A New Home
Waking up alive was certainly a nice surprise considering the crappy luck I'd been having recently. I was still lying against the book shelf from last night with the mare next to me. She was still breathing so I took that as a good sign that I'd done something right for once.
There was the faint tweet of little birds and sunlight really brought out the beauty in the faint drops of water still dripping into the shack. However there was also a fairly disgusting smell in the air which as I looked over came from the already starting to decompose Manticore with the bloody bolt through his head thanks to my handy work.
It disgusted me that I'd done this but it amazed me more that I had felled a best that weighed four times my weight with claws and razor sharp teeth. The Manticore had bled into the shack but the majority of its blood was mixed into the mud outside giving off the reek of death.
I was freezing cold and looked at my breath which I could see fairly easily in the air. Generally Equestria had a pretty all year round warm climate with the exception of winter but it was almost summer now and I was freezing cold.
Maybe the fact that the Everfree Forest made its own random weather patterns among other weird stuff was the cause or maybe it was a fever although feeling my forehead I didn't feel hot and generally I simply felt fatigued, not feverish.
I shakily stood up and once I was on my own legs I began limping to the table I'd occupied the day before. It was a little hard to cross the distance but when I got there I felt proud of myself since had I ever been hurt this badly before I would have cried for a month in hospital before demanding compensation from somepony and then complaining about it for a month.
I picked up the crossbow which I had used to kill the Manticore yesterday and then discarded and put it on top of the table. It looked very fancy, not like regular crossbows. It had golden parts to the varnished wood but it looked like it had been used a lot since it was chipped and scorched in many places.
It looked very expensive and I actually wondered how much I could sell it for before I realised I had no customers, it wasn't mine and I had promised to change my ways.
"So you killed it then" said a voice from behind which I didn't intend to hear. Spinning round I saw that the mare had woken up and was looking at me intensely now and at the Manticore which was blocking her doorway. "I'm amazed, guess we're even when it comes to saving one another's lives then" she groaned, propping herself up against the bookshelf and feeling the bandage which I'd covered her stomach with.
"Nice bandage, wonder if I have a fever thanks to the filth content of your suit" she said sarcastically as she ripped it off and opted to have the wound simply in the open.
She looked at me and said "Yes it's quite easy to get infected but there aren't any clean bandages and I have to boil yours before we get any more" she explained getting to her shaky legs and pulling a bolt out of a small quiver on her back. "Load the crossbow, the others might be back to look for their bud" she said handing me the bolt.
"What do you mean other's, how do I load this thing I mean I don't even know you're name and you quite frankly haven't been very descriptive about where I am or who you are its just Purgatory then you walk out into the night then you come back with a damn Manticore and expect me to just kill it!" I yelled at her.
She looked at me and her eyes narrowed, she strut over to me in a threatening manner and before I could do anything she had my fore-leg twisted behind my back and causing me somewhat excruciating pain.
"My name doesn't really concern you and if it weren't for me saving you they wouldn't have known I was here and set an ambush so now out of five Manticore's I've killed two and you've killed on so that leaves two more very angry kitties that want to come and rip our guts out and feed on our blood so since you saved me I won't hurt you but we're equals now and we need to survive but right now you're a liability and I could cut you loose or use you as bait but I was hoping for an extra pair of hooves on the island to help so if you want to live I ask the questions and you follow my command, understand!?" she spat into my ear.
"She was certainly bossy but also extremely scary and absolutely right about everything so I cried "Yes please, let me go"! Tears of pain came from my eye and as soon let me go I began sniffing and holding my arm my fore-leg tightly.
She had a hard expression on her a face and showed a definite air of superiority which seemed to easily overpower her small stature. She looked at me and I looked at her and an uneasy silence slowly began to build up to plain awkward.
"Look I won't ask you who you are but can you at least tell me who you are so I can stop calling you mysterious mare who wants to kill everything in my head?" I asked trying to rebuild the pathetic and rickety bridge of whatever this relationship was classed as.
She thought for a moment as if considering before she said "Ok fine, call me Autumn". "That's a nice name, be It real or one you just came up with" I complemented "By the way my name is Shady" I said sticking to first names as well but all she did was to scowl at me and say "Autumn was my Mother's name and she as like my Father and brothers died here and I intend to follow them but to go down with a fight and I don't want friends for along the way" she said sourly before walking away, painfully clasping her stomach as she ascended some steps to the next level of the shack.
I blinked and wondered why she would save me if she wished for no friends and I wondered if she'd said thank you for defending mine and her lives from that beast.
Perhaps she'd been out here for a while now and didn't know how to act friendly towards others. Not that I really knew either but I could figure it out from what I'd seen. Then again she might not want a friend because of losing all her family and not wishing to go through so much pain again…
Anyway I took my gloomy mind off her for a minute and thought about when she said there was two more Manticore out there to gobble me up and use my bones at toothpicks. Actually picturing it in my mind made me feel worse about staying here.
I decided to do as she had asked and reloaded the crossbow, although I struggled heavily to pull back the string and put the bolt in at the same time and wondered how she did it. I sat it ready on the table and shouted up "Shouldn't we move the Manticore it smells of dead"!
There wasn't a response for a few minutes and I thought I'd have to limp upstairs but Autumn shouted down "No, leave it it'll block the doorway and put them off the scent".
I nodded to myself, thinking that it was a smart move and asked "So what should I do then"? "Look go eat something there's food in the kitchen now leave me be!" she shouted in angry frustration.
I took her angry advice and left looked around until I spotted another room which looked like the kitchen and went into it. There weren't many choices for food it was basically berries or some grass which nopony had a problem with eating except that it tasted foul and revolting and did I mention foul.
I ate a little of what was there, not knowing how easy it was to obtain food from Purgatory since everything looked poisonous or inedible in the Everfree Forest I guessed it must have been ten times worse.
So after eating I wondered if I should ask what to do now but spotting the book that I'd dropped on the floor yesterday when Autumn came charging in through the door. It had been rained on which despite my non-care for books made me sad since it was probably the closest thing to civilization besides my memories that I'd get for like forever if I didn't find a way out of here.
So I sat down in the torn armchair once again and began to read on the various types of Fauna across Equestria. Although this was the first book that I'd ever read which was bigger than 20 pages I would have usually just thrown it away or more than likely sold it but since I had nothing to do I actually read it properly and before I knew it I was actually getting into the book.
Poisonous Berries which would kill you if you looked at them for too long, plants that ate ponies and other horrors were revealed as I read into the book and what alarmed me when it said most commonly found in the Everfree Forest.
However I did not despair because quite soon I saw helpful plants such as delicious berries, plants which looked really nice and some plant called heart's desire or something which looked like a heart or something I couldn't tell since the books ink had run in places or the pages had stuck together.
I only noticed that the darkness had decided to creep up on me when I could barely make out the words on the page anymore and so I lit a candle and kept on reading, not tired or worried about what it might do or anything just caring for the knowledge that the book had.
Who would have known that I'd have discovered an entertainment from reading by getting trapped in the Everfree Forest getting my body broken and having my eye clawed out and killing a Manticore with the crossbow of a crazy mare who had been trapped here for Celestia knows how long.
It seemed as though time passed by at an increased pace and although I was beginning to get sleepy I pressed on until I had finished the book, closing it with a triumphant smack and yawning louder than I would of after a hard day of conning.
I couldn't believe that I knew just about every single type of flower, tree and other plant-life form in Equestria and beyond from reading a book, did books contain other things like how to escape forests or help ponies I mean why my teacher didn't tell me this in school that Eggheads really knew what they were doing all along confused me.
I thought about reading another one but since the candle had practically disappeared and I was tired I opted instead for sleep. Settling down I closed my eye and rested up as best I could have in a strange and cold place unfamiliar to me.
"Wake up!" somepony shouted right in my ear. "Poisoned Lilac" I shouted, nearly jumping out of my skin and having a heart attack. I looked up from the armchair and saw Autumn who was standing over me with the book I'd read yesterday in her hoof.
"What were you doing with this thing?" she asked me suspiciously. "What do you mean?" I asked confusedly. "I mean why this was on your lap when I found you?" she said pressing for an answer.
I scratched my head and answered "Well I was bored since you left me alone yesterday and I couldn't really be mobile so I sat down and accidentally read a book is that ok?" I asked expecting her to either have a scary reason that the books were cursed or be totally cool with it.
Instead I got something I completely didn't expect from her. "You can read!" she exclaimed and widened her eyes and left her jaw hanging open as if I'd killed a dozen Manticore's and grown a pair of wings.
"Well yes I can, not very well but then again I didn't really pay attention in school "can't you read?" I said before I could shit myself up. She looked at me with dull and annoyed eyes and hissed "My family died before they could teach me to read" and with that she snapped the book shut and threw it at my chest where it hit and winded me.
"I meant no offense Autumn I mean it's just most ponies are age can read and, how long have you been her anyway and how old were you when you were trapped here?" I asked genuinely curious.
She went into the kitchen and began chewing on some grass with scrunched up teeth and a scrunched up nose before she said harshly and in an annoyed tone "Mind your own damn business and eat some grass". I sighed taking her advice and went over to the mouth-watering meal and ate some as quickly as I could.
"So what do we do today?" I asked her. She looked at me from over the top of a water canteen and offered it to me. I accepted it and took five large gulps of water before handing it back to her and trying to smile at her frown of a face.
"Well since you and I don't seem to have any detectable infection and I'm the most moveable at this given time I'm going out to hunt for those last cats, maybe set a few traps and try and fix that door" she said all in one breath.
I looked at her and then the large but not too deep cut on her stomach that looked still really serious. "But that thing could open up again and then you could catch an infection and what if you die and I'm left here all alone" I said trying to persuade her to not go climbing mountains and more importantly and as ashamed as I was to admit it to myself leave me all defenceless and weak.
"Listen I don't care but I give the orders around here, go give yourself up if you want or let me use you as live bait but they will eventually find us and kill us so getting some defences and fixing the door is hardly anything for me in this state I mean I've been through worse o=in my time here so if you think you can come in, new guy and all chicken and tell me what to do then go and read a book on how to grow a pair!" she yelled before she walked with her back sagging to the door where the Manticore was still blocking the way and squeezed between it.
I took her advice on one thing for certain, I shut up immediately and felt my cheeks turn red from embarrassment, this was worse than that time I'd mistaken a stallion for a mare all I'd had to do then was go find Cheerilee and get her to kindly ask him to stop looking for me with his gang and really sharp pitchforks and torches.
I gasped as a spasm of pain shot through my body and I collapsed again the kitchen cabinets which barely took my weight from the years of weathering. "I shouldn't be up and walking" I said in pain and went back to the armchair which I seemed to be on better terms with than Autumn.
"I sighed and picked up the book on the chair I had read the night before and remembered f=how I'd read and still remembered the entire thing quite clearly. Cheerilee would be so proud of me. Then again she would also not be very proud of me for not doing anything and though I used to not care I now cared what I thought Cheerilee would think about me even though she was probably at the school now and not even thinking about me.
I was too injured to barely limp around the room but as I got up and put the book I'd read earlier back I spotted another book which read "Health Potions and Healing Tonics".
It was covered with a faded golden flaked binding and was probably incredibly pretty before it had become the home of a rat which I almost leapt a mile away from when it scuttled away.
Luckily Mr Rat didn't seem to like book paper much because he'd only nibbled at it and the book looked all together and intact so since I couldn't move I could always do that thing that Cheerilee said every time I failed at something, "learn" may have been the word but it didn't matter cause right now I could use my plant knowledge to help me learn about potions which in turn might help Autumn heal or something and impress her enough to not shout at me so much.
So I opened the book and began to read every little detail very thoroughly, never skipping a page which was highly unlike me since I cheated whenever I could.
Page after page turned and although some potions required more than just plants about eighty percent of potions either were solely contained plants or had them as the main ingredient.
Although this didn't have anything on poison it said how easy it could be to make the potion go wrong if I didn't mix or prepare something right. I took my time and photographed everything with my memory until the book was finished and darkness was creeping up again.
I was tired and very hungry so I ate some berries opting not to eat the grass and unselfishly leave it for Autumn. I was thinking about where I'd get the ingredients to construct a potion because although the Everfree was teeming with wild and exotic plants it would be difficult to go and gather them and I really didn't want Autumn's help with this.
Perhaps I was going a little coo-coo since I'd only just read the book on Potions which albeit may not have been as big as the flower book it was still 150 pages of full detailed basic and intermediate potions which although were easy could easily also go wrong.
I was wondering about this when I spotted something in the corner of the room. It was red and slightly orange and very damp and trampled on. I limped over to it and straining I picked it up, almost collapsing had I not fallen into the wall which had caught me.
I saw that it was a nice flower I'd recognised from one of my books and suddenly I had an amazing idea that I could make a pain relief potion with it, I just needed one or two more ingredients.
I limped as fast as I could into the kitchen and put the flower and some leftover grass down on another counter which was unused before I got what looked to be a bowl and a spoon as well.
I found a canteen of water and then went looking for one more ingredients that could make this work or possibly explode who knew? I found some blue moss and after poking it I found that it didn't move which meant that it wasn't like its poisonous twin and took it away back to the kitchen.
Next I put some logs on the fireplace which was drenched and unused and put some nearby dry logs on it with a bit of struggle since I was neither strong or well enough to move logs.
The further complication was starting the fire, since the matches I'd used previously had grown damp and was difficult to light. However after a few tries the fire began to take light and soon enough flames burst from the dry wood.
It crackled heartily but it didn't produce a lot of heat yet so I left it to gather heat and went to go make the potion. I crumbled things, mixed things, ate things, spat those things out and finally mixed lots of lovely water into the mixture which looked a strange reddish and pinkish colour.
After mixing it well I placed the metallic bowl I was using on the fireplace's makeshift grill which was really a few bits of wire all strung together and looked really rickety.
After about half an hour of the potion boiling and bubbling I finally took it off the fire, perhaps a little too eagerly since a drop of It splashed into my missing eye.
I almost dropped the entire mixture but luckily there was only a brief simmering pain of scolding liquid and then my eye actually began to feel better than it had since I'd actually lost the thing.
This showed promising signs since there was a chance that my eye could have begun to bubble and become covered in horrible sores which didn't sound very exciting for my nervous system.
I found lots of empty vials which may have one contained medicine within them but were all used up and empty now. I guessed that Autumn might have used them all up or maybe she also knew some basic potions and was keeping them, maybe she was just keeping them for a rainy day who knows but I filled a total of four and discarded the bowl.
I went over to the table with the crossbow and put the four vials on the desk before I looked over at my handy work. I might have been unable to move efficiently but I was glad my brain (which up until now had been on the drug of greed) was finally getting me somewhere, I mean if I was still in Ponyville I could have easily gotten a respectable job somewhere by now and Cheerilee would be proud of me.
I yawned and scratched the back of my mane with a hoof. I though briefly that it must have been about dark but looking through the cracks in the rafters and the semi-exposed door I saw that it was actually dawn which meant that I'd been working all night and hadn't even noticed.
I really had to sort my sleeping times out, I thought before I collapsed into the armchair, wincing in pain as I remembered that some ribs were still broken and my body was tender.
I considered trying some of my new fruits of my labour but then I didn't really need it so I'd save it for an emergency since Autumn was more than likely going to come back with half her head missing or worse.
So sleep overtook me and I gladly welcomed it, feeling for the first time in my life accomplished with the knowledge I now held firmly in my very empty brain.
"I've really wasted my life" I thought as I slept but I pondered no more on the subject and instead dreamed of creating a potion that would free me from this damned forest.
"WAKE UP!" yelled a rather rude mare despite the fact that she'd saved me from those Manticore (also hurting my fore-leg which I hadn't forgotten yet).
I didn't start as worse as I had the day before but I still flinched and looked up quickly. "Do you ever nudge ponies awake I mean great Celestia what's wrong with you!" I complained loudly.
For my troubles I received a small smack on the head and an angry expression looking down on me like I'd stolen the cookies from the candy jar…again.
"Look whatever I did I didn't mean it I mean maybe I should have not lit that fireplace and maybe I should have cleaned the mess in the kitchen but come on I mean I'd read an entire book and it took hours to make those things so cut me some slack please?" I asked but she instead grabbed my ear and twisted it painfully, dragging me over to the table where the crossbow and the four vials still sat.
"I see exactly what you were doing, living up to your namesake, tell me you must have been a crook before Purgatory but to sink to this level when I'm protecting your sorry flank makes me want to cut your other eye out and then play fetch with the last remaining Manticore!" she spat into my face (she was really good at this).
"W-what are you talking about?" I stuttered as she slammed my face down a little too forcefully onto the table. "What I see here is a crossbow lace with that poison in there which you were intending to use on me when I came through the door, perhaps killing the Manticore gave you're the courage or perhaps you were a shady slime ball before you got here but either way tell me?" she demanded, breathing deeply as I groaned with my nose uncomfortably becoming one with the table.
"Look you crazy pony I was only helping I don't know what you want me to tell you?" I mumbled into the table. She brought her hoof down sharply on my back and pulled me up shouting "Tell me you were trying to poison me"!
I stared into her eyes paranoia filled eyes and felt truly frightened but I held my ground and answered "I may have been a con pony before I was dragged here but I'd never kill a pony you crazy cow"!
She bared her teeth at the small insult (which might not have been too smart in my current predicament and whispered quite threateningly with slits for eyes "Then what is it"!
"It's a pain relief tonic to help with that gash on your stomach and any other injury you might obtain" I said while feeling really tired suddenly. She let go of me and pushed me away, me falling back into the armchair and her examining the fluid carefully.
"Where did you get this?" she asked "And no lies or I'll just kill you right away". I sighed and got some breath back before I said cautiously but still proudly "I made it from the information in that book and some ingredients that were just lying around".
She blinked at me a few times and her pupils seemed to grow bigger now that I'd explained myself even though the situation could have been handled with a bit more diplomacy.
"If they aren't poison then you won't mind drinking one of these vials will you?" she threatened, handing one over with the cork stoppered. "I'll gladly drink it, at least I can get rid of the pounding headache you've given me" I remarked as I through the mixture down my gullet.
It wasn't pleasant and I gagged and scrunched my face up, causing Autumn to back away like my head was going to explode. However after five minutes of not dying she said "How did you learn all this from a book"?
I laughed at her since I honestly didn't know how until a day ago but instead decided I should try and ask a question instead. "Where did you get you're weapons and all these supplies"?
She narrowed her eyes and said "Since I feel slightly sorry for accusing and hitting you I will tell you, but had you not received a table to the face then this question would provoke it".
She cleared her throat and adopted a neutral expression when she explained "Some of the medicine was part of the medical hut of this settlement, more was from houses and some from abandoned crates I found floating in a pond probably from more trapped ponies, as I said before nopony leaves Purgatory until they die".
Although her tone was grim and serious it kind of gave me a bit of optimism since she'd actually decided to answer my question instead of hurting me. "Also teach me what is in those books and I'll keep you alive" she said to which I just asked "Why not learn to read, then you can teach yourself about this stuff" I said to which she just looked at me with angry eyes. "I don't need to learn how to read, I don't care about it or even want to know what little lines on paper means so just teach me some stuff and I won't kick you out!" she yelled before she stormed off.
"Ok look I'm sorry, it's just it sounded sensible you know but hey for whatever reason you have I'll just teach you myself" I yelled as she went into her upstairs recluse. "Crazy Mare" I mumbled under my breath as I stood up and held my head which had stopped pounding but bled slightly.
I washed it with some water from canteen and just held my head back since there wasn't much else to do. I was amazed we weren't sick but then everypony knew that ponies were sturdy and had good immune systems. That and the fact we really had an unhealthy addiction to sugar and didn't enjoy eating grass.
This happily reminded my stomach that I was hungry so I got up and couldn't help but contain my enthusiasm when I saw the meal today was once again some delectable grass (I was really considering suicide from this despicable torture nopony should deserve).
Hell may have been hot and full of screaming and unbearable pain and judgement but at least you didn't have to eat grass, or did you who knows I only spent five minutes there.
Still I didn't want to be going back anytime soon so I choked it down and pretended it was covered in that delicious syrup made from a Maple Tree with lots and lots of sugar covering it's blank taste (I mean how did sheep and cows eat this on a day to day basis!).
So the days which I had already spent in this dilapidated and ruin of a building turned into weeks of hard work. Primarily for Autumn since she healed up better than me and set to work on fixing the door and searching for the final Manticore whilst I stayed behind and held the fort.
Reading books may have once bored me and made me feel like I was one of those smart jerks but then again I used to be a jerk although minus the smart part so I guess my survival brain (as I liked to call it) was helping me along since I remember Cadence saying knowledge is power and in this situation I had none.
I suspected quite highly that Autumn had set up base in the failed town's library (or what remained of it) and although I pressed her for more information she herself said that the settlement was hundreds of years old and that she had no idea about it.
As much as I could have tried harder to gain info, I disliked getting punched in the face whenever I tried it so I decided I'd always wait until a long day of work (which was basically reading.
Book on science, potions, advanced potions, basic healthcare, how to sew a shirt, how to fix things and ballroom dance filled my mind by the end of the three weeks and I put these theoretical things into play whenever I had the opportunity.
Whenever Autumn went out she'd bring back some useful flowers I'd taught her to spot or pick some berries which she had previously thought poisonous and never tried to eat.
Life although still quite crappy generally began to get better since I was stockpiling a variety of interesting potions and tonics (not to mention a few poisons) to help us survive our lifetime stay in Purgatory but still something big plagued Autumn.
Although she was constantly quiet and kept to herself and when not these two usually it was anger but I noticed that it wasn't the Manticore (which had either evaded us or died of starvation long ago) but something else instead.
We were not friends really but we'd formed a respectable bond, her being the muscles and amazingly enough me being the brain (didn't see it coming either) and she kept looking at me with a vacant expression that made me wonder if I had something stuck my teeth or maybe she was sad because I reminded her of her family.
I tried not to dwell too much on the negative anyway and after four whole weeks of working away, cooked up inside the hut I finally emerged into the daylight of Purgatory.
My ribs were all healed up thanks to time and the potions I'd been making to speed up my bodies regeneration cells and help also to fortify my muscles (since I hadn't really moved in a month).
Autumn helped me walk a little but it was soon clear to her that I had this covered, despite nearly treading on one of her main traps the minute I walked out the door.
I was a large pit with spikes in the bottom and covered by some thin bamboo and leaves. Had she informed me the front door's doormat was a death trap I might have stepped over it but as my luck would have it she'd neglected to tell me, thinking I'd already know from the obvious signs.
So as I stepped onto the trap she quickly pushed me aside, shoving me into the wall of the library shack and causing me to groan in pain. "What was that for?" I asked slightly angry at her.
"You were about to kill yourself by falling into my trap, can't you see out of your one eye!" she explained furiously and waving a hoof in front of me to show her point further.
"What pony in the dimension and the next puts a damn trap next to the front door?" I asked bewilderedly. "Hey if the Manticore snuck up on us he would have had a big surprise" she said offering her hoof out to me.
I took it and she pulled me up, then she unwrapped a tiny strap from her back and went behind me. She reached around me and tied the strap to my right side, showing a "hunting knife" as she said it was called in the holster.
"Now I know you can't be trusted with these things but it's a weapon and while our good old cat friend is out to kill us you need to be at least armed" she said pointing with her hoof too the knife's hilt.
"Now I want you to listen carefully, here's the tutorial ok" she said taking out a much longer and bigger knife called a "short sword" and holding it upright. "Pointy end goes into Manticore" she said imitating a stab with her slatted eyes and all "Got that"?
"Look Autumn" I said drawing my knife and adopting a lecturer's voice "I think I know what I'm Ouch…!" I shouted as I pricked my hoof on the knife's edge which Autumn liked to keep razor sharp.
"Look I'm going to help you out here since you have been helping and saved me despite your annoying weakness" she said adopting a better lecture voice than mine and twirling a small dagger which was strapped to her left fore-leg.
"I've had years to get acquainted with the signs of the forest and the feel of these weapons, something you haven't had the opportunity to do with Purgatory yet" she explained as if it was a bonding exercise with the place.
I sat on my haunches, highly grumpy about being told how to hold a knife but she also said "I'll also help you adapt to the forest since you're helping me learn things in those books".
Wow she's being nice, this was totally unexpected. "Now I think I know where the Manticore is hiding and I can't kill him alone" she said getting into the serious business again and getting my undivided attention.
"He's hiding in a large cave and my plan is to go in there and lure him out whilst you sit and hold the crossbow, when he comes by you nail him and then I'll attack that way we can take him down easy and hopefully avoid any more unwanted injuries" she said.
"Well what are we waiting for, I had oodles of fun with his friend the last time" I said as I held my new knife the correct way and gave it a test stab. "Be serious here Shady if one of us dies before the Manticore is dead then the other must finish it off or else we've both died for nothing" she said optimistically.
"Yeah I get that can we just go" I said nervous and eager to get this all over and done with before I had to go to the bathroom. "Yeah ok, but you'll have to keep up with me" she said as she took off galloping through the ruined town which compared to the library was really, really ruined.
"You know I won third place in the Ponyville Foal Olympics" I shouted, galloping after her.
The thing that surprised me was her fluid she was, she ran at the same speed as me but was always ahead because she'd dodge the rocks or jump over unknown thorn bushes whilst I got tangled.
Upon reaching the forest I thought she'd grown wings for a moment as she began leaping from tree to tree with perfect precision and balance whilst I stayed on the floor below staring in awe.
Unfortunately we had to stop twice due to traps which I set off (luckily this time not deadly). Eventually however, we reached the cave's entrance after a half hour and she slowly came to a stop at the deep blackness.
"Take this" she said handing me the crossbow and a spare bolt "Aim well or else my ghost will come back and kill you" she said as she drew her short sword and experimentally flicked the extendable blade on her left fore-leg with a satisfied nod.
"Ok so I'll just hide here" I said getting into position behind some bushes and lying on my belly. Before she walked into the blackness she said "Oh Shady one last thing…thanks for the company, I was getting kind of lonely".
I was touched that before she went into a dangerous situation she'd actually show some signs of friendship towards me but all that changed by the totally unexpected thing that would happen next and that I had no idea was going to happen (pause for dramatic effect).
The Manticore had been listening the whole time and before I knew what was happening Autumn was slammed into by the massive beast. She was knocked like a rag-doll against a far tree and slumped dead or unconscious and tangled amongst the roots with the Manticore baring down on her.
"Autumn!" I cried out without thinking, causing the yellow haired, snarling and most of all angry vengeance seeking monster to spin round and stare at me.
I didn't think much; I just took aim and fired, hitting him right in the stomach. He roared in pain and broke the bolt in half before galloping after me. (Perhaps we should have thought this through better) I told myself as I ditched the crossbow and ran as if my life depended on it…which it did so yeah.
The Manticore was directly behind me and catching up pretty quickly, although my bolt had hurt him it had really just made him mad and as we ran his growls and snarls seemed to be practically next to me.
We both reached a very muddy clearing where a pond had deteriorated into mud which would make the highest Canterlot nobles faint or drop-dead. I quickly scrambled up the nearest tree whilst the Manticore tried furiously to kill me, roaring and leaping at my position from a thin branch.
I wish I'd brought the crossbow since it I could have surely killed the thing from her but I guess I didn't have a holster to carry it in anyway. So I drew my knife which although was reasonably sized, was pathetic when compare to the claws of the Manticore and his teeth.
I clasped it to my chest, remembering the promise me and Autumn had given each other and I prepared to leap down onto my enemy. However the tree I was currently in had a better idea and actually aided me.
Although the branch I was in was sturdy it was still under a lot of strain and as I crouched to jump of it cracked and broke, falling onto the surprised Manticore.
Exactly at the same time I jumped and watched in slow motion as the Manticore was knocked on the head by the branch and sent reeling into the mud where I just so happened to land on top and stab my blade deep into what I presumed was its chest.
It roared and through me off with a powerful swipe from its paw and tried carefully to get up. I was thrown into the mud (which I'd practically become one with) and could only gaze as the beast slipped and fell in a mixture of its own blood and the mud it was stuck in.
The wound from my still firmly lodged knife was definitely killing it and I couldn't help but feel sorry for it as its attempts became less violent and more pathetic and helpless.
I went over to the Manticore, clutching my stinging and battered left side and looked into its bright and purple eyes. "You're a female" I said in amazement still amazed that I had the power to tell ponies and apparently Manticore's by their eyes.
I looked in deeper and saw something else too and I slowly whispered "Those other Manticore's we killed were your cubs weren't they"? She nodded faintly and sadly a tear dripped from her eye as I looked onwards in sadness and despair.
I looked at my knife and flinched away as I grabbed the now cold handle. I tried my best to pull it out gently but she simply moaned in intense and sad pain so I pulled it out quick and was accompanied by torrents of blood which stained my hooves red.
"I'm so sorry" I said sincerely as I raised my knife and brought it down hard into her head. There was resistance but the sharp blade cut into her quickly and it was finally over.
However this time I didn't feel accomplishment or relieved for myself but instead I felt sad and unhappy for the Manticore which I had to kill thanks to Purgatory which was now number of the places I was going to burn to the ground if I ever had enough gasoline.
My mind flashed suddenly and I took off to go find Autumn suddenly remembering her wounds. But I swore that I'd never forget the day I truly killed something with the full knowledge of what I was doing in my mind.