It was about six in the afternoon. It was getting dark and cold. I got about a good two miles into the forest without any trouble. Except I think my stomach began to digest itself. It has been a few hours since I last tried to eat, but when I tried to eat early it added more time for me to wait. I stopped walking to look around for a safe place to rest and set up camp. As I searched I found a nice open area surrounded by trees. Not the safest, but I'll be able to make a fire without setting the entire forest ablaze. Even though that would be pretty fun to watch this terrible place burn. Says the stallion that has lived here for years. I scouted out the area around my little camp thing, or whatever you want to call it. Just a few harmless animals were scurrying around. I placed my stuff, except my sword, next to a tree. I'm sooo hungry. I complained. I tapped my jaw lightly it was a little sore, but didn't hurt too much. I sat down with my back against a tree. I levitated out an apple, Hopefully this won't hurt, and bit down on it. My jaw didn't send a jolting pain through my skull, just a slight incessant throbbing. I continued to eat the apple savoring its delightful flavor. It begun to get chillier, so I got up to gather firewood. I obtained about twenty or so sticks. I piled them in the center of my camp and struck them with a bolt of my magic causing a light bluish-red flame. I got some time to kill. I pulled out my map and tried to figure out where I was. I'm in the Everfree Forest... well that didn't help. I put away the map, maybe I should practice that barrier spell. I practiced for about forty-five minutes, making a variety of shapes and sizes, before my magic drained me of most of my energy. I got fairly good at the spell, it still took a second or two for me to fully erect the shield, but something's better than nothing. I lay down in the soft grass, staring into the night sky. The warmth of the fire was making me drowsy, so once I regained my strength I erected another shield around my camp. I hope this barrier will stay up while I'm asleep. I closed my eyes falling into slumber's sweet embrace.

~~*~~

I woke up in an unusually dark place. I could barely see my hoof in front of my face. After a minute or two my eyes adjusted slightly. I looked up to see what time it was, but I didn't see anything. Not even any stars. What the fuck? I was now getting a little creeped out. It was so silent not even my hoof steps made a sound.

"Hello? Anypony out there?" I called out. I felt like I wasn't in the Everfree Forest anymore. I continued walking forward. I noticed there were hoofprints in front of me along with an impression of a pony about my size. I couldn't have been here already. I was walking forward this whole time. I tore a chunk of dirt out of the ground and walked forward again. And once again I ended up where I left off, Ok gettin' really freaked out now. Maybe if I turn around. I turned one-eighty degrees and what I saw made my skin crawl. There was a tall, slim pony standing more than three yards away from me. How can I see him? I could see him clearly except his face. Everything between us was pitch black. He was wearing a black suit with a white button up shirt and a red bowtie.

"Hello? Where am I?" The stallion didn't respond, "Hello?" Still no response, this pony is really creeping me out. I suddenly was overcome with the sensation of fear and nausea. I turned and ran as fast as I could. I ended up where I began... again. I looked around frantically, I didn't see him, sighing in relief. I sat down trying to figure out what was going on. The feeling of fright and nausea returned. I slowly turned around to see him standing behind me. I could finally see his face, but he didn't have one. It was just blank, no facial features at all. I tried to move, but I couldn't. I tried to speak, but no words came out. I heard a tearing, ripping sound coming from this creepy monster. His face, just about where his mouth would be, started to split open. Black blood poured from the newly formed hole in his face. He started to make a croaking sound. Strips of flesh were still attached to his mouth. He slowly moved his head to the side of mine. I couldn't move, my eyes were shaking and I was sweating. I could see his mouth was opening wide. He lurched forward clamping down on my neck tearing out a large portion of my neck. Everything started to become blurry as I fell onto the ground gurgling in a pool of my own blood. The monstrous pony stood over me still with the portion of my neck in his mouth. Everything went black as I frantically tried to breathe but only choking myself on my blood.

~~*~~

I awoke screaming, silencing myself quickly. Fucking nightmares. I was drenched in sweat. The flames were dimly flickering. Must have been a few hours, I thought, I might as well get going. I rolled onto my stomach standing up cracking a few joints. I took a long yawn and stretched. I levitated my possessions over and equipped them. Sunlight poured through the thick forest canopy and onto my face. I basked in the rays of sunlight and continued to gather my things. Once I got everything attached, I started towards Dodge City. I assumed it would take another day or two to get out of this forest. That is if I don't receive any unwanted visitors. I hope I didn't just jinx that. I heard some rustling nearby. I dove behind the nearest tree. I carefully looked around the tree. I could see a manticore walking through the bushes. Shit! I did jinx it. I don't think it saw me. The manticore sniffed the air. It was a much larger manticore, probably the alpha male. I couldn't quite tell if it was male or female but I wasn't about to go inspect its junk to find out. It had a jagged scar that across its face. Its hair around its neck was the colour of a ripe apple, as was its tail. It had an approximate wingspan of ten hooves. Quite a magnificent sight, if it weren't for the fact of these creatures being extremely aggressive. I hope that I could wait it out. The manticore moved a few paces towards me. Shit, Shit, Shit! I lowered myself so I would be lying on the ground. It stopped right next to the tree I was hiding behind. I could hear it sniffing again. Maybe if I distract it with my magic... no my over glow would give me away. Shit! What do I do? All I could think of was to just hope something got its attention... I just hope it wouldn't be me. The manticore began to flap its wings. Dust and leaves were scattered about as the manticore flew away.

"Phew that was close," I said aloud, "I really wasn't in the mood for a battle." I got up from behind the tree and continued my journey. As I walked I listened to the sounds of the forest, mainly looking for anything that could be a threat, but I mostly heard peaceful things. Birds signing their morning songs, a light breeze rustling the leaves, a faint crying sound, rushing water... Wait is somepony crying? That is not peaceful at all. I listened more closely and heard what sounded like crying. I followed the sound, increasing my speed from a light trot to a fast paced walk as I got closer to the sound. Now I was sure somepony was crying. I was now in a full gallop searching for the source of the crying. I stopped in front of a small valley. I could see a small colt, about a year younger than Ember, crying into his foreleg. I moved closer to him. I was about three hooves away from him.

"Hello? Are you ok?" Of course he wasn't ok. That was a stupid question.

"AHH!" He screamed, running away from me.

"Wait, I'm not going to hurt you!" I chased after him. He wasn't very fast, so I more of walked after him instead of running after him. The colt didn't listen to me. He dived behind a stump of a tree. I stopped so I wouldn't frighten him anymore than I already had.

"It's ok. I'm not going to hurt you, I just wanna help," he was still crying, "I promise I won't come closer. I have some food. You hungry?" He poked his head around the stump staring at me with his tear-filled bright cherry red eyes.

"Y-yes." He whimpered.

"Here I'll give you a few apples." I floated over two apples behind the stump. I could hear him munching on them. "Why are you out here?"

"My mommy and d-daddy and I w-were going f-for a walk and they- they-" he stopped and started crying again.

"They what?"

"They left me!" They what!?

"That's terrible! Why would they do such a thing!?" I was dumbstruck, "listen I'm going to Dodge City how about you come with me and I'll find you a place to stay." The colt came running out from behind the stump and held onto my leg crying into it. I sat down holding him letting him cry. Now that I could actually get a good look at him I noticed he had a bright violet mane and tail, a pure white coat that was riddled with dirt, with a golden bow on his flanks for his cutie-mark. I didn't see a horn or wings, so I assumed he was an earth pony.

"It's gonna be alright." I tried my best to reassure him, "Can you tell me your name?"

"My names i-is Silver Rock."

"My name is Handsome Bowtie. Do you know how long you've been out here?"

"About f-four days." The crying did let up. Four days!? Pretty impressive that he survived this long.

"Poor thing. Don't you worry I'll get you outa here." It's a miracle he hasn't been found by a monster. He cried for another five or so minutes. Then he let go of me, but still sat by my side.

"Do you have any more food?" He sniffled.

"Yeah." I put down the sack of food Applejack gave me and let him rummage through it. He's so cute. How could his parents just abandon him like that? I let him eat for half an hour until it was time to go.

"Ready to go?"

"Yup!" Silver was beginning to be happy again. I was glad that he wasn't crying anymore. Silver hopped up onto my back just like Ember does. He snuggled himself into my back while I attached the food sack to my belt. I was even more observant now than I was before because if we were attacked I would have to protect my colt companion. I heard a soft snoring, Silver must of fallen asleep. It was getting close to noon. I'm making pretty good distance, if you don't include the distractions. The forest was calm and as beautiful as ever. The trees leaves were turning colours. There were flowers of every colour on the ground some of which were deadly, and some I didn't know anything about. I saw one flower in the middle of a patch of pure white flowers that just looked out of place. The flower was pure black. I didn't know what it was other than it being a flower. I walked up to the black flower and bent down to get a better look. That was a terrible mistake because right as my face got close up to it, it shot out a purplish powder into my eyes.

"Ack!" I rubbed and blinked my eyes. Trying to remove the powder. Nothing seemed to happen. I hope it was nothing poisonous. I heard a loud snort from Silver.

"H-huh, what happened?"

"Just this black flower shot some powder into my eyes."

"What black flower?" I pointed to it so he could see.

"Oh. That's not good." I don't like the sound of that.

"What is it?"

"I forget the name, but the powder, it can make a pony hall-halluc-halluc-nate?" He had some trouble saying hallucinate, how adorable.

"Oh, so it's not deadly?"

"No." That's a relief, sort of.

"How long until the hallucinations start?"

"A few hours."

"Why do you know all this?"

"My dad ran a flower shop." He responded sadly. I quickly changed the subject.

"So how'd you get your cutie mark?" This seemed to perk him up.

"A few friends of mine, Flying Snow and Summer Heart, asked if I wanted to have a bow and arrow competition. I said yes. We set up stacks of wood and painted bullseyes on them. Blue was one point, white was two points, and black was three points. My friend Flying Snow went first. She's a unicorn so she had an advantage, but only hit the white. Summer Heart was next, he's an earth pony just like me. He had some trouble holding on the bow, but he got use to it. He focused and hit dead center of the black area. Dumb luck I thought. I went up and grabbed my bow with my hooves and pulled back the arrow with my mouth and let the arrow go. It split Summer Heart's arrow in half. We were all amazed. 'Look' Flying Snow said pointing at my flanks. A golden bow appeared. I practiced most days. I could shoot a falling leaf a mile away!"

"That's amazing. Wish I had a bow and arrow so you could show me."

"What about your cutie mark?" He must have not noticed I don't have one.

"I don't have mine." He stood up on my back.

"What?!" His voice cracked, "How do you not have one?"

"Shush, don't want any monsters hearing us. But to answer your question, I never wanted mine. I don't want to be labeled by a mark on my flanks. I know it tells me what I'm best at, but I just don't want it. If that makes sense." I had a slight fear of getting my cutie mark. I felt like if I were to get mine that is all I would be allowed to do. He sat back down, snuggling himself into my back again. We passed by a tree that was continuously changing colours.

"Hey is that tree changing colours to you?"

"Uhh no." All right so the hallucinations are starting early. It has only been about an hour, it was close to one in the afternoon.

"We should find some place to rest. The hallucinations are starting earlier than expected."

"What about over there?" He pointed to a small cave entrance off to my left.

"That could work," I trotted over to the outside of the cave, "you go wait in these bushes while I make sure it's safe."

"Alright." He hopped off my back and into the bushes. I removed my sword from the baldric just incase a creature was in there. The cave was dark, very dark. The glow from my horn helped illuminate the cave a bit. Drops of water fell from the ceiling. The cave was large and traveled deep under ground where I didn't dare explore. There was nothing, but me in that cave or at least I hoped so.

"It's safe to come in!" I yelled out to Silver. He trotted in.

"What happened to being quiet?" He said blatantly.

"Oh yeah I forgot." I rubbed his head. He grumbled and squirmed his way out of my reach.

"I'm going to go out and gather some fire wood. If anything bad happens just yell out."

"But you said-"

"I know, but if I'm not here I want to make sure you're safe. And DON'T go further into this cave."

"Fine." He mumbled. I left to go gather sticks, I took my sword with me to cut down branches to make it easier for me. I spent a good seven minutes gathering branches before I heard a shout from the cave. I dropped all the branches and sprinted towards the cave.

"Silver! Where are you!?" I heard another shout from deep inside the cave. I ran towards it, the over glow of my horn lighting my path. I found Silver shaking in the middle of a large open area.

"Silver! What did I tell you?" I was angry with him. I just didn't want him to get hurt

"I-I'm sorry." I could see that he was on the verge of crying.

"I just want you to be safe. Why did you not listen?" He shakily pointed his hoof behind me.

"T-that!" I whipped around to be face to face with the manticore I encountered earlier.

"Silver! RUN!" He did us I told him. I quickly erected a barrier around the manticore keeping it in place. This won't hold forever, I thought, must think, need a plan! I was a little panicky. The manticore roared ferociously, its claws digging through my barrier. Fuck it I'm runnin'. Cowardly I know, but what else was I going to do. I didn't want to kill it, but deep down inside of me I knew I'd have to. For now I just have to find Silver and get him to a safer spot.

"Silver! Where are you?" I yelled hearing my voice echo throughout the cave.

"Over here!" He was standing near by the entrance.

"I need you to hide! Someplace you'll be safe! Got it?" He nodded his head vigorously.

"Ok!" He scurried off past me finding a little crevice to hide in. I heard the echoing sound of my barrier shattering. The spell left me somewhat tired. I could hear the manticore growling and sniffing trying to find me. I poked my head around the corner, useless effort because I couldn't see shit. I picked up a pebble and threw it, hoping to distract the manticore. It worked he chased down the cave running in the opposite direction of me. I had to come up with a plan. A drop of water fell on me from a stalactite. Perfect I know just what to do! I found a fairly large boulder I could hide behind. I picked up a rock with my magic and started to tap it loudly on the ground. The manticore came running towards the sound, I floated the rock high up in the air so it couldn't see the rock. It stopped right where I was tapping. It sniffed the ground, then looked around. I smashed the rock into the stalactites, breaking them. The manticore wasn't fast enough. The sharp point of the stalactites pierced its wing and its tail pinning it to the ground. Blood splattered all over the floor. It cried out in pain. I unsheathed my sword to finish it off. I walked up to the manticore, bloodying my hooves. I got too close to the manticore. It slashed the side of my face with its claw. I tried to dodge it, but I still got cut. A trail of blood went down my face dripping off my chin. My eyes were seething with rage, with adrenaline coursing through my veins. I quickly sunk my blade into its skull, twisting the blade. Blood spurted from the wound like a geyser. Warm blood pasted my face. It yelped falling to the ground lifelessly lying on the ground. I pulled my sword out of its skull. There wasn't any blood on the blade. What in the hay? All the blood pouring from the manticores wounds moved towards my sword. It was being absorbed into the blade. Must be a hallucination. I went to go find Silver, the blood trailing after my sword, being absorbed by the blade. It stopped just before I reached Silver's hiding spot.

"Silver? You there?"

"Yeah. Is it safe?" He slowly crawled out from his hiding spot.

"For now. Lets go to the entrance and get a little rest. The hallucinations are getting worse." I produced a ball of light so we could find our way back. Through a few twists and turns and the occasional smashing of my hoof into a stalagmite, we finally made it back to the entrance.

"Stay here while I go get the firewood. I'll put up a shield so you'll be safe."

"Sorry." He said in a meek voice.

"Don't be. You did what you thought was right." I patted him on the shoulder, "I should be sorry for leaving you alone without protection." I raised a shield around the cave and quickly went to gather the branches. I rushed back to Silver, I didn't want to leave him for too long. I stepped through the barrier placing the branches in the middle of the room shooting a bolt of magic lighting it with a magical fire.

"Ooo pretty." I chuckled at Silver's amusement. I lied down folding my forehooves resting my head. Silver came up next to me and snuggled into my side. For once, since the foalnapping of my family, I was truly happy.

Author's Note

I'd really like to hear anypony's thoughts on my story. Anything I should try to do better and things like that?