He had never been claustrophobic, but when he heard the glass door shut, his heart raced, almost as if trying to escape his ribcage. He was startled by the sudden rumbling all around him. The machine had come to life. Slowly, he watched the bottom of the cylinder he was in begin to fill with white mist. Flashes of light started to partially blind him from the other side of the glass, tall figures behind them.
When his eyes started to see well again, he turned to two figures behind a big computer. One was shouting orders to other figures sitting behind similar machines, while the other was just behind its back watching everything unfold. The noise from the machine suddenly grew, as well as the vibrations. He could clearly hear the glass vibrate now.
He turned back to the two figures. The face from the one behind the computer changed, and he began to yell even more instructions this time more loudly. The one behind, meanwhile, was as stoic as he had been when it all began. He asked the one in front a question. When they gave him a response, his facial expression finally changed.
He turned to him for the first time during all this. The look in the man’s eyes sent a jolt down his back. This was not good, clearly, whatever answer the man got was not good for him. His heart started to race, and he began to violently pound his fists on the glass. He wanted to get out of the machine as soon as possible, but the glass would not budge.
He was in the middle of another strike to the glass when he saw the main computer start to spark, spitting out smoke after a few seconds. Then, the other computers started to follow suit, each one being encased in sparks and smoke. The white mist was now almost up to his head, causing his breathing to become more erratic than before.
He kept hitting the glass when all of a sudden, his legs began to feel an all-too-familiar tingling sensation. He stopped his barrage on the glass door. It was in that moment that he knew he was doomed. The sensation began to creep up his legs and onto his midsection. Leaning his arms and head on the glass, he closed his eyes, resignation clearly on his face. He had nothing more to do now but wait for his demise.
The mist now filled the chamber, obscuring his view to the outside world. The tingling sensation now reached his lower neck. His legs no longer responded. He couldn’t even feel them any more. Slowly the tingling crawled up his head, with the loss of sensation of his body not far behind.
His eyes shot open, accompanied by a sharp gasp for air.
Jerking up from his laying position, he took in his surroundings. He was still surrounded by the cold rock of the cave he had found. Once again, he’d been woken up by that recurring dream. Time after time it kept occurring. Always reminding him of his painful arrival to this wretched place all those years ago. Always leading to the same result: waking up in cold sweat and breathing heavily. He couldn’t help but wonder why. Why couldn’t those memories leave him alone?
His thoughts, however, were broken by a very upset-sounding stomach that voiced its displeasure in not having been given anything to eat lately. Things had been getting worse these past couple of weeks. He had gone from a regular meal of white-tailed deer and other small wild animals the first few years to not so frequent meals the following, and now these last years, he’d had to rely on scavenging what he could from dead animals and other predators. He did get a successful hunt from time to time, but not nearly as much as when he had first arrived. Whether he liked it or not, he had been relying more and more on instincts instead of reason. He was slowly becoming more like the creatures of this damned place he was stuck in.
All the while, the environment he was in had changed dramatically from when he had first arrived. It had changed from the serene woods filled with life to a dark, eerie forest. The trees no longer held that natural relaxing vibe. Now they only looked darker, shorter and more menacing. It had been a gradual shift at first, but now that he thought back to where he had came from, the contrast was very stark.
It didn’t help that it appeared that he was slowly growing mad over the years. Some months back, he swore the night had lasted longer than it had to, then the moon lost the strange shadow it had in its surface, and now he swore he could hear a lion’s roar from time to time as well as other unidentifiable animal sounds. He was only grateful that he had not yet the found out if they were real or not.
Setting those thoughts aside, he got up from the bear hide that made for a very uncomfortable bed and dusted it off so he could wear it without having a nasty bug catch a ride on his body. Stretching out until he heard the satisfying pop of his spine, he began to check his things. First off, his crudely made bow. He grabbed it with one hand and pulled back with the other, listening carefully for any sign of it wanting to break. Fortunately, it still looked sturdy. He got down to inspect his quiver. Five arrows still remained in it.
Next, he went to his spear that was propped up against the cave wall. Grabbing a hold of the shaft with both hands, he examined the head. It looked like it was still serviceable. He now went to the belt where he had his trusty survival knife. Unsheathing it, he grabbed the tip of his very long, bushy beard and sliced through it like butter.
Pleased with the blade, he now went for his axe. Taking it out of its leather sheath, he gave the blade a quick once-over with his eyes. Kneeling down, he raised it over his head and brought it down on some of the remaining firewood from last night, splitting it without much effort. Still as sharp as ever.
All of his things were in order. He placed his bow and quiver on his back, secured his knife and axe to his waist and grabbed his spear. On his way out, he spotted his ragged travel pack, the once-pristine canvas and leather pack now dotted with patches of animal skin where holes used to be. It reminded him back to that fateful day, how he didn’t want to take all those unnecessary things. After all, the trip was supposed to be short. It seemed making a big impression with the media was the right choice after all.
Before leaving, he headed to his worn-out pack and rummaged inside for a bit. Finding what he was looking for, he brought out a couple of small bone knives that he managed to make out of his past hunts. He knew that he had a better functioning knife on his waist, but he preferred to use the smaller ones to not wear it down from excessive use. Now fully ready, he adjusted his bear coat and went out into the forest. Hopefully, he would finally find something worthwhile this time around.
There was something about this forest that was always off to him. It felt much more natural than where he had been days prior. Yet there was still something that felt very wrong about it. Something that always had his instincts on high alert. As he continued his advance through the forest, however, he heard something in the distance.
His paces became slower, and he crouched lower. He could hear it a lot clearer now. It sounded as if something was... chipping away at wood. Positioning his body against a nearby tree, he took his bow off of his back and prepared an arrow. Peering from behind the trunk, he found the sight of a beaver eating away at a small tree. Soon enough, it wouldn’t be only the beaver eating away at something.
He brought up his bow to his face and pulled back at the cord. Taking good aim at the unsuspecting animal, he tried to center it as best he could. The damned arrows tended to curve in mid-air from time to time.
He was about to release his hold on the arrow when three short calls from a bird caught both of their attention. As if trying to warn it from him, the beaver turned and made eye contact with him. Realizing that its life was in danger, it quickly stopped what it was doing and darted to its right at full speed. At the same time he saw the beaver notice him, he shot his arrow.
Defying the man’s wishes, the arrow decided that it was a good time to curve left, completely missing its target. With a grunt of frustration, he got up and began to give chase to the small creature. Being the smaller, more agile figure, the beaver evaded him much better than a bigger animal. Unfortunately for him, the human wasn’t one to let go of his prey, even if it had a lead. Sooner or later the beaver had to tire, and when it did, it would be game over.
Just when the man began to gain on the beaver, he was met with one of his biggest enemies when hunting: a rock. A particularly big and painful one. The loss of his footing, combined with the momentum that he had acquired while chasing the animal, caused the human to drop to ground with an audible grunt of pain. Lifting his head from the ground, he got to just barely see his prey getting away before he let his head drop down again in defeat. The fall had taken the remaining breath out of his lungs; there was no way to catch up to that beaver anymore.
Lifting himself up from his depressing defeat at the hands of a rock, he rested his back on a tree trunk to help him regain his breath. While he was regaining his breath, he brought his foot up to where he could see and saw that it was not bleeding. There was only a big red sore spot where he had stepped on it. Oh, how I miss having shoes, he thought as he massaged his foot.
After he regained his breath, he got back up and began once more to scout the forest, now only with a small limp. He did not know what kind of god he had offended before all this happened to deserve this. His absentminded scouting continued for some time before it was interrupted when a rhythmic sound at the distance broke his train of thought.
It sounded... strange. It didn’t sound like a bird call, and yet it had a certain rhythm to it that reminded him of a sort of song, bird or otherwise. It felt almost… entrancing. He began following his ears, letting them guide him through the forest to where the sound originated. Once he could hear it closer, he began to make his way silently through the trees. Whatever it was, he had to make sure he did not scare it away.
Finally being able to pinpoint the origin of the strange rhythm, he began to hear something else accompanying it. It sounded a lot like… hoofsteps. Realizing that the sounds were getting closer, he quickly hid behind a bush, making sure that the bush concealed his body the best it could, and waited for the sounds to come nearer. It didn’t take long for it to get close, but once it was close enough, he brought out his head the slightest bit to catch a glimpse of it.
His eyes went wide at the sight of the creature that he was seeing. A zebra… just in front of his eyes and in the middle of a forest was a zebra, a very strange looking zebra at that. His memories of the animal were vague, but even so, he was sure that that was not the way they should look. Many golden rings decorated it, both on its foreleg and neck, as well as an earring on one of its ears. Another strange thing about it was that on both flanks it had a strange swirling pattern. All of that, however was not what truly confused him.
Its eyes were unusually big: the whites of the eye were clearly visible and had deep cyan irises. Just looking at its eyes brought a chill to his spine. The resemblance to the human eye was too close for his liking.
What also didn’t check out with his memory were its proportions. It was short for a zebra, its head maybe reaching his chest. Its legs were also different. They were shorter and thicker, something that did not match the long and slender legs that his mind still remembered. All in all, the zebra looked meatier than the beaver or any other forest herbivores. Much... much meatier.
His stomach, it seemed, agreed with him wholeheartedly, growling loud enough to almost cost him his cover. Strangeness be damned. He had not eaten anything this big in a very long time, and he was not about to let this chance go by. He might not be able to eat it completely, but the remainder of the zebra would no doubt attract other animals attention, guaranteeing him another meal.
He brought out his bow one more time. This time he took the time to search for the straightest of his few remaining arrows. When he spotted the best-looking arrow, he quickly brought it to his bow. He didn’t have much time. This zebra was one of those kills that he needed desperately to survive. Making sure that that the zebra was not looking his way, he got up, aimed carefully at his prey and shot.
As soon as the arrow left his grasp, he happily noted how the arrow’s flight was indeed making a beeline for his target’s upper neck. That was, until the zebra ducked its head to grab a strange-looking herb from the ground. Instead of lodging itself into the zebra’s neck to make his chase shorter, it missed by a hair’s length and instead struck a tree. His kill shot had been wasted thanks to the damned zebra’s appetite.
As the zebra began to look every which way trying to locate where it had come from, its eyes finally landed on him, and so with a predatory roar, the man came out from his hiding place, abandoning stealth completely in his frustration.
With his cover now blown, his prey darted off as fast as it could, with him not far behind. He hadn’t expected the zebra to be this quick. The shorter, stubbier legs should have at least made her much slower. Instead, it was as if someone combined speed with agility and put it in a small, meaty, striped package. The zebra was already beginning to gain a growing lead.
This wasn’t going to stop him, however. The white-tailed deer that he used to hunt were an even bigger challenge, and even then, they kept falling prey to his mighty will. He needed to exhaust it before it did the same to him. He saw how it chanced a look back, its eyes widening strangely, and picked up its pace. Excellent. The faster it ran, the faster it would end up becoming lunch.
He began to pace himself a bit more as to not tire quickly. After a few minutes, the zebra’s speed began to slow down. His hard work was paying off, and this time, there did not seem to be a rock in his way to stop him.
The chase drew on, and he was making his way bit by bit closer to his prey. Increasing his pace again, the zebra was now at a distance where he could throw his spear at it. Grabbing a better hold on his spear, he extended his arm back and began to take careful aim. The zebra on the other hand decided to look back again and see if it had somehow lost its persisting predator.
If he thought that its strange large eyes couldn’t get any bigger, the doubt was cleared the moment the zebra saw him with his spear held up high.
Deciding to put an end to this chase, he finally launched his spear at his prey. However, in his over-excitement in finally catching a worthy meal, the force with which he threw it caused it to fly over his target. He was about to let another angered shout, when he saw that the zebra did not notice that the spear sank itself in front of her, and it tripped on it.
It all had happened too fast.
It had all started when she looking for a herb she needed, singing a tribal chant while she looked for it. When she heard something hard strike a nearby tree, she immediately dropped the herb on the ground and turned her head to where she heard the sound. When she what it was, she realized that it was an arrow... An arrow that was meant for her. As she began to look around, her eyes met those of a strange creature.
A tall, spear-wielding, bear-skin-wearing and very beastly-looking creature that she had never seen in the forest. When their eyes had met, she could have sworn that she had looked right into the eyes of Hades himself. She needed to get to her hut, or close enough to it at least. Before she had a chance to react, the beast let out a loud roar and charged at her.
Back in the present, Zecora found herself crashing into the ground after a long, aggravating chase. The very painful and drastic stop took her breath away, rendering her unable to move. Opening her eyes, she saw that she was in a small clearing. She let out one last cry for help; maybe her savior was close enough now. The zebra tried to get up, but in less than a moment's notice, she suddenly felt a very heavy weight landing on her.
Looking up, she saw the strange predator now on top of her. The look in its eyes was one of pure crazed hunger. She tried to get up, the difficult action now almost impossible with its added weight. Before she knew it, it took hold of her head with both of its strange minotaur-like hands and started to bang her head hard on the cold, hard ground. Each blow brought her closer to unconsciousness.
Finally, the creature relented its attack on her. Opening one of her eyes slowly, she saw as it brought its hand to its midsection and brought out a very sharp-looking blade.The last thing she was able to see was the arm of the creature being brought up over its head, the blade catching a stray beam of light from the top of the trees before it came down upon her.
The crackling of fire inside the pit was the only sound that could be heard. Other than that, complete serene silence. An old black cauldron rested on top of said fire pit, the contents inside boiling along nicely. From the look of things, it only needed a few more minutes before it would be ready for the final ingredients.
Twilight looked back at the book suspended by her magic, going over the steps needed for the third time now. Everything was coming along nicely, she noted. The only thing she needed was for Zecora to return with the final herbs, and she would be done. She kept on stirring the cauldron, waiting for the zebra to return.
When they had noted that they were only one ingredient short for today’s potion, Zecora had decided to go out and get it on her own. At first Twilight had offered to go with her, but Zecora declined and told her that it was close enough for her to go alone. After all, she wasn’t going too deep into the forest. From what Zecora had told her, the most dangerous creatures lived deeper into the forest. Even if she were to encounter something out there, it would most probably be some timberwolves. Although, they weren’t known to stray far from their territories unless they were desperate for food.
She had been out for over half an hour now, and Twilight was starting to worry. It was very strange for Zecora to take so long. It had only taken her ten or fifteen minutes to gather the herbs they needed on past lessons. She looked back at the smoking cauldron, noting that the color was starting to change just like it said in the book.
She really needed her to be back now. If she wasn’t back in time, the brew would be ruined due to not adding the herbs at the time the book stated. She was torn on what to do. If she went out to look for her in the wrong direction and Zecora came back, then their places would be switched, with Zecora wondering where she was. But if she stayed, she would have to sit and see how she failed her potion brewing test. Sighing, she lit up her horn and began putting out the fire magically, leaving the cauldron on top of the still-warm embers. Maybe if she found her quickly enough, she could still save the potion.
Now outside of the hut, Twilight began to scan the forest, trying to figure out which way to go. She was about to stomp the ground in frustration when she realized something. The forest was completely quiet. She had a bad feeling about this. The forest was never this quiet. The only exception was usually when there was a predator nearby.
Suddenly her ears rose, picking up something up in the distance. It sounded like a distant scream. Her ears began swiveling back and forth, trying to locate where it came from. Maybe Zecora was in trouble and that was why she was taking so long. She really hoped not; who knew what kind of creature had wandered out of its territory this time.
“Zecora!” she yelled out. “Is that you?”
She waited for a response. The seconds ticked by slowly, seeming to stretch out. Twilight was already circling around the hut, trying to pinpoint where the call of distress came from. She was about to take a random direction to try and locate it when she finally heard it again.
“Help, somepony please!”
This time she was sure it had to be Zecora. It sounded distant, but she had a general idea of where it came from. In moments like this, that was all she needed. She quickly sprang into a gallop in the direction she had heard Zecora’s voice. It was not an easy run; she had to swivel between the many trees and roots to avoid tripping and falling. Time was of the essence, and she couldn’t just slow down, not when her friend’s life was probably on the line.
A few minutes had passed by, and she was quickly finding out just how bad of a condition her body was in. Her muscles were starting to sting a little, and her breaths were becoming more ragged. She was starting to regret not taking up Applejack’s offer on helping around the farm; it could have helped her build up her stamina quite a lot if her friend was a good example.
But she couldn’t give up, not now that her friend really needed her. Putting the growing pain in her legs aside, she began to gallop faster. She could now hear that Zecora’s pleas of help were much closer, prompting her to gallop even faster than she had thought she was capable of.
“Don’t worry Zecora, I’m coming!”
She could now hear her friend’s galloping, as well as the sound of an extra set of steps, confirming to her that she was indeed being run down by something. Suddenly, there was a gasp followed by the sound of an object flying and hitting the earth. The sound of a body crashing and tumbling into the ground quickly followed. Whatever was chasing Zecora seemed to have finally caught up to her. Firing up her horn, Twilight began to prepare the strongest kinetic spell she could conjure. She had to be prepared to fend off anything.
Once she arrived, however, she froze at the scene in front of her, causing her horn to almost fizzle out. A bear was standing on top of Zecora with its back to her. From the looks of it, the beast was using its paws to pound Zecora’s head into the ground. Twilight was about to unleash her spell on it when it abruptly stopped and brought out what looked to be a knife, ready to strike down her friend.
“No!”
Before she even had time to reason why a bear was carrying and using a knife, she lowered her horn and took aim at the creature’s head. She fired a beam of magic that was strong enough to send almost any animal reeling back. The creature, however, reacted as if it was merely splashed with cold water: it stiffened up and let go of the knife. The effect of the spell quickly passed, and it turned its body towards her, allowing her to get a good look of it.
That’s no bear…
Underneath the bear skin, a pair of small, wild brown eyes stared back at her with the fury of an angered bull, ready to lash out at her for her insolence. Again she shot her spell at it, not believing how utterly ineffective it had been. This time, she managed to hit the creature right in the face. Again the creature took the shot, only this time it seemed to act like it had received pepper spray in its eyes, crying out in pain and scrubbing at its face. Taking advantage of the small distraction, she now focused her magic on her fallen friend, teleporting her from below the beast to where she was.
“Zecora,” she called to her, shaking her with her hooves. ”Are you ok? Zecora, can you hear me!”
However, before her friend could answer, there was a very loud growl that came from the beast’s direction. Turning to see what was of the creature, she could see how it was beginning to stand up on its two legs. Now at its full height, she could see that it easily towered at twice her size, including her horn. Once upright, it reached back, brought out a bow and arrow, and pointed it right in her direction.
Without another thought, her horn flared again. This time a semi-transparent lavender dome came into existence around them, appearing just in time for the arrow to crash into it harmlessly. Glancing back at her foe, she saw a flash of apprehension and confusion in its eyes. The creature stalled a few seconds, as if mulling over the decision to keep fighting for its prey. Unfortunately for them, its concern didn’t take long to disappear. Again the creature reached for another arrow and shot at them, testing the shield’s strength. This time, anger and frustration appeared beside the hungry gleam in its eyes.
Twilight was taken aback when the creature ceased its attack and instead placed its bow back onto his back. Just as she thought that it had given up, the creature then reached inside its hide and drew out an axe. Twilight’s brow rose at the sight. Since when does an Everfree creature use tools?
With a rabid growl, the creature brought its axe up and charged at them. Trusting that the shield’s strength would hold off the creature’s attack, Twilight still braced for the impact. Hopefully it would lose interest in them after seeing the effectiveness of her shield.
Much was Twilight’s surprise when she suddenly found herself dropping to her knees from the magical strain of the attack. Her shield was also not looking very good. It had only taken one hit, and yet small cracks were already beginning to show. She steadily got up and reinforced her shield just in time for the creature to land another strike, causing her to almost lose her footing again.
She needed to find way out of there quickly. If she didn’t, all her effort in protecting them would have been for naught. The problem was, there didn’t seem to be any. If she were to carry Zecora and try to outrun the creature, the creature would easily catch up with her due to her fatigue from before and easily end them both. The only safe way out would be teleporting, but they were too far from Zecora’s hut for her to teleport there in one trip. Not to mention the dangers of multiple blind teleportations. If there was one thing that had been drilled into her head when learning about teleporting, it was to never teleport when you couldn’t see where you were going unless it was a highly familiar place.
Another strike, and this time she almost dropped fully to the ground. Magical fatigue was starting to join her muscular fatigue, as she was needing more and more energy to keep the shield from breaking. This was it; it was now or never.
Twilight braced for the next impact, gritting her teeth and steadying her legs as the axe impacted on her weakening shield once more. However, this time she wasn’t going to repair the shield. As the creature was bringing its weapon up for another strike, Twilight closed her eyes and made the shield explode into the creature’s face. Once the creature dropped the axe and covered its eyes from the sudden explosion of magic, Twilight reared up and gave it the strongest buck her tired body could muster.
The creature was sent back, not expecting the powerful blow to its stomach. Taking the opportunity, Twilight closed her eyes tightly, charged her horn with all the magic she could gather and teleported with Zecora various times. Hopefully they would end up as close to the hut as possible and not in the middle of a tree.
With her teleportations over, Twilight chanced a peek at her surroundings, noting that they were now at the familiar trail that lead to Zecora’s hut. Now that they were both out of harm's way, she allowed her exhausted body to drop to the ground and finally let herself catch a break. With the adrenaline rush over, she could now feel just how much all her muscles burned and that a massive headache was beginning to rise in her head.
While still recovering her breath, Twilight slowly reached out to Zecora to try and wake her up from unconsciousness. After a few moments of her friend not responding to her prying, she saw how her eyes began to slowly open.
“...T-twilight w-what happened? T-the beast—!”
“Don’t worry... we’re safe now.”
Looking around to make sure that she was safe, Zecora again closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. This was the closest she had came to joining her ancestors in recent years. Her relaxing moment, however, only lasted a few seconds. Both their eyes shot open at the sound of an ear-piercing roar that caused many birds to fly into the sky. It seemed that the creature was more than unpleased with the result of their little clash.
“Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggghhhhhhhh!”
He could not believe it. He was about to finally get through the purple abomination’s conjuring when, in a split second, they disappeared in a blinding and painful light. All of his energy spent on chasing down the strange zebra and battling that purple abomination, only to be left hungrier and in a fouler mood. His arms were still trembling from the rush the hunt had left, and he needed something to vent all his anger at. Turning to the closest tree, he began pounding at its trunk with both fists. He didn’t feel the pain anyways; it had been years since he had felt pain from punching them, a bad habit he picked up when he was overly frustrated.
After almost a minute of beating the tree, he finally relented, not because he was beginning to feel pain, but because he was starting to bleed more than he liked. His stomach growled yet again, reminding him of his failed catch. Oh, what a feast it could have been. Sure there would have been spoils, but that wasn’t going to stop him from eating as much as he could. There was nothing left to do but to pick up his dropped things and go back near his cave to do some more hunting. He definitely didn’t want to get lost in this strange forest.
Once he had picked up his axe and knife from the ground, he reached back to count how many arrows he had left. Only two left. His day just kept getting better and better. Once he had collected most of his things, he turned the way he had been chasing the zebra and began making his way back, collecting his spear on the way.
He couldn’t help but question what he had just fought. In the heat of the moment, he couldn’t process what he had seen. An equally-malformed purple equine that had paranormal powers. He had already known that this was a strange land unlike any he had ever seen, but now this took it to a whole new level of strange. The last time something that strange had happened, a night had lasted too long than it should have, and the moon had lost its strange shadow.
Had he really already lost his mind to this strange place? Had time finally taken the toll on his mind after over a decade of wandering this strange place? He did not know, but it had all felt too real for it not to have been. Especially that thing’s barrier. Two of his arrows couldn’t even scratch its surface, and it wasn’t until he had brought out his axe that it started to show damage. He didn’t know what else that thing could do. At this point, he wasn’t too sure that he wanted to find out.
He was so deep into his thoughts that he almost didn’t catch the familiar sound of something chipping away at wood. He swiftly crouched down and brought out his bow and one of his remaining arrows. He didn’t have to look to know what it was. While approaching his prey, he stepped on some dry leaves on the ground he hadn’t seen, prompting the chipping to momentarily stop.
He quickly pressed his back to a nearby tree and remained silent for a moment; he couldn’t let it know he was there. After a few moments of silence, the beaver returned to its chipping. Now certain he hadn’t blown his cover, he began to slowly pull back on his bow. Bringing out his head from behind the tree, he took careful aim at the beaver.
You are not getting away this time.
“Mister Beaverton! Missus Beaverton! Where are you!” Fluttershy called out once more. She had been out in the Everfree for almost an hour now, and still no signs of her furry little friends. It was starting to really worry her now. It had been two days since she had seen Mister Beaverton. At first she hadn’t put any importance to it, but when one of her animal friends told her that Mrs. Beaverton had also gone missing, she immediately went looking for the both of them into the Everfree. She never liked going into the forest, but when it came to helping out her animal friends, her fears came last.
“Mister Beaverton, please come out! Your pups are really starting to get worried!” she called out, but no response came. She kept looking for them for a while, when suddenly some nearby bushes started rustling. She was about to call out again when out came Missus Beaverton, running as fast as her short legs allowed her. The beaver just kept running, not even taking notice of Fluttershy as she ran in front of her.
Fluttershy had barely opened her mouth to call out to Missus Beaverton when an arrow came flying out from the tree line. Fluttershy had to stifle a gasp as she saw the arrow pierce into the beaver’s tail. Immediately, the beaver stopped and instead clutched at its tail, trying to get the arrow out. She was about to try and help her beaver friend when out of the bushes stormed a towering creature, catching her once again off guard.
He was tall and bipedal, and wore the hide of a bear. His long hair came down to his shoulders, and a bushy beard covered the majority of his face. It seemed that this tall creature also did not take notice of her, as he kept his gaze locked on the beaver. He put his bow on hits back and brought up his spear. Before Fluttershy even had a chance to react, he brought the spear back down onto the beaver, killing it in one blow.
Fluttershy’s body froze.
Just like that, her little friend’s life was gone. And there was nothing that she could have done to prevent it.
“How could you…” she whispered under her breath.
The creature, meanwhile, did not hear her, and so he proceeded to retrieve the arrow from its prey.
“H-how, c-could you…” she stated once more, only this time a little more audibly.
The sudden noise caused him to stop and try to pinpoint where the sound came from. As he turned behind him, he finally took notice of the yellow pegasus standing there, its head down and eyes covered by the shadow of its hair.
“HOW COULD YOU!” she screamed at him, turning her gaze to meet his.
The creature stumbled back in shock, not expecting the outburst from the small pegasus. He tried prying his eyes away from her, but found that to be almost impossible. His heart started racing. There was something in its gaze penetrating deep inside his mind, bringing out a very primal fear as well as a sudden feeling of regret.
“She had a family!” she cried out. But the creature did not seem to understand her words.
Every step back he took, the pegasus matched. His heart felt ready to leap out of his chest. Never in its years in the wild had he felt this much fear, from a much smaller animal much less. He needed to get away. He was about to turn and run when his foot caught on something, causing him to fall backwards. Now on the ground, he began pushing himself back, trying to get as much distance from the pegasus as he could.
Suddenly his back met the trunk of a tree. He had nowhere else to go. His palms were becoming sweaty, knees weak and his arms felt heavy. He needed to do something to get out of there.
“Well, do you have anything to say for yourself!?” she yelled at him, almost face to face.
He did not know why, but he suddenly began to feel the need to apologize. But why? Why should he? He did not do anything wrong. The only thing he had done was try to survive.
No.
He fought back that strange feeling. He shut his eyes tightly, bringing his hands to his head, and steeled himself. Fear was not going to help him, and neither was running away from his problems. He needed to fight back.
His hands began to shake. He could feel the adrenalin pumping through his system already. It was now or never. He opened his eyes and faced the pegasus’ stare with his own cold, predatory gaze. This seemed to take the pegasus by surprise, as its gaze faltered, losing its strength. Not letting the momentum go, he leapt into action.
It was time to fight back.
“Ugghhh!” Twilight cried out while pulling on her mane.
Her eyes were red and puffy, her mane was a disheveled mess and the bags under her eyes were now very noticeable. She had spent the last couple of days in her library researching the strange creature with Spike, but so far they had found nothing.
“I just don’t get it! We’ve looked at every book, and yet there’s nothing written about a creature that fits his criteria!” she cried out once more.
“Did we check ‘Myths and Other Old Pony Tales of Old’? Maybe it’s in there.”
“Yes, I did. I triple checked it, and even went out and read Myths and Other Mystical Creatures from Around the World, and yet still nothing.”
“Then I got nothing.”
“Gah. How can a creature like that just exist without any previous recording? I mean, it had to have had some kind of interaction with ponies. Even if it lives in an environment like the Everfree, most of the monsters in there have at least been named and described in Creatures and Animals of the Everfree Forest.
“And that’s just looking for it as if it was some sort of feral animal, which it’s not: it has to have some level of intelligence or sapience.”
“How do you know that?” Spike asked.“You barely got a glimpse of it.”
“I mean, an animal doesn’t just carry around and use tools the way it does. Plus, the axe that it used was metal, and metallurgy isn’t exactly a skill that animals possess.”
“Well, some studies have shown that some animals can use some sort of tool to help them get food that they wouldn’t be able to get otherwise. Also, it could have found that thing in the forest or even taken it from a logger's cabin from who-knows-where.”
When he didn’t get an answer, he looked over to Twilight to find her staring at him with with an eyebrow raised. “Where did you get that from?” she finally responded.
“What? Just because I like comic books doesn’t mean that I don’t grab a book to read like you do sometimes when I’m bored.”
A small smile made its way to her features.“Good to see I’m rubbing off on you, Spike. But still, I had already thought of that, and it’s not the same. While true, they don’t modify those tools for specific tasks. For example, sharpening a rock or bones and strapping it on branch to make a spear, or turning some wood and sinew into a bow.
“It has to be sapient. Crafting tools like those to survive are some of the signs of an intelligent species. To be completely sure, though, it has to be able to produce and control fire and be capable of some sort of communication.”
“What if it’s a new species?” Spike suggested.
“That’s impossible. For starters, where do they live? All of Equestria and the world have been explored, and there are no records of any of the current sapient species having interacted with whatever species that creature is. Also, ponies have been using airships for quite some time now as a method of transport and exploration all over Equestria. I’m sure that if there was some kind of lost civilization living in the Everfree or any other habitable ecosystem, we would have noticed by now.”
“What if it’s a dying species? Maybe they never grew big enough to be noticed, and there are very few left.”
“Well, that could be possible…I mean if they were heavily isolationist and didn’t interact with other species, that would make them hard to find. Also, most of the prosperity and advancement in other species accelerated immensely once they started interacting with each other. Sharing resources and technologies allowed them faster growth. That could explain why they never grew... you may be onto something, Spike.”
“Thank you,” he said, giving a small bow. “I can already imagine the headlines if we are right, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia’s Protege, Discovers Unknown Civilization. You’d be famous, hay, you could probably even write a book about them.”
“I hadn’t thought of that. Writing a book on a whole new species,” she said, her eyes losing focus as she imagined the possibilities.
“Yeah, but they’d need to be friendly first, and from what happened to you guys, that doesn’t seem to be the case. If that one is anything to go about, they might be another Yakyakistan.” Spike reminded her of the highly sensitive species that had yet to come out of their shell.
“The Yaks…” she thought to herself. Suddenly her color began draining from her face. “...Oh ...no.”
“What, what’s the matter?”
“I was so concentrated on needing to know what that creature was that I forgot to go to the mayor’s office and warn her about how dangerous it is to the population. I need her to warn everyone that the Everfree is completely off-limits.”
“Relax, everyone in this town knows not to venture into the Everfree.”
“Yes, but even then there are still those who venture in thinking it’ll be fun or exciting. It has to be officially declared off-limits until further notice to everyone, from Ponyville or any other place, no exceptions,” she explained to Spike as she headed to the door. “We also need to warn those tha—”
“Hey Twilight I finished that book you—oof—” Rainbow said as she crashed into Twilight. “Ow! What’s got you in such a hurry? Are you alright?” she asked once she saw the state she was in.
“Yes I’m fine, but I need to get to Mayor Mare fast.”
“What’s the rush? Wait, is it about that thing you and Zecora ran into a couple of days back?”
“Yes. I need to warn her to restrict entry to the Everfree Forest from now on to everyone, and also warn anyone living close to it to be very cautious. Zecora is already out of there, so I’ll need to warn the Apples, since the orchard is right alongside the Everfree. If the creature gets close enough, it might enter the orchards.”
“What about Fluttershy?”
Twilight stopped dead in her tracks, the color from her face resembling her mother’s more and more. “Oh no.”
“What?” Rainbow asked, concern clearly on her face.
“The mayor isn’t important right now. We need to get to Fluttershy’s ASAP!”
“Why, sure she lives next to the forest, but she’d never go in. You know her.”
“It’s not that that I’m worried about. The creature showed that it is an active hunter and that it doesn’t keep itself to the deep parts of the Everfree. Fluttershy’s cottage is filled with animals that come and go into the forest. If the creature finds one of those animals or tracks them back to her cottage... I don’t want to imagine what’ll happen.”
Rainbow’s own eyes widened at that. “We need to go warn her now,” Rainbow said with a very serious tone in her voice that Twilight had never heard. Before Twilight had time to respond, she opened up her wings and took off in a blur to Fluttershy’s cottage.
“Rainbow, wait up! Ugh. Spike can you go for me to the mayor and tell her to call an emergency town meeting. I need to warn everyone as soon as possible.”
“You got it.”
“Thanks, Spike.” She lowered herself and gave her number one assistant a hug. “Rainbow, wait for me!”
Rainbow needed to get to Fluttershy’s cottage quickly. Every second that passed was a second which the monster could use to get to her cottage. She began flapping her wings harder, taking them to their limit. She needed to make sure Fluttershy was safe. The cottage was now coming into view. She stopped flapping her wings and instead opted to glide the rest of the way. No need to crash into her house again.
As soon as she landed in front of the cottage’s front door, she began knocking on it incessantly.
“Fluttershy! Open up! There’s something very important I need to tell you!”
Her knocking finally stopped when the door slowly opened. At first, Rainbow felt relief wash over her, but when she saw that who opened the door was not Fluttershy but Angel Bunny, her brow furrowed.
“Angel, where’s Fluttershy?” she asked as she peeked behind him to see if she could spot her inside.
The rabbit merely shook his head.
“She’s here, right?”
Again, the rabbit shook his head.
“What?! Where is she?” she asked, hoping that her friend was in the market and she just hadn’t seen her.
When the rabbit pointed instead in the direction of the Everfree Forest, her face paled.
Oh no…
“B-but why? She’s terrified of the Everfree!”
The rabbit began to make charades, fist acting as if he was eating at something sideways, then he put his arm straight up and made it start to fall to the side.
“A Beaver? Mister Beaverton?”
The rabbit nodded, then put his paw above his brow and began turning his head as if looking for something.
“Looking...uhh finding... uhh searching.” The rabbit nodded. “She is searching for Mister Beaverton?” Again Angel nodded.
“But why? What happened to him?”
The rabbit just shrugged. He pointed to his eye and shook his head once more.
“No eye...wait, not seen him. Mister Beavertooth has gone missing and Fluttershy went looking for him in the Everfree.”
The rabbit nodded one last time.
“Thanks, Angel. Don’t worry, I’ll go look for her and make sure she’s ok. I promise.”
With that Rainbow spread her wings and made her way to the Everfree Forest. Just as Angel closed the door, another knock came from outside. Sighing, he opened the door again. This time, however, he was met by a very out-of-breath Twilight.
“Angel, thank goodness you are here. Are Rainbow and Fluttershy here?”
The rabbit couldn’t help but bring his paw to his forehead in annoyance. He was getting tired of having to play charades with these ponies.
“Fluttershy! Fluttershy, where are you?” Rainbow called as she flew over the Everfree frantically. At first, she had flown as high as she could to see if she could spot something through the treeline. When that didn’t work she decided to look in a grid pattern, determined that she wouldn’t leave any part unchecked.
The deeper she got, the more worried she became. If the creature didn’t get her, then something else could. She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. She needed to concentrate.
Then, out in the distance, she managed to spot a yellow coat through a gap in the trees. Relieved of having spotted her, she made her way quickly to where she had seen her friend. Her tranquility was broken, however, when a high pitched scream tore through the air. A shiver went down her spine.
No. Not now. Not when I’m so close.
She hurried to the spot as fast as she could. When she finally arrived, she was met with her worst fear. Standing above her friend was the creature that Twilight had told her about. Tall, standing on two feet and wearing the hide of a bear as a second skin. One of his arms was raised, gripping a wooden spear that was pointed in her friend’s direction.
“NO!”
She dove at the monster as fast and hard as she could. Within seconds, her body clashed with that of the creature, sending them both tumbling into the ground. As soon as she felt herself stop rolling, she steadied herself on top of the creature and began her assault.
“No one! Hurts! My! Friend!”
Each one of her words were accentuated with a strike to the beast’s face. When she finally felt her rage subside, she stopped her assault on the creature and turned to check on her friend.
“Hmph, and Twilight said you were tough.” she spat out before reaching Fluttershy.
When she got close enough, she got to see just what had happened to her friend before she arrived. There was a cut going through her left cheek, a small drop of blood at the end of the injury. Her face looked like it had been hit a few times, and her right wing was hanging limply by her side. Seeing her friend in such a state made her blood boil. She was about to make her way back to the creature when Fluttershy spoke up.
“R-r-rainbow D-dash?” she stammered out, her hooves still covering her eyes as if afraid to look.
“I’m here. Don’t worry, I took care of that thing. It might be tough, but not as tough as me,” she said, puffing out her chest a little.
Fluttershy smiled at her friend’s antics. Even in events like these, Rainbow Dash was still Rainbow Dash. At the assurance that the creature was taken care of, she shakily got on all fours. When she folded her wing back to her side, she couldn’t help but wince at the pain.
“You alright?”
“It hurts a little, but I think I’ll be ok.”
“Come on let's get out of here before that thing decides to get back up.”
Fluttershy opened up her wings but quickly drew them back with a grimace to her sides when her right wing protested. “I don’t think I am going to be able to fly.”
“Come on, you have to try again. We need to get out of here, fast.”
Before Fluttershy got a chance to open her wings again, a low growl came from the downed creature. Slowly, he began to move into a sitting position. As he rose, so did the volume of his growling. When he reached a sitting position, he used a hand to reach for his fallen spear. Once in his hands, he used it to help himself rise to his feet.
The look of pure seething rage that he turned to Rainbow made her subconsciously take a step back. Now she understood just how much trouble she was in. In response, she met its gaze and flared her wings, trying to at least look a little intimidating. Their stare-off lasted a few stretched-out seconds before the creature swung back his spear and charged towards her with a mighty roar.
Before he got within striking distance, Rainbow Dash dove to the right, while Fluttershy dove in the opposite direction, looking to avoid getting in their fight. Before the creature could stop and redirect his attack, Rainbow took to the air and got behind him, delivering a quick one-two punch to the back of his head. Stumbling a little from the quick but rather harmless blows, the creature once again brought his spear back and swung it in Rainbow Dash’s direction. The pegasus, being much smaller and more agile, managed to evade its blow easily.
A small smile made its way to her features. As big and scary as the creature was, he was not fast enough to hit her. Their little one-sided exchange continued, the creature swinging in a blind rage while Rainbow dodged and countered each of his attacks. Although, unbeknownst to her, instead of tiring the creature, each one of her blows only made him angrier.
Becoming overconfident in her ability to dodge to the attacks, she began to embellish her evasions, spinning, pirouetting and even flying backwards with her hooves behind her head. The creature, unbeknownst to her, began taking notice of her carelessness. In an attempt to outsmart his opponent, the creature feinted a sideways swing; when the pegasus went into one of her evasive maneuvers, he swung as hard as he could onto his unsuspecting target.
The blow connected at the side of her barrel, sending her crashing into the ground. Dazed from the unexpected blow, Rainbow barely had enough time to roll to the side, a wooden spear sinking deep into the spot she was in just seconds ago.
She quickly got on all fours and made herself airborne. The blow had taken quite a lot out of her. She noted how she couldn’t move too suddenly without her side erupting in pain.
Noting that the creature was occupied trying to dislodge the spear from the ground, she pushed aside the pain and charged the creature once more. The creature quickly took notice and let go of the spear, preparing himself to strike with his bare hands. Again he attacked and again she evaded, only this time he noted that the pegasus was “sidestepping” the bare minimum to dodge his attacks. When she finished attacking, instead of going for a direct blow he reached out in a grabbing motion at the direction he thought she would evade.
Rainbow’s breath was suddenly caught in her throat, a hand managing a firm grip around it. She brought up her hooves to the offending appendage and tried to pry it open. Instead, the grip only tightened, cutting off more of her blood flow. She began flapping her wings harder, trying to get out of the creature’s grip.
The creature kept its iron grip on her throat when suddenly, a high-pitched sound came from behind him. Turning back, he noticed the other pegasus crying out to its captured comrade. When he felt the struggling becoming weaker, he turned and swung his arm towards the other pegasus, sending the one in his hand into a collision course with the other one. They both laid there almost unmoving, only the slow rise and fall of their chests giving away that they were still alive.
Seeing how they weren’t going anywhere, he turned back to his spear and pulled it out of the ground. He finally had them. Both the aggressive blue and the yellow demon-eyed pegasi were now at his mercy. If it wouldn’t have been for what he experienced with the yellow one’s gaze, he would have just killed the offending blue one and spared the yellow one’s life. But after seeing what the yellow one was capable of with just its gaze, he decided that it too should perish. Letting such a dangerous creature go could easily come back to bite him in the future.
Gripping the spear with both his hands, he made his way towards his prey. When he was above them, he lifted his arms over his head and prepared to end their fight. The spear came down and let out a cracking noise as the spearhead split off from the impact on a familiar transparent lavender dome. He could only stare at his broken spear, rage making its way back into his body.
He turned his head; just coming out of the tree line was the source of the purple dome. The purple demon. Brown eyes met purple ones once more. Again that strange equine interrupting his hunt. He gripped the remains of his spear tighter; it might not have had a tip anymore, but it was still a weapon. Without hesitation, he charged her again. A bright flash and pop later, he found himself charging an empty space. A second pop and flash revealed to him that she had reappeared inside the dome, right alongside the pegasi.
He couldn’t let it steal his food away from him, not again. He charged again, but this time his target stayed put. The spear came crashing in a horizontal swing, but the dome held, the only sign of his strike a small pulse that traveled the unharmed dome. He brought the spear up for an overhead strike. He struck again and was met by the same result. The only damage inflicted was on the spear itself, a crack running along it. Inside, he could see the pegasi getting up and stretching their wings.
His eyes widened: they were preparing to flee. He dropped the spear and instead brought his bow from his back and prepared an arrow. He couldn’t let them get away. They both took off, the yellow one struggling much more than the blue one. He grinned a little. It looks like he had a target. He brought his arms forward and pulled back on the string, aiming as best as he could at the yellow one. Suddenly there was an explosion of light, causing him to lose aim and fire blindly. The arrow soared and passed right between the pegasus’ wings, missing its back by mere centimeters.
Looking down at the purple demon, he now noticed that the dome was gone. Again a flash of light, this time smaller, and the equine was gone. Seconds passed. A pop from behind him as well as the feeling of two hooves crashing into his back told him where it went.
He was sent tumbling forward into the ground, the bow breaking under him. He looked down at it. Another one of his things broken by that abomination. He threw it to the side, his rage flaring more, and brought out his axe from its leather sheath. Its purpose might not be to hunt animals, but it was the last thing he had to kill besides his knife.
He got up, grabbed it with both of his trembling hands and charged the demon once more. It disappeared once again in a flash of light. He quickly turned and swung his axe behind him, hoping to get the damned thing. Instead his axe met empty air, the creature appearing several meters away from his reach. Its horn lit up, and a stream of purple light caught him in the eyes. He brought his hands up to protect them. He stumbled a few steps back, and when the attack ceased, he brought his hands down again, but before he had the chance to charge, a strange creaking noise came from behind him. When he turned, he found himself being smacked in the head hard by a tree branch, causing him to fall once more.
Unbeknownst to him, the purple one smiled from the impact. As he staggered to get up, he picked up the tell-tale sound of hooves galloping away. He couldn’t let it flee. Not after all it had done. He grabbed his fallen axe and got up quickly, ignoring the swaying feeling in his head, and chased after the creature. Once the world stopped moving around him, he concentrated on his fleeing opponent. He smiled again: it might be a better fighter than him, but he was the better runner. The chase drew on, and slowly but steadily, he began to gain ground on the tiring equine. Now only meters away from it, he decided to go in for the kill. Grabbing the axe with both hands from the bottom, he raised it behind his head, preparing to throw it. It might not have been made to be thrown, but he needed to end the chase.
As he steadied himself to throw his weapon, he saw how its horn began to glow. His eyes widened; it was about to disappear. With one final grunt, he threw his axe at it, which sailed through the air just as he had anticipated. Unfortunately, the equine’s glow engulfed it seconds before the axe struck its target, meeting nothing but hard ground.
Meanwhile in the backyard of Fluttershy’s cabin, Rainbow Dash was comforting her distraught friend. Having witnessed one of her critter friends being killed right in front of her eyes and her closest friend almost choked to death, as well as well as facing the creature’s wrath first hoof, was a very traumatizing experience. Rainbow let her friend cry into her shoulder all she needed.
“Don’t worry, Flutters, we’re safe now. Besides, we’ll have to get you out of this cabin for now, or at least until Twilight finds a way to end all of this,” she said as she ran her hoof through her mane in a soothing manner.
“Wh-what ab-b-bout Twilight? S-she’s still in th-there with that m-monster…”
“Don’t worry, she’ll be alright. If I managed with only my wings before I started to show off, then she’ll be alright.”
“I g-g-guess you’re right. She d-did take care of the Ursa Minor all b-by herself...”
Suddenly, there was a flash and pop a few meters away from them. When the light receded, they could see their friend panting on the ground. Tired from both finding them and fighting the creature, all she wanted was nothing more than to relax without someone’s life being in danger.
“This is… getting old… really...fast,” she managed to say between breaths of air.
“Oh Twilight! Thank goodness you’re alright!” Fluttershy cried as she went towards her friend. “I was really starting to worry…” she said as he reached down to hug her friend.
“Thanks, Fluttershy. Good to know you two are alright.”
“Yep, nothing but a bruise,” Rainbow said while joining her friends.
“Are you sure you’re alright? That doesn’t look too good,” Twilight said, pointing to a rather big bruise on Rainbow’s ribs. “You should really have that checked out.”
Before her friend had a chance to reply to her, they managed to hear a faint roar somewhere inside the Everfree Forest, causing a flock of birds to fly out into the air.
“Oh…my…”
“Looks like we really ticked it off,” Rainbow said.
A chill travelled down Twilight’s spine as she remembered the last time she had heard that same roar. “Yes, it looks like we really did.”
Author's Note
Sorry for the long wait between chapters. It's just that I suddenly lost a bit of my drive to write these a few months back. Add to that a ~~bit~~lot of procrastination, video games and suddenly weeks pass without even noticing. But anyway, that's all behind now. Like I said in my blog post, there is a second chapter for Savage in the works. I have an idea of what could be another chapter for this story, but it'll take a bit more time before I start writing it. Also, this chapter has an alternate ending for all those of you who've wanted to see someone die. And I have to tell you something, I found myself smiling more than I think I should while writing it. It's around half-way done so it might be done in a week or two depending on how long it gets. For a bit of perspective, I thought this chapter would be around 3.5-4k. So place your bets people. Who do you think will find their fate at the hands of the savage man?
Edit:Here's the alternate ending in case you don't follow me or read my blogs. Surprisingly, that 3-4k chapter ended up being 5.5k 
