Chapter 2: Manticores and Magic

Location: Canterlot Royal Palace

The white alicorn stood on the balcony of the tower, gazing down at her kingdom below. It was nighttime, but the street lamps gave a beautiful view of the city. Nopony was seen, all sound asleep in their homes. It was raining too, but the alicorn didn't mind. More important thoughts were on her mind, thoughts that were greatly important compared to getting soaked. How did he escape the statue? Is he still a threat?

Her thoughts were interrupted when another alicorn entered the balcony. She was significantly smaller than the white alicorn, with a dark blue coat with a mane, like Nightmare Moon's, that resembled the starry night sky. She looked at her sister, the white alicorn, with a worried expression.

She spoke, "Sister, why are you out in the rain?"

The white alicorn turned to look at her sister, still saying nothing.

"It's about Discord isn't it?" the smaller alicorn muttered.

A few minutes of silence followed, with nothing but the rain pattering on the balcony. The sisters stared at one another, unsure of what to say.

"Luna," the white alicorn began, "What if he threatens the balance of harmony again?"

The smaller alicorn, known as Luna, said, "He doesn't have the power to, sister. He somehow managed to escape, but he should be powerless as of right now… right?"

"I don't know anymore, Luna," the white alicorn said, clearly worried, "I can't wrap my head around how he managed to replicate the statue."

"Celestia," Luna said, "I have a feeling he didn't do that."

The white alicorn, known as Celestia spoke, "How do you know?"

"I don't know," Luna said, "It's just a feeling, you know? It's like, digging at me, telling me that someone else may have set him free."

"But who would want to release chaos once again?" Celestia asked.

"Hmm…" Luna thought about this, "What if… the person who released him… did it by accident?"

Celestia stared at her sister. What she was saying actually made sense. "Probably. But we have to find him fast, before he causes any trouble."

"Agreed," Luna said, "If anywhere, he would be hiding in the Everfree by Ponyville."

"That place is too dangerous, Luna. We can't risk the lives of our guards."

"I guess we can just wait until he does something. He's been free for a few days now, and yet nothing has happened."

"Maybe he isn't too much of a threat as of right now, but later he may prove otherwise."

Luna and Celestia both gazed at the cloudy night sky. Celestia shivered. "Maybe we should go inside and get some rest."
"Yes. This rain may give us a severe cold if we ponder in it too long," Luna said.

Celestia turned towards the doorway and walked inside with Luna.

Luna leaned against Celestia as she spoke, "Sister, there is nothing to worry about. The kingdom will be fine."

She embraced her sister before heading off down the hallway.

"I hope so, Luna."

8 Hours Later…

Location: Everfree Forest

Michael awoke with a start, jolting up and shouting. He was sweating heavily and was shaking violently, trying to recall what had happened. He looked over at Nightmare Moon, who was stirring from the outburst, thankfully still asleep.

'Glad I didn't wake her up,' Michael thought, 'Did I just have a nightmare?'

Michael looked up at the ceiling, trying to remember what it was about. He knew it had something to do with Nightmare Moon. They… were here, at the old structure… in this very room. There were six other ponies outside the entrance. Each of them wore a piece of jewelry. One of them, a purple colored pony, wore a crown. They entered the structure, where Nightmare Moon was waiting for them. It seems that Nightmare Moon was their enemy.

Then the weird part happened. Each of the six ponies began to float up into the air, the stones on their jewelry letting out a glow. The lights coming from the stones combined until a white light surrounded the entire group of ponies. After they all combined, a rainbow shot from their group and headed straight for Nightmare Moon. A look of… terror spread across Nightmare Moon's face as the rainbow surged towards her.

But, right before the rainbow touched, a… Spartan appeared through the doors. He wore the same armor Michael did; accept the visor was a beautiful green, instead of the dark purple. The stripes were also a green instead of dark purple. Michael was curious as to who this Spartan was.

The Spartan noticed the rainbow heading for Nightmare Moon. He immediately ran at lightning speeds towards the group and… jumped into the light. He tackled the purple pony in midair and they both soared to the ground. As they collided, a bright light flashed brighter than the original, and the entire room was filled with it. The entire image of the dream was blinded by the white light, ending the scene.

Michael was shocked at what he dreamed of. What did it mean? Usually he would care nothing of such a dream, but it seemed… different from other dreams. It seemed too real, as if it was a sign.

He glanced at Nightmare Moon, who was still sound asleep.

'I guess it was just a dream,' he thought.

He got up and walked over to the window. All he could see were trees and the path he took to get here.

"Well, if I got here one way, then the other must lead somewhere," he muttered.

He checked his arsenal… or what was left of it. All he had were two pulse grenades and his combat knife.

He unsheathed the blade and did a couple practice swings. He did a reverse hand under swing, an over swing, and finished with a direct stab. As he ended, he realized he was facing Nightmare Moon, who was still asleep.

'I wonder if she just sleeps during the day,' he thought.

He sheathed his blade and turned to walk out the door. But before he stepped out, he gazed back at her.

"I promise to return," he whispered.

He saw her move a bit, as if she heard his words. He looked ahead, and headed out the door.

It was a beautiful morning. Michael noticed the meadow on the other side of the ravine. The flowers were in full bloom and the colors were more distinct than the previous night. The sun shined down on the water glistened petals, making it look as if the flowers emanated light. But surrounding the glorious meadow was the dark forest. Even in daylight… it still seemed dark.

Michael didn't even think about the ravine. He simply sprinted up to the edge and jumped, activating his thruster pack in midair. He landed with a forward roll and began to sprint down the path into the forest.

Michael gained momentum as he continued to rush down the forest path at high speeds. He made many twists and turns around trees, nearly tripping a few times. He even passed a nasty looking bog, where hundreds of large gas bubbles burst at the surface.

'Glad I got my helmet on,' he thought, 'Wouldn't want to smell the air here.'

The path led all the way around the bog. As he reached the other side, he looked back at the bog. He thought he saw movement in the water.

'That definitely seemed like something gigantic is under there,' he thought, speeding up even more to get out of there before anything could happen.

He was still racing down the path, not knowing anything about where he was going.

"Sure would be nice if Elisha were here right now," he muttered under his breath, "That crazy AI. Where did she go anyway?"

Down the path he went, ignoring any movement in the trees. His motion sensor was going nuts, white blips popping in and out as it detected the various life forms around him.

Then he noticed one large blip in particular that seemed to be following him. It would disappear, and then reappear closer to him. This was really freaking him out.

The dot was getting closer and closer to him. He was moving fast, but apparently not fast enough. The dot grew in size, becoming even bigger on the motion sensor. He turned his attention in front of him, only to see a shadow cast on the ground. The dot was pretty much on top him on the motion sensor, and this time it was red. The armor had detected it as a threat, and Michael had to act fast.

He turned and threw a kick out at whatever was behind him. His foot collided with solid bone, and whatever it was got sent off course into a more upward trajectory. It soared up a few feet above the ground before landing in a dazed heap. He stopped running and ran back towards the creature to see what it was. As he approached, he immediately noticed a lion's body. Its chin was pretty busted up, probably where Michael kicked it. But then Michael noticed wings. And lying behind its body was a scorpion tail.

"A manticore?!" he shouted, "This world has all the fantasy creatures!"

His shouting aroused the dazed manticore as it began to growl a bit. Michael froze in place as the manticore stood up and rubbed its chin. Then its eyes narrowed on him. Michael's blood froze as the manticore growled again at him.

"Uh… hi?" he said.

In response, the manticore let out a deafening roar, which shook the entire forest.

"Bring it on, big boy," Michael said.

The manticore seemed to understand his words as it let out another ear piercing roar. It backed up a bit, and then charged at Michael in an attempt to pounce him.

Michael jumped to the side and dodged the raging manticore. Its scorpion tail was swinging back and forth, trying to hit Michael whenever the manticore missed its attack.

Michael ducked and weaved as he dodged the manticore's pounces. The tail was coming straight at him again. He noticed a green fluid dripping from its tail, probably poison. The tail swung at him again, causing some of the poison to splash at Michael. His shields flickered upon touching the liquid.

This caused his shields to block his vision for a second, allowing the tail to swing back around.

Michael was still distracted from his shields, so he didn't see the tail coming at him at full speed. His vision cleared right when the tail was in his face.

It collided with his helmet, sending him flying right through several trees before crashing into the ground.

"Ugh…" He groaned as he held his head. He slowly pushed himself to his feet, unhurt but dazed from the hit. Then he noticed something. His beautiful dark purple visor had a nice series of cracks going down the left side of his helmet.

"Aww… isn't that just perfe- SHIT!" he shouted as he jumped to the side at the last second. The manticore's tail slammed into the ground where he was just standing. He tried to get a good look at the giant beast, but the crack was too distracting. He looked at the pulse grenades attached to his chest. He was reluctant to use them, since he was planning to save them for something more important. He could take this manticore down; at least he thought he could.

The manticore made a leap at him, sure of having a new exotic creature for lunch. The manticore drew closer. Right before it made contact, Michael sidestepped to the right and brought his elbow down on its skull. The manticore let out a yelp as it crashed into the ground. It lay there, unmoving. It did take a hit to the skull from a Spartan after all.

Michael took a second to examine the manticore. Its chest was slowly rising and falling, which meant it was still alive. Michael decided that he should leave before it wakes up.

Michael almost thought it was the evening, since the trees block out almost all sunlight. But eventually he saw an opening at the end of the gravel path. He immediately picked up speed. He rushed towards the light, excited that he would finally be out of the forest. As he reached it, the light blinded his vision. He shielded his eyes and gasped.

"Wow."

Location: Canterlot Royal Palace

It was morning in Canterlot. Princess Celestia was seated upon her throne, writing a letter on a scroll. A guard who burst through the doors interrupted her. He was followed by two pegasi, who landed on each side of them.

"Princess!" he shouted as he ran to her.

"What is it? Did you find Discord?" Celestia asked, almost showing her fear.

"No, Princess, it's…" the guard began to whisper into her ear.

Celestia was intent, curious as to what he was describing.

The guard finished informing Celestia of what he had witnessed. Celestia was listening, a stern look on her face. She was in deep thought. What the guard was saying eluded her.

"… and then it dashed off down the forest path, too fast for me to fly after it!" the guard said.

"What did the creature look like?" Celestia asked.

"All I could make out is the metal shell it wore, your majesty."

Celestia was puzzled, "Metal shell…?"

The guard thought he said something wrong, "Er… yes, your majesty."

An uneasy silence followed as Celestia began to think this through. What kind of creature wears a metal shell?

'I know all the plants and animals of this world!' she thought, 'What could it be?'

"Did it seem dangerous?" she asked the guard.

"It definitely was, your majesty," the guard answered, "It took down a manticore in one blow!"

Celestia stared at the guard, unsure of what to do. Just then Luna walked in, alerted by the commotion.

"Sister," she asked, "What's going on? Did they find Discord?"

Celestia turned to look at her sister with a smile. But it quickly changed to a frown.

"Sadly, no," she said, "But they found something even more interesting."

Luna frowned, "What could be more interesting?"

"Well they found a creature fighting a manticore."

"Oh my… is it alright?"

"According to the guard, it's more than alright."

"What do you mean?" Luna asked, trying to figure out what her sister was getting at.

"The creature took the manticore out with a single hit," Celestia said, "Then the creature darted down the forest path towards Ponyville."

Luna looked surprise, "What kind of creature can beat a manticore with a single hit? And it was physical?"

"But what eludes me the most is the fact that it was wearing a metal shell," Celestia commented.

A look of complete bewilderment struck Luna's face, "Hmm… I honestly don't know what it could be. The only ponies I know that can take down a manticore in one hit are you, me, and possibly Twilight Sparkle. And that's with magic!"

The two Princesses stared at each other for a moment. Then Celestia turned to her guards.

"Guard, send a team of ten ponies to search the area of the Everfree where you saw the creature. Report back in a few hours."

"Yes, your majesty," the guard said, turning to walk out the door.

The door shut, echoing throughout the throne room, leaving a dead silence lingering in the air. After a few minutes, Luna spoke up.

A sudden look of realization appeared on her face, "Sister!" she shouted.

Celestia became worried, "What? What is it?!"

Luna's words stumbled out of her mouth, "What if… What if it's a… human?"

Celestia's face returned to its normal stern gaze as she calmed down, "Luna, humans haven't existed for thousands of years. I also don't think one can take a manticore down singlehandedly while wearing a heavy metal shell."

Luna frowned, "Oh… Sorry sister."

"Don't worry, Luna," Celestia replied, "We'll get to the bottom of this."

Location: Edge of Everfree

Michael stumbled out into the light, covering his eyes from the sudden brightness. Once they adjusted, he took a look around. There was a clearing in front of him, also littered with colorful flowers. There was a stream full of beautiful clear water flowing to the right, with a bridge escalating over it. Just passed the bridge, Michael noticed a… What is that?! It looked like a huge tree, but had windows and a door. The area surrounding the house was completely populated with birdhouses. They were on the porch, on the grass, even on the tree itself! The thought that first came into Michael's mind was an animal hoarder. Animals were all over the place! Bunnies, chipmunks, squirrels, you name it!

'Someone really loves animals,' he said as he approached the tree. He stepped onto the bridge and stopped, gazing down into the water. There were tons of fish living in the stream, gracefully swimming around, enjoying each other's company. But as soon as Michael's shadow covered them, they darted away, hiding in various holes and coral. Michael shrugged and continued on.

The closer he got to the tree, the more animals he noticed. His motion sensor was completely distorted, thanks to the scorpion tale that smacked him in the face. Now he couldn't really tell if any were a threat. Not that chipmunks can be a threat, but on this planet, you never know.

He neared the tree, and noticed the door. It was half open as if someone had just recently been through it. Then he began to here voices inside. One sounded like a young female's voice. The other sounded like a really timid girl.

The timid one spoke first, "Um… Thanks again Twilight for helping me with the animals."

"No problem, Fluttershy," the other one, known as 'Twilight' said, "That's what friends are for. Anyway, I have to get back to Spike so…"

She suddenly stopped talking.

Michael was curious as to why she stopped, and peered through a window. He saw two ponies. One was a unicorn. Her coat was lavender and her mane was purple with a pink streak coming down the middle. She had an emblem on her flank. It was a six pointed red star surrounded by several white stars. The other pony was a pegasus. Her coat was a buttery yellow color. The mane and tail were each pink. Her mane was draped mostly on her right side. She seemed to be the shyer one he heard. Her emblem was three butterflies.

The lavender pony was looking around suspiciously.

"T-Twilight… What's wrong?" the timid pony asked.

Twilight was still gazing around, "Someone is watching us."

Michael's heart immediately sunk. How did she know?

Twilight was approaching the window he was at. She peered through, expecting to find somepony. But she found nothing.

"Hmm… I was sure someone was watching us."

Michael was crouched below the window. Out of sight, he was still able to tell she was there.

Twilight spoke, "Hey, Fluttershy, I'm going outside to check."

Michael heard the door creak open as Twilight peeked out.

"Hello? Is anyone out there?"

He stepped back and crawled into a bush. He peered out of an opening. Twilight was coming his way. She stopped in front of the bush.

She pondered for a moment, "I know someone is out here."

"INCOMING!" another voice shouted, this time in the sky. Twilight turned and looked up at the source of the voice. Michael looked up at the sky too. But he was too slow. A cyan collared pegasus was nose diving straight at him.

"Why me…" he whispered.

The pegasus crashed into him and they both tangled for a moment until Michael lay as still as a rock.

"Ow… What the hay?!" the cyan pegasus shouted. Michael noticed her mane and tail were both rainbows.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight shouted, "Are you alright?"

"Well either than hitting a solid rock, I'm fine!" she replied annoyed, rubbing her head with a hoof.

Michael was surprised. She didn't notice him? Brilliant.

"You really need to work on that landing," Twilight said, giggling.

"Yeah… Whatever…" Rainbow Dash crawled out of the bush and stood up.

"What're you doing here anyway?" Twilight asked.

"Not much of a reason…" Rainbow Dash boasted, "Just came by to show you a couple of SUPER cool tricks I tried!"

"Well, you can't show me," Twilight stated, "I have to check on Spike."

"Then who do I show?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I don't know! Maybe Fluttershy."

"But Fluttershy is such a wuss! She wouldn't be impressed!" Rainbow shouted, "She'd just be like, 'Oh… that was very good, Rainbow Dash.'"

"Don't say thinks like that!" Twilight groaned, "Fluttershy is shy and that's her character! You can't change that."

The two turned and walked back towards the tree. Michael slowly stood up behind the bush. Walking as quietly as he could, he tiptoed out of the bush. But of course, a twig decided to be right under his foot at that moment and he stepped on it, letting out a loud crunch.

Michael froze. Did he want to turn around? Going against himself, he reluctantly turned his head until he was looking directly at the two ponies. Sure enough, they were each staring straight at him.

Rainbow Dash immediately bulked up, "Twilight! Stun it with some magic and I'll take it down!"

Twilight, not knowing what this creature is capable of, obeyed her friend. Her horn was engulfed in a pink aurora and a laser was released at Michael.

As soon as it touched Michael's helmet, it spread over his body and faded. His shields reacted with the magic and absorbed it, but completely depleting its energy.

"Hit it again Twilight!" Rainbow Dash shouted.

Michael was unsure of what to do. Should he fight back? He didn't necessarily want to harm these creatures.

But sure enough, Twilight launched another laser from her horn. Michael's shields were down this time, so it would probably get to him. Thinking fast, Michael activated his hard-light shield and placed it infront of him. The laser rebounded harmlessly off the shield and flew upward into the sky.

"What kind of shield deflects magic?!" Twilight shouted.

Growing impatient, Rainbow Dash charged at Michael. He simply raised his shield. She crashed right into it and flew back, stunned by the collision. Once again, Twilight shot another magic burst at Michael and he simply deflected it with his shield.

"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash groaned, "Just use your levitation spell."

Twilight looked surprised, "Oh, right. Almost forgot about that."

Her horn was once again engulfed by a pink aurora. Michael was also engulfed by the same one, and was being lifted into the air.

'Damnit!' he thought, 'I hate that spell.'

His hard-light shield switched off and his shields wouldn't recharge. It seems the magic was blocking his armor functions.

Seeing her opportunity, Rainbow Dash once again charged at him. He tried raising his arms to stop he, but couldn't move them. The rainbow pegasus barreled into him and they both crashed into the ground. Rainbow Dash ended up standing on top his chest, thinking she was victorious, "Yeah! Take that you big stupid metal… thing!"

The crash didn't really bother Michael. He was a Spartan after all. He simply picked her up off his chest and carried her in one arm. Her wings were stuck in between her body and his arm, so she couldn't get free.

"Let go of my friend!" Twilight shouted as she launched about ten lasers at Michael.

He had no time to react as they all hit him on various parts of his armor. A feeling of dizziness and nausea overcame him as he dropped the pegasus and clutched his head. His vision was swimming and was blurry. He stumbled around and tried leaning on a tree, but fell over into a bush. A headache took over and was driving him nuts. It felt like he was spinning around extremely fast. The best thing he could do was close his eyes. The next thing he knew, he was out.