In the EverFree Forest an alicorn was in a heated battle with a vicious Manticore. His black coat was coated with blood making his body a sort of crimson that was a bit darker than his mane and tail. His cutie mark, which was a heart locked in chains and sealed with a heavy padlock ( A symbol for not trusting anypony he sees) was surprisingly intact seeing as how the Manticore had scraped his flank a few minutes ago. As the Manticore swung at him, claws at the ready, the alicorn quickly tried dodging the attack but wasn't fast enough, as the claws dug into his side causing some blood to trickle down his ribs and making him go to his knees. Quickly getting up he yelled mockingly at the Manticore " That all you got?"
At this remark the Manticore let out a bloodthirsty roar and leaped at the cocky alicorn. The alicorn just laughed and shot a bolt of his dark crimson magic at the Manticore sending him smacking into a tree with a loud crack. After being dazed for a moment the Manticore got up "You are improving greatly with your magic Crimson."
"Why thank you Shadow, " Crimson replied casually, "You're not so bad yourself. "
"Give me a break, " said Shadow with a hint of annoyance in his voice, " When I met you, you couldn't even levitate a leaf, let alone send me into a tree. "
"Not true! I was just... You know... Letting you win all the time... To uhhh... Spare your feelings... Yeah that's it! Spare your feelings."
"Surrreeee you were... "Shadow replied while rolling his eyes," And I suppose that those injuries I caused on you just now were flukes. Just admit I'm better at fighting and I won't have to kick your ass again. "
"I will not because I could easily vaporize you right now if I wanted to... "
"Alright, alright let's settle down for the night besides, I think we both need the rest. " Shadow said while inspecting both his own and his friend's injuries.
"Ok but we are picking this up in the morning. "
The Next Day
Crimson Flares Point of View
I awoke next morning feeling drowsy as usual. I tried to stand up but as I did I felt a sharp pain in my right side only to remember the skirmish me and Shadow had. Me and Shadow have been friends ever since we met in the EverFree Forest and almost killed each other ( Weird way to start a friendship but we like it that way ). After using a quick healing spell I slowly got up because the spell would only go so far. After I got up I went looking for Shadow but shortly after I began I heard large pounding noises along with some Manticore roars and deduced that Shadow must have started training already. "Wow that guy heals fast, even after the wounds I inflicted on him. " I said talking to myself. As I reached where the pounding was coming from I realized that it wasn't Shadow making the pounding noises but some ponies that it seemed were fighting Shadow... And it seems they were winning. As they were making their final charge at my already wounded friend I swooped in front of them and yelled, " WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING TO MY FRIEND? " in a demanding voice.
All at once they stopped and I could faintly hear Shadow say my name in a weak voice. For a while the six ponies that were just about to attack my only friend seemed astonished that an alicorn had just called a vicious creature it's friend. Finally a orange pony with a straw hat stepped up and asked, "Did ya'll just call that " thing " over there ah friend? " as she said thing she nodded her head at Shadow who by now, has passed out from exhaustion, from battling with these six ponies.
"I did, " I said threateningly, " Do you have a problem with that? "
"Ah'm mighty sorry that we hurt your, friend, over there but we assumed he mite attack us. " she said apologetically. I don't know what it was but something about her made me think she was telling the truth.
"Well, " I started, " you know what happens when you assume? "
"Oooooo, I love guessing games I'm really good at them are you because we could be- " a pink pony with a poofy pink mane began to speak before a white unicorn with a purple mane rudely shoved her hoof into her mouth and whispered,
"Hush now Pinkie Pie, now is not the time."
After looking confused for a second or two I snapped out of it and said, "When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me. "
As soon as I said that a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane flew up to my face and began to say, " Who you calling an ass punk? I could beat you anyday! "
I simply smiled and said " Well for starters you are in MY forest so I can do whatever the FUCK I want and secondly I-"
Suddenly a purple unicorn spoke up and said "What do you mean YOUR forest? "
Well since nothing in this forest has claimed it I decided I would live here and since nopony else lives here it is MY forest. " I said proudly.
"What about Zecora the zebra who lives ove- " the pink pony started before all of them said in unison " PINKIE! " which caused her to stop talking at once.
"Who is this Zecora the pony speaks of?" I asked to the purple unicorn.
"Well...," she started, "would you mind if we brought you to meet her?"
"Fine, but would any of you mind helping me move my friend over there to our camp?" I asked hoping one of them would help me move my fat ass friend.
"Why should we do that huh? "the rainbow pegasus asked me angrily.
"Well we did attack his friend... It would only be fair to help him move his friend... "A cute little yellow pegasus with pink hair said while cowering behind the orange, yellow maned pony.
"We don't even know yer name yet so, if yah wouldn't mind tellin us ah would be happy ter help yah move yer friend there. " the orange pony said.
"Oh I haven't? Where are my manners, my name is Crimson Flare but you may call me Crimson if you like, and my unconscious friend back there is Shadow. Now if you would be so kind as to tell me your names we can be off! "I stated enthusiastically.
"Oh alright then, " the purple unicorn started " my name is Twilight Sparkle, the orange pony over there is Applejack, " as Twilight said her name the orange pony tipped her hat, " the pink pony is Pinkie Pie, the white unicorn is Rarity, the overly aggressive pegasus is Rainbow Dash, " at the mention of her being overly aggressive Rainbow gave Twilight a stern look, but Twilight did nothing but shrug it off and continue, " and the shy, cowering pegasus is Fluttershy. "
"Well it's nice to meet new faces in MY forest!" as I said my forest I did my signature cocky smile and all she did was look at me with a face that said "The fuck? I just said somepony else lives here!"
With that I continued, "Now, let's get down to business, who are the strong ponies?"
As soon as I said that both the ones known as Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked and me with a face that clearly said "that would be me amigo"
"Sooooo, you two it is now if you would please hurry along I hope to see this Zecora as soon as possible." I said with a little hint of impatient ness in my voice.
"Alright sugar cube but ah ain't sure how heavy your friend is or which way your camp or whatever it is, is. "
"Wait on second thought... " I said not planning on finishing my sentence I kneeled down in front of Shadow and began to charge up a spell and to my surprise, caused all of them to back away, not knowing what I planned on doing. As soon as I got enough power in the spell I touched my horn onto Shadows forehead and within seconds he sprung to life and started looking around with panic in his eyes as the fell upon the six ponies with startled looks on their faces. I laughed as I stood back up.
"Advanced healing spell " I said still laughing, " gets'em every time. "
All the ponies laughed along with me as Shadow stood there looking like an idiot.
"Whoa," he said still with surprise in his voice," what he fuck just happened? "
"Well Shadow, I don't know how to say this but... You just got your ass handed to you by six young ponies. "I said, laughing the whole way through while he just stood there trying to comprehend what just happened. Nopony spoke for a while until Fluttershy broke the silence.
"I hope you can forgive us for attacking you... "she said, still little frightened with the sight of a manticore.
"I guess I can forgive you... I mean if I was a pony and I saw a Manticore I would run or kick its ass so I don't blame you for what you did. "Shadow replied sweetly as to not frighten the shy, little pony. At his reply Fluttershy gave Shadow a little smile.
"So with that taken care of, "I began, turning my attention to Twilight, " How about we go meet this Zecora you were speaking of? ".
And with that, we were off.