Apparently, I was the only one who heard that, because everyone else brushed it off immediately. I mean I get why, it was a bit faded in volume and could easily be talked over… I only registered it as a roar since I was focused on it direction-wise

“-And once Pinkie and Rarity were saved, whoosh... Me and Fluttershy loop-de-loop around and WHAM! Caught you right in the nick of time” Currently, Rainbow was regaling us with the tale of how she saved Twilight…

Yeah I’m never gonna let her live this down

“Wow, thats incredible… mind if I hear it again? Just to refresh my memory?” Twilight shot a glare at me, one that would kill me if I wasn't immortal.

“You know Demi, your memory has gotten terrible lately, maybe you should consider going to a doctor?” I roll my eyes in a playful manner. She knows I can't forget stuff, even If I tried. Which means she also knows I’m doing this exclusively to annoy her “And, Rainbow, I was there, and I'm very grateful, but we gotta—”

“C’mon Twilight, you should be a little more respectful to your…” I almost cracked a laugh but managed to hold it in “Pfft…S-saviour…”

This is so gonna bite me in the ass later on.

Too bad I don't care

*THUMP*

Oh shit It's-

“A MANTICORE!" Twilight yelled

With red scorpion tail, the body of a lion the size of an elephant, the ears of a bat and yellow and crimson dragon-like wings

Yeah this is smaller than the last one I fought

“We’ve got to get past him!” said missus state-the-obvious

Rarity was attacked first, and she actually decided to fight for some reason, ducking under the paw of the Manticore with surprising ease, she then jumped up and bucked him right in the snout

“Take that you ruffian!” the Manticore then went straight up in her face and roared in it. The force of the yell absolutely ruining her hair. She promptly had a small fit about it, before running off

Well I might as well survey the fighting ability of this lot. Thats helpful no matter what situation I’m in

”wait!”

It chased after the purple pony, but thankfully Applejack came to the rescue, saddling herself on the creature’s back, as it stopped in its tracks, now wildly bucking in order to try and get her off

“Yee~ Haw!" oh no she’s american “Git along, lil’ doggy!”

Now that Manticore was jumping all over the place, leaping in order to try and get AJ off

”wait!”

Eventually, the creature managed to launch AJ off, as she went flying

Her hat had flung off as well, but she didn't seem to mind

“All yours, Pardner” she said to Rainbow who was staying stationary in the air, not even bothering to catch her

“I’m on it!” RD did a little salute jokingly, before rushing towards the creature

Flying pass Fluttershy in a speeding blitz, circling the Manticore as a rainbow blur

”wait!”

The Manticore, however, swatted her out of the air with it’s scorpion tail…

I should probably take this thing down now

“RAINBOW!” I heard Twi yell in shock at my side

The pegasus was hit towards us thankfully, and ponies are pretty tough so all she got were some scratches on her chin from sliding cross the ground

Twilight steps forward, and so do I

I calm my breathing and close my eyes, as I begin to focus on the air within my body

The rest of the gang do that weird bull thing where they brush their hooves across the ground in preparation to charge, as I begin to gather some magic in my horn

I’m not all that good at magic, so it takes me while to cast spells, which is why I usually don't step in to fight that fast

“Waiiiiit!” I heard Fluttershy yell, shocking both me and apparently everyone else, as she jumps in between all of us and the creature

She turns around walking to the Manticore as it lifts its paws in preparation to attack Fluttershy. Everypony else averts their gaze as my mind starts to clock into overdrive

The muscles in my legs tense up, firing with extreme power to propel me forwards toward the incoming attack. But I wasn't fast enough. After all my False Heavenly Restriction had reset due to my revival.

Seems I didn't have to worry though, as in an instant, Fluttershy nuzzled up towards the paw and managed to convince the Manticore to display their paw, showcasing a massive thorn agitating it.

“Oh, you poor, poor little baby…” Fluttershy comforted the beast.

““Little?”” I thought, and Rainbow Dash said at the exact same time

“Now this might hurt for ju~st a second” Flutter said, biting down on the thorn and yanking it out in one swift motion

The Manticore roared in pain straight into Fluttershy's face, before calming down and licking her face

“...It’s just a big cat…” I responded to the silence

Well thats good

I release the breath I was subconsciously holding and walked forward with the rest of the group, as the Manticore released Fluttershy and she rejoined everypony else

“How did you know about the thorn?” Twilight asked as we walked. Fluttershy's hair now in a strange upwards position from the licking

“I didn’t. Sometimes we all need to be shown a little… kindness”

As we all regrouped, I felt a chill down my back as I turn my head as fast as I could and stared at the thorn laying on the ground

“What is it Demi Cube?” Rainbow Dash asked

“Full Government is crazy work” Wait I’ve made that joke before "Didn't I tell y’all to just call me Demi?”

“You did? Huh, it must've slipped my mind” She said, rubbing the back of her head with her hoof with a look of confusion

“Whatever, It’s nothing, just thought I heard something. Must've been the Manticore…”

I take another look at the thorn, squinting my eyes before reluctantly looking forwards and getting by with the others

As we were walking, it did not take long to reach a forested area yet again

“Ugh, My eyes need a rest from all of this… Icky Muck”

The foliage of the canopy blocked everything, stopping anypony from receiving any light

The world went black

“Well I didn't mean that literally” Rarity responded

Huh, who knew

The British pony has a decent sense of humour

“That ancient ruin could be in out faces and we wouldn't even know it!”

“Thats a pretty good point. Its not like we have any unicorns particularly adept enough at magic to… I don't know, cast an illumination spell?” I responded, as Twilight stopped and chuckled a bit

A small light emitting from her horn, but it dimmed and flickered out as soon as it was cast

“Huh?” I heard her mumble

She closed her eyes and focussed, a drop of sweat accumulating on her forehead because of the effort

“I thought you studied Applied Thaumaturgy?” I say sarcastically

“This specific area is heavily interfered with by… something. It's stopping me from using any Magic! I can brute force it if I try but I’d rather not use much Mana before getting to Nightmare Moon!” Well shit

This can’t get any worse

A dull pang rang across my skull

A clear indication that Icarus is able to be summoned

My reverse psychology ‘This can't get any worse’ thought worked

Summoning him, I make him fly above the forest as I feel him nearly fizzle out

Suddenly, I hear the group scream out in fear before running off

“Wait for me!” I say before halting and thinking over something

It nearly fizzled out?

That doesn't normally happen

Why?

Probably because of the magic thing

But that means Icarus was made of mana…

But that isn't correct is it?

Otherwise It wouldn't be able to coagulate and form within my body, and therefore regenerate

So it is, as I suspected, an energy separate from mana. That I already knew, but the new information is...

The fact that this energy can be disrupted using magic

My eyes flash with realisation and my mouth flickers into a smile

That means It's possible for me to use this energy as a weapo-

I feel a, sharp searing pain through my stomach and back, my knees buckle as I feel the object lodged inside of me get pushed out slightly

Looking down, I’m unable to see exactly what was causing the pain

Forming mana into my horn, I use the small spark of the light spell to get an image of what killed me

“An I-iron sword…?” I mumble, before the blade disintegrates into blue mist

Ah

I see

Using… something, I'm not sure what, Nightmare Moon scared away the rest of the group, before killing me within this area where magic doesn't work, in hopes of destroying whatever spell revived me when I fell off the cliff and permanently killing me

I’m flattered that she thinks of me as the biggest threat though…

I fell right for the trap

“F-fuck you” I mumble at the blue mist before collapsing onto the ground, seeing it fly away at immense speeds

Author's Note

Finished Ajin. Peak Fiction. Also I'm in year 11 rn so I gotta lock in so thats why chaps are being really slow. MB cuh. When I inevitably fail my GCSE's I'll come back to this and pray I hit it big