it's only a forest....

Quill Tip stood at the edge of the Everfree Forest. Shadows surrounded him, making normal sights dark and creepy. Peering into the gloomy shadows, he saw nothing except an owl resting, and a couple of squirrels.

"What's the worst that could be in there?" Quill asked himself. He had heard the stories of the Everfree Forest when he first arrived in Ponyville, but he just couldn't believe them. Creatures that turned you to stone just by looking at them? Animals that are part lion, part scorpion? Sea serpents that could eat a pony in one bite? Quill was certain that no such creatures could exist, even in such a forbidding place.

"Even if they do exist, this could be a great setting for my book! I just have to check it out." Quill took a step into the forest, then another, then another, until the light faded behind him and shade covered everything.

Gloom walked to the entrance of the Everfree Forest. "Well, h-here i am." he mumbled. Gloom too heard stories about different creatures that live in the Everfree forest, but for some reason, he felt like he had to explore it. He slowly walked in to the Everfree forest, and saw a dark figure standing there. "Ohhhh, i dont like the feeling of this. H-hello? Is somepony over there?" he said as he slowly approached the figure.

Quill Tip looked up from a patch of flowers and saw a grey pegasus cautiously walking toward him.

"Oh hello, what are you doing here?"

When Gloom heard Quill's voice he jumped a little. "Oh, um, hi there, I'm here because I'm a little new to this place, so I've decided to check out everything, so I'm starting with exploring the, *gulp*, Everfree forest." he said very quietly so that no creatures would hear them. He heard a sound come from a bush. He reacted by jumping up and running behind Quill. "You think that was one of those, *gulp*, creatures?" ie said as he was hiding behind Quill. He then looked over Quill to see a bunny hop out from the bush. "Phew, it was just a little bunny." he said in relief.

"So you're new around here too?" Quill asked. "Im Quill Tip, just moved in a few days ago. What's your name?"

"Oh, um, im Gloom." He replied as he came out from hiding. "Do you believe any of the stories about the different creatures that live in this forest?" Gloom asked because he wanted to know if he was the only one that was scared.

Quill looked thoughtful. "Unless I see one I probably won't believe them." He said. "This place is probably the creepiest place i've ever been, and that is truly saying something, but I doubt that there's any sort of strange..." Suddenly a low grow split the air, Quill stopped talking and tried to find the source of the sound.

"What the..." Quill heard it again, closer this time. In the distance a large shadow appeared, but Quill couldn't identify it.

When Gloom heard the sound, he all of a sudden started looking around in all directions. When he heard it again he ran behind Quill again. "Ohhh, i dont like the sound of that! I knew they were real!" he said. Gloom was scared out of his mind.

"Keep still!" Quill whispered, his eyes never leaving the shadow.

"Maybe it hasn't spotted us yet. I can't believe this; the stories were true after all!" He said, his eyes wide with fear and disbelief.

"Ohhhhhh, i knew coming here was a bad idea! Now we're gonna get eaten!" he whispered to Quill while shivering with fear. The shadow slowly came closer and closer. "What kind of monster is coming?!" Gloom asked, still whispering.

Quill peered at the shadow, trying to make it form a shape he recognized.

"I can't tell" said Quill, still whispering. "Do you see any place where we can hide?" The creature growled again, sounding more aggressive this time.

While Quill was talking, Gloom couldnt take it anymore, so he ran and jumped in a bush and peeked his head out to see if anything would happen.

Quill started to back toward the bushes slowly, trying to sick to the darkest shadows as the creature approached. The creature stepped into a shaft of light, the body of a lion, the tail of a scorpion, it was a manticore. Quill made a small gesture to Gloom, telling him to stay where he was and keep calm, quiet. Quill had seen the fear in Glooms eyes before, and he knew that when panic sets in, the body can be unpredictable.

"How can such a creature exist?" Quill thought to himself.

As soon as Gloom saw the manticore, he covered his mouth with is hooves to keep himself from screaming. Gloom had never been so scared in his life, he started feeling light headed and started seeing double images. "Quill, w-what are we going to do?" he whispered in in the most quiet way he could. Gloom was so tempted to just fly away as fast as he could, but then that would alert the manticore and Quill would be in big trouble.

Quill reached the bushes and slowly slid into them, trying to make as little noise as possible.

"We have to keep calm, and wait." He whispered. "Hopefully the manticore won't find us. If it does, fly as fast as you can while staying below the trees. Try to fly through places big enough for you, but too small that creature to follow."

"If manticores exist here," Quill thought to himself "what else could be.lurking in the shadows, waiting for a careless pony to wander by?"

Gloom nodded and waited, staring at the manticore. Just staring at the manticore made it worse, and Gloom almost about fainted,

The manticore slowly turned it's head, trying to find fresh meat. It's eyes fell on the bushes that Quill and Gloom were hiding in. Quill froze, not even daring to breathe or blink as he stared into the eyes of something that he, only that morning , would've denied any existence of; saying that it was the imagination of authors that had created this beast.

When the manticore stared straight at them, Gloom fainted and fell on Quill.

Quill got up, not realizing the full horror of the situation until he saw the manticore starring at them. Then it started to advance on them, slow, menacing steps, as any predator stalks its prey.

"Come on , wake up!" Quill said frantically shaking gloom, "we need to move now!"

Gloom remained unconscious.

Quill gave up shaking Gloom and tried in vain to lift Gloom onto his back. Quill turned to look at the manticore, still slowly advancing on them, and realized that the only way both of them had any chance of making it out alive, was if Quill could somehow either drive off the manticore, or distract it long enough for Gloom to regain consciousness. Every part of Quill's body was shaking, his instincts told him to run, but he knew he couldn't abandon Gloom to the manticore.

"Well here goes nothing." Quill said to himself as he tried to recall any information about manticores that he had read in stories. Quill began to walk diagonally to the manticore, hoping the movement would distract it from the prone pony by the bushes, while at the same time, staying close enough to defend Gloom, should the manticore decide to ignore Quill.

Gloom still remained unconscious, though Quill was getting closer to waking him up.

Quill suddenly jumped into the air, his wings snapped open and began to flap. He flew in first one direction and then another, trying to confuse the manticore by being as unpredictable as possible. Quill didn't think, just acted. He saw a lapse in the manticore's concentration and took it, landing, kicking it in the side, and then taking off again before the manticore could react. It roared it's pain and frustration, scaring off any creature within 500 feet.

At the sound of the manticore roaring, Gloom sprung up and had no idea what was going on. He saw Quill flying away and looked at the manticore. He noticed it looked like it was in pain, and he put together the connection that Quill had hurt it. Gloom immediately took off to where Quill was and asked him "Now what do we do?!" in a very alerted voice.

Quill was relieved to hear Gloom's voice.

"Oh good, your awake!" He panted. Another roar from the manticore reminded him of the danger they were still in.

"Now, we need to get out of here! Fly as fast as you can, and try to fly through places that the manticore can't follow!" Hopefully it will get frustrated and give up."