Chapter 23

        Peering through the window of Rarity's cottage, Gilda saw Twilight and Applejack talking. Then there was that brat Rarity sewing a dress or something no doubt. 

     Then she saw it. Through the glass, she saw Fluttershy clutching a small creature in a blanket. The creature hiccuped and green flames shot into the air.

"Fluttershy!" Rarity yelled. "You have to control that thing!" 

"I'm trying," Fluttershy cried. "Norbert! No flames inside! Norbert?"

     The creature wriggled out of Fluttershy's hooves. It stood up on it's own and began grabbing everything it could get it's paws on.

     "My hat!" Applejack yelled, trying to wrestle her hat away from the reptile. "Control your dragon Fluttershy!"

Gilda stepped away from the window. So that's what those ponies were up to. They were raising a dragon to destroy her. Well it wasn't going to work.

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     "Norbert!" Fluttershy shouted. "You're in big trouble mister!"

The dragon had doubled in size in only a few minutes. He had latched onto Rarity's fabric.

"My fabric is ruined!" Rarity whined.

     The dragon pulled more and more fabric into a big pile in the center of the room. 

Suddenly, the front door burst open.

"Why do I always have to clean up these messes?" Luna asked as she lifted up the dragon with her magic. Gilda was standing behind her, grinning.

     "Alright," Luna said as she placed the dragon in a cage. "What shall the punishment be? I think a weeks detention in the Everfree Forest with Rarity sounds fair."

"Th-the Everf-free F-forest?" Fluttershy asked, trembling.

"What Fluttershy means to say," Applejack explained. "Is ain't there some way we can avoid this detention?"

"Yeah," Twilight said. "Couldn't we write a well thought out letter to Professor Celestia about the lesson we learned and call it good?"

     "I'm afraid not," Luna said. "The four of you must attend detention."

Gilda frowned. "The four of us?"

"That's right," Luna said. "As honorable as your intentions were, you too were out after curfew. You will join Fair Fluttershy and company in detention, starting tomorrow evening."

Luna turned towards the door. "Now I have to get this blasted dragon shipped off. Honestly, who keeps a dragon at a school?"

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     Hayseed lead the three fillies and the griffin down the hill to Rarity's cottage.

Hayseed grinned, showing his rotting teeth. "You three have fun in the Everfree forest!"

"Isn't that place off limits?" Gilda asked.

     "Not with supervision," Hayseed said. "You're getting off to easy if you ask me! I'd have you hanging from your hooves with the mane torn off your head if I was in charge!"

Rarity stepped outside of her cottage. "Alright, let's get this over with."

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     Rarity lead the way through the dark and gloomy forest until they came upon a dark body on the ground. It was a manticore.

"This is what we're looking for," Rarity explained. "Somepony has been killing them. I don't want to be out here dealing with this any more than you, so let's split up and we'll get it done quicker."

     She grabbed Twilight and Applejack and pulled them near her. "I'll take you two, and Gilda and Fluttershy can go together!"

Before Gilda or Fluttershy could object, Rarity had rushed off pulling Twilight and Applejack along.

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"This is so stupid!" Gilda whined.

     Fluttershy was terrified. The surrounding shady oak trees seemed to be leaning over Fluttershy, ready to gobble her up. She trembled more and more with each step she took.

"What was that?" She squeaked.

"Relax," Gilda said. "It's probably just a squirrel or something."

Snap!

     Fluttershy looked to the right and saw a hooded figure. It was a unicorn huddled overtop another manticore body. The unicorn looked up, and it's horn began to glow blue at the sight of Fluttershy. 

Gilda took off flying, but Fluttershy was petrified. She couldn't make her hooves move. Her cutie mark flared up, just like it had when she first saw Trixie. A white hot needle pierced her flank.

Suddenly, another figure sprang from the shadows. A tall earth pony tackled the unicorn. The hooded unicorn wrestled away and galloped into the shadows.

"Are you alright Fluttershy?" The tall earth pony asked.

     Fluttershy nodded. The earth pony stepped out of the shadows into a clearing. The moonlight on his face revealed that he was not a pony at all. At least not entirely. He had the lower half of a pony, but his top half was of a creature Fluttershy had never seen. He had another set of hooves, but they were long and with more appendages at the end. His head was not as long as a typical ponies head would be, and he was about as tall as Professor Celestia.

"I am Firenze, the Centaur," he said. "We must get you back to the school."

"Wh-what w-was that thing?" Fluttershy asked.

"That was a sad, pitiful pony," the centaur explained. "It was feasting on the blood of a manticore."

     Firenze leaned in closer. "The blood of a manticore can keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death. But you will live a half life; a cursed life. Tis better to die in my opinion."

     "Was that..." Fluttershy gulped. "You-Know-Who?"

The centaur leaned in even further. "Yes. Not in body, but in spirit. I must leave you now, dearest Fluttershy. And good luck."