Tyrants Path

Twilight hummed as the grass brushed against her hooves, trotting along the path. Next to her stood the local wilderness expert, Fluttershy, and the strong, dependable Applejack had joined with her. Twilight, herself, carried some packs, full of notes and writing utensils, Fluttershy had brought some medicine in a small pack, in case anyone (or any animal) was injured, and Applejack carried only her trusty Stetson.

Right now, they stood outside the trees of the Everfree Forest, Twilight scanning the treeline, her eyes narrowing a bit. The silence unnerved Fluttershy, making her scoot towards Twilight.

"Are ya sure ya felt somethin?" Applejack asked her, her green eyes trailing along the treeline. She then turned over to Fluttershy, raising her eyebrow at her antics. "Fluttershy? You okay?"

"There's no birds." The shy mare pointed out, making the other two mares strain their ears to try and hear anything.

She was right, there was no birds. No deer or timber wolves or bears or any animal sounds. Just the trees creaking as they waved in the breeze.

It was unnerving.

"That is...strange. Nothing bad so far. Maybe we should check on Zecora, see if she's alright." Twilight offered as she started walking into the forest.

Fluttershy stuck close as she peered around, trying to spot any of her animal friends, failing whilst following Twilight.

As they traveled through the forest, Applejack peered around, before looking back at Twilight, "So...why didn't ya invite the rest of the girls?"

"You mean, why didn't I invite your girlfriend along with us?" Twilight teased with a smile, making Applejack blush and sputter. "She said she was going to hang out with Spike and teach him more about flying today. Rarity was busy working on a new dress, and Pinkie is planning a date with Cheese Sandwich."

Applejack was still blushing from the comment, though knew Twilight was telling the truth. She missed her rainbow haired renegade...but, she can manage just one afternoon without her.

Twilight stopped as she sniffed the air, then looked over to the trees to her left, stopping in her tracks. Fluttershy stopped with her, though Applejack smacked into Twilight and sent both tumbling to the floor.

Applejack helped Twilight up, giving an apologetic and embarrassed look, before following her gaze, giving a soft gasp. "Well...Ah reckon we found your disturbance."

What they were staring at was a cause of concern. The trees nearby had been blasted smooth, and a light layer of sand covered everything. The ground had been splattered with it, almost as if a haboob had swept through the area.

The strangest part about this? It was in the middle of a clearing, in the Everfree Forest, well known for its healthy soil, trees, grass and ferns. Not sand from the desert.

Twilight walked over, peering at the sand, before bringing out a map from her backpack with some magic. Her wings adjusted a bit as she grabbed a pen and paper, starting to draw what she had seen, trying to pin-point exactly where they were.

Fluttershy peered at the ground, kneeling down as she observed the ground. "Twilight?" No response. Fluttershy turned and shook Twilight, shaking the poor mare out of her concentration.

Twilight gave her a soft look, confused, before following Fluttershy's hoof, eyes widening at the sight.

A massive, three toed footprint. Well, not just one, a trail of them, the pads making distinct lines in the sand. It appeared so bird like, but much larger than any bird they had seen.

"Fluttershy, have you ever-"

"This is the first time I have ever seen something like this." Fluttershy answered, so curious and scared...and yet, so excited. Perhaps a new species? A new species to make friends with!

"Ah think you guys need to see this too." They looked up at Applejack to see the trees around her had been crushed or pushed out of the way.

Twilight studied the trees for a moment, grimacing, and spoke, "Has to be several tons to push these trees out of the way. Maybe a dragon?"

Fluttershy shivered a bit at the idea of a dragon, she may have conquered that fear, but the idea of a dragon rampaging throughout the forest made her shiver a bit.

"We should check on Zecora."

Spike stretched his wings out, on all fours as he flexed them out. Although he preferred walking on two legs, he seemed so panther like on four limbs, and if you asked a certain griffin and quite a few mares, it made him look rather...feral...and handsome.

Of course, they would never tell him unless he asked about it.

"Spike, dude, if you wanna flex in front of a lady, try to make sure she is single first."

"Up yours, Dashie."

Both wore a friendly smile, and despite the teasing and words, they were quite close friends. The drake stretched out while the mare rested on a cloud.

"So, what's the lesson this week?" Spike asked, making Rainbow Dash snicker loudly.

"Lesson? Okay then, today, we are going to try the dive and pull out of it into a glide." Rainbow Dash said, peering down at Spike. Spike squinted at her, before looking at his wings.

"You...want me to parachute using my wings at the end?" Spike asked her, making Rainbow Dash nod. "Isn't that the first step of flying? Gliding?"

"Sort of. I was watching animals like hawks recently and how they fly after stuff, and noticed they dive after stuff and pin it or grab it out of the air. I want you to do the same, but instead of slamming into something, I want you to grab an apple tied to a balloon." Rainbow Dash explained, pointing towards Scootaloo, who had volunteered to help them out today. "Scoots here has set it up."

"Well...okay, but are you sure we shouldn't practice flying and diving a little more first?" Spike asked her, before having his shoulder punched softly by the rainbow maned mare.

She said nothing, only giving him a reassuring smile. Spike mirrored that smile and gently fist...er...hoof bumped her. She moved her cloud out of the way and relaxed a bit, getting a good spot as Scootaloo set it up.

Spike jumped into the air and started flying into the air, his wings flapping together as he started to climb into the air, Scootaloo walking over and standing next to Rainbow Dash. The mares watched him climb into the air, before Scootaloo turned to Rainbow Dash.

"So, what are the odds he smacks into a tree?"

Rainbow Dash gave her a look, before looking back up at Spike who levelled out, humming softly. "3 to 1."

"THIS IS A REALLY BAD IDEA!" They faintly heard Spike, before Rainbow Dash turned to Scootaloo, giving a smirk.

"4 to 1."

Spike gave a soft huff, the cold air from above making his breath turn to steam. He shook his head as he peered down, his slitted pupils tightening as he stared down at the apple, trying to get a good distance.

BOOM!

Spikes head turned to the noise, his right ear frill twitching as he saw a tree roll down the hill...right...to them!

His brain reacted instantly and he started to dive towards Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash, a nictitating membrane sliding over his eyes to protect them as he dove.

A pair of blue eyes watched from the treeline, eyes following Spike. The creature cocked its head and gave a low rumble, curious, before slowly poking its head out of a treeline.

One like him? No, it was different. New place, new thing, but thing seems...familiar. It would investigate...and be more careful, the trees in this land were not as sturdy as those in his own.

Rainbow Dash squinted as Spike dove towards...them? Why would he be diving towards them? That's the moment she heard a rumbling and branches snapping, making her look over her cloud.

A tree, barreling down towards them, Rainbow Dash herself would probably be fine. However, Scootaloo, who was currently starstruck by the purple and green blur racing towards them, was in the way and would be crushed.

She reacted without thinking, racing out of her cloud in an instance. A rainbow blur had hit Scootaloo, faster than she could process, and both she and Rainbow Dash were sent to the side.

It was too late, the tree was already upon them, and would crush them both in just a moment...had it not been for their purple savior.

In a blur, Spike had spread his wings out and reached out, his pupils slits as his wings caught air and slowed him down. He grasped both mares into his arms and kicked off of the ground with his powerful back legs, launching back into the air and soaring away from the tree. Half a second later, the tree slammed into where they once were and slowly skidded to a stop.

Scootaloo opened her eyes and stared up at Spike, who panted as the adrenaline wore off. He started to glide towards the ground, his wings folding around them like a bat, tumbling with his passengers, rolling a few times before he hit a tree with his back.

Spikes vision swam with dots and his back ached, his spines were stabbed into the tree behind him. He slowly pulled his spines out of the tree and lifted a wing, giving a sigh as he saw Rainbow Dash hugging Scootaloo.

"I take it the tree wasn't part of the lesson?"

Rainbow Dash shook her head and chuckled, before getting up, wiping some stray dirt off of Scootaloo's face, the young mare hugging RD so hard, the mare thought her bones would pop. Spike got up and winced, looking down at his arm and wiping some sharp rocks off of his scales. He flexed his wings and wiped some dirt off of them, and shaking off any debris off of himself.

"Well, nothing like saving lives to work up ones appetite." Rainbow Dash said, looking down at Scootaloo.

"Well, we could pop by Pinkies? To give Spike a treat for...saving our lives and junk."

"O-oh, you don't need to-"

"Spike, dude, shut your mouth, we're getting you a treat."