I: Shadows of the Forest
The butter yellow hooves of the timid Pegasus, Fluttershy, softly clopped along the dirt path of the Everfree forest. "Angel!" her soft voice bellowed. The element of kindness found herself within these dark woods to find her lost friend, Angel Bunny, her white rabbit. Being the rebellious and naughty rabbit he is, Angel ran into the forest after a confrontation with his owner; Fluttershy.
The meek Pegasus kept her head low to the ground and covered her scared face with her soft pink mane. She was scared, no, terrified of the forest that sits on the border of Ponyville. From its dark, sinister look to the dangerous animals that inhabited it's thick vegetation. Overall, it was not a pleasant place to be. This was not the only thing that frightened the timid pony. This spooky forest was a hotspot for dark magic and unnatural events, such as the weather controlling itself and the events of Nightmare Moon.
Fluttershy's pace was slow and careful. She wanted to speed up to at least a trot, but her bad experiences with the Everfree refrained her from doing so, and well, the fact that she was afraid of just about everything. "Angel!" she once again called out. Her feedback was no more than the sound of chirping birds and no response from her beloved white bunny. She grew slightly depressed at this, but trekked on.
As she continued along the path, Fluttershy began to become nervous and frightened at the sudden silence of the forest. No more birds were chirping, no branches were being shaken by passing squirrels, and no insects of the forest could be heard. It's as if they all disappeared, just like how Fluttershy's friend, Twilight Sparkle, would use a teleportation spell, just without the blinding flash of white light.
Each step Fluttershy took was like a gauge ticking upwards with the sound of a clock, with the gauge being a measurement of climbing fear. The butter coloured pegasus’s breath became heavier and rugged, similar to that of hunted prey. Her light blue eyes darted from side to side, trying to see if anything currently lurked in the nearby shadows. A strange sound came from behind the timid Pegasus, cause her to let off a small "eep" and quickly turn around. Standing in front of the small pony was a massive manticore with a musculature structure and very little fat.
The humongous beast looked Fluttershy in the eyes with its orange coloured eyes. The feline licked its lips with the idea of getting an easy meal on such short notice. The beast of the Everfree lifted its paw up and one by one, its six inch claws sprang up, scaring the terrified pegasus even more then she was already was. The manticore swung it's mighty paw down at Fluttershy, hoping to hear the satisfying crunch of her skull, but this did not happen. What did happen was a burst of speed from Fluttershy that allowed her to escape death by manticore.
The timid pony sprinted through the thick woods of the Everfree, not look back at the deadly animal that was surely following her into the deeper parts of the forest. Low hanging branches and twigs snapped and broke as Fluttershy sprinted unto them, not noticing the stinging pain in her face from the branches slapping her. Seeing a few beams of light ahead, Fluttershy pushed harder, in turn making her run faster.
The butter pony broke through the tree line, but to only run face first into a stone surface. She fell onto her back with blood running down her face, dyeing her yellow coat a light red. Fluttershy groaned in pain and began to stand back up. Half way through standing back up, the pegasus stopped in her tracks, hearing the heavy footfall of the angered manticore. In total terror, Fluttershy frantically looked for means of escape, but to her distress, no such thing turned up. She was trapped in a small clearing with most of it being a steep stone covered incline. Suddenly, Fluttershy remembered that she got wings. She began to spread them, but winced in pain as a furious burning filled her right wing. The state of the wing made her gasp. It was bent towards the sky, telling the small pony it was badly broken.
The tearful pegasus looked towards the approaching manticore now knowing her end may very well be near. The beast was now standing in front of Fluttershy with a hungry look in its eyes. It lifted its paw into the air, ready to strike it's next meal. Fluttershy looked away and closed her eyes in fear of seeing her own death.
A cool breeze swept by Fluttershy, making her shiver. Her eyes remained closed till she heard something heavy fall to the ground with a loud "thud". The butter coloured pegasus opened her eyes, but was mortified as what she saw.
The manticore is lying face first in a puddle of steadily growing blood. Fluttershy paled as she examined the dead beast, wondering why it just died instantly. After a few seconds of looking, it was easy to tell that all the blood was draining from the half severed head of the manticore. Suddenly feeling the urge to vomit, the she coughed and gagged, but eventually got relief in the form of throwing up her lunch from the morning. The lone pony looked up at the corpse of the manticore. It was ... gone. The body, the blood, and the smell of blood... all gone. Fluttershy rubbed her large eyes and looked back up, but an even more terrifying creature stood before her.
In front of the timid Fluttershy was a towering, black, scary, badger-like creature. It was a foot taller than Princess Celestia, dwarfing anypony. Its eyes were pure white with no pupil nor iris, it was just a white, blank ball. The back of this monstrous creature was covered in dozens of long black spikes. The skin of the black creature was similar to that of a shadow, and even discharged shadows like smoke from a fire. The tail of the tall creature was the same, except for its tail that was equivalent to that of a large black flame that does not need a fuel source. Its arms and legs had a blade-like set of spikes that travels from the creature’s wrists to its elbows. The leg spikes starts at the creature’s heels and travels half-way up its lower leg before stopping. The creature's hands and feet were fitted with nine inch razor-like claws that would put a sword of Alicorn Steel to shame.
The creature stood tall, taller than the solar princess by simply just raising its head up, despite being in a four legged stance. The lifeless, white eyes of the beast drilled into Fluttershy's soul as it stared into her eyes, never blinking. On Fluttershy's end, she was shaking like she was right in the middle of an earthquake. The creature's simple stare made her feel weak, useless. Her knees began to buckle, as did her eyelids. She fell to the ground, weak and tired. For a split second, she felt something cold tap her forehead before passing into the dream world...
The towering creature looked at the small, yellow horse with worry running through its mind. The creature moved its claw away from the forehead of the unconscious pony. Suddenly, spines along the shadow like creature's back began to glow a brilliant white before disappearing in a small flash of light.
The black creature reached its claw forward and laid it on the fragile Pegasus's head. Within seconds, the dried blood that ran from her nose was gone, along with the misplaced angle of her wing. It was set back into place with a loud snap, but oddly not disturbing the pony's sleep. Now healed, the strange creature lifted its claw off of the ponies head and grabbed her by her stomach and laid her slumbering body on its own back.
The shadowy beast turned towards the direction the pegasus and manticore had emerged from. Suddenly with a burst of speed the creature was ran into the woods, dodging trees and weaving around bushes, never losing velocity nor stopping. The creature covered miles in seconds, arriving at its destination in a few minutes time.
The creature’s destination was a tree mixed with a house, which is the residence of the yellow pony that was sat on its back who is undisturbed by the run. The creature neared and entered the house.
