Fluttershy has slept well for the rest of the night. Not once was she woken up by anything. When she did wake up it was somewhat early in the morning. She saw the guard that had volunteered to stay guard was still awake but Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep. She probably couldn't handle staying up all night.

It was a crisp morning but the forest seemed far more peaceful and light then normal. The sun was shining bright and Fluttershy could hear birds chirping. She felt somewhat hungry and decided not to lay down any longer. She got out of her makeshift bed and looked around. After a quick moment to take in the surroundings Fluttershy grabbed the food and got ready for some cooking.

Fluttershy began to look for some dry sticks that she could use for a fire. She wanted to be nice and make some soup for everypony. Some of the guards had already woken up and offered to help her with looking for any wood that could be used. She kindly declined. She knew what dangers there where in the forest and how to spot them but she was unsure if they did. Twilight did say that the guards were trained in combating creatures from big to small but Fluttershy has only heard of them doing this in or around towns. Now they were in the Everfree forest and they were on the creatures home turf.

While looking for wood she found one of the areas that was most dangerous. It was a large field with some trees here in there but the thing that really gave it away was the sticks everywhere. There was not a single blade of grass in the entire field. It was like a freshly dug grain field, that had just been hit by a storm. Fluttershy knew that she would have to warn the rest about this and quickly went back. She was glad that she had declined the guards request to help her. This was the close by and in the direction the had to go.

When Fluttershy finished collecting the wood she started heading back to the campsite. Everypony other than Rainbow Dash was already awake by then. She notice twilight trying to wake Rainbow up but not matter what she did, Rainbow would not wake up.

"You know she doesn't have to get up until princess Luna gets back, right?" Fluttershy told Twilight. "I guess that's true but I wanted her to get up so she could scout out the area ahead of us before the princess got here." Twilight responded. "Speaking of which there is a place up ahead that me need to avoid." Fluttershy told twilight. She told Twilight about the tuncreep and why they needed to avoid the field Fluttershy saw.

"I'm glad you told me this. Have you told the others already?" Twilight asked. Fluttershy shook her head. She was never good with crowds and asked Twilight if she could tell them instead. Twilight accepted the chance to teach the others quickly. It was something she loved to do.

Fluttershy worked on preparing the food as Twilight told the others about the tuncreep. It didn't take to long and soon afterwards, everyone was eating. As the others talked, Fluttershy began to think about what had happened the night before. "I wonder what Siege is, he look kinda like a monkey or maybe an ape but much larger and walked very differently." She also thought about how he just disappeared in front of her. She had never seen something like that before. She tried not to dwell on it to much and continued to eat.

Rainbow Dash began to wake up at the smell of food. Her head hurt and she was very tired. "Thats the last time I try anything like that again." She said to herself. It was the first sentence she had said since the beginning of the trip without yelling.

"I see your finally awake" Twilight said to rainbow in a slightly irritated voice. "I had been trying to wake you up all morning."

"Whats the big deal? Its not like the princess it here yet." Rainbow Dash replied though she did not really know if that was true or not. Her voice was starting to get louder and the yelling was probably going to start again as soon as she was fully awake.

Rainbow Dash was right about to sit down and eat when princess Luna returned. "We must be on our way, hurry and begin the packing up." Luna said. She had a worried and excited look on her face. Everyone got up other than Rainbow Dash who quickly grabbed a bowl of soup and ate as much as she could before Fluttershy started taking the bowls from everypony. She let out a burp and got a angry look from Twilight.

It took about 10 minutes before they were all ready to leave. All of them were happy to be on there way. They kept walking for a good long hour or so, making sure to avoid the "Bare fields". They were patches of the forest where the tuncreeps hunted. Fluttershy gave them that name so it would be easier to warn others as they walked along.

Rainbow had been flying around for most of the time and wondered why they didn't just go through the bare patches. She was the only one that didn't know about the tuncreeps due to the fact she was still sleeping when Fluttershy and Twilight had explained what they were. She flew over one and the bare patches closest to the group and landed. Twilight saw this and yelled out to Rainbow Dash "No Rainbow, don't land there its not safe!!" It was too late. *Crack* Rainbow Dash landed on a twig making it snap.

The group fell silent and they started to feel a rumble coming. Before anyone could react a massive creature popped up out of the ground. They all thought that Rainbow Dash was a goner but then something happened that no one expected. A bang was heard followed by an explosion. A large chuck of the tuncreep's hind shell fell off and landed on the ground. A loud whisper was spoken short after. The whisper was filled with anger and spite.

Hurt these creatures and you will feel my wrath, if you choose to flee, then your life will be spared!!

The tuncreep stopped for a moment and then felt the pain of the explosion. It let out a horrifying screech and quickly dove back into the earth, sealing the hole it had made as it left.

Fluttershy gasped and tears came to her eyes. She had never heard a creature let out such a screech of pain before. She wiped away the tears. She was glad that Rainbow Dash had not been killed but wished that the tuncreep could have been stopped a different way.

There was a look of shock on everyponies face. None of them moved, all trying to understand what happened. Rainbow Dash was the first to say something. "That was AWESOME!!" She yelled at the top of her longs whilst jumping in the air. Though the event had left her a bit shakin, she still couldn't hide her excitement. She was looking forward to this trip, just for these kind of moments. None of the other ponies could understand her outburst of joy. Some ponies still stood there frozen, mouths wide open. They didn't believe that this would happen, let only that someone would be happy about it.

Twilight was next to speak. "Did anyone else hear a voice just now?"

I heard it." Pinkie Pie shouted. "Me too." Applejack followed. They all of them seemed to have heard the voice this time.

"Did anypony understand the voice?" Luna asked. All the ponies shook there heads. Even Fluttershy did. She didn't want to be the center of attention. Luna looked at her and gave a face as if she understood Fluttershy's problem. All of them were left wondering what had made the voice, other than Fluttershy who just hid the fact she knew. She was the only one who knew about Siege and was not about to tell anyone about him.

They took a quick breather so that everypony could calm down and get a little snack and then continued to move. Luna had said that they would be there next morning so they could take it easy for a while. They where however going to be walking all night. This disappointed Rainbow Dash a little. She hardly made it the night before and was not ready to try again. At least she would be awake with her friends and not with a guard that hardly ever spoke. She thought to herself, trying to make the situation seem better than it was.

Rainbow dash was not the only one in deep thought. Twilight had also been doing a lot of thinking. She wondered what the lights she had seen meant and what the whisper they heard said. She also wondered why princess Luna would want them to walk over night. At first it seemed like this was going to be a simple trip but it looked like the princesses thought this was very important. She didn't mind the night time walk though. Twilight had always liked the night. It was the time when everything was much more peaceful and it was easier to think straight. She had spent many night just looking up at the stars, wondering what else could be out there in what seemed to be an endless universe.

The group walked for a few more hours. Applejack, Pinkie Pie and rarity kept talking to each other through out the walk. Rainbow Dash kept to the skies and Fluttershy and Twilight didn't do much talking at all. Both of them in deep thought about all the had happened in the past days.

They all took a break to eat. Fluttershy prepared more soup as Luna began to raise the moon. All the ponies watched her as she raised it. Not many ponies ever got change to see her do it and welcomed the chance to see it for themselves. Luna sat down, slowly closed her eyes and began to focus. Her horn started glowing a very dark blue color and her mane and tail started to flutter. Then next thing the ponies saw was the moon rising in the sky as the sun faded. Luna's horn stop glowing and her mane stop fluttering. She opened her eyes and saw a ring of ponies around her. She smiled a little and prepared to eat. She had not eatin food made by anypony other than the royal chefs the lived in her palace. She took a bite of the fresh soup. Her eyes opened wide and she looked around to see all the ponies looking at her. She quickly chewed and swallowed

"Who was the one that made with wonderful soup?" She asked. She had never had anything so good. Fluttershy slowly raised her hoof. "I made the soup princess."  

"You must give me the recipe for this soup. I'm sure that the royal chefs would like to try this." Luna said with a smile on her face. "Once we are done in this forest, I truly request you give me the recipe." Fluttershy nodded slightly. She was happy that the princess like her soup so much.

They were just packing up when they saw a third light beam shoot out into the sky. It was red again and the ponies could feel heat coming from it. "We must be close." Twilight said though not really saying it to anypony. The light lasted longer than the last two but not by much.

They started walking towards the light to give them a direction. Fluttershy could hear soft whispers as the light shined but the were far to quiet to make out what any of them said. As they walked they walked it started to get really dark. The trees started getting bigger as they walked and there leaves blocked out most of the light that had been coming from the moon and star. Twilight and some of the guard light up there horns, so that the could still see everything around them.

Rainbow Dash was flying up in the sky when she something strange moving through the trees. It was to dark to make out what it looked like. The next thing she heard was a loud roar and the a sound that sounded like two swords striking one another. She see what looked something like a fight going on down in the forest. The next thing she heard was another loud roar. This time it was a roar of pain that had been cut short.

Rainbow Dash mustered up some courage and decided to go down and looked to see what happened. She poked her head through the trees and saw two manticore running in fear. She turned her heard and saw something that came as a complete surprise. There lied the dead body of a manticore. It was had blood gushing out of a hole in its neck. Next to it she saw a strange creature standing beside the body. A blade came out and its arm and was dripping with blood. She held her breath, trying not to make a noise. The creature said seemed so be saying something to itself. Rainbow Dash could feel that she needed to exhale but did her best to keep it in. The creature swung its blade in front of it twice, getting the blood of it and then Rainbow watched as its blade shot back into its arm. She could not hold her breath any longer and exhaled. The creature froze turned it head to look in Rainbow Dashes direction. Rainbow Dash saw what looked like a red line staring at her. The rest of its head had seem to disappear as Rainbow's eyes adjusted to the red light. The two stared at at each other for a while. Rainbow didn't move, not even blinking. She wondered if the creature and seen her or not.

After was seem like forever Rainbow Dash heard Twilight and some of the guards calling out her name. She turned her head to where she heard the group and look back at the place where the creature was standing. It was gone. Rainbow Dash could not understand it. She had only looked away for a second and it was gone. "How fast is that thing?" she thought to herself.

Rainbow Dash flew back to the group. its was easy to spot from the sky being that it was the only spot light up. Aside from a strange orange glow she could see in a distance away.

"You guys, you have to come see this!" she yelled to the group.

"Where were you? We thought you had been attacked again." Twilight said ignoring Rainbow Dash.

"That doesn't matter right now, seriously you have to come see this!!" Rainbow replied in a rush. She led the rest so they could what see just happened. The group followed her to the spot were she had seen the fight. There lied the dead manticore. Fluttershy's heart sank. "What could done something like this to this poor animal." The manticores stinger had been cut off and there were cuts all over its body.

"A better question its how did this happen." Twilight said as if she was correcting Fluttershy. "From what I've read, manticore have no natural enemies or predators. They aren't very territorial either and even would hunt together when they found prey that was hard to catch or dangerous." Twilight said inspecting the body. "What ever did this used a weapon. Only dragon claws are naturally sharp and strong enough to cut through a manticore shell." She pointed to the stinger that lay next to the manticore.

"I think I saw what did it" Rainbow yelled out. "Its was big and it stood on two legs instead of four. It might have been a dragon. But it had no tail and it had one weird, glowing, red eye." Rainbow continued to explained. She told the rest everything that she saw. Including the part about what she now thought was a claw shoot in the creatures arm.

"I don't think a dragon would do anything like this, there isn't a dragon lair for miles and dragons are well known for being passive creatures. We best be keep our guard up. We are almost there so I would like it if everyone kept quiet until we get to the finally stopping point." Luna ordered.

The group continued moving. Almost all of them kept eyeing the trees and paths around them looking for what ever killed the manticore. Rainbow Dash kept a close look out from the sky. The only one who had seemed to keep her guard down was Fluttershy. She was in far too deep thought to pay attention. "Did Siege do this? Was there really something that could be so cruel yet sound so kind?" She thought to herself.

The group stopped for a moment as 2 of the guards looked at the map they were given. "She source should be somewhere around her princess." On the guards told Luna.

"I guess that means we can start getting the camp set up." Luna said in reply. Everypony gave out a sigh of relief. They had been walking for a long time and there hooves where hurting.

Fluttershy decided to make a different meal this time composed of a seasoned salad and baked potato's. This would be there last big meal before they had to cut down on eating. There were running low and she didn't think that a group that large could live off of forest berries for very long.

Luna had enjoyed the next meal Fluttershy had made just as much as the first, demanding again that Fluttershy give her the recipe to what she had made. Everypony else seemed to like it a lot. Fluttershy told Twilight about the food issue and Twilight told the rest. "I hope we find that the source of the light soon, I wouldn't want to have to send anyone back through the forest to get food." Luna saided. She thought that there would be enough food for everyone. "I will see if I can get Tia to said some supplies here, once the sun has raised."  

Most of the ponies were preparing to go to sleep aside from about half of Luna's royal guard. They took the new possible threat very seriously and set up guards around the entire camp. Unbeknownst to them, two pairs of eyes had been watching them. It was the surviving manticore. They were furious about the fall of there ally and were hungry. They had followed the ponies since the ponies encounter with there dead friend and prepare to take revenge on anything they saw as a threat. One of them roared as they charged the camp.

[I'm just gonna keep putting this down here. Thanks for reading. This chapter might have been filled with more mistakes than normal. I'm a little sick and haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately but I still have been doing my best to preread over and over trying to find any mistakes. I'm still looking for prereaders and have had some succes but it would be nicer if i could have people available when I am. If anyone find any mistakes could you maybe copy it and pm me with it so I can fix it? Might be asking for a lot there... Anyways thanks again for reading and I hope you look forward to the next chapter.]  

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