This Dark Forest

"Come on, just a few steps closer..." I whisper. Gripping tighter to my makeshift bow of sticks, vines and something that resembles string. It had taken a few days of gathering the proper materials to make the bow, and practicing with it before the bow was ready for use.

'Hunting takes skill, precision, and patience to be effective. You must wait for the prey to come to you before striking, or risk losing the kill. Only hunt for food and survival, never for pleasure or out of boredom.' I repeat these rules in my mind several times while lying under the bushes, waiting for my prey to come near.

My current hunt is a smaller than average rabbit, happily munching away on a carrot. So far it seems that I am undetected by this little critter as it makes its way closer to my hiding spot. Pulling back on the bowstring I carefully take aim at it's chest and wait. The animal comes closer, closer... now!

I release the string and let the arrow fly through the rabbit's chest, directly on mark. The arrow comes out the other side bloody and sticks into the ground. I stand up and walk out of the bushes, carefully making my way to the rabbit in case another predator was stalking the same prey. Luckily nothing is waiting for me and I take hold of my kill.

The rabbit's body is twitching slightly as I pick it up, I need to put it out of its misery. Taking hold of the head and body I quickly twist the rabbit's neck with a resulting snap. It's loud enough to make me cringe, and for a moment I feel sorry for the animal.

"It's for survival, nothing personal. It's for survival, nothing personal..." I chant to myself while cleaning off my arrow and re-inserting it into my quiver.

It's been weeks since I came to this forest, possibly months, I've lost track after so long. Waking up in a dark forest with an empty case of beer and no recollection of how you got there isn't exactly how I pictured my that weekend.

None of that matters any more, I just need to get back to the shelter and cook up some meat. It'll be nice to have something besides fruits and vegetables for so long. I don't have a problem with vegetarian food, but meat is definitely a treat.

"Angel! Come on Angel it's time for dinner!" A voice in the distance calls out.

"Shit..." I mutter under my breath. "Sounds like something else is here after all." I found out fairly early on that I'm not the only kind of intelligent animal around here.

On one of my scavenging trips I found a small group of ponies wandering along a dirt path in the forest. Each one was colourful and several of them had a horn or a pair of wings. Capable of speech, the six of them seemed to be talking about a landslide or something they just made it out of. I considered talking to them, they seemed harmless enough, but then they walked across... what did the purple one call it... a manticore? It was about ten times the size of them, and boy was it pissed, but they went at it head on. Kicking it in the face, riding it like a bull, and overall beating the living shit out of it. I didn't stay for long after that, but now if I see any of them I duck for cover or run away as fast as I can. So far they have no idea that I even exist, and I want to keep it that way.

Hastily diving into my hunting spot in the bushes I leave the rabbit and peek out from underneath in hopes to get a good look at the pony. It's mane was a bright pink and has a coat of light yellow with a pair of folded wings laying across its sides.

"Oh there you are Ange- Angel what happened!?" The pony took hold of the rabbit and began to cry over it's dead body, "Who... what did this!? Not Angel! No!"

The sobs coming from the pony are heartbreaking, but I can't get out to comfort the pony in fear that I'll end up just like that manticore. Leaving seems to be the smartest option and I slowly back out of the bush in hopes that no noise is made.

*Rustle*

"Is somepony there?" The pony gets up on it's hooves and begins carefully walking over to my bush.

Shit! Only one option now... run! I gather my bow and sprint out of the bush and past the pony. It seems my sudden appearance startled it, giving me the perfect opportunity to leave.

Jumping over logs and trying my hardest to escape from the pony that may or may not be following my I desperately try and escape the incoming angered pony.

"I'm not going to hurt you! Please wait!" The pony's tone is not as angry as I thought it would be, it almost seems kind, but I'm still not falling for anything and continue sprinting to home.

The hoofbeats get louder and louder as I get nearer and nearer to safety. Taking a quick leap over the stream and around the last few trees I manage to get to my shelter and quickly cover up the entrance.

My home is just a hole under a large tree that I've dug out and patched up so that there's a small sheet of leaves and vines covering the entrance. Inside the roof is about four feet tall with a small fire pit in the corner and a bed of grass and moss on the opposite end. I have to crouch to move around, but after crawling and digging on my hands and knees for a few days in the process of making it, I find the crouching to be a luxury.

Slowing my breathing and listening intently for any sign of the yellow pony I lie on my bed facing the entrance with an arrow in my bow, ready to fire if necessary. I didn't want to hurt anything that could speak, although I guess I already did by killing that rabbit, but physically is a different matter. I don't want to kill the pony, perhaps they aren't as dangerous as I think.

The hoofbeats get louder and louder before the interval between each slows down and changes from a running pace to a walking pace.

"I don't want to hurt y-you... p-please... j-just come out," the pony calls in between sobs. How much did that rabbit mean to that pony?

Still silent I carefully put my bow and quiver aside. I'm not going to hurt this pony if it does find me, I've already done enough damage.

The pony continues to call out for several moments until breaking down into sobs and running off. The clopping of the pony's hooves become distant before finally becoming silent. I carefully peek out of my hole and look around, making sure the pony is nowhere in sight.

"Whoever that pony was, making her cry is probably not going to end well..." I take a deep breath and let it out before setting out to gather some food, hunting is no longer an option after what just happened.

Just as I step out of my shelter a loud roar goes throughout the forest making my spine tingle and cause some of the leaves on the trees to fall. Taking a short trip back into my shelter I return with my bow and arrows, can't hurt to be prepared.

***

It was a bright mid-afternoon in Ponyville, and a purple unicorn and cyan coloured pegasus were reading their books together in the library.

*Knock Knock Knock* Twilight looked up from the book she was reading, and walked over to answer the door.

"Oh hello Fluttershy. Is... is something wrong?" The purple unicorn noticing tears in the corner of her friends eyes.

"Y-yes Twilight. Angel, well, umm... Angel is..." Fluttershy broke down into tears and held out a small white rabbit wrapped in white linen with a red stain along the middle.

"Oh Fluttershy, I'm so sorry." Twilight went closer to her friend and gave a friendly hug followed by Rainbow Dash coming to give the same comforting embrace.

"What happened?" Rainbow Dash asked, breaking the hug for a few moments.

"Well... um... Angel had run off into the Everfree forest and I followed her so she could get some dinner, but when I found Angel... like... there was something... oh..."

"Fluttershy..." The unicorn unwrapped the rabbit from the linen and instantly her mouth went agape, "What kind of animal did this?"

"I-I don't know... it ran away from me and I tried chasing it, but it got away."

"Fluttershy, whatever did this is extremely dangerous, why would you try chasing it?"

"While I was mad and it seemed afraid. I didn't want it to be scared so I-I..."

"Fluttershy, that was very kind of you, but you need to be more careful. Ok?" Twilight demanded, concerned for Fluttershy's safety.

"I-I will Twilight. Thanks, but um... Can you help me plan a funeral for Angel." Fluttershy was close to tears again, "I just want to make sure my little bunny is put to rest properly." Twilight couldn't deny her friend anything while she was in this mood.

"Sure thing Fluttershy. Now get some sleep, I'll meet you by your house tomorrow with Rainbow okay?"

"Oh that would be g-great Twilight. Thank you." The pegasus sighed with relief and took back the re-wrapped bunny in her arms, tearing up slightly she flew back towards her home near the Everfree Forest.

"Rainbow, can you help me with something?" Twilight asked while shutting the door.

"This has something to do with what Fluttershy saw doesn't it?" Rainbow replied, giving a suspicious look at her friend.

"Yes. Whatever animal can cause damage like that to Angel is probably going to be very dangerous to everyone in Ponyville, maybe even Equestria."

"What do you need me to do?"

"Right now we need to research every animal in the Everfree forest to see what could have done this." The unicorn said while grabbing multiple books off the shelves with her magic.

"Do we really need to research every animal?"

"Yes Rainbow, you saw what it did to Angel. What if something like that happened to Fluttershy?" Twilight's eyes looked towards Rainbow Dash's, both now filled with worry.

"Okay I'll help, but if I fall asleep don't wake me," the pegasus agreed.

"Wow Rainbow, I didn't think you'd be this easy to persuade."

"I wouldn't be usually, but this thing needs to learn that nothing and nopony makes Fluttershy cry!" The pegasus' words hard and sure. Twilight simply nodded in return and placed a few books in front of Rainbow Dash.

"It's like Rainbow said," Twilight thought while opening her own book, "Nopony makes Fluttershy cry."