II.

„Know thine enemy.“

It was seven a clock in the morning as Luna’s moon was gently lowered from its place in the night´s sky to make place for a new day and Celestia´s sun.

The first rays of day began to crawl over the world of Equus, basking it in soft warmth. Everywhere, life in all forms and shapes would turn around on their respective sleeping spots, hoards, piles of hay, sleeping mats or beds as the first tentative rays of light found their ways into caves, dens or through closed curtains into bedrooms and right into the faces of griffins, diamond dogs, minotaur’s, dragons, ponies and oh so many more.

One of these rays along with its brethren just happened to be sent to an little town more or less located in the very center of Equestria, the land of colorful little equine creatures which called themselves Ponies. A town by the name of Ponyville.

Said ray flew directly over the matutinal idyll, towards the edge of the great forest that was known to every inhabitant of this land as the great Everfree Forest, one of the last places that could truly be called wild and uncontrolled.
A place where many headed Hydras, mighty Manticores or packs of cunning Timberwolves roamed free.
A place where mysterious plants like the unaccountable Poison Joke would prosper.

Yet there was exactly one building at the very edge of this undoubtedly dangerous place.

Located on a small hill there stood a cottage, although from a good distance one could came to the conclusion that the cottage was the hill itself with its slightly dome like form and grass covered roof. A plethora of small bird houses sat nestled on the cottages roof and in many smaller trees all around this unusual house. A small stream had carved its bed around the habitat, forcing every visitor without other means of transportation to use a frail looking yet sturdy bridge that spanned over the vividly gurgling body of water.

The little ray of light found its way past the thick curtains covering the window in the cottages roof and into the small and cozy bedroom that lay behind. With the uncanny precision that only a ray of light in the early morning could ever hope to possess, it made contact with a creamy yellow snout that peaked out of a mountain of fluffy blankets and pillows. At first, nothing happened, as usually while the ray worked its own magic. Then, the delicate snout started to wiggle. At first nearly unnoticeable but soon an undeniable urge started to well up in the owner of this snout and after a few more seconds, the most diminutive “Ah-choo!” could be heard, at least in close proximity of the small bed. This undeniable cute sound was followed by the face of a Pegasus mare with a light pink mane that suffered a severe case of bed-head that rose from out of the cozy fluffiness which was her bed.

Fluttershy yawned and rubbed the last traces of sleep from her eyes with her hooves. After stretching herself, the Pegasus carefully climbed out of her bed, avoiding to make any unnecessary sounds in order not to wake up all the little animals that had situated themselves in the various dens, holes and nests that lined most of the walls of Fluttershys bedroom. But mostly she did it to not wake up the occupant of a rather large basket close to her bed. Two long white ears stood out against the darker blankets as well as one long, white furred hind leg that dangled over the baskets edge, sporadically kicking the air. The animal caretaker smiled at the slumbering form of Angel Bunny, the closest of all of her animal friends. After that, Fluttershy used her very own combination of hovering just a hairs wide above the creaky wooden floor and tip-toeing to make her way downstairs. Towards her kitchen. Once she arrived, the mare began her morning routine. With practiced ease, Fluttershy placed several dozen food bowls everywhere on the floor of her kitchen and her living room and begun to fill them with nuts, seeds, fruits and varying vegetables. After placing three large bowls filled with fresh water between the food bowls, Fluttershy allowed herself a moment to examine her work and she found it was good. Everything was set for her little woodland friend’s breakfast. Gently opening the curtains in the kitchen and the living room, she caused the first early ups amongst her animals to pop their noses out of their sleeping places.

A red squirrel squeaked drowsily from its nest atop a bookshelf.

It took Fluttershy a moment to register that it has indeed addressed her. “Oh, a good morning to you too Nutsy. I hope you had a nice dream?” she responded finally.

More squeaks.

“Oh that’s so nice to hear. Yes, I slept well too, thank you very much.”

Nutsy the squirrel, now awake, scurried down the bookshelf and stopped at his equine caretakers hooves, squeaking again, this time with a questioning tone.

Fluttershy smiled one of her warm smiles. “Yes of course. Breakfast is prepared and ready. I would be delighted if you would do the honor today.” she said sweetly, encouraging the red rodent with a soft brush of her wing.

Not losing any time, the squirrel put its thumb and index finger in its snout and blew. The produced whistle was high and rang through every corner of the cottage. Soon after, a miniature stampede made of mice, rabbits, squirrels and even a flock of small birds filled the kitchen and the living room since the breakfast bell had been officially rung.

Satisfied Fluttershy turned around just in time to see Angel Bunny decent from the upper floor. The white rabbit stopped at the Pegasus hooves, opening its mouth and gesturing with its paw, clearly demanding food. “Oh of course Angel Bunny, momma would never forget about you.” Fluttershy cooed affectionately and placed a plate filled with lettuce and carrots in front of her pet.

Confusion played over Angel’s face which was soon replaced with discontent. Giving the food in front of him a raspberry, Angel started an angry serious of gestures and to cement his point, stomping his large feet at the end of his little tirade.

“But look Angel Bunny, those are your favorite carrots. I bought them just yesterday from Carrot Top.” Fluttershy tried to reason with her sometimes thickheaded rabbit “See, they are so~oo crunchy and delicious.” She nudged one of the orange roots closer to the pouting rabbit with her snout.

With a raised eyebrow, Angel picked up the carrot and gave it a sniff.

Fluttershy´s teal eyes widened with anticipation, only to get the carrot thrown into her face with a resounding ‘thumb’.

Making a gagging sound, the picky rodent attempted to kick the plate with the unwanted food into his owners face too when something unpredictable happened.

“Angel. Fluffington. Bunny!”

Instantly every animal inside the cottage, Angel included, froze. It was rare like an ice cube in the Saddle Arabian desert during summer for the yellow Pegasus to use her white rabbit’s full name (she had done it only twice since she got him as an infant) but any animal acquainted with her knew that it meant serious business. Not stare-level business but nonetheless!

Angel gulped audible as his beady black eyes met Fluttershys. The normally pleasant to look at pools of watery teal color now gave a stern aura of authority. This together with the nearly undetectable hint of sharpness in Fluttershys normally hushed voice made Angel drop all plans of childish behavior instantly and instead taking a carrot in each paw, taking big bites out of them while making sure to express the outmost pleasure about it with a more shaky then geniue smile and several ‘hmmm’-sounds.

Giving her little rascal a content nod, Fluttershy trotted back into her kitchen to have a little breakfast herself. For some a reason, she felt like having a sandwich. A really big one. A sandwich made for a winner.

…

Soon after, the mare found herself sitting on her little kitchens table, munching on a (medium sized) sandwich. She even had found it fitting to open the jar with the rare winter strawberry marmalade from Staliongrad that had been given to her by her mother a while ago. Watching the last of her friends finish their breakfast, Fluttershy took a moment to muse over her morning so far. >>My, I really was a bit harsh on Angel, wasn´t I? I need to find a way to make it up to him and… no, no Fluttershy he had clearly overstepped his bounds and deserved a teensy tiny scolding. A little firmness will do him good on the long run. Still, maybe I could make him this salad he likes so much tomorrow?<< Finishing her sandwich, Fluttershy looked on the calendar on her fridge. Three days from today were marked with two capital M´s connected with a plus and a hoovedrawn baby bottle.

Of course! Manny and Martha the Manticores were excepting their first offspring in three days! And she was supposed to check on Martha every day until then. The thought of cute, clumsy little Manticore kittens alone was enough to make Fluttershys heart soar. She could already picture them making their first shaky steps, mewling in high pitched voices for milk and tussling with each other playfully. A happy “Squeee~” stole itself from the yellow Pegasus lips. Fluttershy had known Manny for two years now, since their faithful encounter during the events of Nightmare Moons return when the demure mare had pulled out an offending thorn from the agitated feline predators sensitive paw. Soon afterwards, Manny had shown up at Fluttershys cottage to express his gratitude. Unfortunately he had decided to do so by gifting the shredded remains of a deer to his savior. Fluttershy could remember vividly the blood caked muzzle of the Manticore, showing a hopeful smile as he nudged the bloody corpse closer to her. It should be needless to say, poor Fluttershy had fainted from sheer shock.
Of course, everything had played out well in the end. After Angel had been able to wake her up with smelling salts, Fluttershy had mustered every ounce of willpower and politely declined the well-intended gift and instead offered a simple hug as a sufficient gesture of gratitude. After Manny had himself cleaned of all the blood of course. Not long after this ‘incident’ Manny had met his Martha and promptly introduced his new mate to his pony friend which nearly had led to a medium catastrophe as the female Manticore mistook all the smaller critters at Fluttershys cottage for prey but luckily both Fluttershy and Manny had been able to save the situation (and Angel Bunny who had come this close to see Marthas teeth from up close). From that day on, the Manticore couple would occasionally come by for a visit or in some rare cases, Fluttershy would even visit them at their cave which was luckily for the timid Pegasus located not far away from the path to Zecoras hut.

Placing the now empty food bowls in the kitchens sink, Fluttershy mentally skipped through the checklist she had made with Twilights help after Manny had told her that he would be a father soon. Both Fluttershy and Twilight had learned a surprising amount about Maticores from the books at the lavender Unicorns library. For example, that Manticores had a very high tendency to give birth to twins or in rare cases even triplets which would mean a lot of stress for the mother, so the ever caring Fluttershy had decided to aid her friend and his wife. For almost six months now, Fluttershy had assisted the pair in finding suitable materials to make a comfortable bedding for Martha and her future children and she even persuaded Barry the Bear to provide some of the fish he would sometimes catch for himself to ensure the mother-to-be would get all the nutrition she needed. All she had to do now was to make sure that the oncoming birth would be without complications. For this purpose and much to Fluttershys enormous joy, Zecora the local zebra and shamaness had agreed to cook up a special mixture to ease the labour for Martha. Looking at her calendar again, Fluttershy noticed the drawing of a steaming cauldron and a big exclamation mark on the actual date. Today was the day the brew was complete and ready to be delivered. A task that instantly chased away all the cozy happiness from earlier. As much as Fluttershy loved the thought of fluffy little Manticore kittens and Manny and Martha becoming loving parents, the thought that she not only have to travel all the way to the zebras isolated hut just to venture even deeper into the Everfree to deliver the potion to the Manticores caused her massive nausea.

“Come on Fluttershy, you can do this. No. You WILL do this!” the Pegasus mare said to herself as she walked over to her front door and picked up her saddle bags, trying to assert herself. “I mean, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Twilight visit Zecora all the time and nothing ever happens to them… except this one time with the Cockatrice that petrified Twilight… or that pack of Timberwolves that nearly chased the Crusaders into a chasm… or…” Fluttershy felt her legs turn into jelly and cold dread formed in her stomach, causing her to break down on the floor. “Oh who am I kidding? I can´t do this, there is no way in the wide world that a measly coward like me could do this! I simply can´t!” Fluttershy buried her face in her forelegs and started weeping until a gentle patting on her shoulder caused her to look up. Angel Bunny and Nutsy the squirrel sat by her side, comfortingly patting the crying mare. The red squirrel gave a series of squeaks in varying pitches while the rabbit “talked” to his owner in is usual mute way. “R-really? You tw-two would do that for me? You would come with me all the way to Zecora´s?” Fluttershy asked, her voice still trembling and tears matting the fur on her cheeks.

Nutsy gave a confirming nod while Angel didn´t seemed too fond of that idea. At least until the squirrels elbow made rather violent contact with his ribs. That caused Angel to nod too while simultaneously giving Nutsy a side glare that would have almost put ‘the Stare’ to shame.

Fluttershy swept her little friends up with her forelegs and into the gentlest bear hug in the recorded history of Equus “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you. You didn´t know how much that means to me!” she breathed joyfully.

Angel, still maintaining the strained smile of his, turned his head to his fellow rodent and motioned what could be translated as ‘You owe me buddy. BIG TIME!’

Wiping the last tears away, the now much more self-confident Fluttershy put on her saddle bags, placed her two little companions on her back and left her house, the whole ‘conversation’ between the two luckily eluding her attention.

°°°

“Argh, my head. By the saints, that was nastier than a pit-fight with a hungry Kroot!” Commander Johm groaned and rubbed his head just to feel sticky wetness. Examining his hand he spotted a small bloodstain. “Well, explains this trickling down my neck.” the naval officer said to no one in particular as he pulled himself up. The bridge of the “Tabula Rasa” looked like a bomb had gone off. Sparks came out of destroyed screens, emergency lights dousing the whole scenery in a ghostly red light, several crew members lay strewn across the floor in slowly growing, dark puddles, some were stumbling around disoriented and only a handful was already feverishly working their consoles, completely ignoring the chaos around them. Leaning against a support beam the Commander yelled “Ship Master! Volstag, are you still alive you crazy son of a snow-stalker?” Ignoring the throb in his head, he listened. Just to be surprised by a powerful hand that grasped his shoulder.

Ship Master Volstag greeted his superior with a toothy smile. “Still alive? Da, Commander. Unharmed? Nyiet! Look what these warp-damned xenos have done to my moustache!” the robust Valhallan said with a mixture of rage and sadness coloring his voice, while gesturing to his facial hair. The eccentric beard was almost completely singed of.

“Well, I would believe that right now, we have much more dire problems than your facial hair Ship Master.” a new, calm voice filled the air of the cruiser´s bridge, stealing Johm´s retour to Volstags complaint. Both men turned around as a woman glad in a simple black robe entered the room through an half open door which’s opening mechanism was shooting out more sparks then an shield generator build by an Big Mek. Her platinum white hair was tussled, the little round glasses on her nose were cracked and her right arm was held in a sling.

“Helia.” Both officers acknowledged the Sister Dialogis´ presence with a nod.

Pushing up her glasses with her left hand, Helia addressed the Commander with a cross expression “What in the holy name of Terra hit us Flavio? Are you trying to get us all killed on purpose?”

The Cadian gave the Scholar a shrug that he instantly regretted as a sharp pain shot through his whole body. “I´d like to see you evade the shockwave of an exploding xeno portal my dear.” he said through clenched teeth.

Sister Helia sighed, walked past both men and straight up to the big bridges window, using her good arm to support herself against the glass and gazed into the endless darkness of the empty space behind it. Finally, she beckoned them over with a weak wave. She waited patiently until Commander Johm and Ship Master Volstag came to a stop by her side. The three of them stood there for what felt like hours until the Sister Dialogis finally broke the silence between them. Not averting her gaze from the shimmering planet that was orbited by a small, single moon and against all laws of the universe an enormous bright sun in front of the imperial ship, Helia stated dryly “Well gentleman, I do not think we are in the Segmentum Obscurus anymore.”

°°°

Fluttershy trotted along the small but surprisingly worn out path that led deeper into the Everfree Forest. The Pegasus had never been truly comfortable with traversing the wild and dark woods, always jumping at the tiniest sound of a creaking branch, a rustling in the bushes, the wind blowing through old, hollowed out trees or the sometimes really strange sound the local birds would make.
But at least, there were just that. Sounds.
Today, there was nothing. Just the steady rhythm of crunching hoof steps on the meandering path and her own breathing that sounded as loud as the roaring of an angry dragon to Fluttershy. It was almost as if every living being inside this huge forest had gone into hiding for a reason unknown to her and the Everfree itself was holding its breath. That thought alone was almost enough to make the mare turn tail and gallop back into the cozy safety of her cottage as fast as her legs would carry her.
Almost.
But there were exact three reasons Fluttershy was not running for her dear life right now. Number one was a pair of really nice Manticores with two or possibly even three kittens on the way, waiting for a brew to alleviate the stress of labour for the future mother.
Reason two was a white rabbit, perched on top of her head like the lookout on a watchtower and number three was a red squirrel riding on her back, watching the surrounding woods with unwavering vigilance.
The yellow Pegasus could not help herself but to admire her little guardians. As soon as she had crossed the forests border, a switch had been flipped and both Angel and Nutsy had took a post, instantly going into full guardian mode. They had even ‘armed’ themselves with small sticks that they were holding like spears right now. It was almost as if Fluttershy was not a pony anymore but became a walking little castle and they were her guards. With the faintest little giggle elicited by that silly thought, ‘Castle Fluttershy’ proceeded with her trek through the forest that was suddenly not so ominous anymore.

After walking for the better part of an hour Fluttershy decided to take a little break to rest her hooves and maybe refresh herself a bit. It was going to be a beautiful summer’s day and despite the big trees all around her and the shadows they produced; it was quite warm today, even in the deeper parts of the Everfree. Sitting down on a fallen tree near the path she pulled a canteen out of her saddlebags and took a long sip. The water inside was still cool enough to refresh the thirsty mare and after she was done, Fluttershy filled the cap of her canteen with the refreshing liquid and hooved it to the already waiting Angel Bunny and after refilling the cap to Nutsy too. “I can’t let my courageous little guardians go thirsty now, can I?” the mare asked with a sweet smile as she watched her two animal friends down the water. She was about to take out an apple she had brought along as a snack as a faint moaning reached her sensitive ears. Forgetting about the apple nearly instantly, Fluttershy turned around and starred into the woods in an attempt to locate the source of the sound. As her eyes flicked around the underbrush, likewise did her ears and soon she heard it again. Fluttershy was torn. This sounded like some animal that was wounded, lost or even both. Or maybe it was even a pony! A traveler from a faraway land maybe, knowing nothing about the dangers of the Everfree that got lost on his or her travels. Under normal circumstances this would have sufficed to make Fluttershy abandon all fear and gallop to aid whoever needed her help but she still needed to go to Zecoras´ for that labour potion. Again, a moan reached her ears, sounding even more strained and thinner than before. That did it for the compassionate Pegasus. Swooping Angel and Nutsy up and back on her back with her wings, Fluttershy began to make herself a way into the thick underbrush. More than one time, twigs get entangled in her long mane and tail but Fluttershy clenched her teeth together and pulled through, always following the moaning. >>Oh I really, really hope I will be able to reach this poor animal or pony in time.<< she thought as she evaded a large patch of stinging nettles >>Judging after the sound I may be already too late. No Fluttershy! You don´t start thinking like this. You will be there in time and you will help whoever will be in need of help, pony or animal!<< the mare mentally encouraged herself.

Finally she reached a small clearing with a single, mighty tree in its center. The tree however seemed to got hit by a lightning long ago, seeing as only the lower half was still standing while the upper half was lying nearby, devoid of any leaves. Also it looked like that at some point, an animal had decided to hollow out the reaming trunk at ground level, creating a small cave with an entrance barley wide enough for a pony to fit in but twice as high. The source of the moaning clearly was inside this cave. Taking a few tentative steps towards the trunk, Fluttershy asked carefully “H-hello? Is somepony in there? Or are you an animal?”

Her answer was audible shuffling inside the dark cave.

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Fluttershy took another step towards the old tree. “There, there. No need to be afraid. I´m not going to hurt you or anything, I want to help you. Why don´t you come out and let me see what I can do for you?” she cooed, trying to coerce whoever was hiding in that trunk to come out. Every trace of fear were gone by now. There was a living being in need of help and came Tartarus or high water, Fluttershy was going to help! She was close enough that she could clearly hear labored breathing now, only a hooves length away from the trunk.

Angel, the whole time perched on Fluttershys head suddenly tensed up as his owner got closer and closer to that old tree. He was not able to put his paw on it but something was foul here, especially now that the normally cowardly Pegasus seemed to start developing an actual spine! In an attempt to steer her away from the trunk, Angel took a hold of Fluttershys ears and tried to use them as steering levers but to no avail. All he got as a reward for trying to save her hide from an obvious trap was a disappointed headshake.

“Oh Angle, don’t be silly.” Fluttershy said softly to her beloved pet rabbit “There is no dan….” She never got a chance to finish that sentence as suddenly a black appendance, for the lack of a better description, shot out of the darkness and an nearly bench vice like grip closed around the surprised Pegasus´ throat. Panic fuelling her, Fluttershy tried to scream and kick only for the grip to become more intense. Slowly she felt herself get lifted from her hooves, her own bodyweight threatening to strangle her as her hind legs finally lost ground contact. Tears started to well up in her eyes as she began to felt how difficult it had gotten for her to breathe.

And then, she saw her captor as IT came out of the trunk. It was a creature like none Fluttershy had ever seen before and never ever wanted to see before. The thing was at least twice her high, had a very lean, almost skinny but muscular build as far as she could see through the veil of her own tears and its skin was as pitch black as a moonless night. It also was standing upright on its hind legs and holding her by her throat with its left foreleg. Atop its head, it had a wild mane of bone white hair which was covering its face.

Fluttershy tried to speak but she only managed to press out a few choppy sounds, weakly pawing with her hooves at the iron like grip around her neck.

The thing brought its prey closer to its face. Close enough for the trembling pony to realize that it literally had no face! There was just more black, smooth skin. At least until a pair of flaming green eyes suddenly opened on the blank surface like skin being ripped open, followed quickly by a gaping maw full of sharp predator teeth, that shone in the same green light from within like its eyes. The monster then let lose a screeching wail that hurt Fluttershys ears before tossing her violently a few meters away.

Coughing Fluttershy lay on the ground as she tried to regain her bearings. A aoen old instinct told her to look up, not to let a threat to her life out of her view for even a second so she looked up and saw the monstrous being reaching behind its back and much to her horror pulling out a silvery blade as long as one of her legs from a chord that held some kind of skirt in place. A voice inside her mind told her to unfold her wings and flee since she would stand no chance if she would try to fight but her feathery appendances were frozen stiff against her sides from pure terror. So all she did at the moment was to gaze at the approaching monster with wide eyes, tears streaming down her face in rivers and trembling like a thin twig in a storm.

A malicious smile formed on the creatures face as it recognized the sweet smell of unadulterated horror. This yellow thing radiated such delicious amounts of fear, it would be a waste to kill it now. No, the dark being would savor every moment of sweet agony it could get out of this sobbing wreck. Slowly it approached its victim, raising its blade. Until something collided with its leg. Looking down, the monster saw two small creatures, a white one and a red one clenching around its legs with their own, without a doubt in a vain attempt to save the crying yellow creature. Without even slowing down, the dark creature kicked both of its legs with surprising force, sending the two pests flying into the underbrush one after another.

Seeing both Angel Bunny and Nutsy heroically trying to slow her dark assailant down just to be kicked away ripped Fluttershy out of her stupor. “Angel, Nutsy, NOOOOO~!” she cried on top of her lungs, finally regaining enough control over her body to stand up again, turn around and to start running. Fluttershys thoughts were doing somersaults. She needed to get Angel and Nutsy and then get to Ponyvile as fast as possible. She needed to tell Twilight about this monster, she needed to warn everypony, she needed to…

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH~!!!!!!”

Fluttershy screamed like she never had screamed before, searing pain flooded her mind as her left hind leg refused to carry her weight any longer and send her into the dirt. In a reflex, she looked at her leg to see what was wrong with it and went pale. A long cut stood out against her bright coat, dark red blood gushing out of it, drenching her fur and dripping onto the forest floor. An iron like claw clutched into her mane and violently pulled her head back, earning a pained cry from the Pegasus. Slowly, a silvery blade covered in her own blood came into her view, stopping right in front of her throat. Fluttershy could see her own reflection in it as well as the reflection of her torturer. She suddenly knew what would happen next. This monster, this unspeakable cruel monster would let its blade slowly glide over the soft tissue of her throat, the cut would not deep enough to kill her instantly but deep enough to ensure she would die a excruciating death, slowly bleeding out with nopony to help her. Alone with a monster.
Tears and mucus streaming down her face, Fluttershy sobbed without restraint “Oh Celestia I do-… I don´t want to die… *hick*… please… some-*hick*somepony… anypony… please save *hick* save me… Twilight, Rainbow… *hick, hick* Momma, Daddy… *hick* please… save your little filly… please… oh please…”

Licking its lips, the creature wallowed in its victims fear and misery. It brought the blade closer the tender flesh of the throat, eager to spill more blood, to cause more pain, to…

Whack! With a pained howl the dark monster let go of its victim as a hard and fast object slammed against its skull and forced it to take several steps back. Screeching in disbelief, the beast looked for the fool that had interrupted its meal and found… another weird creature standing protectively in front of the sobbing yellow one. It was a creature similar to the yellow one but this one had no wings. Instead it had a grey and black stripped hide, the hair was done up in a Mohawk and several pieces of golden jewelry adorned its neck and left foreleg. Massive earrings dangled from its ears and its cyan eyes were fixated on its opponent with a glare that showed no fear, only barley contained, boiling anger. Also the new creature was standing on its hind legs, wielding what looked like a long wooden staff in the crook of its right foreleg in some kind of fighting stance.

“Be gone you hideous beast! On Miss Fluttershy you never will feast!” the newcomer spoke in a low, exotic voice “You made her cry and caused her pain, you showed nothing for her but pure disdain! I don´t know what you are but I know one thing clearly; for every shed tear, I will make you pay dearly!” the stripped one promised.

Fluttershys heart nearly leaped out of her throat as not only the unbudging grip of her mane vanished but also as she heard a rich and exotic voice that could only belong to one zebra in all of Equestria. She managed to turn around, hissing as the burning feeling in her leg intensified but ignoring the pain as far as possible to see her savior standing protectively in front of her. “Zecora!” the distraught Pegasus managed to croak out, her voice on the verge of breaking but at the same time brimming with hope.

Zecora balanced on her hind legs with her staff ready in her forelegs crook, her gaze never straying from that strange black monster in front of her. Today had been the day her special brew for the pregnant Manticore had been finished and knowing of Fluttershys fear of the wild forest the zebra mare called her home, Zecora had decided to meet her Pegasus friend half the way to ease her burden a bit. Truly it had been a surprise for the herb expert as Fluttershys bunny companion Angel and a red squirrel came flying out of the underbrush, surprising Zecora ever so slightly. Even more surprised Zecora had been as she spotted the strange but without a doubt hostile, black, monster that was attempting to slit open an crying and babbling Fluttershys throat. Not hesitating, the zebra had tossed the flask with the labour brew to the still slightly dazed Angel with the instruction to deliver it as fast as possible to the waiting Manticores in her stead and after that, returing to Fluttershys cottage. Praying to the spirits, Zecora then had entered the clearing and launched herself at Fluttershys attacker, swinging her trusty staff she always took along whenever she would leave her hut to collect herbs, just in case of a feisty predator should cross her path. She had been able to surprise it and land a lucky blow but just a quick glance told the zebra that this monster would put up quite a fight. Then she heard the nearly breaking voice of her dear friend Fluttershy from behind her, as well as the stirring of the timid Pegasus. “Miss Fluttershy, please don´t move and keep your muzzle shut or else I am afraid you will bleed out from this cut.” The shamaness instructed the quivering mare with as much warmth as possible without turning around “As soon as I am done with my punishment dealing, I will get you quickly to the house of healing.” Zecora promised. But first she had to deal with this beast. It was unlike anything she had encountered so far in all her travels, both in the spiritual and the material realm. At least its body structure was somehow similar to a Diamond Dog, just without the, well, Dog. So she assumed that a good couple of strong hits to the right places should inflict enough pain to drive it off and teach the black thing a lesson. At least she hoped so but the Zecora had no real time to ponder about that as the monster leapt at her, screeching like an evil spirit with its bloodied blade held high.

Not losing any time, Zecora met her opponent half the way. Dodging a wide swing, she dived through underneath the beasts attack, delivering a blow of her own to the ribs of the black being. Her enemy reacted fast and slashed with its free claw at her which she narrowly avoided by dropping on all four legs. The monster used that opportunity to try and stab the pesky zebra through the neck but again the blade missed its mark as Zecora dropped into a pushup stance, abandoning her staff and instead swinging both her hind legs around herself in a fluid motion. The zebra’s hooves made contact with the monsters shins and a loud cracking could be heard, followed by a pained wail. Crying for blood, the monster slashed madly at its elusive opponent but was not able to land a hit.

Fluttershy stared with wide eyes as Zecora danced around the beast, spun and dodged attacks with astonishing grace while placing dozens of hits of her own with her staff or even her bare hooves, fluently switching between moving on all four legs or only on her hind legs. In Fluttershys eyes, the shamaness suddenly seemed to have turned into an untouchable warrior, pretty much like the mane character from Spikes “Zena” comics. At least until the monster was finally able to land a hit at the zebra’s cheek, leaving a profusely bleeding gash.

Zecora swayed back and forth like a dancer to keep her up-right stance as she felt the pain and the blood running down from her right cheek, sweat matting her coat. That monster was tough; she had to give it that. She had dished out enough punishment to send a whole pack of Diamond Dogs running back to their mothers with their tails between their legs but this creature was still up and running, albeit it was starting to move more sluggish. >>Well, this is not a Diamond Dog after all.<< she thought before addressing the visibly fuming monster “I will admit you are tough but I have to end this soon or my dear friend may not be able to see her next moon. So come at me and show me what you´ve got or are you afraid of me you big shot?” Zecora sing-songed with a taunting smile. And it worked. With an roar that send every bird in an two kilometer radius around the small clearing flying, the black beast charged at Zecora, its blade gripped with both claws and held ready to perform an horizontal slash with the clear intend to decapitate the striped mare. Predicting this kind of maneuver, Zecora used her staff to jump in the last moment over the silver arc of the deadly weapon and brought down her own attack in form of a devastating kick with both her hind hooves on the monsters vulnerable back.

Fluttershy flinched and quickly closed her eyes as Zecora brought her hooves down on her enemy, the cracking sound of bones getting shattered loud enough to paint a vivid picture for her. As she opened them again, she saw an extremely spent but victorious Zecora trotting over to her, the defeated monster behind her sprawled motionless in the dirt. Before her savior was able to speak, the Pegasus catapulted herself literally onto her, wrapping her trembling legs around Zecora´s neck and began to sob nearly inaudible "Thank you´s" into the shamaness shoulder´s coat.

Zecora smiled and gently stroked the shaking and crying mares mane, comforting the terrified Fluttershy to the best of her abilities but broke the soothing hug quickly, rummaging through her saddlebags.

Fluttershy watched Zecora taking a small linen pouch from her bags which the wise mare opened and shook it over her leg wound. A brownish powder trickled out of it onto the wounded flesh. The moment the strange concoction made contact, Fluttershy felt an almost icy but pleasant chill numbing the wound and to her huge surprise, melding together into a dirty brown tissue that completely covered the wound and stopped the bleeding. The yellow mare stared in wide eyed wonder, electing a warm chuckle from her counterpart.

“This is medicine made from shed Hydras hide, some of the best first aid one can provide.” Zecora answered Fluttershys unspoken question, putting the empty pouch back in her saddle bags. “Sadly you are bleeding quite strong, so it won´t last very long. All it can do is to stall but you are still in dire need on an hospital. So let us don’t waste time with talk, instead let us walk.” Getting on her hooves, Zecora assisted Fluttershy to shakily join her, offering her shoulder as support and began to lead her away from the clearing, leaving the defeated monster behind.

Even though the powder numbed her wound and eased her pain, Fluttershy still found it difficult to maintain a normal walking rhythm. Every few steps she would stumble, forcing Zecora to catch her. Nonetheless Fluttershy felt indescribable gratitude filling her heart. If it had not been for her striped friend… Softly shaking her head, Fluttershy chased that thought away. Instead she chooses to address her savior. “Erhm…. Ze-zecora?” she mumbled in her hushed tone. The shamaness did not face her but instead signaled her attention with an audible hum. “I… I wa-want to… I want to say thank you…” Fluttershy began, her even under normal circumstances quite voice quickly descending into a mere whisper while a bright blush crept onto her cheeks and her ears folded themselves into her mane.

Shaking her head slightly with a good natured smile, Zecora gave her timid friend another rich chuckle “You are very welcome dear Fluttershy, I… uh?”

Confused that Zecora had not finished her sentence, Flutterhsy turned her head towards the zebra. Zecora had stopped walking and was looking down towards her hooves with an utterly baffled expression. Following her line of sight Fluttershy found the reason for Zecoras behavior and it made her stomach turn into an icy pit. Protruding from the zebra’s neck was a silvery blade, now coated in a filigree web of purest crimson. Fluttershy let out a silent scream as the blade retracted and Zecora broke down without making a single sound, her eyes rolling back and bloody foam began to pour from her muzzle. Feeling new tears welling up from her eyes, Fluttershy turned around fully and began to shake uncontrolled, faintly whispering “No…” over and over again. There, right behind her stood the monster, its bloodstained weapon triumphantly hold up. It was visible bruised and battered form the fight with Zecora, a thick, black liquid that evaporated into black mist whenever it dripped onto the ground trickling from several wounds and one of its horrible eyes swollen shut. But nonetheless it stood there, licking the razor-sharp blade clean from Zecoras blood with the dilatoriness of a true gourmet, with a strangely serpentine tongue. And the whole time, its remaining good eye remained fixated on Fluttershy, the promise that she will be the next to taste the sharpness of the deadly blade glimmering in the hellish green orb.

Suddenly a high pitched whine filled the air, a wave of intense heat washed over Fluttershy and from one second to the next, the head and shoulders of the bloodthirsty monstrosity was encased in a bright ball of bluish-white fire. As the flames died out, Fluttershys eyes nearly popped out of their sockets from sheer horror as she watched the now headless body slump down into a heap and quickly started to dissolve into black mist that was quickly dissipating. Unable to process what just happened Fluttershy did the only thing her blank mind was able to come up with. She laid down, nudging her mortally wounded friend ever so gently with her hoof, muttering “Zecora?” over and over like a broken record.

“That was a great shot my friend.” A new, stretched voice rang out from behind Fluttershy but the near-catatonic Pegasus did not noticed them.

“Yes, I did not believe you would be able to pull that off. I really expected your gun to blow up in your face.” Another voice chimed it. Like the first, it sounded oddly stretched.

“Go and suck an Ork´s cock Sorn. You know there is no kill like overkill and no overkill is like a headshot with a plasma gun!” A third voice half yelled, half boasted.

Would Fluttershy had turned around, she would have witnessed as the thick underbrush of the Everfree Forest divided and made way for a trio of strange, bipedal creatures. They were easily as tall as the black skinned monster but they seemed to posses a bright red hide instead that was covered in thick, black armor plates. A single blue eye with no visible iris or pupil dominated their heads and the faces of the three newcomers were completely obscured by a metallic mask of some kind. Two of them were holding a strange contraption in their claws like upper appendances that seemed to consist of a handle and a short pipe coming out of a long stretched box, with a rope connected to the box near the handle that lead behind their backs. The third however was carrying a different contraption with it. It was similar to the one of its companions but it had a broader muzzle and a long portion of the boxes upper half was glowing in the same eerie blue like the three creatures eyes.

“Well, you iced that damn Mandrak nicely at last. Took us long enough to hunt that frakking xeno down.” The first creature spoke again only to abruptly come to an halt “What in His holy name is that?” It said and pointed at the still cowering and unmoving yellow creature in front of them.

“Keep your guns hot and ready, I’m going to check this.” the third creature said and began to cautiously approach the strange thing in front of them.

Finally noticing that there was something behind her as a shadow fell over her, Fluttershy turned her head. She was greeted by a small metal pipe she nearly slammed her muzzle into and as her gaze wandered up, only to be greeted by the view of an cyclopean creature that was at least as frightening as the black monster had been. Fluttershy felt her heart hammering against her ribcage as her breathing rate soared to unknown highs as two more creatures joined the first one, clutching weird contraptions with their claws. They seemed to study her as if they were unsure what to do. Then, they spoke. At least Flutterhy assumed that the three beings did because she could see no visible muzzle or maw movements but still heard three different voices.

“In all my time, I´ve never seen such… things. You think those are some kind of animals?” One said.

“Could be. Maybe beasts of burden? Look, they have bags strapped on them and they seemed to be marked.” Another one added, pointing at Fluttershsys saddlebags and her cutie mark.

“The striped one is wounded, pretty bad. Looks like our friend had some fun with them before we offed him. Hmm, you think their owner is still around here?”

A short pause followed as the three creatures seemed to exchange wordless glares, their strange devices constantly trained at Fluttershy and Zecora. Fluttershy tried to comprehend what was just happening. While the most parts of what these creatures were saying sounded like gibberish to her, she recognized some words now and then such as ‘animals’ or ‘mark’. Now was Fluttershy not anywhere as smart as Twilight but even in her panic ridden state of mind, she could puzzle herself together a few things. First, the three creatures had killed the black monster without breaking a sweat. Two, the strange contraptions in their claws were probably some kind of weapon judging by the way they were holding them. Three, those new creatures were at least as dangerous as the black monster.

“Ah damn it, I can´t see this thing suffer. I´m going to deliver it from its pain.” The creature to Fluttershys right suddenly announced, pointing its weapon at the fallen zebra. This seemed to irritate its companions to a degree.

“Why bother? You´re just wasting ammo.” The middle one said.

“Yeah, come on, let´s get back to the others. Can´t you see, it will be dead in minutes. Plus I bet the blood scent will attract every predator in this blasted jungle like Grox shit attracts flies.” The black armored being to the left said.

“Fuck off you two, I can’t help it. I grew up on an agriculture world, guess that caring for animals somehow stuck with me.” The right creature retorted before stepping closer to the bleeding and twitching Zecora. “Shh, everything will be over soon.” It softly said with its strangely stretched voice.

Fluttershys pupils turned to pinpricks as she realized what the red and black creature was about to do. The animal caretaker had often enough experienced a similar situation where one of her charges had become too old, too sick or had suffered to severe injuries for anypony to help and had to be put down for its own good. To the blue eyed biped, Zecora was now just that. A mortally wounded animal that needed to be put out of its misery.

Time itself seemed to slow down as the dull silver muzzle of the alien weapon was lined up with Zecora, aiming at her heart.

Fluttershy felt her limbs turn to lead, a lump big like a wagons wheel forming in her throat.

The creature took a deep breath in, claws tightening around the contraption.

Deep, deep inside the darkest corners of Fluttershys mind, something clicked and suddenly the under normal circumstances unnatural timid Pegasus bursts into action, a blurry flash of cream yellow feathers and tear filled eyes. Her outstretched fore hoof made violent contact with the weapon, knocking it away from her friend and causing the bright red flash of light that erupted from of it to harmlessly impact with a patch of forest floor. All while she screamed her loudest “Nooo~!” on top of her lungs. Wings flared open as wide as possible, Fluttershy positioned herself between her fallen savior and the three bipeds, new rivers of tears matting her already damp cheeks.

°°°

Trooper Sorn, specialist Finch and mostly trooper Aleksandr starred with mouths hanging wide open behind their respirator masks, unable to comprehend what just had happened.

“Did… what… what the trice damned warp just happened? And… are those… wings?” Aleksandr asked, overcoming his stupor first.

“Forget the wings! Did that thing just spoke?” Sorn yelled alarmed, training his hellgun at the winged creature, his trigger finger visibly twitching.

Ironically it was Finch, the specialist with the plasma gun who seemed to be to only one that was left somewhat unfazed. “Okay you two, calm. The frakk. Down. You´re acting like two fresh recruits on their first day of training. Yes Alek, those are wings. And you Sorn,” he placed a hand on his fellow soldiers gun for emphasis “put down that gun before you accidently do something stupid. Again.” Nodding in satisfaction as Sorn lowered his weapon while grumbling something incoherent in his mask, Finch activated the build in short distance com in his helmet. “I bet Lady Nor will be interested in this. This is Delta team, specialist Finch speaking. I have an important message for Lady Inquisitor Nor. I repeat, important message for Lady Nor!”

A burst of static attacked the troopers ears that quickly was replaced by the voice of his leader. “This is Ralya Nor speaking. Your report trooper.” She said, curiosity coloring her voice.

The trooper nodded before continuing although his superior could not see the gesture of respect “At once Milady. After searching for one and a half standard hours, we were able to track down and eliminate one of the Mandrakes your Ladyship had detected earlier. It seemed that the xeno had attacked and wounded what first appeared to be two specimens of the local fauna but now it seems that we encountered two members of the indigenous population instead.”

“What gives you that idea trooper?” the Inquisitor inquired through the com.

Awkwardly rubbing the back of his helmet, Finch answered “Well, one of the xenos… talked to us I think.”

“You think? Did it talk or did it not?”

“Ehrm, well, the three of us are very sure it talked as Aleksandr tried to put down the wounded one and…”

“He WHAT?!?” a scream laden with disbelief reverberated through the speakers of Finch´s helmet. “Don´t move even a finger, every one of you! We will meet you at your position ASAP. Just secure the area and make sure that these xenos don’t die on you. That´s an order trooper!”

Finch straightened himself before answering with a firm “As you command Milady!” He was about to pass the orders to his comrades as Raylas voice again could be heard inside his helmet.

“One more thing specialist. Could you describe how these xenos look like? Just in case we encounter some on our way to you.” The Inquisitor asked, unable to hide her awoken curiosity now.

“I´m afraid your Ladyship would never believe me. It is for the best to see for yourself.” The trooper answered with an audible sigh.

“Good. Ehrm yes, this will be all. Inquisitor Nor out.” With that, the com was silent once again.

Shaking his head slightly, specialist Finch prepared himself to deliver the new orders to his fellow troopers.

°°°

Pain. That was the most prominent feeling Fluttershy had at the moment. Pain in her leg from the sudden strain to her wound, pain in her lungs from the overuse when she screamed and pain in her wings for nearly overextending them in the attempt to shield Zecora from the black and red creatures. In fact, pain had seemingly replaced everything in the mares world. Stirring behind her made Fluttershy turn around. A shocked gasp escaped her mouth as she saw her friend laying in a pool of her own blood. Frantic thoughts began to race through Fluttershys mind. She had to do something, Zecora would die for sure if Fluttershy would not help her. >>The healing powder!<< a tiny, hopeful voice inside Fluttershys mind suddenly squeaked, causing the Pegasus to start rummaging through Zecoras saddlebags, filed with new hope. If this medicine had been able to help her it could surely help the zebra too. The ominous three bipeds behind her were shoved far away, to the edge of Fluttershys mind. She had more important things to worry about now! With a silent cry of joy, Fluttershy finally found the object of her desire, pulled it open with her teeth and shook it over one of Zecoras wounds. Only to find the little pouch empty. Hope instantly was replaced by despair now as the linen escaped Fluttershsys grip and she plopped onto her haunches in front of her shallow breathing friend. >Oh no. She had used it all to help me and now there is nothing left for her! Oh Celestia, Zecora will die and it is purely my fault. If I had not been so weak again, if I just had listened to Angel when he tried to warn me, if I just…<< Fluttershy was so absorbed in her grieving that she at first not noticed that two of the creatures where now kneeling by her side, examining Zecora and herself carefully.

“… that really a good idea?” a voice ripped Fluttershy out of her silent mourning. Her poor heart nearly stopped beating as Fluttershy realized the two big creatures looming over Zecoras body.

“That’s our order. Now quit fussing and start working Sorn. I know you stashed away some meds before we left the ship you damn Salvar.” The biped with the blue glowing weapon said, sounding slightly angry.

Audibly grumbling, the other rummaged through some little pockets on his waist and produced a tiny, odd shaped syringe. “I can’t believe this, I´m wasting good stuff for a dying xeno…” it grumbled.

“Just be happy that I don´t decide to tell Lady Nor about that little stash of yours.”

“Could the two of you please stop bickering like a couple of Gretchins already? I swear to all Saints there are, I´m going to kick your asses to the Eye of Terror and beyond if you attract even one single damn animal with your argument!” the third of the trio suddenly yelled. It was facing the forest, body tensed up as it was standing guard.

“Grahh, fine. But I still say it’s a waste!” the one with the syringe said and before Fluttershy was able to react, it had injected Zecora with its contents.

At first, panic threatened to overwhelm Fluttershy but mere seconds after the injection, Zecoras breathing grew visibly calmer and she stopped twitching. Then she watched as the creatures slapped two big white patches over Zecoras neck wounds. Finally it dawned Fluttershy >>They… they are… helping Zecora!<< the Pegasus concluded while her own pulse slowly started to descend to normal levels again. The strange creatures had administered some kind of first aid on her friend. She was about to let out a relieved sigh as the Everfree Forest behind her began to bustle with motion. Fluttershy saw the two black armored bipeds stand up and face the tree line and so did Fluttershy. The mare let out an audible “Eeep!” as a new biped left the underbrush. It looked similar to the first three but in its claws, it was wielding a large saber which it used to clear a path for itself and what looked like a much smaller version of the light spewing weapons two of the creatures were carrying. The saber wielding creature was soon followed as more and more black and red bipeds left the underbrush left and right, watching their surroundings carefully while their claws were holding a wide array of even weirder contraptions at the ready. Fluttershy felt her mouth run dry as the small clearing was quickly filled with at least fifty of these unknown creatures, some of them starring at her and Zecora with their eerie blue eyes. Then, as if commanded by an unspoken signal, the mass of red and black opened up in front of Fluttershy to form a corridor. The Pegasus´ eyes widened as she saw a new group walking through this corridor, straight towards her. In front of the group was a creature completely covered in a dull metallic armor, with sleeves of black covering its upper arms and a slightly tattered red cape billowing around it. Much to her own horror, Fluttershy came to realize that the cape was decorated with fluffy brown fur around the shoulders. Its blood red eyes the only visible feature of its face seemed to be transfixed on the quivering form of Fluttershy who now noticed the long and deadly looking sword the armored creature was carrying in its right claw.

Right behind the caped biped followed two similar in looks, except they had red sleeves and red tunics over black armor and no capes. Golden pendants on little chains made of silvery pearls hung from their hips. The one to the right was carrying a boxy contraption of polished metal while the other one was holding onto a grotesquely oversized version of the right ones weapon. It had a chain of short cylinders coming out of it that seemed to come from its bearers back.

Next was a red and black biped which was holding a contraption with a blackened muzzle and a little, hissing flame at it.

Then came two creatures that shocked Fluttershy in similar manners. One was a visibly disfigured creature with a hump, clad in olive colored armor around its torso and shin guards in the same color strapped to its hind legs. The rest of its body was covered with tattered clothing, stained with blood and dirt. A metallic mask obscured the lower part of the creatures face so Fluttershy could only see the upper half. It was furless, light tan skin visible behind rouge strands of a messy, black mane. Two vigilant yellow eyes, one seemed to be half closed all the time, watched the leading biped all the time. In its claws it held a thing that looked like long pipe with a handle and a pump.

Right beside it walked a tall, masked creature with the biggest and strangest sword Fluttershy had ever seen casually placed on its shoulder. It was weirdly boxy and its cutting edge looked more like a saw then a blade. It wore only a ragged red tunic and something that looked like a black corsage around its midsection. Strangely the biped seemed also to wear a set of cuffs, connected by a long chain to a metal choker it was wearing around its neck. With a gasp, Fluttershy also noticed many old and new cuts on this bipeds pale skin but before she could sort out the many impressions bombarding her poor brain, a new voice spoke to her.

“So, you are the xenos my men spoke of yes?” The new voice was definitively a females. Oddly stretched like the voices of the other creature but unmistakable the voice of a female.

Fluttershy jerked her head up and found herself face to face with the cape wearing creature. It was on one knee directly in front of her, mustering her with those scary red eyes.

“I think I get now why my men told me I would not believe them would they had described you or your friend there via com to me." It said, shaking its head softly. “Tiny horses in screaming colors. But after the meeting with the Jokaero I should be a bit more open minded hm?"

Fluttershy stared at the creature. It was without a doubt talking to her but she could not understand it, well except for what she thought was the word ‘friend’.

“Well drat, looks like we have some language barrier here. Argh, what would I give to have Helia here now. She would by now probably talking to you like she was born here!”

A soft stirring behind Fluttershy brought her zebrican friend back to the Pegasus´ attention. She turned around. Zecora was still lying were she had collapsed, no more bloody foam coming from her mouth but her coat was damp with sweat and her breathing had begun to grow shallow.

“Your friend doesn’t look really good.” An observational statement rang out from behind.

Turning around, Fluttershy starred into the red eyes of her counterpart. Fidgeting her hooves nervously, the shy mare desperately scratched together each and every ounce of courage her body could muster and then some of her desperation and fear of Zecoras death for good measure. Somehow she had to convince these creatures to let her and Zecora go back to Ponyville if she wanted to save her friends life. Sitting on her haunches, Fluttershy held up her forelegs in a pleading fashion while gazing directly into what she thought was the armored bipeds face. “P-please… Zecora… my friend… she got hurt really bad and it´s all m-my fault… please… I beg you… can I take her to Ponyville please? She needs a doctor o-or else she will… die…” Fluttershy stuttered with a shaky voice but somehow she managed to hold the same volume the whole time. Tears would have formed in her eyes too, would she had some left but the recent events had depleted her reserves. The reaction her plea earned her however was not what Fluttershy expected.

°°°

Rayla was, to put it simple, shocked. This little, frail looking xeno horse in front of her showed so many characteristics of a human, it could drive a lesser human crazy. But Rayla was no lesser human, she was an Inquisitor. Young in every way but nonetheless. Unspeakable happy that her helmet hid her face, she studied the yellow creature in front of her. It looked like a horse or to be precise like a Pegasus, Rayla corrected herself once she discovered the wings folded tightly against its sides. The Inquisitor recalled that she has seen pictures of such creatures in old books, mainly seen as beasts from long forgotten myths but now one was sitting in front of her in the flesh. And given by the way the little thing looked at her one could safely assume it was afraid. How such a creature could survive in such an hostile environment like this forest, with such bright colors was a mystery to Rayla. Likewise how evolution could have led this xeno to have such large, expressive eyes. The way they glistened and wavered reminded her of a child on the verge of crying. Also, its head seemed way to big and out of proportion for its body.
And then it spoke. It folded its forelegs like a man begging for mercy and spoke.

“P-please… Zecora… my friend… she got hurt really bad and it´s all m-my fault… please… I beg you… can I take her to Ponyville please? She needs a doctor o-or else she will… die…”

Rayla felt her chin bang against the inside of her helmet as the little Pegasus xeno said that. This xeno just had spoken in what sounded to the Inquisitor like Low Gothic. Laced with some strange words, without a doubt local creations and a weird accent but it was Low Gothic. Again Raylas mind kicked up a gear as she processed all this new information’s.
How could it be that a completely unknown species was able to talk in Low Gothic?

Maybe an Explorator ship had visited this planet but the crew had fallen victim to some kind of local predators or an illness before they could report. Possible but then the xenos should at least have seen humans before. Those Exploratorii tended to get in touch at least a bit with the population of new planets in order to gauge the value for the Empire.

Another possibility could be that Renegades used this planet as hideout for a while or were still using.

Or maybe Rouge Traders? This greedy bunch liked to keep sources of steady income a secret as long as possible so only they could exploit them to the fullest.

But these theories could wait for later. If Rayla had understood it correctly, the yellow xeno wanted to take the striped one (at least this one seemed somewhat adapted to this hostile environment) which could only be this “Zecora” to a hospital to get her wounds treated? At a place called “Ponyville”? Rayla felt the urge to snicker at those names for an unknown reason. >>Hmm, this little xeno could be a good source of information. Plus this Ponyville is probably a bigger settlement and if they have a hospital there, which I presume is this world’s equivalent for an Valetudinarium they should have an higher level of tech then I excepted. Not necessary a bad thing though. Also a settlement would prove a good foothold for now. Everything is better than another night in these blasted woods. But first…<< Rayla reached behind her head and fumbled a bit until she found the release mechanism for her helmet. With an audible hissing, the pressure from the power armors inner atmosphere exhausted. Pulling her protective headgear of, Rayla shook her head for the good feeling of being freed from the tightness of the Sabbat scheme helmet, gave the wide eyed starring little Pegasus a smile and said “Now, that’s better. You said your friend needs to be brought to a… hospital was it?”

°°°

Fluttershy sat ramrod stiff as the biped in front of her reached behind her head and after a loud hiss, took it off, revealing it to be really just a helmet. With an open mouth, the Pegasus stared in the smiling face only a legs length away from her. It was furless with the exception of a messy orange mane that looked a bit compressed right now, with a single long braid on the left side of the face that dangled around as the female shook her head shortly. The rest was only pale skin. The beings mouth was only a thin line, surrounded by slightly darker lips. A small nose sat between two blue eyes. No sign of ears whatsoever but Fluttershy assumed that they had to be hidden underneath the mane somehow. Then it spoke again but this time it was no gibberish, it was Equestrian. A bit bumpy with a strange accent but finally the words made sense to Fluttershy. She felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude wash over her entire body as she nodded unusual eagerly to show confirmation. She even felt her wings fluttering slightly as she pointed a hoof in Zecoras direction “Uhm.. yes… my friend Zecora… she defended me against a black monster but she was hurt. It was my fault… but… but you would let me take her to back to Ponyville? Back to the hospital?” she said, hope filling her voice.

The female stood up slowly which made Fluttershy took a surprised step backwards but the armored biped never stopped looking at her with that calm smile of hers.“Why should I not?” she asked then, sorting her mane with her left claw while her right secured the helmet at her hip. “In fact… oh! My apologies, how rude of me… we have not exchanged names yet, do we?”

Fluttershy could not help herself but to giggle ever so slightly. This being may have looked scary at first but now all that Fluttershy could see was a mare… female… being that felt genuinely embarrassed over not introducing herself right away. The warm smile she wore helped to ease Fluttershys apprehension too. “Oh, it´s alright. Really, it happens to me too. My name is Fluttershy.” She then said, managing a shy smile of her own without hiding her whole face behind her mane.

“Fluttershy, it is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Rayla Nor.” The being now known as Rayla Nor said. “Well then, as I was about to say: would you like us to accompany you? This place is swarming with bloodthirsty monsters most strange and I think it would be to our all’s benefit. You could act as our guide and my men and I would protect the two of you along the way. The promise of civilization sounds truly heavenly. As you can guess, we are not really from this planet and a roof over our heads for the next nights and something warm to eat would be most appreciated.”

Eying the ‘men’ as Rayla called them for a second, then looking at Zecora Fluttershy pondered on what to do. Having somepony to protect her and Zecora on the way to Ponyville sounded more than tempting but bringing a horde of strange, armed creatures to the little town? This could cause a panic, especially if the infamous Flower Trio were to spot them first. Daisy, Rose and Lily always tend to overreact about things. A few days prior, they had caused a massive panic just because a simple ladybug had set down on Daisys nose, startling her in her sleep.
But then again, Rayla seemed nice enough and Fluttershy could simply not bring herself to let somepony who was a stranger in a strange land to sleep in the wild, especially not the Everfree! Surely Twilight would be able to come up with an idea once Fluttershy had explained everything. And in the worst case, they could always contact Celestia. There was no way the Diarch of the Sun would decline a request for help, pony or not.
“Well, uhm, I guess it would be really nice to have somepony to protect me. Also I simply can´t let you sleep in the Everfree Forest. No, I think you can come with me to Ponyville. As long as you and your friends behave… if that is not a problem…” Fluttershy finally said.

“I think that would be manageable.” Rayla answered and signaled her men to get ready to go. Then she beckoned the deformed biped over. “Fluttershy, this is Crux. He is one of my most loyal servants. It will be his task to carry your wounded friend. Crux, this is Fluttershy. She will be our guide out of this forest. You will carry and protect her wounded friend Zecora until we can deliver her to an local Valetudinarium. Oh and Crux, Fluttershy can only speak Low Gothic so speak it please as long as you are in her presence.”

After giving a respectful bow to Rayla, Crux was about to lift the limb form of Zecora from the ground as Fluttershy spoke up. “Uh, ehm… Mister Crux, sir… that… I think I can carry Zecora myself… really, it won´t be a problem…”

The man gave the little xeno an irritated grunt before lifting his ordered charge up with his strong arms. Cradling the wounded Zecora carefully he faced Fluttershy. “No. Crux will carry. Mistress gave order, Crux follows order. Little xeno Fluttershy don´t worry about her friend. Crux will keep her safe as long as Mistress says so.” He said with an even stronger accent then Rayla but with outmost determination.

Rayla gave a good natured chuckle about the behavior of Crux and Flutterhsy. That little xeno sure was interesting. Incredibly timid but also accepting and trusting beyond any reason. No rational thinking human would have trusted a strange creature so quick, if at all. Clapping her hands together for attention, she addressed Fluttershy “Now that we have this problem solved, should we get going?”

Fluttershy blushed a bit and looked around before pointing in a certain direction with her hoof. “Uhm, of course… sorry… I just don´t want to cause any inconvenience… really, I´m sorry. To reach Ponyville, we have to go in this direction. It should not be more than an hour’s trot… if that does not cause trouble for you.”

Never breaking her smile, Rayla turned to her men “Alright everyone, we´re leaving. Destination Ponyville. Keep your eyes open and your weapons ready, I want us to arrive in one piece.” Soon the sound of heavy combat boots on soft forest floor and the scratching of branches over thick plate armor filled the air of the Everfree. At the front of the procession, Rayla walked side by side with Fluttershy, followed closely by Crux and the unconscious Zecora. The Inquisitor was mentally preparing her next steps for a while now as the new and timid voice of her xeno guide pulled her out of her thoughts.

“R-rayla?”

Without breaking her steady pace, Rayla glanced down to meet Fluttershys own eyes shortly. “Yes?”

Hiding slightly behind her long pink mane, Fluttershy chewed on her lip for a second before finally asking “Would you mind… I mean if it is okay with you, me asking you a few questions? I have never ever heard of beings like you… of course it would be ok if you don’t want me to ask.”

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, Rayla again could not help but snicker about the Pegasus´ personality. “Of course I don´t mind. Ask along. As long as you grant me the same privilege of course.”

Starting to warm up to Raylas likeable nature, Fluttershy managed to gather enough courage and said, clearly imitating the orange haired female’s statement from earlier “I think that should be manageable.”

Author's Note

And the second chapter is out. Pfeeew~

Have I overdone it somewhere? To long winded? To much unnessesary details? Not enough unesseary details?
Please let me know, your opinions are welcome.

Kay, I think I need to lay down for a bit now.
*falls backwards with her chair*
Nighty~