This Dark Forest

I carried Twilight in silence through the forest for several long and awkward minutes, careful not to knock her head on any branches or trees. She kept prodding me with her hooves, which were a lot softer than I'd have imagined, and she seemed to be unsure if I was dangerous or not. Eventually she stopped with her consistent prodding and I felt her loosening up and getting comfortable.

"I don't know if you can understand me but, um... thanks," she offered, smiling up at me.

"No problem," I replied, returning her smile.

Twilight stared up at me, mouth agape and eyes wide. After a few seconds of her staring I began looking around for another animal or something that could have startled her.

"You can talk?!"

I stopped looking around randomly to answer her, "Yes I can

A loud crash interrupted me, and behind us stood the very large, very angry manticore from before. It stood on its back legs, lifted its head, and let out an ear-shattering roar, shaking the ground and the trees around us.

"Run!" Twilight shouted.

I didn't need to be told twice, and soon I was running as fast as I could towards the edge of the forest. The manticore ended its roar and began charging at us, crashing into trees and knocking them down as it ran.

Over, under, through, around, I ran past every bush and tree, trying to stay on my feet and carry Twilight at the same time. The manticore continued running at me, a murderous look in its eyes. I started to distance myself on the monster, and for a moment I felt as though I was going to make it out safely. It didn't last long though.

A miscalculated step and a tree root caught me by the foot, twisting my ankle and bringing the two of us crashing down to the ground. Luckily for her something soft cushioned her fall, unluckily for me I was the cushion and the sudden hit knocked the wind out of me.

"This is not going to be good..." I grunted, noticing my bow had snapped into two pieces from the fall.

I grimaced, preparing for the impending attack, but it never came. I looked up to see Twilight standing over me, horn aglow and before either the manticore or I knew what was going on, Twilight threw her head to the side and the manticore went flying deeper into the forest.

She collapsed on the ground in front of me, breathing hard and fast. I just stared, confused at her change of heart. When her breathing slowed to a natural pace and she turned her head towards me.

Did she just save my life?

"Are... Are you okay?" She asked, panting heavily.

"Y-yeah..." I stuttered out.

"Thank Celestia... Do you think we could keep moving? I really don't want to be in the forest any longer than I have to."

I lifted Twilight onto my back again and let her get into a more comfortable position, she rested her head against my shoulder and quickly fell asleep, apparently magic has some exhausting side effects.

The sun slowly creeped out of the sky, and I knew better than anything that night in the forest was much worse than the day. The majority of my attacks came at the night while I was trying to get back to shelter and usually ended in something getting broken on both sides.

I looked around for somewhere safe to sleep and noticed some familiar landmarks. A stream, a large tree, and an oddly placed pile of leaves. I held Twilight with one arm and pushed away the leaves to reveal the entrance to my old shelter.

"Thank you..." I whispered to the sky, trying not to wake the sleeping pony on my back.

Careful to keep Twilight from knocking into anything, I crawled in the shelter and placed her on the bed of moss. Crawling over to the other end of the room Saviour was waiting, tapping his foot with his arms crossed.

"Oh sorry... Guess I forgot about you."

He gestured with one paw for me to come closer, still tapping his foot impatiently. I crawled over to him, and as soon as I was within his range, he jumped up and smacked me in the face.

"Ow!" He had a mean left hook. "I guess I deserved that."

Saviour gave me a wicked smile, he had gotten his point across.

"I'm exhausted... How about we get some sleep, alright?"

Saviour nodded and moved aside, allowing me to have enough space to lie down across from Twilight and get a clear view of the entrance. Saviour leaned up against me and within a few minutes we both fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.

***

"It's no use Rainbow Dash, it's too dark to see anything." Fluttershy called.

Rainbow Dash was circling the forest  for several hours, diving in and out of the trees at any noise that sounded like hoof beats, only to come back up disappointed. The sun had set several hours earlier and the moon now shone brilliantly over Equestria.

"I can't Fluttershy, she wouldn't stop for us!" Rainbow shouted back, taking another dive into the treeline.

"Please Rainbow... It's too dangerous for anypony to be in the forest at night. You can start again tomorrow."

"Uhhh..." Rainbow Dash moaned, "Fine."

She did not like leaving her friends when they needed her help, but her own exhaustion was getting the better of her.

Rainbow Dash descended from the sky and trotted over to Fluttershy.

"But I'm coming back first thing tomorrow morning."

"That' okay. Just try to get some sleep."

Rainbow Dash nodded and gave a small grunt before flying off in the direction of her home.

Poor Twilight, I hope she's alright...

***

The morning sun gleamed through the hole in my roof, slowly waking me from my blissfully ignorant slumber as I stretched my arms above my head, and I lay back down again. I almost fell asleep again, but a gentle nudge from my side stopped me.

"Umm... Hello?"

Still lying down I rolled over, putting my back away from the voice.

"Please, wake up." More nudging on my side.

I recognized the voice as Twilight's, but nonetheless I kept my eyes shut and waved her off with one hand.

"Just five more minutes," I pleaded in my sleep deprived state.

"Urghhh," She moaned, hitting me on my back with her hoof.

"Ow! Fine, fine. I'm up."

I sat up and rubbed my eyes, looking towards Twilight who seemed nervous, and slightly impatient, but other from a few sticks in her mane she was untouched by the dirt and grime. I on the other hand had mud soaked into my clothes, hair, and dried along my arms.

"How are you feeling?" I asked her, pointing to the injured leg.

"It's, better. I've used some soothing magic to help eliminate the pain." She put some weight on her leg and winced slightly. "But I don't think it's working very well. How about you?"

"I'm alright." I began to sit up, but a strong twinge of pain shot through my leg, forcing me to lie back down. "Scratch that..."

"Oh no..." Twilight put a hoof to her mouth, and pointed to my leg.

There was a long rip through my pants that tore through from my knee to my thigh, and a bloody gash along the side of my leg. Most of the colour had gone from my leg, replaced by a pale white, while a green fungi seemed to be growing inside of the wound. Much of the wound had been covered by the ground, and prevented any blood from seeping out, but the movement seemed to have opened the gash and let the blood flow freely again.

"This... This is not good, is it?" I began to feel woozy, and fell on my side.

"We... We need to get you to a doctor!" A voice shouted in my ear.

"These ponies have doctors... That's odd." My eyes closed and I felt my consciousness beginning to slip away.

***

Fluttershy woke to the sound of a rooster calling out for the start of a new day. With a yawn she got up from the bed and trotted down the stairs, ready to give her animal friends their breakfasts, and to get something for herself.

"Good morning!" She called to the animals, eagerly awaiting their next meal.

Fluttershy flew up to her cabinets and grabbed several boxes of pet food and placed some in small bowls for each of the animals. Gingerly putting each bowl in front of each animal.

"Eat up! You'll need your energy if you want to-"

A blinding flash of light erupted from her living room, causing the animals to fly, run, and climb out of open windows and doors. Fluttershy ducked under the table and put her hooves above her head, hiding from anything that was in the next room.

"Fluttershy!" A desperate voice  called from the next room.

Fluttershy recognized as Twilight's and wasted no time, running straight in to help her friend, flipping the table in the process.

"I'm coming Twilight!" Fluttershy leaped into the room, "What's wrong... Oh my..."

Fluttershy backed away at the sight of Twilight panting heavily over the monster that had attacked Angel, as well as the small rabbit Twilight had ran in to the forest to protect.

"Please Fluttershy! He's hurt!"

Fluttershy felt the urge to turn around and run, not wanting to go anywhere near the monster, but as she looked into Twilight's eyes she saw they were desperate and afraid. Fluttershy took a deep breath and flew to several cabinets, grabbing all medicines, bandages, and creams before sitting next to Twilight, nodding and beginning her work.

***

I woke up screaming loudly and panting heavily, not at anyone or anything in particular, but just terrified of dreams I could not remember.

Calming down I lay back down, but felt something soft under my head, unlike the usual hard dirt which I had grown accustomed to, and found myself sleeping on a comfortable mattress. I sat up on the bed, remembering the pain in my leg and looking around worriedly for any sign of life.

"Shh... You need your rest." The yellow pegasus I remembered to be Fluttershy came into view, gently pushing me down with a hoof. "You had a very nasty scratch and the medicine needs time to work."

My body took the offer and lay down, while my mind pleaded for something completely different.

"Are Twilight and Saviour okay?" I asked, sitting up once more.

"Yes Twilight and your rabbit friend are fine, just, um... Get some sleep. We can talk in the morning."

The bed was too comfortable and I was too tired to argue, so I simply nodded before lying down again and falling out of consciousness once more.