Twilight was still at a loss for words as she watched the human. It looked like it was a boy in his mid-teen years, but where did he come from? What was he doing here? And why did he speak in a language that she could understand? All of these questions and many more flooded the unicorn’s mind in an instant. Finally, she could take no more, she had to speak to the creature and ask what was going on.

“Um… hello?” Twilight spoke hesitantly to the human, who in return spun around to face her. He seemed excited at first to hear someone else's voice out in this forest.

“Oh, thank goodness I’m not alone out here… Who are y- Whoa!” He jumped slightly, having not expected to see a fluorescent purple unicorn when he turned around. “Did you just talk...? can you understand me?” He asked with a shocked expression while eyeing her curiously.

Twilight nodded weakly before suddenly remembering where she was, and what she was doing. The thought of those creatures returning made her heart pound in her chest all over again.

“We need to get out of here!” Twilight squeaked frantically with intense fear. The unicorn struggled to get up before realizing she could still barely move.

“Hold on… easy there, you look tired.” The human spoke gently and sounded genuinely concerned for her. “Why don’t you tell me your name before you hurt yourself trying to get up?” He asked in a concerned tone. The fact that he had gotten past the fact that she was a talking unicorn so fast and instead shifted to being concerned for her confused the purple mare.

Twilight still felt nervous and wanted more than anything to get up and go find her friends before those things returned, but she was in no condition to run away on her own. She would need the help of this human if she was going to get away from the strange monsters chasing her.

“Twilight… ughh.” Twilight groaned in an exhausted manner. She could barely get the words out while working herself onto her knees. She hyperventilated in a panic as she thought she heard a noise nearby.

“We need to get out of here before they come back!” Twilight tried as hard as she could to convey the urgency of the situation. The human looked at her quizzically and spoke in a mixture of confusion and slight concern.

“Slow down… before what comes back?” He asked curiously. Before Twilight could get out an answer, she was silenced by another odd occurrence.

The human gasped for a moment as a surge of blue mist came from his mouth. It was as if he was standing out in the middle of winter and his breath could be seen. Along with this blue mist came a high-pitched hiss. It did not sound like it was the human as Twilight could hear his own gasp along with the noise as if he had the wind knocked out of him along with some other strange rasp.

Twilight was struck with curiosity again, however, the human looked more urgent now. He eyed around the dark woods that surrounded the area and appeared to scan them for any signs of movement. It was almost like he knew there was something out there.

“What did you say was coming back again?” the human sounded more serious now as he waited for a reply.

Before Twilight could say anything further, she was silenced by the sound of growling all around her. Twilight looked around in a panic, trying to locate the source of the growling. Her heart almost skipped a beat when she saw black shapes moving towards them from all around, trapping them in a circle.

“Ok look… you said your name was Twilight right?” The human spoke very calmly and directly to her while backing closer with his hand on the hilt of his sword.

“Y-yeah.” Twilight stammered nervously while trying not to have a mental breakdown.

“Ok… Twilight I need you to listen carefully.” The human sounded much more urgent as he tried to make himself as clear as possible. The unicorn could barely hear him over the sounds of the growling beasts and her own heart pounding in her chest, but she listened as intently as she could.

“I need you to stay calm, and stay right where you are, and I promise you... nothing bad will happen to you.” The boy looked back at her with a serious expression on his face.

Twilight wondered how anyone could sound that calm in a situation like this, much less comfort a unicorn reduced to a shivering mess on the floor, but she nodded weakly while mentally preparing for the worst.

“Do you know how many of these things there are?” He asked while eyeing the shadowy creatures approaching them in unison. Twilight thought for a moment before replying.

“Three of them chased me and my friends, but I lost them while running… I guess they decided to chase me instead.” The unicorn explained with a disheartened tone. She tried not to think of what might have happened to her two friends out in the forest, or even if the creatures managed to get back to the house where the rest of her friends were.

“Well, Twilight… I have some bad news for you. There are not three of them here… it’s more like five or six of them.” The human stated calmly with a slight inflection of worry in his voice. Twilight was almost in tears from fright at the situation, so logically knowing that there were more of those things out there than she originally thought did not help to calm her nerves. She whined in fear as she darted her head around to look at the approaching monsters.

“Like I said… remain calm and nothing bad will happen to you.” The boy spoke softly in an attempt to calm her down. Something about this human was reassuring to Twilight. Perhaps it was the way he was looking at her or something about his tone of voice, but Twilight believed this person was sincere and wanted to help her.

“AHHH!” Twilight cried out in fear as one of the beasts jumped toward the human. He quickly grabbed his sword and unsheathed it, causing the steel to ring out a shrill tone.

The sword looked like a rather simple katana with one very unique feature. The blade was tinted a light shade of blue that seemed to glow softly. It looked oddly peaceful and pleasing to the eye considering its violent purpose.

The human quickly swung the sword vertically at the beast, aiming for the center. The sword cut through the beast as if it weren’t really there. The two halves of the creature flew past the human and would have hit Twilight had they not erupted into a cloud of black smoke that forced her to shield her eyes as it enveloped her. The force of the thick smoke flying past her blew the unicorn’s hair back as it evaporated a short distance from her.

When Twilight looked up, there was no trace of the creature around her but a few thin wisps of smoke disappearing into the air. The human held his sword horizontally in one hand preparing for another attack. Two of the beasts came from behind the hapless unicorn and raced towards her with their claws at the ready. Twilight flinched instinctively and let out a startled cry while shielding her face with her arms.

The human jumped in front of her and planted his sword into one of the beasts' heads. The creature screamed in agony as smoke poured from its wound. While the creature writhed as it slowly turned to smoke, the other monster raced past the human in an attempt to get at the defenseless unicorn behind him.

“Oh no, you don’t!” The human quickly grabbed one of the beast’s legs and pulled hard. With its forward momentum, the beast flipped sideways onto its back and whipped its head around to bite the offending hand of the human with its razor sharp teeth.

With his other hand still on the hilt of his sword, the boy pulled it out of the other beast, which completely erupted into smoke upon exit of the blade. The sword flew in the air and flipped around to face the other creature. The human quickly grabbed the sword out of the air and stabbed it into the monster before firmly shoving the blade the rest of the way into the ground with both hands.

The creature let out a cry before it rapidly turned to smoke as the others had. The three remaining beasts snarled at the human before retreating back into the shadows of the forest.

After waiting for a moment and surveying his surroundings, the human let out a sigh of relief before looking over to the strange unicorn still huddled into a ball on the ground. She was shivering in fright and quietly whining to herself with tears in her eyes.

“You’re still alive… you can open your eyes now.” The human said to Twilight while extracting his blade from the earth.

Still in disbelief at what she was hearing, Twilight slowly removed her arms from her face. Looking in front of her at the last bits of smoke escaping the area a few inches ahead, the unicorn stared at the human with a mixture of shock and relief plastered on her face.

“Y... you saved me?” Twilight muttered in disbelief. Still unsure as to whether this was real or if she was in a pain-induced coma from being ripped to shreds by the beasts, she touched her face to make sure she could feel.

“Yeah… you kinda left me no choice. What was I supposed to do, leave you here to die?” The human tilted his head curiously at the unicorn. He then re-sheathed his sword and brushed himself off before extending his hand to help Twilight up.

“Come on let’s get out of here before they come back with their big brother or something.” The human smiled lightly at her while waiting for her to stop staring at him like he wasn’t real.

“Oh! Of course, sorry...” Twilight said with embarrassment while wiping her still wet eyes. She finally found it in herself to stop gawking at her savior for a moment and reached her hoof out to grab his hand.

The human felt her grip his hand without any fingers to do so and was slightly shocked as he pulled her to her feet.

“Whoa... how did you do that?” He asked curiously.

“Do what?” Twilight replied, unsure of what he meant.

“How did you grab my hand...? I expected to have to grab you myself. I mean… you don’t have fingers after all.” The boy reasoned in a puzzled tone. Twilight thought for a moment before looking at his hand and then her hoof. It took her a few seconds longer than it should have to realize why he was so confused.

“Oh…! Sorry, I forgot that you just popped out of nowhere for a second there. Uh... I’m so used to our culture and physiology that it’s hard to explain to someone new… but I’ll try to give you the short version. I’m a pony… more specifically a unicorn, but anyway.” Twilight caught herself, trying not to get off track and overload the human with too much information at one time. “We ponies can grab things with our hooves almost like we have fingers. It works because of magic that is shared between all of us.” She inhaled while preparing herself to explain the use of magic to the human when he suddenly interrupted her.

“Oh, ok... so it’s magic. I get it now.” He nodded his head confidently. Twilight looked at him with a bewildered expression plastered on her face.

“Wait… you know about magic?” Twilight asked curiously. She was confused by the human’s sudden understanding of the concept of magic. From what she remembered, humans didn’t use magic except for a few individual practitioners, and even then it was a different type of magic than what ponies and unicorns used.

“Yeah… see in my line of work I run into unexplainable things from time to time. Magic seems to clear up a lot of gray areas for me.” The human explained in a nonchalant tone. He looked completely serious, almost as if he were recalling the basic requirements for his profession.

“Your line of work...? I’m sorry, but… who are you exactly?” Twilight said in a sheepish tone. She felt slightly embarrassed by the fact that she had not asked the person that saved her life his own name.

Before he could answer her question, the human's breath turned blue and Twilight heard the high-pitched gasp of air again. He looked around the area for a brief moment before settling his eyes back on the purple mare.

“My name isn’t important right now. There are more of those things and who knows what else still around here. Just know that where I’m from… they call me the slayer.” He explained with a small grin as if he had just told the unicorn that he was king of a country. The odd title didn’t mean anything other than its gruesome implications to Twilight, but as long as those things were around, perhaps having a slayer nearby would be useful.

Twilight nervously eyed her surroundings after listening to the so-called slayer. How could he be sure that more of those creatures were out in the woods? Nothing like those beasts had ever been found in the Everfree Forest before. Still, the thought of more of those creatures sent chills up her spine.

“What were those things...? How do you know there are more?” Twilight asked nervously as she managed to calm her voice back to a more sensible tone.

The boy looked at her in between scanning carefully around them for movement. He seemed to be pressed for time as he was focusing more on keeping them safe rather than answering the purple pony’s questions.

“I will answer all of your questions to the best of my ability, as well as ask a few for myself…” He stated with a sense of curiosity as to his current whereabouts. “But first we should get to somewhere a bit safer. Besides, didn’t you say there were others out here with you?” The human’s statement created a new sense of dread and worry inside Twilight as she suddenly remembered her two friends.

“Oh my gosh!” The color drained from Twilight’s face as she thought about her friends being just as lost as she had been. What worried the purple unicorn even further was the fact that they had no one to protect them from the fierce beasts that almost claimed her life.

Before she could think about a means of searching for her friends, Twilight’s train of thought was derailed by the sound of the bushes rattling in front of them.

Twilight tensed up as she hid behind her strange new companion. The human cautiously kept his hand in reach of his sword as he stared at the bushes ahead of them. Twilight tried to steel herself for whatever horrors awaited in the forest, but before she could, she was interrupted by something orange jumping out from the bushes.

“Applejack!” Twilight exclaimed happily while rushing toward her earth pony friend, who gladly embraced her in a hug.

“Twilight! Ah’m so glad you’re ok!” Applejack exclaimed joyfully while holding the unicorn tightly. She was starting to think that she would never see her friend again, so to be finally reunited with her nearly brought the orange mare to tears.

After holding her friend close for a few moments, Applejack looked up and noticed the human watching the scene unfold. The unexpected sight made her flinch in surprise. She immediately became very uneasy considering that the last creature she had never seen before tried to kill her and her friends.

“Twilight… who is that?” Applejack asked in a concerned tone while inspecting the odd creature. The boy seemed friendly enough, although the orange mare wondered why he had a sword on his back of all things, and why he was dressed so oddly.

Before she could answer, Twilight was interrupted by another form jumping out of the bushes and onto her body, sending her into the ground. As she looked up to see what had pounced on her, the unicorn realized that it was her friend Rainbow Dash.

“Twilight!” The cyan pony above her shouted with elation at the apparent safety of her friend. She was also crying tears of joy considering the circumstances of how they were separated.

Twilight struggled for a moment before speaking. She wasn’t used to having a full grown pony sitting on her body like the pegasus currently was.

“Rainbow Dash!” The purple mare cheered in excitement, she then took a moment to inhale sharply. “Ughh… Rainbow Dash, you’re kind of crushing my lungs here.” Twilight heaved from the sudden weight on top of her.

Rainbow Dash quickly jumped off of her friend and looked slightly embarrassed. In her rush to greet the unicorn, she had forgotten that she could be harming her.

“Oh… sorry.” The cyan pegasus apologized while helping her friend to her feet. “We were just so worried! We heard you scream and thought those things must have gotten to you.” She explained with concern and relief prominent in her voice while stepping back toward the bushes to give Twilight room to breathe.

“That reminds me.” Applejack piped up. “Ah’m glad you’re not hurt, but how did those things not rip you to pieces?” She stated, curious at her friend’s miraculous survival. Although the prospect of her friend dying was horrifying, Rainbow Dash also wondered how she had managed to fend off the creatures.

“Oh… this person appeared out of nowhere and-” Twilight turned to face the human, but she was interrupted by the sound of something jumping out of the bushes behind Rainbow Dash.

“Heads up!” The human shouted before quickly unsheathing his sword. In one fluid motion, he flipped his body around and threw the sword toward the group. The blade flew in the air and whizzed past the ponies heads. The three mares flinched and tensed up instinctively as the sword missed them by mere inches.

They heard the sound of the blade smacking into the tree, along with a startling cry of pain from some kind of living creature. The ponies slowly turned their heads and looked over to where the sword had landed. Dangling from the tree by the blade was yet another one of the strange beasts which had already started emitting smoke from its wound.

“AHH!” All three ponies screamed and jumped back in unison. Rainbow Dash jumped the farthest out of fear, having been inches away from the beast before its sudden impalement on the tree.

“W-w-what in the hay is that thing?” Applejack stammered nervously while standing in front of her two friends instinctively to distance them from the frightening creature.

The human walked between the ponies and up to the pinned creature. After grabbing the hilt of the blade, he paused and turned to the frightened mares huddled together.

“This… is a darkling.” He explained while gripping the sword with both hands. With relative ease, the human twisted the blade out of the tree while being careful to keep the creature impaled on the tip. The creature offered no more than a shrill cry mixed in with a low growl as resistance while the human planted it on the ground.

“Darklings are shadow creatures that form in dark places with a lot of negative energy… which this place looks like it has no shortage of.” The human surveyed the surrounding forest which appeared as bleak and foreboding as ever. He then settled his eyes on the intently listening ponies. He wasn’t sure if they were listening out of curiosity or silenced from sheer fright. And judging from their expressions, he wagered it was a mixture of both.

“They come in many different shapes, sizes, and varieties. They hunt in packs, they can move very quickly should they be a more intelligent variant that actually decides to use their powers, and they detest light of any kind.” The human pushed the sword sideways into the creature before pulling out the blade, causing an eruption of smoke around him. He then wiped the blade on his leg before twirling it around and placing it back in its sheath.

“Now then… we need to get out of here. Do you know the way out of this forest?” The human asked while getting a better look at the three ponies. While they seemed strange to him, he decided to wait until they were safe before asking any questions himself.

Twilight’s cheerful attitude from being reunited with her friends all but left her face as she remembered their grim situation. She still had no idea where they were, or even what direction they were facing.

“Unfortunately, I lost the path we came here on when we started running… I’m afraid we’re lost.” The purple mare looked down with a disheartened expression on her face.

The two ponies beside her looked at each other happily for a moment. They then turned to the unicorn and smiled warmly. Twilight was a little bit confused as to why they were so cheerful, but decided to let them explain.

“Actually Twilight… we found the path after we lost those monsters. It’s just a little ways back where we came from.” Rainbow Dash explained happily while motioning toward the tree line she had emerged from.

Twilight could barely contain her joy from hearing the good news. She was already starting to contemplate whether or not they would starve, freeze to death, or get mauled by more of those creatures if they stayed out here too long. So to hear that they would be going home in no time filled her with a radiant sense of happiness.

“That’s great!” The unicorn exclaimed while looking over to the human. “Come with us. We can lead you out of here and back to our other friends!” The relief of finally escaping this forest of nightmares was obvious on Twilight’s face as she followed her friends into the bush while motioning for the human to follow.

Well I might as well follow them for now… I don’t exactly want to be stuck out in a forest in a place I’m unfamiliar with. Besides, they don’t look like they can fend for themselves. The boy thought to himself. He looked ahead to the three ponies cautiously walking towards the apparent path. The human ran a short way to catch up to them so he could be close in the event another one of those beasts popped out of the darkness.

After finding the path, the group marched forward while occasionally taking a moment to jump at the noises of the forest around them, wondering them to be natural or otherwise. Although it was dark and the possibility of more creatures finding them was high, the three ponies felt slightly safer with the strange boy traveling with them, keeping his eyes open ready to pounce on anything that might gobble up his three companions in a single bite.

Finally, Twilight could make out the familiar shape of Zecora’s hut just beyond the treeline. A wide and somewhat goofy smile crept across the unicorn’s face. She never thought that seeing such a simple thing would be able to fill her with such joy.

“We’re back! Thank Celestia!” Twilight exclaimed with relief prominent in her voice.

“I hope everyone is ok.” Rainbow Dash voiced her concerns to the rest of the group. The sudden thought that those creatures might have gone after their friends made everyone gulp nervously. After pushing these grim thoughts from their minds, the ponies decided to head into the small hut sooner rather than later.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s hurry up and get back inside!” Applejack exclaimed, excited to be going into a safe place, even if it was still inside the forest. The group rushed into the clearing and made a b-line for the front of the house. Twilight reached the door first and knocked eagerly.

The group listened as muffled voices and other noises could be heard inside. Soon they heard the sound of someone walking to the door. The door opened and the bright smiling face of Pinkie Pie could be seen.

“Girls! Thank goodness you’re ok!” The pink pony practically bounced with joy from seeing her friends’ safe return. “We were so worried! We were starting to think something happened to you.” Pinkie stepped back, revealing the happy faces of the rest of the group. The three ponies stepped in and greeted their friends. As the human stepped into the house, everyone eyed him curiously.

“Who is this guy?” Spike piped up from the back of the room where he had been leaning against the wall.

Pinkie Pie examined the human closely, possibly too closely as she rapidly went from top to bottom examining every bit of the strange human that caught her eye.

“Yeah, he doesn’t look like anypony I know… he doesn’t even look like a pony.” Pinkie stated curiously. The human gently pushed the energetic pink puffball away from him as she tried to examine his sword and holster.

“Let me explain everyone,” Twilight announced to the group. “But first… what’s your name...? You said you would tell us once we were somewhere safe, and here we are.” The unicorn’s attention peaked as she was about to learn more about this mysterious human.

“Oh, of course… My name is Thomas Greene, but my friends call me Tom.” The boy announced while looking around at the group.

“Oooo… Can I call you Tom?” Pinkie asked lightheartedly and smiled while still trying to examine the boy’s clothes and weapon.

“Uhh... sure, but could you back up a little bit first...? You’re making me kind of uncomfortable.” Tom said while trying to keep track of the pink pony darting around him.

“Oh, sorry… hehe.“ Pinkie smiled awkwardly and stepped back into the line of ponies. Twilight sighed before returning her attention to the group.

“Anyway, we were out in the forest collecting the plants that Zecora wanted, when suddenly these strange monsters appeared. They chased us and we eventually got separated. I tripped and fell, and thought I was a goner.” Twilight shuddered at the mere thought of the creatures, while everyone else shuddered at the thought of the purple pony possibly getting mauled to death by monsters while they sat and talked idly.

“When suddenly a bright flash of light made me shut my eyes… and when I looked up, Mr. Greene was standing there. He fought off the monsters like they were nothing to him.” The purple unicorn’s story had everyone in the room listening closely with intrigue. “After that, Applejack and Rainbow Dash found us and led us back to the path… that about covers it.” Twilight sat down and rested. She had not realized just how tired all that running and life endangerment had made her.

“We were all getting worried for your health, I was about to go out and look for you myself. But I am glad that all of you are safe and managed to find your way back to this place.” Zecora spoke up from her spot near the glass jar that held the black blob. Apparently, she had covered it with a red cloth to shield it from the light since the three mares had left.

“Oh yeah! That reminds me.” Twilight exclaimed suddenly. Her horn lit up and she lifted the plants that started their journey out of the bag that still hung from her side. Amazingly the plants had not been crushed with all that had happened to her.

“Here are your plants Zecora.” Twilight gently placed them on the table next to the glass jar. Before Zecora could reply, Tom gasped again as blue mist came from his mouth.

“There’s that blue mist again… what does that mean Thomas?” Twilight asked, genuinely curious as to the purpose of the odd occurrence.

“Well, you know how I said that they call me the slayer?” The boy asked. Twilight nodded in remembrance at his previous conversation.

“I slay evil things, and that mist you saw is a kind of warning that lets me know when some sort of evil creature is nearby.” Tom explained apprehensively. Twilight looked at him nervously as she figured out what he was insinuating.

“Wait… so does that mean-” Almost on cue to answer the purple unicorn’s question, a series of noises erupted from behind the house. It sounded like a horrible racket of howling and clawed feet scraping on the ground as numerous animals ran towards the hut.

Soon, there were scratching noises and low growls surrounding the house. The frightened ponies huddled together at the back of the house as the noises grew louder. It sounded as if a pack of hungry wolves was surrounding the small hut.

“T-t-that sounds like a lot of them.” Rainbow Dash stuttered while trying to remain as calm as possible.

“What are those ghastly things?” Rarity stammered in fear as she listened to the horrific noises.

“T... those must be the things that chased us through the forest.” Twilight felt a chill run up her spine as she listened to the familiar sounds around them.

The group was nearly frightened out of their wits. The ponies looked around, following the sounds of the creatures outside, when suddenly it grew quiet.