With The Best Intentions

by Dancewithknives

Rating: everyone
Tags: Other, Fluttershy, Adventure, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 19690

Maple Leaf and Maple Syrup lived simple lives, until one night.

I am using the adventure tag because FIM does not have a tag for what this story truly is, a thriller.
Maple Leaf and Maple Syrup live in a cabin in the Everfree Forest.
Every night they lock up the cabin, creating a sanctuary amongst the dangers around them.
But what would happen when a new predator enters their simple world, one that they had no hope of escaping?
Written by Dancewithknives
Edited by InsertAuthorHere

Published 2012-10-30 22:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-03-13 20:07:53 UTC

The Pursuer

here

Best Intentions
By:
Dancewithknives
10/18/2012

It was a crisp day in Autumn as two earth ponies trotted through the forest.
The two traveled happily with big smiles as they moved to the clicking beat of the many buckets of tree sap that they had gathered throughout the day.
The larger of the two, a dark caramel-colored mare hummed to herself as her six heavy and full buckets jigged and moved with her body, while the seventh was being carried by its handle in her teeth. Her companion, a red amber colt, likewise moved with only five buckets, all being carried in a similar fashion. Both ponies listened to the leaves rustling in the wind as they walked home from a hard day’s work.
As they neared their destination, the colt began to slow down, and started breathing heavier.
The larger of the two didn’t notice at first, but slowed down when she could feel that he was not at her side.
She turned around and slowly approached him as he set down his fifth bucket and began to cough and wheeze as he sank to the ground.
She set down the bucket in her mouth and sat next to him, stroking a hoof down his side.
He sat and wheezed for a few minutes, coughing until he could breathe again.
The two picked up their buckets and continued their trek home.
When they entered the perimeter of the wildlife fence, the colt stopped again and almost dropped his bucket, but still managed to not spill any of the precious sap.
The older of the two came to his side again and forced him to sit down.
“How are you feeling, Leaf?”
He kept coughing and shakily dropped to his barrel.
The older mare grabbed his saddle and pulled the heavy burden off of his back.
His body rose and fell with greater ease as he finally managed to calm down.
Maple Leaf, breathing heavily, sat up and regained his composure.
He reached for the bucket that he had carried in his mouth but a hoof on the back of his head made him set it back down.
“I’ll finish the rest, Leaf. Go inside and take some of your medicine.”
The colt nodded and said, “Okay, mom.” before he shakily got back up and walked into the cabin in the woods.
The mother walked past the cabin and to a small shack. She set her seventh bucket on top of a table in the structure before she removed the other six buckets.
She then turned around and walked back to where five more buckets of sap waited.
Before she could pick one up, she looked out at the gate that she had clumsily left open.
She went to the gate and closed it, latching it and locking away the rest of the forest.
She then took the five buckets of sap and entered the smokehouse.
She set wood in the stove and heated the hot pads before she set down one of her large frying pans.
She brought the first bucket of sap and set it on the counter next to a bag of sugar and a large mason jar with a custom label. “Maple Syrup’s Everfree Delight: Voted best in Ponyville.”

Maple Syrup and Leaf sat together on an old couch in front of a large wooden fire and enjoyed their last pieces of home-cooked cheese and mushroom pizza.
After a long day of work, the meal was very satisfying.
After eating most of his piece, Leaf set the premade crust down and offered it to his mother.
Syrup took the offer with no hesitation and bit it in half.
“Leaf, you should eat as much as you can. How else are you going to grow up big and strong?”
Leaf set his head down and rested it against his mother’s back. “But you know I don’t like crusts!”
Syrup rubbed her ten-year-old’s mane, her hoof feeling around his frail frame. “I know. How are you feeling?”
Leaf moved his bottom legs and sat up taller. His stunted growth would show if he stretched like that. “Okay. When are we going to town?”
“At the end of the week. Why?”
“I used the last of my medicine today.”
Syrup pondered what to do. She had more jars to fill, sap to turn to syrup, and she needed to set the buckets back in their places. She could take her current load to the market, but that would be slightly counterproductive….But Leaf was much more important.
“Okay, we’ll go in the morning… are you sure you don’t just want to see that filly?” she teased.
Leaf blushed. “NO!“
Syrup took off the red handkerchief that she had around her neck and threw it on her son’s eyes.
“I think you Are-re!”
“Applebloom’s a year older than me!”
“Oh, you even know her name! How romantic!”
“Mom!”
Syrup giggled and held her little colt closer. “I’m just teasing, Leaf.”
The colt huffed at his misfortune. “Teasing doesn’t make friends.”
“You’re right,” she said. “Good thing I am your mother.”
The colt had an idea. “Mom….SPIDER!”
Syrup jumped off the couch and rolled around on the floor, trying to crush the insect that had climbed onto her anatomy. If there was one thing she despised, it was tiny creepy crawlies with eight legs.
After she registered the sound of her son’s laughter, Syrup sat up with a great frown on her face.
“That’s not funny!”
The colt kept laughing and settled down when he began to cough and wheeze.
The two waited until the embers of the fire extinguished before finishing the closing ritual for the cabin.
It was dangerous where they lived; the Everfree was filled with large animals and predators. But all it took was the necessary precautions and the environment would be safe.
Lock the gate.
Make sure the chimes were attached to the fence.
Seal all the windows.
Latch the door.
And, above all else, don’t go out after dark.
The two ponies did their routine. Leaf finished by climbing to the top of the A frame cabin and sealed the tiny spyhole that let them peek out at the nightlife.
After the cabin was locked down, Leaf jumped into the bed in the back of the three room cabin and got ready.
Syrup sat at a dresser and slipped a hoof into a brush that was made for earth ponies.
She then used her hoof to straighten a few earthy colored hairs that were tangled throughout the day and, when done, she set it down.
Right next to where the comb went was an old picture. A stallion, a mare, and a foal were all present.
Syrup felt the edges of the silver frame and then turned around and joined her son in the only bed in the cabin.

In the middle of the night, Maple Syrup rose from the bed and walked out of the bedroom and into one of the other three rooms in the cabin.
She had to answer the call of nature, and being that the cabin was in lockdown, the last room had been turned into a lavatory just for this case.
When she had finished her business, she returned to the bed and found Maple Leaf waiting for her.
“Did I wake you?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry.” She climbed in and tucked herself nice and close to him, sharing the valuable body heat under the quilts that comforted them.
The two laid there, not speaking as they listened to the wind chimes that kept the predators at bay.
The night dragged on until they heard something. It was like a constant rush and roar of air, not the gentle whispers of the wind.
Their ears perked up and Syrup actually sat up, Leaf joined her until she told him to stay.
There was a loud *THUD* as something incredibly heavy landed on the ground.
Startled, Maple Syrup walked towards door to their house and made sure it was latched.
It was.
Maple Syrup froze as the sound of the air seemed to dissipate, and the night became incredibly quiet.
She then climbed up the ladder to the top of the A-frame and opened the peep hole.
She opened the tiny window and looked out at the night sky.
The magic lamp that they kept lit at their door only illuminated a small bit of the dark and surrounding forest.
She waited, watching for anything in the dark. Maybe it was a turkey that got through the fence. Maybe it was a raccoon that was in the smoke house, eating the syrup and sap they had gathered earlier. Maybe a tree had fallen over in the wind. Either way, she watched and nothing happened.
“Must be a tree…” she said to herself.
Maple Syrup sealed the hole and wandered back to bed. Maple Leaf was waiting for her.
“What was that?!”
“I think a tree fell.”
She climbed back into bed, and held her son closer with the unease over the anomaly.
But she could not sleep. Soon after she had pulled the quilts back up, she knew something was wrong.
The night was too quiet.
But to make things worse, she could hear something in the leaves.
Hoofsteps, strong hoofsteps, kicking leaves with every movement and snapping twigs under every step.
The only thing they could do was hide in the cabin. There was no way it could get inside.
But keeping it out didn’t worry the mother. It was how it walked.
Maple Syrup had lived in the wood for long enough to know that one could find a great amount of information about a creature by its tracks.
Predators moved silently, not wanting to be heard while they stalked their prey.
Clumsy animals stayed away from attention. Their large size and clumsy steps made anything in their path a minor inconvenience.
But the predators at the top of the food chain, the ones that were the most dangerous, they walked with no care in the world. They made their presence known to show that they were the true alphas of the forest.
They looked for fights.
Maple Leaf and Syrup held each other and hoped that the monstrosity outside their cabin would go away.
They didn’t even breathe.
Suddenly, bright blue lights began to shine outside the cabin, looking in.
Maple Syrup had never heard of any occurrence like this before in her life.
They could see it through the tiny cracks in the windows, or through the pin-sized holes in the logs’ sealant.
This was a new predator.
Maple Syrup wrapped her hoof around Maple Leaf and pulled him underneath the bed.
If they were quiet enough, they could just hide underneath the mattress.
Maple Syrup was very afraid. She couldn’t even think of what was outside her log cabin.
The steps and the lights circled the cabin.
Maple Leaf and his mother shook under the mattress.
They heard something reminiscent of pounding outside of the door to their cabin.
There was another loud strike against the door.
The two ponies held their breath as the sound was sucked away from the world.
Maple Leaf looked at his mother. “Maybe he went away….”
There was a loud shatter as, no doubt, the door to the cabin was bucked in.
The extra clanking of wood told them that the door must have been shattered in the action.
Maple Syrup wrapped a hoof around her son’s mouth to keep him quiet.
She slowly pulled herself out from under the bed and moved her dresser, pushing it as quietly as she could in front of the thin door to their room before hiding again.
That was their last line of defense.
There was the sound of the foundation creaking as the thing outside stepped through the largest compartment of their cabin.
The two small ponies shook like leaves on a tree with fear under the bed.
Her ears perked up as she heard static, like a scratched record player.
The two shook even more, for it wasn’t an animal who had intruded, but a pony.
Maple Leaf’s mind ventured to robbers.
Maple Syrup had other things on her mind.
She was a mare, all alone with her son in the woods. A big stallion had just broken into their home.
She did not want to think of the evil things he was going to do to her….
Or if he was going to make Leaf watch.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
The thing in the living room was walking through their cabin, slowly, almost as if it was searching for them.
Syrup put her hoof in Leaf’s mouth in case he started making any sounds.
The old hinges on their bedroom door started creaking until they were stopped by the dresser.
There was a smashing sound as top half of their door was broken off. Then more strikes occurred and the dresser was no more, only broken planks of wood .
With every crash of the intruder against the door Leaf bit further into his mother’s hoof in terror.
As the two shook underneath the mattress, two feet came into view.
Syrup could see in the darkness what looked like some oddly-shaped metal horseshoes slowly stepping into the room.
The blue light from outside now illuminated the room, circling like a siren.
It was at that moment that the two ponies realized that with every movement, a strange hiss was heard, like the steam of a teapot being released.
It stepped in front of the mattress, right on the silver picture frame that was once on the now destroyed dresser.
The scared ponies froze as two appendages reached under the mattress and brought it up.
They sat and gawked at the bipedal monster, clad from top to bottom in some sort of metal.
The bright light was coming from the shoulder of the giant behemoth next to what they assumed was a head.
That light somewhat blinded the two equines, they froze in terror as they thought they were locking eyes with the thing. They could not move, instinct had them lock up.
The light focused on Maple Syrup, making a grid of blue lines on her body, then it swept left and did the same for Maple Leaf.
After blinking, two straight lines locked on the center of the equines
“RUN!”
Maple Leaf ran through the thing’s legs as Maple Syrup jumped, turned around, and bucked one of its legs.
The mare vibrated after she took all of the attack.
The thing did not take any notice as it turned and reached for Maple Leaf but missed him.
Syrup followed suit and galloped as fast as she could out of the cabin.
Maple Leaf was at the gate and already had it half unlocked when Syrup joined him.
“What is that?!”
“I don’t know!”
They looked back as the thing from earlier kicked down the entire side of their cabin with a mighty kick.
It followed after them and reached its front appendage, something that was more qualified as a claw from a dragon or griffin, to its leg and pulled out a strange device that caused a red laser to light a straight path wherever it pointed.
The two ran through the forest, dodging between trees and trying to break their sight with the big thing.
As they ran, several *pops* followed and something shaped kind of like a syringe flew past them, most being wedged into the trees they hit.

“Do you think we lost it?”
“I don’t know…I don’t know… But we aren’t safe.”
The two had slowed to a trot and cautiously walked through the Everfree Forest.
The only light that helped them was the full moon in the sky, lighting their flight away from the thing that had broken into their home, something they felt was safe and secure.
“Mom… can you slow down?”
Maple Syrup stopped a few steps later as her son caught his breath. “Okay, but we need to move. The Everfree is dangerous at night.”
“Where are we going?”
“We need to get out. We’ll be safer if we get out of the forest, but we need to get back to town. Maybe if we get more ponies we will be able to scare it away.”
“Scare it..? It kicked down our cabin!”
“Please Leaf, don-”
At that moment, a loud call of one of the wanderers in the night pierced the air.
A Timber Wolf was singing to the moon, praying for their hunt to be easy.
The two ponies began to run. The moon call was designed to scare it’s prey, and it did.
The mare and colt began running, dodging trees as they swore they saw movement in the shadows.
Maple Syrup kept pace with her son so they would not become separated as they bounded over logs and broke through shrubs, completely losing track of where they were going and with that any direction they had previously determined.
But their luck ran out. They had run into a tall wall of rocks. They were cornered.
They turned around and found a new group of pursuers were ensuring they would not escape.
Maple Syrup backed up and made sure that Maple Leaf was behind her.
She kept her eyes on the wooden canines that were surrounding them in the moonlight.
She whispered to her son. “Leaf…..Find a place to hide.”
Maple Leaf began to whimper as he turned and squeezed himself between a few of the rocks of the small cliff that trapped them.
The carnivores began to move forward as the handkerchief-wearing mare hoped that her son would survive.
They kept growling with every step, using their wooden tongues to lick their wooden teeth.
Out of nowhere, a sharp and quick crack ripped the air, and with that, one of the wooden predators was split open.
Maple Syrup looked up and, of all things, the pursuer was crouching at the top of the cliff, pointing a big red laser down and aiming at another one of the wolves.
It was the better predator.
Three more cracks caused three more of the wolves to fall.
But the pack was finished with the games. At that moment, one of the bigger members got into position and pounced.
But midflight, it was returned to the ground by the boots of the seven foot tall metal monster.
Its head was crushed.
The other wolves began to circle and attack at once.
It returned a long device to one side of its back and grabbed another one that was on the opposite side.
It brought a part of the weapon at one of the leaping animals before aiming it from the hip and fired.
The loud boom ripped the next Timber wolf to pieces with the force of thunder. After a *chu chink* sound, another thunderclap destroyed another Timber wolf.
Syrup, seeing the opening, called for her son. “Leaf! Leaf hurry, we can escape!”
The colt came out. His mother pulled him to his hooves but came face-to-face with their original problem.
It slid the awesome weapon onto its back, where it clicked into place, and reached out to grab the equines, steam and air being released whenever it moved one of its joints.
The two equines backed up until the biggest Timber Wolf, angered by the death of it’s pack, jumped and tackled the metal giant.
It kept its prey down, using its wooden teeth to try and draw blood from the thing’s head, but had no such luck.
The mare pushed the colt as they ran past the combatants.
Maple Syrup turned when she heard a *Tssssssnnnnkik* and a shiny pointed piece of metal was in the invincible predator’s hand.
It brought the knife into its assailant’s head, then bore both hand into the new wound, and began to pull the two sides apart.
The mother and son ran away before they witnessed the alpha male of the Timber Wolf pack being ripped in half.
More air was released as it continued its pursuit.

Due to the overhang of leaves that remained in the trees, the moon was absent from the night sky.
Syrup and Leaf stopped for a break in the near complete darkness , keeping a lookout for the seven feet of metal.
Leaf was panting as Syrup kept turning in circles, not allowing anything to get the drop on them again.
“Mom…..Where are we?” asked the winded colt.
Maple Syrup had to admit their predicament. “I don’t know, I don’t know. We need to get moving soon before that thing finds us again.”
At that moment, a blue light began to light the dark, casting long shadows from the many trees of the forest.
Syrup took Leaf and stuffed him into a hollowed out log.
She slipped in and hid with her son.
They held each other in the hollow log. The dark shadows of the stretching trees gave the blue light a frightening and striped pattern in the once dark night.
As the light kept searching for them, the stomping of the unstoppable giant’s steps neared.
The two ponies held each other in the low lying cover for the second time in the night, looking out. They could not see it, but they knew the thing was nearing, not just because they could see the light, but as they listened, they could hear the telltale movements of leaves being kicked and crushed around them.
But they could tell they were not in danger until the strange hissing of the thing’s joints became clearer.
Tssssssss
Tssssssss
Maple Syrup snuck a hoof around Maple Leaf again.
It was at moment, she realized that the pursuer wasn’t the only horror in the night.
Tssssssss
Tssssssss
As she held the colt, she could a tapping sensation on the outstretched limb.
It wasn’t uncommon for spiders to nest in the undesirable places of the forest, like around rocks, between leaves, and, as they recently found, in hollowed out tree logs.
Syrup squeezed Leaf tighter as she felt more and more of her deepest fears crawl over her because of their intrusion of their nests.
Tsssssssss
Tsssssssss
Syrup whined and closed her eyes as the arachnids covered her body.
Tsssssss
Tssssssss
She opened her eyes and saw the bottom-most parts of the metal thing standing outside their hiding spot.
The two tiny equines shook underneath their rotten wooden hiding spot and prayed to both Celestia and Luna that they would be safe.
The thing stood for a few seconds until it hissed some more and took a few steps away.
Even though they were covered in spiders and moss, they sighed as the thing passed by, walking opposite of them so they saw its back as they watched its very movement.
A cascade of clicks became audible as the thing played around with its arm.
To both of their horror, it pointed its arm at the nearest tree and summoned fire to set it ablaze!
Leaf jumped, but did not go anywhere because he was tightly held down to his mother.
The thing kept setting the surrounding trees on fire in order to spook its quarry.
The smell of smoke was making the little ponies want to run as fast as they could in fear that they would be burned.
It pointed its wrist indirectly at the two ponies, and Syrup could see a pilot light and a type of fuel source being heated up in preparation to launch another bought of panic inducing flames.
Maple Leaf shrieked and finally jumped out of the hiding place and ran away.
Syrup crawled out and cried for him, but he was gone.
The thing aimed its other arm and pointed it at the fleeing colt.
More of the sound of a scratched record occurred as it took aim.
Syrup ran out and confronted the thing, rearing and tried to push it away.
“What do you want from us!” she demanded.
The thing looked down at the mare who had disrupted its aim and shook it away.
When Maple Syrup pushed against it again the thing’s only response was a swift backhand that sent her away with a swelled lip.
It aimed and fired, causing a web shaped net to fly out and into the darkness.
“Help! Help! Mom! *Cough* Help!*Cough*.”
“Leaf!” Syrup staggered to her hoof and was pushed down under the boot of the pursuer , but not for long.
A loud roar filled the jungle as the biggest creature on the block came out to play.
Big blue paws came down and knock the metallic life form into one of the trees it had set ablaze.
Syrup looked up and saw, of all things, an Ursa Minor had wandered into their engagement.
It roared as the thing got back to its feet.
The massive blue bear roared as the smaller thing pulled out a black pole from its belt.
It hit some sort of switch and it extended to about three times its original size.
Syrup had no idea what the new weapon was, or how it magically summoned what looked like lightning that rippled its length.
Syrup crawled away as the massive paw of the celestial bear and electricity of the black pipe met, and the pipe won.
The Ursa cried in pain, which only angered it more.
Syrup ran and found Leaf wrapped in a type of spider web made out of thin strings being linked to heavy balls.
Syrup hurried to the wheezing colt’s side and used her teeth to gnaw through the strings, freeing her son.
She did not let him get up. Instead she bit into the scruff of his neck and flung him onto her back.
When she felt him wrap his hooves around her neck, she sprinted as fast as she could, leaving the sounds of the battle behind.

Maple Syrup ran for as long as she could, reaching a clearing near a freshwater stream, before she slowed down and checked on her son.
He was fine now, except he was as scared as she was.
For the first time since the day before, Syrup looked to the sky and saw the sun, barely peeking out from the curves of Equestria.
Syrup looked at the creek that blocked their path and recognized it immediately.
They had run in a near circle.
Syrup went out on a limb and began to call out to see if a certain creature was present.
“Mr. Magnet! Mr. Magnet! Are you there?”
Sure enough, possibly the only non-hostile large game creature in the entire Everfree Forest emerged from the water. A blue sleeping stocking adorn his large and perfectly sculpted mane as the sea serpent rose from the water.
“Oh Heeelllllllllooooooo. How may I be of ssssssssservice to you? ”
“Thank Celestia you’re awake. A thing came and blew down our house; can you help us get to Ponyville?”
At that moment, the equines heard the leaves in the woods being kicked away as a large presence that had pursued them the entire night came running after them.
Syrup looked around and could not see the seven feet of metal that was coming after them.
“He’s coming!” shouted Maple Leaf.
“Jump on, little ponies!” said the serpent as he angled himself down for them to board.
They climbed on and he began swimming down the creek.
There was a muffled, but constant sound of, what they guessed, was one of the pursuer’s weapons.
“Ah!” shrieked Steven as the louder sound of something hitting his side filled the air.
A few of his scales fell off after blocking the attacks of the invincible predator.
Biting his mane for dear life, Maple Syrup turned her head and watched as an orange light emerged from an oddly shaped device. After every spark, the light would reflect off the outline of, what she thought, was the thing. It was somehow making itself see-through, but she could still see it slamming into the shallow sides of the creek.

The three stopped on the swampy ground of an offshoot from the creek. Steven Magnet poked his head up after his riders disembarked. “This is as far as I go. Good luck, little ponies!”
The mother and son team trudged through the muck and high water until they reached dense ground.
They walked through the morning light and felt relief as the trees became less and less dense.
Finally, as they neared the furthest reaches of the Everfree, the morning light brought good news.
In the distance, Maple Syrup could see their closest living neighbor, a yellow mare named Fluttershy.
Maple Syrup and Leaf began to give a few laughs in relief as they joyously trotted closer and closer to salvation.
“It’s finally over!” declared Maple Syrup as she hopped closer to the end of the nightmare.
*POP*
Maple Syrup dropped as she felt a great sting pierce her flank, and then pressure as she felt a fluid being pushed into her bloodstream.
She looked over and, with absolute horror, saw the seven foot tall monstrosity was stalking behind them, holding a device that had launched a blue syringe into her side.
“RUN!” she screamed as it began picking up it’s pace towards them.
While her muscles began to become unresponsive, she looked to her son who was equally in shock that they had not escaped the pursuer.
Maple Leaf backed away as the thing slowed down as to not plow through the colt.
Due to his frightened body, the little colt began hyperventilating. He keeled over and began coughing and wheezing as air failed to reach his lungs.
Maple Syrup saw this and screamed out, “Leave him alone! Take me!”
The seven feet of attitude kneeled down and pulled out a big needle and pierced the side of the colt’s neck.
As she tried to crawl over, she somehow heard something over the hissing and static that usually broadcasted it’s presence. “Administering Corticosteroids.”
Slowly, Maple Leaf stopped coughing.
The big monster picked him up and threw him over its shoulder.
It walked over and stabbed a device into the ground near the sedated mother as her vision became blurrier and blurrier.
“Let him go! Take me instead!”
A bubble like sphere formed around the mare as the thing walked away, its prize in tow.
Like in the night before, a loud roaring of wind filled the air and a big metal flying carriage descended.
It did not have wheels, and it was being lifted by a white fire raging from each corner.
A hatch opened and the seven foot intruder stepped in.
With her vision getting cloudier and cloudier, Maple Syrup cried and pleaded to the thing for grace. “Please, not him. Anything but him. Maple Leaf! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I love you! Don’t go.”
And with that her vision became so clouded that she could not see. Seconds later, she was unconscious.

What awoke the sleeping mare was a sharp pain as the needle that had sedated her was ripped from her side.
She kicked and tossed herself around in the leaves as her body woke up.
“MOM!” came a familiar voice that she had feared she would never hear again.
Maple Syrup breathed and rubbed her eyes as a tight vise was brought around her neck.
She could hear the unnatural rushing of wind becoming fainter and fainter as she looked into the wide eyes of Maple Leaf.
“Oh, thank Celestia!” she cried, “You’re safe.”
The two ponies clutched each other for what felt like an eternity before even looking into each other’s eyes again.
“What did it do to you?”
“I…I can’t remember.”
Maple Syrup looked at her son’s face, and then she lifted his heaver frame in her hooves, checking it out quickly.
It was strange, he was denser than usual.
“How do you feel?”
“I think they shot stuff into me that help the attacks. I…I feel like I can breathe easier!”
Maple Syrup forced her son to move and she looked at his neck.
She jumped in shock.
Bound tightly to his coat was a metal collar. It had all sorts of lights and gizmos blinking on it.
Maple Syrup looked around and pulled off her handkerchief. She quickly tied it around his neck, concealing the strange device from the world.
Maple Leaf looked at his mother, “What are we going to do now?”
Maple Syrup looked around, it was starting to become dark again, she began to wonder how long she was out.
Even if their house was not destroyed, they would not make it back before nightfall.
“Come with me, Leaf. We need to get to shelter.”
The mother and son walked out of the forest and to the front door of their nearest neighbor.
Maple Leaf sat when his mother knocked on the door, he was incredibly tired.
There was a slight crash as something fell, but soon after the door opened.
A yellow head with a bunny on top poked out. “H- Hello…..Syrup. I-it’s a little late, don’t you think?”
Syrup scratched her neck where her handkerchief was absent, “Fluttershy, I don’t want to impose, but our cabin was attacked last…..” Syrup had to think how much time had elapsed from when they fled from their home. “…night and we have been running through the woods trying to get to safety. Could we please rest here for the night?”
The yellow pegasus’s eyes became large with the flow of sadness over the two homeless ponies hardship.
“Oh, you poor things! Come right in, I was just cooking up some soup.”
She opened the door more and let her guests enter.
“Thank you, Fluttershy.”
“Oh, you’re more than welcome! Make yourself at home. You deserve it.”
Fluttershy walked into another room, probably the kitchen, while Maple Syrup and Maple Leaf looked around.
Maple Leaf saw a couch near a fireplace and slowly walked over to it.
He got himself comfortable and set his head down.
Syrup was right behind him. She bit onto a nearby quilt and pulled it up around his body, tucking him in.
The two looked at each other in the eye, “I love you, mom.”
“I love you too.”
Maple Leaf closed his eyes and breathed in nice and deep, something he previously could not do, then exhaled slowly.
By the time Fluttershy had poured three bowls of hot tomato soup, Maple Leaf was sleeping peacefully near the warm fire, safe and sound.

The Pursued

Best Intentions…
Epilogue
Read till the very end and I promise I will answer a few questions.

“Could you send in the next ponies, please?” Asked the white alicorn princess. Two earth ponies stepped into the throne room and bowed before their majestic leader. “How may I help you?”
Even though she told herself she would be direct, Maple Syrup felt shaky now that she was actually in the presence of royalty. “G-Good evening P-Princess.” The warm yellow lights felt comforting in the room, and their time waiting in line had allowed her to mentally rehearse what she was going to say. But alas, Maple Syrup feared that her voice would only be met with laughter.
“And good evening to you. Wait…Are you Maple Syrup!?” Had the Princess heard of their night from hell? Maple Syrup’s pupils dilated and shot over to her son who looked back at her. “Yes, and this is my son Maple Leaf. Have you heard?” Maple Syrup as she felt a great weight being lifted off of her chest.
“I have not just heard, I have experienced it! Your maple syrup is the best I have tasted in one hundred years!” The Princess smiled, trying to calm the nervous ponies. “But don’t tell my chef that!” she whispered with a wink.
Syrup sighed in disappointment; it was not going to be as easy as she thought. She quickly made sure Leaf’s handkerchief was still around his neck. One peek was enough to tell that he had never seen the unimaginably tall alicorn before. Maple Syrup exhaled and began to sweat a little. “Ummm, Princess, this is going to sound crazy and unbelievable, but you have to believe us. I- I still don’t understand what happened.”
“Okay.” She approved to the nervous mare, nodding for her to continue. In thousands of years of ruling a kingdom, the alicorn thought she had heard every crazy story.
“I-I’m being serious. I still can’t believe what happened a few days ago and I still don’t know what to call it.”
“Well,” she smiled, “I have to know what ‘it’ is before I can give it an honest chance!” She gave a light giggle to try and put them both at ease even though it failed to perform its purpose due to the anxiety that was covering the mare’s face.
Syrup exhaled and got ready. “A few nights ago, my son and I were sleeping in our cabin and this…this….thing came after us.”
“What happened?”
“I…We heard a loud roar, like a…. ummm, tornado and this big metal thing that stood on –you’re not going to believe this- TWO LEGS broke into our cabin!”
The Princes had a determined look on her face as she pondered what was being said. The story was indeed farfetched, but the fact that the two had waited and wanted to share it with her did grant it a chance to be heard.
Continue.” She said, no longer smiling, but looking down and bearing holes in the mare, unintentionally scaring her more.
“It kicked down our cabin in one strike! Then it used a blue light thing that came from it’s head to follow us wherever we went.” Maple Syrup made sure that Maple Leaf had not wandered off, but he was right where she had left him. “We ran away and tried to get to safety, but we were being chased by the thing and we tried to lose it, but it kept following us.” Syrup tried to organize the next thing she was going to say. “It had this magic stick of metal that could blow Timberwolves into splinters! It even took the alpha male of the pack and ripped it in half!” She tried to describe the other weapons it used. “It had a….a….lightning rod thing that could attract its own lightning and used it to beat up an Ursa Minor!”
“Oh my!” said the Princess. She slowly brought her hoof to her chin and slowly tilted her muzzle back up, her eyes darted around the room as she began thinking.
“And…And it had a thing on its arms -or whatever its front limbs were- that shot fire!”
The princess was deep in thought when she looked back down at the earth pony. “How did you manage to escape?”
Maple Syrup swallowed, “We…didn’t. When we were almost out of the forest, it hit me with a needle that made me dizzy. I used to have a welt but it healed already. It then took my son who was having a breathing attack into a strange flying carriage thing and flew away.”
“But that is your son behind you, correct?”
“Ye-Yes. I woke up later and the thing pulled the needle out of my flank, and it went away before I could orient myself. I couldn’t believe it, but my Maple Leaf was returned to me!”
The princess rubbed her chin. “He wasn’t the same, was he?” Maple Syrup though her eyes were deceiving her, she swore that she saw a smirk tugging the side of the Princess’ lip. But she then shook her head, it must have just been an illusion she was making being that they were standing a long ways away from her.
“No..I..I don’t know how, but my son always had a hard time breathing, He has to take this expensive medicine to help if he has a bad attack. It…crippled him in his figure, but when they gave him back, he looked like a normal colt.” She rubbed her hooves together as she broke eye contact. “I don’t know how, but he says he can breathe easier now!”
The great goddess of the son let a smile slip. She then cleared her throat and wiggled herself in the seat, backing up until her bottom felt the back. “Guards, please leave us.”
The unicorns did as they were told.
The Princess stood and walked down the golden steps.
Maple Leaf backed up as step and looked at his mother for instructions. She likewise checked the walls for some sort of hint as to what to do if approached by the Princess.
She sat right in front of her two guests, the two looked at each other with anxious faces but returned their attention to her when she spoke. “Is that everything?”
Maple syrup shook her head. “No, they left a.. metal collar on his neck, I tried everything, but I can’t get it off.” The mare bit an ear of the handkerchief around Maple Leaf’s neck and pulled, revealing the strange black device that was around his neck. A red light kept pulsing on the black band of metal as both mares inspected it.
“Do you believe us?” asked Maple Leaf as he squeezed the red handkerchief between his hooves.
The Princess smiled, “Yes, yes I believe you. And you have nothing to worry about.”
A breath being held by both of the earth ponies was released with her response. “C-can you remove the collar?”
“No, it was not meant to be removed.” Maple Syrup and Leaf looked at her and tilted their heads in confusion.
“You have not heard of this, but in the past there have been many awful ailments, all so miserable, that angels that have watched from above came down and blessed the poor sick ponies.” The white alicorn removed her Tiara. Celestia continued. “Skin Cancer, Polio, Malaria, Diabetes, Alzheimer, and all things that any other pony would have no knowledge of because they simply do not exist anymore.” She smiled, “This isn’t the first time they came, nor the last.”
“Wh…what are you saying….Your Majesty?” asked Leaf.
Celestia looked up at the moon, somewhat ignoring the little pony’s question.
“They mean well, and come only with good intents, but their methods and results do not always end that way.”
She slowly looked back down on her guests. “We are all lucky.” At that moment, she removed her bracer.
Leaf and Syrup jumped.
Under the neck of Celestia, once concealed by the jewelry, was a similar device.
The end.
Author’s Note.
The entire inspiration for the story came during my freshman year at college.
It was a hot day in September and I was sitting out by my pool.
I had to write a paper on a project we did one day, and I wanted to get out of my house to get my parents to stop nagging on to do the most redundant of chores that was distracting me.
In reality, I hadn’t even started the paper yet, in reality I was on my laptop writing another story that I had been working on since April and it is still in progress.
Anyway, I was typing the story and I was thinking in the back of my mind how I would write my paper for class.
Let’s talk about the project first.
It was called the “Funnel Test”, and we were tasked with trying to take this funnel and marbles, wired onto this tripod about two feet from the ground, and had to make them hit the target on the floor.
We had two variants of the process. Lazy and Diligent.
We first did lazy, we aimed the machine once, and constantly dropped the marble down, and marked where it landed.
All our results were precise, but not accurate.
We then did the Diligent variant.
We aimed the machine, released the marble, marked where it landed, and then aimed again.
The results were very scatterassed, all inaccurate and imprecise.
That was where our professor spilled the beans.
The test was meant to fail, the machines were poorly built and had many inconsistencies and were not meant to work.
We learnt a few valueable lessons he had used when he was paid to improve the processes at large car factories like Jeep and GM.
1. The machine, not the worker, is often the problem.
Even though people commonly make fun of highschool dropouts who work on assembly lines, there is one thing that we cannot deny, they can learn to do a job and do it damn well. Most of the time if there is a problem on an assembly line a worker will know where the problem is before the plant manager or the equipment engineer.
2. Most failures are due to the process not being efficient.
I’ll be honest, these machines he brought in looked like he made them in his garage for half an hour, they were ramshackles.
3. But most importantly, and the inspiration for the story, was the final lesson, Do not expect the best of results because we have the best of intentions.
We were dooped by calling the first process “Lazy”, when in reality it made sense, with the lazy process, we would make similar results, and when we moved the machines, we had even worse results than when we kept it in one spot!
So anyway, I was sitting by the pool and I started writing my paper finally and my mom pokes her head out and tells me to get up and start watering the garden.
Why she couldn’t do it while I was working on homework, I will never know.
But anyway I got the hose out and started watering the garden.
I noticed there were some birds that had nested in a decoration in the garden and they were all doing this annoying bird cry/ thing that I was starting to get a headache with.
So, I had an idea.
If they were hot, (which it was 98 degrees Fahrenheit) I had a hose, I would give them some water.
So I kinked the hose and tried to make it sprinkle down on them.
The birds, freaking the fuck out, jumped and these babies, not being able to fly, fell into an egress to my basement.
I, seeing what happened, turned off the hose and got some gloves.
I had the bright idea to put them back in the nest.
So I chased these two damn birds around for twenty minutes, my mom getting all emotional over “her birdies!” and me rallying all the birds in the neighborhood trying to spook me away.
I, after getting pissed off and had birds doing kamikaze flybys at my head, gave up and grabbed my laptop and went downstairs.
It was at that moment I truly understood the lesson with the funnels.
Even though I had the best intentions of saving the birds, I did not get good results.
So I decided to write this paper and had a supersoldier, a frightening one at that, trying to save an animal that was trying to get away from it even though it truly meant it no harm.
“The pursuer” as I have come to call it has been mainly inspired by The Nemesis from Resident Evil 3. But I specifically did not go into too many details being that I did not want to make it human.
In your mind, you are to read the story and interpret it as what you would think a big and unstoppable giant was.
The story of Maple Leaf and Maple Syrup is just basic human nature, that if we can’t understand something we are afraid of it.
I was also experimenting with my writing style in this story, and yes, I need to improve it based on the fact that I am being FLAMED TO FUCK AND BACK on the fact that I used enter too many times.
My writing style was also trying to be vague, on the basis that the little details were not important, being that a most people would not stop to smell the roses when a big motherfucker is trying to capture you for an unknown reason.
And also I left if Luna was banished or not during the time of the story up to you, being that they were both carriers of something, and they both received treatment, Luna may or may not be in the midst of an intensive treatment that took 1000 years to perform.
I hope you enjoyed it and understood the lesson.
I got a B- on the paper.
My dad joked that the birds got eaten by a Honey badger.

Future plans

Now, i have a few things for the even fewer who read this story.

I am planning on rewriting this, working on my showing and not telling, to see how far ive come. It is the same story but with more details.

Now, be serious, Who would like another story related to this? I intended for this to be a one shot, but i had an idea that grew too big to not use, turst me, it will be more than two ponies running away from a pursuer.

The Pursuer REWRITE

(Now, Old version = Suckball. New version= OMG HONEY BBQ. The purpose of this exercise is to test if I have actually increased my writing skills. So, with a resounding Meh. Meh.)
Best Intentions
By:
Dancewithknives
Written 10/18/2012
Rewritten 3/4/2013
Originally Edited by: InsertAuthorHere

The crisp air of autumn was only mirrored by the distinct crunch of the colorful leaves that resided on the floor of the forest. The color of the sky, a beautiful reddish orange, was matched by the color of the land below it, not a dull brown hidden by the green leaves, but instead the blend of orange, red, yellow, and crimson of the leaves that decided to leave their trees as well as the ones who wished to decide to hang on for just a bit longer before the winter.
And through the silence of the forest, two proud animals broke the tranquility, kicking up leaves as they walked across the color spotted floor, earth ponies. The larger of the two a dark caramel color with a blonde mane, while the other, a juvenile, was smaller than it should have been by age. Following the larger female, the adolescent’s color was of red amber.
Adorning both ponies across the back was a garment of fake leather, several hooks and straps on each side. The stretchs and scraped marks did not hide their age, or their use. On the mare, three buckets of a heavy weighed down substance jigged to her side; a seventh bucket hung from her mouth. The colt beside her likewise carried five buckets in a similar fashion.
Even though the handle of a bucket was gripped inside of their mouth, smiles somehow occupied their lips. The type of satisfaction that one felt from nearing the end of a long day’s work, and as they neared a fence, a pony made anomaly in the distinctly natural Everfree forest, the feeling of completion and respite from work increased with every kick of the leaves.
As their buckets full of heavy thick fluids neared the fence, the pace of leaves being kicked up by their hooves increased, and with every stride, the sound of wind chimes against the perimeter of the fence became closer and closer. But as the large mare sped up for the home stretch, her tunnel vision consumed her attention. The prospect of home blinded her from the fact that the sound of her hooves began to move alone.
At the large gated door, the mare set her bucket down and used her nose to poke under the handkerchief that resided below her chin and bit onto the end of the key, a lanyard keeping it in place, and then poked said shaped metal object into the padlock of the door, turning it and unlocking the door.
She released the key, and it fell back to its hiding spot, right before her bosom, and reached for her bucket again.
But something wasn’t right.
The colt that had followed her was no longer at her side, instead, he resided a several yards away, lying in the leaves like a pile of them while his fifth bucket resided by his head. Ignoring her own extra container, she made her way over to the little pony lowered herself to the ground, reaching out her hoof and stroking it down his side as she felt the his heaving chest around the saddle.
The little colt took his time, lowering himself so far to the ground that the buckets that hung from his side supported themselves on the ground, thus relieving the weight of the saddle from his back.
Several moments of controlled breathing later, the colt struggled to his hooves, reaching his mouth to the handle of the final bucket, but the mare before him took it in his stead and finally continued the rest of the way, picking up the last bucket by the gate before entering the perimeter.
Inside of this fenced off area of the Everfree forest, the random assortment of organized chaos was gone, instead, the center of the perimeter held a cabin, beside it, two smaller shack, one of small size with a smokestack emerging from the top while the final structure had a moon on the door. A metal fire pit held ashes from previous usage, hinting at the lack of carpeting of leaves in the area, and a small distance away from that, a picnic table sat by itself.
As the two entered the fence, the colt collapsed again, this time, harsh and full bodied coughing shaking through his body as he was reduced to all fours, causing disturbances in his buckets of thick, slow moving, liquid.
Using a hoof to cover his mouth, the colt struggled to his hooves, every cough shaking his body to the point that readjusting his balance was needed. But, as he rose higher and higher to a standing position, the load on his back somehow became lighter, until it was no longer there. He turned, and in the mouth of the older mare, was his saddle and the four buckets of what they had collected in the day.
She set the saddle down, safely not spilling the buckets and said, “Leaf, why don’t you go in and get take some of your medicine?”
The colt, nodding his head, answered, “Okay mom.” And bowed his head before heading in to the cabin.
The mare watched as the colt made his way towards the cabin and did not continue with her work until he had closed the door behind him. Leaving her seventh bucket behind, the earth pony used her mouth and hoisted the saddle up, carefully moving with ten buckets on her form, and headed towards the small house with a chimney out the top. She used her forehead to push the wooden door open and set the saddle in her mouth down, somehow not spilling a drop of their contents. She stepped further in and hoisted her own saddle on a table that took up most of the open space in the smokehouse.
Leaving the shack, she headed towards the last two buckets that she had abandoned earlier in the yard, hoping that in the few seconds that she had left them that they had not been contaminated by something that may have dropped from the surrounding trees, and luckily, they buckets of thick substance were still safe.
But, before picked the two metal containers up with her mouth, she realized something.
She left the gate open.
The thing that separated the safety of her home from the dangers of the forest was wide open, allowing leaves and everything else to enter into the perimeter.
Quickly, she trotted to the side, and swung the well-oiled and thick door closed, placing the deadbolt and letting the board that barricaded the door fall into place, hitting flush and securely. A few tests of the portal solidified the fact that it was not going to move; which was fine by her.
Now, returning to the two remaining buckets, the dark caramel colored mare picked up both of the buckets and returned to the second building.
Letting the door swing open, the sunlight lit the small structure, revealing the ten other buckets in two different locations, a large wood burning stove, several different frying pans, and an open cabinet full of glass jars.
Setting the two stragglers down, she went over to the stove and pulled out a match, lit it, and threw it down into the dried out wood, kindling, and sticks that resided in the crucible, then opened the air vents to allow air to enter the insides of the device freely. Next, she used her mouth and gripped the handle of one of her frying pans and set it on the hot plate, the stove had not achieved it desired temperature, so it would take a few minutes before the black metal turned red. Finally, she reared, and opened the cover above the stove and pulled out a massive jar full of sparkly white sugar.
She waited, and when the bottom of the pan turned red, she tightened the choke and reduced the air to a certain level and brought over her first bucket.
Slowly, using her mouth and hooves at the same time, she poured the incredibly sticky and thick liquid, an avalanche of its dense substance, and let it spread out onto her pan. Next, she dipped in a measuring cup into the sugar, checked the levels, and let it join the previous stuff in the hot pan.
Beside the mare, lining the wall of the small shelter, were a hundred mason jars, every one of them been specially made for her. Designed on the face, a maple leaf, around said design the glass read, “Maple Syrup’s Everfree Delight: Voted best in Ponyville”

After a day of collecting sap from their tapped trees, deep within the forest and then smoking it from its sap into the most delectable syrup in the region, Maple Syrup and Maple Leaf found themselves lying on their couch inside of their home. Between the two was a large plate of what remained of their dinner, Pizza; made from a frozen premade crust and a canned tomato sauce, mushrooms from town had been added to the sprinkle cheese topping before it sat in the oven until it was warmed to a crisp.
The couch that they had been resting on was old, older than Leaf, but living so far out in seclusion meant that replacing big things like furniture was much easier said than done. But they did not mind, it did not take a brand now sofa to enjoy a pizza next to a warm fire after a long day’s work.
Leaf took the piece that he had been working on and consumed the last part of cheese, tomatos, and mushroom, leaving only the bready crust left. He set it down and slid it over to his mother, who took up his offer and bit the half consumed bread in half with one bite. “Leaf, you should eat as much as you can. How else are you going to grow up big and strong?”
The colt took a deep breath and yawned, leaning over on the couch and against his mother’s form. “But you know I don’t like crusts.”
Syrup rubbed her ten-year-old’s mane, her hoof feeling around his frail frame. “I know. How are you feeling?”
Leaf sat up and stretched, locking all four of his hooves straight out before he answered, “Good. When are we going to town again?”
“At the end of the week. Why?”
“I used the last of my medicine today.”
Maple Syrup looked over at her son and pondered what to do. Going to town took a whole day. It didn’t cost her anything, but it did help to be able to go there and get her errands done as well as possibly sell some of her products-Which, since she went to the market so sparsely, would be sold out in only a few hours, being that everypony wanted to buy some more of her syrup or to sell back their empty jars to her- and grab more provisions. She still had some more chores to do, like set her buckets back in their positions, and even though she had worked all day in the smokehouse, she still had more sap to turn to syrup. She could go to town with what she had already, but it would only be a breakeven scenario… but Leaf was much more important.
“Okay, we’ll go in the morning… are you sure you don’t just want to see that filly?” she teased.
Maple Leaf shot back awake, the electricity shooting though his body and warming his cheeks to the same color as one of his mother’s frying pans when she cooking up syrup. “NO!” he stammered.
Maple Syrup took off her handkerchief and threw it on her son’s eyes. She then sang out, “I think you are-re!”
“No I’m not! Apple Bloom’s a year older than me, too!”
Maple Syrup gasped, “You even know her name! How romantic!”
“MOM!”
Maple Syrup laughed and then wrapped her hooves around Maple Leaf’s head, forcing him into her chest as she rubbed the back of his head. “I’m just teasing , Leaf.”
Maple Leaf used his hooves to push away from his mother, frowning as he looked up at her and said, “Teasing doesn’t make friends.”
“You’re right.” She said, forcing him close again and kissing the top of her forehead, “Good thing I’m your mother.” She whispered. Maple Leaf finally freed himself from his mother’s embrace. He crossed his hooves across his chest and looked away. Maple Syrup leaned over and touched him, “Leaf, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
Maple Leaf took in a deep breath and uncrossed his chest. He looked down and said, “It’s alright…” But, unbeknownst to her, he had a plan that was brewing behind his depressed features. Maple Leaf turned and looked at his mother, and then, with fright, yelped, “Mom, SPIDER!”
In the span of a millisecond, faster than any living organism could move, Maple Syrup’s green eyes shrunk to the size of peas. She, being an earth pony, achieved the impossible and attained flight for a few moments, kicking her legs into a dead sprint until she fell to the floor. Upon landing, she slammed her back and rolled on around shouting, “Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!”
After trying to crush every portion of her anatomy with enough force to kill one of the creepy crawlies, she finally registered the sound of her son’s laughter. She sat up, and had a great frown across her face. “That’s not funny!”
Kicking his legs into the air and gripping his stomach as he failed to stop laughing, Maple Leaf retorted, “Yes it is!”
The two ponies returned to their couch and waited for the embers of their fire to die, and then they finished their ritual for ending the day. Check the wind chimes, lock the gate, close the windows, latch the shutters, latch the door, and last but not least, don’t go out after dark. As the fire gave off a faint glow to the main room of the cabin, the two ponies did just that, closing all the doors, and latching all the locks. Leaf performed the last task by climbing up the latter by the door and sealed the tiny spyhole that resided above and off to the side of the door on the A-Frame before he head off to bed.
Syrup remained in the main room, checking to make sure the fire was truly done for the night, that her oven was off, that every opening was secure, and most importantly that the door was secured. After watching the fire, feeling the oven, and giving the door and shutters a shove, she was satisfied over the cabin’s safety. Now, feeling that she could retire for the night, she followed in her son’s steps to the back of the cabin, turning right and opening the door to a small room with a large bed. Currently in said bed and warming it, was Maple Leaf, facing away from a small oil lamp that was put on its lowest setting.
Maple Syrup walked beside the lamp and sat down at a dresser. Atop of the wooden armoire was a cloth table runner of red and blue stripes. Atop that were various trinkets. Maple Syrup reached her hooves up and behind her neck, feeling the ears of her handkerchief, but as she was about to pull, she changed her mind and decided to keep the cloth necklace around her neck. The days were getting cold, and the tiny red folded square did a good job at keeping her neck warm as well as hide the key to her cabin.
Now, returning her focus to the dresser, she reached out and pulled out a simple brush, made especially for earth ponies, and used her left hoof to put the Velcro strap around her right. She then looked into a small mirror that hung from a hook before her and proceeded to straighten her mane out, cleaning a few stray hairs, organizing it, and making it all better.
Why she never did this in the morning was debatable. But, ever since a long time ago, she was alone in the woods, she had nopony in particular to impress, so it was alright if she rolled out of bed in the morning and went to work. But at the same time, it didn’t mean she didn’t like looking pretty, and for the few hours she wasn’t at a stove, in the trees, or hauling buckets of sap, she could take a minute to pretty her mane up.
When done, she set the brush down and detached it from her hoof. She set it where it belonged, beside a silver picture frame. Inside the frame, an old photograph resided, a stallion was beside his mare, who held her brand new foal. Maple Syrup felt the boundaries of the frame, a beautiful metalwork of silver maple leaves stemming out from the picture. She turned to the lantern and turned the choke at the base, strangling the flame, and then finally joined her son in bed. Maple Syrup pushed his head and back against his mother while she wrapped her legs around his midsection sheltered his body. Using her free hoof she grabbed the quilts that they used as sheets and pulled them tight around his exposed side.
“Good night, Leaf.”
“Good night, Mom.”

Several hours later, Maple Syrup woke up. The two had not moved from when they shut their eyes earlier in the night, for surrounding them from all sides by about an inch were the cold heartless sheets of the mattress. As long as they remained together, they could warm each other up. But, such a relationship was not meant to be, for a natural urge had awoken Maple Syrup from sleep.
Once the cabin went into shutdown, it stayed that way. Unless there was a dire emergency, the doors and windows stayed locked. But what would happen if one needed to use the facility in the middle of the night? Well, as Maple Syrup slipped out of bed, trying to not wake Leaf, she silently exited the bedroom and walked straight ahead into the only other room of the cabin beside the main living room. She couldn’t go outside to use the outhouse, it was too unsafe, so instead, she pulled the sheet aside in the room and used the makeshift lavatory, a pot, for those who could not hold their urges until morning. It was no big deal, cleaning the pot out in the morning took no more than a few minutes, and was a good alternative to having an accident in bed.
She moved out of the spare room and back to the bedroom, slipping back into bed, but found Maple Leaf was awake beside her. Frowning, she retook her position around his body and whispered, “Did I wake you?”
“yeah.” He yawned.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” And then slipped in closer than before. The two little ponies laid closer together, sharing precious body heat underneath the quilts in their quaint wooden cabin. It was a still night, the days were getting shorter, the temperature was constantly falling. As Maple Syrup cradled Maple Leaf’s head, the older of the two did something that she learned helped make the long nights pass, count the sounds that the wind chimes made.
The cold autumn air brushed past the things that scared predators away at night at all times, it helped fill stillness around them. And judging by the tiny stirring and the breaths being taken from the colt beside her, it was safe to assume that Maple Leaf was doing the same.
Somewhere around 45th count, the wind began to increase. It intensified and made the chimes gradually ring faster. The wind itself changed from a long breath being blown by the wooden structure to a low roar, coming closer until it was right on top of them, almost as if it was a tornado.
So powerful was this airflow that the cabin began to shake. Inclement weather was nothing to these earth ponies, being that the ponyville weather patrol did no extend into the Everfree in the area around their cabin. They had survived blizzards, monsoons, lightning storms, and droughts, but they had not experienced anything like this.
The angry rumble of the outside world shook the insides of their cabin, the windows made sounds as they vibrated against the shutters, a few wall hangings that hung on nails in the wooden walls vibrated until they fell off. Maple Syrup sat up and checked to make sure that she was not imagining that the bed was vibrating. Maple Leaf soon joined her as they two watched the proceedings from the center of their bed.
At the apex of it all, when the rumbling was so bad that Syrup was ready to jump on Maple Leaf to use her body as a shield in case the roof caved in, a loud *thud* was heard on the ground, crushing anything that was unfortunate enough to be in the space it now occupied.
And just as it came, it left, the roaring disappeared in a pyramid fashion similar to how it came, except the two ponies possessions were now littering the carpeting floor of their cabin. Maple Syrup slid her bottom across the cold sheets that covered the mattress and fell to the floor. “Stay here, Leaf.” She said as she walked out of the bedroom.
The living room was equally dark, her cooking utensils had fallen from their respective spots on the wall and in shelves and now were either on the floor or the counter. Other trinkets were discarded from their respected positions and now occupied the floor. Luckily though, there seemed to be no damage to the structure walls or roof of the cabin. She gently walked towards to door of her home and checked the deadbolt and other safety measures that she took to secure the opening were locked. They were. She then walked beside the door and climbed up the ladder beside the door, to the small spy hole in the crook of the roof. She unlatched the opening and looked out.
The fence was still up and the night was dark. A special magic torch that resided by the door to the cabin was lit, as it was designed to do every night, and only illuminated a tiny amount of the seeable area of the mare.
Must be a tree…
She sealed the hole and climbed down the ladder and then walked back to the bed. When she returned to the room, Maple Leaf looked at his mother and asked, “What was that?”
“I don’t know, We’ll see what happened in the morning. I think a tree may have fallen over because of that strange wind.” Maple Syrup climbed back into bed and once again put her chest into her son’s back, making sure that he was exactly where she wanted him, and then waited. After an ordeal like that, it wasn’t hard to understand why the two little ponies had a hard time trying to fall asleep again, but there was something wrong with the forest around them.
It was too quiet.
The critters in the trees did not call out for each other, the whispering wind ceased, the chimes were not audible, and the leaves that still remained in the trees no longer rustled. But as the mare in the cabin listened, she did manage to hear something.
Hoofsteps, strong hoofsteps, were being made outside the cabin, kicking up a few leaves that had been blown down and into the property perimeter because of the wind.
It wasn’t the first time an animal had found its way inside of the fence, in the past, Maple Syrup had to chase raccoons out of the smokehouse after they spent all night eating her sap. They had bigger animals too, but they usually left by morning. The only thing that the small family could do right now was wait in their cabin, like they had done several times before. There was no way it could get in, so they should be safe.
But that did not ease the mind of Maple Syrup. She had lived in the Everfree for long enough to know important information about a creature because of its tracks alone. Little creatures darted around on the ground, constantly running so that a bigger animal could not get the drop on them.
The predators took small, delicate steps, not wanting to have something as petty as a crunching leaf give away their position when they were on the prowl. Every now an then, they would hear a battle cry as a hunter stunned its quarry so it could make a kill.
Big game animals slumped haphazardly through the woods, destroying anything in their path with their size and clumsiness.
But the big predators, the animals at the top of the food chain, they walked around wanting to be notorious. They had no respect for anything. They were the true alphas of the forest. They were looking for a fight.
The mother and child held each other beneath the quilts, praying for it to go away. They held their breath in an attempt to disappear.
Still as frozen corpses, holding their breath like they were underwater, and being so quiet that church mice would be jealous, the two ponies listened to the animal outside of their cabin, taking great steps that sunk into the grass around their cabin. As they hid, a blue light shined in the windows and penetrated the tiny pin sized cracks and holes in the sealant between the logs.
Maple Syrup looked at the wall, blocking out the majority of the light as it slipped in, and illuminated whatever it touched. This had never happened before, it was almost as if whatever was outside was smart enough the grab the blue torch and try to use it to peek into the windows. What in the world was outside of their cabin?
The two’s ears perked up and listened as whatever it was outside walked the perimeter, fading away and having the light scan the outsides.
Enough was enough, call it a mother’s intuition, but Maple Syrup’s nerves were making her sick. When the light was not trying to illuminate their sealed room, the mare tapped the colt and pulled him underneath the mattress, abandoning their quilts above. Once underneath, the colt gave in and began to shake as his mother held him close.
The distant sound of steps stopped, and a second later the deadbolt on the door clicked as it hit the guard as the door was given a push. Soon after, three loud knocks shook the wooden barrier, like something was trying to get in. after having no success, a hard strike was given against the door, shaking it, but not breaking its resolve.
From underneath the bed, Maple Syrup’s mind jumped, wild animals don’t knock on doors. Who was outside and what did they want at this hour. Ignoring good housekeeping, the mare kept hiding.
Once again, the forest around the cabin became incredibly quiet. Like air in a vacuum, the sound had been sucked away, leaving only the deepest and darkest silence. After a second that lasted a year, Maple Leaf moved his head and whispered, “maybe he went away….”
*CRASH!*
Before he could scream, Maple Syrup shoved her hoof into her son’s mouth to silence him. The reinforced boards that made their door skipped and clacked as they were ripped free from each other like they had been bucked in.
From the space underneath their bedroom door, the light from outside was present again as it shined in from the newly opened front door.
“WhatDoIDoWhatDoIDoWhatDoIDoWhatDoIDo?” Syrup thought, her eyes darting her mouse’s perspective under the bed as she looked for an idea beneath the mattress. But then, she noticed her dresser. Quietly, Syrup slipped from the bottom of the bed and went to the far side of her dresser, the same one she combed her mane every night, and put her head against the side. Slowly, she dug her hooves into the carpet and pushed, barricading the door to the bedroom with the large rectangular furniture. Once against the door, she hid again with Maple Leaf.
As they returned to trying to hide, they listened to the intruder, as he made heavy steps as he entered the home, with every stride, the foundation shook. The two little ponies shook like the leaves on the trees in the surrounding forests.
But then, both of their ears perked up as they heard something, like a static scratching sound from an old record player with a worn disc was being played.
Now, from beneath the bed, their minds were made up from what was now in their cabin. It wasn’t a monster, but a pony. Maple Leaf’s mind ventured to robbers. Maple Syrup’s mind thought of something much more sinister. She was a mare, alone in the woods with her son, and chances were a stallion had just broken into their home. She didn’t want to think of the things he was going to do to her…
Or if he was going to make Leaf watch.
THUD
THUD
THUD
THUD
The pony outside slammed his hooves down with every step, like he wanted the cabin’s occupants to know that he was out there, looking for them, as the two earth ponies guessed he walked across the living room. Maple Syrup stuffed her hoof into her son’s mouth to silence him in case he made a sound.
Barely peeking her head out from her hiding place, Maple Syrup saw the strange blue light was shining through the top crack of the doorway, prompting her to hide again. The old hinges on the door creaked as they opened, but stopped as the door met the dresser.
Not waiting like he did for the front door, a strike was brought against the thinner door, breaking through the thin wood and freeing it from its nails. Several blows broke the door down and shattered the dresser until the only thing left was their clothes and what could only be used as firewood.
The two trembled, Maple Leaf bit into his mother’s limb in fear. Maple Syrup didn’t feel it for she was just as scared. But further confusing her as what had just broke into their room, another mystery was put towards the intruder.
As it moved, it made a strange sound, like a teapot releasing steam, a quick “Tsssss”.
It took a step in, revealing a large metal boot horseshoe as it stepped on some of the remains of the wood, cracking and snapping it after his full weight was applied. The strange blue light lit up the room like a siren as it shifted left to right, and then downward.
Frozen solid with fear, Maple Leaf and Maple Syrup watched as two claw like hands reached down and gripped the mattress and frame that they were hiding under, and then threw it up.
The blue light blinded them like two deer in a headlight, but after a whole second of shock, Maple Syrup blinked, and looked away from the blinding blues.
Before them was not a stallion. Instead, a large seven foot tall bipedal monster, clad head to toe in metal like a guard of Canterlot Castle, and held their mattress up and inspected them with its light that was coming from its head. They could not see it, but a grid was flashed over them, and then, after blinking a few times, two straight lines of light pointed to the center of their masses.
“RUN!”
The thing lunged, reaching out for Maple Leaf, but the little pony darted between his legs and out the door. Maple Syrup stood turned, and with all her might, bucked against its leg. Her back hooves made contact with the metal monster, but instead of knocking it down, she took the entire impact, vibrating like a tuning fork before the thing recovered from its missed grab and tried for her.
Not waiting for her senses to return completely, Maple Syrup shook through the thing’s legs and darted out the door. It tried to follow, but only hit its head and back against the walls and ceiling.
Darting out of the house, through the open door, Maple Syrup saw Leaf, lifting the wooden board that barred their gate, and helped him, sending it to the ground and slamming her full weight down on the lever to open it. The mother and son team shot out from what they thought was a safe haven and into the Everfree forest, Maple Leaf shouted, “What is that!”
“I don’t know. Just run!”
Maple Syrup turned her head just in time to see the outside wall break down, and the strange metal thing on the other side, rearing back from the kick that had just leveled hundreds of pounds of sealant and logs. The roof caved in, but its left claw/hand/ thing reached up and supported it for just enough time to not become trapped.
Maple Syrup looked forward just in time to dodge a tree that she was to collide with. When she turned her head to look back, the thing reached down and removed a package from its leg, and pointed it at her as she ran. The same strange blue lights extended out and right towards her.
She turned and ran forward, dodging moss covered trees , trying to get something between her and the thing as she caught up with Maple Leaf. As she dodged the great wild trees, several pops, like a pneumatic device or one of Maple Leaf’s pop gun toys, occurred. Seconds later, needles, like the type that inoculation were given with, flew through the air, hitting the unfortunate trees that happen to be in the way. Upon impact, bark flew off on impact and the needle hung in the trunk, an automatic presser pushed a small amount of blue fluid into the trees.
As fascinating and terrifying as the occurrence was, Maple Syrup made more of an effort to jump behind trees and escape rather than examining whatever the thing was shooting after them.

After what felt like an hour of straight running, the *POPs* of darts coming after them ceased, and the two terrified ponies finally slowed down and caught their breath. After a few seconds of heavy breathing, Maple Leaf looked at his mother and asked, “do you think we lost it?”
Maple Syrup looked back through the thick trees and foliage that blocked her view past a few yards, “I… I don’t know. But we have to keep moving, the Everfree isn’t safe at this time of night.” Maple Syrup began to canter into a trot. Above them, the only light that helped guide them through the dark forest was the full moon. They had to keep moving. They thought that their home was safe and secure, never once had it fail them, but whatever was after them; it had completely destroyed it like it was nothing.
“Mom, can you slow down?”
Maple Syrup stopped and turned around, almost forgetting the colt that she was with, as he began to walk, but still took deep breaths to recover from their sprint. She slowed down and stopped again. “Okay, we can rest here for a few more seconds, but we need to keep moving.”
“Where are we going?”
“We’ll be safer if we get out of the forest, but we need to get back to town. Maybe if we get more ponies we will be able to scare it away.”
“Scare it? Mom, it kicked down our house!”
Maple Syrup turned to her son and began to lecture him, “Leaf, don-”
At that very second, a chilling sound pierced the air. One that was both far away and nearby, the unmistakable sound of a timberwolf singing his prayers of an easy hunt to the moon. Without any thought, both of the ponies forgot their fatigue and began running as fast as they could through the woods. The call’s purpose was to spook the timberwolves’ quarry, and it worked.
The earth ponies ran, the larger of the two keeping pace with its offspring, as they galloped together, around trees and rocks, over stumps and logs, in their peripheral vision, they could see movement as things ran from tree to tree, almost like they were herding them into a certain spot.
Maple Syrup lost her sense of direction in her fit of panic, and before she knew it, her luck ran out.
Before them was a steep rock cliff, a nice little corner that they could not climb or try to escape from. The two ground to a stop, and gave the face of the cliff edge one look before turning around…
Only to look at the dark figures walking out from the shadows of the trees. A pack of hunters, timberwolves, moving and circling their trapped prey.
Maple Syrup back up, reaching her hoof out and herding Maple Leaf behind her. The wooden canines matched her steps as she neared the stone. She swallowed and closed her eyes for a second, “Leaf, find a place to hide.” She felt the colt that she was protecting back up, then simply prepared for the end. It was not going to be quick, it was not going to be clean, and it was not going to be painless, but hopefully, she could give her son a chance to survive.
Behind her, Maple Leaf turned and found a crevice in the cliff and squeezed his small frame inside of it, backing up as far as he could go.
The timberwolves approached the handkerchief wearing mare and licked their wooden tongues against their splintered wooden teeth. Maple Syrup began to tremble, as the half dozen predators approached her, contemplating which parts of her they were going to eviscerate first.
She looked right into the green fire like eyes of the nearest wolf, trying to show her bravery in the face of their presence, but was too focused on the eyes. If she were to take in more of the beast, she would have noticed the fact that a red beam of light was beginning to trail on the wooden animal’s body.
But, she did not miss the sharp crack that pierced the air like whip, or that the very timberwolf that she was watching was blown wide open for no explainable reason at that time.
Maple looked up and turned around with wide eyed surprise, the metal thing that kicked down their house was on top of the cliff, holding a large rod like object in both of it top limbs, and caused two more sources of light, cracks, and immediately afterwards, two more explosions of splintered wood shot through the air.
Syrup turned back around to face the pack, looking for an opening to escape, but the wolves were done with the games. They would not let this new player steal their meal. So one of the bigger members of the pack pounced, heading straight towards the little earth mare.
But, in midflight, a large metal boot brought it back to the ground, crushing its midsection. Syrup bounced backwards as the metal pursuer landed on the timberwolf with its left leg. It put its long weapon on its back, which magically folded down and into a much smaller rectangle, and instead reached for an equally sized parcel on the opposite side of its back.
The wolf whined, and scratched the leg that was crushing it, but stopped as the right leg of the giant was raised in the air and stomped down on its head, crushing it into a pulp.
The new weapon, once again being held in both claws/hands of the thing, extended until it was at full form, to which the thing pumped a mechanism on the metal that brought a shaft down the length of the rod, making a *Chu Chink* sound.
Maple Syrup was, regrettably, stuck in a fit of awe and fear as she found herself just watching for what the thing would do next.
With the force of thunder, an incredible *BOOM!* filled the air, causing Maple’s ear to start to ring, it effect though, completely ripped a timberwolf to shreds. It made another soft mechanical *Chu Chink* and caused another *BOOM* to rip another target to pieces.
As tt destroyed the pack of wolves, Maple Syrup turned around and found Leaf. She shouted for him to come, for in the fighting between the incredible forces, an avenue to escape had been opened. The little colt squeezed out of hiding, and the two began to run…
Only to turn into the big metal giant again. It had just put its weapon on its back, and it was almost done folding. It coiled its fingers, and readied to lunge at the two little ponies, who at the same time got ready to jump away.
Except for the sound of steam being released as it made tiny movements, the two parties stood completely still, waiting to see which one would make the first move. The ponies were quick, they would probably be able to dodge around the behemoth, but at the same time, the thing had kicked down their entire log cabin and destroyed a pack of timberwolves without even try-
In a flash, the largest timberwolf, the Alpha of the back, who must have been watching from the sidelines, pounced on the gigantic titan of metal. The two struggled until they collided with the ground.
Maple Syrup and Maple Leaf took the distraction as a blessing and darted past the two combatants, running as fast as their hooves could carry them as they once again dove into the dark forest in a panic.
So, with their urgent and frantic escape, the two ponies didn’t have the opportunity to watch the gigantic wooden wolf maul and scratch its teeth against the thing’s head and neck, or as he pulled out a gigantic knife, bigger than Maple Syrup’s largest cooking utensil. Nor did they watch as it stabbed said shining knife into the top of the wolf’s head, penetrating all the way through and out the bottom of its jaw. Nor did they witness the metal monster reach his metal fingers into the opening; and with a mighty pull and a great amount of steam being released in the action, rip the Alpha male of the timberwolf pack in half, clean down the center.

Just like the last time they ran off into the woods in a hurry, the two ponies were lost again. This area of the forest had a strange damp feeling to it, the leaves were soggy instead of crisp, the bark of the trees looked moldy. The canopy of leaves above blocked the light of the moon, so the only way for the two to see was their limited natural night vision.
They had not seen or heard anything in the last moments, and so they took a bit of a break. Maple Leaf sitting on his bottom while Maple Syrup kept standing, constantly turning in circles, keeping her eyes out for seven feet of metal.
It had saved them, there was no doubt about that, but still, it was after them as well, it just didn’t want to have something else take it’s quarry. A long time ago, Maple remembered reading a book, The Most Dangerous Game, about a pony who lured others onto his island and hunted them. She could not shake the feeling that she and her son had been dropped into the midst of that very novel, but instead of a crazy stallion, they were being hunted by…she didn’t even know what it was to begin with!
But, if the night followed the proceedings of the book, then if the thing captured them, then he would…skin them…
Maple Syrup would not allow that, her son was not going to end up as a trophy for some sick creature to admire. She had to get out her son out of the Everfree as fast as she could, and maybe, if she rallied an entire town, they could fight it off… Or maybe just give him a few more trophies for his wall…
“Mom…..Where are we?” asked the winded colt.
Maple Syrup had to admit their predicament. “I don’t know, I don’t know. We need to get moving soon before that thing finds us again.”
“Do you think we are just running in circles?”
Maple Syrup sighed, “I hope not. We need to just keep moving, if we find some sort of landmark, we can try to get to safet-”
Blue light lit up the darkness in the background. Both of the ponies immediately hit the deck and looked around. At that particular moment, it looked as if it was still searching for them, that it may have known they were close, like it followed their tracks, but did not have an exact position.
The mare looked around from ground level, and had an idea.
Nearby form their position in the wet leaves, a hollowed out log resided on the floor from where it had died. A tap on the hoof and a point to the dead tree motivated Maple Leaf to slowly and silently crawl towards it; His mother followed soon after.
Just like before the thing interrupted their peaceful world in the Everfree, the two ponies laid under the shelter of a dark overhang, Maple Syrup covering her son and holding him close. The dark shadows of the trees stretched across the forest floor, leaving a striped black and blue pattern that moved with the source of the light. As they once again hid without making a sound, they could hear the unstoppable giant’s steps as he neared, sinking into the dirt, and crushing anything that was in its path. They listened, to its steps, as it kicked up leaves, became louder, and clearer, until finally, they knew it was right on top of them, for their could hear the telltale exhaust of its joints as it moved.
Tssss
Tssss
Tssss
Maple Syrup stuck her hoof into her son’s mouth again. At that moment, when she moved her hoof and slightly brought into view, she realized that the pursuer was not the only horror in the night.
Tssss
Tssss
Tssss
Sitting right on her hoof, and wondering what had just intruded on its home, was a large spider. It wasn’t uncommon for spiders to nest in the undesirable places of the forest, like around rocks, between leaves, and, as they recently found, in hollowed out tree logs.
Tssss
Tssss
Tssss
Maple Syrup closed her eyes and bit down on her own tongue. She could feel hundreds of little tappings and wandering across her entire body, covering her from head to hoof.
Tssss
Tssss
Tssss
It was getting closer. Syrup gave off a tiny whine as she squeezed her son even tighter.
Tssss
Tssss
Shaking, she opened her eyes again. Right in front of her were the boots of the thing, looking for the prey that was quite literally right under its very nose. The two tiny equines shook inside of their rotten hiding place and prayed to the alicorns that they would be safe.
The thing visibly shifted its weight and walked away, walking in the direction of their sight. Even though they were covered in moss and creepy crawlies, the two sighed, watching its back and the strange weapons it carried as it walked away, lighting up the trees in front of it with its blue lights.
About twenty feet away, it stopped, and using its left arm, played with its right. After a cascade of clicks, it pointed its fist at a tree, and shot fire at it! It then pointed its weapon into the air and shot the flames straight up. The spiders that covered the two equines darted away and retreated away from the flames, Leaf tried to jump, but his mother held him down. The monster pointed at more trees and set them on fire with a burst of its arm fire shooter.
From inside the musty old log, the two ponies smelled the smoke of the fire, and their instincts began to kick in, telling them that they needed to run, and fast. The thing pointed its arm in the direction of the two, and readied for another blast. From their perspective, they could see a tiny pilot light like it was one of those fancy new fireplaces that burned gas instead of logs. As the thing readied for another bought of its natural panic inducing flames, Maple Leaf shrieked, the thought of burning alive was too much, and he broke away from his mother, darting out of hiding and into the woods. Syrup, moving as fast as she could, pulled herself out and tried to stop him, but was too late.
The thing raised its other arm, more of the sounds of a scratched record were produces as it aimed. Syrup charged, and threw her entire body into the metal thing’s side, taking its aim off course. She screamed, “Leave us alone!” As she proceeded to hit its side.
But, for what Syrup tried to do, all it amounted to was a backhand across her head and a swelled lip, sending her away and allowing the thing to aim again, and fire, producing something that looked like a spider’s web at the fleeing pony.
Seconds after he fired, the sound of something falling occurred, and then the cries of, “Mom! HELP!” followed by coughing.
“LEAF!” she called back as she staggered herself to stand, but was kicked back to the ground, and the pressed on and immobilized by the metal giant. It reached down, and pulled out its first weapon, the thing that shot out blue needles, and aimed it at the mare.
But before he could squeeze the trigger, before he could *Pop* out a dart into the mare, he was evicted from on top of her when a massive blue paw smacked him, sending him into a sizeable tree and causing it to fall over.
Maple Syrup looked up, and stared into the eyes of an Ursa Minor. The large celestial bear looked down at the tiny pony and ignored it, instead moving to its new playmate. It roared as the metal giant got back to its feet and pulled out a black bar from its waist. It hit a switch, and the metal pole extended three times from its normal size, but what was most strange was the electricity that began to light up the rod.
The earth mare got up, and shook her head. While she did that, she caught herself watching as a massive blue paw and a black electrical stick collided, and the stick won. The Ursa shot its paw away and nursed it from the nasty shock, and then roared again.
Maple Syrup shook herself free from the fight, and turned, looking for her colt, and began running. Lying in a bed of leaves was Maple Leaf, hyperventilating as what looked like a web made of string bound him in place.
Syrup bit the rope, and then chewed until it ripped. She did so again and again until the opening was big enough to reach her head into the trap and grabbed her son’s neck, hoisting him up and onto her back before she took off, running as fast as she could and leaving the sounds of the battle far behind.

Syrup ran as fast as she could for as long as she could, escaping the boggy area from earlier and instead entering a place where the soil was wetter, and the trees began to become less and less common. She slowed down, and a calm Leaf descended back to the ground, saving his mother the extra burden of carrying him.
There was a mist to the area, the sun was beginning to light the dark night in a tiny amount. But there was something strange about this place, she recognized it. The wet soil, the mist, the wet air, the sound of running water-
Running water, that’s it!
Maple Syrup hurried, and charged ahead, her son following, and as she expected, a river was nearby. But this was not just any river, no. This river led towards the town, but besides that, this was also the home to Maple Syrup’s number one customer.
The mare went out on a limb, and began to call out into the area of the river, “”Mr. Magnet, Mr. Magnet! Are you there?”
The water level began to rise, bubbles and other water creatures began to move aside due to the fright, but as she expected, a long stretchy violet body rose from the water, atop his head a perfectly sculpted orange mane was covered by a wet sleeping cap. The recently awoken leviathan stretched his arms and cracked his back before he smiled and said, “Helloooooooooooooo, Darling. Is it time to by some more of your sssssssssssssscrumptious ssssssssssssssyrup already?”
“Were sorry to wake you,” she stated, “But you gotta help us!”
“Oh? How may I be of ssssservice to you?”
“This thing is after us! It blew down are house and has been chasing us all night! Can you help us get to town?”
As the leviathan answered, the two equines perked their ears up as they heard a stomping through the woods, crushing and kicking leaves out of the way as whatever was coming blew everything in its way aside.
“It’s coming!” shouted Maple Leaf.
“Ah! Jump on little Ponies!” answered Steven Magnet as he angled himself down to the shores for the two to board onto his back. “Hold on tight!” he warned before beginning to swim down the river. Prompting the mother and son to bite onto a few stray locks of his mane.
But as he escaped, they heard the stomping becoming squishy, like it was pounding through the mud of the shoreline. And after that, they heard a muffled rumble, what they deduced was one of its weapons. Immediately as it started, the violet creature they rode of shrieked with pain. Maple Syrup looked back and saw that a few of his scaled were being ripped off after the sound of something hitting them filled the air.
Maple Syrup watched the shoreline as the swimming creature swam with as much vigor as possible, and sure enough she saw it. Or at least she thought she saw it. There was no seven foot tall thing of metal standing on the shore, but she did see an orange flash of light, and with it ,she could sort of see an outline of a see-through thing as the explosion of color appeared in front of it. As they became further and further away, it moved, still see-through, but she could see it as the water and mud that it trudged through bounced and stuck to its invisible form.

Much further down the river, the water level became too shallow for him, so Steven Magnet stopped by the side, and positioned himself to allow his passengers to disembark. “This is as far as I go, little ponies. Good luck!”
The two exited, and stood in the shallow water, waving goodbye and giving thanks amongst the cattails and lily pads of the dirty water before they marched to the shore. Finally, the sun was up, they were in a safer region of the Everfree, and that meant that civilization was finally becoming near, and with it, the end of the nightmare. The two trudged through the final pickets of trees, the ground and leaves around this corner of the forest even felt friendlier than when they were lost and trying to escape from monsters.
Finally, with only a few trees left, they could see in the distance, open land, and nearby, a cottage, the home of their closest living pony neighbor, a yellow pegasus named Fluttershy.
For the first time since the night before, the two were happy. They began to laugh, happiness being their motivation as they took their last steps in the dark Everfree and into the light of salvation.
Maple Syrup sighed and proclaimed, “It’s finally over.”
*Pop*
Maple Syrup jumped into the air as she felt her flank being pinched, and then what felt like a fluid being pumped into her bloodstream. When she landed, she tripped on her back right hoof, which wouldn’t obey her orders to run. She turned, and as she thought, a needle full of blue fluid was sticking out of her side. As she attempted to run, her other leg experienced the same drowsing effects.
Maple Leaf shrieked, and Maple Syrup turned her head to see behind her, and sure enough seven feet of metal holding a small weapon in its right hand was charging towards the two ponies. “RUN!” she called out, and attempted to crawl on her front hooves, but was futile. Maple Leaf looked in horror as the thing approached from behind her, and then began to cough, becoming so excited that he could not get enough air to support his frightened body. He collapsed to the forest floor.
The enormous bipedal metal giant slowed down as it passed past her and kneeled at the colt who was now on his side an coughing uncontrollably. “Leave him alone!” she cried out, “Take me instead!”
The thing gave no head. It reached down onto its belt and pulled out a large syringe. And then, a voice that was laced with static said, “Administering Corticosteroids.” Before he injected the needle into the colt’s neck. Slowly, the coughing ceased, and instead the breathing slowed down. The big monster picked up the limp colt and threw him over his shoulder like a trophy.
Maple Syrup shouted, “Leave him alone! Take Me!”
The monster turned and looked at the tiny immobilized mare, her midsection was now numb. It stepped next to her, and then pulled out what looked like a ball. Using one hand, it held the strange shaped ball and pulled out a charging handle, causing it to glow before dropping it on the ground and walking away.
“NO!” she screamed, as a glowing shield enveloped around the center of the ball, about one yard in radius, and encircling Maple Syrup.
Like the night before, the strange tornado sound return, but this time, a large black carriage without wheels floated through the sky. It had wings, like a bird, but they did not flap. An intense fire was being shot downwards and pushing the flying machine up. A hatch opened, and the seven foot tall monster entered, his prize in tow, before closing the door behind it.
As her vision became worse and worse, everything became heavy. Maple Syrup felt tired, but still, she cried, pleaded, and begged for the thing to grant her son mercy, and to be taken in his place. But, before she lost her consciousness, she proclaimed her love to her son, and apologized.

Maple Syrup felt… good. She was warm, and lying on an incredibly soft blanket. There was still a chill in the air, she could feel it on her nose and legs, but it did not matter. She opened her eyes and smiled, she remembered this. She looked down, and sure enough, a warm, fuzzy, and also positively ugly plaid button shirt was on her frame, opened up around the bosom. But for the pony she was with, it didn’t matter how ugly the shirt was, for she was beautiful.
She stretched out, lying on a blanket atop of fallen leaves. Around them, trees with taps nailed into their frame dripped maple sap into the containers. It was a beautiful fall day, one that she had saved in her memory forever. Maybe for the fact that eleven months later, her son entered the world, or maybe it was because it was one of the last time she had spent with him.
Maple Syrup sat up, she heard the telltale sounds of something approaching, and to her amazement, past the wicker basket of food and wine, a stallion, with a strange coat, one that was shaggy, but strangely enough, had an arrangement of earthy colors, making him blend into the leaves that populated the fall air and ground.
“Ghillie?” she asked, “Ghillie Leaf?”
The leaf colored stallion did not answer, he kept running through the leaves until he was safely on the blanket. “It’s me, Syrup.” He said.
“Oh Celestia, Ghillie.” She breathed trying to sit up but could not get off her side. The two embraced, the combed and beautiful syrup cooking mare and ragged camouflage colored scout, and finally had a long kiss. “Oh, Ghillie Leaf, I’ve missed you.”
The stallion held his mare, but instead of confessing his love back, he looked her square in the eyes and asked, “Maple, Where’s our son?”
Her heart stopped beating beneath her ugly paid shirt, “It… It took him away from me.”
“He’s all alone now! You have to protect him!”
“It tried.” She whispered, closing her eyes and trying to hide her head. “I tried so hard. I did everything.”
“You’re strong, Syrup, stronger that you ever imagined. But Leaf’s all alone now.”
“I can’t.”
“yes you can. You just gotta get up!” Ghillie Leaf lifted Maple Syrup up and into his hooves, holding her as they had another kiss.
Maple Syrup felt her hooves around her lover, and closed her eyes as she wept and breathed into his neck. When she opened them, she looked out into the surrounding forest.
She could see it, moving between the trees! She shouted, “It’s coming!” She pushed away and repeated herself, but he did not respond. He lowered her back onto the blanket, even though she fought to get to her hooves. “I’ll always love you.” He whispered into her ear, “I’ll always love you.”
The seven foot tall monstrosity walked from behind the nearest tree and straight towards the pair. It approached, breaking into their harmony as Syrup tried to get away, but couldn’t. The thing reached down, towards them, and Ghillie Leaf died, turning into a pile of leaves that showered over Maple Syrup.
The scene faded, the blanket was gone, no basket of food and wine accompanied the mare, and none of the trees had taps that filled buckets of maple sap. But the thing was still there. It reached down, and pulled the needle out of Maple’s flank, causing a tremendous amount of pain. Now that it was gone, her vision became blurry, and her limbs woke up. She kicked, and knocked the leaves away from where they had landed from her. She saw the blurry dark figure walk away, into an even bigger dark thing, and then fly away. She kicked, got to her hooves even though she was not oriented yet.
But then, she heard something, something she feared she would never hear again. “MOM!” before an iron tight vise was brought around her neck. She held her balance against the thing that was attached to her, and finally let the warm blood wash the numb feeling away. When she was fully recuperated, she was looking into the big eyes of Maple Leaf.
“Oh thank Celestia, You’re safe!” she wrapped her hooves around him and never wanted to let him go. After an eternity, the two broke away from trying to choke each other and looked in each other’s eyes again. “What did it do to you?”
The colt looked around and tried to remember, but could not. “I…I don’t know, just remember passing out and then waking up when it let me go.”
Maple Syrup looked at her son’s face, and then looked down, his frame was now thicker, fuller, not as fragile looking like he used to be. “How do you feel?”
“I…I think there’s a thing on my neck that shoots stuff into it, because I can breathe easier now!”
The mare inspected her son’s neck, and jumped. A metal collar now was securely against it, tight against his skin. It had a tiny antenna and a blinking red light. Several other incredibly tiny monitors accompanied it. Maple Syrup looked left and right, making sure they were alone, and then removed the handkerchief that she had around her neck, showing the key to her cabin that was now destroyed, and wrapped the red cloth around her son’s neck, hiding it from the world.
Maple Leaf felt the wrapping, and then asked, “What are we going to do now?”
Maple Syrup looked around, and then confessed, “Well, we can’t stay here. Let’s go find some place to sleep and then we’ll go to your grandmother’s house.” And so, the two walked out of the Everfree forest, and breathed in the dying daylight. It had been a nightmare to get out, but it was over now. The two made their way to the quaint little cottage, and the older mare knocked on the door.
A crashing sound was heard, and then a shuffling of a few objects, before the wooden door creaked open, allowing the owner to peek outside and greet her visitors. A bunny with its paws crossed across its chest rode on the top of her pink maned head. Maple Syrup took a breath, and then exhaled, “I don’t mean to intrude Fluttershy, but our cabin was attacked last…” she had to think for a moment, how long had she been knocked out? She rubbed the spot on her neck here her handkerchief usually was and then said, “night. And we’ve been running for hours trying to get to safety. Would you mind if we rest here the night?”
The timid yellow mare opened her door the whole way and answered, “Oh, no! Come in, come in! you poor things.”
The mare and her son stepped inside of the small cottage, about the same size as their cabin. The host then said, “Please, make yourselves at home. I was just making soup; I’ll get some more bowls.”
Maple Syrup gave a great sigh of relief. For the first time in two days, she felt safe. And the fact that her son was beside her was even better. Speaking of which, the colt took up Fluttershy’s offer and made his way over to the couch beside a roaring fire and laid his head on the arm while lounging on the rest of it.
Without saying any words, Maple Syrup approached him and took a little quilt that was bundled like a cylinder in a basket and unraveled it, using it as a sheet to tuck him into the couch. The colt took a long breath and relaxed, and then said, “I love you, mom.”
“I love you too, Dear.”
By the time the owner of the cottage returned with an extra two bowls of soup, Maple Leaf, and his now full body was fast asleep, Maple Syrup sitting right beside him. The pegasus bit her lower lip to keep back her emotions. She didn’t even care that she had been sitting on her couch before the two had knocked on her door.

Author's Note

I am not going to rewrite the epilogue chapter.

Please leave a message commenting on if it was an improvement over the original, and also if you would be interested in more lore of this story, for i did leave a plot device in the open.

pics

This is what I imagined the Pursuer to look like when i wrote the story, i vectored it myself

If that does not work, here is a link.
the link
I hope you enjoyed it.
By the way, I used many resources for this vector. I used Issac Clarke from Deadspace for the head, Killzone dude (i dont have a PS3) for the breather/ mask, The cover of Fallout3 for the shoulderpads, a replica soldier/ clone from F.E.A.R. for the arms and the body,and an angel wing design for the angel wings on the forearms.
like I said, this is what I envisioned it to be, so you can keep your own inerpretation, i will use mine.