The shaded guardian

Hours later, as the limp pegasus lie there on the cold, hard ground of the Everfree, the area around her grew incredibly silent, not a sound to be heard for miles it seemed. He body was beaten, tired, sore, weakened, it looked like she had nothing left to give. Fluttershy was lost and alone in the dark recesses of the forest, a fate that nopony would ever like to receive.

The same breeze that was felt by her earlier was felt once again, rushing over her body in a great gust, her mane and tail getting whipped by the constant winds. The breeze was even colder than she would have remembered, faster as well, almost like it was penetrating her very being.

The wind took a turn and started to cycle around her, leaves and debris from the cliff started to whirl themselves around her body. A cyclone of different objects and plant-life, all inside the ominous wind.

Fluttershy's body began to lightly twitch, her body rustling itself on the hard ground, she started to regain some of her mobility. Soon, Fluttershy began to move her hooves, although tired and sore at that point, she moved them up to her sides. She then tried to open her eyes, the sound of the wind getting to her, the feeling making her want to run once more.

But as she was opening her eyes, the gust stopped and the various objects fell down to the ground. It was like the wind had completely vanished, not leaving a trace of where it went back into the forest.

Fluttershy was so dazed and confused, her head pounded and her body ached with the pains of her previous endeavors. She let out a soft groan, feeling broken and worn. She moved her hoof up to her head, holding it like it would actually cleanse of the pain.

"Wh-Where.... A-Am I?" She asked herself out loud, her previously sweet and soft voice was now even softer and hoarse. He vision was still blurry, not even able to see her hooves in front of her face, only able to make out shapes and figures.

As she looked up from her state of disarray, she saw something far in the distance that she'd never seen in all her days. It was a figure of another pony, a larger stallion in fact. It may have been far away from her, yet she could make out the distinct outlines of a large stallion.

Wither he other hoof, that wasn't bracing her head, she reached out and tried to call out to the figure that was still very mysterious to her. Her voice was weak, barely able to even reach past her own lips. "H-Help...... M-Me........" She called out to the figure, hoping that it would actually assist her in getting back to her home.

The figure remained there for a few moments, simply staring at the yellow mare. After some time, Fluttershy blinked her eyes, slowly reopening them to see the figure gone from her vision, without even a trace.

She didn't know how to interpret it, her mind so clouded with thoughts of how much pain she was in, where her friends were, how could she return. She moved her eyes up to look at the sky, only a small gap in the canopy allowing her to see past everything.

She could see the sun passing over head, closing her eyes quickly as she saw the bright light. She returned her head back down, putting both hooves on her eyelids and rubbing them a little, trying to get them to return to normal.

She reopened her eyes once more, blinking a few times to see if her vision was any better. Se started to make things out a little clearer, the trees and overgrowth coming into focus after a while.

She was relieved she could actually see around her, not letting a sound out though to display this. She then tried to move up onto her hooves, rolling over onto her stomach. She placed her hooves at her side and pushed up, hoping she could still stand.

He let out a squeak of pain as she got herself halfway up, her joints still a little shaky and not wanting to move properly. She pushed herself all the way up, even through her pain, to stand on all four hooves.

He body was still shaky and wobbled from side to side, she needed to catch her balance multiple times before finally retaining her balance and keeping her head erect on her shoulders.

She stretched her body a little so that she could properly walk without and pain, her letting out a large screech pain as she did.

She turned back to her back, one of her wings was badly broken, the bones contorted in different positions as she could feel the blood pulsing to the damaged wing. She very delicately set her wing back at her side, sighing and hanging her head low.

She then looked back up and surveyed the area around her, trying to remotely get a grasp of where she was.

The surrounding area was ridden with the underbrush and overgrowth that she had dealt with earlier. She made her way to the edge of the small area she was in, looking into the forest to try and see if there was anything she could see in the vast darkness.

Far in the distance, she could see sunlight cascading down onto the forest floor. The sight gave her a smile and a sense of hope that she hadn't had in the past hours.

She then began making her way through the forest, taking it very slowly, her body was still a little in pain from the fall. Her mind thought that the light would bring her to someplace better, a place where she could actually escape this place.

As she got closer to the light, the smile grew even larger, her body wanting to embrace the sunlight once more. She also hoped that this light would be a sense of hope, that she was going to be fine.

She could see the light was caused by a large break in the forest canopy, the ground below was ridden of the underbrush. The light was pure, like it burned away the even of the forest.

As she got to the clearing, she stepped inside, the sunlight going down onto her. Fluttershy's smile grew larger than it had been, her body loving the feeling of the light on its coat. She stepped into the center, looking up through the canopy to try and see if somepony could see her.

She raised a hoof up and waved it around, as if it would actually attract the attention of a flying pegasus over head. She called out, thinking the same thing of her voice as she tried screaming at the top of her lungs.

All that came out was a high pitched squeak, her repeating the sound, not knowing what it actually did. Ponies weren't the only thing her voice and movement was attracting.

He body being in the light was like her standing in a spotlight of darkness, her body and voice on display from all around. Fluttershy didn't realize that she was actually doing this with her attempts at trying to escape.

Her movement and voice finally stopped as she heard a low growl from behind her, her voice falling silent and her hooves setting on the ground. She was paralyzed like she was when she first saw the timberwolves, unable to move and speak. She didn't know what could be behind her, only that it couldn't have been good.

After some courage mustering, her slowly turned her head around to see red eyes peering out of the darkness straight at her. She couldn't see what was actually looking at her, only that the eyes were staring right at her.

The beast let out another low growl, the large sound of its step cause a small quake where Fluttershy was. Fluttershy took a step back in reaction to seeing the creature, lowering her body down to the ground.

The creatures paw lands into the sunlight, it was large and like a lion. It then stepped its head in, the large smirk of a manticore appearing out of the darkness. Fluttershy's eyes grew larger than before, taking another step back and lowering herself once more.

The manticore stepped its whole body into the light, raising itself up and letting out a loud and boisterous roar. It then returned its glance to Fluttershy, staring her down as it came closer.

Fluttershy knelt her body down, too paralyzed with fear to do anything else. She closed her eyes and spoke quietly to herself out of her terror. "Oh Celestia..... P-Please... Save me......"