Cutie Mark Cru-Saviours

We walked through the forest, careful not to run into any monsters. The towering trees obscured any light that could have made it through. It was dawn and the four of us were starting to grow scared. We had been walking for what seemed like hours through this desolate land of trees.

"Yo, girls, I found somethin'," Babs said, after pulling her head out of a bush.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Well, I figured since we are in this forest an' kinda also lost-"

"We are not lost, I know where we are," Sweetie argued, "Now... We just take a left here, a right there, go past this, then we end up at that...?"

"Look, girls, why don't we just let Babs finish what she was sayin' an' then we decide what were gonna do, Kay?" Apple Bloom stated. We nodded in agreement.

"K, well, ah found somethin' in this bush, it's an abandoned rabbit burrow. Ah figured we could use is as a make-shift den?" Babs said.

"Great ahdea, Babs," Apple Bloom replied.

We looked at each other.

"Well, who's going to go in first?" Sweetie asked. The reply was an awkward few moments of silence, before some pony stepped up.

"Ah'll do it," Babs murmured, whilst crawling into the bush. A few sounds of struggle could be heard as she rummaged through the bush, trying to squeeze her way into the abandoned burrow. Eventually she got in, and we heard a muffled call,

"It's all clear, could use a clean up but it seems good enough. " Babs called from inside.

We followed in, Babs was right. The inside was very dark, and muddy. I knew at once that the elements hadn't been here, if they had, Rarity would have spruced it up. Though it was in pretty bad condition, it would do for a make-shift den. Though the elements clearly hadn't been here, it seemed that some pony else had. There was a large pile of straw, that we separated into four beds. It was a tight fit, but it would do. By now , the moon was rapidly rising through the sky.

"Thank goodness Princess Luna raises the moon for us, I'm a little scared of the dark," Sweetie whispered sleepily. I rolled over to face her, and put my hoof on hers. I shut my eyes and drifted to sleep.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" Somepony screamed. My eyes opened and darted over to the side. The muddy roof of the burrow was no longer there, instead there was a gaping hole in which a creature had grabbed Babs from. Babs was struggling in its grasp, screaming for her life. It was a manticore. Sweetie was the first to react, she got up, screamed and started running in circles. I joined her, unsure what else to do. The manticore dropped Babs from its grasp from the shock of two fillies screaming. Babs joined us in our crazy-out-of-control-running-in-random-directions plan. The manticore screeched in its rage and swiped at me, knocking me onto my side. This caused the chorus of screams to get louder. I stood again, and backed into the corner.

"GIRLS!" Apple Bloom shouted, "We ain't gonna get anywhere when y'all 're shoutin' like that. We need ta calm down an' work t'gether. So, fer a plan. Ahm thinkin' that Sweetie, you can make the distraction. Scoots, you an' Babs can attack the monster, an' ah'll join Sweetie here in helpin' distract,"

We nodded and the plan's first phase began.

"Yoo hoo, over here!" Sweetie shouted as she ran in one direction.

"Nope, over here!" Apple Bloom cried, running in the other. The manticore turned, confused.

"Nu-uh," Babs shouted from behind, "over here!" She kicked its tail, sending the scorpion stinger into its back.

"Scoots, your turn!" Sweetie shouted, "I know you can do it, I believe in you!"

I leapt into the air, frantically flapping my wings. I was really high now, this would be my equivalent of the Sonic Rainboom. I plummeted to the ground, right hoof out front. Here came the critical point. I spread my wings: despite the fact that I couldn't fly, it added extra balance. I could feel the speed gaining, the pressure building. The impact could go either way, good or bad. I didn't care, this was my chance to be like my life-long hero: Rainbow Dash. The punch landed on the stinger, causing it to delve deeper into the manticore's body. A slight hissing noise could be heard as we regrouped, discussing how awesome the last few minutes had been.

"Cutie Mark Crusaders: Manticore hunters!" I shouted. Each of us checked our flanks, waiting for the amazing view of our new cutie marks. My heart began to race and I was filled with "butterflies". As Pinkie would put it, I was nervited. Unfortunately, no marks were there, and the chorus of groans repeated again.

The hissing was becoming louder and more noticeable. We turned to see that the manticore's venom had caused its entire body to swell up. The hissing was in fact the body inflating like a balloon. Suddenly the hissing stopped. BANG! The manticore exploded into a yellow goo, most likely what the venom had turned its insides into.

"Guess we shouldn't sleep in a place like this," Sweetie noted as we began trekking through the gloomy forest again.