Act by Instinct

Beginning of Chapter 1

Excitement, cheerful, happy, satisfied - these were all the thoughts going through her mind before she jumped through the worldgate to return home to her family and friends in Falcorth Plains. She was doing some of her daily exploring and treasure hunting in the lost land of Auroria, either it be lost relics, minerals, weapons etc. Today lady luck was smiling down at her for she has found more than her average load. Happy with her find she decided to head home and summoned a worldgate to teleport home, but what she didn't realise was that she misread the summoning spell and opened a worldgate to an unknown land. it was too late for she had already jumped through, and wait for what fate had installed for her.

While travelling through the worldgate (which is like travelling hyper speed in space I assume that took normally eight seconds),  She started to get violently jerked all over the place, giving her bruises and minor injuries. Georgina was scared for her life and didn't know what was happening or why was this happening, so she simply closed her eyes and hoped the painful journey would end soon.

Finally after what felt like an eternity she felt the exit nearby, but before she had any time to react there was a sudden *BANG*. The last thing she remembered was a painful headache before falling to her knees and laying down with an audible *THUD*, head first into the ground, before slipping to unconsciousness.

............

...."Twilight, I".........."something"......

......"Spike w-what"........"that"......

......"is Twilight, it is"......"we need".............

....."predator".........."because.......weapons"..

............

Everfree Forest

Twilight and Spike were travelling on the outskirts of the Everfree Forest near Ponyville, They were both in search of a rare flower that only grows in this haunted forest. At first they both hesitated to enter, but with determination they both found the courage to enter. The reason they are searching for this flower is because of her science project she was trying at home - and one of the ingredients that she needed was of course this hard to find, rare plant.

"Is this it Twilight?" The baby dragon asked, holding up a flower that looks like a blue tulip.

Twilight nodded her head sideways "No Spike, that's not the flower that we are looking for, I know it's around here somewhere" she stated with a determined face while narrowing her eyes at nearby bushes "keep looking Spike, I think we're close".

The pair has been in that forest for around an hour now and were starting to lose hope in finding their target. The purple alicorn looked up through one of the few gaps in the tree line and realised that the sun was almost setting, she turned to spike.

"Spike we should make our way back, it will be getting dark soon."

The dragon nodded in agreement and hoped on Twilight's back. "Sorry we couldn't find what we were looking for Twilight, how important is this flower anyway?"

Walking along the path leading towards the exit of the forest, Twilight turned her head and replied "Don't worry about it Spike, I'm grateful that you came along to help. Besides it's not THAT big of a deal anyway, I just thought we could use the fresh air after all that reading on the new books Princess Celestia sent me yesterday."

Turning back to the path, she was almost out of the forest when a loud *BANG* came from their right. The pair jumped at the sudden noise, it sounded like a high pitch firework explosion that lasted for about half a second.

"WHOA! What was that!?" The startled dragon asked with fear.

"No idea, but whatever it was, it needs to be investigated. Somepony could of gotten themselves hurt!" The now concerned alicorn replied. "It sounded like it came from behind those bushes..."

Twilight turned right, and slowly made her way to the source of the noise they heard just now. She had her horn ready and legs tensed incase the noise - whatever it could be, might be dangerous or even worse, deadly.

They got to the thick foliage that blocked their sight with the source of the noise, there was no way through, it was like a thick brick wall made out of leaves, vines and wood. However the baby dragon spotted something.

"Down there!" he pointed with his claw to the bottom of the 'wall'. There was a small hole that looked big enough for a small creature to fit through. "Maybe I could crawl through-"

"No Spike! something dangerous could be on the other side and hurt you, and most importantly I won't be there to protect you if you're attacked!" the alicorn was very protective when it comes to Spike and him being on his own into the unknown. She still treated him like a baby that can't handle himself, technically he was still a baby dragon, but he was growing up and he needs to show Twilight sometimes that he can act independently and can handle himself if worse comes to shove.

"But at the same time Twilight, there could be somepony hurt who needs help. Even if there is something dangerous that wants to attack me I can handle myself, and if I can't then I will come back to you."

Spike wanted to show Twilight that he can handle himself, and this was a perfect opportunity to prove to it her. Twilight thought about this before replying.

"Spike you sure you can do this?" Twilight asked, still a hint of concern and worry for her number one assistant.

Spike nodded with a very determined look.

"Okay, but if anything happens, even the slightest bit of danger, call me and run back here as fast as you can, okay?"

"Sure thing!"

Spike then got on all fours and crawled through the thick wall of nature and reached the end. he peaked out checking to make sure the coast is clear. Satisfied there is no danger, he wiggled out of the hole and stood up straightening his back, getting a few cracks from his spine. Looking around his vicinity, it was just like on the other side of the wall from where he came from - but no rode and instead more foliage.

"Anything Spike?" Twilight called over with a slight interest in her tone.

"Nothing yet, coast is clear!" The minor dragon replied.

"Okay, just wait there, I'm going to look for another way round. Don't move okay"

"Yes I heard, I'll wait for you here." The dragon shouted over. He really wanted to go out and explore, but he also knew that he would get in trouble and make Twilight worry. So he found a rock and sat down, waiting for the protective alicorn to find a way to him.

He sat observing his surroundings seeing he didn't have much to do. it wasn't anything spectacular - just some trees, vines and everything else you find in a forest, the everyday stuff.

Spike then realised that he was hungry, and just to add insult to injury, his stomach made a loud rumble.

"Oh jeez, why did I agree with this? I could be hav-"

he was cut off by what sounded like grunting.

"Huh?" he thought his mind was just playing tricks on him, he swore he heard a-

*Cough*

Okay now he definitely heard something, he was certain he heard somepony coughing - and it sounded close.

Spike got up from his seat and looked around, if there was anypony hurt then now was the time to act.

"Hello, anypony there? I'm here to help you!"

All he got was silence. Like whoever he heard was asleep. he did his best to remember where the cough came from and, according to his memory, it sound like it came from his right side. Turning to the direction he saw the usual green and.....White.

"Wait a minute, there's something behind that tree" He then sprinted towards the tree thinking that there was somepony injured, lost or even scared that needed help. When he turned his head around the tree what he saw next made his eyes widen, because what he saw was....not a pony.

"What is that?" he whispered to himself, what was in front of him was a bipedal with five appendages on each hand. But what mainly caught his attention was it's cat-like features it has - large cat ears, paws at the end of it's legs, small nose, claws on each arm (much like Spike's, but fur instead of scales and the claws were much longer) and white fur with black spots and stripes all over it's body. It seemed to also be wearing some form or clothes

Spike was truly terrified of the strange creature, he had never seen or heard anything like this in his life. The closest comparison to this was probably a manticore or a house cat (like Rarity's cat: Opalescence). The thought of just running away came to his mind for he does not know what this creature is capable of, or even if it will attack him on sight.

All of those thoughts went to the back of his mind when he noticed bruises, cuts and some minor injuries all over the creature's body, Especially a large bruise on it's forehead. It must have hit it's head on something hard and got knocked unconscious.

Spike knew what he had to do, even if he was terrified. He swallowed a large gulp and slowly stepped around the tree, making his way over to the creature with large tip-toe steps in an attempt to not wake it up.

After one last step, he was now within arms reach and realised how tall the creature was, it was quite intimidating even if it was just lying on it's back. He bet that if it stood at full height it will probably just be a few inches taller than Princess Celestia, and for pony standards that was VERY tall.

Spike just stood there in awe, but soon went back to his original plan.

"Here goes nothing" Muttered the dragon.

He reached out with his claw and poked the creatures arm, immediately jumping for cover behind a nearby rock....no response. He went back to the creature and poked it again but this time stood his ground and again - got no response.

"Okay, so it's definitely unconscious, that would explain the injuries..."

"Spike! where did you go?"

Spike immediately recognised that voice. "I'm over here Twilight! I found something!"

Twilight came rushing past the tree but didn't realise what was next to the baby dragon. "Oh there you are Spike, I thought I told you to...."

Twilight then saw what was in front of her, a bipedal cat-like creature lying on the ground with it's right fore-leg...arm, next to Spike.

Shocked, widen eyes and completely terrified, Twilight slowly walked up to her assistant. "Spike...w-what is-s....th-that!?"

Spike, now realised that Twilight was right next to her and completely consumed in fear, turned around to face her and gave a "Sshhh" emote with his claw to his mouth. "Whatever it is Twilight, it is hurt badly and looks to be unconscious - probably from the large bruise mark on it's head" He said while pointing at it's forehead. "We need to help it!" Spike was now concerned for the strange creature, even if it was hostile. No living being should just be abandoned to whatever horrible fate awaits them.

Twilight taken slightly back from Spike's words, She rarely saw him so concerned for creatures he never seen before, friendly or hostile. It gave twilight a warm smile to see her number one assistant to caring, but that didn't get rid of the fact of what this creature was capable of. She saw it had finger-like claws, it was just over 6 feet tall, in fact it looked like...

"Spike do you reckon this creature is a predator of some sorts? Because judging by what it has as weapons, it looks like a carnivore."

"Then why is it wearing clothes if it's a predator?"

Twilight realised what Spike meant. This creature was wearing some sort of clothing.

"Does that mean it's a sentient being?" Twilight was now excited, thinking of her discovering a new species, that are also intelligent! She was so deep in thought that she didn't see the 'really?' look that Spike was giving her.

"Twilight cut it out and help me, we need to get it to safety before it gets dark remember?" Spike managed to snap her out of her daydream. She blushed slightly giving a 'sorry' look in return.

"Oh yes, of course. But we can't bring it back to Ponyville, the town will no doubt run in fear and start screaming. You know what they're like with new and unknown creatures or objects, they're just too prejudice..."

Spike knew exactly what it was like being the only one of your kind around, when he first arrived in Ponyville, he got some 'funny' stares from the townsfolk, and he easily felt like the odd one out.

But a few stares will be nothing in comparison to what the town will do if they saw this strange, bipedal cat-like creature that's just over 6 feet tall with deadly sharp claws, no doubt excellent hearing, and just intimidating features.

"I could teleport us to the library, but I don't know if this creature is used to magic, let alone a teleport spell!" Thinking of a way to get this creature back to the library without causing a panic will be difficult. They have to think of a plan before sunset. Time is of the essence.

"Well we could gamble it and go for the teleport, or we could maybe take it to Fluttershy's, knowing how good she is with animals and caring for others." This seemed like a decent idea to Spike, but Twilight - as always, was thinking of the worst scenario that could happen.

"No we can't Spike, it will scare all of her animal friends, and no doubt scare her to death too which will just cause panic. If i can use something too...." She was deep in thought, then had an idea. "Okay Spike, I need you to wait here till I get back, I'm just going to visit Sweet Apple Acres real quick!"

And with that, she was gone. Nothing but a purple puff of smoke left behind.

"What could she be up to this time?" the now lonely dragon muttered to himself. He then looked up at the sky and saw the sun slowly descending. "She better be quick, not much time left."

After waiting for what felt like 10 minutes, Spike then heard what sounded like galloping, soon followed up by a low rumbling, and then voices - all to familiar voices, it sounded just like...

"What do ya mean that you found a strange creature? and what do ya mean yall need my help?"

End of Chapter 1