Chapter 1: Manticore Mishaps
The Everfree Forest is not somewhere where any sane pony would wander frequently, nor is it a place where anypony would want to get to know the wildlife, and yet, hidden in a bush, a pastel green unicorn sat, notebook, quill, and inkpot floating beside him as he watched something from his hiding place.
“So what ya doin’, Steel?” asked a quiet voice from just above and to the left.
Nearly dropping his stationery, Steel Script quickly recovered his composure before grabbing the light grey owner of the voice in his lilac magic and pulling the speaker into the bush with him.
“Lightning Flicker!” he hissed, his eyes meeting the red ones of the light grey pegasus hovering in front of him, “I told you not to interrupt me when I’m observing wild creatures!”
The pegasus shrugged.
“What’s the big deal? It’s not like you study anything really dangerous. I mean, yeah you study Timberwolves, but throw a rock at them and they fall apart for a while, but that’s as dangerous as you get,” he said, no longer keeping his voice down.
A load roar sounded from nearby.
“That was the manticore that is right over there,” Steel said haughtily, a tinge of fear entering his voice as he gestured in the direction he had been looking, “thank you for waking it up.”
The bush was ripped up by its roots revealing the fearsome beast in all its rage.
Lightning and Steel both looked up in horror before taking off towards Steel’s home, the unicorn quickly slipping his equipment into his saddlebags.
“When did you start studying manticores?” yelled Lightning as he flew overhead, keeping pace with the unicorn running below.
“When I was done observing Vulpes!” Steel yelled back, lighting up his horn as he ran.
Two bands of lilac energy manifested around a pair of tree trunks on either side of the path ahead, coalescing into two translucent bands as a cord started to form between them.
Steel jumped the magical trip-line, looking over his shoulder in the hopes of seeing the manticore getting caught and tumbling face first into the ground. His hopes fell as the manticore simply spread its wings and launched itself into the air, missing the trap entirely.
Steel returned his focus to running, leaving the magical cord to dissipate as he galloped around the trees, looking out for anything useful.
“Steel, now would be a GREAT time to distract or ‘deter’ that thing before it EATS us!” yelled the pegasus above Steel’s head.
A pile of rocks caught the unicorn’s eye, causing him to turn towards it. As he ran, he focused his magic on the rock pile, an aura of lilac energy forming around it.
The rocks began to move, clumping together seemingly at random, forming vague shapes that slowly gained more definition as Steel sped towards them, the angry manticore following closely. The clumps started to form together, assembling a small dragon-like creature that glowed with a violet light pulsing along the gaps in the rocks, emanating from its chest.
As Steel and the manticore charged past it, the golem swung one of its stony fists at the manticore’s lion-like face, the impact giving the manticore reason to stop.
It circled the golem, ignoring Steel who was slowly backing away, the strain of maintaining the golem starting to show. The manticore pounced on the rocky figure, expecting it to give way like any other prey, only to find the golem’s arm swing towards the manticore’s face again, the punch landing with a loud thump.
Deciding that a pile of moving rocks wasn’t worth eating and the two ponies weren’t worth getting a fractured jaw over, the manticore turned back the way it had come, quickly disappearing into the shadowy trees of the Everfree.
Releasing the magic that held the golem together, Steel scowled up at Lightning, the mischievous pegasus still floating above him.
“What?” asked the grey pony, looking as innocent as possible.
Steel just turned and headed towards home.
* * *
“Ok, so I woke up a manticore, so what?” Lightning asked, hovering in the centre of Steel’s study as the unicorn stood at his desk, floating several pages around him, all the while scribbling notes and drawing diagrams into a large tome.
“So what?! So WHAT!?” Steel exploded, his magic faltering, the pages and quill he was holding falling around him. Whirling around to face the pegasus, Steel strode forward, anger emanating from each movement.
“You want to know why I’m so Celestia-damned pissed?! You not only forced me to break off my observations of a relatively rare creature in these parts of the Everfree, but you also put both our lives in danger because of a complete and utter disregard for personal safety! You were MILITARY for pony’s sake! Hell, you are SPECIAL TACTICS! I would’ve thought that you would have learned something about SITUATIONAL AWARENESS!”
Lightning hovered as Steel vented his rage.
“Are you done yet?” Asked the pegasus.
Steel simply glared at Lightning before turning around and losing himself in his work.
Lightning shrugged and headed out the door, intent on finding some form of alcohol to guzzle down, though was interrupted by the rapping of a hoof on the door.
Flying down from the second floor landing, Lightning opened the door to meet the skewed eyes of the mailmare.
“Letter for Mr Lightning Flicker?” she asked, rummaging in her saddlebags for the letter.
“Yeah, just give me a second,” Lightning replied, flying over to the kitchen and quickly located one of the muffins that Steel had baked.
“Here you go,” Lightning said, holding out the muffin as he took the letter.
Closing the door as the ecstatic mailmare flew off, Lightning flew back up to Steel’s study, carefully opening the door, wary of any magical surprises.
“Uh, Steel? Could you open this for me?” He asked.
The unicorn walked over to where Lightning was hovering, rolling his eyes as he levitated the envelope over to himself, tearing off the top section and removing the letter, which he floated back to Lightning before tossing the envelope in to a rubbish basket.
“Thanks, bye,” was all the impatient pegasus said before he flew out of the room and over to the couch.
Opening the letter, Lightning instantly recognised the seal of the Lunar Special Tactics Division, and read on with earnest.
“Captain Lightning Flicker,
You are to investigate a disturbance in Whitetail Woods.
Reports from the area suggest that some form of dark ritual may be being performed at the heart of the woods.
Locate the source of these disturbances and report back, then proceed to deal with the cause if it is safe to do so, if not, reinforcements will be sent to aid you in resolving this matter.
Captain Owl Wing of the Lunar Special Tactics Division.”
Lightning jumped into the air.
“Steel, hey Steel! We’re going places!” he cried, quickly grabbing his jacket as the blue-maned head of Steel appeared at the living room overlook.
“What is it now? Are you out of alcohol again?” he asked, his voice laden with sarcasm.
“No, I just got a mission from Owl Wing, we’re going to Whitetail Woods!”
Steel hung his head and sighed.
“Why do you keep dragging me into these damned missions of yours? They’re military operations, not something for civilians like myself to get involved with.”
Lightning just frowned at Steel, shaking his head.
“Luna hired you to be my biographer, so you have to come with me whenever something fun happens, that way, you can write about my awesomeness!” chastised Lightning.
“Wouldn’t you rather recount your tales to me in order to allow some embellishment that would otherwise be non-existent?” Steel asked, levitating several pencils, quills, inkpots and notebooks into his saddlebags.
“Hey, I need somepony to talk to while I’m doing stuff, and you’re the only pony that can tolerate me.”
Steel rolled his eyes as he levitated his saddlebags onto his back and teleported from the landing to the front door where his friend was hovering.
“Fine, let’s just get this crap over with. On the bright side, there are some interesting animals to look at in Whitetail, so maybe I can do a little research while you’re getting drunk.”
“Hey, I only get drunk on a mission if I need to be drunk,” Lightning snapped back.
“Let’s just go.”
