Quill watched him go, making sure the manticore was focused on him and not Gloom.
"Thanks!" He called back before returning his attention back to the manticore. He then flew one more circle around it before taking off through the trees. The manticore unfurled it's wings and took off after Quill, weaving around trees as easily as if they were in a strait line. Quill saw a pony sized hole in the branches and veered toward it, slipping through with inches to spare. The manticore tried to follow, but the hole was too small for it to fit through. It roared it's frustration in letting prey escape so easily, then it took off, back into the forest to hunt for an easier kill. Quill turned his head to see the no longer mythical beast fly away, unfortunately that meant taking his eyes off of where he was flying, he crashed into a tree and blacked out.
He awoke about an hour later with a splitting headache, one of his wings was also dislocated in at least 3 places, and had several nasty cuts and scrapes that would have to be looked at. With a groan, he stood up and began to limp back to town.
"Ow," Quill groaned. "Note to self, never crash head first into a tree again." Quill may not have had a peaceful day in nature, like he had expected, but he did learn to have a second thought about warnings given by ponies about potentially dangerous places.