The manticore woke up, in a place unknown.

It looked over itself, and noticed that it was bandaged and patched up. Trying to get up,its front paws were working, but everything after the shoulders wasn’t.

“Don’t get up, I’m not finished yet.”

The head whirled around, trying to find the source of the voice, but the neck was still hurt, so the pain made it collapse back on the ground.

The owner of said voice walked up in front of it and crouched down so it could face him eye to eye.

“I was able to bandage your front paws and gather your organs back into your body, but there is still lots to be done. Please, stay calm.”

The lion-like beast seemed to understand him, as it nodded its head as gently as it could. It got a pretty nice view of its savior too. He was a biped ape-like creature, wearing cloth and having no fur except on the top of his head. It was curly and expanded in almost all directions. It had something over its eyes, sticks with petrified sand in them. It has seen said petrified sand when lightning struck the beach. It was carrying cloth that it probably tore from what it was wearing in one hand, and had some kind of mud on it. In its other hand was a splinter and some string.

“I’m going to place your organs back where they should be and sew them back in place, then close your stomach wound. It might hurt a bit, but it’s for your own good.”

The manticore closed its one eye. And started to feel the appendages of the being inside of it. It felt a sharp poke, then another, and another. It resisted the urge to lash out at its savior. The poking eventually stopped from the inside, and now was on its midsection. A couple minutes later it stopped all together, and the ape creature applied some of the mud on it, then wrapped it all tightly with cloth.

“There, it should hold for a couple of days.”

It growled in thanks, and the being responded by petting the top of its head.

“It’s no problem, I couldn’t let you die after seeing what injustice happened to you. What is your name?”

‘Growls’

“Oh right. Can’t understand you. I’ll call you Mann for now.”

Mann was a good name, it made him happy.

“I’m Ali. You should get some rest, let your wounds heal. I’ll go get you some food.”

And with that, Ali left the area.

“Well, that went well.”

Ali got out of the cave he was in, leaving Mann to rest. He knew the area relatively well, and knew that there was a family of rabbits somewhere close to here. He grabbed a sharp stick and a bola from near the cave entrance, and started to walk.

Meanwhile, somewhere else in the Everfree..

“I’m sorry Mr. Rabbit, I promise Harry won’t be so careless next time.”

A yellow pegasus was talking to a large rabbit, and he was clearly angry at something. Fluttershy was not having a good day. First, Angel rudely woke her up, and threw a fit when she gave him his daily salad. Then, Harry the bear tried to eat a family of bunnies. And now, said family was chewing her out about how they almost lost their 4th litter.

‘They are getting a lot more irritable recently. I hope it’s nothing bad.’

Suddenly, something zipped past her and ensnared the rabbit in front of her. She gasped, and tried to free it from the bola.

“HEY! LEAVE MY PREY ALONE!”

“EEP!”

Something screamed at her, then it came out of the bush. It was a tall biped, covered in cloth, with a spear in one hand, and a couple dead rabbits around his waist.

“You.. YOU MONSTER! HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU KILL THOSE POOR INNOCENT RABBITS! WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU? WHY ARE YOU SO MEAN TO THEM? WHY ARE YOU DOIN-mphmmmphmm”

The being grabbed her muzzle, making her go silent. It thrusted its spear, impaling the rabbit through its heart, killing in instantly. Fluttershy looked like she was about to cry, but the ape creature did not care. It let her go and went to remove the rabbit from its spear.

“Circle of life, pony. Might want to learn that.”

And with that, it left, leaving Fluttershy gazing at the spot where the rabbit was. That spot was covered in blood. She gathered up her wits and flew back to Ponyville, determined to tell her friends about what happened and hoping that the beast will answer for its crimes.

“I’m back Mann!”

Mann looked behind him to see his savior walking in with a nice amount of rabbits tied to him. He smiled, but cringed when his jaw started to ache. He watched as Ali went to a fire, impaled 3 rabbits on a stick, and placed that stick over the fire. Then, with 5 rabbits left, he gutted them, placed their organs in a pot, skinned them, and hung their hides on a rack. Ali walked back to Mann, and placed the muscles and bones of the rabbits in front of the manticore. He took out a sharp rock and started to separate bone from flesh, throwing a piece of meat towards Mann, who happily caught and swallowed the pieces.

“Don’t worry Mann, I’ll take care of you until you are all healed up.”

‘Thanks.’

“No problem buddy, I’m happy to see you ali- I can understand you?”

‘It seems so.’

“Huh. I guess it’s because we formed a bond. Glad to be able to finally talk to someone.”

‘It’s good that you can finally understand me, for I have many questions. What are you and why did you save me?’

“Well, I am a human, and I’m guessing I’m the only one here.”

‘Oh. I’m sorry.’

“No need. It seems I have been ripped from my own world. Not that there was much there. As for your second question.. I felt bad for you. You were being abused by the ponies just because you were awakened by their young ones. They don’t care about killing you even if you did nothing wrong. It’s unjust, and I plan to fix that. That and you look cool, and you’d seemed like a nice friend to have.”

‘I owe you my life Ali. Thanks you for everything you’ve done and is doing. I don’t know what I would have done without you.’

“You’d probably be dead under that tree, but don’t worry. I would have done something anyways.”

‘What now?’

“Now?”

Ali stood up, collected the bones of dead rabbits, and went to sit next to a table. He placed the bones in a certain pattern, and started to sing.

“I have done nothing but killin’, so I’ll need you to fill me in.

Tell me every little secret, and maybe I’ll let you go back to rest,

Because, after all that you’ll do for me, resting will be as easy as counting to three.

Now, rise and shine, little one, for there is much to be done.”

The bones, much to the manticore’s shock, started to move around before forming 5 little rabbit skeletons. They hopped around on the table, then jumped onto Ali’s shoulders. He walked to the rack where their hides were, and the hides detached themselves and wrapped around the rabbits, making them look alive. They proceeded to hop onto the cave floor and got out it, spreading into different directions into the Everfree. Ali looked at them leaving with a smile on his face, before turning back to the manticore.

“Now the fun begins.”

‘Your food is on fire.’

“What?”

The rabbits that were roasting indeed caught on fire, and were currently turning black.

“SHIT!”

‘HAHAHAHA.. The fun begins indeed.’

“Shush.”

Author's Note

Here is the first chapter. Tell me what you thought of it, and hope you had fun reading it!