Gate of Friendship

I opened the door and saw Fluttershy with tears filling up her eyes.

“Fluttershy, what's wrong?” I asked.

“I-i-it's An-an—” Fluttershy stammered.

All of sudden she started crying semi-loudly. I sat down next to her and she dug her face into my shirt to wipe away the tears.

“Fluttershy, calm down and tell me what happened,” I said soothingly.

She sniffed and looked up at me.

“After Winter Wrap-Up I fed my animals. While I was feeding the birds I turned back and saw Angel run into the woods. I tried chasing him and asking him to come back, but he just kept running until I lost sight of him.”

I'm gonna strangle that rabbit.

I sighed.

“Alright Twilight, you watch over Fluttershy while I'm gone.”

“What are you going?” Twilight asked.

“I'm gonna find that rabbit.”

Without waiting for any retort, I walked out the door and headed for the Everfree Forest. As I was running through town I could hear Lyra calling my name, but I didn't care to look back; I kept running towards the infamous forest. When I got to the Everfree I felt a strange, almost haunting vibe coming from within the forest, but I threw whatever thoughts of doubt I had and charged in.

“Angel! Come on out, you've got some explaining to do!” I yelled.

No response, not that I was actually expecting one, a verbal one anyway. As I walked further I heard a dark growl ahead of me and a little bit the right.

Not good.

I saw yellow eyes heading towards me, more following behind them as they got closer to me. The first pair of eyes stepped into a lighter area and revealed itself to be a timberwolf.

Oh no.

The timberwolves started to surround me. They didn't make any attacks; they just waited for me to do something.

Let's see. The one in the back will most likely make the first move, and then the rest of the pack will follow after.

I looked around and saw eight pairs of eyes.

I'll have seven to deal with once the one from behind is dead. I sure hope this works.

I looked at the ground near my feet and saw a small rock. I picked it up and threw it at the one in front of me; it hit him directly between the eyes, the wolf replying with a growl

Come on, make a move.

Ask and ye shall receive, the one from behind jumped towards me. I spun around and kicked it back, making the rest of the group follow after. I jumped back from the area they were attacking and quickly ran away from them.

I need a weapon, fast!

I looked around as I kept running seeing only small stick and rocks.

All I need is something with a good knock to it, maybe even a knife.

I could hear the timberwolves breathing as they got closer and closer.

Guess I’ll have to improvise.

I stopped and immediately looked back. The wolves were still after me and were closing in on me quickly. When the closest one got within range I punched it between the eyes, breaking the hollow wooden skull with a satisfying and almost peaceful CRACK! The now dead timberwolf's head was completely gone from the impact and the rest of its group was closing in quickly. I reached into its body, felt something stronger then wood, ripped it out and saw that it was a metal rib.

Natural on the outside and mechanical on the inside I suppose.

I held the metal rib with the sharp end towards the pack and waited for them to get to me. When the first one got close I stabbed the metal rib through its skull, quickly pulled it out, and threw the lifeless body aside. The next three came at me in different directions, one in front, one from the left, and one from behind. I blocked one of the strikes from the one in front, but the other two pounced on me and started clawing at me. I could feel my skin being torn from my back and my left arm. I stabbed the one from behind in the leg, which was enough for it to get back. I yanked my arm away from the other timberwolf and stabbed it through the neck. The timberwolf from the front jumped towards me, knocked me to the ground and tried to eat my face, but I put the bone in between its jaw and tried to push the beast away. I took a quick look behind me and saw the other timberwolf rushing over to help its friend. After I kicked the first timberwolf off me, sending it on its back, I faced the other timberwolf and stabbed it between the eyes when it leaped towards me. When I tried to take the bone out of it, the bone wouldn't come out.

Come on now…

I twisted and moved it around to try and loosen it, but nothing seemed to work. When I looked back I saw the first timberwolf back on its feet and ready to attack. Quickly improvising, I swung the dead timberwolf’s body at the other timberwolf like a huge club, smacked it, and sent it slamming into a tree. Then I dropped the timberwolf attached to my weapon and curb stomped the beast, breaking its skull and freeing my metal rib. I picked up my weapon and turned to the last remaining wolf, slowly getting up and looking at me with rage. I got in a defensive stance and waited for the timberwolf until it started to charge me.

Alright chump, let's do this.

I followed its lead and ran towards it. When we got close to each other, the wolf jumped a good three feet in the air, and I countered by sliding on my legs to get under him and planted my weapon in the middle of its chest and let the blade slide with me until it came out with the sound of a grotesque wreckage. I got back on my feet turned to the wolf, still standing and running towards me again. I flipped the metal rib to its blunt side and clubbed the timberwolf across the left side of its face, breaking half of its skull open. Just when I thought it was over, I heard more timberwolves coming towards me at a very fast pace. Had my wounds been more fatal I would have ran, but instead I held my ground, keeping still and my ears open to try and detect where they would try to attack from. The pack growled as they got closer, but a second later the sound of the timberwolves running and growling stopped completely. No rustling, no howls, no growling, just silence.

What are they up to?

The only sound I could hear was my heart beating like a metal band drum. I looked around slowly, trying to see something out of place from the almost-blinding darkness around me.

Come on, bring it.

I heard a barely audible growl coming from behind me.

“Gotcha!” I accidentally yelled.

I turned to face the timberwolf from behind, expecting it to leap out, but instead another timberwolf leaped from the shadows and got on my back, digging its claws into my shoulder and biting near the base of my left wing. I let out a mighty cry of pain and stabbed the timberwolf in the right eye with my metal rib, killing the wolf. The limp body started to fall, making its claws pull down further on my skin. Quickly, I pulled the claws out with a cry of pain and frantically looked around for the next one. The next timberwolf emerged from the right of me, slowly moving towards me with a fiery rage in its eyes. It charged at me with a snarl and teeth bearing. When it got close it tried to bite my left leg, but I lifted it up before he could and slammed my leg down on the wolf’s head, cracking it a little bit, and did another quick stomp to crack open the top of its head. It seemed to stop moving so I slowly put my leg down, just in time for the next two to emerge by charging me. The two stayed side-by-side, making it harder to choose which one to kill first. The one on the right jumped towards me when it got close, so I stabbed my bone through the bottom of its jaw and quickly took it out. Just when I was about to attack the second one it bit my left foot and trashed its head around. I pulled my foot back to try and escaped it grasp, but only got a few inches, pulling the wolf with it. Out of panic, I started to hit the timberwolf with the club-part of the rib, hitting it repeatedly on the left side of its face. The wolf didn’t let go until the third hit broke part of its skull open. It let out a bit of a yelp and went a few steps back before it arched its back at me.

“I'll give one chance and one chance only. Surrender, or die with your brothers,” I warned.

When timberwolf jumped towards me I dropped the metal rib and stood there. The wolf opened its jaw when it got close, and I replied by side-stepping towards it and side-kicking it in the middle of its mouth, making its jaw split in half, killing it as soon as it hit the ground. I looked around, the bodies of the timberwolves, or what was left of them anyway, had created a clutter all around me. I looked around for any signs of where I was at, but only found more dense trees in every direction. I let out a sigh and picked up my metal rib.

“Great. Looks like I'm going off of instinct.”

I went whatever way I thought was north until I remembered something very obvious after I walked a few feet.

Wings! Dur.

I started flapping my wings, but quickly remembered the damage the timberwolf had done on my wings in the form of surging pain.

Blast!

I looked at the scar on my left arm and saw three scratches going down from the shoulder to the elbow, still letting out blood.

Ouch, gonna need to patch that up.

I took my shirt and was able to wrap it around most of the wound, helping to slow down the bleeding, though just a little bit.

It'll have to do.

When I was about to move on I heard a growl darker and louder growl than that of a timberwolf’s. Slowly, I turned around to see what had caused it and saw the outline of a manticore about four feet behind me.

Oh dearie me.

The manticore roared at me, cuing me to run as fast as I possibly could. Running through the branches that stuck out from the trees and vines wasn’t exactly easy, but I was able to keep my distance from the beast, though the sound of its breathing and thrashing of the environment was close to me. I kept making sharp turns left and right to try and slow the beast down, though it was just minor, yet I still looked for a way out of this predicament I was in. But no such luck came by. Soon it just started tearing down the trees that I would use to help make my sharp turns.

This might be a small chance. But it's what I got left.

I looked over my shoulder and saw the massive beast, drool coming from his mouth. I did the only thing I thought I could to slow down the beast, possibly for good. I tossed my metal bone at the manticore and it pierced his left eye, not going far enough to reach his brain and kill him like I had hoped, but still enough for him to let out a loud roar in pain. The beast began to run faster towards me, his other eye turning bloodshot.

Well, it was worth a shot. The only thing I can do now is wait for him to bleed out or try to escape.

I made sure to keep to the left side of him and hope to get away from him by hiding in his blind spot. When I tried to made a sharp left turn to get away from the beast, it didn't notice me slip away and kept running forward.

Thank Gorlog.

I hid behind a tree and sat down on the ground to rest and let out a huge sigh of glee and relief. Though I thought it was over too soon. I could hear the beast coming back and sniffing around the area to find me. I looked at the wound on my arm, blood still seeping from the wound.

He's gonna smell my blood.

I took some of the fresh blood on my arm, smeared it on the tree, and quietly moved to a tree about five feet away. I was able to see the beast walk up to the blood, licked it, and growled. I dared not move in case I would step on a twig or crunch some fallen leaves. I saw the beast sniff again, turned away from me and walked off.

Don't know how that worked, but I shouldn’t question it right now. I'm alive, and that's what matters.

I could still hear its growl.

Might as well stay here for a bit, could increase my chance of survival.

Suddenly, the tree I was hiding was cut close to the stump and collapsed to the right, revealing the manticore behind it, breathing heavily and staring down at me. Its working eye was completely bloodshot, the one I stabbed was leaking discharge, and its mouth was covered in blood, drool, and dirt. We just stood there in silence for a couple seconds. That silence was quickly broken when I yanked the bone out of his eye and ran away as quickly as I could. The manticore roared at me and began the chase yet again. The sound of the manticore flapping its wings roared behind me as I frantically swatted and crashed through the terrain around me.

Wait, why am I running? I have my weapon back, I still have a slight chance to win this.

I stopped, turned around, and brought up my weapon as the sound of trees crashing came closer and closer.

Either I'm gonna kill it and live or I'm gonna kill it and die. Either way, I kill it.

When I saw the outline of the manticore I wait for my moment to strike. As soon as I could see the manticore's mouth open I ran towards it, jumped forward and straightened my body like a pencil, and dove right into its mouth. As soon as I felt the manticore’s tongue on my arms, I drove my bone through the roof of its mouth and dragged the blade with me down into its stomach. The manticore let out a loud roar when I landed in his stomach, then collapsed to the ground. I waited for a little bit in the manticore’s stomach acid, waiting for it to move again to signify that it was still alive. As soon as I saw small holes in my shirt and pants, I climbed out of the beast’s throat, bashed its teeth out with the bone, and crawled out of its mouth. The first thing that overwhelmed my senses was the smell of blood and bodily liquids, making me flinch a bit.

Note to self: take shower when we get back to Twilight’s.

I walked forward, wanting to get away from the dead beast before anything wanted to take a bite out of it, and me alongside it. As I walked through the forest I saw wild animals that actually didn’t want to kill me for once, and even tried asking them if they saw Angel, but they had no idea what I was talking about.

“Well that figures. Back to square one,” I muttered to myself.

After walking for about a mile I found an unfinished carrot on the ground. Assuming it was Angel’s I looked around for any possible animal, and saw a squirrel picking up a nut for next winter’s harvest.

“Squirrel.”

It looked at me with a quizzical look, seeming to actually understand what I was saying.

“Do you know who left this carrot here?”

The squirrel nodded its head.

“Perfect. Do you know where he went?” I asked with a bright expression on my face.

It nodded once again and pointed east of where I was standing.

“Awesome, thanks a lot squirrel.”

I gave the squirrel a thumb up and left towards the direction it pointed me in, hearing my stomach growling as I went.

Not now stomach, I shall feed us once we get back.

When my stomach replied with a much louder and deeper growl, I snatched some berries off a nearby tree. They almost looked like miniature strawberries, but were more of a darker shade of red.

Eat or don't eat? Well, with my luck so far I’m pretty sure this won’t kill me.

I ate one of the berries and continued on my way, but then the world around me began deteriorating into something different. The trees and my metal bone disappeared, and then giant walls of dirt appeared all around me.

Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to eat that cherry.

A bald man slowly appeared a few feet in front of me, facing the dirt wall, wearing nothing but some white shorts.

“Yes, perhaps it wasn't,” the man said, sounding exactly like me.

When he turned towards me the first thing I noticed was his left eye was completely white, and his right eye was half white and half black.

“Who in Gorlog’s name are you?” I asked.

“My name is John, and the real question is, how did you get here?”

“Where is here exactly?”

“This is the essence of the soul, the very core of a human.”

“A big dirt pit is the very center of a person?”

“Every soul is different. Does a dirt pit mean something to or about you?”

“Nothing that I can think of. What’s with your right eye, by the way? I’m pretty sure that isn’t natural.”

“These are a meter, a meter of your sins.”

“What!? So does that make you my conscience or…”

“An angel, yes. And before you ask, no I’m not the John the Baptist.”

“Good to know. So, do you know what’s happening to me? Who that man was or anything like that?”

“Unfortunately I know only as much as you do, since I am a part of you.”

“But you’re also an angel of Heaven.”

“Indeed, I was sent from God to help you on your path to salvation.”

“And it seems you’re doing a good job.”

“Yes, but not a perfect job. There are a few things you could stay away from.”

“I know, but you know how hard it is to keep away from them.”

“Can’t say I do understand; I was never human before.”

“Really? You were one of the original angels?”

Before John answered, a maniacal laugh echoed throughout the pit.

“What is this, a new guest?” The voice asked with a dark and spine-tingling tone.

“No… not him, not now!” John said, looking around frantically.

“What do you mean? Who was that?” I asked.

“There’s no time to explain, he’ll be here any moment now.”

“And who is h—“

“In nomine Domini Dei, Jesu, et sanctu spiritus: mitte anima ei homo dorsum domus cum auxilium!”

He pushed both his arms towards me and a white light emitted from it, soon swallowing me whole. I shielded my eyes from the light, and once I felt the world get darker, I moved my arms away and saw that I was on the ground in the middle of the forest, the bone right next to me.

I’m… back?

I got up and suddenly got light-headed for a few seconds. I shook it off until it passed, picked up the cherry, and then examined it closely, as if it would reveal what it did to me.

Blasted cherry. Note to self: make sure you know what you’re eating before you do; otherwise you’ll go on some weird acid trip.

I threw the cherry as far away from me as my strength would allow and looked around for any bunny track. Sadly, there were none to be seen. When I tried to take a step forward, I almost collapsed to the ground and started to feel dizzy.

No… Guess I lost too much blood when I passed out. Well I can try to get out of this forest, but it might near-impossible to get to the hospital in Ponyville. Cursed shame, I was just starting to enjoy this new life I was given.

The faint sounds of a pair of wings flapping came near me, revealing itself to be caused by a single raven when it passed me in a circular motion. Suddenly, about twenty crows flew around me, circling around at blinding speeds that I could barely keep up with. They never cawed, but just kept circling around me, looking at me.

“Do not worry human, I am your angel. Do not be in despair, I will help you and guide you home!” An unseen woman told me.

I could feel my wounds slowly heal, and my body feeling more refreshed. When I stood tall on my feet, feeling as good as new, the crows flew into the sky in different direction, letting out one huge “CAW!”

What in the world? What is happening to me, why do all these things happen to me? Though I shouldn’t complain this time, that woman somehow healed me. Who was she anyway?

I went to pick up my metal rib and saw that Angel was standing right beside it.

“Angel! There you are!” I said in a half-cheery, half-accusing tone.

Angel looked to the ground and slowly kicked the ground, having a very apologetic look on his face.

“You certainly gave Fluttershy some trouble.”

Angel hung his head even lower, and let his arms droop close to the ground. I let out a sigh and patted his head.

“Well, I found you now. Shall we go back?”

He looked up to me and nodded.

“Good. But how do we get out of here?”

Angel looked up in the sky and pointed at an aurora that began right under us and headed west.

“Good theory.”

We followed the aurora as best we could, sometimes having to change our directions because we either got lost or the aurora went in a different direction. But, we managed to get out of the forest in what felt like twenty minutes.

“So Angel, out of curiosity, why were you in the forest in the first place?”

He imitated the crows by flapping his arms and running in a circle.

“You were there because of the crows?”

Angel shook his head, then put his ears down, imitating long hair, and tried to act all sweet-like.

“Not, the crows, but the woman drew you in?

Angel nodded his head as a response.

“How’d she do that?”

Angel put a hand to his chin, thinking over it for a little bit, and then gave a shrug.

“Really? You have no idea what drew you in?”

He nodded with a shameful look to him.

“Guess that’s as good of an answer as we’re gonna get.”

I looked towards Ponyville and was taken aback by the fantastic sight before me. It was completely shrouded in a shimmering celestial light that came from an opening in a huge cloud.

“You think the girl did that to?”

Angel simply nodded his head, also impressed at the sight. We ran towards Twilight’s feeling the light bathing our bodies. It felt lukewarm across my skin, almost having a comforting and protective feeling to it. When the two of us made it to Twilight’s house, I knocked on the door and it immediately opened with a pull of Twilight’s magic. Twilight and Fluttershy looked at us, amazed that we were even still alive.

“Angel! You're back!” Fluttershy said with tears of joy in her eyes.

Angel did an apologetic motion.

“It's alright Angel, I forgive you,” she said.

As Fluttershy went up to hug Angel, Twilight looked at my bandaged arm, back, and the manticore blood that covered me.

“Trevor, what happened to you!?” Twilight asked in concern.

“Let's just say Angel wasn't the only one I met,” I vaguely said.

Twilight sighed with a hint of frustration in it.

“I'll take you to the doctor in a little bit.

Fluttershy and Angel were hugging, for the most part anyway.

“Actually there’s no need. The wounds have completely healed.”

I unwrapped my bandages and revealed my completely healed arm and back.

“What, how!?”

“If I knew myself I would tell you. Guess I got an angel on my shoulder.”

And one that’s in that forest.

Fluttershy turned towards me with a soft and heart-warming smile.

“Trevor, I can't thank you enough for what you did,” Fluttershy said, still having some remnants of joyful tears.

“Don’t worry about, anything to help out a dear friend.”

Twilight noticed the bone in my hand.

“What is that?” Twilight asked.

“It’s a timberwolf rib.”

“How in world of Equestria did you get that!?”

“Like I said, I met things other than Angel.”

I laid the rib on the table and sat down on one of the nearby chairs.

“Trevor thanks again, if you don't mind me saying,” Fluttershy said.

“I don't mind at all,” I said with a smile.

Fluttershy and Angel left and headed back home.

“So about that rib…,” Twilight said.

I let out a sigh that turned into a light chuckle.

“Okay, so it all began when I got lost, as I usually do when I go into a forest.”