Zero attempted to better position himself as the group continued into the forest. His primary goal was to make sure to keep close behind Twilight, she had the knowledge of what to do so protecting her blind spot was his top priority.

As he maneuvered towards her, Zero made sure to inconspicuously nudge Fluttershy, signaling her to follow him so he could keep her close as well.

The soldier fell in step behind Twilight’s left flank, the side of which Pinkie Pie and the white mare were walking on, putting the trooper in prime position to protect the suspected weaker members of the team.

Continuing to move forward, Zero began to study the contents of his surroundings.

Leaves and bushes weren’t the only thing growing in here, clumps of dark-pink mushrooms were scattered around every which-a-way and off in the distance, the clone could also see a huge patch of some sort of blue foliage. They were too tightly knit together to make out any individual plant but Zero guessed they were flowers. Closer to him were some swindling vines that sported their own leaves and grew straight from the ground next to the haphazard path he was on.

“At least we’re not treading directly through the underbrush…” Zero thought to himself. He was still uneasy with returning to these grim woods, the cold air when combined with the humidity made the trooper feel like he was traveling through the belly of a dead monster. The others, however, seemed to be a bit more optimistic. Some were even chatting amongst themselves.

“They do realize there’s a high chance that we could all die tonight right?” Zero thought to himself.

The man shook his head, believing the equines simply must not understand the gravity of the situation they were in, a thought which only made Zero more tense and alert.

While they were talking, Zero reviewed any and all useful information he had gathered that could help him now.

All he knew about the forest as of this moment was that there were at least two types of predators in here, the wooden wolves, and whatever had claimed Trinket’s life. It was very likely those weren’t the only hostile creatures in here and the trooper had to be ready for anything he might have to face.

Zero did a once-over of his gear, he was holding his carbine, its grapnel attachment was resting in his belt along with a lone detonator, and his head-lamps.

The lamps made him realize that, strangely, the forest this time around wasn’t as dark as his last escapade here, which made no sense.

“Figures,” Zero inwardly huffed, “with the way this world is, I’d be more surprised if it was actually darker.” he thought as he eyed the shadows which appeared more as dark violet rather than pitch black.

Speaking of this world, would Zero even be able to combat anything that attacked the team? The equines themselves seemed to be unnaturally durable, and if they were at a disadvantage to the creatures in here what could the trooper possible do?

Zero looked down at his blaster as he remembered his altercation with the wolves yesterday. “This seemed to get the job done,” he thought, “until they, resurrected or whatever that was. Can it harm anything else though?”

What was confusing Zero was the idea that if the wolves were able to at least be stunned by his own physical assault, why are the ponies scared of them? They can handle falling from the sky like it’s nothing.

Zero shook his head. “They have ‘magic’, maybe that protects them somehow?”

Whatever the reason for the equines’ endurance didn’t matter all that much. What did, however, was whether or not Zero could actually damage anything here.

He recalled that the lightning that Nightmare Moon used on the guards worked on them well enough, though it strangely didn’t look like it shocked them, only that it knocked them unconscious. That was not only weird because of the lack of electrical burn, but because lightning didn’t hit harder than falling from a hundred meters. Why did the current’s impact cause so much more effect on them as opposed to such a drop?

”It just doesn’t make much sense, unless perhaps…”

Though it was out there, that closest thing that Zero could compare the equines’ apparent durability to was a starship, the interiors of larger ships to be exact.

The metal hulls were built to be able to withstand the force of a reasonable crash, tanking a lot of punishment throughout its body, yet it could still be pierced by high-powered shots from a blaster.

“Perhaps that’s how their strength worked? They can take a beating if it’s distributed around the body but can be punctured or harmed by excessive force if it’s in a small area?”

It was just a theory, a half-baked one at that, for all he knew everything thing here could be invincible or maybe the equines were only resistant to certain hazards. But his conclusion seemed to be the most plausible to him. Either way, Zero was reasonably confident that the rifle he held could do something any foe that may cross him, after all it was quite the formidable weapon.

At its highest charge it could fire 300 shots each able to punch a 0.45 meter hole in a solid ferro-concrete wall, not to mention if an un-armored target got hit by the carbine, the blaster bolts were hot enough to incinerate most organic matter around their initial entry points, which can commonly lead to lethal blood boiling.

But even with his trusty weapon, Zero was still on edge. The further he and the others moved into the dim confines of the woods to more he felt like he was cornered.

“It does look terribly dreadful doesn’t it?” sighed the white equine.

Her words made Zero’s heart jump, he had been so focused on his reasonings and the surrounding area that he hadn’t noticed the pale mare walk up next to him.

“Er- how so?” he asked.

“Well of course it may be different wherever you come from,” she began with her familiar, classy accent which made Zero instinctively stand at attention, “but I much prefer the outskirts of town to, well, this. It simply feels like everything here is either bland, eerie, or revolting. Not to mention there is simply nowhere that shows any promise of safety or security.”

Zero agreed with every one of her sentiments.

“Eh, it’s not so bad.” he fibbed with a shrug, trying to appear more strong for the rag-tag team.

“Oh, so you’re familiar with places like this?” the mare questioned.

“Oh no,” Zero responded, “I just meant as far as deadly territory goes, it could be worse. If anyone actually said someplace like this felt ‘homey’, I wouldn’t touch them with a stick.”

His attempt at humor strangely made the equine let out a little laugh, it made Zero feel a false pride about himself. He made sure to remember she was a civilian not a senator or one of the V.I.P. members of Republic society. That accent of hers kept throwing him off.

“I’m inclined to agree with you.” the mare politely stated with a confident yet cautious smile. “Oh my! Where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Rarity.” she informed as she raised her head.

“Nice to meet you.” Zero said with a nod. “Rarity huh? That’s a peculiar name.”

“Aren’t you named after a digit?” the mare jousted with a smirk.

Zero chuckled at her response. “Yes ma’am, I am.”

The unicorn looked at him strangely. “Did- did you just call me ‘ma’am’?” Rarity asked.

“Uh- yes ma’am, I did. Is something wrong with that?” Zero responded as he wondered why everyone here he made an acquaintance with seemed to be so flustered with proper protocol.

“Oh no, not at all!” Rarity chirped, she sounded like she just won a prize or something, “It’s just different is all, not that I mind!” she finished as she raised her head even higher and flipped her mane. She looked like her confidence just shot up.

“Uh- Rarity?” Rainbow Dash started as she flew over to her friend, a sight that still dumbfounded Zero, “Can I talk to you for a sec?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes yes in a moment.” The white equine half-answered, never taking her eyes off the equally pale trooper.

“Moments over.” Huffed the pegasus as she grabbed Rarity’s tail in her mouth and yanked her backward.

Zero’s head turned to see Rainbow Dash pulling Rarity a couple of meters behind him, she looked like she wanted to talk in private. Zero returned his gaze to the forest, but couldn’t help overhearing their conversation.

“Well I never!” Rarity guffawed “Now why did you do that?”

“Don’t you think you’re getting just a bit too chummy with this thing.” Rainbow Dash remarked in a lowered tone.

“Oh come now Rainbow Dash, it’s not like we’ve never seen someone from a different kind of people before.” The mare reasoned, “I am simply just being polite to our guest, which is something that has seemed to slip your mind.”

Rainbow dash let out a grunt. “You know there’s a difference between just being polite and trying to befriend somepony right?” she muttered, sounding agitated.

“Well yes, of course,” Rarity started, “but did you hear what he called me? ‘Ma’am’! Like I was Celestia herself! He obviously knows a mare of class when he sees one!”

“Yeah well if he is a soldier then he probably talks to everypony that way.” Rainbow Dash stated.

“Don’t ruin this for me.” Rarity replied.

The forest around them started to get darker causing Zero to feel more unease. He would feel a lot better if he had some sort of idea of what he was up against, perhaps Twilight’s book had information about this place?

Zero subtly motioned to Fluttershy to stick close as he quickened his pace to walk beside the purple mare, which garnered a barely audible, disappointed sigh from Rarity.

“So, is there anything I should know about this forest?” Zero asked.

Twilight opened her mouth to speak but Applejack beat her to it. “We was hopein’ you could tell us.” Twilight seemed to not care for the orange equine’s use of ‘we’.

“Well I didn’t really see all that much my first go-around.” Zero explained. “I was making my way through a monsoon in the dark.”

“How did you stay safe anyway?” Twilight pondered. “Didn’t you get attacked?

“Oh yeah,” Zero replied, “something called ‘timberwolves’ gave me a hard time, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle.”

His statement seemed to stun the two ponies for a moment before Zero continued. “I had to retreat though once they started to, well, come back to life. Any clues as to how they do that?”

Applejack shook her head. “Not a one, everything here’s unnatural. Folks say it don’t work the same as Equestria.” she nervously stated. Zero wondered if a part of her stress was because of the overhang they were now treading on.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked.

“Well, it lives here all on its own! No earth ponies to help it grow no pegasi to water it. It just is.

“So, like normal?” Zero thought to himself, “perhaps I was too harsh on this place.” he inwardly joked.

His thoughts were interrupted by the ground its self as it suddenly started to shake violently. Zero barely had time to process what was going on before the overhang he was standing on fell from under his feet, taking the whole group with it. Zero’s heart rapidity shot blood through his veins as they all landed on a steep cliffside, sliding down without losing any momentum.

Immediately Zero reached for his grapnel cable, time felt like it slowed a little as he attached it to his gun in a couple of swift, semi-precise motions. Out of the corner of his eye, the soldier could just barely see Rainbow Dash swoop down to save Pinkie Pie.

Fluttershy! For a split-second, Zero twisted his head to look for his fragile acquaintance before he spotted her flying, heading for Rarity, whom was trying her best to halt her decent.

Zero was uncertain of weather or not Fluttershy was strong enough to help the terrified mare so he rolled over toward Rarity and wrapped his left arm around her. With the rocks now scrapping against his body, Zero quickly aimed his blaster at the top of the cliff and fired.

He hit his target as the cable’s tip dug into the stone, lodging into a firm grip. Zero allowed the grapnel’s pulley some leeway as to not dislocate his arm, Rarity tightly held onto him with both her front legs as their fall slowed down. Once they stopped, Zero immediately looked for a way he could help the others. Rainbow Dash had Pinkie, he had Rarity, Fluttershy was fine…

What about Twilight and Applejack?!

He looked down over his shoulder to see that Applejack had stopped herself by biting down on some sort of root, but Twilight was still sliding toward the cliff’s edge!

Zero stared in desperation, hoping that she could stop herself before she fell. His heart skipped a couple of beats as he saw her halt just after her back legs went over the edge.

“Hold on ima comin’!” said Applejack as she let herself gently slide down to where her friend was dangling. Twilight lost her grip just as Applejack grabbed onto her hooves.

“Applejack, what do I do!?” She pleaded.

Zero saw Fluttershy fly over his head, following the lead of Rainbow Dash as they both flew down below the cliff.

“What’re they doing down there, why don’t they help pull Twilight up?!” Zero wondered. He tried to get their attention but Rarity was holding onto his neck so hard she was practically chocking him.

Applejack spotted the duo as well before she looked down at Twilight once again. “Let go.” she spoke.

“Are you crazy?” Twilight snapped, almost more annoyed with the suggestion than concerned.

“No ah ain’t.” Applejack assured. “I promise you’ll be safe.”

“That’s not true!” Twilight wailed.

“Now listen here,” Applejack began as sincerely as she could, “what ahm sayin’ to you is the honest truth. Let go and you’ll be safe.”

Twilight closed her eyes, and released her grip, screaming in terror as she dropped. Zero felt Rarity tense up in his grip before the lavender mare’s yell was cut off.

“Twilight!” she wailed, staring at the cliff her friend had been holding onto.

“She’s ok!” Applejack shouted over her shoulder. Both joy and relief sounding in her voice. She then started to make her way down the mountain.

As Rarity relaxed her grip, Zero realized he had been holding his breath the whole time. After letting out a long exhale, he pressed the ‘descend’ button on his grapnel.

Rarity let out a tiny squeak and returned to choking Zero as they were slowly lowered down the rock face to the grassy floor.

Zero could already hear Twilight thanking Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy before he touched down. Once he landed he gently set Rarity on the ground who immediately went over to her friend to make sure she was okay.

While she was doing that, Zero made his way towards the pegasi. “Nice work, both of you.”

Fluttershy turned her head in a way that hid half her face in her hair while Rainbow Dash struck a pose. “Oh that? It was nothing!” the mare boasted.

“Even then,” Zero said as he rolled his eyes a bit, “you both did good, especially you with the one and half saves and all.” he said as he motioned toward the blue pegasus.

Her eyes darted to the side for the moment before she gave a reluctant response. “Thanks, um- you didn’t do all that bad yourself. And that counts as two saves!”

“If you say so.” Zero joked as he shook his head slightly. “So why did you catch Twilight instead of just helping Applejack lift her up anyway?” the trooper questioned.

“Well duh!” interrupted Pinkie Pie, “the writers needed someway to show Applejack’s incredible honesty! If you know what I mean.” she said before winking at Zero several times.

“N-no, no I don’t,” he responded, “what do you mean- w-what does she mean?” he asked the pegasi as he turned to look at them.

Rainbow Dash shrugged, “No idea, she sometimes does that, you get used to it.”

“Okay then…” Zero responded as Pinkie hoped away towards Twilight.

Speaking of the lavender equine, Rarity had finished talking with her and was now heading towards him with a smile.

“I want to thank you for saving my life-” she began.

“Just doing my duty ma’am. It was nothing, I’m sure Fluttershy would have helped you if I didn’t.”

“Regardless,” the mare continued, “you sacrificed a great deal for me.”

“What do mean?” Zero asked.

“Why your divine armor of course! It’s ruined!” Rarity said in a higher pitch than usual, “that gleaming splendor it once had is all but gone now because of those jagged rocks! Not to worry, I’ll find a way to return to it its glory as soon as we get home.”

“I appreciate that,” Zero started, “but that’s really not necessary-“

“Oh nonsense darling!” the mare huffed, “you saved me, why I’d have to be a monster to not help you. A monster!”

“Well I- … wait what did you just call me?” Zero blurted.

Rarity tilted her head. “Hmm? You mean darling?”

“Yeah…” Zero answered.

“Oh, I suppose I just call people that, you don’t mind do you?” she wondered aloud.

“Well I don’t mind per say,” Zero said though to him it felt very off, “I suppose I’m just used to protocol, y’ know, being addressed either by name, rank, or as ‘trooper’.”

The mare’s eyes widened as she cracked a small smile, “Oh you’re right, we mustn’t break protocol, right?”

Zero let out a small sigh, “No ma’am.”

Rarity’s smile grew from a sliver of one to a full on grin, she seemed to be getting a kick out of this.

“If you two are done gazing into each others eye’s,” Applejack teased, “we have to keep moving forward.”

Everyone grouped back together before they started on their way again. This time Zero went ahead and moved to his self-designated spot, making sure that Fluttershy wasn’t too far away. As they all trotted together, Rainbow Dash did a play-by-play of her heroics during the hazardous scene, just in case anyone hadn’t seen her.

Once she finished, Twilight, though thankful for her rescuer, tried to change the subject. At that moment she was interrupted by a loud thud.

Zero whipped his head in front of him to the source of the noise. It was some hideous monster, it had a feline like body and head, with a bushy mane and a tail that could be found on some arachnids along with a pair of wings.

It stood on its scrawny hind legs whilst lifting its powerful fore legs over its head and unleashing a thunderous roar.

“A Manticore!” Twilight yelped.

Zero thrust his way to the front of the group. “Fall back!” He ordered as he raised his blaster to fire.

“No!” Fluttershy yelled as she shoved his gun towards the sky right before Zero pulled the trigger. The sound of the shot echoed through the trees as a blue bolt flew into the overhead leaves, burning a path towards the sky and sending cinders down on the ferocious looking fauna.

It now looked even more ticked off than before. Zero wanted to fire at it again but Fluttershy looked him deep in the eye with an assertiveness and certainty he had never seen in her before.

“Just- just wait a moment.” she told him before making her way toward the creature.

“Are you crazy?! Get back here!” Zero barked through gritted teeth, trying his best to keep quite as to not to set the animal off.

The mare was walking towards the beast like it was a friend or pet, showing no fear, which was the only emotion pounding in Zero’s chest right now.

“Don’t die, don’t die, don’t die, please don’t die.” Zero silently pleaded.

As she got up close with the monster it raised it paw to attack her. Zero immediately raised his weapon, in one moment this would all be over.

“Sshhh, it’s ok,” Fluttershy coddled the creature, leaning in to nuzzle its opposite paw.

Zero watched in shock as the animal not only held back its offense, but lowered its guard altogether.

Though he now breathed easier, Zero didn’t remove his weapon from where it was aimed, between the thing’s eyes.

The part-feline opened its left paw to show it had a very quite large thorn was stuck in it. Fluttershy talked to the brute like it was an infant. “Oh you poor poor little baby…”

“Little?!” Blurted Rainbow Dash, with a bewilderment that Zero shared.

“Now this might hurt for juuust a second.” Fluttershy gently informed the fauna as she reached to pull the thorn out with her mouth.

Once she did, the monster picked her up and raised her to its jaws, releasing an ear-splitting roar.

“Fluttershy!” some of the ponies wailed with worry. Zero looked to get a shot off but Fluttershy was now in his way. He began to charge at the beast, prepared to try and wrestle the equine away from the hulking brute but stopped as it started to lick her like a dog.

“Huh?”

Fluttershy started to giggle, “Oh you’re just a little ‘ol’ baby kitty aren’t you? Yes you are. Yes you are!”

“Huh?!”

After a while the others passed Zero with smiles on their faces, making their way to continue on the path. Zero just, stood there.

The animal gently set down Fluttershy who gave it one more nuzzle. She then looked over her shoulder at Zero. “He’s nothing to be afraid of see? Come on over so you can meet him.”

Zero gingerly stepped toward the two, his hands didn’t even leave his sides. As he got closer, the creature bared his teeth.

“Settle down,” Fluttershy coaxed. “He’s not so bad.” she said as she trodded over to the clone, putting one of her front hooves on his forearm, “See?”

The creature let out a snort but showed no more hostility.

“Now why don’t you two shake and make up?” Fluttershy asked.

The animal let out a huff before extending its right paw. Without moving anything else, Zero extended his hand as well. The animal shook it like a trained canine, then went over to Fluttershy to give her a little nuzzle before flapping its wings and taking of into the sky between some of the trees.

Fluttershy walked over to Twilight who was waiting for her, they said something to each other but Zero couldn’t hear them, he was still staring straight at where the monster had left, his hand still extended.

“…”

“Huh!?”

Author's Note

I think we can all agree that the best part of this chapter is the name, right?

I love dumb fun, and there is nothing dumber than puns :D

P.S. I’m sort about splitting this chapter in parts. I wrote these 3500ish words yesterday and was planning on finishing it today, but wouldn’t you know it, something came up. I didn’t want to delay this another two days so this was my solution. I’ll try to get part two out as soon as I can.