandered towards the cave. I thought of something as I got closer, and I called out, "Applebloom?" Crap, my nerves made that sound aggressive, that's not going to work.

There was a rock sitting at the edge of the cave's entrance, and I watched as a small head poked out from behind it. It's eyes were a golden orange, and it had a bow on the back of its mane. This must be Applebloom.

Upon seeing me however, the pony gasped from silent terror and ran further into the cave. Well, that was half expected. I ran over to the entrance, but I couldn't see anything. I called again, this time making myself sound comforting, "It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Leave me alone." The voice sounded scared, she didn't trust me. I tried again, "I just want to take you somewhere safe."

"Please don't hurt me."

I probably looked quite intimidating standing here, so I knelt down, "It's ok, I know Applejack."

The crying stopped when I mentioned Applejack, and I heard a soft patter of hooves. A moment later, Applebloom came running out of the darkness and jumped at me, wrapping her forelegs around my neck. I returned the hug, and found her coat to be freezing.

"Come on," I said, "Let's get you home."

No sooner had Applebloom released me than I heard a deep rumble from the cave. I think we had woken something up, and it didn't sound happy.

"Get behind me!" I ordered Applebloom, as I pulled the string back on my bow and aimed into the darkness. What I saw almost made me need new underwear.

A lion, with a dark yellow mane, and standing at about ten feet tall, was walking towards us, the ground shaking every time it took a step forward. But it wasn't just a big cat. It had a pair of huge dragon wings, both of them so black I could barely see them in the shadows of the cave. There was a glisten behind him, as the light reflected off what I saw to be a long scorpion's tail, slowly moving back and forwards as it moved.

Well, this seems a little one-sided. I remembered the history lessons I had bothered to listen to at school, and recognised the creature as a manticore from Persian mythology. Great. So now we've got wolves and mythical creatures? That's just not fair.

I aimed my bow at the manticore's leg and released the arrow. Hopefully it would serve as a distraction while we could escape. The arrow entered just above the manticore's paw, but it must have felt like a pin prick, because the beast simply pulled it out and cast it aside. It looked at me and let off a roar that left my ears ringing. Now it was angry. I turned to Applebloom.

The filly was staring at the manticore, too petrified to move, "Applebloom!" She didn't respond, she just continued to stare at the monster. I guess I was going to have to get assertive. "APPLEBLOOM!"

She seemed to snap out of her trance after that, and looked at me, "Run! Follow the path back to the fork, Applejack's waiting there. Tell her I'll be right behind you." She nodded and ran out of the cave as fast as she could.

I turned back to the manticore, but didn't have time to react as the beast smashed me with the back of its paw. I felt bones break as I flew through the air and impacted on the wall of the cave. When I hit the ground, I fell to my knees and coughed. Blood spattered the ground beneath my mouth, but I ignored the pain. If I stay here, I'm a dead man. Come on Dutch, get up!

I forced myself to my feet, leaning on a rock for support and saw the manticore lunge at me with its tail, the sting hurtling towards me like a bullet. I pushed myself off the rock to get some momentum. But I wasn't fast enough.

Just as I started to move, the sting hit me somewhere on my outstretched hand, and I yelled out as I felt pain tear through my arm. The tail forced my hand back against the wall, but I tugged at it and I felt myself get released. I didn't stop to look back, I just grabbed my bow and stumbled out of the cave.

Only when I exited the cave did I look behind me, and saw that the manticore wasn't following me. I half walked, half jogged back along the path, my body hunched over and my arm clutching at the pain in my torso. My vision became blurred, but it became focused again when I blinked, and I saw Applejack and Applebloom running towards me.

"Dutch! Are ya'll alright?"

I coughed, but held my arm up to hide the blood that came out of my lungs, "I'm ok, just a bit of bruising." I lied, my body was in total agony, and I was amazed that I was still moving.

Applejack explained that she had found a shortcut out of the forest, so I followed her lead, trying to hide my pained expressions. We finally reached the edges of the forest, and another wave of pain came over me. Applejack hadn't noticed, she was busy talking to Applebloom about... something, I couldn't hear her.

I was starting to feel dizzy now, and my vision was really blurred, no matter how much blinking I did. I turned towards the forest again, and saw something that stood out from the trees. It was a silhouette of a pony, and I could only just make out its appearance. It was wearing a large, brown cloak, and I saw a black and white striped muzzle sticking out from the hood. It was watching me.

"Appleja..."

Applejack heard Dutch's slurred word and turned around in time to see the human fall to his kness, then collapse in a heap. She ran straight over to him, dropping the knife as she went, and saw blood starting to drip from his mouth. He coughed, and more blood stained the grass. She started examining him further, but stopped when she got to his left hand, and almost retched from the sight.

"Applebloom, Big Mac's at the house. Go get him, tell him Dutch is hurt and Ah need his help. Go!" Applebloom acknowledged, and started to run back to the house. Applejack wedged her head under Dutch's stomach, and lifted him onto her back. He weighed a ton, but she forced herself to get as close to the house as she could, it might reduce the time between now and getting help. Proper medical help this time.

She looked back at the unconscious body on her back, "Looks like that trip to Ponyville just got rescheduled," she said to herself as she trekked back to the farm.

Wow, I'm writing these chapters quicker than I thought I would. I need to start planning more in my notebook. I'm also thinking of adding links leading to music for that added effect, but I'm still learning how to use the links. Let me know what you think.