"How did it all turn out like this?" "Sweetie Belle," she thought, breathing heavily.

Along with other members of the Markseekers, she went to the Everfree Forest to meet Zecora. They counted on the fact that by helping her, they could get their cutie marks. On the way to Zecora, the trio was separated due to the attack of the timber wolves, most of which were chasing after her.

Continuing to run, Sweetie Belle rushed at full speed, running away from the woodwolves, who did not even think to lag behind but rather approached her. When they were already breathing down her back, one of them cut the back leg of the filly, causing her to squeal and roll head over heels down the slope. There she was, moaning from the pain in her leg, going with a limp gait to a tree and hiding behind it. Looking out, she did not see the woodwolves chasing her. Sweetie Belle breathed a sigh of relief, but when she heard a growl from behind, she realized that she had relaxed early. She yelped as the six woodwolves circled the filly in a semicircle and slowly approached her, baring their wooden teeth and snarling viciously.

"Please, someone... save me!" Sweetie Belle asked tremblingly.

The bushes stirred, and out of them came a large, two-legged man with a huge sword to his advantage.

Quickly closing the distance, he easily cut off the head of the tree wolf, and when three more attacked him, he cut them down with one movement. The remaining treewolves stepped back, but the two-legged creature cruelly turned them into firewood as well. Then he looked at her with a creepy smirk that made her shake even more, trying to keep herself from fainting. Suddenly the branches stirred and began to form another wolf, large and obviously strong. The two-legged wolf abruptly raised its front arm, and a small ball began to emerge from it, which pierced right through the wolf with great speed. She had never seen anything like it! When finished, the biped turned back to Sweetie Belle and began to approach. Standing upright, he sat down on one knee in front of her. Sweetie Belle was trembling violently and literally huddled in fear, mumbling softly:

"Please don’t k-kill me."

A rough but calm voice began to reassure her, saying that he would do nothing wrong and offering to bandage the wound. She slowly nods and stretches out her leg, gradually calming down. Twoleg pulled some kind of ointment and bandage from his saddlebags. After washing the wound with water from a flask, he anointed the wound with ointment; it tingled a little, and he began to bandage it. When she finished, Sweetie Belle looked at the biped and said:

"T-thank you."

The two-legged man smiled tenderly and folded the bandage, the flask of water, and the ointment back.

"My pleasure, umm... "What’s your name?"

"Sweetie Belle." She said this, lifting the corners of her lips.

"And I'm Guts; we'll get to know each other."

***

Having introduced themselves, Guts held out his hands, gently picking up the filly, which squealed in surprise. Carefully placing her in his arms, he said:

"What are you doing here in the forest?" "I don't think the woods are a good place for girls to... ahem... fillies like you."

Sitting comfortably in the black swordsman's arms, the little filly looked at him with a smile.

"Well, my friends and I went to my friend, and we were attacked by treewolves, after which we split up."

"Timberwolves?" Guts looked questioningly at the filly.

"Yes, those wooden wolves you defeated. They are called "treewolves."

"Okay, then your friends were also being chased by treewolves?"

"As I remember, most of them ran after me." Sweetie Belle replied while rubbing her bandaged leg, lowering her ears.

"Then we need to hurry, because they, too, may be in danger." Guts said, frowning.

"Then I'll show you where to go."

an hour later.

Walking through the thickets of the forest, Guts held Sweetie Belle in his hands and walked in the direction where her friends had fled. Guts noticed that small piles of branches and leaves began to appear along the way.

"I don’t like this." The black swordsman thought tensely.

Suddenly, they both heard a loud roar and children's cries. Guts instantly ran in the right direction, hugging Sweetie Belle tighter. Having run out into a small clearing, they noticed how something huge, similar at the same time to a lion, a scorpion, and a bat, growled at two fillies. One was an orange pegasus with a purple mane and lavender eyes, and the other was a light yellow with a dark crimson mane.

"Manticore!" Sweetie Belle yelled softly.

Guts placed it near the tree, telling her to stay here and not to look.
The black swordsman quickly walked towards the manticore, holding the hilt of his sword. Coming as close as possible, he swung and cut off one of the legs of the manticore. A good stream of blood gushed out, and the manticore, in turn, howled loudly in pain. Turning sharply, she limped in the direction of her offender. An evil grin was reflected on the muzzle of the manticore, and with a sharp movement, she tried to pierce the black swordsman with her sting. Guts held his sword forward like a shield. The sound of hitting metal and the crunch of a sting. Roaring in pain, a manticore with a broken sting, from which poison was leaking out, and the stump, instead of a paw, backed away, looking fearfully at Guts. The black swordsman dived under the manticore, ripping open its belly, thus dousing himself with blood and entrails. The lifeless body fell on Guts, crushing him with all its weight, but he did not care, and therefore he easily threw the corpse out of himself. Covered in blood and with entrails on his shoulders, Guts began to inspect the fillies he had rescued. They trembled as they pressed against each other, tears streaming from their closed eyes. One of them was clearly on the verge of fainting, and the second, opening one eye, immediately spewed out her breakfast. The black swordsman did not like this alignment at all. He guessed that they would react negatively, but he did not expect it to be so strong. Guts thought it was a peaceful time here in this country, maybe even for a few years. He brushed off his insides, already shifting his gaze towards the filly he had left behind. Sweetie Belle limped slowly towards Guts, but when she saw what happened to the manticore and where the man stopped now, her muzzle began to turn a greenish tint. After a little more standing, she continued to walk towards him. Approaching a distance of two meters, Sweetie Belle said:

"W-w-why?"

Guts looked at her in surprise, shaking the blood off himself.

"Why, what?"

"Why did you kill the manticore?"

"To save your friends, obviously."

"Yes, I understand. You could negotiate with her or scare her. But don't kill!" the filly said more clearly.

"Haaah… Look, I don't see how I was supposed to 'negotiate' with this monster, but you have to understand that your friends' lives are higher than the life of a manticore that tried to tear them apart. In emergency situations, you need to prioritize either your friends or the manticore. I hope you know what to choose." Guts said it almost in one breath.

"Y-yes… I get it." Sweetie Belle," she said with a sniffle. "Thank you."

"You are welcome; now I could use the river... ah! Here she is." Spotting a small river, Guts said

While the black swordsman was trying to wash off the blood and bits of manticore from himself and from the armor, Sweetie Belle limped towards her friends. It hurt a lot, but she still managed to get to them.

"Scootaloo! Apple Bloom!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed happily.

The fillies began to open their eyes, trying to ignore the corpse along the way.

"Sweetie Belle?"

"Are you alive?" the fillies said in unison, hugging their friend.

"And even in order!" Scootaloo said, but after looking at the hind hoof, she corrected. "Almost whole."

"If it wasn’t for Guts, I’d be food for the woodwolves by now." Turning to the black swordsman, who had already put on his armor, Sweetie Belle smiled a little.

"Guts? Are you talking about him?" Apple Bloom asked cautiously, pointing with her hoof.

"That's right, about him."

"But he k-killed the manticore! He's dangerous, and he's scary." Apple Bloom," she said, glancing nervously at the approaching man.

"Perhaps I agree, but still, he saved us." Sweetie Belle said affirmatively.

Guts was already approaching the fillies. Stopping, he caught the other fillies with his gaze. To prevent the situation from getting out of control, Sweetie Belle pointed at the black swordsman with her hoof and said:

"Meet Guts. He saved me from the treewolves and you from the manticore."

"Greetings." The black swordsman waved his hand.

"And these," pointing to the fillies, "are my friends: Scootaloo and Apple Bloom."

"Hello," Apple Bloom said softly.

"Hello!" Scootaloo said it quite loudly. "Hmmm. You don’t seem so scary anymore."

"I think the river has done its job." Guts said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Thank you for saving us, albeit in such a cruel way." Apple Bloom thanked her, glancing occasionally at the corpse of the manticore.

"You're welcome."

Turning around, Guts looked at the manticore's corpse, thinking.

"It seems to me that I am definitely not close to Elfheim." "If at all in his own world," the dark swordsman thought, closing his eyes.

"Since you are in relative order, then I think it’s time to get you out of this forest." Guts said, turning to the fillies.

"Yes!" the three mares answered in unison.

"Okay, let's go then."

Walking over to the fillies, Guts took Sweetie Belle into his arms, making her sit comfortably. Sweetie Belle, without resisting, calmly walked into her arms. The fillies asked why he took Sweetie Belle on his paws, but Guts calmly replied that it was better to move less with such a wound. And so they went toward the exit from the forest.

25 minutes later

.

Passing through the bushes and various trees, the four heard several familiar voices calling to them. Walking towards its source, Guts saw more ponies: a light gray unicorn with a purple-blue mane; a sky blue pegasus pony with a rainbow mane and tail; an orange-brown pony with large green eyes and a light-colored mane and tail, which are fastened at the ends with small red rubber bands; as well as a strange hat.

Together, they walked with other ponies in golden armor with spears. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked towards Guts and Sweetie Belle, then walked out of the bushes towards the other ponies.

" Scootaloo! Apple Bloom! Thank you, Celestia; you're fine!" shouted the pony with the hat. "Where's Sweetie Belle?"

The fillies did not have time to say anything, as a voice was heard from the rustling bushes.

"I'm here!" Sweetie Belle screamed.

"Ah, Sweetie Belle, I'm so glaaaAAAAAA!"

***

Equestria has not been calm lately. Monsters began to emerge from the forests and attack civilians. Therefore, after several hours since the disappearance of the Mark Finders, Rarity and Applejack, seriously frightened, gathered several guards, who were allocated by the crown to protect the inhabitants of Ponyville. Together with Rainbow Dash, they went to the Everfree Forest in search of them. For several hours, they walked and looked for fillies until Scootaloo and Applebloom came out of the bushes.

"Scootaloo! Apple Bloom! Thank you, Celestia; you're fine!" shouted the pony with the hat. "Where's Sweetie Belle?"

Rarity was frightened when she saw that her sister was not with them, when suddenly she heard a voice from the bushes.

"I'm here!"

"Ah, Sweetie Belle, I'm so glaaaAAAAA!" Rarity started screaming.

The guards roused themselves and pointed their spears in the direction from which Sweetie Belle's voice could be heard. A two-meter creature with a light, barely perceptible smell of blood came out of the bushes with a huge sword behind his back and a filly in his hands. Seeing that spears were thrown at him, Guts raised one hand, grabbing the hilt of the sword with the other.

Author's Note

"The author of the devil, stopped at such an interesting place!"
Of course) how else?
Well, here's a new chapter, folks! Hope you like it)
Enjoy!