This was not good. I was surprised enough to hear that Fluttershy and Rarity were going into the Everfree Forest willingly like that. Fluttershy alone? Needless to say, I didn't know what it was actually like. Though, it seemed pretty clear that, despite their overreactions to the small things, there were some pretty dangerous things in there.

I stared at the note a few seconds longer before glancing down at Angel again. He was still pointing into the forest, with a look that implied for me to go after her.

"Alright. Shit. Uhh...go tell somepony if I'm not back in a while." He gave a quick nod. I was soon to start off toward the tree line, not knowing what may happen.

I was walking for about a minute before I could no longer look back and see Fluttershy's cottage. Though I did feel worried, something about this forest seemed different. I knew it was different in how things acted, like the clouds and animals, but that made it feel more like my world than anywhere else. Still, it was spooky, dark, and out of place, sending a small chill down my spine.

"Fluttershy!" I called out. There was no answer though. I wasn't sure how deep it went, or how far she may have gone. It seemed from the show that by the time they encountered the enraged manticore that they may have been traveling for quite some time. Who knows how hard Fluttershy would have to look for that plant. Helixrias, I think they said it was called? I thought. Maybe I should have asked them what it looked like at the time. It wasn't in the show. Damn it. Fluttershy would do something like this for one of her animals, wouldn't she? I don't know what may have happened between the last episode and now. For that matter, there is probably a lot that it doesn't show. And of course not, it's supposed to be for children.

"Fluttershy!" I called out again. Still no answer.

The deeper in I went, the darker still it got. I would hear something scamper off every once in a while. Each thing sounded bigger than the last. Most of the things in here would probably run when they saw, being too scared. But others, taking me as a threat, may still instinctively attack. I was keeping myself at least mostly calm by explaining things to myself.

I thought I recognized this area. The two tall cliffs that almost met each other. This was where the first manticore showed up. It was probably around two years ago that actually happened though. It was probably gone by now. Still, who's to say there wasn't something else in this part of the forest?

Some ways past those two cliffs I saw an interesting looking flower. I went to get a closer look at it. The stem at the bottom broke off into two and swirled around each, having segments which reached off and connected every inch or so, resembling a double helix. At the top the two separate stems blossomed out into the two sets of deep red petals. That's an interesting shape. Looks like DNA.

I was stopped in my trail of thinking when I heard rustling in the bushes behind me.

"Oh! Alex!" The startled voice made me turn around faster than I had already started.

"Fluttershy! There you are."

"What are you doing out here, Alex?"

"I was looking for you." I had stood up and walked over to her.

"Oh, that's what that voice was. I thought I heard somepony talking."

"Why didn't you tell anyone that you were coming out here?"

"I...I didn't think there was time. And there still might not be! Poor Stell looked so horrible. Anything I tried didn't seem to work, and I was out of Helixrias. Please, you have to help me find some!" She plead.

"Alright, alright. What's that one over there?" I pointed behind me to the red flower.

"..." She stared at it, dumbstruck it seemed. "OH! You found some!" She cheered, darting past me. She almost knocked me over.

I turned to see her gently put the flower in her sack.

"Can we go back now?" I asked.

"Yes. I have to get this to Stell, right away!" She was already running past me between the two cliffs.

"Good." I was more slowly beginning to trail behind her. "Despite how this place feels, I'm still worried some-"

CRASH!

I stopped just past the cliffs to quickly look back. Fluttershy did the same.

The manticore that had slammed its fist into the cliff side looked both similar and dissimilar to the one from the show. While it had the same shape and general proportions, it was so much more terrifying. It let out a loud roar.

My heart beat faster than it had ever before since I got to this world. It was beating almost faster than ever before in my life. I kept a knife on me incase of encounters with other people, but that never actually happened. I had never been in a real serious fight with someone else, or something else. I didn't know what to do.

I kept staring at it. It with its enraged expression. It only kept an evil glare at me. It dropped its two front feet to the ground and started approaching.

"F-Fluttershy?" I looked back at her, hoping she would know what to do. "W-what do we do? Does it have another thorn?" I was trembling.

"Hmm..." She walked past me slowly. "What's the matter? Do you hurt somewhere?" She approached with her kind hearted face.

ROAR!

It was even louder this time. Fluttershy fell back and curled a little. The large beast swiped its claw at her, only just missing after Fluttershy had ducked. This is not good. The first one they encountered was calm enough to allow her to help it. This one though, it was on another level of angry.

"Eeep!" Fluttershy yelped after frantically hopping back. "I don't know! This one is really mad at something. He won't listen to me!" She began to panic. The others in this kind of situation had summoned bravery from thin air. Fluttershy had too, but it was only because she knew what was really wrong. This time she couldn't find herself with such. She knew this one was different.

I was breathing heavily, looking at it horrified. This thing was trying to kill us. Kill. The first time something was trying to kill me, and it wasn't in my world. It was in the world of fantasy, the world meant to be that much better and safer than mine. I've only been here for three days.

There was no time to think before it charged suddenly. My eyes shot even wider. Shit! What do I do?! Come on. Do something! It was in a second, half the distance. Come on! Think! Move! It leapt up raising its arm. I realized, with such a wind up of an attack, I barely found my opening to leap out of the way.

The claw came down with a loud swish at the space I was no longer in.

"Alex!" Fluttershy yelled. I was on the ground a few feet to the right, scrambling to get back up and look at it again. It darted its eyes around looking for me, and in half a second did so. It growled as it approached slowly. Quick, think. I need to do something!

Magic. It would be the only thing I could do. I can't defend myself in any other way. These ideas went through my head. Was I able to focus in a situation like this to make it happen? I need to give myself an opening.

I stuck out my hand, still on my back scrambling away from this thing. I tried to grab it with my telekinesis. I could feel the energy, and I could see the aura begin to surround the manticore, but something was different. This was a living thing. This large beast. While Twilight was able to move such things around with ease, I was not excepting it to be any different. However, I couldn't keep hold of it. Simply the fact that it was an animal and not an inanimate object meant that the strategy was different, and what I knew was not going to work. I felt my hand get knocked away, physically, as if something was really hitting it. I heard what sounded like a crash of glass as I saw the aura around it disappear in shards of light. It still approached as if nothing happened.

No!, was the only thing I could think before it was about to swipe another claw down on top of me.

"HEY!" The huge burst of sound that came from Fluttershy startled me. The manticore had stopped in its tracks, and swirled around to look at her. I saw her, and for a while she had this great look of confidence. The manticore turned, and began to approach her. Her look quickly began to diminish with each step it took. I quickly got up and realized this was my chance. Now I had the time to focus, with it taking its sweet time to be as threatening as possible. The slight ring in my ears from Fluttershy's shout wasn't enough to break this. Quickly I picture a pillar of energy form in the air away from it. After it spent the second forming, swirling around to become this blue construct, I quickly moved my hand in the direction of the manticore, picturing the large pillar following it.

THUD!

I felt the direct contact. The manticore was knocked back several feet, with the pillar pushing it before dissipating from the shock. It let out another shout as it fell to the ground. I ran over to Fluttershy, standing with her looking at the now even more pissed off manticore. "You sure you can't do anything to calm him down?" I looked at her. She was only as scarred as I was though. She had never had an animal attack her like this.

The dizziness was starting to hit me. Oh God, not now. This is not the time! Putting my hands together wasn't working though. I had to keep myself up.

The manticore was quickly back on its feet, and already charging.

Shield. I need a shield!

Putting out my hands, I imagined a half dome out in front of me and Fluttershy. Quickly it appeared, and with a loud pang and a shockwave of light, the manticore bounced off a few feet.

"AARGH!" I grunted at the feeling of its hit. It was hard to maintain something like this with. I realized it became much harder to maintain a construct when it was under some sort of pressure, or shock.

"Alex!" Fluttershy yelled again. She couldn't understand what was happening. She had never, EVER, had trouble with an animal before. Now, though, here it was. This one didn't have any thought of acting kind. She could sense it's intentions. Why though? She felt sad. She was sad that this thing was like this, but she didn't know why. She also felt something else.

The manticore snarled at me through the shield I was still struggling to maintain. It walked up and brought a fist down on it. Again I felt myself become weaker. Again it hit, again I grunted. Several more bashes. This wasn't going to last long. It would eventually wear me away. This was not good. I couldn't focus hard enough to make the shield do anything else, and each hit made me feel more and more dizzy.

He was about to break through. The last of my strength had left me, and I felt like I was going to vomit from the dizziness.

I saw the manticore raise it's arm one last time, and with a quick downward thrust, the shield shattered into pieces which glowed and evaporated. I fell to my knees.

Before I fell over more though, there was a great noise in my left ear.

"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU MISTER!" The thundering roar from Fluttershy was terrifying. The manticore fell back some bit just from the noise. "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO ATTACK US!?" Fluttershy let out more.

Oh my god. How is she doing that? Is that the Canterlot voice or something? How can she yell so loud? Despite being scared through this whole thing, and weak beyond belief at that point, that was what I was thinking at the time.

The manticore backed even more. Yet, even though it was scared, it looked only so much so. It looked more like it was trying to get through, rather than fall back. It knew that this pony here was probably all bark and no bite. It was mostly the noise that had him falling back.

Fluttershy knew it too. There was no getting to this guy. No amount of screaming and scolding would do the trick. She could only stall, wait for something to happen, or it to do something.

Something did happen. With a glow of light blue aura, the manticore lifted into the air suddenly, and flew at the cliff. It crashed hard back first and dropped to the ground, leaving some cracks in the rock. It looked up to see what was there, and only ran off wheezing and scarred.

I was on the ground and had nearly gone out. Fluttershy looked back to see her aid.

Thank god.

My thought was that Twilight had arrived. However, who I saw walk into view was not her. Who I saw surprised me only so much before finally falling under.

...Rarity?