A Walk Through a Forest

The doctor had meant what he said when he had told the group when he said they would be leaving first thing in the morning. What he hadn’t mentioned was that they would be waking up two hours before sunrise to make sure everything was ready. Quill hadn't been expecting this, but he didn't let it get to him. What was getting to him was the pain of his hooves from walking six hours straight. When they came to the clearing and were told to take a brake, Quill almost collapsed.

“Why are you lying on your back with your hooves stuck up in the air,” Feather asked while looking down at him with a small smirk.

“Because this is the only way I can lie without letting any of my hooves touch the ground” Quill said as he rolled over and splayed his legs out.

“Well,” Feather said as she lay down next to her brother, “make the much of this as you can, as soon as Shadowhoof gets back from scouting were leaving immediately.”

Quill took his sisters words to heart and closed his eyes. Quill new he wouldn't be able to fall asleep and decided just to listen to the noise around him. When Quill heard the sound of a pony approaching he was afraid that they had to leave already before he realized it was Tira coming to ask Feather a few questions. Quill listened to their conversation and the sound of pencil on paper for a while before focusing on the sounds of the forest

…

Quill was surprised when all that he could hear was the conversation between Feather and Tira behind him. Quill opened his eyes and stared into the forest. He had chosen to lie down a small distance away from the edge of the clearing and wasn't able to get a good look through the trees . Quill stood up and moved a little closer, continuing to stare into the oddly quite forest.

“What's wrong?”

Feather startled Quill. He hadn't noticed that his sister had walked up next to him, let alone that he was now the focus of attention for her and Tira.

“It's just...” Quill began to tell the two ponies staring at him why he was focused on the forest when he started to hear a sound. Quill soon realized it was only the rustling of the trees. Quill put the noise to the wind and began to continue his response.

Wait, Quill thought, before he was able to continue speaking, there is no wind. As this realization came to mind, Quill noticed the rustling was getting louder as he heard shouting coming from behind him.

“Get back,” Dr. Hunt shouted as he galloped towards him.

Suddenly, Quill was picked up by Feather and was flying backwards. Before Quill could say anything, a huge manticore jumped out of the forest and landed about an inch from were he had been standing only seconds ago and let out a loud roar.

“Oh...” was all Quill was able to say before he was unceremoniously dropped by his sister.

“... horse apples,” Feather finished as she dropped her brother a short distance from the ground. She looked down to make sure Quill was okay before retuning her focus to the manticore.

Dr. Hunt was standing a few feet from the creature, his machete held in his mouth. Suddenly, the manticore charged at the doctor swiping it's claws at him, but Hunt jumped out of the way at the last second, cutting it's paw as he did so.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Feather flew behind the maticor to look for an opening. Suddenly, the manticore's tail came shooting at her. Feather was just able to dodge to the side of the poison bard, but wasn't quick enough to dodge when the tail swatted her to the side.

Feather landed on the ground and skidded before coming to a stop. By the time she got up, the manticore had turned to face her with its wings spread open, seeing what it considered easy pray. Feather tried to stand tall while ignoring the throbbing pain from the side she'd been hit and the wing she had landed on. That's when she noticed the dark figure jump out of the forest into the air.

Shadowhoof did a somersault in the air before landing dead center on the back of the manticore. The beast thrashed around as it howled in pain, trying to shake Shadowhoof of. In it's frantic acts to get Shadowhoof of its back, the manticore had turned its side to face Feather Tip. Feather took advantage of this and charged at full speed. Once she was close, Feathe jumped and headbutted the manticor right in the side. As she made contact Feather heard a crack and felt ribs move into unnatural positions. Moving back from the creature, Feather saw Shadowhoof jump of and take a position similar to hers on the opposite side it.

Surrounded by two attackers on either side and distracted by the pain, the manticore did not notice the third attacker charge at its head before it was to late. Hunt, machete in mouth, lunged at the manticores face, leaving a large gash down its right eye.

Shadowhoof, Dr. Hunt, and Feather Tip closed in on the manticore as it backed closer to the clearings edge. In pain and surrounded, the manticore let out one last roar before turning and fleeing into the forest. The three ponies all let out a sigh of relief together.

With a look of relief on her face, Feather turned to look at her brother and saw that he had moved from where she had dropped him. Feather saw that Quill was frantically flipping two books he had taken out of his saddle bag with a look of distress on his face. It didn't take long for Feather to figure out why.

Lying at Quill's hooves was the dark green body of Tira Point.